The cave Zar’tripa is located near the place Sokaki, under the path that goes to the top of the mountain ‘Psila Dendra’. The entrance faces east, towards the top of Kissavos and the village of Spilia.
One afternoon in June 1997, a group of seven of us started from Spilia to visit the Zar hole. We went by car to Sokaki location and from there we walked up to the cave.
The ground is stony. From stone to stone we advanced to the point we wanted. Near the cave entrance is a large wild cherry tree. From there you can see the village of Spilia as well as the main volume of Kissavos with one of its peaks. Down to the east there is always a sheer cliff and then a rough slope that goes all the way to Grandfather the Fountain.
The first chamber of the cave is downhill. In the center of the hall is a pile of stones which formed a building with exhibits. A stone can be seen that looks like an exhibit stand. The Spiliotian grandfathers said that there were statues in the first room. The looting probably took place during the last decade of the 19th century.
A little further down there is a second room similar to the first. These halls were a place of worship of the Nymphs for the inhabitants of ancient Omol and the surrounding areas. The region of Omoli (today’s Omoli) was during the 4th century BC. important cultural and economic center with many excavation findings.
A few meters from the entrance, further down on the left, there is an opening through which one can pass and enter another room. I crawled through the hole. I was followed by Christos Tziouras and Athena Tzioura. Before us, in the opening that exists, is a magnificent stalagmite equal to a statue-like buoy. The strange thing is that above the stalagmite, on the ceiling, there is no stalactite.
Further down to the right is an opening that you go through while kneeling. There is a descending hall that you stand and admire. At the bottom it has countless small stalactites. From there on down it has a wide low downhill opening that scares you. In this room are written names of past visitors to the cave, on a stone slab in the background.
When we got out of the cave, I measured the rope I had stretched from the entrance to where we descended, and it was forty meters.
The whole company, Thanasis Tziouras, Costas Tziouras, Litsa Danou, Eleni Makri, Christos Tziouras, Athena Tzioura were disappointed by this unprecedented experience.
The vows
Here I add some historical information, from the Thessalian calendar, volume 36, year 1999 published by Kostas Spanos. It is a text by Stamatis Spanos, translated from English, entitled: A Cave of the Nymphs on Mount Ossa.
“An hour away from Spilia village, there is a cave. The archaeologists were informed of the existence of this cave by Kostis Fragopoulos, a resident of Pournario. The archaeologists visited the cave on 2/2/1910. Searching the cave they discovered various objects such as stone bases, and fragments of columns, most of which have inscriptions. These inscriptions are votive offerings to the nymphs, who are called in one inscription Oreades (Nymphs of the Mountains). One of these inscriptions belongs to the 4th and the others to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
Other finds include sherds of black glazed pottery and broken 4th and 3rd century BC pottery, a bronze ring depicting Eros holding a bow, and a bronze Thessalian coin of the Antonine period (96-192 AD).
It is also said that it is the first cave discovered in northern Greece and that it is the only cave that was dedicated only to nymphs. Also that the cave is important and they hope to later investigate it again to shed more light on the worship that took place here.
It is also reported that findings were destroyed 20 years ago, by some who were looking for treasure.
This cave was also visited by Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos, curator of antiquities, and he is the one who transferred the inscriptions to the Museum of Larissa.”
The photos come from the article: ‘The Cave of the Nymphs’, published on page 51, June 2012 in the newspaper ‘Voice of Sykouriou’.
text: Rizos Makris
