GROVE OF THE MUSES, UPON MOUNT HELICON, TO LEBADÉA. Plants of Helicon-View from the Heights-Valley of Sagără―Ascra -Summit of Helicon-Descent of the Mountain - KotumalaPanori-Lebadéa-House of the Archon-Manners of the higher class of Modern Greeks-Order of their meals-Society-PawdoiCeremony observed in holding a divân-Low pride-Dresses Etiquette concerning slippers-Albanian Tenants-Joannina-Modern state of Lebadéa-Hieron of Trophonius-Uncertainty respecting the Adytum-Sources of the Hercyna-Validity of the remarks by Pausanias-Further account of the sources of the River-Water of Oblivion-Water of Memory-Origin of these appellations-General aspect of the Hieron-Receptacles for the votive offerings-Throne of Mnemosyne-Stoma of the Adytum-Attempt to explore the

interior

CHAP. IV.

Plants of
Helicon.

interior-Situation of the consecrated Grove--Its original decorations -Denuded state of the antient City-Acropolis - Commerce of LEBADÉA.

FROM

ROM the Grove of the Muses we descended towards the PERMESSUS; and crossing that rivulet, quitted this charming scene, and continued our journey, north-west, towards the higher parts of MOUNT HELICON. The weather was stormy: and as we ascended almost to the summit of this part of the mountain, we saw only the Snow-drop in bloom, although we had left the Crocus and Erica in full flower about Marathon; but all Boeotia is colder than Attica. We have already alluded to the fact of snow falling in January, so as to bury the doors of the cottages. This happens also at THEBES. In ATHENS, Snow is rarely seen; but when it falls there, it is considered as a promising indication of a good crop of olives for the ensuing summer. Pausanias relates', that no unwholesome plants are found in HELICON: perhaps he did not place Fungi in his class of vegetables: we noticed a white mushroom that is not considered eatable in England. Many however of the Fungus tribe are much esteemed in foreign countries as a luxurious food, which the inhabitants of our country consider as being poisonous. In Russia, they are almost all eaten indiscriminately, salted, and thus kept for winter

use.

(1) Αγουσι δὲ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἑλικῶνα οἰκοῦντες καὶ ἁπάσας ἐν τῷ ὄρει τὰς πόας, καὶ τὰς ῥίζας ἥδιστα ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπου θανάτῳ φύεσθαι. Paus. Brotica, c. 28. p. 764. ed. Kuhnii.

(2) See Martyn's edit. of Miller's Dict. vol. I. Part 2. (Article Fungus.) Lond. 1807.

use. It is observed by Martyn, that many have suffered disease, and some even death, from eating voraciously or incautiously of fungusses; but that it is doubtful whether many of them be really poisonous, in the strict and proper sense of the word3. The other plants, as we ascended the mountain, were, Thyme, Sage, and Balm; with few or no trees, excepting the Vallonia Oak, appearing as a shrub. In the lower parts of Helicon, as about the Monastery of St. Nicholo, and in sheltered places. nearer to the summit, the Vallonia grows to a tree of considerable magnitude. Wherever the naked surface of the mountain was disclosed, we found the rocks to consist of primary limestone. A craggy narrow path, along which our horses proceeded with difficulty, conducted us to the heights above Sagără, or Sacra, whence the mountain has received its modern appellation; and not, as Wheler relates, from the abundance of the hares found upon it. Here we observed a part of the antient paved causeway, which formerly led from THESPIA to ASCRA and to LEBADÉA1. Crocusses, and other early plants, were in flower. The weather, which had before been boisterous in this elevated region, was changed suddenly to the finest temperature of spring. We saw from hence all Boeotia, with here and there more distant regions and towering summits,

whose

CHAP. IV.

View from the Heights.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Rectiùs Aẞßádɛia, ut 'Eλdreia, et similia. Vid. Annot. Sylburgii in Pausan. p. 788. edit. Kuhnii.

CHAP. IV.

whose bearings by the compass we immediately ascertained. The following statement will give the situation of the principal objects thus viewed from the N. E. side of HELICON; and the Vignette to this Chapter will serve to exhibit the appearance presented by the highest mountain of Euboea, (Japh bearing East and by North from the same point of view; the sea being here admitted into the prospect.

S. E. and by E.

S. E. And between the

Mountain PARNES, here called Oziā
Mountain CITHARON, called Elatea
mountain CITHERON and the spectator, in this line of observation,
the high tower near Panaja, occurring as the first principal
object.

HELICON Concealed all the other western and southern points of
the panoramic circle.

The Plain of LEBADEA appeared through two gaps or openings of the mountain, bearing N. and by E. and E. N. E. the villages of the Greater and Lesser Mulchy being at the foot of HELICON in this direction; and beyond them, in the plain, the village of Topola.

Our road extended s. E. and N. W.-The distance from Neocorio to this spot is reckoned a journey of two hours; and it required almost another hour to descend into the deep valley in which Sagără is situated. The view of it, from above, somewhat resembles the appearance of the remarkable Vale of Ursilen, or Ursaria, in the passage of St. Gothard, in the Alps: but it is still more inclosed; and it is walled in by bolder acclivities, being entirely surrounded by high rocks, and by the towering summits of

HELICON.

HELICON. Below is seen a level plain, whose woods and corn-fields are almost buried in the deep bosom of the mountain. A very steep and rugged descent at last conducted us into this sequestered vale; and as we drew near to the village of Zagără here situated, the same pleasing notes of shepherds' pipes which we had heard at St. Nicholo, with the cheerful noise of bells tinkling in the groves, seemed to give gladness to the scene, and again to welcome our coming. A river, flowing across this valley, divides the village into two parts; one being high above the other, on the right hand. The lower part stretches into the level plain and above the upper part, a small white edifice appears rising among thick embowering trees, as such buildings are often seen in Swisserland, commanding every beauty and advantage of situation: it is called the Monastery of Panaja, or the (all holy) Virgin.

There is every reason to believe that this village of Zagără occupies the site of the antient ASCRA, the place of Hesiod's nativity'. Its distance from THESPIA accords very accurately with that mentioned by Strabo, of forty stadia; either supposing THESPIA to have stood where Phria now is, or where Wheler places it, at Neocorio; and its situation cannot have been remote from either of those places, on account of its distance from LEUCTRA. The site of Zagără

also

(1) Hesiodi "Epya, v. 639, 640. p. 172. (Vid. Dissertat. de Vit. Script. et Ætat. HESIODI, in edit. Robinson.) Oxon. 1737.

(2) ̓Απέχουσα τῶν Θεσπιῶν ὅσον τετταράκοντα σταδίους. Strabon. Geog. lib. ix. p. 594. ed. Oxon.

CHAP. IV.

Ascra.