Milatos cave

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View of the entrance to the Milatos cave

The Milatos Cave ( Greek Σπήλαιο Μιλάτου ) is located one kilometer east of the village of Milatos in the Cretan municipality of Agios Nikolaos .

history

View inside the cave

The oldest finds from the cave date from the Neolithic Age . However, the cave is known for its siege by Egyptian-Turkish troops during the Greek Revolution . In 1821 resistance against the Ottoman Empire also formed in Crete . In 1822 an Egyptian-Turkish army led by Hassan Pasha landed on Crete to put down the uprising. When he camped near Neapoli in the spring of 1823 , the Greek Christians from Neapoli and the surrounding area sought refuge in the cave of Milatos. The information on the number of refugees varies, depending on the source, between 2000 and 3600, among them between 150 and 300 armed men are said to have been, all others were women and children.

On February 3, 1823, Hassan Pascha had the valley in which the cave is located cordoned off so that no one could escape and had the cave entrance bombarded with artillery from the opposite hill. 300 Sfakioten under the leadership of Rousos Vourdoumbas and a large number of fighters from Lappa under Georgios Souderos came to the aid of the trapped, inflicted painful losses on the besiegers and were initially able to drive the enemy away. They captured cattle and sheep and left. Meanwhile, the Egyptian-Turkish army continued the siege. The Greeks protected the cave entrance with sacks of wool to dampen the force of the cannon balls. On February 15, the refugees finally had to give up in order not to starve or die of thirst. All men but 30 fighters and 18 priests were killed. The priests were burned at the stake, the fighters were taken prisoner to Spinalonga , where they were later executed. The older women were trampled or otherwise killed by the cavalry . Younger women and children were sold into slavery .

Iconostasis of the church in the cave

description

If you follow the road to Kounali from Milatos, you will reach a rest area with parking facilities after about 2.5 kilometers. From here a 300 meter long footpath leads to the cave entrance. An inscription above the entrance recalls the events of 1823. The cave has a size of 2100 m² and a maximum depth of 73 meters and 63 meters wide. The height ranges from half a meter to three meters. Part of the cave was expanded into a small church of the Apostle Thomas in 1935 . Next to it there is also a shrine with bones of the killed Christians who were found here.

literature

Web links

Commons : Milatos Cave  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kallinikos Kritovoulides, Narrative of the Cretan war of independence , Vol. I, London, 1864, pp. 177-179
  2. ↑ Eberhard Fohrer, Kreta , Michael Müller Verlag, 18th edition 2009, ISBN 978-3-89953-453-5 , pp. 306-307
  3. ↑ Crete and the uprising against the Turks in Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Literatur , 61st year, first half, 1868, pp. 168–169

Coordinates: 35 ° 18 ′ 30 ″  N , 25 ° 34 ′ 41 ″  E