CADISTUS
CADISTUS a mountain of Crete, belonging to the ridge of the White Mountains. Its position has been fixed by Hoeck (
Kreta, vol. i. p. 380) at
Cape Spádha, the most northerly point of the whole island. In Ptolemy (
3.17.8) this promontory bears the name of
Ψάκον ἄκρον; while Strabo (
x. p.484) calls it
Δικτύνναιον ἀκρωτήριον, and his remark that Melos lay at nearly the same distance from it as from the Scyllaeanpromontory, shows that he indicated this as the most northerly point of the island.
The mass of mountain of which the cape was composed bore the double name of Cadistus and Dictynnaeus. (
Plin. Nat. 4.12. s. 20;
Solin. 16.)
It would seem that Pliny and Solinus were in error when they described Cadistus and Dictynnaeus as two separate peaks.
Ψάκον ἄκρον and Cadistus were the original and proper names of the promontory and mountain, while
Δικτύνναιον ακρώτηριον and
ὄρος were epithets afterwards given, and derived from the worship and temple of Dictynna.
[
E.B.J]
