(Left: Old Photo of man from Crete with his dagger and other weapons).

Exquisite double - edged bronze and copper daggers were manufactured in Mycenaean Greece from 1500 BC onwards. They were brought to many other distant regions in Europe since the export trade of weapons thrived during the Mycenaean age.

 

At the heyday of Mycenaean civilization, daggers of notable quality were manufactured in Minoan Crete. However, few specimens have survived to our days. You must note that, according to ancient Greek mythology, edged weapons and war helmets were first fabricated in Crete since it was the natives Couretes, retinues of Zeus, who were considered to be their inventors.

 

Written sources referring to the revolution of the Psaromilingos, which was a noble Cretan family, against the Venetians in the mid- 14th century testify to the use of daggers for military purposes in the Middle Ages. According to the oral tradition, during the Venetian occupation there were dagger manufacturing workshops in Heraklion of Crete, established at the same site as they are today.

 

After the conquest of the island by the Turks, the island's metallurgists continued to fabricate exquisite metallurgical products, including daggers, which acquired special value during the 19th century repeated revolutions of the Cretans, who thirsted for freedom.

(Right: Cretan warriors)

 

The Cretan dagger remains the necessary complement of every gallant Cretan youth's armament in the struggle over Macedonia, the Balkan Wars, the Asia Minor Campaign and even during the Second World War, when the weapons of Cretan partisans included the traditional Cretan dagger, symbol of Cretan gallantry and the spirit of Crete's resistance against any conqueror.