The Shrine of Eileithyia: Minoan Goddess of Childbirth and Motherhood at the Inatos Cave in Southern Crete by Günther Hölbl (review)

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• The Shrine of Eileithyia: Minoan Goddess of Childbirth and Motherhood at the Inatos Cave in Southern Crete by Günther Hölbl
• Brian S. Kunkel

Günther Hölbl. The Shrine of Eileithyia: Minoan Goddess of Childbirth and Motherhood at the Inatos Cave in Southern Crete. Volume I: the Egyptian-Type Artifacts. With contributions by Philip P. Betancourt and Konstantinos Chalikias. Edited by Philip P. Betancourt, Athanasia Kanta and Costis Davaras. Prehistory Monographs, 69. Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press, 2022. Pp. 156. $95.00. ISBN 978-1-931534-34-5.

Crete's central location in the Mediterranean was one of the most important factors in its development. In the Bronze Age, the island established vigorous trading contacts throughout the Aegean and with the more powerful kingdoms of Egypt and the Levant. With the collapse of palatial civilization around 1200 bce, many ideas and technologies were lost, but cultural memories persisted in the form of oral traditions and cult practices, some of which were performed in sacred caves with long histories of ritual use. In the centuries that followed, contacts with the Near East and Egypt were re-established resulting in a new era of cross-cultural interaction that would have a significant impact on Crete and the Aegean world.

This volume by Günther Hölbl is a catalog of the Egyptian and Egyptian-type objects found in the Inatos Cave in southern Crete, which was an important cult [End Page 110] center for worship of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Hölbl's meticulous study and publication of this important material will undoubtedly add much to our knowledge of the cult practices of ancient Crete and the impact of intercultural relations, primarily in the Iron Age.

The introductory chapter by Philip Betancourt begins with a synopsis of the rescue work conducted by the Greek Archaeological Service after the cave had been looted. This is followed by a publication history that includes several short articles by various authors as well as an edited volume published in 2011 by Athanasia Kanta and Kostis Davaras entitled Ελουθíα Χαριστήιον. Το ιερό σπήλαιο της Ειλειθυίας στον Τσούτσουρο. Betancourt explains how the latter, which highlighted many of the finest objects from the cave, became a springboard for a series of volumes intended to provide a more complete study and publication of the material. Because the Inatos Cave is one of the few cult places in the Aegean positively associated with Eileithyia, a brief discussion of her identity and cult are also included with a focus on her importance to the community of ancient Inatos.

Later in the first chapter, Betancourt gives a detailed, day-by-day summary of the rescue excavation conducted by Nicolas Platon and Costis Davaras in 1962 after the cave had been looted. Since the excavation was never formally published, much of the information is drawn from Platon's field notebook. Betancourt recognizes the challenges that this poses but is nevertheless able to provide a general description of the chronological phases based on this notebook and the datable objects found in the excavations. Next is a short gazetteer and discussion of Cretan sites thought to be associated with Eileithyia. The author's intention is to situate the Inatos Cave within a broader context of island-wide worship. Both the gazetteer and the discussion fulfill this purpose and are well documented.

Chapter two, by Chalikias and Betancourt, provides a useful summary of early exploration and archaeological work conducted in the region surrounding ancient Inatos (modern Tsoutsouros). The stated purpose is to provide a diachronic view of settlement and cultic activity in the area to understand better the cave's local and regional importance over its long history of use.

Chapter three, by Günther Hölbl, is an introduction to the catalog of Egyptian and Egyptianizing artifacts found in the cave. Hölbl proceeds chronologically beginning with a small number of Bronze Age objects but notes the difficulties of precise dating due to the lack of stratified contexts. A short discussion of the Iron Age artifacts, which constitute the bulk of the material, follows. Hölbl points to strong connections between Egypt and the Levant in this period and to the importance of Phoenician trade with the Aegean, which resulted in...