Kythera in the context of "Republic of Venice"

The Sea of Crete (Greek: Κρητικό Πέλαγος, Kritiko Pelagos), or Cretan Sea, is a sea, part of the Aegean Sea, located in its southern extremity, with a total surface area of 45,000 km (17,000 sq mi). The sea stretches to the north of the island of Crete, east of the islands of Kythera and Antikythera, south of the Cyclades, and west of the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kassos. The bounding sea to the west is the Ionian Sea. To the northwest is the Myrtoan Sea, a subdivision of the Mediterranean Sea that lies between the Cyclades and Peloponnese. To the east-southeast is the rest of the Mediterranean Sea, sometimes credited as the Levantine Sea. Across the island of Crete, to the opposite shore of it begins the Libyan Sea. Ferry routes to and from Piraeus and Heraklion, as well as the southern islands of the Aegean and the Dodecanese, run in this area.

Just off the coastline of Northeastern Crete, the sea reaches a maximum depth of near 3,293 m (10,000 ft). Other sources (maps) show a maximum depth of 2,591 m (8,500 ft).

The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: Ιόνια νησιά, Ionia nisia; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: Ἰόνιαι Νῆσοι, Ioniai Nēsoi) are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; Ἑπτάνησα, Heptanēsa or Ἑπτάνησος, Heptanēsos; Italian: Eptaneso), but the group includes many smaller islands in addition to the seven principal ones.

As a distinct historic region, the collective of islands date to the centuries-long Venetian rule, which kept them outside Ottoman control, and created a distinct cultural identity with many Italian influences. The Ionian Islands became part of the modern Greek state in 1864. Administratively today, they belong to the Ionian Islands Region except for Kythera, which belongs to the Attica Region.

The Ionian Islands Region (/aɪˈoʊniən/ eye-OH-nee-ən; Greek: Περιφέρεια Ιονίων Νήσων, romanized: Periféria Ioníon Níson, [periˈferia ioˈnion ˈnison]) is the smallest by area of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece located in the Ionian Sea. It comprises all the Ionian Islands except Kythera, which, although historically part of the island group, was separated and integrated to the Attica Region.

Spyridon Stais (Greek: Σπυρίδων Στάης, 1859–1932) was a Greek politician from the island of Kythera.

He studied physics and mathematics and served as a teacher in gymnasia (secondary schools) of Greece. He became active in politics in 1892, joining first the party of Charilaos Trikoupis and later (after Trikoupis’ death) the Modernist Party of Georgios Theotokis. He served as a member of parliament, as Minister for Education under prime minister Theotokis (in 1900 and again in 1903), as Minister of the Interior (1921–1922) under Dimitrios Gounaris and finally as general governor of Thessaloniki (1922) under Petros Protopapadakis.