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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