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Crete TOURnet: Home Guida di Creta Mythology of Crete Crete and Homer

Crete and Homer

Some time after the decline of the Minoan civilization, Homer refers to Crete in his poems on several occasions. He calls Crete "hospitable, handsome, and fertile", and a land with many cities where Minos ruled. Homer refers to Cretans of many races: Eteocretans, Pelasgians, Ahaeans, Dorians, and Kydonians. While the Eteocretans (True Cretans) were of Minoan descent, all the others were Greek tribes that inhabited various parts of the island at the time of Homer. Kydonians lived on the west side of the island and even today the name of the province around Chania is Kydonia. Kydon was the son of Minos’s wife Pasiphae, and Hermes. The name means "glorious"," proud".
The Cretan fleet also took part in the expedition against Troy. When the Greek fleet was at Aulis, envoys were sent from King Idomeneas of Crete to Agamemnon, the supreme commander of the Greeks, announcing that if Agamemnon agreed to share the command with Idomeneas, one hundred Cretan ships would join the Greek expedition to Troy. Agamemnon agreed to this proposal and thus the expedition against Troy became a Creto-Hellenic enterprise.
Several parts of the Odyssey contain possible references to Crete. The cave of the Cyclops, where Odysseus and his companions were trapped by Poliphimos, may have been in the present-day area of Sougia, on the south coast. In southwest Crete high mountains drop to the sea and strong wild goats (the Cretan "kri-kri") roamed these mountains which contain many caves. One such cave in the mountains above Sougia still bears the name the cave of the Cyclops. During his adventures Odysseus also reached the island of Aeolus, the god who governed all the winds. Homer says that an unbroken wall of bronze encircles this island, and below it sheer cliffs rise from the sea. Aeolus trapped the boisterous energies of all the winds in a leather bag which was given to Odysseus. The Imeri Gramvousa, fits the description of the island of Aeolus with its cliffs bronzed from the setting sun and rising high from the often turbulent sea. In addition, the ancient name of Gramvousa was Korykos, which means "leather bag".