Davelis Cave (, also known as the Cave of Penteli (), is a cave on the southwestern slope of Mount Penteli (ancient Pentelikon), northeast of Athens. It received its modern nickname, "the cave of Davelis", because of a popular association with the 19th-century brigand Christos Davelis.L. Kormazopoulou and A. Mari, Σπήλαιο Νταβέλη ή Αμώμων, Odysseus (Greek Ministry of Culture), 2012. The cave is situated in an ancient quarry, known as the Spilia quarry, at an elevation of c. 700 m. above sea level.Travlos 1988, p. 329; Goette 2001, p. 259. This quarry produced the Pentelic marble used in the Parthenon and other buildings of classical Athens, and the quarried rock faces still preserve the marks of chisels and wedges. An ancient paved path along which the quarried blocks were dragged on sledges to the bottom of the slope is also partly preserved.Travlos 1988, p. 329; Goette 2001, pp. 259–261. For the process of quarrying and transporting the blocks, see Korres 1996.
Although it is sometimes claimed that Pan was worshiped in the cave in antiquity, there is no evidence of ancient religious activity at the site.Travlos 1988, p. 329; Goette 2001, p. 262. A much smaller cave further up the slope to the northeast, at an elevation of c. 800 m, housed a shrine of Pan and the nymphs from the 5th century BCE to the Roman period. It was discovered and partially excavated in 1952 and reexamined in 1975. Among the finds were lamps, terracotta figurines of Pan and the nymphs, and two votive reliefs of marble, now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.Travlos 1988, p. 329; Goette 2001, p. 262; Zoridis 1977.
Christian activity is attested at the Davelis Cave from the Late Roman or Early Byzantine period, in the form of inscriptions and rock-cut graffiti of crosses, angels, and eagles.Soteriou 1927, pp. 50–54, fig. 5; Mouriki 1973–1974, p. 81, pl. 44; Travlos 1988, p. 329; Goette 2001, pp. 261–262. At the entrance to the cave a small double church was constructed in two phases between the 10th and 12th centuries.The date is given as 11th–12th century in Travlos 1988 and Goette 2001, and as 10th(?)–11th century on the website of the Byzantine Museum in Athens. A simple sketch plan of the church was printed in Soteriou 1927, p. 51, fig. 4, and reproduced in Goette 2001, p. 261, fig. 85; a more detailed plan appears in Mouriki 1973–1974, p. 83, fig. 1. The south chapel, dedicated to Saint Spiridon, is the earlier of the two and was cut back into the wall of the cave itself. The north chapel, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was added later and built of masonry with a small dome.Soteriou 1927, pp. 46–48; Mouriki 1973–1974, pp. 80–81. The frescoes in the church date to the first half of the 13th century and are similar in style and iconography to the decoration of the church of Saint Peter in Kalyvia Thorikou in southeastern Attica.Mouriki 1973–1974. The church was damaged by work conducted inside the cave by the Greek military in the late 1970s and early 1980s,Goette 2001, pp. 259, 262 and some of the frescos were removed to the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens for preservation."Σπηλιά Πεντέλης "Νταβέλη" (Νικόλαος Άγ.-Σπυρίδων Άγ.)", Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens. It sustained additional minor damage in the forest fires of August 2024."Greek Ministry of Culture confirms significant damage to post-Byzantine Churches", Orthodox Times, 21 August 2024.
The quarry and the cave have attracted tourists since the 18th century, among them the English travelers Richard Chandler and Edward Dodwell.Chandler 1776, p. 170; Dodwell 1819, vol. 1, pp. 498–500. Dodwell, who visited the site on 22 June 1805, wrote
References
Sources R. Chandler, Travels in Greece, or, an Account of a Tour Made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti, Oxford, 1776. E. Dodwell, A Classical and Topographical Tour Through Greece During the Years 1801, 1805, and 1806, London, 1819. H. Goette, Athens, Attica, and the Megarid: An Archaeological Guide, London, 2001. M. Korres, From Pentelicon to the Parthenon, Athens, 1995. D. Mouriki, "Οι βυζαντινές τοιχογραφίες των παρεκκλησίων της Σπηλιάς της Πεντέλης", Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 7 (1973–1974), pp. 79–119 (with English summary, pp. 116–119). G. A. Soteriou, "Ἡ σπηληὰ τῆς Πεντέλης", Ἡμερολόγιον τῆς Μεγάλης Ἑλλάδος 6 (1927), pp. 45–59. J. Travlos, Bildlexikon zur Topographie des antiken Attika, Tübingen, 1988, pp. 329–331, s.v. Penteli. P. Zoridis, "Η σπιλιά των Νυμφών της Πεντέλης", Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς 1977, Χρόνικα, pp. 4–11.