Caves as Symbol of Chaos

The use of caves in mythology to depict darkness and abandonment has branded it as a symbol of chaos. From this perception other associations are made which connect the cave to prejudices, malevolent spirits, burial sites, sadness, resurrection and intimacy. It is a world to which only few venture, and yet its mysticism has attracted the interest of philosophers, religious figures and thinkers throughout history. These myths are exemplified in Homer’s "Odyssey," where the two worlds of mortals and immortals unite in the eternal cave.

To Plato, the cave represents the confusion between reality and falsehood. Individuals chained deep within the recesses of the cave mistake their shadows for physical existence. These false perceptions, and the escape from bonds held within the cave symbolize transition into the a world of reality. Comparatively, in the Odyssey, Odysseus must first break with Kalypso, and set himself free before he can return to

Ithaka, when he will then be prepared to release Penelope from the bondage of suitors. His experience within the cave is in itself a world of fantasy, in that Kalypso is a supernatural being, and the only way to escape her enslavement is to receive assistance from immortals superior to her.

The philosopher Francis Bacon also theorized about the myth attached to caves in which he maintained that "idols," meaning prejudices and preconceived notions possessed by an individual, were contained in a person’s "cave," or obscure, compartment, with "‘intricate and winding chambers’"1 . Beliefs that caves were inhabited by negative thoughts, or spirits, were also held by the native-American culture, in which these spirits influenced the outcome of all human strivings, and had to be maintained inside caves. The souls of the dead were thought to be the most malevolent of all spirits, and were held within the deepest parts of the cave. In Greek mythology this also holds true, according the legend in which Cronus was placed in a cave in the deepest part of the underworld. This was done by Zeus and his siblings after waging war against their father for swallowing them at birth for fear that they might overthrow him. Incidently, Zeus was raised in a cave after Rhea hid him from Cronus. For his punishment, Cronus was placed in Tartarus to prevent his return to eart...

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... associations made with caves through mythology have been resurrection, and fertility. Resurrection in the Egyptian underworld, is represented by two doors, in which the deceased enters through the Western gate, and leaves through the Eastern gate. The Western entrance symbolizes the dying sun as it sets, while the East, rebirth and the freedom of the spirit as it is released from its body. Finally, the intimacy provided by the warmth and darkness of caves, creates an ideal shelter for love-making. In the "Odyssey," Kalypso and Odysseus, "withdrawn in the hollow recess of the hollowed cavern, [enjoy] themselves in love."6

The variety of myths associated with caves, can best be summed as a mortal’s cycle of existence, for it begins and ends in the same location.

Life begins in the ‘womb’ of mother earth as two individuals conceive a child within the shelter of a cave. Once grown, this adult may inhabit this cave and use it as a place of residence himself, yet regardless of the conquests and adventures which take place throughout his life, he is eventually returned to the soil in the form of a grave, and is released as a spirit back into the cave.