Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/23

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764 DELPHI. tecond was empty; in the third iren a few statues of Roman emperon; and the foorth was the temple of Athena Pronoea. (Pans. x. 8. § 7.) The hist is described hj Demosthenes as a veiy large and bean- tiful temple; and here sacrifices were offered before consulting the oracle of Apollo. This goddess is also called Pronaea from her dwelling in front of the temple of Apollo, that is, upon the road leading to the main entrance of the latter. (Dem. c. Aritiog. i. p. 780; Aeschin. g: Ctetiph. p. 69; Aristid. Or. m Minerv. pi 26; Herod, i 92, viiL 37; Died. zL 14; Aeschjl. Efim. 21, IlaAAcb Upovoia V iy you vpfdfdtTcu,) The site of the four temples is marked bj an extensive platfonn resting upon polygonal walls, on which lie fragments of pillars, triglyphs, and other remains of temples, which give to the place the name of Marmarid, A little above the temple of Athena Pronoea Paosonias saw the sanctnaiy of Phylacns, a native hero, who along widi his oomnde Autonons assisted the Deiphians, both when the Penuans and the Ganls made an attempt npon the temple. The masses of stone still lying npon this spot have been already mentioned. A short distance further was the Gym- nasium to the left of the road, the site of which is now occupied by the monastery of the PanaglUa, surrounded by olives and mulberry trees. In the church of the monastery two ancient inscriptions have been found (Bockh, Inscr. 1687, 1723), as well as triglyphs and other architectural remains. Pausanias says, that on turning to the left from the Gymnasium the distance down to the river Pleistus appeared to him to be only three stadia, but it is considerably more. The Pleistus is now called Xeropdtamot^ because it is dry in the summer months. " In ascending from the gymnannm to the temple of Apollo, the water of Castalia was on the right of the road." (Pan8.x. 8. § 9.) The far-iiEuned fountain of Castalia issues from the fissure between the two lofty difis with peaked summits, of which we have alrudy briefly spoken in describing the site of Delphi. The spring rises close to the eastern of the two cUflEs, now called Flembuko. In antiquity it bore the name of Hyampeia ('Tdftircia), as appears from the state* ment of Herodotus, that the sanctuaiy of Autonous was near the Castalia at the foot of the Hypampeian summit. (Herod. viiL 39.) From this height cri- minals were hurled, who had been gnil^ of any act of impiety towards the Delphian sanctuaiy. (Schd. ad Ludan. PhdL i. 6; Schol. ad ArUtoph, Vesp. 1444;del. Var.Hitt.^ 5; Eurip./oii, 1222,1266.) After the murder of Aesop, who was hurled from the Hyampeia, the Deiphians, out of respect to his me- mory, transferred the place of punishment to the peak Nauplia (NavwAloj Pint, de Ser. Nuol Vind. c. 12; comp. Herod, ii. 134). This has been usually supposed to be the western of the two summits, now named Rodhini ; but there is no authority for this statement, and Ulrichs transfers the name to the steep rocks on ths western side of tihe town, from which many Turkish prisoners were hurled in the war of independence. The celebrity of the two peaks through which the Castalia flows led the poets and later writers to speak of two summits of Pamassufe, although one, namely that of Lycoreia, towers above all others. Some writers even seem to have supposed that the two peaks of the Castalia were actually the sum- mits of Parnassus itself, although the latter rises in reality several thousand feet above them : — DELPHL " Mans iU vertidbiis petit arduus castim dnobns, Nomine Pamassns, superatque cacumine nnbes.* (Ov. Met. i. 316; comp. Lucan, v. 71; StaL TkA, viL 346; Lncian, ConiempL 5; Noun. Dionyg. xiiL p. 358.) The two peaks were sacred to Dionysus. Above them was the Corydan cave, of which we shall speak below, which idso belonged to Dionysus and his attendants, the Corycian nymphs : hence the name of Corydan was sometimes given to tho two summits themsdves: — irk 8* ^^ SiA^^ov werpas oripcup &vtnr§ Kryphs, IvAi KmpAictM V6fu^€U KooToAlar r< vofto. (Soph. AtUig. 1 126.) aiStt tk rtf/A^as, Iy0a K»fwicli virpa KolK% ^XopviSf iaifiopcov hnurrpofir Bp6fuos 8* ix*^ ^^ X^^' (Aesch. Emn. 22.) r6$t Kvcat ipa ras d^porp^^ov ^vpeo^t^w dtdffovs, i AiSwa'p 1^ KOpv^s KutpMcioir; (Eurip. BaodL 556.) The semicircular range of rocks, to which the two summits belonged, bore the gestenl name of Prak- DRiADEB (^^at9ptdZts)t as was remarked above. Diodorus gives this name to the western rocks, where Philomelus gained a victory over the Locrians (xvi. 28); and the eastern rock Hyampeia, finom which Aesop is said to have been precipitated, is in- cluded by Suidas among the Phaedriades (Suid. «. w. AjbranroSf ^tuBpias), They £M»i neuiy due south, and thus recdved the rays of the sun during the most brilliant part of the day. It was appa- rently owing to this drcumstance tiiat they were called Pha^ades, or ** Resplendent** Reodving the full rays of the sun, they reflected them upon the temple and works of art below; and hence Ion represents himself as *' serving the livelong day beneath the sun*s bright wing" (inamfupws if^ iuXiou wripuyi dog KBtrptden^, Euripi Ion, 122 ; finom Mure, Tow tti Greece^ vol. i. p. 188). In the in- accessible rocks of the Phaedriades innumerable birds build thdr nests; and eagles, vultures, and other birds of prey constantly hover over the valley bdow. The same was the case in ancient times; and ac- cordingly, in Euripides, Ion, when about to disduuge his daily service in the temple, carries with him a bow and arrows in order to keep off these intnidera. (Euripi Ion, 154, seq.) The flssure between the two summits is the bed of a torrent, which forms in seasons of rain a fine cascade of about 200 feet in height " At the lower extremity of the dry torrent bed, just where it emerges from between the clifii, issue the waters of the Castalian spring, ooung at first in scarce per- ceptible streamlets firom among the loose stones, bat swdling into a considerable brook within not many yards of their first appearance above ground." (Mure.) It fiows through a hollow dell down to the Pleistns, passing by the monastery of the Patuufhid on its left or eastern nde. The Castalia was the holy water of the Delphian temple. All persons who came to consult the oracle, or who wished to pray to the god before engaging in any of the matdies of the I^hlan games, or who visited Ddphi fbr any rdigious objera whatsoever, were obliged to purify themselves at this sacred fountain. (Heliod. Atth. ii. 26 ; Pind. Pytk. iv. 290, V. 39; Pint AritL 20.) Even the servants of the temple used the water for the same purpose. (Eurip. Ion, 94.) The bathing of the hair seems to have