Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean. From about 2700 to 1420 BCE it was the centre of Minoan civilization, Europe's earliest palace culture, with major palaces at Knossos and elsewhere. The Minoans traded widely across the eastern Mediterranean and reached their height around the 16th century BCE. Crete formally joined Greece in December 1913.

Greek myth fills the island with wonders. Zeus was said to have been born or hidden in a Cretan cave, King Minos ruled at Knossos, and the bronze giant Talos, made by Hephaestus or given by Zeus, circled the island three times a day throwing rocks at ships until Medea brought him down. That story is told most fully by Apollonius of Rhodes around 250 BCE.

The Bronze Age eruption of nearby Thera (Santorini), which sent tsunamis toward Crete, is often discussed as a possible real-world source for the Atlantis legend, though most scholars do not accept a direct link.