Idaion Antron

At the Nida Plateau, on an altitude of 1538 m. exists “the Cave of the shepherdess”, the cave where according to mythology, Zeus, the father of the mortals and the gods was raised (or born).

To be exact, Rea hid her newborn baby son in the cave to save him from Kronos, who used to eat his children, fearing that one of them might take his throne. Hidden in the cave, Zeus grew up with the milk of goat Amalthea and when he cried, the Kourites covered his cries by loudly beating their bronze shields.

The cave, as it was associated with this myth, became very famous in ancient times and was a timeless worship centre from the Minoan times to the late Roman times. The sacredness of the cave was proven by the excavation research that was started in 1885 by the Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr and continued systematically from 1983 and later on by the archaeologists Giannis and Efi Sakellarakis.

A large number of archaeological finds has come to light, including bronze shields with carved pictures, stone seals, ivory objects and gold jewels. An impressively large number of pottery objects, statuettes, tools and metal objects were also found.