Crete in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Crete

113 passages from 25 ancient authors that tell of Crete, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Crete is the largest island in Greece and has been the backdrop for a number of stories of ancient Greek mythology.Zeus, the king of gods and men, w... For the story in one place, read our article on Crete.

Hesiod (4)

Hesiod, Theogony 450–479Rhea and Cronus; the birth of Zeus (450-479)Hecate is made a nurse of the young. Rhea bears Cronus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and Cronus swallows each child as it is born, because Gaia and Uranus have told him his own son will overcome him. When she is about to bear Zeus, Rhea asks her parents for a plan, and they send her to Lyctus in Crete, where Gaia receives the child.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.68The suitors of HelenThe best-preserved passage of the Catalogue lists the heroes who came to woo Helen, each with his gifts, from Philoctetes and the sons of Amphiaraus to Odysseus, Menestheus, Aias and Idomeneus. Tyndareus sends none away and receives no gift, and the passage ends with the birth of Hermione.
Hesiod, Theogony 480–504Zeus hidden in Crete; Cronus vomits up his children (480-504)Gaia takes the infant Zeus to a hidden cave on Mount Aegeum and gives Cronus a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallows. When Zeus is grown, Gaia's counsel tricks Cronus into vomiting up his children, the stone first, which Zeus sets up at Pytho. Zeus also frees his father's brothers, the Cyclopes, who give him thunder and the lightning bolt.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.72–85Athens, Crete and central GreeceThese fragments name Butes, Breyon and Cychreus, and then Minos, Androgeos and Ariadne. They end with the families of Eurytus, Autolycus, Locrus, Ileus, Clymene and Thoas.

Homer (5)

Homer, Odyssey 14.191–359The false tale of the CretanOdysseus, in the character of a Cretan, tells Eumaeus that he was the son of a rich man and a slave woman, and fought at Troy under Idomeneus. Back in Crete he sailed with raiders to Egypt, where his men were killed or enslaved, and he was saved by the king. He then tells of a Phoenician who took him to Libya, of a shipwreck, and of how he was washed up in Thesprotia, where he heard that Odysseus was alive.
Homer, Odyssey 19.164–316The stranger's tale of CreteOdysseus says that he comes from Crete, that his name is Aethon and that he is the younger brother of Idomeneus, and that he once entertained Odysseus in Crete when the wind drove him toward Troy. Penelope weeps, and tests him, asking what clothes Odysseus wore, and he describes the purple cloak with the golden brooch and the tunic that shone like the skin of an onion. He then says that Odysseus is alive in Thesprotia and will return, but Penelope does not believe him.
Homer, Iliad 13.328–454Idomeneus' onslaughtIdomeneus and Meriones go into the battle like fire on a mountain, and Idomeneus kills Othryoneus, who had sought Cassandra's hand, and then Asius. He kills Alcathous, a son-in-law of Anchises, and Deiphobus' spear, thrown at Idomeneus, misses him and kills Hypsenor. Idomeneus boasts over each of his victims and calls on Zeus.
Homer, Odyssey 13.185–286Odysseus awakes on IthacaOdysseus wakes in his own land, but Athena has shed a mist about it, so that he does not know it, and he laments, thinking that the Phaeacians have tricked him. He counts his gifts, and Athena comes to him in the likeness of a young shepherd. Odysseus tells her a false tale that he is a Cretan who killed a son of Idomeneus and fled.
Homer, Iliad 2.645–785The Catalogue of Ships (3): Crete, Achilles' Myrmidons and ThessalyThe Catalogue turns to the Cretans under Idomeneus, Tlepolemus of Rhodes and Nireus of Syme. It lists Achilles' Myrmidons, who lie idle by their ships while he nurses his wrath, and then the contingents from Thessaly, including those of Protesilaus, Philoctetes and Eumelus. The poet asks the Muse who were the best of the men and horses, and names Ajax as the best man while Achilles was angry.

Apollodorus (4)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.1.1–4Europa, Minos and the birth of the MinotaurZeus takes the form of a bull and carries Europa from Phoenicia to Crete, where she bears Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys, while her brothers Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix, with Telephassa and Thasus, settle in distant lands. The three sons quarrel over Miletus, and Minos marries Pasiphae and has his children. Minos wins the kingdom by praying for a bull from Poseidon and then sacrificing another; Poseidon makes the bull savage and makes Pasiphae fall in love with it, so that with Daedalus's wooden cow she bears the Minotaur, shut up in the Labyrinth.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.6.1–29The returns from Troy: Nauplius, Agamemnon's murder and OrestesThe Greeks quarrel at an assembly over whether to leave at once, and the section follows the returns: Calchas and Mopsus at Colophon, the storm at Tenos in which Ajax dies, Nauplius's false beacon at Caphereus, Neoptolemus in Molossia, and the fates of Demophon and Phyllis, Podalirius and the Locrian maidens. Agamemnon is murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and Orestes avenges him, is tried at Athens, and brings the image of Artemis from the Taurians. The section ends with Menelaus's wanderings and his return to Sparta.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.2.1–2Catreus, Althaemenes and NaupliusAn oracle tells Catreus that one of his children will kill him, and his son Althaemenes leaves Crete for Rhodes with his sister Apemosyne, whom he later kicks to death when she says Hermes took her by trickery. Catreus gives his daughters Aerope and Clymene to Nauplius to sell abroad; Aerope marries Plisthenes and becomes the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Clymene marries Nauplius. In old age Catreus goes to Rhodes and is killed unknowingly by Althaemenes, who then vanishes into a chasm.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.1.1–7Uranus, the Titans and the birth of ZeusSky (Uranus) and Earth have the Hundred-handers, the Cyclopes and the Titans, and Sky casts the Cyclopes into Tartarus. At Earth's urging the Titans attack their father, and Cronus mutilates him with an adamantine sickle, so that the Furies are born from the blood. Cronus takes the sovereignty, binds his brothers again, marries Rhea and swallows his children at birth, until Rhea hides the infant Zeus in a cave in Crete among the Curetes and nymphs and gives Cronus a stone to swallow.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Fragments 50–56Carians or Europa to LycurgusMost of this section is Europa's speech from the Carians. She tells how Zeus took her in the shape of a bull, names her three sons Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, and fears for Sarpedon at Troy. The rest are one-line quotations from the Cercyon, the Heralds, the Women of Crete, the Lion and the Lycurgus.

