sentences:  Melisseus was the eldest and leader of the nine Kuretes of Crete.They were chthonic "daimones" of Mount Ida, who clashed their spears and shields to drown out the wails of infant Zeus, whom they received from the Great Goddess, Rhea, his mother.The infant-god was hidden from his cannibal father and was raised in the cave that was sacred to the Goddess ("Da") celebrated by the Kuretes, whose name it bore and still bears.