[115] There is considerable perplexity respecting Krissa and
Kirrha, and it still remains a question among scholars whether
the two names denote the same place or different places; the
former is the opinion of O. Müller (Orchomenos, p. 495). Strabo
distinguishes the two. Pausanias identifies them, conceiving
no other town to have ever existed except the seaport (x, 37,
4). Mannert (Geogr. Gr. Röm. viii, p. 148) follows Strabo, and
represents them as different.
I consider the latter to be the correct opinion, upon the
grounds, and partly, also, on the careful topographical
examination of Professor Ulrichs, which affords an excellent
account of the whole scenery of Delphi (Reisen und Forschungen
in Griechenland, Bremen, 1840, chapters 1, 2, 3). The ruins
described by him on the high ground near Kastri, called the
Forty Saints, may fairly be considered as the ruins of Krissa;
the ruins of Kirrha are on the sea-shore near the mouth of the
Pleistus. The plain beneath might without impropriety be called
either the Krissæan or the Kirrhæan plain (Herodot. viii, 32;
Strabo, ix, p. 419). Though Strabo was right in distinguishing
Krissa from Kirrha, and right also in the position of the latter
under Kirphis, he conceived incorrectly the situation of Krissa;
and his representation that there were two wars,—in the first
of which, Kirrha was destroyed by the Krissæans, while in the
second, Krissa itself was conquered by the Amphiktyons,—is not
confirmed by any other authority.
The mere circumstance that Pindar gives us in three separate
passages, Κρίσᾳ, Κρισαῖον, Κρισαίοις (Isth. ii, 26; Pyth. v, 49,
vi, 18), and in five other passages, Κίῤῥᾳ, Κίῤῥας, Κίῤῥαθεν
(Pyth. iii, 33, vii, 14, viii, 26, x, 24, xi, 20), renders it
almost certain that the two names belong to different places, and
are not merely two different names for the same place; the poet
could not in this case have any metrical reason for varying the
denomination, as the metre of the two words is similar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account