Tales of gods and goddesses, nymphs and heroes, monsters and maidens – the Greek islands that dot the beautiful blue waters of the Aegean and Ionian Seas are full of legends recalling the glory days of ancient Greece. Today we can visit the impressive physical remains of temples, statues and cities, but let's take a look at the amazing stories behind the stones...

The fabled Palace at Knossos was part of an advanced civilisation which flourished on Crete around 2,400 years before Christ. The palace was said to have been designed by Daedalus, who was then imprisoned with his son Icarus so he would not reveal the secrets of the mysterious labyrinth. When the pair escaped with makeshift wings, Icarus flew too near the sun and the wax which held the wings together melted and he fell to his death.

According to Homer, King Minos of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa, gathered seven boys and seven girls every nine years to feed the Minotaur, a half man-half bull monster who lived in the labyrinth. When Theseus arrived as a sacrifice, Minos’ daughter Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a ball of string to find his way back out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. This story may have its origins in the sport of bull jumping shown here.

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, situated approximately 99 miles (160km) south of the mainland. British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans began excavation at Knossos, a site that covers 150,000 square feet (14,000sqm), in the early 20th century. He found a palace decorated with beautiful frescoes which he set about painstakingly recreating from the original fragments. This example includes the mythical Griffin – a creature with a lion's body and eagle wings – said to guard treasures and secrets.

There are differing opinions about this little figure currently in the Archaeological Museum in Crete. She could be Astarte, the old Egyptian Snake Goddess, whose cult was taken over by the Greeks and associated with fertility. However, this figure may represent a priestess of the religious cult. The Minoans were the earliest advanced European culture, but it was wiped out around 1,600 BC when the volcano on nearby Santorini erupted probably causing a disastrous tidal wave.

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Uninhabited Delos, which has little vegetation and water and is only 3.1 miles (5km) long, is part of the Cyclades – an island group located in the Aegean Sea. Yet in ancient times it was home to around 30,000 people and was a centre of worship for the gods Apollo and his twin sister Artemis who were born there. The throngs of pilgrims brought with them much trade and the island was covered with glorious buildings, both commercial and religious. 

Delos can only be reached by boat from a nearby island but it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 and its culture was described as ‘exceptionally extensive and rich’. The Terrace of the Lions, dedicated to Apollo and dating back to 3,000 BC, is one of the most recognisable treasures. Made of marble, they face east towards the Sacred Lake where Apollo kept his geese and swans. Lions represent strength and vigour, fitting for Apollo's youth, beauty and grace.

This beautiful theatre, one of the few to have been created completely of marble, was built in 250 BC and could hold up to 7,000 spectators. The white marble made the theatre gleam with light as homage to Apollo, the god of light. Its design was a template for theatres around the ancient world. The site has been given funds for restoration by the Greek government and it’s hoped will again be used for entertainment.

The Agora of the Competaliasts is one of the main markets on Delos and dates back to the 2nd century BC. The round marble monument is dedicated to Hermes who is considered the herald of the gods. It's said he could move freely between the heavenly world and the mortal world with his winged sandals. Near this market are the remains of merchants' shops and an Ionic temple dedicated to Hermes.

Herodotus, writing in 500 BC, described Naxos as the most prosperous of the Greek islands. Located in the centre of the Cyclades group, the young Zeus was said to have been raised in a cave on Mount Zas. Legend also says it’s where Theseus abandoned Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, after she helped him kill the Minotaur. The god of wine Dionysus fell in love with her and married her. But unable to bear the separation from Theseus, she killed herself.

The temple of Apollo, dating from 530 BC, comprises a huge marble door measuring 194 feet (59m) high by 92 feet (28m) wide. The nearby Sanctuary of Demeter, goddess of the harvest and fertility, is made of local white marble and is a must-see. It dates from 530 BC and is built in the Ionic style – described as a forerunner of the Parthenon. 

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Three ancient Kouroi, or naked Greek males, lie on their backs on Naxos just where their sculptors had been working on them. Dating back to the 6th century BC, these unfinished marble statues, ranging from 16-36 feet (5-11m) in length, are sometimes thought to represent Apollo, god of light, youth and beauty, but they may also have been designed to portray mortal men in the prime of youth intended to furnish grave stones. 

Rhodes is the largest island in the Dodecanese in the southeastern Aegean Sea and was named after the nymph Rhodos, daughter of Poseidon, the sea god. Rhodos bore seven sons to the god Helios. The Colossus of Rhodes, a 105-foot (32m) high bronze statue of Helios, was one of the wonders of the ancient world but vanished in antiquity. It is thought to have stood here at the old harbour in Rhodes and legend claims each leg rested on either side of the harbour. 

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The site of the Rhodes acropolis is huge – but only a portion has been excavated since investigations began in 1912. The Temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, handicraft and war, and Zeus, king of the gods, is fashioned in the Doric style and consists of porticos on all sides. There are four massive column drums where the people of Rhodes preserved their treaties with other states.

The Stadium, built in the 2nd century BC, is on the southeastern part of the Acropolis complex. It was originally 598 feet (182m) in length and used for ceremonies associated with the cult of Apollo and for the study of rhetoric. Legend says when Zeus was dividing up the earth between the gods, Helios, god of the sun, was absent. When he returned, Zeus said the first land that appeared was his. Just then, Rhodes rose up from the sea and Helios became its patron. 

