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Modern Description: Near Diakofti is the cave known as *‘Chousti', a fascinating natural pothole with an underground sanctuary, which is currently in the process of being excavated and studied. (200m inland of the bridge at Diakofti, a small road leads off to the east; after 150m it ends and becomes a track. Following the track up onto a slight rise, the unobtrusive entrance down into the cave is at a point about 50 m north of two stone, barrel-vaulted churches.) Steps, carved in the rock, lead down into the cave which has a spacious round form, like a cupola, illuminated by a roughly circular breach at its apex. The form suggests the dome of the heavens with a solar oculus in its centre. The floor of the cave has vestiges of simple masonry, now collapsed and partly buried. Excavations are beginning to uncover layers which show that the cave has been a place first of refuge and later of cult, from Neolithic times through to the Geometric and Classical eras. One of the most curious finds to come from the cave is part of a clay tablet incised with lists of syllables, used probably for the teaching or practicing of writing by a student. The foundations of an ancient building are visible outside the cave, just to the west of its entrance but standing more or less over the chamber below. The building, or temple, was rectangular, approximately 12 x 8m, and oriented perfectly to the cardinal points.
Trismegistos Geo: 3356

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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