Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/265

 FUNCTIONS OF THE AMPHIKTYONIC ASSEMBLE 249 Delphi, these indications point to Thermopylae (the real cen- tral point for all the twelve) as the primary place of meeting, and to the Delphian half-year as something secondary and super- added. On such a matter, however, we cannot go beyond a conjecture. The hero Amphiktyon, whose temple stood at Thermopylrc, passed in mythical genealogy for the brother of Hellen. And it may be affirmed, with truth, that the habit of forming Amphikty onic unions, and of frequenting each other's religious festivals was the great means of creating and fostering the primitive, feeling of brotherhood among the children of Hellen, in those early times when rudeness, insecurity, and pugnacity did so much to isolate them. A certain number of salutary habits and sentiments, such as that which the Amphiktyonic oath embodies, in regard to abstinence from injury, as well as to mutual protec- tion, 1 gradually found their way into men's minds : the obligations thus brought into play, acquired a substantive efficacy of their own, and the religious feeling which always remained connected with them, came afterwards to be only one out of many complex agencies by which the later historical Greek was moved. Athens and Sparta in the days of their might, and the inferior cities in relation to them, played each their own political game, in which religious considerations will be found to bear only a subordinate part. The special function of the Amphiktyonic council, so far as we know it, consisted in watching over the safety, the interests, and the treasures of the Delphian temple. "If any one shall plunder the property of the god, or shall be cognizant thereof, or shall take treacherous counsel against the things in the temple, we will punish him with foot, and hand, and voice, and by every means in our power." So ran the old Amphiktyonic oath, with 1 The festival of the Amarynthia in Eubcea, held at the temple of Artemis of Amaryntlms, was frequented by the Ionic Chalcis and Eretria as well us by the Dryopic Karystus. In a combat proclaimed between Chalcis aad Eretria, to settle the question about the possession of the plain of Lclantuiu, it was stipulated that no missile weapons should be used by either party this agreement was inscribed and recorded in the temple of Artemis (Strabo ft. p. 448 ; Livy, XXXT. 38). 11*