The Ram's Head Spring at Kaisariani (Krini tou Kriou)

Attika · Grekland · Monastery

The water runs from a marble ram's head in the monastery wall. Childless women have drunk from it for two thousand years to conceive.

At the eastern gate of Kaisariani Monastery an ancient marble ram's head is set into the wall, and from its mouth runs the spring that gave the place its reputation. Long before the monastery the spring was called Kyllou Pera and stood beside a temple of Artemis; childless women came to drink in the belief that they would conceive, and pregnant women so that they would give birth easily under the goddess's protection. The practice outlived antiquity, outlived the site's conversion to Christianity, and survived in Athenian folk belief well into modern times. The nearby spring of Kalopoula carries the same reputation. The eleventh-century monastery sits in an oak grove, still visited by people who come for the water rather than the frescoes.

FAQ

Where is The Ram's Head Spring at Kaisariani (Krini tou Kriou) located?

The Ram's Head Spring at Kaisariani (Krini tou Kriou) is in Attika, Grekland.

More haunted places in Attika