Modern understanding of Greek mythology mythology to the still poorly understood pre-Hellenic societies of Greece, such as the Minoans and so-called Pelasgians. This is especially true in the case of chthonic deities and mother goddesses. Historians of religion were fascinated by a number of apparently ancient configurations of myth connencted with Crete: the god as bull — Zeus and Europa; Pasiphaë who yields to the bull and gives birth to the Minotaur; agrarian mysteries with a sacred marriage (Demeter's union with Iasion) etc. Crete, Mycenae, Pylos, Thebes and Orchomenus figure so large in later Greek mythology. For some, the three main generations of gods in
Cres (mythology) Stephanus, it was during Cres' reign that Tectaphus, son of Dorus, migrated to Crete from Thessaly, followed by Dorian and Achaean tribes, as well as by those of the Pelasgians that had not migrated to Tyrrhenia. Several authors identified Cres as one of the Curetes, possibly their king, and therefore a caretaker of the young Zeus who was hidden by him in a cave on Crete. Cres (mythology) In Greek mythology, Cres or Kres (Κρής, gen. Κρητός) was a possible eponym of the island Crete. Stephanus of Byzantium distinguishes between two figures of this name: one was a son of