the essential oils (eos) of different organs (flowers, vegetative parts (stems + leaves) and roots) of achillea cretica were investigated. antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils were also evaluated. they have been analyzed by a combination of gc and gc/ms. twenty-five, twenty-nine and twenty-five compounds, accounting for 97.9%, 98.80% and 96.20% of the root, (stem + leaf), and flower oils, were identified, respectively. the eos were rich in monoterpenes (camphor, borneol, camphene and 1,8-cineola) and camphor was identified as a major constituent. furthermore, the antioxidant activity was evaluated by dpph, abts and ferric reducing assays. the isolated oils showed significant radical-scavenging activity evidenced by ic50 value for abts radical (in between ic50 =62 ug/ml and ic50 = 70 ug/ml). the antibacterial activity was tested against two gram-positive and three gram-negative bacteria using the broth dilution method. the flowers essential oil shows an excellent inhibitory effect on s. aureus.