Ask a Cretan where Zeus was born and you will get a confident answer: here. Ancient Greek myth agrees. The most powerful of the Olympian gods spent his first years on Crete, hidden in a cave, fed by a goat and guarded by dancing warriors. The story ties the island's mountains to the very beginning of the Greek gods.

Rhea's trick

In the myth told by the poet Hesiod, the Titan Kronos ruled the world with his wife Rhea. He had been warned that one of his children would overthrow him, so he swallowed each baby as soon as it was born. When Rhea was about to give birth to Zeus, she asked for help and was sent to Crete. There she gave birth in secret and hid the newborn in a cave.

To fool Kronos, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and handed it to him. He swallowed it without a second look. Zeus grew up safely on the island, and when he was grown he returned to force Kronos to bring up the children he had swallowed. Together they defeated the Titans, and Zeus became king of the gods.

The Kouretes and Amaltheia

A crying baby is hard to hide. According to the myth, the young warriors known as the Kouretes guarded the cave and danced at its entrance, clashing their spears against their shields. The noise covered the cries of the infant so that Kronos would never hear them.

The child was nursed by Amaltheia. In most versions she is a goat, and in some she is a nymph who looked after one. One well-known tale says that one of her horns broke off and became the horn of plenty, always full of food. Other versions add bees that fed the baby honey. It is fitting that the island of the wild agrimi gave the king of the gods a goat for a nurse.

Two caves, one god

Ancient writers did not all agree on which cave sheltered Zeus, and two Cretan caves claim the honour.

  • The Diktaean Cave (Diktaion Antron), above the village of Psychro on the Lasithi plateau in eastern Crete, is often named as the birthplace.
  • The Idaean Cave (Idaion Antron), high on Mount Ida near the Nida plateau, is often named as the place where Zeus was raised.

Both caves were real places of worship in antiquity. Archaeologists found many offerings in them, including decorated bronze shields in the Idaean Cave, which fit neatly with the clashing shields of the Kouretes. Crete also kept a more unusual tradition. Some Cretans claimed that Zeus had died and was buried on their island, an idea that other Greeks found shocking.

Mount Ida, the mountain of Zeus

Mount Ida is better known today as Psiloritis, "the very high mountain". Its summit, Timios Stavros, rises to around 2,456 m and is the highest point of Crete. A small stone chapel stands at the top. On a clear day the view takes in much of the island and both the Cretan and Libyan seas. Many walkers reach the top from the Nida plateau, close to the Idaean Cave, so the route passes through the very landscape of the myth.

Climb the mountain of Zeus

Standing on Psiloritis, it is easy to see why the ancients imagined a god growing up here. The mountain is wild, bare and close to the sky. Join our guided hike to the Timios Stavros summit and walk to the roof of Crete, on the slopes where, as the story goes, the king of the gods spent his childhood.