Page:Essays and Addresses.djvu/246

 the fifth and fourth centuries. They are described merely as "those appointed to the charge of the sacred treasure and the other revenues of the temple,". This was a time at which mystic rites and Oriental worships probably gained the ascendancy at Delos. We find that mysteries (noticed also by Iamblichus) were celebrated on the top of Cynthus, near a cistern adjoining the temple of the Cynthian Zeus and Athena. One inscription of this age directs that the votaries shall ascend to that temple "pure in soul," "in white raiment," "with no shoes upon their feet ." Other inscriptions refer to the temple of Serapis lower down on the north-west slope of Cynthus; they mention the black-stoled priestesses and canephori of Isis. A native of Ascalon is among those whose dedications are recorded. The shrine of the Syrian Aphrodite and of the Tyrian Heracles had numerous worshippers in the island.

The first Mithridatic War (88–84 B.C.) brought the catastrophe of Delos. While Athens joined the Pontic king, the poorly defended isle was held loyal to Rome by interest and fear. During the tyranny of Aristion at Athens, Apellicon, whose prestige was that of a Peripatetic philosopher, received the