Cave of Zeus

Diktei Cave or Psihro Cave is located above the village of Psihro at an altitude of 1020 meters, on the north side of Mount Diktei, in the Lassithi region of Crete. It is considered one of the important caves in the world, as it is of great mythological and archaeological interest. It has also attracted the attention of many Greek and foreign archaeologists, who have excavated inside the cave from time to time. At the end of the 19th century, locals discovered in the cave many archaeological finds from the Neolithic, Minoan, Late Minoan, Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman eras. The cave seems to have been used as a dwelling and burial place since 2800 b.c. The cave has an area of 2200 m², the total length of the tourist route is 250 meters and consists of five parts. In the cave there is an amazing lake surrounded by huge stalactites and stalagmites. The Mantle of Zeus is the name of one stalactite that hangs like a chandelier over the lake. Its shape, as in Greek myths, resembles a mantle. The myth says that Cronus (Titan), fearing to be overthrown by his own child, ordered Rhea to bring him all newborns. But one day, Rhea decided to save at least one child and went on a deception. She temporarily hid from Cronus in a hard-to-reach cave high in the mountains, where Zeus was later born. The father had no opportunity to see the newborn, and Rhea instead of the baby decides to slip him a boulder wrapped in baby diapers, and Zeus himself was left for upbringing by Diktean Kurites, secretly from his father. This myth belonging to the cave in our days cause a lot of disputes, giving birth to a lot of assumptions and doubts, that exactly the Diktean cave could be the place where Rhea gave birth to Zeus. But at archaeological excavations in 1900 were found double axes, various ornaments, vases made in the style of Kamares and statuettes. The analysis of which allows to assume that the cult character of the cave has got earlier than the Idean cave in which according to myths and grew up Zeus.