The Corycian Cave (; ) is located in central Greece on the southern slopes of Mount Parnassus, in Parnassus National Park, which is situated north of Delphi. The Corycian Cave has been a sacred space since the Neolithic era, and its name comes from the mythological nature spirits the Corycian nymphs, which were depicted as looking like beautiful maidens and were said to inhabit the cave. More specifically it is named after the nymph Corycia; however, its name etymologically derives from korykos, "knapsack". A modern name for the cave in some references is Sarantavli, meaning "forty rooms" due to the fact that the cave has many caverns that go deep into Mt. Parnassus. The Corycian Cave was used primarily as a place of worship for the Pan, the god of the wild, as well as the Corycian nymphs, Zeus, and is also thought to be the ritual home of Dionysus. Also in mythology, Zeus was imprisoned in the Corycian Cave by the monster Typhon.
Today, the Corycian Cave is a notable tourist attraction for those who travel to Delphi. Tourists often hike past the Corycian Cave as they travel on ancient trails up Mt. Parnassus to have a much broader view of the landscape of the Livadi Valley below.
In modern times, the cave has been a place of refuge for the surrounding population during foreign invasions e.g. from the Persians (Herodotus, 8.36) in the 5th century BC, the Turks during the Greek War of Independence, and from the Germans in 1943.
Location and geography
Exterior geography
According to author Jeremy McInerney, "Delphi and Mt.Parnassus became, through myth and ritual, landscape in which tensions between wilderness and civilizations... could be narrated, enacted, and organized". This could be seen in the ritual and in topography where Mt.Parnassus is split into the zones of harsh wilderness at its peaks in contrast to the plateau below that was used for cultivation, and in the center of this, as McInerney says, "... the deeper movement from chaos to order..." was the Corycian Cave. Due to its topographical location, to ancient Greeks the Corycian Cave was the divider between wilderness and culture. It represents a place outside of the sanctuary of Delphi below but not at the dangerous mountain peaks, a place where for mythological purposes, "... where nymphs are possessed and tamed by the gods..."
The Corycian Cave sits at an altitude of 1,250m above sea level. The ascent to the Corycian Cave from the plateau below was a steep and rocky one, climbing an elevation of 1,000m in under a half kilometer.
Interior geography
Corycian Cave is the largest cave in the Delphi region. Some ancient texts describe Corycian Cave as being located in, "…a large oval depression with high rocky walls, where the best saffron grew; it was filled with an agreeable, shady woodland…and at the bottom there opened an underground cavern." It is thought that the cave was formed after the collapse of an older cave system, possible due to an earthquake. The composition of Corycian Cave itself mostly consists of limestone and schist plaques—as is common of the many caves throughout the Delphi region. The structure of Corycian Cave is made up of two central caverns and then gets narrower as it extends deeper. The length and width of the first chamber is roughly 90x60 meters and the height is roughly 50 meters. The chamber is also filled with stalactites and stalagmites formed out of limestone. One prominent stalagmite in particular known as Table has a relatively large, flat top that was used a depository for votives by worshipers.
Cave exploration and archaeology
Artifacts found
The Corycian Cave was excavated in 1969 by French hellenist Pierre Amandry and his team from the French School of Athens. During the excavation they found many artifacts and vessels left by ancient worshippers. The majority of objects found were made out of livestock bone. This included 22,000 astragals, which were primarily from sheep and goats, that were made out of talus, a large bone that protrudes from the ankle. The astragals were believed to be primarily used in games of chance, similar to the modern day dice. Of the 22,000 found, 2,500 were found to have been purposefully smoothed down and pierced so that a leather thread could go through them to form a necklace (36 were set in lead and 2 in gold). Also in the Corycian Cave, archeologists found a variety of rings, bronze figurines, ceramics, metal objects, as well as several wind instruments such as the auloi.