_The Sanctuary of Zeus Olympios and the Pythion._ The two sanctuaries first mentioned, those of Zeus Olympios and of Apollo Pythios, are linked together more closely than by mere topographical juxtaposition. In the Kerameikos Apollo Patroös[149] had a temple close to the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios; down near the Ilissos, Zeus Olympios had his great sanctuary (Fig. 49), and near it Apollo Pythios had a temenos, and here, where Thucydides is speaking of the most ancient foundation of the two gods, father and son, they are manifestly in close conjunction. This is fortunate for our argument. For it happens that, whereas we know the exact site of the earliest Pythion, of this earliest Olympieion there are no certain remains. From the known site of the Pythion and from the close conjunction of the two we can deduce within narrow limits the unknown site of the Olympion. Possibly at this point, if the reader knows modern Athens, the words ‘the unknown site’ of the Olympion will rouse an instinctive protest. Surely the site of the Olympieion, with its familiar cluster of Corinthian columns, is of all things most certain and familiar. It lies South-East of the Acropolis not far from the Ilissos (see Fig. 49). A moment’s consideration will however show that this Olympieion, though familiar, is irrelevant, nay impossible. It is too remote to be described as _towards_ the ancient city, it is too recent to be accounted an ancient sanctuary. It was, as Thucydides quite well knew, begun by Peisistratos[150]. We begin by fixing the site of the Pythion, happily certain. Literature alone enables us within narrow limits to do this. In the _Ion_ of Euripides[151] Ion, learning that Creousa comes from Athens, presses her for particulars about that ‘glorious’ city. As a priestling he is naturally interested in all canonical legends, but what he is really eager about is the ancient sacred spot which linked Athens to Delphi. The nursling of Delphi eagerly asks And is there there a place called the Long Rocks? _Cre._ Why ask this? Oh the memory thou hast touched. _Ion._ The Pythian honours it and the Pythian fires. _Cre._ Honours it! he honours it! Curse the day I saw it. _Ion._ What is it? You hate the haunts the god loves best. _Cre._ Nothing. Those caves could tell a tale of shame. But this is not what the pious Ion wants and he turns the subject. The place at Athens dearest to the Pythian, the place his lightnings honour is on the Long Rocks, and there, we may safely assume, was the god’s earliest sanctuary. The prologue of the same play tells us where the Long Rocks were, namely on the North of the Acropolis. Hermes, who brought Ion to Delphi, speaks[152]: ‘A citadel there is in Hellas famed, Called after Pallas of the golden spear, And, where the northern rocks ’neath Pallas’ hill Are called the Long Rocks, Phoebus there by force Did wed Creousa.’