Zeus & Dittany...
The legendary Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus) has its roots firmly planted in early Greek Mythology. Quite literally the rare endemic plant known as Diktamo grows in the very birthplace of Zeus - Dikteon Andron Cave on Mount Dikti on the Greek Island of Crete. And this is where it derives the name Diktamo.
Mount Dikti on Crete
But to understand the background to why Zeus was born in a cave on Crete we need to go back to the very beginning of the tale from Greek mythology.
In the beginning there was nothing but a void and this was named Chaos. From Chaos came Tartarus (the underworld), Erebus (the darkness that covers the underworld), Night (darkness that covers Earth), and Eros (Love). From this Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky) were formed. Gaia and Uranus produced three gigantic one eyed monsters known as Cyclopes and three Hecatoncheires whom each had fifty heads and one hundred arms. They went on to produce six sets of twins known as the Titans of whom Rhea and Cronus were two.
Uranus disliked his offspring and hated the Hecatoncheires, so he forced them to return to Gaia’s womb. This angered Gaia, and she plotted revenge against Uranus. She called upon the Titans to help her of whom Cronos came to her aid. Cronos, with his mother’s help, created a sickle and cut off his father’s genitals when his father came to be with his mother. He threw the severed genitals into the sea. And as the sea foamed and mixed with the blood of Uranus it produced the goddess Aphrodite. Her name means "gift of the sea foam".
The Birth of Venus (Aphrodite) (Sandro Botticelli 1490)
Cronus then became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in the underworld and married his sister Rhea. Cronus fathered six offspring with Rhea.
However, Gaia and Uranus both had prophesied that Cronus would be overthrown by one of his offspring. To avoid this Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon, all ultimately destined to become gods and goddesses.
Cronus Devouring his Children (Francisco Goya 1821)
Finally Rhea in her last pregnancy could not bear to see any more of her children swallowed. She smuggled the next child, Zeus, to the cave of Mount Dikti in Crete to be raised by nymphs and gave Cronus a stone to swallow instead, telling him it was the infant Zeus.
Nymphs tended the young Zeus while he was growing up. The nymph-like goat Amaltheia fed him ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods and he grew big and strong.
The Infant Jupiter (Zeus) Nurtured by the
Goat of Amalthea (Nicolas Poussin 1638)
Later Zeus would return to defeat his father in the battle between the Olympians and the Titans and force his father to vomit up his siblings. Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon were all unharmed and were so grateful to Zeus they made him ruler of the Olympians gods.
Zeus reputedly gave the beautiful and health giving herb of Diktamo (Dittany) to Crete as thanks for his upbringing there.
A traditional Cretan rhyming couplet named a mantinada μαντινάδα (mantinades μαντινάδες in plural form) poetically explains how Zeus gifted Dittany to Crete as thanks for his safe and caring birthplace.
Ο έρωντας εφύτρωξε στου Δία το μιτάτο
Γι' αυτό ‘ναι όμορφο φυτό, λουλούδι μυρωδάτο
Love (Dittany) then grew at Zeus' cave
That is why the plant is a beautiful flower