Classic Legends


Caves have impressed man since prehistoric times. And, of course, they were in many ways necessary for life. Originally, man made his records in the cave, painting the walls with pictures and adding symbols. But when man learned to write on parchment and paper, the cave remained there as an important subject.

One of the oldest and most famous texts in which a cave plays a central role is the Cave Allegory by Plato. In it, he compares the world to a cave and our perception of the world to light and shadow on the wall of the cave, which we think is reality, but which is only a projection of the reality before the cave.

But caves were also settings in Greek myths, such as the cave in Crete where Zeus grew up. Or the cave in which Polyphemus lived. Unfortunately, the location description was very inaccurate before the invention of GPS, and so today many a cave can claim to be the one. So it is not surprising that nowadays two caves on Crete are named Zeus Cave and the guides of various other caves stiffly claim that actually their cave would be the right one.