Near mount Cyllene in Arcadia was the sacred Taphos of [422]Æputus, who was supposed to have been stung by a serpent. Æputus was the same as Iapetus, the father of mankind. In the Dionusiaca the priests used to be crowned with serpents; and in their frantic exclamations to cry out [423]Eva, Eva; and sometimes Evan, Evan: all which related to some history of a serpent. Apollo, who is supposed by most to have been victor in his conflict with the Pytho, is by Porphyry said to have been slain by that serpent: Pythagoras affirmed, that he saw his tomb at Tripos in [424]Delphi; and wrote there an epitaph to his honour. The name of Tripos is said to have been given to the place, because the daughters of Triopus used to lament there the fate of Apollo. But Apollo and the Python were the same; and Tripus, or Triopus, the supposed father of these humane sisters, was a variation for Tor-Opus, the serpent-hill, or temple; where neither Apollo, nor the Python were slain, but where they were both worshipped, being one and the same Deity. [425]Πυθοι μεν ουν ὁ Δρακων ὁ Πυθιος θρησκευεται, και του Οφεως ἡ πανηγυρις καταγγελλεται Πυθια. _At Python_ (the same as Delphi) _the Pythian Dragon is worshipped; and the celebrity of the serpent is styled Pythian_. The daughters of Triopus were the priestesses of the temple; whose business it was to chant hymns in memory of the serpent: and what is very remarkable, the festival was originally observed upon the seventh [426]day. The Greeks had innumerable monuments of the sort, which I have been describing. They were taken for the tombs of departed heroes, but were really consecrated places: and the names by which they were distinguished, shew plainly their true history. Such was the supposed tomb of [427]Orion at Tanagra, and of Phoroneus in [428]Argolis; the tomb of [429]Deucalion in Athens; and of his wife [430]Pyrrha in Locris: of [431]Endymion in Elis: of Tityus in [432]Panopea: of Asterion in the island [433]Lade: of the Egyptian [434]Belus in Achaia. To these may be added the tombs of Zeus in Mount Sipylus, Mount Iasius, and Ida: the tombs of Osiris in various parts: and those of Isis, which have been enumerated before. Near the Æaceum at Epidaurus was a hill, reputed to have been the tomb of the hero [435]Phocus. This Æaceum was an inclosure planted with olive trees of great antiquity; and at a small degree above the surface of the ground was an altar sacred to Æacus. To divulge the traditions relative to this altar would, it seems, be an high profanation. The author, therefore, keeps them a secret. Just before this sacred septum was the supposed tomb of Phocus, consisting of a mound of raised earth, fenced round with a border of stone work: and a large rough stone was placed upon the top of all. Such were the rude monuments of Greece, which were looked upon as so many receptacles of the dead: but were high altars, with their sacred τεμενη, which had been erected for divine worship in the most early times.