Aegina is positioned in the Saronic Gulf and is one of the Saronic islands. The island is triangle shaped and is about 33.75 sq miles. As the myth goes, the Greek god, Zeus had abducted Aegina, who was the daughter of the river god Asopus and the nymph Metope. Aegina gave birth to a son named Aeacus who later became the king of the island. Since then the island has been called Aegina.
On our final day, we traveled across the island to the ancient ruins of the Temple of Aphaia. The temple was built around 500 BC and is seen as significant in illustrating the transition from the Archaic to Early Classical periods of Greece. We were told a very intriguing myth about the how the temple was named. The details of the myth are based off the stories told by Pausanias (a Greek geographer and traveler).
As the story goes, the Greek god Zeus and the nymph Carme, fell deeply in love. They birthed a daughter whom they named Britomartis. She became the Minoan goddess of mountains and hunting with exceptional beauty, smooth porcelain skin, and long raven hair. Time passes and the King Minos began to fall in love with Britomartis. In an attempt to escape the king, she jumped into the sea and swam away only to get entangled by some fishermens' net. She was taken captive and once again, the fishermen started to fall in love with the goddess because of her overwhelming beauty. Again, in an attempt to flee, she jumped into the sea and swam a great distance to arrive at the island of Aegina. She took cover from the men and hid in a cave on the mountain. To no avail, the fishers could never find the young girl, as if by divine intervention. In honor of the disappearing goddess, they named the temple "Aphasia" which means "invisible" or "unseen."
More photos of the temple to come!
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