Euripides (2)

Euripides, Hippolytus 121–175Parodos: the women of Troezen ask what ails PhaedraThe Chorus of women of Troezen sings of a rock from which dew drips and of the river where the queen washes her clothes, and tells how they have heard that Phaedra is ill and has lain for three days without food. They guess that she may be possessed by a god, or troubled by news from Crete, or by some secret in her house.
Euripides, Hippolytus 732–789Second choral song; Phaedra hangs herselfThe Chorus wishes to be a bird in some pathless cavern, flying to the Adrian shore and the waters of the Eridanus, where Phaethon's sisters weep amber tears, and to the apple-bearing strand in the west. It sings of the ship that brought Phaedra from Crete to Athens, and says that Aphrodite has crushed her heart with unholy love so that she will tie a noose in her bridal chamber. A servant then cries that the queen has hanged herself, and the Chorus hears that she is dead.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1537–1693Triton, and Talos of CreteTriton, in the form of a young man, gives Euphemus a clod of earth and later shows the way out of Lake Triton to the sea. At Crete the bronze man Talos hurls rocks at Argo until Medea overcomes him with her spells and he falls.

Callimachus (2)

Callimachus, Hymns 1.1–96Hymn to ZeusThe poet asks where Zeus was born, on Ida in Crete or in Arcadia, and calls the Cretans liars for building his tomb. He tells how Rhea bore Zeus in Parrhasia and washed in a spring she struck from the mountain, how the nymph Neda carried him to Crete and how the Dictaean Meliae and Adrasteia reared him on the milk of the goat Amaltheia. The hymn praises Zeus as the god who took kings for his portion, and ends with a prayer for goodness and prosperity.
Callimachus, Hymns 4.205–326Hymn to Delos: the birth of ApolloLeto sits by the Inopus and leans against a palm-tree, bidding her child be born, and Iris tells Hera, who relents because Zeus has calmed her. The swans of Pactolus circle Delos seven times, which is why Apollo's lyre has seven strings, and the island turns to gold as the god is born. Delos tells Earth that Apollo will love her above all lands and that she will wander no more. The poet then describes the first-fruits sent to Delos from the north, the dance of Theseus at the image of Cypris, and the sailors' rite at the altar.

Diodorus Siculus (10)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.73.1–5.77.8The gods' discoveries and their Cretan originsZeus is said to have given each god a field of invention: the Muses the letters and poetry, Apollo the lyre, healing and the bow, Hermes the herald's staff, Athena the olive, and Dionysus the vine. The chapters then give an older Heracles, Artemis, Plutus, and the claim that most of the gods began in Crete and spread to other lands.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.59.1–4.63.5TheseusThe historian tells of Theseus' birth at Troezen and his labours against the robbers on the road to Athens, then of the Minotaur: Minos' war over the death of Androgeos, the tribute of youths, Ariadne's help, and Theseus' union of the Attic demes into one city. He adds the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus and the exploits of Peirithoüs, including the abduction of Helen and the descent to Hades.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.76.1–4.80.6Daedalus, Minos in Sicily and the Mothers at EngyumDaedalus, an Athenian craftsman who invents the saw and the potter's wheel, flees to a deme of Attica after the death of his nephew, then to Crete, where he makes the contrivance for Pasiphae, and then escapes to Sicily; Icarus falls into the sea. Minos pursues him to Sicily and dies at the court of Cocalus. The section ends with the cult of the Mothers at Engyum and the great temple the townspeople built for them.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.78.1–5.80.4Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon; the peoples of CreteMinos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon are sons of Zeus and Europa; Rhadamanthys is the most just of men and rules many islands and a stretch of the Asian coast. Minos' descendants include Idomeneus and Meriones, and the historian lists the peoples who later mixed with the Cretans.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.64.1–5.67.5Early Crete: the Dactyls, the Curetes and the TitansThe Cretans claim that the Eteocretans were native to the island, and that the Idaean Dactyls discovered fire and the working of metals. They tell of the Curetes and of the Titans near Cnosus under Cronus' rule, whose age is described with lines of Hesiod, and of Hyperion's observation of the heavens.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.81.1–5.84.4Lesbos, Tenedos and the CycladesThe historian tells of the first settlers of Lesbos, including the Pelasgians, and of Lesbos son of Lapithes, who gave it its name, and of the colonies from Lesbos led by Macareus. He then tells of Tennes and the founding of Tenedos, and ends with the smaller Cyclades, which Minos colonised from Crete.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.55.1–5.59.6Rhodes: the Telchines, the Heliadae and later settlersThe Telchines first lived on Rhodes, followed by the children of Helius and Rhodos, the Heliadae, who are famed for their learning and for their sacrifice without fire. The historian tells of the killing of Tenages and Danaüs's visit to Lindus, and of the later settlers Phorbas, Althaemenes and Tlepolemus.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.68.1–5.72.5Zeus and the children of Cronus in CreteAccording to the Cretans the children of Cronus and Rhea discovered or introduced many arts, and the sea, the hearth and the corn belong to Poseidon, Hestia and Demeter. The historian gives the conflicting accounts of how Zeus became king, the places in Crete tied to his infancy, his benefactions to mankind and the punishment of the Giants.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.17.1–4.21.7Heracles and the cattle of GeryonesFor his tenth labour Heracles gathers an army and sails from Crete, which he first clears of wild beasts. In Libya he kills Antaeus, in Egypt Busiris, and he sets up the Pillars at the western ocean. He then crosses Celtica, where he founds Alesia, and the Alps, passes the Ligurians, and camps on the Tiber where Rome later stands.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.60.1–5.63.3The Cherronesus and the sanctuary of HemitheaThe historian turns to the Cherronesus opposite Rhodes, where Triopas was purified of his brother's murder, and then tells how the daughters of Staphylus were rescued by Apollo. One of them, honoured as Hemithea, came to have the great temple at Castabus.

