άπυροι

lowed out into asquare form, for receiving the bottom of the table. Altars of this kind were placed on the road sides in the country. They were of the amupo and avaianтo kind, unstained with fire and blood, being set apart for exclusive oblations of honey, cakes, and fruit. Harpocration describes it as Kiev es oğu Anywv, a column diminishing towards the top: Hesychius calls it Βωμος εν σχηματι κιόνος, an altar in the form of a column.

They are common in Greece, and generally formed of a coarse black stone; those of Charoneia, however, are of white marble : they are frequently found in Italy, and are at present used as pedestals for large vases; their height is in general about three feet. They are never inscribed, and sometimes not fluted; and are frequently represented on painted terra cotta vases.

The thronos and the altar above-mentioned stand in the innermost recess of the church, a place which seems at present to be regarded with a sentiment of awe similar to that with which the adytum, or anaktoron, was by the ancients; for although several of the villagers followed us into the church, not one would pass the partition which incloses the altar. When I inquired the reason of this, it was answered, that no one but the priest was permitted to penetrate into the ayaw ayw (holy of holies) under pain of excommunication. There is a fine inscription within the church, and two others are seen on the outer walls. A short way out of the village towards the plain, is the church of Saint Speridion; on the outer wall of which is an inscription which contains the name of the town. Near this is a copious spring, with a scattered variety of ancient blocks, altars, pedestals, and mutilated inscriptions. The water forms a small stream, which soon loses itself in the neighbouring marshes; and several fine foundations may be descried near this spot, which was evidently once copiously adorned. The angles of these foundations are formed in the manner of those on which the steps of the great temple at Pestum are fixed; consisting of one block instead of two. This method so evidently contributes to stability and permanence, that it is surprising it has not been uniformly adopted.

A little further in the plain are the remains of two Roman structures of brick; perhaps those which contained the two trophies1 erected by Sylla, for his victory over Taxiles and Archelaos, generals of Mithridates the First. It appears from Plutarch,2 that the battle commenced at Mount Thurion, which terminates in a pointed summit anciently called Orthopagon; having at its base the river Morios, and the temple of Apollo Thurios.

The Kapourniotes have a tradition that Charoneia took its name from Charoneos, who they think was the son of King Plutarch; they have also some confused notions of the battle, which they say was fought by Alexander, whose name is much better known in Greece than that of his father Philip.

The fountain above-mentioned forms a stream and a marsh, the mud of which is of a red hue. This is imagined to have been the spot where the battle raged. A poor shepherd told me that this was the plain where the Greeks were slaughtered by Alexander ; and that the place was called from thence, Αίμονος ο Καμπος, the Plain of Blood. Plutarch3 mentions a small river near Charoneia called Hæmon, which he supposes to have been originally named Thermodon; but which, being filled with blood at the battle, took the name of Hæmon. The modern name of the Hæmon is Peuμa, which signifies a stream, that is visible only during the winter. According to Plutarch,5 several tombs of the Amazons were seen on the banks of this river. Pausanias mentions a river Thermodon near Glisas in Boeotia.

According to Procopius,' Charoneia, and several other places in Boeotia, Achaia, and Thessaly, were destroyed by an earthquake about the middle of the sixth century.

1 Pausan. b. 9. c. 39.

? Life of Sylla.

5 Life of Theseus.

6 B. 9. c. 19.

3 Life of Demosthenes. 4 Αιμον. 7 De Bello Goth. b. 4. p. 369, of Paris edit.

CHAPTER VIII.

To Skripou, anciently Orchomenos. Plain of Charoneia. Ruins of Orchomenos. Treasury of Minyas. Lake Kopais-its towns, rivers, and mountains-outlets of the Lake. River Cephissos. Village of Romaiko. Village of Granitza. Return to Libadea. To Mikrokoura, anciently Haliartos-ruins of the city. Eremo-Kastro, anciently Thespeia-ruins of the city. To Kakosia, anciently Thisbe -ruins of the city. Mount Helicon. To the Village of Katsikabeli. To Thebes.

N

TO SKRIPOU, ORCHOMENOS.

On the 18th we quitted Kapourna, and proceeded along the banks of the Hæmon, which at this time exhibited a visible current, though in summer it is no longer to be seen. At the end of forty minutes we saw a large tumulus, to the left, with some blocks of stone about it, perhaps the sepulchre of the Theban patriots who fell in the battle. Another tumulus, of still larger dimensions, appears on the right; which probably constituted the raon Snμoria,1 the common tomb of the Greeks, except the Thebans, which Pausanias2 terms oλuavdpiov, the receptacle of many men. Fifty minutes from Charoneia, the stream of the Hæmon, or Thermodon, forms a confluence with the Cephissos, which we crossed over a bridge. Near the junction of these rivers are some imperfect traces; probably the temple of Hercules, near which was the principal fury of the battle. From this spot the prospect is particularly interesting and magnificent. The nearest objects are the bridge, and the junction of the rivers, beyond which the plain is expanded to the foot of Parnassos, which towers above in all its sublimity and magnitude. The plain is closed by other hills of diversified forms, on which are distinguished the ruins of Charoneia, Panopeus, Daulis, and Párapotamioi. The latter, which is about five miles from Charoneia, nearly opposite Panopeus, is situated on a rocky eminence above the Cephissos, on the side of which is a khan. Strabo places it

1 Strabo, b. 9. p. 414. VOL. I.

* B. 9. c. 39.

3

⚫ B. 9. p. 424.

2 G

forty stadia from Charoneia, which corresponds with its probable situation. Plutarch1 says, that Sylla pointed it out to his army, but that it was quite ruined, and nothing was seen but the ridge of a sharp and craggy mountain, separated from Mount Edylion by the river Assos, which falls into the Cephissos.

The plain of Charoneia is exuberantly productive: it was at this time covered with the richest verdure; luxuriant harvests are produced in some parts, while others are enriched by plantations of rice, or animated by numerous flocks of sheep with their long fleeces of silky wool. The Epicephissians, or Parapotamioi, were celebrated for the fertility of their soil, and for the diligence with which they prosecuted its cultivation.

After crossing the Cephissos, the plain narrows: we began to ascend the barren side of Mount Akontios, which, rising to a moderate height opposite Charoneia, subsides into the plain of Kopais at Orchomenos. The river Akontios was also in this vicinity.3

On the side of the hill is a village called Karamoūsa, and not far from it a small monastery; several other villages are scattered over the plain to the left. In four hours we arrived at the ruins of Orchomenos and the village of Skripou. This celebrated city, proverbial in the time of Homer5 for its riches, still exhibits traces of its former strength, and some remains of its early magnificence. The most ancient ruins are probably in the plain, within the present village. According to Strabo it was afterwards built higher up, on account of the overflowing of the lake': Pausanias" pretends that the city was founded by the Thessalian Andreos, from whom it took the name of Andreis; it was afterwards called Phlegyas, from a son of Mars : then Minyas, from the grandson of Neptune; and Minyeian Orchomenos, from the son of Minyas. In the time of Thucydides it was called Boeotian Orchomenos, to distinguish it from the town of the same name in Arcadia.

1 Life of Sylla.

2 Strabo, b. 9. p. 416.

• Пoxes eriparns. Pausan. b. 9. c. 34. 6 B. 9. p. 416.

7 B. 9. c. 34.

3 Plutarch, Life of Sylla. 5 Strabo, b. 9. who cites the 9th Iliad, v. 381. 8 B. 4. c. 76.