Helios, the son of Hyperion and Theia, was worshipped as the god of the sun. He was said to drive his chariot pulled by four white horses across the sky as the sun rose and set. This statue of Helios is in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes and he is portrayed as a handsome young man with golden hair. Helios often wears a sun crown and this statue has holes in the marble at the top where a crown would once have been placed.

Kos is in the Dodecanese island chain, situated opposite the Turkish coastline and is mentioned in the Iliad as famous for the Asclepeion or healing temple. Dedicated to the god of medicine Asclepius, the temple was visited by the sick seeking a cure. They were told to sleep at the temple where they would be visited by the ghost of Asclepius in their dreams. Then they would be told what to take for a remedy. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, is said to have received medical training here. 

In 1938, 17 columns of white marble were found which would have made up the ancient gymnasium. Athletes would cover themselves with oil before completing. There is an area called the curved road which was designed to stop the competitors slipping in the oil! The gymnasium was originally 656 feet (200m) long by 394 feet (120m) wide and had a huge open courtyard where athletic and intellectual activity went on. Maybe the athletes said a little prayer to Nike, goddess of sports, before the games began.

Many of the wonderful treasures found on Kos are kept at the Archaeological Museum there. This beautiful mosaic shows the god of healing, Asclepius, arriving on Kos while Hippocrates looks on. Another mosaic at the museum depicts the legend of the Rape of Europa. Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete and she was carried away by Zeus in the form of a bull. She later bore three sons to Zeus.

The beautiful island of Corfu in the Ionian sea has long been bound up with ancient Greek history. Thucydides tells us that Kerkyra, as the island was called, was one of the three great naval powers of 5th century BC Greece. The name comes from the nymph Corcyra, a daughter of the river god Asopos. The Temple of Artemis, goddess of nature, childbirth and the moon, was built on Corfu around 580 BC. 

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The Temple of Artemis was built in the Doric style, the first to be exclusively of stone. The reliefs of the Gorgons, which were on the top of the pediment, can still be seen at the Archaeological Museum in Corfu. There were three Gorgon sisters: Stheno, Euryale and Medusa and all three were hideous, bloodthirsty and warlike. Medusa could turn men to stone when they looked at her. At the site itself, the huge altar stone is still visible with the ruins of the sanctuary of Artemis. 

Aegina is one of the Saronic islands of Greece where the ruins of the wonderful Temple of Aphaia can still be seen. Aphaia was a daughter of Zeus and originally a mountain nymph who made friends with Artemis, the goddess of hunting. Artmeis made her into a goddess when she was fleeing the attentions of King Minos who had fallen in love with her. Aphaia was associated with fertility and agriculture and her main area of worship was on Aegina.

The Temple of Aphaia was built around 500 BC and located on top of a hill at the eastern side of the island. In the 18th century, much of the detailed stone was shipped abroad but excavations at the site began in the 20th century by a German team. The Temple is famous for its pediments, once brightly painted, which show scenes from the first Trojan War. This reconstruction of the pediments is on display at the Archaeological Museum in Aegina.

The Temple of Apollo dates from the 6th century BC, even earlier than the Parthenon in Athens. It is known as Kolona because just one column remains from the original construction. Built in the Doric style, it originally had 11 columns down the sides and six at either end. Golden jewellery was found in graves nearby which is now in the British Museum.

The island of Santorini, also known as Thera, is part of the Cyclades and is possibly the source of the legend of Atlantis where a city sinks beneath the waves. Pictured is part of the ancient Temple of Thera. It was the site of one of the largest volcanic explosions ever recorded and probably wiped out the Minoan culture on the nearby island of Crete as a result of the tsunami.  

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Mesa Vuono rises high above the coastal settlements and has a panoramic view over the island. Here the Temple of Thera was founded in the 9th century BC by Dorian colonists. This is the remains of the Stoa Basilica of ancient Thera. Amazingly, this area was not affected by the volcano and consists of stone monuments and streets of the ancient city. 

The city of Akrotiri is known as the Pompeii of the Aegean. The volcanic eruption of 1,600 BC covered the city with ash and it was totally forgotten until the 1860s when workmen stumbled upon the remains. Later a Greek archaeologist, Spyridon Marinatos, was the first to make the link between pumice found there with that found in Crete. He surmised that the eruption destroyed the Cretan culture too. This beautiful fresco depicting spring was found at Akrotiri.

The fifth largest of the Greek islands, Chios is in the north Aegean and is the birthplace of the poet Homer. The first king of Chios was Oinopeonas, who was the grandson of King Minos of Crete, and he taught the islanders how to cultivate vines. An 8th century BC temple dedicated to the goddess Athena has been uncovered. Chios had some of the earliest use of coins and these, stamped with the Sphynx, a creature with a human head, lion's body and wings, are now in Chios Museum.

Greek mythology states that the first inhabitant of the island of Karpathos, the second largest island of the Dodecanese, was Titan Iapetus. He was the son of Uranus and Gaia and father of Atlas and Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. The island became very rich in the Doric period and was known as Tetrapolis. The early Christian basilica at Pigadia is built on the remains of a Doric temple.

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