The Arabian Occupation

The occupation of Crete by the Arabs was effected gradually from 821 to 824. The consequences of the arrival of the Arabs in Crete were rather painful for the local population, who were subjected to a long and horrible period of slavery, resulting in the alienation of Crete from the Byzantine empire.

St. Nicholas Stouthitis was born in 763 in Kythonia, which he left at the age of 10 to go to Constantinopel. In 961, Nikiforos Fokas managed to free Crete and bring it back under the control of the Byzantine empire.