Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

The Mountain as the Burial-place of Zeus 161

To the south the wall abuts on a rocky elevation, which forms the
highest peak of the mountain and shows clear traces of artificial
cutting. Mr Taramelli, who notes ' scanty traces of a building in
the middle of this precinct1,' inclines to regard it as a stronghold.
He found in it much broken pottery of various dates, including
pieces of Minoan pithoi.

This account is confirmed by Sir Arthur Evans, who was told
by Dr J. Hazzidakis, president of the Cretan Syllogos at Kandia
and now ephor of antiquities, that the remains on the top of Mount
Juktas are still known to the country folk as Mnema tou Zid, 1 the
Tomb of Zeus2.' Sir Arthur Evans himself explored the summit

Fig. 133.

twice, and says3: 'All that is not precipitous of the highest point of
the ridge of Juktas is enclosed by a " Cyclopean " wall of large roughly
oblong blocks, and within this enclosure, especially towards the
summit, the ground is strewn with pottery dating from Mycenaean
to Roman times, and including a large number of small cups of
pale clay exactly resembling those which occur in votive deposits
of Mycenaean date in the caves of Dikta and of Ida, also intimately
connected with the cult of the Cretan Zeus. No remains of build-
ings are visible in this inner area, which tends to show that the

1 Id. ib. 1899 ix. 355 'dalle scarse traccie di un edificio sorgente nel centro di questo
recincto si puo pensar ad un temenos fortificato, dove, in caso di pericolo, fosse possibile
agli abitanti, del piano di rifugiarsi e difendere le provviste ed i tesori del tempio,' etc.

2 Journ. Hell. Stud. 1901 xxi. 121 n. 8.

3 Ib. 1901 xxi. 121 f.