- Psychro
Pyschro, associated with the Diktaean / Diktaian Cave credited as the site of
Zeus ' birth, is an ancient Minoansacred cave in theLasithi district of easternCrete . According toHesiod , "Theogony" 477, Rhea gave birth toZeus in a cave of Mount Aegaeon, near Lyttos; since the late nineteenth century the cave above the modern village of Psychro has been identified with this sanctuary.Geography
Psychro is 1,025 meters above sea level. The cave is located in the
prefecture ofLasithi .Myth
The Dictaean cave is famous in
Greek mythology as the place whereAmalthea , perhaps known in Crete asDikte , nurtured the infantZeus with her goat's milk, the mythic connection to the long use as a site of cult attested here by archaeology. The nurse of Zeus, who was charged by Rhea to raise the infantZeus in secret here, to protect him from his fatherCronus (Krónos) is also called thenymph Adrasteia in some contexts. ["Bibliotheke ", 1.1.6.]Archaeology
The cave was first excavated in 1886 by Joseph Hazzidakis, President of the Syllogos at Candia and F. Halbherr. [F. Halbherr and P. Orsi, "Scoperte nell' Antro di Psychro", "Museo dell' Antichità Classico" 2 1888 pp 905-10.] In 1896, Sir Arthur Evans investigated the site. [Evans, "Further discoveries of Cretan and Aegean scripts," "JHS" 17 (1897), pp305-57.] In 1899, J. Demargne and
David George Hogarth of theBritish School at Athens conducted further investigations; Hogarth's brief report published in 1900 [D. G. Hogarth, "The Cave of Psychro in Crete" "The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland" 30 (1900), pp. 90-91.] gives a picture of the destruction wrought by primitive archaeological methods: immense fallen blocks from the upper cave roof were blasted before removal; the rich black earth had been previously ransacked. The stuccoed altar in the upper cave was discovered in 1900, surrounded by strata of ashes, pottery and "other refuse", among which werevotive object s in bronze, terracotta, iron and bone, with fragments of some thirty libation tables and countless ceramic conical cups for food offerings. Bones among the ash layer attest to sacrifice of bulls, sheep and goats, deer and a boar. [W. Boyd-Dawkins, "Remains of Animals Found in the Dictaean Cave in 1901," "Man" 32 (1902) Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp 162-165.] The undisturbed lowest strata of the upper cave represented the transition between Late Minoan Kamares ware to earliest Mycenaean levels; finds represented the Geometric Style of the ninth century BCE, but few later than that. More recent excavation has revealed the use of the cave reached back to Early Minoan times, and votive objects attest to the cave's being the most frequented shrine by Middle Minoan times (MMIIIA). [L. Vance Watrous and H. Blitzer, "Lasithi: A History of Settlement on a Highland Plain in Crete" "Hesperia Supplements" 18 (1982), pp. i -xiv,1-122.]The lower grotto falls steeply with traces of a rock-cut stair to a pool, out of which stalactites rise. "Much earth had been thrown down by diggers of the Upper Grotto," Hogarth reported, "and this was found full of small bronze objects." In the vertical chinks of the lowest stalactites, Hogarth's team found "toy double- xes, knife-blades, needles, and other objects in bronze, placed there by dedicators, as in niches. The mud also at the edge of the subterranean pool was rich in similar things, and in statuettes of two types, male and female and engraved gems."
In 1961,
John Boardman published the finds uncovered by these and other, illegal, excavations.While clay human figurines are normally found in
peak sanctuaries , Psychro and the sanctuary onMount Ida stand out as the only sacred caves that have yielded human figurines. Psychro is also a unique sacred cave for a bronze leg, also known as a votive body part, which is the only votive body part to be found in a sacred cave. More commonsacred cave finds at Psychro include stone and ceramic lamps.Psychro yielded an uncommon number of semi-precious stones, including
carnelian ,steatite ,amethyst ,jasper andhematite .Psychro's artefacts are now on display at the Heraklion Museum and the
Ashmolean Museum ,Oxford .Notes
References
* Jones, Donald W. 1999 "Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete" ISBN 91-7081-153-9
*Rutkowski, B. and Krzysztof Nowicki, 1996. "The Psychro Cave and Other Sacred Grottoes in Crete" (Warsaw: polish Academy of Science).
*Watrous, L. Vance 1996. "The Cave Sanctuary of Zeus at Psychro: A Study of Extra-Urban Sanctuaries in Minoan and Early Iron Age Crete" (Liège/Austin:Université de Liège/University of Texas at Austin)External links
* [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21124a/e211xa03.html Hellenic Ministry of Culture ] ; Retrieved
17 January 2006
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