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Dikteon Andron
At the north side of Dicty Mountain, 1025 m high, Dictean Cave is situated, where the father of gods and men Zeus was born. You see the entrance of the cave feeling awe, surrounded by trees and bushes together with wild flowers. You start go uphill and the atmosphere changes, becomes heavier, more imposing and devout. The sunlight does not reach this place. There is only the light of candles or torches.
Huge stalactites rise proudly, like giants that hold the ceiling of the cave for many centuries. The wet atmosphere and the dead silence are disturbed sometimes by the flutters of wild pigeons that still nest in here. In the twilight, the stalactitic figures of Zeus, Hera and Athena glow. At far end, the renowned "Mandias tou Dia" (cloak of Zeus), a forest of stalactites, glasses on the clear water of the lake, like an enormous chandelier.
In this magnificent cave, Rhea came, after being helped by her mother Gaia, to give birth to the divine child Zeus. This huge cave with the rich stalactitic decor, the dark look and the inaccessible-to-man morphology was meant to be a place of worship. It was obvious that together with the deities worshipped here, the huge stalactites would be worshipped too, as it is indicated by the offerings found in its folds.
These findings are older than these in the Idean Cave are. That fact justifies the viewpoint that Zeus was born in the Dictean Cave but he was raised in Idean Cave. Dictean Cave is separated in two parts. The first part is the flat one southward, the antechamber is 42 m long, 19 m wide and 6,5 m high. It was here that the built altar surrounded by tables for libations, statuettes in praying position, pots etc were found.
The second part, directed from north to south, the main cave is downhill, 85 m long, 38 m wide and 5-14 m high. At far end, on the left, there is a small chamber where in a recess Zeus was born. On the right, a lake, 16x8,5 m, is located.
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