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Zeus was the sixth child of the Titan Kronos, who had devoured his other children to prevent them from overthrowing him as he had overthrown his own father, Uranus, ruler of the old gods. Born in the Diktian Cave in Crete, Zeus was hidden by his mother Rhea and raised in the Idaian Cave on Mount Idi. Zeus eventually poisoned Kronos, making him regurgitate his siblings, who overthrew the Titans to become the new gods and goddesses.

Though married to the goddess Hera, Zeus took many mortal lovers, one of whom was the princess Europa, daughter of the King of Phoenicia. Taking the form of a white bull, Zeus carried Europa off to Crete, where he took her as his wife.

In the myth of King Minos (one of the sons of Zeus and Europa), his queen Pasiphae bore a child, half bull and half man, after coupling with the sacred bull of Zeus. Minos imprisoned this monster, the Minotaur, in a tortuous maze, the subterranean labyrinth.

Minos demanded tribute of youths and maidens from the Athenians after defeating them in war. The victims were given to the Minotaur, but Theseus, prince of Athens, slew the Minotaur and escaped the labyrinth with the help of Minos’s daughter Ariadne, who gave him a ball of thread to retrace his steps.

According to myth, Zeus created the bronze giant to defend Crete. It patrolled the coasts, hurling huge boulders to sink vessels that came too close. Talos was finally slain by Jason, with the aid of the sorceress Medea, who pointed out the giant’s only weak spot, a vein near its ankle.

Daedalus and his son, Ikarus, made wings of feathers held together with beeswax in order to escape imprisonment at the hands of King Minos – punishment for helping Theseus slay the Minotaur. Ikarus flew too high and the sun’s heat melted the wax, causing him to plummet into the sea, but Daedalus reached safety in Sicily.

The demigod Hercules, son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alkmene, was set 12 tasks by King Eurystheus of Argos, one of which was to capture and tame the untameable bull of Crete.

The cave known as the Dragolaki or “Dragon’s Lair”, just outside the Sfakia mountain village of Agios Ioannis, is said to be haunted by Nereids, waternymphs who were daughters of the god Nereus.

Zeus ravished Europa beneath this huge plane tree near the Roman ruins of Gortys. As a result, the tree is said never to shed its leaves, even in winter.

Phantoms are said to emerge on 17 May every year from the sea mists and ride into the deserted little fortress at Frangokastello (see Frangokastello). They are the ghosts of Chatzimichalis Dalianis (see Chatzimichalis Dalianis) and his men, massacred by the Turks here in 1821.