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From here the high road to
There is extant among the Greeks an hexameter poem, the name of which is Eumolpia, and it is assigned to Musaeus, son of Antiophemus. In it the poet states that the oracle belonged to Poseidon and Earth in common; that Earth gave her oracles herself, but Poseidon used Pyrcon as his mouthpiece in giving responses. The verses are these:—
Forthwith the voice of the Earth-goddess uttered a wise word,
[Musaeus], EumolpiaThey say that afterwards Earth gave her share to Themis, who gave it to Apollo as a gift. It is said that he gave to Poseidon Calaureia, that lies off
And with her Pyrcon, servant of the renowned Earth-shaker.
I have heard too that shepherds feeding their flocks came upon the oracle, were inspired by the vapor, and prophesied as the mouthpiece of Apollo. The most prevalent view, however, is that Phemonoe was the first prophetess of the god, and first sang in hexameter verse. Boeo, a native woman who composed a hymn for the Delphians, said that the oracle was established for the god by comers from the Hyperboreans,
The verses of Boeo are:—
Here in truth a mindful oracle was built
Boeo, work unknownAfter enumerating others also of the Hyperboreans, at the end of the hymn she names
By the sons of the Hyperboreans, Pagasus and divine Agyieus.
And Olen, who became the first prophet of Phoebus,
Boeo, work unknown
And first fashioned a song of ancient verses.
Tradition, however, reports no other man as prophet, but makes mention of prophetesses only.
10.5.9They say that the most ancient temple of Apollo was made of laurel, the branches of which were brought from the laurel in
Another story is current, that the temple was set up by a Delphian, whose name was Pteras, and so the temple received its name from the builder. After this Pteras, so they say, the city in
It is no wonder that the third temple was made of bronze, seeing that Acrisius made a bedchamber of bronze for his daughter, the Lacedaemonians still possess a sanctuary of Athena of the Bronze House, and the Roman forum, a marvel for its size and style, possesses a roof of bronze. So it would not be unlikely that a temple of bronze was made for Apollo.
10.5.12The rest of the story I cannot believe, either that the temple was the work of Hephaestus, or the legend about the golden singers, referred to by Pindar in his verses about this bronze temple:—
Above the pediment sang
Pindar, work unknownThese words, it seems to me, are but an imitation of Homer's note account of the Sirens. Neither did I find the accounts agree of the way this temple disappeared. Some say that it fell into a chasm in the earth, others that it was melted by fire.
Golden Charmers.
The fourth temple was made by Trophonius and Agamedes; the tradition is that it was made of stone. It was burnt down in the archonship of Erxicleides at
ch. 6
10.6.1
They say that the oldest city was founded here by
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