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Notes
1. See Bachelard (1957) and Lotman (1990).
2. I would like to thank the editors of this volume, as well as Suzanne Adema and Pierluigi Lanfranchi for their stimulating comments on this article.
3. Within the boundaries of modern day Greece, over 10,000 caves have been counted, of which 130 functioned as sanctuaries (Sporn 2010). These flourished in the Archaic and Clas- sical period but were less popular in the Hellenistic period. They regained popularity in the Roman period and especially in Late Antiquity (Sporn 2007: 42).
4. See Kerényi (1976: 17) and Burkert (1977: 55) for the interpretation of stone formations; see Sporn (2007: 42-44) for form, sound and light. The literary caves discussed in the present article confirm the visual impact of the stone formations mentioned by Sporn but do not mention the aquatic ‘lithophony’. Moreover, when light is described in epic, it is always supra-natural (see below part II).
5. See also Scully (1962: 10), Sporn (2002) and (2010) for the general absence of boundary markers, altars and divine statues with the one conspicuous exception of the Vari cave of ‘Archedemus the Nympholept’ (fifth century BCE). For the larger cult caves, such as the Corcyrian Cave and the Idaean Cave (see below), the situation is different. Architectural ele- ments such as marble entrances were added only when natural caves are part of larger sanc- tuaries. Sometimes, statues or altars were placed outside, in front of the cave.
6. For the different kind of religious practices in caves, see Sporn (2007: 57) Ancient legends also tell us about caves used by individuals in quest of visionary wisdom, such as the Cretan seer Epimenides and the philosopher Pythagoras (both sixth century BCE) (see Dodds 1951: 110). Other examples are Elia who withdrew in a cave on Mount Horeb (eighth century BCE) (1 Kings 19) and the church father Hieronymus who retreated to a cave in the Syrian desert (347-420 CE). Many early Christian anchorites were said to have dwelled in caves by way of spiritual withdrawal from the secular world.
7. In Antiquity, two caves on Crete were seen as Zeus’ birth cave: the Idaean cave as well as the Dyctaean cave. For confusion between the two, see Call. Hymn I.4-6 and 47-51; Aratus 33-35; Apollonius Rhodius 1.509 and 3.134.
8. See Lavagne (1988) on caves from Sulla to Hadrian.
9. In major epic from the Archaic period to the Late Antique period, words for ‘cave’ ( , , ) occur over a 160 times. To give an impression of the distribution in the corpus studied for this article: in Homer 57 times ( : 12; : 43, often accompanied by or ; : 2), mainly in the Odyssey (book 5: Calypso, book 9: Polyphemus and book 13: nymphs); in Hesiod 2 times ( : 1; : 1); in the Homeric Hymns 11 times ( : 10; : 1), mainly in the Hymn on Hermes (see below); in Apollonius 15 times ( : 10; : 3; : 2); in Quintus of Smyrna 31 times ( : 19; : 6; : 6), mainly related to the cave of Philoctetes and to animal dens; in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca 48 times ( : 15, often accompanied by ; : 10; : 23, mostly related to Hades).
11. In Homer, this expression is used for mortal focalisers, see De Jong 2001. There is one exception, though: Calypso’s cave, admired by the god Hermes (Odyssey 5).
12. See http://www.odysseus-unbound.org, consulted 13.05.2011.
13. Caves functioning as mere landmarks or features of a landscape are very rare in epic: the cave in the harbour of the island of the Cyclopes (Odyssey 9.141); the Eileiuthyia cave on Crete (Odyssey 19.188); the island Aeolia ‘rich in caves’ (Quintus of Smyrna 14.475); a wood ‘impenetrable like a cave’ (Nonnus Dionysiaca 21.328); an abyss in a landscape (Non- nus Dionysiaca 2.70).
14. See Larson (2009: 61) on stone formations in caves of the nymphs suggestive of furniture. There is one exceptional finding of a ‘bed of the nymphs.’