Ovid (8)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152–263The Minotaur; Daedalus and IcarusMinos returns to Crete and shuts the Minotaur, the monster born of Pasiphae's unnatural love, in a labyrinth built by Daedalus. The Athenians pay tribute of youths and maidens until Theseus kills the monster with the help of Ariadne's thread, and Ariadne is placed among the stars as a crown. Daedalus, long exiled in Crete, makes wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son Icarus, who flies too near the sun and falls into the sea. Daedalus' nephew Perdix, whom he threw from a tower out of jealousy, is changed into a partridge, and Daedalus is received by King Cocalus in Sicily.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.666–797Iphis and IantheLigdus, a poor man of Crete, tells his pregnant wife Telethusa that if the child is a girl it must be killed, but Isis appears to Telethusa in a dream and tells her to rear it. The girl Iphis is brought up as a boy and betrothed to Ianthe, whom she loves, and as the wedding approaches she prays in despair. Isis, remembering Telethusa's faith, changes Iphis into a man.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.1–151Scylla and NisusMinos besieges Megara, where Nisus, the king, wears a purple lock of hair on which his safety depends. His daughter Scylla, who loves Minos from the wall, cuts off the lock and takes it to him, but Minos rejects her for her treachery and sails away. Scylla, abandoned, swims after the ship and is turned into a sea-bird, the ciris, which is pursued by her father, turned into an osprey.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.1–137Cadmus and the DragonZeus (Jupiter) reveals himself to Europa in Crete, and her father Agenor sends his son Cadmus to look for her and not to return without her. Cadmus consults the oracle of Apollo, which tells him to follow a heifer and to found a city where she lies down. He kills the dragon of Ares (Mars), which guards a spring, and sows its teeth on Athena's (Minerva's) advice, and armed men spring up from the furrows and fight until only five are left. These help him to build Thebes, and Cadmus prospers, though his story shows that no man can be called happy before his death.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.453–613Cephalus at Aegina; the plagueMinos is gathering a fleet to make war on Athens, and Cephalus is sent from Athens to ask help from Aeacus, king of Aegina, and is received with honour. Aeacus tells how Hera (Juno), angered that the island was named after Zeus' (Jupiter's) lover Aegina, sent a plague that killed its people. The plague began among animals and spread to men, and the dead lay unburied in thousands.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.477–551Egeria and HippolytusNuma, having learned these lessons, goes back to Rome and rules in peace, and when he dies his wife Egeria, grieving, wanders until she lies down in tears at the foot of a mountain. Hippolytus, now the god Virbius, tries to console her with the story of how he was killed by his own horses and restored to life by Asclepius (Aesculapius), and taken to the grove of Artemis (Diana). Egeria is not comforted, and Artemis in pity turns her into a spring.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.833–875Europa and the BullHermes (Mercury) returns to Olympus, and Zeus (Jupiter) sends him to drive the herds of King Agenor down to the shore, where Agenor's daughter Europa is playing. Zeus, taking the form of a bull, wins her favour, and she climbs on his back. He carries her over the sea toward Crete.
Ovid, Fasti 5.111–182Fasti 5: Amalthea's goat, the Lares Praestites and Bona Dea (1 May)On 1 May Ovid tells how the nymph Amalthea's goat nursed the infant Zeus (Jupiter) on Crete and was set among the stars, with her horn. He mentions the altar of the Guardian Lares and their dog images, and the Bona Dea temple, then the Hyades on 2 May and the hunter Hyas, killed by a lioness.

Pausanias (14)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.2.1–7Sparta: the Agid kings from Eurysthenes to Alcamenes, and Lycurgus’ lawsPausanias traces the Agid royal house from Eurysthenes and Agis through Echestratus, Labotas, Doryssus and Agesilaus, noting colonies such as Patrae and the Aeolian colony of Gras, the expulsion of the Cynurians and the first wars with Argos. He records that Lycurgus gave the laws in the reign of Agesilaus, whether from Delphi or Crete, and the conquest of Aegys and of Amyclae, Pharis and Geranthrae under Teleclus, who was killed by Messenians at Limnae.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.4.1–10Samos and Chios: the Heraeum, Smilis and DaedalusPausanias recounts the Ionian settlement of Samos under Procles of Epidaurus, quoting Asius on the earlier line of Phoenix and Ancaeus, and the Ephesian attack under Androclus. He discusses the sanctuary of Hera, which the Samians say was founded where the goddess was born by the Imbrasus under a willow, and the old image by the Aeginetan Smilis. A digression on Daedalus, his flight from Athens to Minos and then to Cocalus in Sicily, follows. The section ends with the legendary history of Chios according to Ion, from Poseidon and Oenopion to King Hector.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.38.1–11Lycosura and Mount Lycaeus: the oldest city, the sacred precinct and Hagno's springPausanias calls Lycosura the oldest city on earth, the first the sun saw. He describes Mount Lycaeus, which the Arcadians say is the true Crete where Zeus was reared by the nymphs Thisoa, Neda and Hagno, and where the priest of Lycaean Zeus makes rain by stirring the spring of Hagno with an oak branch. On the mountain are a sanctuary of Pan, a hippodrome, the forbidden precinct of Lycaean Zeus where creatures cast no shadow and the festival of Parrhasian Apollo.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.17.1–6Athens: altar of Mercy, gymnasium of Ptolemy and sanctuary of TheseusIn the market-place are altars of Mercy, Modesty, Rumour and Impulse, which Pausanias takes as proof of Athenian piety. Nearby are the gymnasium of Ptolemy and the sanctuary of Theseus, with paintings of the Amazon war, the Centaur battle and Minos testing Theseus with a ring. He then gives the conflicting tales of Theseus’ death: his capture in Thesprotia with Pirithous, his loss of the throne to Menestheus, and his end on Scyros, from where Cimon later brought his bones to Athens.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.27.1–10Athens Acropolis: Athena Polias, the Arrephoroi, Tolmides and the bull of MarathonIn the temple of Athena Polias Pausanias lists a wooden Hermes, Daedalus’ folding chair, Persian spoils and the sacred olive, then the temple of Pandrosus and the secret night rite of the Arrephoroi. He describes figures of Erechtheus and Eumolpus, the statue of Tolmides with a summary of his campaigns, and bronze groups of Theseus lifting the rock, and of Theseus and the bull of Marathon, told through Troezenian and Cretan tales.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.36.1–6Salamis, Psyttalia and the Sacred Way: tombs of Anthemocritus and CephisodorusAt Salamis Pausanias notes a sanctuary of Artemis, a trophy of the sea-fight and a shrine of Cychreus, and on Psyttalia some rude idols of Pan. He then follows the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, noting the tomb of Anthemocritus, murdered by the Megarians, the place Scirum named after a Dodonaean seer, and the tomb of Cephisodorus, who brought Roman help against Philip V of Macedonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.30.1–10Aegina’s cults of Hecate and Aphaea; the early history of TroezenPausanias lists Aegina’s temples, Hecate’s mysteries with Myron’s image, the sanctuary of Aphaea and the Cretan legend of Britomartis, and the sanctuary of Panhellenian Zeus, referring readers to Herodotus for the images of Auxesia and Damia. He then turns to Troezenia, giving its legendary kings from Orus and Althepus through Saron, Hyperes and Anthas to Pittheus and Troezen, and notes Dorian rule from Argos and the colonies founded from Troezen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.3.1–10Ionia: Colophon, Clarus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and PhocaeaPausanias gives the early history of several Ionian cities. At Colophon, the sanctuary of Clarus is linked to the Cretan Rhacius and to Manto, daughter of Tiresias, and her son Mopsus. He tells of Lebedus, destroyed by Lysimachus to enlarge Ephesus, of Teos with its Minyan, Attic and Boeotian settlers, and of Erythrae, which had Cretan, Lycian, Carian and Pamphylian inhabitants. He then covers the founding of Clazomenae and of Phocaea, whose settlers had to obtain kings of the race of Codrus before the Ionians would admit them.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.49.1–7Tegea: Philopoemen's early careerPausanias describes the theatre of Tegea and the pedestal of the statue of Philopoemen. He recounts Philopoemen's upbringing at Megalopolis by Cleander of Mantinea and his admiration for Epaminondas. He tells how Philopoemen led two thirds of the Megalopolitans to Messene when Cleomenes seized the city, refused Cleomenes' overtures, and fought at Sellasia, where he was run through both thighs and snapped the spear by walking forward. He then served as a captain in Crete, commanded the Achaean cavalry and defeated the Aetolian and Elean horse at the Larisus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.50.1–10Philopoemen: army reforms, victory over Machanidas and war with NabisPausanias tells how Philopoemen, as leader of the Achaeans, reequipped their infantry with breastplates, greaves, Argolic shields and long spears. At Mantinea he routed the Spartan foot and killed the tyrant Machanidas, and the audience at the Nemean games turned to him when a song about the crown of freedom was sung. He escaped an assassination plot by Philip of Macedon and relieved Messene from Nabis. He then fought the Spartans at Gythium and in the retreat, until the Aetolians had Nabis assassinated.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.53.1–11Tegea: Apollo, God of Streets, the sons of Tegeates and the sanctuaries of the cityPausanias explains why Tegea has images of Apollo, God of Streets: Apollo and Artemis took vengeance on those who ignored Latona, and Limon killed his brother Scephrus, for which the festival rite re-enacts a pursuit by the priestess of Artemis. He reports the migration of Cydon, Archedius and Gortys to Crete and the Cretan version of those names. He lists the Tegean tribes, the temples of Demeter and the Maid, Paphian Aphrodite, Dionysus and Apollo with an image by Chirisophus, the Common Hearth, and the high place of Clarian Zeus, then the roads to Laconia and their sanctuaries.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.2.1–7The Sacred War: Philomelus, Onomarchus, Phaylus and PhalaecusPausanias tells how the Phocians, fined by the Amphictyons, were persuaded by Philomelus to seize Delphi. He follows the ten years of war with the Thebans, the death of Philomelus at Neon, the defeat and death of Onomarchus against Philip, the dream and illness of Phaylus and the dismissal of Phalaecus, who died on Crete before Cydonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.6.1–7Delphi: the founding of the city, Lycorea, Delphus and the slaying of PythoPausanias gives the early history of Delphi: the oldest city founded by Parnasus, its flooding in Deucalion's time and the survivors led by wolves to found Lycorea. He reports the various accounts of Delphus' parentage and of the first Thyiad, and explains the name Pytho either from Pythes or from the rotting of the creature Apollo shot, said to be a dragon or a robber from Euboea whom the oracle foretold would be purified by men of Crete.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.16.1–8Delphi: the stand of Alyattes' bowl, the Navel and the offerings of the Elyrians and LiparaeansPausanias describes the iron stand of Alyattes' bowl by Glaucus of Chios, the first welder of iron, and the Navel of white marble, said to mark the centre of the earth. He lists the Spartan statue of Hermione, the Aetolian statue of Eurydamus, the bronze goat of the Elyrians of Crete, the Carystian ox and the Liparaean images of Apollo, one for each Tyrrhenian ship captured.

