On the Attic Dionysia, 301 tioned by Pausanias (l. 2. 4) which^ on the arrival of Pegasus, reminded the Athenians of the earlier presence of the god in the land in the time of Icarius. To this Eleutherian god the Great Dionysia were consecrated: and therefore the question as to the epoch at which they were introduced depends upon the date of the migration of Pegasus from Eleutherse. That they were later than the Union under Theseus appears from the silence of tradition, which though it speaks of the various relations between that hero and Bacchus, never mentions him as the founder of the Great Dionysia. Eleutherae was cele- brated as an ancient seat of the worship of Bacchus. It was one of the places which claimed the honour of having given him birth (Diodor. iii. 66, YWeloi koI Nci^iOf, irpo^ Se tovtol^ o Tct? EXeuOepas oIkovvt€^^ Kai Trjioi, Kai TrXeiov^ hrepoL Trap eavToiis CLTTOipaLvovTaL TeKvoodrjvai). Its hero Eleuther (perhaps Bacchus, Liber^ himself, though he is called a son of Apollo) was said to have erected the first statue to the god, and to have taught the right observance of his worship (Hyginus Fab. 225. Schol. Hesiod. Theog. 54). This Pegasus the Eleutherian brought with him to Athens : and the ancient image of the god, which was carried every year in procession from his temple to a chapel in the Academy (Pausan. i. 29. 2), had once stood in the temple at Eleutherae, where Pausanias saw a copy of it (i. SS, 8). It was not without opposition that Pegasus succeeded in establishing the rites of the god at Athens : the resistance of the Athenians was only overcome by manifest tokens of divine anger, and by the intervention of the Delphic oracle (Schol. Aristoph. Ach. 242). But what was the motive that led Pegasus to transplant the sacred image to a foreign city, where he was not even sure of a friendly reception ? The motive is not assigned by tradition, but it may be collected from history. We are informed that the people of Eleutherae united themselves with the Athenians, not from compulsion, but voluntarily, through their hatred of Thebes (Pans. i. 38. 8). This has all the appearance of being a genuine historical tradition : but yet the event must have occurred in very early times, since we have no account, as in the case of Plataea, of its date. In the time of Pausanias (i. 38. 9) the site of Eleutherae was only marked by a few ruins. Strabo (ix. p. 284) says that it was uncertain whether
