Caves are ambiguous spaces, offering both protection and shelter but can also trap and imprison. Because of its location within the earth, which many cultures have identified as female, the cave has been identified as the womb of Mother Earth, and associated with birth and regeneration. Although sacredness may have been invested in many other natural forms and objects (such as trees, mountains, etc.) during the prehistoric period, the earliest known sacred places are naturally-formed caves, such as that at Lascaux in France. In various cultures, caves have been location for the celebration of diverse cults and mysteries, and this was most likely the case at Lascaux.
Natural caves have long been a focus of veneration and appear frequently in both mythological and religious stories. The Greek god Zeus was born in a cave on Mount Ida (or Mount Dikte) on the Island of Crete. When excavated in this century, both caves were filled with votive offerings. Sacred caves are found throughout Greece, such as the Corycian Cave at Delphi sacred to the nymph Corycia and Pan. Rites associated with the Phrygian Mother Goddess Cybele took place in caves.
The Neoplatonist Porphyry (234-305 CE) explains that before there were temples, religious rites took place in caves. In this sense, it may be argued that temples in ancient Greece and Rome were in some respects man-made substitutes for the cave. It can be pointed out that the cella or naos of a classical temple was not provided with windows, so that the interior space was dark and cave-like (cf. the Athenian Acropolis). One set of doors provided the only access and the only source of natural light. The doors would have been opened on religious occasions, and perhaps at times when the location and angle of the sun (and because the temple was so oriented in the first place) permitted sunlight to penetrate directly into the otherwise dark interior space (such as occurs at Abu Simbel and Newgrange).
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