Great blessings under Kingdom rule are assured to obedient mankind due to Jehovah’s promise: “For here I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart.” (Isa. 65:17-25) In that system of things promised and created by God “righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Pet. 3:13) The certainty of its establishment is emphasized by John’s apocalyptic vision and his statement: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”—Rev. 21:1-5.

CREEPING THING

[Heb., reʹmes; Gr., her·pe·tonʹ].

The verbal root of the Hebrew term means “to creep” or “to move about.” The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of Koehler and Baumgartner suggests that the term indicates a rather aimless movement. (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, p. 895; compare Habakkuk 1:14.) The noun reʹmes appears to embrace a broad variety of living creatures and, in its usage in the different texts, generally distinguishes such “moving animals” from the wild and domestic beasts, the birds and the fish. (Gen. 1:24, 25; 6:7, 20; 7:14, 23; 8:17, 19; 9:3; Ezek. 8:10; 38:20) This would allow for its including reptilic and other forms of animal life not within those other more prominent categories. It can apply not only to land creatures but also to aquatic creatures.—Ps. 104:25.

Among wise King Solomon’s three thousand proverbs were some about “the beasts and about the flying creatures and about the moving things and about the fishes.” (1 Ki. 4:33; compare Proverbs 30:19, 24-28.) Hosea 2:18 describes a covenant made with the wild beast, flying creature and the creeping thing of the ground, and Psalm 148:10 includes them among the creatures serving to their Creator’s praise.

The Greek her·pe·tonʹ corresponds closely to the Hebrew reʹmes, being used frequently with reference to reptiles. It is used with regard to the vision Peter had at Joppa (Acts 10:12; 11:6), by Paul in discussing man’s idolatry (Rom. 1:23), and by James as to creatures being tamable by man.—Jas. 3:7.

CRESCENS

(Cresʹcens) [increasing].

One mentioned by Paul in his second letter to Timothy as having gone to Galatia.—2 Tim. 4:10.

CRETE, CRETANS

The fifth-largest island of the Mediterranean and its inhabitants. The island measures some 160 miles (257.4 kilometers) long and varies in breadth from seven and a half to thirty-six miles (12.1 to 57.9 kilometers). Crete lies at the southern end of the Aegean Sea about sixty-five miles (104.6 kilometers) SE of Greece, about twice that distance from Asia Minor, and nearly three times that distance from the North African coast. Casos, Carpathos and Rhodes form a chain of smaller islands connecting Crete with the SW corner of Asia Minor. Mountains, some covered with snow during part of the year, run the full length of the narrow island. Near the center of Crete, Mount Ida rises 8,058 feet (2,456 meters) above sea level. The N coast has some good harbors, but the southern coastline is more regular and along much of it the mountains drop off steeply to the sea. So, the S coast provides few favorable harboring sites, as indicated in the account of Paul’s voyage to Rome, considered later.

The climate of Crete is quite mild and, despite the generally rugged terrain, there are some fertile valleys, upland basins and low-lying plains where wheat, barley, olives and grapevines could be cultivated in ancient times and where flocks of sheep and goats were pastured. Crete’s woodlands were anciently renowned, but the once abundant stands of cypress and other trees are now vastly reduced.

Crete is generally accepted to be the “Caphtor” referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures, and hence the place from which the Philistines migrated to Canaan. (Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7) Some scholars also connect the “Cherethites” with the Cretans; the Septuagint Version reads “Cretans” instead of “Cherethites” at both Ezekiel 25:15-17 and Zephaniah 2:5-7. (See CHERETHITES.) If the identification of Caphtor with Crete is accepted, as seems reasonable, then the early inhabitants of the island were descendants of Mizraim, whose name is Biblically equivalent to Egypt.—Gen. 10:13, 14.

HISTORY

Little is known definitely of the history of the early Cretans. Tablets found in Crete consist primarily of palace inventories and similar records but provide no history. While many historians suggest an initial migration to Crete from the S coast of Asia Minor, there is also some evidence indicating that early immigrants arrived there from Egypt, perhaps at the time of the claimed unification of Egypt under Menes. Archaeological excavations reveal objects imported from Egypt throughout the early period of Cretan civilization. During the first half of the second millennium B.C.E. the Cretans apparently were carrying on regular maritime trade, not only with Egypt, some 300 miles (482.7 kilometers) to the SE, but also with the Syrian coast and with the islands and coastlands of the Aegean.

The language spoken by the original people of Crete is unknown. Similar to the Egyptians, the Cretans had a hieroglyphic system of writing but, unlike the Egyptian, the earliest forms have not yet been deciphered. A later type of hieroglyphic script is believed to have been adapted for Greek, perhaps due to increased association with or infiltration by Greek-speaking people, particularly the Mycenaeans (of the eastern part of the Peloponnesus).

Buildings and art

Because Greek writers such as Homer, Herodotus and Aristotle referred to a Cretan king named Minos, modern historians have given the name “Minoan” to the early civilization of Crete, dividing up the periods of its history on the basis of pottery finds and connections with Egypt. The civilization the Cretans developed was very distinctive from those of Mesopotamia and Egypt but equally resplendent. Archaeologists have unearthed the capital city of Knossos with its splendid palace remains. The 200-room palace was apparently multistoried, its architecture surpassing that of the Mesopotamian emperors. Towns excavated, such as Knossos, Phaestus, and Hagia Triada, gave evidence of well-kept streets, ample water supply, with royal buildings and larger homes even having baths and toilet facilities equipped with drainage and sewage disposal. Evidently due to the strength of the Cretan fleet and the skill of its mariners, the people of the island’s ancient capital felt no need to build protective walls against invaders.

Vividly colored wall paintings in the richly decorated royal buildings depict clean-shaven men wearing patterned loincloths and elegantly dressed women dressed in narrow-waisted, flaring skirts, tight bodices with bared breasts, elaborate coiffures, and large conical hats. The Cretan religion clearly placed emphasis on the female element with a Mother Goddess receiving greatest prominence. As with other fertility religions, the serpent is regularly present in the representations of the goddess, either held in her hands or coiled around her body. A minor male deity is usually associated with her, perhaps in the mother-son relationship frequently found in this type of cult. At Knossos a marble cross was found, the cross likewise being an ancient sex symbol. Fresco paintings, bronzework and ivory carvings also show a daring sport or religious ritual in which young men and women do a somersault via the horns and back of a charging bull.

Ancient civilization disappears

A wholesale destruction of uncertain causes seems to have struck the cities of Crete about the middle of the second millennium B.C.E. The island is thought