In Greek mythology, Crete was the island where Ariadne helped Theseus.
Theseus traveled to Crete as one of the Athenian youths sent to King Minos. The victims were offered to the Minotaur, a creature kept inside the Labyrinth. Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, fell in love with Theseus and gave him a thread or ball of wool so he could find his way back after entering the maze.
Theseus killed the Minotaur and escaped from the Labyrinth with Ariadne. They left Crete together, but the later story of their relationship varies. In one influential tradition, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, where Dionysus found and married her.
Crete is sometimes confused with Naxos because both islands are central to the wider myth. Crete is the setting of the Minotaur and Labyrinth episode; Naxos is associated with Ariadne’s later fate.