Map of Crete The village of Rodopos lies on the peninsula with the same name, the Rodopos peninsula, just west of the town of Kolimbari, and not far from Kissamos. It is a quiet village with several churches, some shops and a large square with a few taverns and a well. On the village square is also an ancient Roman column with inscriptions, dating from the time of Emperor Hadrian (119-138 AD). It gave the distance to the Diktynna Sanctuary which is situated in the north of the peninsula. In Latin is written that the road to the sanctuary was funded by the emperor Hadrian and the rich Diktynna sanctuary itself. The column was excavated in the 19th century and until the beginning of 2002 it stood net to the Agios Georgios church. In 2002 it was moved to the main square (where it is more noticeable). The Agios Georgios church is an old church. I myself think that it dates from the Byzantine period, but I can't find any further information about it. You can find it a bit further down into the village on the right hand side of the road. Unfortunately it is closed.

On a drawing you can see an impression of the sanctuary, so you can get an idea of what it looked like. The sites on the peninsula are indicated on a map. Besides these two "things to see" (the column and the church) Rodopos is a typical rural Cretan village with dilapidated houses next to houses that have been refurbished. The area is one of agriculture. Many people in Rodopos have a garden where they grow vegetables and there are some sheep in the fields. From the village the road leads up to the north, but a little further it suddenly stops and turns into a path.

The whole peninsula of Rodopos is reasonably quiet and still fairly undiscovered. Many of the maps still don't have the roads marked well and so you might think it is all dirt tracks not suitable for your car but instead there are also a lot of narrow asphalt roads. This is why many people still avoid this part of the island. The area is popular with walkers and cyclists.

From Rodopos there is a path leading to the extreme north where you can see the Diktynna Sanctuary. On the way you will pass the Ellinospilos cave which was already inhabited in prehistoric times. The sanctuary in the north of the Rodopos peninsula was dedicated to the daughter of Zeus. The myth tells that she had to escape from King Minos and jumped into the sea at this spot. Fishermen supposedly picked her up in their nets and brought her to the island Aegina, where she was honoured as a goddess. The people of Crete called her Diktynna (which means "net").

statue of Diktynna The first sanctuary dates from 700 BC and as good as nothing is left of it. Two centuries later the sanctuary was rebuilt. During the Roman period emperor Hadrianus had it enlarged. During the later centuries a lot of the buildings disappeared, mostly by people that wanted the stones to build their own houses. The Roman temple was surrounded by columns. Places where water was saved have also been found. Statues of the Roman emperor and of the goddess that have been found here can be seen in the Museum of Chania. The walk to the sanctuary over the coastal road is long and tiring and is better not made when it is too hot. The option is to go to the Diktynna sanctuary by boat from the nearby village of Kolimbari. As I understand it there are also boat trips from Platanias (and maybe from Chania?).

Diktynna was a Minoan mountain goddess who loved hunting and nature. According to the myth she was a beautiful woman that was born in western Crete, at the Samaria Gorge and the White Mountains, and she remained a virgin by choice. King Minos fell in love with her and pursued her for nine months all over the island until Diktynna jumped off the cliff where the sanctuary now stands. The fisherman who saved Diktynna and brought her to Aegina fell in love with her as well. Diktynna didn't answer his advances and fled to the sanctuary of Artemis. The goddess Artemis rewarded Diktynna for keeping her virginity and made her immortal.

The goddess Diktynna was worshipped throughout the island of Crete, but mainly in the west, where most temples were built in her honour. The sanctuary of Diktynna was the largest and richest. People walked barefoot to the sanctuary with their offerings. Thus they were more in contact with the nature that Diktynna loved so much.

At the end of the peninsula above a bay with a beautiful beach are on a rocky plateau the remains of a temple and an altar that were built in 123 AD during the reign of Hadrian. There are also remains of an aqueduct and other buildings. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple was looted and abandoned. The area at Diktynna was never really well explored or excavated by archaeologists so there could be even more under the ground.