Great painter famous as "EL GRECO"(Fodele Iraklion Crete 1541 - Toledo Spain 1614) El Greco's art is the product of both his time and his genius. The artistic currents and the places he visited, are reflected in his work. It is more difficult to outline precisely the influence of the Cretan School in his work. Birth name: Doménikos Theotokópoulos (GR: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος)
Born :1541 Crete, then Republic of Venice
Died :April 7, 1614 Toledo, Spain
Field :Painting, sculpture and architecture
Movement :Mannerism, Antinaturalism
Famous works :El Espolio (1577–1579), The Assumption of the Virgin (1577–1579), The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586–1588), View of Toledo (1596–1600), Opening of the Fifth Seal (1608–1614).

Greek writer, poet and philosopher. Nikos Kazantzákis (1883–1957 GR: Νίκος Καζαντζάκης), whose best-known work (in English) is the novel Zorba the Greek, was born in Heraklion, Crete (Kriti), and educated at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he received his law degree. After graduating he went to France, where he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson. Also well-known in English is his novel 'The Greek Passion', about the reenactment of a passion play in a Greek village. He is buried on the wall surrounding the city of Heraklion near the Chania Gate, because the Orthodox Church ruled out his being buried in a cemetery. His epitaph reads "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." (Δεν ελπίζω τίποτα. Δε φοβάμαι τίποτα. Είμαι λέφτερος.)
The 50th anniversary of the death of Nikos Kazantzakis was selected as main motif for a high value euro collectors' coins; the €10 Greek Nikos Kazantzakis commemorative coin, minted in 2007.

Eleftherios Venizelos (Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, GR: Ἐλευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος - 23 August 1864 – 18 March 1936), born in Mournies village near Chania, was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century. Elected several times as Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932. Venizelos had such profound influence on the internal and external affairs of Greece that he is credited with being "the maker of modern Greece", and he is still widely known as the "Ethnarch".

Vitsentzos or Vikentios Kornáros (GR: Βιτσέντζος or Βικέντιος Κορνάρος) or Vincenzo Cornaro (March 29, 1553 – 1613/1614) was a Cretan poet of the Greek Renaissance who wrote the romantic epic poem Erotokritos. He was a leading figure of the Cretan Renaissance.
Not many biographical sources exist about Kornaros himself apart from the last verses of Erotokritos. It is believed that he was born to a wealthy family in Trapezonda near Sitia, in 1553, and lived there roughly up to 1590. He then moved to Candia (present Iraklion), where he married to Marietta Zeno. Together they had two daughters named Helen and Katerina.

Michael Damaskenos or Michail Damaskenos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Δαμασκηνός, 1530/35-1592/93) was a leading post-Byzantine Cretan painter. He is a major representative of the Cretan School of painting that flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries, whilst Crete was under Venetian rule. He was a near-contemporary of the most famous Cretan painter of any period, El Greco, but though Damaskinos also went to Italy, he remained much closer to his Greek roots stylistically.
There is little information regarding the life of Damaskinos. He was born in Candia (today's Herakleion), the son of Tzortzis Damaskinos. He had a daughter named Antonia who married the painter Yannas Mantoufos. Damaskinos lived in Venice for several years, where he learnt miniature painting and travelled extensively throughout Italy[1]. He was a member of the Greek Brotherhood of Venice from 1577–1582, having been in Venice since 1574. He painted along with Emmanuel Tzanes the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of San Giorgio dei Greci in Venice. In 1584 he was back in Greece and worked mainly in Crete and the Ionian islands. His works are in traditional Byzantine style but with many influences from Venetian painting, mainly Renaissance artists such as Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. He used a particular rose colour that characterised his paintings, his figures dimensions are defined by only few brushes while he was drawing wooden and never marble thrones as was typical in the Cretan School. That Damaskinos was highly regarded is shown by him being invited from Crete, despite all the many Greek artists already in Venice to paint the frescoes of San Giorgio dei Greci.[2]. Damaskinos was also the first artist to introduce paler flesh tones into post-Byzantine painting and it was one of the stylistic features of his work which proved highly influential from the second half of the sixteenth century and onwards [3]. As was usual for distinguished painters, Damaskinos signed his works: ΧΕΙΡ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ or ΧΕΙΡ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ, ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΧΕΙΡ or even ΠΟΙΗΜΑ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΟΥ (creation of Michael Damaskinos) [4]. Damaskinos having worked extensively in the Ionian islands has contributed to the fusion of the Cretan and the Heptanese School of painting.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Damaskinos