15. Pépin (1965), Verhoeven (1984), Lamberton (1983) and (1986), Agosti (1986), Larson (2001: paragraph 1.4.5), see also Finkelberg (2011: s.v. ‘Allegorical interpretation’, ‘Alle- gory’ and ‘Porphyry’). In his commentary on the Odyssey, Stanford (1965) still condemns Porphyry’s treatise as a fantastic allegorical interpretation, ‘neglecting such otiose specula- tions, the stone mixing-bowls and two-handled jars in 105-107 (…) and the looms were probably stalagmite formations as often seen in caves and grottos.’ Of course, but Stanford misses the point: stalagmite formations often arouse the imagination and are interpreted as divine figures or religious objects.
16. Porphyry corroborates this by mentioning the Allegory of the Cave of Pythagoras’ / Plato’s philosophy and the cave sanctuaries in the Mithraic cult (De Antro Nympharym 7).
17. Relevant citations and allusions are indicated between brackets next to each verse. Vian (2008: 391): ‘It is hard to say whether he wished to give Apollonius’ digression a Homeric turn or simply ignored it.’ Vian (1959: 129 and 143) concludes that Quintus’ descriptions seem to be based mainly on geographical and fictional works (‘souvenirs de lecture’, ‘sans souci de l’exactitude’, thus Vian). See also Larson (2001: 1.4.5) on Quintus’ cave of the nymphs.
18. See the French edition by Vian et al., the Italian commentary by Gigli Piccardi et al., Shor- rock (2001) and (2011), García-Gasco Villarrubia (2007) and (2011), Hernández de la Fuente (2011), etc.
19. In the Orphic tradition, the rape of Persephone and the birth of Zagreus are usually located on Crete. Chuvin remarks that the setting of this episode sprang from Nonnus’ fantasy because he did not know the actual Sicilian landscape (1991: 73): ‘Kyanè est un trou d’eau bleutée au milieu d’une plaine parfaitement plate’. It was described by some ancient writers as a stagnant swamp.
20. For similar imagery, see the Homeric Hymn on Hermes, where the nymph Maia gives birth to Hermes in a shady cave ( , v. 6, see also vv. 171 and 359) on Mount Kyl- lene in Arcadia. This cave is described as a hiding place, but during the hymn, while Hermes changes from grumpy newborn outsider to accepted member of the Olympic pantheon, it assumes more and more architectural features. This is very rare in the case of sacred caves, as we have seen. Firstly, it is transformed into a human dwelling, with a threshold, high roof, courtyard gate, hall and door with keyhole, and then into a house of a god, bright and filled with tripods and cauldrons (first an instance of wishful thinking/singing), with even an
‘abounding inner shrine’. It is large and full of treasures ‘as are kept in temples’. Thus, the cave in this hymn is a hiding place transformed into a would-be temple.
21. See the excellent introduction to and commentary on books I-XII of the Dionysiaca by Gigli-Piccardi (2006: 16-17) and commentary on lines 128-144. The Orphic-Neo-Platonic interpretation is too complicated to discuss here in its entirety, as it extends to many other elements in the Dionysiaca. Weaving can also seen as a metaphor for the text itself (text < Latin texere), but I doubt if this metaphor is intended here. The passage recalls to a certain extent the description of Persephone’s unfinished peplos by Nonnus’ contemporary Clau- dian in his Latin De raptu Proserpinae, where Persephone is weaving, locked away and abandoned by her mother in an iron palace on Sicily. She does not finish her peplos and leaves the world, as it were, in an imperfect state. For De raptu Proserpinae and its relation to the Eleusinian mysteries, liminality and cosmogony, see Dirven-Gerbrandy (2010). 22. See Burkert (1977: 393). Some spectacular votive offerings (ninth century BCE) have been
found in the cave on Mount Ida: a bronze tympanon (shield) showing Assyrian-style demons holding cymbals, representing the Curetes trying to cover the cries of baby Zeus (although here Zeus is depicted as an adult man, ‘the Lord of the Animals’, i.e. lions). The cult was linked to a post-Hesiodean Cretan theogony. Two literary sources confirm the presence of a Zeus cult in Crete: the remaining fragments of Euripides’ tragedy Cretans and the The Pal- aikastro Hymn or Hymn of the Kouretes, a Hellenistic cult hymn for Zeus Dyctaeus as almighty and ever-returning divinity. This hymn mentions soldiers (probably the Curetes) singing and dancing around an altar, performing a kind of military dance, accompanied by thunder-like ecstatic-orgiastic sounds of their clashing shields. In the cave on Mount Ida, the remains of many cult objects have been found, from the eighth century BCE continuing into the fifth century AD (see Watrous 1996: 59).
