Crete

Titanomachy[]

Rhea, queen of the Titans and wife of Cronus, was appalled at the mistreatment of their children concealed her sixth pregnancy from him and secretly gave birth to Zeus. She gave the infant Zeus to the safekeeping of Gaea, who hid the baby in the cave of Dicte on Aegean Hill on the isle of Crete, where various minor goddesses tended his needs. The Curetes, a mortal tribe native to Crete, drowned out the cries of the infant Zeus with their ritualistic clashing of spears and swordplay. Zeus grew to adulthood among the shepherds of Mount Ida, and then set about taking revenge on Cronus.^[1]

50,000, B.C.[]

Circa 50,000, B.C., Tuk and Tanir continue their search for Atlantis, they came across the people of Crete, ruled by King Amir, who were terrorized by the Hairy Ones, a tribe of primitives savages. Fighting them off, Tuk and Tanir were thanked and shown the path to Atlantis, who took them through the Valley of Mist.^[2]

Ancient History[]

At some point, a Minoan fisher found the Shining Trapezohedron across his nets, and sold it to a merchant.^[3]

King Minos was the founder on the Minoan civilization. He was legendary ruler of Crete and was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and of Europa, a Phoenician princess. Minos obtained the Cretan throne by the aid of the Greek god Poseidon, and from Knossos he gained control over the Aegean islands, colonizing many of them and ridding the sea of pirates. He married Pasiphae. Minos successfully warred against Athens to obtain redress after his son Androgeos was killed by the Athenians.^[4]

Minotaur[]

Pasiphae slept with the Bull of Crete sent by Zeus, and gave birth to Minotaur, a creature half man – half bull. King Minos was embarrassed, but did not want to kill the Minotaur, so he hid the monster in the Labyrinth constructed by Daedalus at the Minoan Palace of Knossos. Angrodes, son of Minos, went to Athens to participate to the Panathenaic Games, but was killed during the Marathon by the bull that impregnated his mother. Minos was infuriated, and demanded Aegus, king of Athens, to send seven men and women every year to the Minotaur to advert the plague caused by the death of Androgeus. Later Theseus insisted on being one of the seven youths and seven maidens of Athens to be sacrificed to the monster as an annual tribute. He promised his father that if he were successful in killing the Minotaur he would on his return voyage replace his ship's black sails with white ones. Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, fell in love with Theseus and gave him a magic ball of thread to be dropped at the entrance of the labyrinth; it led Theseus to the Minotaur, which he killed, and he then followed the unwound thread back to the entrance.^[4]

Twelve Labors of Hercules[]

During Hercules' Twelve Labors, he was sent to capture the Bull of Crete. He wrestled the mad beast to the ground and brought it back to King Eurystheus. Unfortunately, the king set it free, and it roamed Greece, causing terror wherever it went.^[5]

Idomeneus later became king of Crete.^[6]

Trojan War[]

Menelaus was summoned in Crete by his grandsire, leaving his wife Helen to be stolen from him by Troy prince Paris.^[7]

As Helen had been one of Helen's suitors, he was bound by swore to be loyal to Menelaus, and led his troops to Troy during the Trojan War.^[7]

20th Century[]

In 1944, during World War II, Super-Axis held the Invaders prisoners on the coast of the island of Crete, until Namor, the Submariner arrived with a horde of giant sea creatures and rescued his friends.^[8]

Modern Era[]

Mutant Dominikos Petrakis was born and raised on the island of Crete.^[9]

Hercules and Spider-Man battled the Menagerie of Myth created by Doctor Zeus on the island of Crete.^[10]

• Mount Ida - childhood place of Zeus
• Aegean Hill
  • Dicte - cave, birthplace of Zeus

Formerly:

• Avalanche (Dominikos Petrakis)
• Minotaur
• Bull of Crete
• Ariadne - daughter of King Minos
• Minos - King of Crete
• Menelaus's grandfather^[7]
• Hairy Ones (circa 50,000 BC)
• Amir - King of Crete (circa 50,000 BC)
• Curetes
• Zeus