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| Aegean Islands - The name "Aegean" from Greek Mythology |
| According to
Greek Mythology, Athens was paying on regular basis to King Minos of Crete, a
blood-tribute consisted of seven youths and seven maidens, that were thrown to Minotaur in
Knossos labyrinths, as his food. Theseus, just having defeated the Pallantides, decided to
stop this sacrifice and announced to his father Aegeus, his intention to go together with
the fourteen youths to fight Minotaur.
When the ship that was taking the fourteen youths to Crete was ready to sail, Aegeus gave to Theseus a set of black sails and an additional set of white sails, which they were supposed to hoist, in case they would beat Minotaur and return victorious. Theseus arrived in Crete and with the help of Ariadne (Minos' daughter who fell in love with him), managed to defeat Minotaur. Unfortunately during his return to Athens, Theseus forgot to put up the white set of sails. Aegeus who was waiting at Cape Sounion, continuously watching the sea saw the ship return from Crete, hoisted with black sails and was so much seized by despair that he fell into the sea and drowned. Since then the sea took his name and is called the Aegean Sea ... |
| Climate conditions |
The hallmark of the Greek
geographical landscape, is in fact widely various, with many contrasts on the mainland and
the islands. From the one side there are
high mountains such as the Pindus range and the Olympus mountain in Thessalia, with its
highest point at Pantheon with 2,917m (9,626 ft) of altitude. On the other hand, the
endless coastlines combined with the deep blue but yet crystal clear waters, give a
surprising variety of beaches, from greek-colored fjords, to ribbons of golden sand of
some kilometers long.The Greek peninsula, Europe's southeastern boundary, with an approximate area of 132,000 sq.km, consists of the mainland (Attica, Peloponese, Sterea Hellas, Thessalia, Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace) and the islands of the Ionian and the Aegean Sea. The islands of the Aegean, some isolated like Crete in the Southern Aegean or, Euboiain North Aegean Sea, and others formed in groups like Sporades, Cyclades, Northeast Aegean islands and the Dodecanese group, enjoy a mild climate with subtropically warm summers, cooled by a system of seasonal (July-August) breezes called "meltemia". This is probably nature's self exchange for an area with 3,000 hours of sunshine yearly. |
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Aegeus, thinking that his son would be probably killed, plunged in deep
sorrow, but could not convince Theseus to quit from this operation.