Cave of Diktaion Andron

This guide to the Cave of Diktaion Andron near Heraklion follows British archaeologist David Hogarth's 1899 excavation of a cave already stripped by villagers digging for anything sellable, and what he still found buried beneath the wreckage: an altar ringed by bronze axes and offering cups. It traces the myth that drew worshippers here for centuries, that this was where Rhea hid her newborn son from a father who swallowed his children, and the armed dancers said to have drowned out his crying. Bones of bulls, goats and deer show animals were sacrificed here for generations.