These Colonæ were sacred to the Apollo of Greece; and, as they were sea-marks and beacons, which stood on eminences near the mouths of rivers, and at the entrances of harbours, it caused them to be called ωρια, ουρεα, and ὁρμοι. Homer gives a beautiful description of such hills and headlands, and of the sea-coast projected in a beautiful landscape beneath, when, in some ravishing poetry, he makes all these places rejoice at the birth of Apollo: [808]Πασαι δε σκοπιαι τοι αδον, και πρωονες ακροι Ὑψηλων ορεων, ποταμοι θ' αλα δε προρεοντες, Ακταιτ' εις ἁλα κεκλιμεναι, λιμενες τε θαλασσης. In that happy hour The lofty cliffs, that overlook the main, And the high summits of the towering hills, Shouted in triumph: down the rivers ran In pleasing murmurs to the distant deep. The shelves, the shores, the inlets of the sea, Witness'd uncommon gladness. Apollo, from this circumstance, was often called επακτιος, or the tutelary God of the coast; and had particular offerings upon that account. [809]Πεισματα τ' ἁψαμενοι πορσυνομεν ἱερα καλα Ζηνι Πανομφαιῳ, και επακτιῳ Απολλωνι. It was not only upon rocks and eminences that these Cippi and Obelisks were placed by the antients: they were to be found in their temples, where for many ages a rude stock or stone served for a representation of the Deity. They were sometimes quite shapeless, but generally of a conical figure; of which we meet with many instances. Clemens Alexandrinus takes notice of this kind of [810]worship: and Pausanias, in describing the temple of Hercules at Hyettus in [811]Bœotia, tells us, that there was no statue in it, nor any work of art, but merely a rude stone, after the manner of the first ages. Tertullian gives a like description of Ceres and Pallas. Pallas Attica, et Ceres [812]Phrygia--quæ sine effigie, rudi palo, et informi specie prostant. Juno of Samos was little better than a [813]post. It sometimes happens that aged trees bear a faint likeness to the human fabric: roots, likewise, and sprays, are often so fantastic in their evolutions, as to betray a remote resemblance. The antients seem to have taken advantage of this fancied similitude, which they improved by a little art; and their first effort towards imagery was from these rude and rotten materials. Apollonius Rhodius, in his account of the Argonauts, gives a description of a monument of this sort, which was by them erected in a dark grove, upon a mountainous part of [814]Bithynia. They raised an altar of rough stones, and placed near it an image of Rhea, which they formed from an arm or stump of an old vine. Εσκε δε τι στιβαρον στυπος αμπελου, εντρεφον ὑλῃ Προγνυ γερανδρυον, το μεν εκταμον οφρα πελοιτο Δαιμονος ουρειης ἱερον βρετας· εξεσε δ' Αργως Ευκοσμως, και δη μιν επ' οκρυοεντι Κολωνῳ Ιδρυσαν, φηγοισιν επηρεφες ακροτατησιν· Ἁι ρα τε πασαων πανυπερταται εῤῥιζωντο Βωμον δ' αυ χεραδος παρανηνεον, αμφι δε φυλλοις Στεψαμενοι δρυινοισι θυηπολιης εμελοντο.