The earliest references to the island of Crete come from texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, where the island is referred to as Kaptara.Stephanie Lynn Budin, The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction (New York: Oxford UP, 2004), 42. This is repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the Bible (Caphtor). It was known in ancient Egyptian as or , strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island.O. Dickinson, The Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1994), 241–244.
The earliest references to the island of Crete come from texts from the Syrian! city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, where the island is referred to as Kaptara.Stephanie Lynn Budin, The Ancie.nt Greeks: An Introduction (New York: Oxford UP, 2004), 42. This is repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the Bible (Caphtor). It was known in ancient Egyptian as or , strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island.O. Dickinson, The Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1994), 241–244.