Editing Crete (section)

==Mythology==
{{Main|Greek mythology}}
[[File:Zeushoehle.jpg|thumb|250px|upright=0.9|[[Psychro Cave|Diktaean Cave]]]]

Crete has a strong association with ancient [[Greek gods]] but is also connected with the [[Minoan civilization]].

According to [[Greek mythology]], the [[Psychro Cave|Diktaean Cave]] at Mount [[Dikti]] was the birthplace of the god [[Zeus]]. The [[Paximadia]] islands were the birthplace of the goddess [[Artemis]] and the god [[Apollo]] {{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}. Their mother, the goddess [[Leto]], was worshipped at [[Phaistos]]. The goddess [[Athena]] bathed in Lake Voulismeni. Zeus launched a lightning bolt at a giant lizard that was threatening Crete. The lizard immediately turned to stone and became the lizard-shaped island of [[Dia (island)|Dia]], which can be seen from Knossos. The islets of [[Souda (island)|Lefkai]] were the result of a musical contest between the [[Siren (mythology)|Siren]]s and the [[Muses]]. The Muses were so anguished to have lost that they plucked the feathers from the wings of their rivals; the Sirens turned white and fell into the sea at [[Aptera, Greece|Aptera]] ("featherless"), where they formed the islands in the bay that were called Lefkai (the islands of [[Souda (island)|Souda]] and [[Leon (Souda Bay)|Leon]]).<ref>Caroline M. Galt, "A marble fragment at Mount Holyoke College from the Cretan city of Aptera", ''Art and Archaeology'' '''6''' (1920:150).</ref> [[Heracles]], in one of his labors, took the [[Cretan bull]] to the Peloponnese. [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]] and Zeus made love at [[Gortys]] and conceived the kings of Crete: [[Rhadamanthys]], [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]], and Minos.

The [[labyrinth]] of the [[Palace of Knossos]] was the setting for the myth of [[Theseus#Minotaur|Theseus and the Minotaur]] in which the Minotaur was slain by Theseus. [[Icarus]] and [[Daedalus]] were captives of King Minos and crafted wings to escape. After his death, King Minos became a judge of the dead in [[Hades]], while [[Rhadamanthys]] became the ruler of the [[Elysium|Elysian fields]].