Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/494

 468 HISTORY OP GREECE. defeat by the Triballi ; bringing, like the former Sacred War, ag grandizement to him alone, and ruin to Grecian liberty. I have recounted, in the fourth volume of this work, 1 the first Sacred War recorded in Grecian history (590-580 B. c.), about two centuries before the birth of ^Eschines and Demosthenes. That war had been undertaken by the Amphiktyonic Greeks to punish, and ended by destroying, the flourishing sea-port of Kirrha, situated near the mouth of the river Pleistns, on the coast of the fertile plain stretching from the southern declivity of Del- phi to the sea. Kirrha was originally the port of Delphi ; and of the ancient Phokian town of Krissa, to which Delphi wan once an annexed sanctuary. 9 But in process of time Kirrha in- creased at the expense of both ; through profits accumulated from the innumerable visitors by sea who landed there as the nearest access to the temple. The prosperous Kirrhaeans, inspiring jeal- ousy at Delphi and Krissa, were accused of extortion in the tolls levied from visitors, as well as of other guilty or offensive pro- ceedings. An Amphiktyonic war, wherein the Athenian Solon stood prominently forward, being declared against them, Kirrha was taken and destroyed. Its fertile plain was consecrated to the Delphian god, under an oath taken by all the Amphiktyonic mem- bers, with solemn pledges and formidable imprecations against all disturbers. The entire space between the temple and the sea now became, as the oracle had required, sacred property of the god ; that is, incapable of being tilled, planted, or occupied in any permanent way, by man, and devoted only to spontaneous herbage with pasturing animals. But though the Delphians thus procured the extirpation of their troublesome neighbors at Kirrha, it was indispensable that on or near the same spot there should exist a town and port, for the accommodation of the guests who came from all quarters to Delphi ; the more so, as such persons, not merely visitors, but also traders with goods to sell, now came in greater multitudes than ever, from the increased attractions imparted out of the rich 1 Chap, xxviii. p. 62 sq. 1 For the topography of the country round Delphi, see the instructive work of Ulrichs, Reisen und Forschungen in Griechenlanc 7 (Bremen, It* 10) ehapcers i. and ii. abou; Kirrha and Krissa.