It is a small barren island. In ancient times it was called Aegila. Aegila was located at the entrance of the Aegean Sea, at the passage between Kythera and Crete, and therefore it was of great strategic importance. It is not known what the ancient ports of the island were because the sea level changed…
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According to Hesiod, the birth of Aphrodite is placed in Kythera. Cronus, in the “Theogony”, is the only son of Earth who agreed with his mother to avenge his father, Uranus, because she suffered from her husband’s behaviour. Cronus threw his father’s genitals into the sea and from the white foam that formed around them…
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The name Poros means passage or strait, an apt description of the island’s geography, as it lies separated from the Peloponnese coast by a narrow channel. In antiquity the island was known as Kalavria, a name often interpreted as “good breeze”, derived from the Greek words for beauty and breeze. Indeed, during summer the island…
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The bay of Rossikos Nafstathmos (Russian Naval Station), on the western side of Poros, owes its name to events that took place during the early years of the modern Greek state. After the Greek War of Independence, Poros became an important naval centre and a location where the fleets of the Great Powers maintained a…
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Unfortunately, we have not collected any historic information on Arkioi yet
Northern Crete forms the historical spine of the island. Facing the Aegean and opening toward mainland Greece and the wider Mediterranean, this coast has, for millennia, been Crete’s principal political, economic and maritime axis. From the deep natural harbour of Souda to the shores of Hersonissos, the northern littoral has witnessed the rise of palatial…
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Eastern Crete possesses a markedly different rhythm from the island’s administrative north or resistant west. Here the mountains soften into plateaus, the coastline fragments into coves and promontories, and settlements historically looked outward toward Asia Minor, Cyprus and the Levant. Less densely urbanised than Heraklion’s plains and less politically central than Chania, eastern Crete has…
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Southern Crete presents a landscape of dramatic contrasts. Sheer mountains descend abruptly toward the Libyan Sea; narrow plains appear suddenly between gorges; harbours are few, exposed and elemental. Unlike the northern coast, open to the Aegean and to sustained maritime exchange, the southern littoral has historically been more isolated — yet no less significant. It…
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Western Crete, stretching from the great natural harbour of Souda westwards to Kissamos, Gramvousa and the Libyan-facing shores beyond, possesses a character distinct from the administrative gravity of Heraklion. Here, mountains press closer to the sea, plains narrow, and harbours become gateways not only to trade but to exile, resistance and maritime independence. Western Crete…
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The island has been known as MEGÍSTI since antiquity, because it is the largest among many small islands. It was renamed “Kastellórizo” during the Frankish rule, because of the characteristic castle of the island built atop red rocks (Kastello Rosso). Both names (Megísti and Kastellórizo) are used today. The geographer Strávon (1st century BC) called…
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