Zakynthos, the third largest of the Ionian Islands, covers an area of 410 square kilometres and its coastline is roughly 123 kilometres in length. The terrain is varied; there are fertile plains in the south-eastern part, which merge gently into peaceful bays and golden beaches while the western side of the island is mountainous with steep cliffs along its coasts .
        The mild, Mediterranean climate and the plentiful winter rainfall presents the island with dense vegetation. Olive oil, currants, grapes, citrus fruit are principal products. The capital, which has the same name as the prefecture, is the town of Zakynthos -apart from its official name it is also called Chora .
        According to a 1991 census, the island has a population of 35.000 inhabitants.

         The name Zakynthos appears in myths and legends going back to prehistoric times. Homer was the first to refer to the island, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey. From Homer's "Iliad", we can conclude that Zakynthos together with Kephallonia, Lefkada and Acarnania- was part of the domain of Odysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca. It is said that it took its name from Zakynthus, son of the king of Phrygia Dardanus. Zakynthus, along with Achaean fighters, set off from the city of Psophis in Arcadia, where his brothers reigned, to colonize the island. He built an acropolis, probably at the location where the Venetian castle is today, which he named Psophi.
            According to Pausanias and Thucydides this happened around 1500 BC. The new inhabitants worshipped the Olympian gods, mainly Apollo and Diana, as suggested by the ancient coins found in the area. There are no testimonies of participation by Zakynthos in the Persian Wars of 5th century BC and it is quite likely that the island maintained a neutral position. During the Peloponnesian War, the Zakynthians supported the Athenian Alliance and participated in the expedition against Sicily. After the failure of the expedition, the Athenian Alliance was dissolved and Zakynthos was conquered by Sparta. Later on it fell under the influence of the Macedonians, until the final fall into the hands of the Romans.
In the 2nd century B.C., Zakynthos was under the Roman Empire. Initially it was administered by a Roman proconsul according to the Roman Law; later the citizens acquired a degree of autonomy with the obligation to pay an annual tax to the Romans and to offer soldiers to man Roman legions. Despite that, the islanders, especially in the beginning, revolted several times against the Roman occupation.
        On many occasions though, they helped the Romans to defend the island from raids, especially from pirates, who preyed upon the coasts of the Mediterranean. During those years the island developed both materially and culturally. The decline and collapse of the Roman Empire, gave new impetus to several aspiring conquerors. For decades the local population faced successive raids by Goths, Vandals and Arabs, which brought them to the threshold of poverty. There is no historically confirmed information about the time Christianity was introduced to Zakynthos; we conclude that the new religion became dominant in the second half of the 3rd century AD. Local tradition supports that Maria Magdalene, going from Jerusalem to Rome, in 34 AD, stopped at the island and preached the teachings of Jesus. The village where she taught, at the west side of the island, was called Maries to commemorate this event.
        
        During the Byzantine period the residents of Zakynthos continued to live in poverty, without any prospect of development, because of island's location at the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and, therefore, an easy target of raids. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, as the Byzantine Empire marches towards its collapse, a new sort of raid appeared on the scene. Under the pretext of liberating the Holy Lands, crusader troops of adventurers and booty-hunters swarmed to invade the remotest Byzantine Counties.
          At the end of 12th century AD, Frank raiders conquered the Ionian islands and established the first Frank hegemonies in Greece. In 1185 the Palatine County of Cephalonia and Zante was found, which survived for three centuries under the Orsini Family in the beginning and the Tokki later. Throughout the period of Frank rule the island's history was characterized by conspiracy, intrigue and murder. During the Tokki hegemony, though, the living conditions improved and the population of the island grew to 25.000 residents. In 1479 Turks conquered and destroyed Zakynthos and the last Tokkos deserted the island, incapable of doing anything to contain the enemy's advances.             Historians and geologists started to be interested in the creation of these rocks about 1000 years ago, expressing several theories.
           The prevailing theory is that one of the German geologist Philipson, who came to Greece in the late 19th century. According to his theory, a large river had his estuary in this area which for million of years was covered by a narrow and deep part of the sea .The river waters place matter, stones and generally several materials that were transferred by its waters at the estuary from Northern parts of primordial central Europe. From the accumulation of these materials deltaic cones were formed. 25-30 million years ago, after some geological changes took place during the centuries; the central part of today's Europe was lifted. That's how the opening of Tempi was created, having as a result the pouring of the waters in today's Aegean Sea.