British archaeologist whose name is inextricably bound up with excavations and restoration work at the palace of Knossos. Born as the son of numismatist John Evans, he studied at Oxford and briefly in Göttingen. From 1875 to 1882 he travelled through the Balkans as a correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. In 1884 he was appointed curator at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which post he held until 1908. One year later he became a university don. In 1894 Schliemman's excavations at Troy, Mycenae and Tiryns prompted Evans to visit Crete for the first time, in search of Bronze Age script. The following year he published his first book on Cretan pictographics and pre-Phoenician writing. He set about systematic excavation work after the island was liberated from the Turks (in 1898), having already located the wider area in which to dig. At the same time he toured the length and breadth of Crete.
Evans worked at Knossos for no less than 35 years, bringing the palace and countless finds to light. The building's large surface area and shape led him to the conclusion that it had been the palace of King Minos. He thus gave the name 'Minoan' to the civilization he had uncovered, subdividing it into three major periods. In 1911 he was knighted for his excavation activity and extensive work. Alongside the excavations, Evans showed great zeal in restoring the palace and reconstructing the wall paintings that had come to light. For all the intense criticism this part of his work has often attracted, it still stands as a first approach to what is now known as the Minoan palace. The ensuing publications of material added many pieces to the puzzle of Minoan civilization and remain useful research tools to this day. In the course of his last visit to Crete, Evans was given the Freedom of the City of Heraklion.

Author and journalist(1862-1920). He was born in the village Ano Viannos in 1862. In his childhood he moved with his family in Piraeus. Quite soon though, only 3 years later, they got back at their special homeland and there, he finished the elementary school. Though he'd started attending high school in Iraklion, he finished it in Varvakeio School, in Athens.
His first novel was published in the newspaper 'Estia', in 1884. He was enrolled in the Philosophy School, but he never graduated.
In 1885 he got back in Crete, where he took a job as a teacher in Modi, Kydonias. His revolutionary character motivated him into writing patriotic articles in the local paper, an act that infuriated the Turkish occupants to such an extent that he had to flee in Athens, only this time he stayed permanently.
In Athens he worked for several newspapers like 'Estia', 'Asty' and 'Embros'. For more than 20 years he kept writing chronicles, which helped him win respect among the intellectuals. He used to use the pseudonym 'Diavatis' (Passer-by).
During his long literary career he wrote: 'Gramvoussa, i epanastasis en Kriti' (Gramvoussa, the revolution in Crete), 'I olokaftossis tou Arkadiou' (The Holocaust of Arkadi), 'Otan imoun daskalos' (When I was a teacher), 'Proti Agapi' (First Love), 'Eno diavaina' (When I was passing by), 'O Patouchas', 'Zampeliou Kai Kritovoulidou, Istoria Kritikon Epanastaseon' (Zampeliou and Kritovoulidou, Cretan Revolutions History), 'Imere kindynon kai fovou' (Days in danger and terror). Kondylakis’ entire work is collected in his 'Apanta' (Collected works).Ioannis Kondylakis died in Irakleion, in 1920.

Nikos Xylouris (Greek: Νίκος Ξυλούρης, 7 July 1936 - 8 February 1980), nicknamed Psaronikos (Greek: Ψαρονίκος, "Grey Nick"), was a Greek composer lyra (Cretan lyre) player and singer from the town of Anogeia. He was part of the movement that brought down the Greek military Junta of 1967. His songs and music captured and described the Greek psyche and demeanor, gaining himself the title the archangel of Crete.

Daskalogiannis (GR: Δασκαλογιάννης) - born in Anopolis, Sfakia - started planning a revolutionary liberation movement in Crete in 1769 and completed the preparations for the revolution in Sfakia in the spring of 1770. In 1770, the revolution that had already broken out in other parts of Greece broke out in Crete too. Daskalogiannis, revolt was the first step towards freedom from the Turkish occupation in Crete and kept people, hopes from freedom alive. The international airport of Chania is named after this hero.

Born in 1843 as the youngest son of Andreas Kalokairinos. Having completed secondary education on the island of Syros, he matriculated at the University of Athens School of Laws and attended for one year, but was forced to abandon his studies after his father fell seriously ill and died. Thereafter his interest turned to his father's estates, which he initially managed together with his brother Lysimachos. Kalokairinos later went into soap manufacture, winning awards at world exhibitions.
Unfortunately, however, his business enterprises were not destined to be successful to the end; in 1895, having taken out numerous loans at exorbitant interest rates and mortgaged all his estates, he was forced to declare bankruptcy and was thus deprived of the right to engage in commerce. In 1903 he decided to resume his legal studies at university, and was later awarded a a degree.
In 1878 his passion for archaeology and classical studies led him to attempt the first systematic excavations at Knossos, which brought the first finds from the Minoan palace to light. These comprised the Kalokairinos private collection, held at the site where the Kalokairinos Mansion (the present-day Historical Museum of Crete) was later built. The finds were destroyed when the first mansion was burnt to the ground during the 1898 riots. In 1869 Minos Kalokairinos married Skevo Kyriazi, with whom he had five children.

Kostis Yiamboudakis was the hero who ignited a fire in the gunpowder storage room of the Arkadi Monastery in November 1866 and won glory for himself and the island of Crete. He was a simple villager with a big heart and great love for freedom.