Myths and legends

The waters between Elafonisos, Kythira and Cape Maleas are full of myths, from the birth of Aphrodite to the voyage of Odysseus.

Aphrodite and the Graces

Hesiod writes that Aphrodite was born from the sea foam near Kythira. Centuries later the Italian poet Ugo Foscolo, in his “Hymn to the Graces”, imagined Kythira joined to Elafonisos and a forest where the strait now is: from there the Graces appeared in a chariot drawn by deer.

Paris and fair Helen

Local tradition says Paris and Helen, fleeing Sparta, hid in a sanctuary of Athena on the island, perhaps at Vigla, before sailing for Troy. Pausanias records that Menelaus raised a monument here to his ship’s helmsman, Kinadis; Panagia at Kato Nisi is thought the likeliest spot.

Odysseus and the Cyclopes

In the Odyssey, Odysseus sails home from Troy and reaches Cape Maleas, but the north wind drives him past Kythira, and after this adventure he reaches the land of the Cyclopes. Local tradition, looking at the caves of the south-west coast, makes Kato Nisi the land of the Cyclopes and the Panagia islets their “Cyclops stones”.

Gods of Maleas

On Cape Maleas opposite, people worshipped Glaucus, a sea god with the gift of prophecy, and Silenus, the wise teacher of Dionysus. There, the myth says, the centaur Chiron took refuge, and there Heracles chased the centaurs in his fourth labour, when Elafonisos was still a peninsula of Maleas.

Island legends

The place has its own legends too: the pirate ship turned to stone at Vaporaki, the pirates’ treasure at Korakofolia, the haunted snake of Fidoloutsa, and Saint Spyridon choosing for himself where his church would stand.