Athanasia Kanta – författare

In 1962, after a period of secret looting, the location of a shrine for the Greek Goddess Eileithyia was discovered by the police in south-central Crete at the modern town of Tsoutsouros, ancient Inatos. The cave dedicated to this ancient goddess of childbirth and motherhood was excavated that year by Nikolaos Platon and Costis Davaras on behalf of the Archaeological Museum in Herakleion.It was filled with remarkable votive gifts including over 100 items of gold along with Egyptian figurines and seal stones, bronze objects, and hundreds of clay figurines. The dates of the shrine's use extended from before 2000 B.C. to the Roman Imperial period. Many of the clay images are especially appropriate for this deity because they include pregnant women, embracing couples, figures in preparation for childbirth, mothers holding babies, and a young child in its crib. A Greek language book highlighting the shrine and its major discoveries is now translated into English. It provides images, catalog entries, and explanatory texts for the most important discoveries from this unique shrine.

This volume is a catalog of the ancient Egyptian imports and Egyptianizing artifacts found in 1962 during the excavation of a cave near Tsoutsouros (ancient Inatos), Crete, Greece. The cave was a sanctuary dedicated to the Minoan and Greek goddess Eileithyia. The Aegyptiaca of the Minoan and Mycenaean eras on Crete signify the political and economic relations between the Aegean rulers and the Egyptian royal court. Several of the objects are Egyptian scarabs, and they certainly represent official Egyptian-Cretan affairs, especially those dating from the reign of Amenophis III to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Much of the cataloged objects come from the 10th to 7th centuries B.C., and they are appropriate for venerating the goddess of childbirth and motherhood. The statuettes, seals, and vessels are lavishly illustrated with plates of color photographs.