Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/27

 768 DELPHI. baildings tnentioDed by Livj are evidentlj thoee of Pylaet (" escendentibus ad templom a Cirrha, prios- qtnm penreniretor ad fineqnentia aedificiia loca," Lir. xln. 15). Above Delphi was the celebnted caye called Co- BTCIUM (t^ KotpdKioy tunpov)^ distant, according to Leake, about 7 miles from the city, to the north- eastward, and about the same distance to the north-west of Ar&khovou The nsual waj from Koitri to the heights of Parnassus leads past the Stadium, and then turns more to the west than the ancient path, which ascended the mountain im- mediately above the city. The ancient way was an astonishing work. It was a zigzag path, con- sisting of more than a thousand steps cut out of the hard rock, and forming an uninterrupted flight of steps to the highlands above. There are still considerable remains of it, but it is now seldom used, as the modem path is easier. It takes about two hours to reach the highlands of Parnassus, which are divided by hills and mountain-summits into a number of larger and smaller valleys and ravines, partly covered with forests of pine and fir, and purtly cultivated as arable and pasture land. This district extends about 16 miles in a west- erly direction from the foot of the highest sum- mit. It formed the most valuable part of the ter> ritoiy of DelphL Leake describes it as '* a country of pasture, interBpersed with firs, and peopled with shepherds and their flocks," and remarks that he ^'occasionally passed fields of wheat, barley, and oats all yet green, though it was the 27th of July, and the harvest in the plains of Boeotia had been completed a month before." Tne Cotycian cave is situated in the mountain on the northern side of the valley. It is thus described by Leake: — "We ascended more than half-way to its summit, when a small triangular entrance presented itself, conducting into the great chamber of the cavern, which is upwards of SOO foet in length, and about 40 high in the middle. Drops of water from the roof had formed large cal- careous crystallizations rising at the bottom, and others were suspended from every part of the roof and sides. The inner part of this great hall is rugged and irregular; but after climbing over some rocks, we arrived at another small opening leading into a second chamber, the length of wbi<£ is near 100 feet, and has a direction nearly at a right angle with the outer cavern. In this inner apartment there is again a narrow opening, but inaccessible without a ladder; at the foot of the ascent to it is a small natural opening." Pausanias says (z. 32. § 2) that there were 60 stadia from DelpJii to a brazen statue, from whence it was easier to ascend to the cavern on foot than on a horse and mule; and, accordingly, Leake supposes the statue to have stood at the foot of the mountain, since the distance from thence to Delphi is nearly that mentioned by Pausanias. The latter writer remarks that this cave is larger than any of the other celebrated ca- verns which he had seen, and that a person can proceed a very long way through it even without a torch. He adds that it was sacred to Pan and the Nymphs, which is also attested by other ancient writers, and is confirmed by an inscription found in the cave. (Strab. is. p. 417; Aexh. Eum. 22; Bockh, Inter, No. 1728; Raikes, in Walpole's CoU lecHon^ vol. L p. 314.) Pan and the Nymphs were regarded as uie companions of Dionysus, whose orgies were celebrated ajpoa these heights. [See DELPHL above, p. 764,b.] When the Persians were mardi- ing upon DelpU, the inhabitants took xefnge in thu cave (Herod. viiL 36), and it has been used for the same^urpose by the inhabitants of ArdlJkova in recent times. According to Ulrichs, the Coryciazt cave is now called SoporravAi by the peasants, from its being supposed to contain 40 chambezs (from aapdurrUf r€eaupdKWTa aikat), Pausanias says, that ** finnn the Coiycian cave it IS dSScmt even for a well-girt man to reach the summits of Parnassus; that they were above th» clouds; and that upon them the Thyiades p ei fwm their firantic rites in honour of Dionysus and ApoUo* (x. 32. § 7). The- way from the Corydan cave to the highest summit of Parnassus turns to the north-east. The summit which Uie traveller at last reaches, but which is only the second in hei^t, is called Gerontobracho$ (6 Vtponrrifipaxos). On its northern and eastern sides lay great masses of snow, which never melt Opposite to it, towards the east, there rises in a conical form the highest summit of Parnassus, upwards of 8000 foet in height, called Lyhiri by the peasants, who consider it tile highest point (^ the world, fitun which the Polls (i. e. Constantinople) may be seen. Parnassus, with its many summits and highlands, is called by the inhabitants IMkwi^ (AiMaupa), a word which is usually supposed to be a corruption of AvKflipcia, the ancient name of the highest sum- mit of Parnassus. But Ulrichs considen lAdhara an Albanian word, observing that andent Greek woids, the roots of which have retained their n^an- ing, are never changed so much in the modem Greek language, and that Auic^/», the name of the highest sunmiit, is the representative of the okl word Avivi^cioy, since modem Greek worda ending in t are shortened forms of the tenninatl<m — un^ or — C(or. Stephanus B. («. v. Aujciwpcia) men- tions a Lycoreium, which appears to have been a sanctuary of the Lyoorian Zeus, whose altar was on the highest summit of Parnassus, where Deucalion is said to have landed after the Deluge. (Ludan, Tim, 3; SchoL ad Find, 01 ix. 70; ApoUod. L 7. §2.) IV. MODBBK AUTHOBITIES. The antiquities of Athens for a long time oi- grossed the attention of travellers; and so littie was known of Delphi, that when Spon visited Greece ia 1676 he first looked for the ruins of the dty at SdlotMy the andent Amphissa. He afterwards dis- covered the site of Delphi, but erroneously supposed, the temjde to have stood upon the same site as the church of St. Ellas; he rightiy identified the Cas«- tallan fountain and the position of the gymnasium.. A more accurate account of the ruins of Delphi was given by Chandler (a. d. 1765), who deter* mined more correctiy the site of the temple, and. published several inscriptions which he found there. Clark, Dodwell, and Gell did not add much new information; but Leake has given us an acooont of the place, distingnished by his usual sagacity and learning, which is far superior to any previous descripti(XL (^Northern (rnsece, vol. ii. p. 551.) Still even his accurate account has been superseded by the fuller description of Ulrichs, who passed several weeks at Delphi in 1838, and published the results of his investigations under the title of Reitm und Fortckmgm sa GrieckeMUmd, Bremen, 1840. To this valuable work we are indebted for •^ > -'^