Psychro Cave ( el, Σπήλαιο Ψυχρού) is an ancient Minoan sacred cave in

Lasithi plateau The Lasithi Plateau ( el, Οροπέδιο Λασιθίου, ''Oropedio Lasithiou''), sometimes spelt Lassithi Plateau, is a high endorheic plateau, located in the Lasithi regional unit in eastern Crete, Greece. Since the 1997 Kapodistrias reform, ...

in the

Lasithi Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the ...

district of eastern

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

. Psychro is associated with the Diktaean Cave ( el, link=no, Δικταῖον Ἄντρον; ''Diktaion Antron''), one of the putative sites of the birth of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

. Other legends place Zeus' birthplace as the Idaean Cave (Ἰδαῖον Ἄντρον) on

Mount Ida In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete, and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey), which was also known as the '' Phrygian Ida'' ...

. According to

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, ''Theogony''
477-484
, Rhea gave birth to

Lyctus Lyctus or Lyttos (Greek: or ), was one of the most considerable cities in ancient Crete, which appears in the Homeric catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of Minoa Pediada. Lyctus in mythology According to Hesiod, ''Theogony ...

and hid him in a cave of Mount Aegaeon. Since the late nineteenth century the cave above the modern village of Psychro has been identified with the Diktaean Cave, although there are other candidates, especially a cave above Palaikastro on Mount

Petsofas Petsofas is the archaeological site of a Minoan peak sanctuary in eastern Crete. It overlooks the Minoan town of Palaikastro and was excavated by John Myres in 1903. He discovered a large number of clay figurines, including animal and human fig ...

Geography

The village of Psychro () is 1,025 metres above sea level. The cave is located in the prefecture of

Myth

The Dictaean Cave is famous in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

as the place where Amalthea, nurtured the infant

with her goat's milk. The archaeology attests to the site's long use as a place of cult worship. The nurse of Zeus, who was charged by Rhea to raise the infant Zeus in secret here, to protect him from his father Cronus (Krónos) is also called the

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

Adrasteia In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Adrasteia (; , ), also spelled Adrastia, Adrastea, Adrestea, Adastreia or Adrasta), originally a Phrygian mountain goddess, probably associated with Cybele, was later a Cretan nymph, and daughter of ...

in some contexts. It is one of a number of caves believed to have been the birthplace or hiding place of Zeus. The mountains, of which the cave are part, are known in Crete as

Dikte Dikti or Dicte ( el, Δίκτη) (also Lasithiotika Ori; el, Λασιθιώτικα Όρη "Lasithian Mountains"; anciently, Aigaion oros ( grc, Αἰγαῖον ὄρος) or la, Aegaeum mons) is a mountain range on the east of the island of ...

Archaeology

The cave was first excavated in 1886 by Joseph Hatzidakis, President of the Syllogos at Candia, and F. Halbherr. In 1896,

Sir Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based o ...

investigated the site. In 1898 Pierre Demargne conducted brief investigations, followed by

David George Hogarth David George Hogarth (23 May 1862 – 6 November 1927), also known as D. G. Hogarth, was a British archaeologist and scholar associated with T. E. Lawrence and Arthur Evans. He was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford from 1909 to 1927. Hog ...

of the

British School at Athens The British School at Athens (BSA) ( el, Βρετανική Σχολή Αθηνών) is an archaeological research institute, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy. Under UK law it is a registe ...

in 1900 who carried out more extensive operations. Hogarth's reports published in 1900 give a picture of the destruction wrought by primitive archaeological methods: immense fallen blocks from the upper cave roof were blasted before removal; the rich black earth had been previously ransacked. The

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed altar in the upper cave was discovered in 1900, surrounded by strata of ashes, pottery and "other refuse", among which were

votive object A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

s in bronze,

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta i ...

, iron and bone, with fragments of some thirty

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substan ...

tables and countless conical ceramic cups for food offerings. Bones among the ash layer attest to sacrifice of bulls, sheep and goats, deer and a boar. The undisturbed lowest strata of the upper cave represented the transition between Late Minoan

Kamares ware Kamares ware is a distinctive type of Minoan pottery produced in Crete during the Minoan period, dating to MM IA (ca. 2100 BCE). By the LM IA period (ca. 1450), or the end of the First Palace Period, these wares decline in distribution and "vital ...

to earliest Mycenaean levels; finds represented the Geometric Style of the ninth century BCE, but few later than that. More recent excavation has revealed the use of the cave reached back to Early Minoan times, and votive objects attest to the cave's being the most frequented shrine by Middle Minoan times (MM IIIA). The lower grotto falls steeply with traces of a rock-cut stair to a pool, out of which

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

s rise. "Much earth had been thrown down by diggers of the Upper Grotto," Hogarth reported, "and this was found full of small bronze objects." In the vertical chinks of the lowest stalactites, Hogarth's team found "toy double-axes, knife-blades, needles, and other objects in bronze, placed there by dedicators, as in niches. The mud at the edge of the subterranean pool was also rich in similar things and in statuettes of two types, male and female and

engraved gems An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lu ...

." In 1961, the art historian and archaeologist John Boardman published the finds uncovered by these and other excavations. While clay human figurines are normally found in

peak sanctuaries Minoan peak sanctuaries are widespread throughout the island of Crete (Greece). Most scholars agree that peak sanctuaries were used for religious rites. In all peak sanctuaries human and animal clay figurines have been found. Clay body parts, al ...

, Psychro and the sanctuary on

stand out as the only sacred caves that have yielded human figurines. Psychro is also a unique sacred cave for a bronze leg, also known as a votive body part, which is the only votive body part to be found in a sacred cave. More common sacred cave finds at Psychro include stone and ceramic lamps. Psychro yielded an uncommon number of semi-precious stones, including

carnelian Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker (the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often use ...

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc- schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in ...

amethyst Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος ''amethystos'' from α- ''a-'', "not" and μεθύσκω (Ancient Greek) / μεθώ (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that ...

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

and

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of ...

. Psychro's artefacts are now on display at the Heraklion Museum, the Ashmolean Museum in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

.British Museum Collection
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Idaean Cave

The Idaean Cave ( el, Ιδαίο άντρο) is a system of

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s located on the slopes of

on Crete (). The deep cave has a single entrance and features stalagmites and stalactites. In antiquity it was a place of worship because it was believed to be the cave where the titan Rhea hid the infant

, to protect him from his father Cronus, who intended to swallow him like others of his progeny. It is one of a number of caves believed to have been the birthplace or hiding place of Zeus. According to a variant of this legend, the Kouretes, a band of mythical warriors, undertook to dance their wild, noisy war dances in front of the cave, so that the clamour would keep Cronus from hearing the infant's crying. Excavations have revealed a large number of votive cult offerings on the site.

Notes

References

* Jones, Donald W. (1999). ''Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete'' *Rutkowski, B., and Krzysztof Nowicki (1996). ''The Psychro Cave and Other Sacred Grottoes in Crete'' (Warsaw: Polish Academy of Science) *Watrous, L. Vance (1996). ''The Cave Sanctuary of Zeus at Psychro: A Study of Extra-Urban Sanctuaries in Minoan and Early Iron Age Crete'' (Liège/Austin: Université de Liège / University of Texas at Austin)

External links

Hellenic Ministry of Culture
{{Authority control Landforms of Lasithi Greek mythology Minoan sites in Crete Ancient caves of Greece Show caves in Greece Landforms of Crete Sacred caves