Nonnus of Panopolis (2)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 13.201–308Book 13: Aiacos, Asterios and Aristaios joinAiacos comes with his Myrmidons, who were once ants, and Asterios brings the Cretans, who will later settle in Colchis. Aristaios comes last, because he had challenged Dionysos with his honey and lost. He is the son of Cyrene and leads the Arcadians, armed by Apollo.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.364–495Book 47: Ariadne's lament; her marriage to Dionysos; the madness of ArgosAriadne laments her abandonment and begs any passing sailor to take her to Athens. Dionysos appears, consoles her and promises her a crown of stars, and they marry on Naxos amid songs and dances. He then goes to Argos, where the people, fearing Hera, refuse his rites, and he drives the Argive women mad so that they kill their infant children.

[Eratosthenes] (2)

[Eratosthenes], Catasterismi (Constellation Myths) 13–16The Charioteer, the Bull, Cepheus and CassiepeiaThe Charioteer is Erichthonius, born from Hephaestus's failed pursuit of Athena, and with him are the Goat and Kids of Zeus's infancy. The Bull is either Zeus's bull of Europa or an image of Io, and the Pleiad is explained from the Atlantid sisters. Cepheus and Cassiepeia belong to the story of Andromeda and the sea monster.
[Eratosthenes], Catasterismi (Constellation Myths) 30–33The Eagle, the Dolphin, Orion and the DogThe Eagle, Zeus's bird, and the Dolphin that found Amphitrite for Poseidon are honoured for services to the gods. Orion's blinding, healing and death by the Scorpion are told at length, and the Dog is the hound given to Europa, afterwards Cephalus's.

Antoninus Liberalis (2)

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 17.1–19.3Leucippus, Eeropus and the ThievesGalatea of Phaestus raises her daughter as a boy, Leucippus, and Leto changes the girl into a youth. Botres, killed by his father for eating the brain of a sacrificial lamb, becomes the eeropus bird. Four men who steal honey from the Cretan cave where Zeus was born are turned into birds of omen.
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 34.1–36.3Smyrna, the Herdsmen and PandareusSmyrna tricks her father Thias into incest, becomes the myrrh tree and gives birth to Adonis. Lycian herdsmen who drive Leto from a spring are turned into frogs. Pandareus steals the golden dog that guarded the goat of Zeus and becomes a rock, and Tantalus, who denies having it, is cast down under Sipylus.

Aratus (1)

Aratus, Phaenomena 1–115Zeus and the northern sky: the Bears and the DragonAratus begins with Zeus, who gave men the signs of the heavens, and with a prayer to the Muses. He describes the Axis and the two Bears, Helice and Cynosura, which were set in the sky for nursing the infant Zeus in Crete, and the Dragon winding between them. He goes on to the kneeling figure called Engonasin, the Crown, Ophiuchus with the Serpent and the Scorpion, Arctophylax or Boötes, and the Maiden, whom men called Justice and who lived on earth in the Golden Age.

Bacchylides (2)

Bacchylides, Epinicians (Odes of Victory) 1.111–2.14Odes 1–2: Minos on Ceos; Argeius, boys' boxing at the IsthmusOde 1 breaks in on Minos, who comes from Crete with fifty ships, weds Dexithea on Ceos and leaves half his host there, and their son Euxantius becomes lord of the island. The poet then praises Argeius, son of Pantheides, whose family Apollo favoured, and reflects that Virtue's renown outlasts death. Ode 2 is a short song announcing Argeius' victory in boys' boxing at the Isthmus and recalling the seventy wreaths won there by the Ceans.
Bacchylides, Dithyrambs 17.1–132Dithyramb 17: Theseus and MinosA ship bears Theseus and fourteen Athenian youths and maidens to Crete, where Minos lays a hand on a maiden and Theseus rebukes him. Minos asks Zeus for a sign and challenges Theseus to bring back his gold ring from the sea. Theseus dives, is carried by dolphins to the hall of his father Poseidon and robed by Amphitrite, and comes back unwetted to the ship while the Athenians sing a paean.

