This explains Homer's reference to seven Cretan towns that participated in the Trojan War. At about 1100, Dorians, the third and most powerful Greek tribe, moved from the North towards southern Greece. The Dorian invasion of Crete must have had disastrous consequences. There is evidence of mass movement towards the coast of Asia Minor, while the developed and refined life of the Minoan and of the Achaean inhabitants of Crete gave way to the strict military life of the Dorians, a fact that did not favor further cultural development. The integration of Minoans, Achaeans and Dorians gave rise to a new ethnological and cultural reality on the island.
Dorian elements predominate life, in particular language.
Thus, Crete inaugurated its historical period with Dorian influences. In Greece, Crete and Sparta were strictly Dorian influences. In Greece, Crete and Sparta were strictly Dorian territories. The Dorian invasion gave rise to a period of decay and cultural poverty. Crete became isolated from the rest of Greece and went through a strange neutrality for many centuries.