Tou Sfendoni i trypa (Sfendonis' hole)
The name of the village
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Sights - Rethymno Prefecture |
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Zoniana |
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Zoniana
is situated in an altitude of 640 m, north of Crete's highest mountains
Psiloritis (2.456 m). The 1.500 inhabitants are mainly occupied with
agriculture and animals. In addition to the impressive nature the village
offers two different places of interest, definitely worth a visit:
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Tou Sfendoni i trypa (Sfendonis' hole)
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The name of the village |
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retired schoolteacher Dimitris Parasyris has done research in the name of
the village throughout the times. It has changed from Zouliana to
Zoutolakko, for finally becoming Zoniana in 1920. Parasyris tells that
once there was a shepherd by the name of Zas (genitive: Zou), who grassed
his flock of sheep and goats in the area. Every day one of his goats
disappeared, and when he followed it, he saw that it had found a spring,
where it was drinking. The shepherd settled permanently on the spot, which
was named after him in the form of Zouliana. The ending -ianá is quite
common in Cretan village names, and they always refer to the name of the
founder. When the shepherd died, he was buried here, and the village,
sprouting up gradually, changed its name into "Tou Zou to lakko"
(= Zeus' grave). One of the numerous variants of the name "Zeus"
is "Zas", so the name of the village was now regarded as the
grave of Zeus, and not as the grave of the old shepherd.
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is also worth noticing that the shepherds just a couple of generations ago,
still used the oath "Ni Za" in the sense of "By God".
In this way they were using an incredible old oath - probably without
knowing that they in fact swore by Zeus.
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When Parasyris' father, who died in 1987, was a young shepherd, the oath was
still used, but "ma ton Aï Giorgi" was added, which translated
directly means "By Zeus And St. George". A closer connection
between the gods of Antiquity and Christianity is hardly imaginable.
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distance down the hill, where the Tou Sfendoni i Trypa cave is situated,
is another cave called the Spilaio tou Zou (Zeus' cave), which is supposed
to be Zeus' grave.
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| More information and pictures on Zoniana's website (only in Greek): | ||
| http://zoniana.freepage.gr | ||
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