Conon (2)

Conon, Narrations 28.1–36.1Tenes, Tereus and the Spartan colonistsTenes' axe, the wanderings of the Magnesians and the punished negligence of Peithenius open the section. Tereus' crime against Philomela and the adventures of Proteus in Thrace follow, then Branchus of Didyma, the theft of the Palladion and the shepherd rescued by vultures. The Spartan colonists who founded Melos and settled Gortyn close it.
Conon, Narrations 44.1–47.2Euangelus, Orpheus, Aeneas and AlthaemenesA captive's son becomes the first prophet of the Branchidae at Miletus, and Orpheus is torn apart by women and honored as a hero. Aeneas' travels end at Aenus, with a pointed remark on the Roman version of his story. Althaemenes, refusing both the Dorian and the Ionian colonists, settles Rhodes.

Herodotus (8)

Herodotus, Histories 1.173–176The Lycians and the conquest of Caria and LyciaThe Lykians came from Crete with Sarpedon and took the name of Lycos, and they name themselves after their mothers. Harpagos subdued the Carians, and the Cnidians gave up digging through their isthmus after an oracle. The Pedasians held out longest. The Xanthians burned their citadel with their families and died fighting.
Herodotus, Histories 4.150–153Battus, the Delphic oracle and the fisherman CorobiusThe Theraians say that the Pythian prophetess told Grinnos to found a city in Libya, and he pointed to Battos instead. After seven years without rain, the Theraians sent to Crete and found Corobios, a purple-fisher who had been carried to the island of Platea. A Samian ship under Colaios was blown to Tartessos, and its crew dedicated a bronze bowl to Hera. The Theraians then sent colonists with Battos as leader and king.
Herodotus, Histories 7.168–171Corcyra and Crete hold back; Minos in SicilyThe Corcyreans promise help but keep sixty ships off Pylos and Tainaron to see who wins, later blaming the Etesian Winds. The Cretans consult Delphi and are told to remember the woes Minos sent upon them, so they give no help. The story is told of Minos dying in Sicania, of the Cretans besieging Camicos, and of the survivors who settled at Hyria in Iapygia.
Herodotus, Histories 1.65–66Lycurgus and the Spartan lawsCroesus learnt that the Lacedemonians had been worsted by the Tegeans. Lycurgos went to Delphi, where the prophetess hailed him as a god, and gave Sparta its new laws, brought, the Lacedemonians say, from Crete. Trusting a deceitful oracle about Tegea, the Spartans marched with fetters and were themselves made to work in them.
Herodotus, Histories 3.57–60The Samians at Siphnos and Cydonia, and the works of SamosThe Samian exiles go to rich Siphnos and ask for ten talents. The Siphnians refuse, are beaten, and must pay a hundred talents, which fulfils an oracle about a wooden army and a red herald. The Samians then settle Kydonia in Crete, until the Eginetans conquer them. The author describes three great Samian works, a tunnel, a mole and a temple.
Herodotus, Histories 4.42–45Necho, Sataspes and Scylax: the voyages round Libya and AsiaNecos king of the Egyptians sent Phenicians who sailed round Libya in three years, sowing corn each autumn. Sataspes, condemned by Xerxes, turned back from the same voyage and was impaled. Dareios sent Skylax down the Indus and by sea to Egypt. It is doubted why the earth bears three women's names, Libya, Asia and Europe, and who set their boundaries.
Herodotus, Histories 7.89–99The fleet of Xerxes and ArtemisiaThe fleet numbers one thousand two hundred and seven triremes, supplied by the Phenicians, Egyptians, Cyprians, Kilikians, Ionians and others, each with its equipment. The ships of the Sidonians are the best, and Persians, Medes or Sacans serve as fighting-men on board. Artemisia, ruler of Halicarnassos, joins the expedition with five ships and gives the king the best counsels of all his allies.
Herodotus, Histories 7.145–147The Hellenic alliance and the Persian spiesThe Hellenes who favour resistance reconcile their quarrels, especially that between the Athenians and the Eginetans, and send envoys to Argos, Sicily, Corcyra and Crete. Three spies sent to Sardis are caught, but Xerxes has them shown the whole army and released unharmed. He also reasons that the corn ships sailing to Egina and the Peloponnese are really serving his own army.

Hyginus (1)

Hyginus, De astronomia 2.9.1–2.13.7Book 2: Cepheus, Cassiepia, Andromeda, Perseus and the CharioteerThe family of Andromeda and Perseus, rescued from the sea monster, is placed among the stars in four short chapters, with the story of Perseus and the Gorgons. The Charioteer is Erichthonius, born of Hephaestus's desire for Athena, and the chapter ends with the Goat and the Kids, Amalthea and the aegis.

Lucian of Samosata (1)

Lucian of Samosata, On the Dance 1–16Crato attacks, Lycinus replies; the dance in Greek traditionCrato condemns the pantomime as unworthy of an educated man, and Lycinus answers that the dance is as old as the world. He traces it to Rhea and the Corybantes, to the Pyrrhic dance of Neoptolemus, to the Lacedaemonians who learned the Caryatic dance from Castor and Pollux, and to the dances of Homer's Shield of Achilles and of the Phaeacians. He adds that no ancient mystery was without dancing.

Lycophron (1)

Lycophron, Alexandra 1253–1368Alexandra 1253–1368: The sow's colony and the Sibyl, and the chain of rapes and reprisals between the two continentsThe founder sets up a bronze image of the sow and her young and builds a shrine to Pallenis, putting his fathers' gods and his aged sire before his wife and goods, and, judged most pious even by his foes, founds a famous land near Circaeon and the Sibyl's cave. Cassandra then recounts the older quarrel: the carrying off of the ox-eyed girl from Lerne to the lord of Memphis, the reprisal on the Saraptian heifer taken to Crete, an expedition sent with Teucer and Scamandrus to the Bebryces, and the theft of the fleece by the leader of the single sandal. Further raids follow, a hero taking the girdle and an archer from Themiscyra, the Amazons' invasion of Attica, and a champion in a hide who levels the hill of Troy with the spade. The falcons from Tmolus then ravage Italy, and the fire-brand wakes the old strife again, so that the wronged side will repay the injury threefold and fourfold.

