A market town, at 740 meters above sea level on the cliffs of Psiloritis, Anogia lies 36 Km south west of Iraklion and 54 Km from Rethymnon.
Places to visit,
Area map
The people are mainly employed in stock raising while the women carry on the long tradition of weaving for which Anogia became an attraction to many visitors buying hand woven cloth.
In this, difficult to reach, area people have developed a sense of independence and love of liberty that did not, however, save them from calamity during the recent history, often the centre of revolutionary movements during the Turkish and German occupations. In August 1944, in reprisal for the resistance activity of the inhabitants, the village was flattened and many of its residents were executed.
"....The local "Parliament" in session...."
Noted for its cultural summer festival, has become an attraction for foreigner and Greeks alike from all Crete who arrive to attend the festivities.
Take the path leading to the Idean cave, where Zeus lived as a young man before dethroning his father Cronus.
Ancient even to the ancient, the Idean cave was the centre of a cult that preserved remnants of Minoan religion into Classical times. A vast cave located at 1540 meters above sea level on the central mass of mountain Psiloritis at the Nida Plateau.
Identified in 1885 when the first excavations also took place producing important finds such as the large bronze shields found at the Iraklion Museum.
Excavations restarted in 1982 and have brought to light a very large number of finds from various periods of precious and semiprecious materials: vases, utensils, figurines and rings, seal stones and pieces of jewellery.
The finds reveal the presence of human beings in the cave since the end of Neolithic period in Crete with an uninterrupted religious tradition stretching from the Late Minoan period to the 5th century AD.
During the Minoan period the Vegetation God who died and was reborn every year was worshipped in the Idean Cave. Zeus in the form of Cretan born Zeus who for the Cretans is not immortal, but is born and dies every year succeeded him.
A religious tradition stretching across millennia is continued up to the present at the small church of Ascension of Christ. The inhabitants of Anogia who come to partake in the festival, among other ceremonies make offerings to their dead.
Blessing of the sheep in Anogia
Pythagoras was initiated into its mysteries and it is believed the cult was the source of Pythagoras' mystical theories on numbers.
The ascent to the summit of Mt Ida from Anogia takes more than 12 hours. Other approaches begin from Iraklion to the east.
