Crete

Crete (now called Candia) is one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, approximately 156 miles long and 7–35 miles wide, situated south of the Aegean Sea. In the ancient world it was renowned as the legendary birthplace of Zeus and the home of the Minoan civilization, one of the earliest advanced cultures of the Mediterranean. In the New Testament, Cretans are listed among those present at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11), indicating an established Jewish diaspora on the island.

Paul's ship passed along the southern coast of Crete during the voyage to Rome described in Acts 27, stopping at Fair Havens before the disastrous storm drove the ship to Malta. Titus was left in Crete to organize the churches there and appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5), and Paul quotes the Cretan philosopher Epimenides against the Cretans themselves: the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies (Titus 1:12) — a self-referential paradox that became famous in logic. The epistle to Titus provides the primary biblical window into the early church community on the island.