Psiloritis is an emblematic mountain range, claiming to be the birthplace of Zeus. It is quintessentially Cretan, and so is Eleutherios Venizelos, a native of Chania and seven-time Prime Minister of Greece. His life is of almost mythic proportions, spanning the most important turn-of-the-twentieth-century events that led to the consolidation of the modern Greek state, to most of which, he was an active party. The son of a revolutionary, he began his political career as one as well, campaigning and clashing with the Ottomans for the autonomy of Crete and, finally, achieving union with Greece. As prime minister during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, he more than doubled the borders of Greece, and secured good neighbourly relations with the rest of the Balkan states. In WWI, he sided with the winners and secured further concessions from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. His legacy has been tainted by a series of wrong turns, notably in foreign policy matters, but he remains revered to the day.