23. Tripolitis (2002).
24. While the cult of Zeus and of Demeter have fixed locations, the cult of Dionysus is a ‘roam- ing’ cult. Caves are one of the possible settings for celebrations. Burkert (1977: 434): ‘Als Zeichen der geheimnisvollen, Geschlossenen, Jenseitigen tritt die bakchische Höhle auf’. See Boyancé (1961) on the importance of caves in Dionysian mysteries.
25. See Graziosi & Haubold (2005): cosmogony begins with (a) primordial chaos, heaven and earth; (b) the birth of the gods, the first divine couples Ouranos and Gaia, Cronos and Rhea, Zeus and Hera (Hesiod’s Theogony), the younger Olympians (Homeric Hymns); (c) Heroes, Helena’s lovers (Women Catalogue), the Theban and Trojan war (Homer, Epic cycle, Cypria); and (d) the end of the Heroic era after the Theban and Trojan wars, the present day (Works and Days). See also Clay (1989).
26. See Klooster (2011: 91).
27. However, Zeus’ birth cave and his infancy remains a minor motif in Apollonius’ Argonau- tica: in 2.1231-41 Zeus’ birth cave is a mere indication of time and in 3.129-44 Aphrodite blackmails Eros, promising a beautiful ball from Zeus’ infancy which, judging by its description, is a symbol of the cosmos. But see Williams (1991) on Zeus as a prefiguration of the young Jason.
29. This cave remains unspecified, possibly as a general reminder of initiation-caves in the Dionysian cult. See Gigli Piccardi (2006: 643): ‘probabilmente con lo scopo di sottolineare in via generale il ruolo della grotta nell’iniziazione dionisiaca’. In Oppian’s Cynegetica. 4.244-49 Ino, Autonoe and Agaue take care of the newborn child, putting him in a cave. 30. See Gigli-Piccardi (2006: 648).
31. Dionysus’ adversaries can also be understood as the actual enemies of the Byzantine empire under Justinian and Heraclius, see Gonnelli (2008: 62-63).
32. Gonnelli (2008: 64-65).
33. For this parallel, see the commentary of Gigli Piccardi (2006) on lines 103-106. Other ver- sions in Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Armenian elaborate even more on this theme, see the Gos- pel of Pseudo-Matthew in Latin 13.2 (cave and light, because of the presence of Mary); the Gospel of the Nativity in Syriac Arabic 4.1 (cave and light, because of the presence of Jesus: ‘And the cave at that moment looks like a temple of a higher world, because celestial and terrestrial voices glorified and magnified the birth of the Lord, Christ’); the Gospel of the Nativity in Armenian 9.2-4): (cave and light, Maria = Eve, the first mother. Later on, Maria is presented as a second Eve and Jesus as a second Adam: ‘when I entered the cave I saw a nimbus of light that emanated from the cave, while from above the sound of voices and of hosts of angel choirs were being heard thanking and glorifying’). In archaic and classical Antiquity, the divine is already associated with light, in religious practice, iconography and literature. For examples of Greek divinities associated with light, see Parisinou (2000) on Zeus with his thunderbolt, Demeter with her torches and Dionysus with his celestial bright- ness (expressed in divine radiance, a golden or rayed crown or appearance as lightning) and torchlight. Birth in general is seen as a passage from darkness to light, but a divine birth in a dark cave accompanied by light is especially characteristic of mystery cults and has a cosmic significance. Gigli Piccardi (2006: 17) compares the second birth cave of Dionysus in Non- nus’ Dionysiaca 9.55 with his cave of the Logos in his Paraphrase (1.1), where the light of the Logos illuminates the dark cosmos and the cave prefigures cosmic salvation.