Idean grotto

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Entrance to the cave

The Idean Grotto ( ancient Greek Ἰδαίον Ἄντρον , modern Greek Ιδαίο Άντρο Ideo Andro ) is a cave in the Psiloritis massif (also called Ida Mountains) on the Greek island of Crete . The natural cavity, also known as the “Shepherd's Cave” (Spiliara tis Voskopoulas) , is located at an altitude of 1,495 meters on the western edge of the Nida plateau in central Crete. The cave entrance is at an altitude of 1538 meters.

mythology

The Idean Grotto, like the Dictean Grotto near Psychro , is the birthplace of Zeus Kretagenes . The god Zeus is said to have spent his youth here and later passed the laws of the country to his son Minos , the mythical king of Crete.

Excavations

Look into the cave

The first scientific excavations were carried out in 1885 by the Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr . The excavations continued by Jannis Sakellarakis and Katya Mandeli from 1982 onwards produced finds from the end of the Neolithic , but above all from the Minoan period . The excavation finds , including numerous bronze votives , proved the cultic character of the cave. The cult was continued in the Archaic, Classical and Roman times. Among the finds from the late Minoan shrine were consecration horns, which Anna Lucia D'Agata connects with comparable finds from Agia Triada .

Since 2006, Peter Day from the University of Sheffield has been conducting thin section examinations on the end neolithic pottery to determine its origin.

Tourist notices

For the descent into the interior, wooden planks are set into the rock as stairs. In 2012, construction work was carried out to facilitate access via rock stairs. The Idean Grotto is a very small cave, the interior is completely illuminated by daylight from the cave entrance. In some years, snow remains in the cave until the second half of the year.

literature

  • Jannis Sakellarakis: The Idaean cave: Minoan and Greek worship. In: Kernos . Volume 1, 1988, pp. 207-214. ( Online )
  • Katja Sporn : Sanctuaries and cults of Crete in Classical and Hellenistic times ( studies on ancient sanctuaries 3). Archeology and History, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-935289-01-4 .
  • Lambert Schneider : Crete. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2002, pp. 151–153, limited preview in the Google book search.
  • Giannis Sakellarkis, Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki: Ιδαίο Άντρο: το σπήλαιο του Δία και οι θησαυροί του. Miletos, Athens 2010.
  • Giannis Sakellarkis, Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki: Το Ιδαίο Άντρο: ιερό και μαντείο. Volume 1–3, Athens 2013.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Stella Kalogeraki: Rethymnon - The soul of Crete . Mediterraneo Editions, Rethymno 2002, ISBN 960-8227-15-1 , p. 59 .
  2. ↑ a b Hiking map Idi - Ίδη (1: 50,000) . freytag & berndt, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85084-809-4 .
  3. ↑ Klaus Bötig , Otto Gärtner: Crete (Merian travel guide). Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-423-03724-5 , p. 97.
  4. ^ Anna Lucia D'Agata: Religion, society and ethnicity on Crete at the end of the late Bronze Age. The contextual framework of lM IIIC cult activities . In: Robert Laffineur , Robin Hägg (Ed.): Potnia. Deities and religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference, Göteborg, Göteborg University, April 12-15, 2000 . Liège 2001 ( Aegaeum 22), p. 352.

Web links

Commons : Idean Grotto  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 35 ° 12 ′ 30.1 ″  N , 24 ° 49 ′ 44.2 ″  E