The author sheds light on Aristotle’s knowledge of Crete. The so-called “Cretan Constitution” (from Book II of the Politics) replaces the lost corresponding section of the Collection of Constitutions and represents an approach that is mainly political or constitutional (as opposed to Plato’s primarily legal and legislative approach and Ephorus’ mainly ethnographic and educational one). The relevant information comes from second-hand sources, possibly from students of the Lyceum.
Despite the general acceptance of the centralized system of Doric Crete, the Stagirite (Aristotle) criticizes many of its institutions, especially the lifetime tenure of the “Kosmoi” (equivalent to the Spartan Ephors).
The work was praised by respected and distinguished scholars (Irmscher, Huxley, etc.).
