The Dionysades (Greek: Διονυσάδες, also Γιανυσάδες - Gianysades) is a small, northward-trending archipelago off the north coast of the island of Crete, mid-way between the Cape Sidero lighthouse to the southeast (from which they are about 12.61 km (7.84 mi) distant); and Sitia to the southwest (from which they are approximately 17.6 km (10.9 mi) distant).

For unspecified reasons, Dionysus took it upon himself to create two islands, "...near Crete in the twin gulfs (Didymoi Kolpoi)..."[citation needed] The Dionysades are uninhabited.

[citation needed] Today, the islands are part of an environmentally protected area with many rare plants and animals.

[2] The islets have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support breeding populations of Scopoli'ss and Yelkouan shearwaters, and Eleonora's falcons, as well as lesser kestrels on passage migration.

[3] The noted German cartographer, Heinrich Kiepert, in his depiction of Crete, committed the space south of the Dionysades to the label Didymoi Kolpoi.

They are on an off-ridge of the submarine range to which Crete belongs, the Hellenic arc, the curved southern border of the Aegean Sea from the Peloponnesos to Rhodes.

In contrast to these deep water environments, the coastal shelf of Crete is shallow and dotted with reefs, making it dangerous for ships.

[citation needed] A British admiralty charts of the late 19th century, plotting the soundings assiduously and with some danger taken by HMS Spitfire (a paddle gunboat) in 1852, published a visual account of the coastal shelf around Crete (see maps below).

[citation needed] The chart depicts an uneven and rugged coastline, although its coves and headlands would probably not stand close GPS scrutiny.

Around the Dionysades those were Sitia, and on the other side of Cape Sidero, Itanos, but the latter has been derelict for many centuries, with the harbor filled in to become a beach.