In the prefecture of Rhodope, about 30 km. South of Komotini, between Proskynites village and Maronia village, at Mount Ismaros, in the area known as "Koufou to Plai" you can find the cave of Maronia which is rich in stalactites and stalagmites.
The reference to Kikones and Maronas, priest of Apollo in Ismaros city in the Odyssey, led us to believe there is a link between the cave and the incidence of blindness of the giant Polyphemus by Odysseus (i352-452). Therefore, the cave is known as the cave of the Cyclop Polyphemus.
The cave has an oblong shape with a north-south direction. It has a total length of approximately 350m. while its width varies between 15 and 50 meters. There are two entrances to the cave and many rooms.
The first use of the cave dates back to the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. It is likely that during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the tenants were ranchers and farmers who often moved to the areas of Drama and Rodopi. In late antiquity, as evidenced by the fragments of amphorae, the cave functioned as a storage of the wine produced in the region. At the same time it served as a place for the burial of the dead. In the late 12th and 13th century A.D. it turns into an organized settlement with two larger rooms. This probably helped the transition from abandoning Paleochora and slowly establishing Maronia. During the turbulent times of the civil war between the Byzantine emperors and while the Catalan marauders prey upon the Thracian coast, the cave provided shelter for the residents of Maronia.
The first excavations took place in 1969 and 1971 under the supervision of Tsimpidis-Pentazos. From 2006 and onwards the cave is being excavated by the Paleoanthropology - Speleology society of Northern Greece as part of a project for the promotion of the Region of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace.
