Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/612

 596 PHIGALIA.

(Paus. viii. 39. §$ 4, 5.) In B.c. 375 Phigalia was rent asunder by hostile factions; and the sup- porters of the Lacedaemonian party, being expelled from the city, took possession of a fortress im the neighbourhood named Heraea, from which they made excursions against Phigalia. (Died. xv. 40.) In the wars between the Actolians and Achaeans, Phi- galia becatne for some time the head quarters of the Aetolian troops, who from thence plundered Mes- senia, till they were at length driven out by Philip of Macedon. (Polyb. iv. 3, seq-, 79, seq.) 7 he Phigaleans possessed several peculiar customs, re- specting which Harmodius of Lepreum wrote a special work. This author relates that they were given to excess both in eating and drinking, to which their cold and ungenial climate may perhaps have con- tributed. (Athen. iv. p. 149, 5. p. 442.)

Phigalia was still a place of importance when visited by Pausanias. He describes it as situated upon a lofty and precipitous hill, the greater part of the walls being built upon the rocks. There are still consideruble remains of the ancient walls above the modern village of Pdvlitza. The city was up- wards of two miles in circumference. The rock, upon which it stood, slopes down towards the Neda; on the western side it is bounded by a ravine and on the eastern by the torrent Lymax, which flows into the Neda. ‘The walls are of the usual thick- ness, faced with masonry of the second order, and filled in the middle with rubble. Ou the summit of the acropolis within the walls are the remains of a detached citadel, 80 yards in length, containing a round tower at the extremity, measuring 18 feet in the interior diameter. In ancient times a temple of Arteinis Soteira stood on the summit of the acropolis. On the slope of the mountain lay the gymnasium and the temple of Dionysus Acratophorus ; and on the ground below, where the village of upper Pav- litza stands, was the agora, adorned with a statne of the pancratiast Arrachion, who lost his life in the Olympic games, and with the sepulchre of the Ores- thasians, who perished to restore the Phigaleans to their native city. (Paus. vill. 39. $$ 5, 6, 40. § 1.) Upon a rock, difficult of access, near the union of the Lymax and the Neda, was a temple of Eury- nome, supposed to be a surname of Arteimis, which was opened only once a year. In the same neich- bourhood, and at the distance of 12 stadia from the city, were some warm baths, traces of which, ac- cording to the French Cominission, are visible at the villaze of Tragoi, but the waters have long ceased to flow. (Paus. viii. 41. § 4, seq.)

Phigalia was surrounded by mountains, of which Pausanias mentions two by name, Coritium (7d Kwridtov) and Evakum (7d "EAdioy), the former to the left of the city, at the distance of 30 stadia,

PHIGALTA.

and the latter to the richt at the distance of 30 stadia. As Cotilium lies to the NE. of Phigalia, and Pausanias in this description seems to have looked towards the east, Mt. Elaeum should probably be placed on the opposite side of Phigalia, and conse- quently to the south of the Neda, in which case it would correspond to the lofty mountam of Auvela. Mt. Elaeum contained a cavern sacred to Demeter the Black, situated in a grove of oaks. Of the po- sition of Mt. Cotilium there is no doubt. On it was situated the temple of Apollo Epicurius, which was built in the Peloponnesian War by Ictinus, the archi- tect of the Parthenon at Athens. It was erected by the Phigaleans in consequence of the relief afforded by Apollo during the plague in the Peloponnesian War, whence he received the surname of Epicurius. The temple stood in a place called Bassae, and ac- cording to Pausanias excelled all the temples of Pelopunnesus, except that of Athena Alea at Tegea, in the beauty of the stone and the accuracy of its masonry. He particularly mentions that the roof was of stone as well as the rest of the building. (Paus. viii. 41. §$ 7, 8.) This temple still remains almost entire, and is next tothe Theseium at Athens the best preserved of the teinples of Greece. It stands in a glen (whence the name Basoa, Dor. for Bioon, Byooa) near the summit of Mt. Co- tilium, in the midst of a wilderness of rocks, studded with old knotty oaks. An eye-witness re- marks that “there is certainly no remnant of the architectural splendour of Greece more calcu- lated to fascinate the imagination than this temple; whether by its own size and beauty, by the contrast it offers to the wild desolation of the surrounding scenery, or the extent and variety of the prospect from its site.” (Mure, Zour im Greece, vol. ii. p. 270.) A spring rises about 10 minutes SW. of the temple, and soon afterwards loses itself in the ground, as Pausanias has described. North of the temple was the highest summit of the mountain, which one reaches in 10 minutes’ time by a broad road con- structed by the Greeks. This summit was called Cotilum (KeéztAov), whence the whole mountain de- rived the name of Cotilian; here was a sanctuary of Aphrodite, of which there are still some traces. The grandeur of the ruins of the temple have given to the whole of the surrounding district the name of the Columns (oTots orvAous or xoAdvvats). The temple is at least two hours and a half from the ruins of the city, and consequently more than the 40 stadia, which Pausanias mentions as the distance from Phigalia to Cctilium; but this distance per- haps applies to the nearest part of the mountain from the city.

In modern times the temple remained long unknown, except to the shepherds of the country. Chandler, in

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GROUND PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT BASSAE.

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