In Aegina, as you go towards the mountain of Zeus, God of all the Greeks, you reach a sanctuary of Aphaea, in whose honor Pindar composed an ode for the Aeginetans. The Cretans say (the story of Aphaea is Cretan) that Carmanor, who purified Apollo after he had killed Pytho, was the father of Lubulus, and that the daughter of Zeus and of Carme, the daughter of Eubulus, was Britomartis. She took delight, they say, in running and in the chase, and was very dear to Artemis. Fleeing from Minos, who had fallen in love with her, she threw herself into nets which had been cast (aphemena) for a draught of fishes. She was made a goddess by Artemis, and she is worshipped, not only by the Cretans, but also by the Aeginetans, who say that Britomartis shows herself in their island. Her surname among the Aeginetans is Aphaea; in Crete it is Dictynna (Goddess of Nets). Pausanias

Aphaea (gr. Aphaia; not dark or vanisher) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped almost exclusively on the island of Aegina. She later came to be identified with the goddesses Athena and Artemis and with the nymph Britomartis.

On the Greek island of Aegina there is a ruin of the Temple of Aphaea.

Greek Mythology

See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings