Paximadia (, "
rusk
A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...
s") are two small uninhabited islands in the gulf of
Mesara located approximately south of
Agia Galini in
Rethymno regional unit. They are in the
Libyan Sea
The Libyan Sea (; ; ) is the portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of the North Africa, African coast of Ancient Libya, ancient ''Libya'', i.e. Cyrenaica, and Marmarica (the coast of what is now Butnan District, eastern Libya and Matrouh Gov ...
next to the southern coast of
Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
. Due to their proximity to one another, the two islands appear as one from a distance.
Name
Locals often refer to the islands as ''Elephantaki'' because it looks like a baby elephant that is lying down, in the water, with its trunk facing west. The name attributed to the islands today is due to their resembling dry Cretan biscuit known as ''Paximadi'' (the plural being ''Paximadia''). In ancient Crete they were also known as ''Dionysioi'' after the god
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
and also as ''Letoai'' or ''Letoa'' ()
Ptolemaeus, Geography, §3.15.11
/ref> after the goddess Leto
In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; ) is a childhood goddess, the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe (Titaness), Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother of Apollo and Artemis.Hesiod, ''Theogony' ...
who was worshipped at Phaistos
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...
, where she was also known as ''Fitii'' in ancient times.
Mythology
In Cretan mythology it is believed that the goddess Leto gave birth to the god Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
and the goddess Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
on these islands .
Beaches
There are isolated sand beaches on these islands that can be reached via boat from Aghia Galini.
Literature
The Paximadia islands played a central role in the German novel ''Der kretische Gast'' (The Cretan Guest) by Klaus Modick.
See also
*List of islands of Greece
Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.
The largest Greek island by ...
References
{{Cretan islands
Landforms of Rethymno (regional unit)
Uninhabited islands of Crete
Mediterranean islands
Islands of Greece