Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "KOUROUTES Village KOURITES" .
IDI (Mountain) RETHYMNO
In the centre of the island is the Idi or Psiloritis Range. The imposing
massive of Psiloritis is visible all over Crete and is especially impressive in
winter. This range contains the highest summit in Crete, Mount Psiloritis (Mt.
Idi), at 2456 metres above sea level. The summit can be reached from the south
side via the Kamares Cave in six or seven hours. There is however a much easier
ascent from the Nida Plateau. There is a well marked path above the Ideon Andron
Cave and the hike should take three or four hours. Water and warm clothing must
be taken even in the spring and summer when the climb can only be made.
This text is cited Dec 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
Various WebPages
The area of Zominthos is after Anogia and higher in the mountains on the road to the Nida Plateau of Psiloritis. Here archaeologists have found what they believe to be the remains of a very large Minoan settlement that is, as yet, mostly unexcavated. The excavations to date have revealed a large entrance facing east towards Knossos, and a laboratory for producing pottery which had a wheel and other tools as well as many vases. The site is fenced off. This small plateau near Nida has a wonderful view of Psiloritis.
This text is cited Dec 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
Ida (Ide, Ptol. iii. 17. § 9; Pomp. Mela, ii. 7. § 12; Plin. iv. 12,
xvi. 33; Virg. Aen. iii. 105; Solin. ii.; Avien. 676; Prisc. 528), the central
and loftiest point of the mountain range which traverses the island of Crete throughout
the whole length from W. to E. In the middle of the island, where it is broadest
(Strab. x. pp. 472, 475, 478), Mt. Ida lifts its head covered with snow. (Theophrast.
H. P. iv. 1.) The lofty summits terminate in three peaks, and, like the main chain
of which it is the nucleus, the offshoots to the N. slope gradually towards the
sea, enclosing fertile plains and valleys, and form by their projections the numerous
bays and gulfs with which the coast is indented. Mt. Ida, now called Psiloriti,
sinks down rapidly towards the SE. into the extensive plain watered by the Lethaeus.
This side of the mountain, which looks down upon the plain of Mesara, is covered
with cypresses (comp. Theophrast. de Vent. p. 405; Dion. Perieg. 503; Eustath.
ad. loc.), pines, and junipers. Mt. Ida was the locality assigned for the legends
connected with the history of Zeus, and there was a cavern in its slopes sacred
to that deity. (Diod. Sic. v. 70.)
The Cretan Ida, like its Trojan namesake, was connected with the working
of iron, and the Idaean Dactyls, the legendary discoverers of metallurgy, are
assigned sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other. Wood was essential to
the operations of smelting and forging; and the word Ida, an appellative for any
wood-covered mountain, was used perhaps, like the German berg, at once for a mountain
and a mining work. (Kenrick, Aegypt of Herodotus, p. 278; Hock, Kreta, vol. i.
p. 4.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Now Psilorati; a mountain in the centre of Crete, belonging to the mountain range which runs through the whole length of the island. Mount Ida is 8055 feet above the level of the sea. It was closely connected with the worship of Zeus, who is fabled to have been reared in a cave in this mountain.
Highest summit of the island of Crete (2456 m), west of Cnossus. According to one tradition, Mount Ida was the birthplace of Zeus. On its slopes was the cave where he had been raised and Minos, the famous king of Crete and lawgiver, himself a son of Zeus, was supposed to have come every nine years to this cave to listen to his father and seek his help in drawing laws.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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