This volume brings together studies concerning various aspects of education and intellectual culture cultivated during the Byzantine period, particularly during the years of Venetian rule in Crete. Throughout this long historical journey, the island, which has always been a crossroads of peoples and cultures, witnessed not only the consolidation of the Christian faith, which had been shaken after the long Arab conquest of the island, and the cultural emergence of the Orthodox population, but also the creative encounter of Byzantine intellectual tradition with the literary and artistic currents of Italy brought by the Venetian conquerors. This synthesis constitutes one of the most significant chapters in the tumultuous history of relations between the Latin West and the Byzantine East and simultaneously marks one of the most brilliant periods of modern Greek culture. Through these studies, individuals, institutions, and actions come to the forefront of history and are highlighted, in terms of their contribution to the cultural events of Crete, as pieces of an imposing mosaic composed by the multifaceted intellectual creation in Medieval and Renaissance Crete. [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]