The Cave of Psychro

The cave of Psychro is one of the most important cult places of Minoan Crete. The use of caves as cult places was one of the basic characteristics of the religious beliefs of the ancient Cretans. Cult practice probably begins in the Early Minoan period (2800-2300 B.C.) - although in the antechamber are preserved traces of an even earlier occupation - but the most important finds date from the Middle Minoan period (1800 B.C.) and later, as it was used for many centuries, until the Geometric (8th century B.C.) and the Orientalising-Archaic period (7th-6th century B.C.). The finds prove that it was visited as late as the Roman period. Pilgrims dedicated many offerings, such as figurines of humans, gods, animals, double axes etc. The excavators and several scholars identify the cave as the famous "Diktaian Cave", where Zeus was born and brought up with the aid of Amaltheia and the Kouretes, and which is connected with myths as this of the seer Epimenides who "slept" here, or the coupling of Zeus with Europa.

In the last decades of the previous century, inhabitants of the area found ancient items inside the cave; this fact led in 1886, the archaeologists Joseph Chatzidakis and F. Halbherr to the site, where they conducted an excavation, but not on a large scale. The cave was also investigated by A. Evans in 1897, by J. Demargne, and by G. Hogarth in 1899, but systematic excavation has not taken place yet. The finds uncovered during legal and illegal excavations were almost all published in 1961 by J. Boardman. The numerous offerings to the cave are now exhibited in the Herakleion Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

At 1,025 m. a.s.l., a steep path leads up to a plateau in front of the narrow entrance to the cave. On the right side is an antechamber (42 x 19 m.) with a rectangular altar, 1m. high, built of field stones; this area yielded Neolithic potsherds, Early Minoan burials (2800-2200 B.C.), and offerings of the Middle Minoan period (2200-1550 B.C.). In the northern part of the antechamber, at a lower level, a chamber is formed, which included an irregular enclosure with patches of roughly paved floor, forming a sort of a temenos.

The large hall (84 x 38 m.) has an inclined floor and a small chamber opening to the left end; one of its niches is called the "liknon" of Zeus. A larger chamber (25 x 12 m.) formed on the right side is divided into two parts: one has a small pool, and the other a very impressive stalactite, known as "the mantle of Zeus". Inside the main chamber had been deposited many offerings, mostly bronze figurines and sheets (1, 2), daggers, arrowheads, and double

Monastery of Toplou

It is an historical monastery of the 15th century, which collapsed in the earthquake of 1612 and was rebuilt with the financial aid of the Venetians. During the Ottoman conquest of Crete, the monastery was destroyed and devastated by the Turks. In 1704 the monastery was declared stauropegion. During the Ottoman occupation there was a school in the monastery, while, after 1870, it was founded there a school of mutual teaching.

The Monastery is a stauropegion fortress. The main building of 800 m2 has three floors, which are divided into cells, guest - houses, kitchens, the abbot' s residense and warehouses. The katholicon is a two-aisled church; the northern aisle is dedicated to the Virgin, and the southern posterior aisle, to St John the Theologian. The monastery' s characteristic bell tower bears relief crowns and crosses with inscriptions and the date 1558.

The 13th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities carried out works of consolidation and restoration. In the Monastery, there is also an interesting Museum.

Lato

Lato was one of the most important Doric city-states in Crete, although it must have existed before the "Coming of the Dorians". It is built on a saddle between two hills, at a site protected by possible attacks but also with a splendid view over a large area of the Mirambello Bay. It is possibly mentioned in the Linear B tablets as RA-TO. It was named after Leto (Lato is the Doric type), mother of Apollo and Artemis, although the main goddess worshipped in the city was Eileithyia, who was also depicted on the coins cut by the city. Lato was the birth-place of Nearchos, the admiral of Alexander the Great. Before the end of the 3rd century B.C., the inhabitants of Lato participated in the League of the Cretan cities and shared the same laws. Lato made many alliances with Rhodes, Teos, and king Eumenes of Pergamon.

However, it was in continuous conflict with the neighbouring city of Olous, for the arrangement of the borders between them. The harbour of the city was Lato pros Kamara (modern Aghios Nikolaos), which was so flourishing by the middle of the 2nd century A.D. that the administrative centre was transferred there and Lato was subsequently abandoned.
The English admiral Th. Spratt, in his work "Travels in Crete", published in 1865, mentions that he located the remains of the ancient city on the hill of Goulas, but wrongly identified them as the remains of Olous or Oleros. The archaeologists F. Halbherr, L. Mariani and A. Taramelli, visited the site and identified it as ancient Lato. In 1894-96, A. Evans conducted a small-scale investigation. Systematic excavation started in 1899-1901 by the French School of Archaeology, with J. Demargne, was resumed in 1968 by P. Ducrey, O. Picard, and B. Chatzimichali, and lasted until the 1970s.

Kouphonesi or Leuke

 

The island of Leuke is mentioned by Pliny. A special mention is also made in the inscription known as the "Diaitesia (arbitration) of the Magnetes", built in the facade of the catholicon (main church) of the Toplou Monastery. The inscription refers to the conflict between Itanos and Ierapytna. Leuke was an important station of sponge collecting and mainly, of the working of murex shells, from which the famous, precious and expensive purple dye was extracted; moreover, its position was strategic mainly for the ships that stopped on the south-east coasts, and as a result became a reason of conflict between the two cities. Itanos was justified in the end.

Leuke was continuously inhabited from the Early Minoan (3000-2200 B.C.) until the Early Christian period and was finally abandoned in the 4th century A.D. The very restricted human presence on the island thereafter (it was used only for cultivation and stock-breeding) greatly contributed to the preservation of the antiquities as it actually remained uninhabited, although the largest part of its surface was covered with sand.

The English admiral Th. Spratt was the first who visited the island in the middle of the 19th century and made detailed descriptions of the ancient remains he managed to locate: a temple in the south, with fragments of a marble statue, a settlement in the northern part of the island, and water cisterns in the centre. In 1903, the English archaeologists R.C. Bosanquet and Ct. Curelly conducted a survey to locate the ruins mentioned by Spratt, while in 1971 A. Leonard Jr. carried out a more thorough investigation. Systematic excavation started in 1976 by N. Papadakis of the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and is still in progress.

SOURCE : Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού