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Modern Description: A grotto and spring with inscribed votive offerings on a shelf on the west side of Mt. Kounados, Paros. The chapel of Profitis Elias sits on the summit where once, according to an inscription found on the site, was the cult of Zeus Hypat[i]os (‘the Highest'). Down the spur to the southwest, at a point overlooking the port below, is a plateau with a raised knob of rock about 3m x 1m, which may correspond to the altar of Aphrodite or of Eileithyia, divine protectress of childbirth, whose cults are also attested here: nearby are a couple of shaped blocks of limestone which must have been part of the structure, and some cuts in the native rock lower down. Continuing west to the edge of the spur, you come to a cave in the rock with votive niches; nearby are rocks with – once again – the faint outlines of feet incised on them, left behind as votive acts by women who frequented the shrine.
DARE: 43464

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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