Crete macrocarpa" forest in Europe. Samaria Gorge is a World Biosphere Reserve and Richtis Gorge is protected for its landscape diversity. Crete has a rich mythology mostly connected with the ancient Greek Gods but also connected with the Minoan civilisation. According to Greek Mythology, The Diktaean Cave at Mount Dikti was the birthplace of the god Zeus. The Paximadia islands were the birthplace of the goddess Artemis and the god Apollo. Their mother, the goddess Leto, was worshipped at Phaistos. The goddess Athena bathed in Lake Voulismeni. The ancient Greek god Zeus launched a lightning bolt at a giant lizard that
Name of Greece name by which the Hellenes were known to the Italic peoples, who were on the opposite side of the Ionian Sea. According to Hesiod, in his "Catalogue of Women", Graecus was the son of Pandora and Zeus and gave his name to the people who followed the Hellenic customs. His brother Latinus gave his name to the Latins. Similarly, the eponymous Hellen is supposed to have given his name to the Greeks, or Hellenes. In his "Ethnica", Stephanus of Byzantium also states that Graecus, the son of Thessalus, was the origin of the name "Graeci" for the Hellenes. The name