Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/19

 760 DELOS. -when slie bore her children; and the pdm, which does not grow in Greece Proper, was held in espedal reverence in Delos. (Comp. Pans. viii. 48. §3; Horn. Od. vi. 162; Aelian, V. H.y.4; Hjgin. Fab. 140.) The identical palm-tree of Leto waa shown by the Delii in the time of Cioero (de Leg, i. 1). Deloe is now a heap of rains. Whole shiploads o( columns and other architectnral remains were carried off, centuries ago, to Venice and Constanti- nople. Of the great temple of Apollo, of the stoa of Philip, of the theatre, and of nnmeroos other boild- ings, there is scarcelj the capital of a colnnm or an architrave left nninjmied. Not a single palm-tree is nowfoand in the isknd, and the onlj inhabitants are a few shepherds, taking care of some flocks of sheep and goats brought over from Myoonus. The chidf boildings of Delos lay between the oval basin and the hai^boar on the western side of the island. The ruins of the great temple of Apollo and of the stoa of Philip IIL of Maoeddn may here be distinctly traced. (Bockh, Ifuer. n. 2274.) There are still remains of the colossal statue of Apollo dedicated by the Nazians, and in front of the baus we read No^toi quity. A brazen palm-tree, which had been dedi- cated by Nidas, according to Plutarch {Nic. 3), or by the Nazians themselves, according to Sonus (Athen. xi. p. 502), having been blown down by the wind, carried with it the colossal statue. ''The theatre stood at tlie western foot of Mount Cynthus, facing Rheneia, and not far from the stoa of Philip. Its extremities weresupported by wails of white marble of the finest masonry, but of a singular fbnn, having had two projections adjacent to the orchestra, by which means the lower seats were m this part pro- longed beyond the semicircle, and thus afforded additional accommodation to spectators in the si- toation most desirable. The diameter, induding only the projections, is 187 feet. The marble seats have all been carried away, but many of the stones which formed their substruction remain. Inunediately be- low the theatre, on the shore, are the rnins of a stoa, the columns of which were of granite. In a small valley which leads to the summit of Mount Cynthus, leaving the theatre on the left, many ruins of ancient houses are observable; and above them, in a level at the foot of the peak, there is a wall of white marble, which appears to have been the cell of a temple. Here lies an altar, which is inscribed with a dedica- tion to Isis by one of her priests, Ctesippos, son of Ctesippos of Chius. Like many others, remaining both in this island and in Bheneia, it b adorned with bulls* heads and festoons. Another fragment of an inscription mentions Sarapis; and as both these were nearly in the same place where Spon and Wheler found another in wUch Isis, Anubis, Harpocrates, and the Dioscuri were all named, it is very probable that the remains of white marble belonged to a temple of Isis. Among them is a portion of a large shaft [neroed through the middle, 4 feet 5 inches in diameter; and there is another of the same kind, 5 feet 8 inches in diameter, half-way up the peak of Cynthus." (Leake.) After describing Mount Cyn- thus, of which we have already spoken, Leake con- tinues: — ** Buins of private houses surround Mount Cynthus on every side. On the heights above the Trochoessa, which form the north-western promon- toiy of the Island, are many other similar ruins of ancient houses, neatly constructed with mortar. On the summit of the same hill, near the remains of a iarge house, in aomo shafU of white xnatbbi a foot •■ ^/ DELPHI. and a half in diamefter, half polygonal and half plain. As this quarter was entirely, separated firam the town on Mounb Cynthus by the valley containing the sacred buildings, there is great probability that it was the new Athenae Hadiianae, which was built at the expense of the emperor Hadrian, in a poaitun called Olympieum (Phlegon, ap.SiepLB. t.v. 'OAii^ w(cior), perhaps from a temple of Jn^ter Olympina, to which the shafts just mentioned may have be- longed." In the northern part of the island are the remains of the stadium and the gymnaanm. The strait, which separates Delos and Bheneia, is 4 stadia, or about half a mile, in width. (SUab.z.p. 486.) In this strait are two rocks, cdled JSeaia- tidrij of which one is probably the ancient island of Hecate {'Etedrris Pijaos, Harpocrat. and Snid. «.v.; Semus, ap. Atken, xiv. p. 645.) Bheneia or Buknaia (*Pt^ia, 'Pqnua, both fonns occur in writers and inscriptioos) is much larger than Deks, being about 10 miles in dreom- ference. The northern and southern halves are divided by a narrow isthmus. The southern half^ which lies opposite Delos, was the burial-place of the latter, as has been already explained, and is now covered with remains of sepulchres. There are also ruins of many private houses, like those at DeloB. (Thuc i. 13, iii. 104; .Herod, vi. 97; Strab. x. n. 486; mod. Jil &8.)tUtir.. y? ii'^7'^^'*'^^^-^'/ ^ Both Delos and Bheneia are now cailled DUIes, '' (Besides the earlier wwks of Spon, Wheler, Theve- not, and Toumefort, see Leake, Northern Greece, voL iiL p. 95, seq.; Boss, Reiten auf den Griech. I /fise&i, voL L p. SO, seq., vol ii. p. 167, seq.; Briiii- sted, Reue»y voL i. p. 59; Fiedler, JUUen dmrek i Grieckenland, vol. ii. p. 269, vex^.', Exped. Sdemtif.'JhUf^ voL iii. p. 3, seq,; Saliier, HiU. di^VMe de Beloe,^ ^ in Afhn. de VAoad. de* Inter, vol iii. p. 376; Dor- ville, Miscell. C76«err. vol. vii. p. I, seq.; Schwenck, Deliacorum Part /., Francof. 1825; SchllLrer, Ftiuca quaedam de Re^ DelL Mitov. 1840.)3(r* .^uJj^^.Jk^sjB7(,^ COnr OF DELOS. DELPHI (AcA^I: E(k, Atk^s^fan. Aek^s, AcX^; Adj. AcA^<St: Kastri), a town in Phods, and one of the most celebrated places in the Hel- lenic world in consequence of its oracle of ApoUow I. SiTUATXOK. The situation of Delphi is one of the most strik- ing and sublime in all Greece. It lies in the luurrow vale of the Pleistus, which is shut in on one side by Mount Parnassus, and on the other by Mount Cirphis. At the foot of Parnassus is a lofty wall of rocks, called Phaedriades in antiquity, and rising 2000 feet above the level of the sea. This rocky barrier faces the south, and from its extre- mis two lower ridges descend towards the Pldstus. The rocky ground between these two ridges also slopes down towards the river, and in about the middle of the semiciroular recess thus formed lay the town of Delphi, occupying the central area of a great natural theatre, to which its site is com- pared by the aadent wpten. (02AcX^wfrpw6cs -^fe^-s^^ ^- r.'.i Jl/i:j^Ja.R/'^^^*/t7¥^
 * Air6MMyi. This statue was thrown down in anti-