Diktaean Cave in CreteKOSTIS S. CHRISTAKIS
A cave near the village of Psychro on the north
slope of Mount Dikte, at an altitude of
1,025 m. According to many ancient authors
this is where ZEUS was born and brought up.
The cave was occasionally visited as early as the
seventeenth century, but further research was
not carried out until 1886, by Halbherr and
Hazzidakis. Hogarth began a systematic exca-
vation in 1900 (Hogarth 1899–1900).
The cave was used for habitation in Final
Neolithic and Early Minoan I periods
(3600–2600 BCE) and became a burial ground
in Early Minoan II–III (2300–2100). There is
a gap in the history of the cave during
subsequent periods until the end of the Old
Palace period (ca. 1700), when offerings were
deposited. Cult was limited to the upper cham-
ber of the cave, where an altar decorated
with painted plaster was built. In the Late
Minoan I period and onwards (ca. 1600), cult
was also practiced in the lower chamber with
a pool. Offerings were left in the crevices of
stalagmites and stalactites. The richness of the
offerings suggests that the cave was a cult place
of more than local significance. The type of
offerings and the darkness of the lower cham-
ber suggest that there may have been an escha-
tological dimension to cult.
Cult activities continued in the upper
chamber in the Late Minoan III period
(1400–1100), when a “temenos” enclosure
was erected. Offerings include pottery and
fine examples of bronze weapons. The cave
retained its function in the subsequent periods
until the Late Archaic (early fifth century),
when it seems to have declined, a shift proba-
bly linked to political changes in the region.
Pilgrims visited the Diktaean Cave in Roman
times (67 BCE–330 CE) and occasionally in the
Byzantine period (330–1204).
SEE ALSO: Idaean Cave.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Hogarth, D. G. (1899–1900) “The Dictaean Cave.”
Annual of the British School at Athens 6: 94–116.
Rutkowski, B. (1986) The cult places of the Aegean.
New Haven.
Watrous, L. V. (1996) The cave sanctuary of Zeus
at Psychro. Liege.
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print page 2098.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02056
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