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
Amalthea (mythology) of Tenedos is said to have first pointed out these kids among the stars. But Musaeus says Jove was nursed by Themis and the nymph Amaltheia, to whom he was given by Ops, his mother. Now Amaltheia had as a pet a certain goat which is said to have nursed Jove.</poem> Amalthea (mythology) In Greek mythology, Amaltheia () is the most-frequently mentioned foster-mother of Zeus. The name "Amaltheia", in Greek "tender goddess", is clearly an epithet, signifying the presence of an earlier nurturing goddess, whom the Hellenes, whose myths we know, knew to be located in Crete, where Minoans may