According to Greek mythology, Theseus was a legendary hero, son of the King of Athens, Aegeas, and Princess Ethra. When King Minoas, the ruler of Crete, conquered the kingdom of Athens, he demanded compensation, which included sending seven young men and seven young women from Athens every nine years, to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, the offspring of King Minoas's wife and a bull - a beast half man half bull who fed on human flesh. Driven by shame, King Minoas held the Minotaur prisoner in a labyrinth adjacent to his own palace at Knossos, near Iraklion. The building was designed such that the beast would never be able to find his way out and circulate freely.

When the time came, the brave prince Theseus volunteered to be among the young men to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, with the intention of destroying him. He persuaded his father to allow him to go, promising to hoist white sails if he returned victorious, instead of the black sails which had been raised as a sign of mourning for the sacrificed youngsters.

When Theseus landed at Iraklion Bay (near the site of the current project), he visited King Minoas's palace at Knossos, approximately 20km away, where he met the King's daughter, Ariadne, who soon fell in love with him. It was she who suggested that Theseus should use a ball of string to trace his way back out of the labyrinth after completing his mission.

All went well, and Theseus managed to carry out his plan and kill the Minotaur. Taking Ariadne with him, he set sail for Athens.

However, intoxicated with victory, he forgot his promise to change the sails from mournful black to victorious white. His father, anxiously waiting on a cliff at the edge of the sea for his son’s return, caught sight of the black sails. Assuming that his son had been killed, he flung himself into the sea and drowned, after which the particular sea was named the Aegean Sea in his memory.

During his return journey, Theseus docked at Naxos, where King Dionysos fell in love with Ariadne and kidnapped her. Instead of Ariadne, Theseus married Antiope, the queen of the Amazons, who gave him a son, Hippolytus. When Antiope died, Theseus married Phaedra, also King Minoas' daughter. Theseus succeeded his father as the King of Athens, and was known to be a just ruler who reigned for many years. Upon his death, the Athenians erected a magnificent temple in his honour. Located next to Acropolis, it bears his name, Theseion which still stands proudly to this very day.