ABSTRACT
DESPITE the autonomy of its cities, their particular histories and traditions, and their uneven rates of development, Cretan society represented, in its dominating aspects, a unique form of ancient Greek society. In relation to ancient Greek society as a whole, and in particular when compared with the most advanced elements of which democratic Athens is the symbol, its cities never attained a high level of economic and political organization or cultural achievement. Similar in many respects to Sparta in their backwardness, in the conservative character of their economy and political systems, which did not undergo the same radical transformation as the democratic states, they remained, until they lost their independence, at the second stage of those phases of development of ancient Greek society traditionally described as monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny and democracy.