Palaephatus (1)

Palaephatus, On Unbelievable Tales 15–21Europa, the Horse, Aeolus, Hesperides, Hundred-Handers, Scylla, Daedalus’ StatuesSeven more rationalisations. They run from Europa carried off by a man named Taurus to the Wooden Horse as a siege device, Aeolus the astronomer, the Hesperides’ golden sheep, a city named Hundred-Hands, the trireme Scylla, and Daedalus’ walking statues. The sources of the myths are almost always a pun or an ambiguous name.

Plato (7)

Plato, Laws 624a–628eBook I: Who gave the laws of Crete and Sparta? War, peace and the best judgeThe Athenian Stranger asks Clinias of Cnosus and Megillus of Lacedaemon whether a god or a man gave their laws, and they answer that Zeus is the lawgiver of Crete and Apollo of Lacedaemon. Clinias says that Minos went every ninth year to talk with his father Zeus, and that his brother Rhadamanthys was an exceedingly just judge, and the three agree to talk of government and laws on the long road from Cnosus to the cave and temple of Zeus. Clinias explains that Cretan common meals, gymnasia and the carrying of arms were laid down with war in view, because the lawgiver held that every city is in a state of undeclared war with every other, and that peace is only a name. The Athenian replies that the best man or city is the one that conquers itself and the best of all is the lawgiver who, as a third judge, reconciles the factions of a divided family and secures lasting friendship by laws.
Plato, Laws 704a–708eBook IV: The site of the new city: inland or on the sea; Minos, Salamis and the settlersThe Athenian asks whether the new Cretan city is to be inland or on the coast, and Clinias says that it lies about eighty stades from the sea and has excellent harbours, to which the Athenian replies that the sea makes a city a trader's place, with shifty and untrustworthy ways. He says that a lawgiver should aim like an archer at the one object that is always accompanied by beauty, and not at wealth, and that a navy is a poor thing for a lawgiver, citing Minos, who by his sea power forced the Athenians to pay tribute. He says that Homer too knew that ships and infantry should not be mixed, since Odysseus abused Agamemnon for ordering the Achaeans to haul their ships down to the sea, and that the heroes of Marathon and Plataea, not those of Salamis, saved Greece by fighting on land. Clinias says that the settlers are likely to come from all Crete and from the Peloponnese, with some from Argos and Aegina, and the Athenian says that a city made of mixed settlers is hard to unite.
Plato, Protagoras 341a–343eSocrates on Simonides: Prodicus' synonyms and the Laconic philosophyProdicus, asked to help, says that 'hard' in Simonides' line means 'bad', and Socrates uses this, as Prodicus corrects him when he calls a thing 'awful' in praise, to say that Simonides blames Pittacus for saying that the good is bad. Protagoras objects, and Socrates offers to explain the poem's real meaning himself, or else to listen to Protagoras. He says that the oldest and greatest philosophy is in Crete and Lacedaemon, but that the Lacedaemonians hide their wisdom and pretend to be fools, and that the seven wise men, Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson and Chilo, were pupils of that Laconian culture. He says that their short sayings, such as 'Know thyself' and 'Nothing too much', were the fruit of this wisdom, and that Pittacus' saying was famous among them.
Plato, Phaedo 57a–59ePhaedo reports to Echecrates: the ship from Delos and who was presentEchecrates asks Phaedo about the death of Socrates, and Phaedo says that Socrates' execution was delayed by the sacred ship that Athens sends to Delos each year. It is the ship in which, according to the Athenians, Theseus once took the fourteen young people to Crete and saved them and himself, and no one may be put to death while it is away. Phaedo names those who were with Socrates on his last day, among them Apollodorus, Critobulus and his father, Simmias, Cebes and Euclides, and says that Plato was ill. He describes the strange mixture of pleasure and pain he felt in being there.
Plato, Laws 629a–633eBook I: The whole of virtue as the lawgiver's aim; Tyrtaeus, Theognis and the common mealsThe Athenian takes up Tyrtaeus, who praised only the man who stands firm in war, and says that the loyal man in civil strife, as Theognis of Sicilian Megara says, is worth a whole host, and needs justice, temperance and wisdom as well as courage. He argues that a lawgiver who laid down institutions for war alone, such as Lycurgus or Minos, would be a poor one, since the aim should be the whole of virtue, the human goods before the divine, and war should be for peace. He says that the lawgiver must watch men's pleasures, pains and desires, praise and blame them correctly, and distribute honours through the laws. Megillus asks the Athenian to show that the laws of Zeus and Apollo, as Minos and Lycurgus made them, have this scope, and the Athenian proposes to start with the common meals and the gymnasia.
Plato, Laws 639a–642eBook I: The right test of drinking parties; the sober leader; Epimenides and AthensThe Athenian proposes to judge the institution of drinking parties by its right use, as one would judge the rearing of goats, and says that a symposium needs a sober leader, as every commander of ship, chariot or army must be sober. He argues that the right ordering of drinking can only be treated together with music, and music with education as a whole, and he fears being thought a talker on a small matter. Megillus says that his family is the proxenus of Athens, and that having heard children say that Athens did the Lacedaemonians good or harm he conceived a lasting affection for it and believes that good Athenians are incomparably good. Clinias adds that the inspired Epimenides, a Cretan and a family connection of his, went to Athens ten years before the Persian War in obedience to the oracle, offered sacrifices, and prophesied that the Persians would come back with their hopes frustrated and after suffering more woes than they inflicted.
Plato, Laws 793a–796eBook VII: Unwritten customs, games of the young child, left and right hand, wrestling and the war-dancesThe Athenian says that the unwritten customs of the fathers are the bonds of every constitution, and that the children from three to six need games, which they invent for themselves, and punishment, which must not be of a degrading kind, to prevent their being spoiled. He says that from six, boys and girls are to be separated, the boys learning horsemanship, the bow, the javelin and the sling, and that the habit of using only the right hand is a fault of nurses and mothers, and both hands should be trained equally. He rejects the wrestling devices of Antaeus and Cercyon, and the boxing of Epeius and Amycus, as useless in war, but praises the standing wrestling and the free movement of the body. He adds that the gymnastic dances of imitation, such as the sword-dance of the Curetes in Crete, of the Dioscuri in Lacedaemon and of the armed Virgin Athena at Athens, are fit for the boys and girls.

