taips. Their offerings alfo had popmonly a relation to. their
nature, qQIce, and ideal;iuperintendency. Their altars, differed
in height, fhape, or ornaments. The fiibterrapeous. gods had
their trenches; the terreftrial and the Heroes, their hearths. The
tepan^Sjof Ql^mpjj^ ijfere. worlhipped in temples; the Nymphs
with -Pan and the rural clafs in caves.
T he Paneum or Nymphaeum by Vary, is a lingular curiofity,
o f a fpecies, it is apprehended, not defcribed by any traveller.
I f is found in the mountain-fide, near-a-brow. You defcend
through a fmall mouth ; the forked trunk of a tree, with
branches. faftejn?4. a^rofs,. ferving as a ladder. At the landing-
plac.e„i^ a, Greek inyfcriptio.aivery difficult|to-Jba read. It< is cut
on the rock fir/l fmootbed, and informs us, that Archidamus^of
Phene made. the. caye for. the Nymphs, hy whom he was pof-
fcJPd-'i Q^>ofi;te is.. a„ fmall niche orcavity ; with Tome letters,
part of a word, dignifying that the offering, for fruits, perhaps
a fmall piece of money, was to he placed there. From the
landing-pface two ways lead date the. cavern. Going down by
the narrqw flairs cut in the. rock, on the lefthand isinfcribed in.
very( aprient; characters, “ Archidamus. the Pheneanv” n Wheni
ypu aredotyn and. face the.flairs, at,the, extremity on the« right
hnnd is anithyphsUns,. the.iymboi of Bacchus; and near i f
Ids, the Egyptian Ceres. The, Athenians had «early an. inter-
cpnrfe with Egypt, and. fome writers have afferted were originally
a colony from that country. Under fmall niches, in two
places, is infcribed, “ Of Pan.?’ On- the other fide oD the-
ftairs are two more niches, and beneath each,*., Of Apollo.
* \ B e y o n d % fe is a very rudg;hgpre.o f the Tcwlptor
reprefented with his tools, as -working, and by it his name*
Aichidamus, twice, repeated, the letters irregular and , badly
cuk.;, fome mould we difcovered that his feet are
botHTurned inyvgrd. Near the,-image of Ifis lay n f to ^ with
tv?A Mff up fo that both might he yifihkw>
Bmm | cogie$ *• Archidamus th?/Pheragan and CholUdea«.
“ % j# ^ t h i a dwelling for the Nymphs;” from the other,
“ Archidamus
151:
P Archidamus the Pheræan planted the'garden for. the Nymphs "
T h e flairs, which are continued along by the'fide of the rock
below the figure of Archidamus, are covered With foil formed
by leaves Qt walhed in by rain from above ; and the defcent to
the low'er grotto, to which they led,, ié -, become fteep and
flippery. That is entered by a narrow paffage left in the partition,
which has been rendered pi<fturefqùe by pëtrifa&iohs. It
is of a circular form, the tides adorned With fan'taftic incruffa-
tion, and the roof with fparry icicles. O f thefe feveraL
are growing up, pointed, from beneath ; and fome have already
met and united with thofe pendant from above. A t the
bottom is a well o f very clear and cold water. On the left
hand, going up again, near the landiftg-plate, Is a fquare
horizontal cavity ; and farther on is an infcription ön thè rough
rock, not legible. The cavity probably contained the garden
o f the Nymphs before mentioned, confiding o f a little foil fet
with fuch herbs and flowers as were reputed grateful to them.
I f a fmall trench be deemed unworthy o f the appellation, it
may be noted, that gardens were planted for Adonis not equal
ia magnitude even to- this plat, each being a fliell or pot With
earth, in whrdl certain vegetables thrived awhile and then
withered. Strcb were the flower-gardens iff the hàll called by
his name in the palace of Domitian at Rome. ’
A r c h i d a m u s was follicitous, as may be inferred from his
figure, to tranfmit a knowlege o f his perfón to future ages.
He was a native o f Pheræ, a city of Theffaly, Who had fettled
in Attica and was admitted to his freedom in Chollis, one of
the borough-towns. The inferiptions, as may be collected
from the diverfity in* the characters and in their powers, are o f
different dates. That at the landing-place was added, it is
likely, long after his deceafe, as a memorial o f his' labour and
its caufè' ; which Was1 nympholepfy. From thofe which appear
to be contemporary with the fculptor it may he àrgüed that He
lived when the Attic or Cadmeah and Palamedéan alphabet,
confifting-of fifteen letters, WSs in ufe ; or before the Athenians