Several ancient Greek myths refer to the connection of Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods, with Crete. According to one myth, Mother Earth, Gaia, emerged from chaos and, while sleeping, she gave birth to Uranus (Sky). Uranus, in turn, gave birth to his own children, the Seven Titans. The younger Titan, Cronus (Saturn), overthrew his father with Gaia's help but fearing the same fate, swallowed his children.
He swallowed, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Rhea, their mother, gave birth to and hid Zeus in Diktaeo Andron, the cave on the Lasithi Plateau. She gave a swaddled stone to Cronus and he believed it was the baby. Zeus was brought up in the cave drinking the milk of the goat Amalthea. The Kuretes, the watchful guardians of Zeus, covered the baby's cry with their dance and the noise of their weapons and percussion instruments. While playing, Zeus broke Amalthea's horn, and as a sign of gratitude, he caused the horn to always be full of food. This horn has become a universal symbol of abundance and prosperity.
Zeus continued his life in the cave of Idaion Andron, a cave, in Psiloritis, among shepherds. When Zeus grew up, Rhea poisoned Cronus, and all of Zeus' siblings came out of his mouth. In the war that followed, between the Titans and the Olympian Gods, the Titanomachy, which lasted 10 years, Cronus and the Titans were defeated and imprisoned in Tartara, the Underworld, the place of Hades. Zeus became the king of the Olympian Gods.
According to the Cretan tradition, Zeus was born and died every year. The Minoans believed in the nature Goddess of abundance, who was reborn every year. The hill of Giouchtas, very close to Heraklion, depicts the image of the resting head of the dead Zeus. For the rest of Greece, Zeus was considered immortal.
(More articles about Crete at www.gomega.gr