Plutarch (12)

Plutarch, Life of Theseus 19.1–21.2Theseus and the Minotaur; the stories of Ariadne; the Crane dance on DelosMost writers say that Ariadne gave Theseus the thread, with which he found his way through the Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur and sailed off with Ariadne and the youths. Philochorus has him defeat Taurus in the funeral games of Minos, and Cleidemus has him sail against Minos' son Deucalion with Daedalus as guide. The accounts of Ariadne disagree: she hangs herself, or is taken to Naxos, or dies in childbirth on Cyprus, or there were two Ariadnes, one of whom married Dionysus. On Delos Theseus dances with his youths a dance that imitates the passages of the Labyrinth, called the Crane.
Plutarch, Life of Philopoemen 12.1–13.6Philopoemen rescues Messene from Nabis, then serves in CreteThe Achaeans take heart at the sight of Philopoemen, a false report of his approach makes the Boeotians abandon the siege of Megara, and Philip of Macedon sends men to Argos to assassinate him. When Nabis, who succeeded Machanidas, seizes Messene, Philopoemen, out of office, goes to its rescue with his fellow-citizens and Nabis slips out by the opposite gate. His second journey to Crete at the request of the Gortynians draws accusations, and the Megalopolitans try to exile him until the Achaeans send Aristaenus to prevent it. In Crete he beats the Cretans with their own tricks and ambushes.
Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus 27.1–29.6The siege of Sparta: the women, the trench and AcrotatusPyrrhus camps before Sparta while King Areus is away in Crete, and the Spartans, urged on by Archidamia, dig a trench and sink waggons in it, the women completing a third of the work. Next day his son Ptolemy attacks at the waggons and is taken in the rear by Acrotatus with three hundred men, while Phyllius falls fighting in the line. Pyrrhus dreams that Sparta is ablaze with his thunderbolts and renews the assault, but his horse is wounded at the trench, and Ameinias with mercenaries and then Areus with two thousand men arrive to save the city.
Plutarch, Life of Pompey 26.1–30.6Pompey clears the pirates from the sea and receives the Mithridatic commandThe law passes, Pompey receives five hundred ships and a vast force, and he divides the Mediterranean into thirteen districts and clears the Tyrrhenian and Libyan seas and the waters around Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily in forty days. After a stop at Athens, where he reads two inscriptions in his honour, he defeats the main pirate fleet off Coracesium in Cilicia and ends the war in less than three months, with ninety bronze-beaked ships surrendered. He spares more than twenty thousand pirates and settles them in Cilician cities, at Soli and at Dyme, but angers Metellus in Crete by stopping his war and sending Octavius to fight on the pirates' side. The tribune Manlius then proposes giving Pompey the command of Lucullus against Mithridates and Tigranes, only Catulus speaks against it, and the law passes.
Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15.1–18.2The tribute to Minos and the Minotaur; Theseus volunteers for CreteAfter Androgeos is killed in Attica, the Athenians agree to send Minos seven youths and seven maidens every nine years. Plutarch gives the tale that the Minotaur destroyed them in the Labyrinth and the Cretan version, quoting Philochorus, in which the Labyrinth was a dungeon and the general Taurus treated the captives cruelly. When the third tribute is due, Theseus offers himself outside the lot, and Aegeus gives the pilot a white sail to hoist if Theseus returns safe. Before sailing, Theseus follows an oracle from Delphi and makes Aphrodite his guide.
Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 3.1–4.6Lycurgus guards the infant king Charilaüs and travels to Crete, Ionia and EgyptAfter the death of his brother Polydectes, Lycurgus declares that the kingdom belongs to the unborn child if it is male and rules only as guardian. He pretends to accept the widow's offer to destroy the child if he will marry her, but when a boy is born he lays him in the royal seat and names him Charilaüs. Slandered by the queen-mother and her brother Leonidas, he goes abroad, first to Crete, where he studies the laws and persuades Thales to go to Sparta. He then visits Asia, where he copies the poems of Homer, and the Egyptians say he visited them too, while Aristocrates adds Libya, Iberia and India.
Plutarch, Life of Philopoemen 5.1–7.7Philopoemen at Sellasia and in Crete; he reforms the Achaean cavalryWhen Cleomenes, king of the Lacedaemonians, attacks Megalopolis by night, Philopoemen covers the citizens' escape and later dissuades them from accepting the king's offer to give the city back. At Sellasia he charges on his own initiative and is wounded through both thighs, and Antigonus laughs that the young man acted like a great commander. He declines Antigonus's offer of command and trains in Crete. Back among the Achaeans he is made commander of the cavalry, drills them into a disciplined force and unhorses the Eleian Damophantus at the river Larissus.
Plutarch, Greek Questions 21–30Questions 21-30: the Cretan Katakautai, the Sepulchre of the Boys, Tenes and Achilles at TenedosQuestion 21 explains the Cretan Katakautai through the Tyrrhenians who carried off Athenian women from Brauron and later settled in Crete. Question 22 tells of Cothus, who bought land from playing boys, and the Sepulchre of the Boys at Chalcedon. Other questions treat the Argive titles Mixarchagetas and Elasioi, the term Alastor, and the exclusion of the crier from the shrine of Ocridion at Rhodes. Question 28 explains why no piper may enter the temple of Tenes at Tenedos and why Achilles may not be named there, and Question 29 describes the Epidamnian poletes.
Plutarch, Life of Theseus 22.1–23.3The death of Aegeus; the festivals of the return and the ship of TheseusTheseus and his pilot forget in their joy to hoist the sail that was to signal their safety, and Aegeus throws himself from the rock. The herald who brings word of the return finds the people mourning, and Plutarch gives this as the reason why at the Oschophoria the herald's staff is crowned and not the herald. He also explains the boiling of pulse and the eiresione on the seventh day of Pyanepsion, and the two young men who sailed to Crete disguised as maidens. The ship was kept by the Athenians until the time of Demetrius Phalereus, with old timbers replaced, so that philosophers used it as an example in debating whether it remained the same.
Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 30.1–31.5Sparta after Lycurgus: Lysander's gold, his honours and the places of his deathSparta keeps the laws of Lycurgus for five hundred years, until in the reign of Agis Lysander brings home gold and silver and subverts them. Plutarch describes how a single Spartan commander won obedience from other Greek states, and says Lycurgus aimed at virtue and concord within the city rather than command over others. Lycurgus has a temple and yearly sacrifices, and his tomb was struck by lightning. Writers differ on where he died, he left an only son, Antiorus, and his friends instituted an assembly called the Lycurgidae.
Plutarch, Life of Solon 12.1–6The Cylonian pollution and Epimenides of CretePlutarch tells how the archon Megacles had the followers of Cylon killed after they left the sanctuary of Athena, which brought a curse on his family. Solon persuades the polluted men to stand trial before three hundred nobles, and they are convicted and banished. Troubled by signs and omens, Athens summons Epimenides of Crete, who purifies the city with rites and sacrifices, befriends Solon and asks only for a branch of the sacred olive.
Plutarch, Life of Lucullus 1.1–2.6Lucullus: his youth, his love of learning and the mission to EgyptLucullus, whose father is convicted of peculation, impeaches his father's accuser Servilius the Augur while still a youth, and Servilius is acquitted. He speaks Greek and Latin well, so that Sulla dedicates his memoirs to him, and he waits for his brother Marcus so that both may be elected aediles together. Sulla uses him to manage the mint, and the money he coins for the Mithridatic war is called Lucullean. Sent from Athens to fetch ships, he wins over Crete, puts Cyrene in order, loses most of his vessels to pirates, and is received by the young Ptolemy in the palace at Alexandria.

