As promised, I want to close out the road trip with some links and views. I've put some links to various sites at the bottom of the blog, including one for the Eklektos page on Facebook - please feel free to jump in and have a look at some of the photos there that I haven't used in the blog, as well as all the other images...
The legend of Zeus and the caves has many versions, as with most mythology, but I like the version I was told by one of our Cretan friends...
Now, Chronos was the father of the Gods - a Titan, the youngest child of Uranus and Gaia (the goddess of the earth/mother Earth) and a terrible being - quick to anger and slow to forgive. He murdered his own father and the blood that fell in the sea, causing it to foam, and from this foam emerged the beautiful goddess of love, Aphrodite. Chronos took his sister Rhea as his wife and queen. An oracle warned him that his own son would kill him, just as he had killed Uranus, and so Chronos determined that there would be no living children.
Whenever Rhea gave birth, Chronos swallowed the child, until Rhea despaired. When her last child Zeus was born, she tricked her husband and gave him a stone instead of the child. She hid Zeus in the caves on Mount Dikti in Crete, in the care of Amalpha the goat , where he was raised in secret, way from the eyes of his father.
Eventually, Zeus grew to manhood, and returned to challenge his father. according to Cretan legend, Zeus and Chronos fought, and Zeus killed his father, slitting him open from throat to groin. as he died, the children he had eaten - Zeus brothers and sisters, all fell out rom inside alive - he had not chewed his food!
This, the Cretans say, was the beginings of the Gods of Olympus - ,Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and many others...
As a child, I loved the ancient myths, and I also loved films, so the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, Troy, the Odyssey, all these were burnt into my imagination and began my love of fantasy - Dragons, wizards, and magic..To go down into this ancient cave, and see how the rocks had alsmot human shapes: the impression was awesome! But I have another love - history and these caves and the plateau have an abundance of it!
Archeologists excavating the caves have found signs of an altar, and many ancient artifacts were unearthed, which suggest that the cave waas a holy place of worship and offering for centuries - you'll be able to read more on this through the links.
But the plateau for centuries was the bread basket for the province - the supply of water which allowed the growing of crops and raising of animals, made this whole plateau a vital part of Crete. As such, every invader wanted to control it, and the Cretans were neverof a mind to allow it!
There are weighty tomes on the history of Crete and its invaders, but there are also some new works about to be published that will give a new, more exciting read. As they come out, I'll blog about it all next year, but watch out for books by Yvonne Payne...
Being involved with a bookshop means that I have been able to read a lot about this place that we call home, and the internet is a valuable source of other material, but to actually go and experience this land is now vital and paramount! To feel the cool air as you descend into the mythical early home of Zeus: touch stones worm smotth by the hands of ancient worshippers and priests: to see the coins still being thrown into rock pools by todays' visitors...atmospheric, etherial, almost spiritual emotions made this trip something I will always treasure.
Meeting Yorgus in his Kafeneon, watching his elderly wife making coffee, with fingers blackened by work and fire...seeing the flashing pride of a man, now bowing with age, as he tells you of his life, his family and his pride in both...Yorgus - proprietor, mountain man of Crete, fighter, farmer and father - a rare privelige to meet such a man.
At every turn there was something - a view, a sight,another wonderous moment. It's hard to express what has moved me so much - so hard to portray to you, dear reader what a magical place this small piece of this wonderful island is to round a corner and see, amid the ruins of ancient windmills that drew water from the ground, a small, stunning chapel, brilliantly white in the sun...perhaps I have piqued your curiosity - perhaps you should come and see for yourself...
Yes, this was a day, but a day of contrast, contradictions, wonder and amazement...but such is Crete - that's why we call it home, and why we are so determined to stay on this island that has stolen our hearts and souls.
"I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."
Nikos Katzanzakis
https://www.facebook.com/EklektosBooks
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronus
www.explorecrete.com/crete-east/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oropedio_Lasithiou
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