Editing Chania (section)

===Byzantine and Arab eras===
{{Further|Byzantine Crete|Emirate of Crete}}
Cydonia was not well documented in [[late antiquity]] or in the early medieval period, when it was first ruled by the [[Byzantine Empire]] (395–824) and then by the [[Emirate of Crete]] (824–961). The Arabs seem to have begun calling the settlement {{translit|ar|al-Ḵān}} ({{langx|ar|الخان}}), literally "the [[Caravanserai]]" or "[[Inn]]" but possibly transcribing the name of a neighborhood previously devoted to the worship of the [[Minoan religion|Minoan god]] [[Welchanos]].<ref>{{citation |first=Nikolaos |last=Platon |title=Κρητικά Χρονικά Α |language=Greek |date=1947 |trans-title=Kretika Chronika 1 |publisher= |location= |url= }}.</ref> The city had become known as Chania in Greek by the time of the second period of Byzantine rule (961–1204). In order to deter another Arab invasion, the Byzantines strongly fortified the city, reusing materials from ancient buildings in the area. Chania was the seat of a [[History of the Eastern Orthodox Church#Byzantine_period|Byzantine]] bishopric, which became the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of La Canea]] under Venetian rule and then the Latin titular see of Cydonia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chania - A City Of Many Tales |url=https://www.chaniatourism.gr/history/ |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=Chania - A City Of Many Tales |language=en-US}}</ref>