The Myth and History of the Island

Just like the sea waves, wind and sunrays formed today's special appearance of Gavdos, the ships coming to this island wrote its history and changed its name. The present name of the island, "Gavdos", has been used since 1872. Earlier the islet was named "Gozzo" or "Goudos" by Venetians, later "Gaudos" and "Kaudos", during the Turkish occupation - "Bugadoz" and on official maps of the Greek Navy from 1983 you can see the name of "Island Gavdos-Klavdos".

However, today's name of Gavdos was mostly affected by the name of Ogygia. A Greek myth has it that the island where the nymph Calypso lived was named Ogygia. Therefore the virgin and mythical Gavdos is often referred to as "Calypso's Island". This is the place where Homer's story about Odysseus, King of Ithaca, took place. As Homer claims in "Odyssey" Odysseus on his way from the Troy war to his wife Penelope was cast away on the shore of today's Gavdos after the storm The hero of Troy was found by the nymph Calypso and spent 7 wonderful years with her on this island. The cave of happiness and love still exists but unfortunately its entrance is mostly hidden behind the sand and stones.

The isle of Gavdos was inhabited in Neolith (at least from the beginning of the third millennium BC) which is proved by numerous finds on the island. The total of 63 archeological sites were discovered on Gavdos, including 50 already researched. 

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