Modern Greek theatre refers to the theatrical production and theatrical plays written in the Modern Greek language, from the post-Byzantine times until today. Venetian Crete The renaissance which led to the modern Greek theatre took place in the Venetian Crete. Significal dramatists include Georgios Chortatzis, Vitsentzos Kornaros, and other Cretan writers. Erotokritos is undoubtedly the masterpiece of this early period of modern Greek literature, and represents one of its supreme achievements. It is a verse romance written around 1600 by Vitsentzos Kornaros (1553–1613). The other major representative of the Cretan literature and theatre was Georgios Chortatzis and his most notable work was Erofili, which was characterized by Kostis Palamas as the first work of modern Greek theatre. Other notable plays include The Sacrifice of Abraham by Kornaros, Panoria and Katsourbos by Chortatzis, Fortounatos by Markos Antonios Foskolos, King Rodolinos by Andreas Troilos, Stathis (comedy) and Voskopoula by unknown artists. During this period, there was production of different theatrical genres, such as tragedies, comedies, pastoral and religious plays. Heptanesean theatre After the occupation of Crete by the Ottoman empire, in late 17th century, the intellectual center of the Greeks, such as the theatrical, was transferred in the Ionian islands. The Heptanesean theatre was heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance. Notable playwrights include Petros Katsaitis, Savoyas Rousmelis and Dimitrios Gouzelis. One of the most notable works was Vasilikos (1830) by Antonios Matesis. Greek Enlightenment and Independence During the pre-revolution years, notable theatrical works include the Achilleus or Death of Patroclus (1805) by Athanasios Christopoulos, Timoleon (1818) by Ioannis Zambelios, while Korakistika (1812) by Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos was a lampoon against the Greek intellectual Adamantios Korais and his linguistic views (Katharevousa). After independence, the theatrical scene of the new Greek Kingdom was dominated by writers who were closer to the First Athenian School (or Phanariotic), such as Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Alexandros Soutsos and Panagiotis Soutsos. These writers mainly used a conservative and archaic form of the Greek language, katharevousa. A notable exception is the comedy Babylonia (1836), by Dimitris Vyzantios, a satire of the different Greek dialects in simple language. Until the end of the 19th century, the romantic tragedy dominated dominate, such as the Maria Doxapatri (1853) and Fausta (1893) by Dimitrios Vernardakis. The Royal Theatre was founded in 1880 in Athens. New genres became popular in the 1880s. Revues, operettas and komidylio (κωμειδύλλιο) (musical comedy), with works like I tychi tis