Cosmopolitan Crete

This open access book studies the history of the island of Crete as a site of ethnic and religious mixture and how this can relate to modern day interest in pluralistic community formation. The author explores the mixture of culture, traditions, languages, religion, and more to explore the idea that mixing creates both marvels and monsters. The book also touches on the idea that all of the bodies living and mixing on Crete were caught up in ritual, ceremony, and other activities and contexts that can be identified as religious. The book explores archeology, literature, myths, and biblical stories to show the history of mixing cultures and ideas in Crete, focusing mostly on Greek mythology and the early spread of Christianity. The author uses Crete’s history as an example to show how we can live in mixed societies rather than amidst constant culture wars. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Emory University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.