Strabo (19)

Strabo, Geography 10.4.15–19Crete's cities, laws and LycurgusStrabo discusses Homer's hundred or ninety Cretan cities and the fate of Idomeneus' men. He summarises the Cretan constitution from Ephorus, including the armed dance first invented by the Curetes, and the claim that Cretan customs came before the Spartan ones. He tells how Lycurgus travelled to Crete, met Thales, and carried ordinances from Delphi as Minos carried his from the cave of Zeus (Jupiter).
Strabo, Geography 10.3.19–23Corybantes, Cabeiri and Idaean DactylsStrabo gathers the competing genealogies of the Curetes, Corybantes, Telchines, Cabeiri and Idaean Dactyls, citing Hesiod, Pherecydes, Acusilaus, Sophocles and Demetrius of Scepsis. He tells of Rhea bringing guardians to Crete to nurse Zeus (Jupiter), of the Cabeiri in Samothrace, Lemnos and Imbros, and of the Dactyls as the first workers of iron on Ida. He ends by defending his long digression on fables as part of the study of the gods.
Strabo, Geography 10.4.6–10Crete: peoples, Cnossus and MinosStrabo lists the peoples of Crete named by Homer, the Eteocretans, Cydonians and Dorians, with the temple of the Dictaean Zeus (Jupiter) at Prasus. He describes Cnossus, the palace of Minos, and tells of Minos as lawgiver who went up to the cave of Zeus every ninth year, as against tragic tales of the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Theseus and Daedalus. He also tells of his own family link with Cnossus through Dorylaüs.
Strabo, Geography 10.5.1Thera, Melos and the islands of the Cretan seaStrabo lists the islands about Crete, beginning with Thera, a Lacedaemonian colony, and Anaphe with its temple of Apollo Aegletes. He moves on to Ios, where Homer was said to be buried, and to Pholegandrus, Cimolus, Siphnus and Melos. He recalls the Athenian army that put the people of Melos to death, and separates these from the Cyclades and Sporades.
Strabo, Geography 17.3.20–23The Great Syrtis and CyreneStrabo describes the Great Syrtis, its dangerous shallows, the Altars of the Philaeni and the Nasamones, then Berenice near lake Tritonis with a temple of Aphrodite (Venus), the lake of the Hesperides and the march of Cato. He goes on to Cyrene, founded from Thera by Battus, and to the silphium district. He lists famous natives of Cyrene such as Aristippus, Callimachus, Eratosthenes and Carneades, and ends at the Catabathmus with the peoples of the interior.
Strabo, Geography 2.5.18–25The Mediterranean: seas and islandsStrabo describes the four great gulfs of the outer ocean and then Our Sea from the Pillars of Hercules eastward. He lists its parts, such as the Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Sea of Sicily, Aegaean and Euxine seas, the Hellespont and Propontis, with their sizes and many islands including Sicily, Sardinia, Ithaca and Cyprus. He fixes the southern, northern, western and eastern limits of the Mediterranean.
Strabo, Geography 10.4.1–5Crete: position, size and mountainsStrabo begins the account of Crete and the islands near it, giving its position between Cyrenaica and Greece and its promontories, among them Samonium and Criu-Metopon. He compares the figures of Sosicrates, Artemidorus and Hieronymus for its length and circuit. He also describes its mountains, the White Mountains and Ida, and the sailing distances to Egypt, Cyrenaica and the Peloponnesus.
Strabo, Geography 10.5.14–19The Sporades: Nisyrus, Carpathus and CalydnaeStrabo ends the book with the Sporades between Cos, Rhodes and Crete, among them Astypalaea, Telos, Chalcia, Carpathus and Casus. He tells how Poseidon (Neptune) tore a piece from Cos with his trident and hurled it at the giant Polybotes to make Nisyrus. He also discusses Homer's Calydnae islands and the excellent honey of Calymna.
Strabo, Geography 13.1.46–48Tenedos, Chrysa and Apollo SmintheusStrabo describes Tenedos and the legend of Tennes and Cycnus, then the temple of Apollo Smintheus at Chrysa near Hamaxitus, with the mouse under the statue. He gives the stories of the Teucri, who came from Crete or Attica and were told by an oracle to settle where earth-born creatures attacked them. An altar to the Twelve Gods on Lectum is credited to Agamemnon.
Strabo, Geography 14.2.5–13Rhodes: city, Colossus and TelchinesStrabo praises the city of Rhodes, its sea power, its laws and care for the poor, and describes the fallen Colossus of the Sun and the paintings of Protogenes. He discusses Homer's account of Tlepolemus founding the island, the Telchines who first lived there, and the Heliadae. The Rhodians' early voyages and colonies, the three old cities Lindus, Ialysus and Cameirus, the rain of gold at the birth of Athena (Minerva) and Rhodian scholars are also covered.
Strabo, Geography 1.2.37–40The Argonauts and the voyage of JasonStrabo defends Callimachus against Apollodorus and rejects Demetrius of Skepsis, who denied that Homer knew of Jason's voyage. He points to Jason's son Euneos in Lemnos, Pelias and Alcestis as proof, and to traces of Jason and Phrixus around Colchis, Armenia, Crete, Italy and the Adriatic. He concludes that Homer follows history for Aeetes and Argo and adds fiction by placing the Argonauts on the ocean.
Strabo, Geography 2.4.1–3Pytheas, Thule and Polybius on DicaearchusStrabo reports Polybius's attack on Pytheas, who claimed to have walked all over Britain and described Thule and a sea-sponge-like mixture of earth, water and air. He notes Polybius's jibe that Eratosthenes should have trusted Euhemerus' Panchaea instead. He sets out the dispute between Polybius and Dicaearchus over the distance from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules, and corrects both.

7 more passages of Strabo that name Crete

Virgil (1)

Virgil, Aeneid 3.69–191Delos and the plague in CreteThe Trojans sail to Delos, where King Anius welcomes them and Apollo's oracle tells them to seek their ancient mother land. Anchises takes this to mean Crete, and they sail there and begin a city. A plague strikes, and in a dream the household gods tell Aeneas that the true destination is Hesperia, also called Italy. Anchises recalls that Cassandra spoke of Italy, and the Trojans leave Crete.