This absurdity seems to go back to Euhemeros (cf. Minuc. xxi, 1; worthless is Fulgentius _Expos._, 2, p. 769 Stav. = p. 112, 3 ff. Helm), and may be merely a frivolous jest. (Too much respect is paid to this tradition by K. O. Müller, _Introd. to Scient. Myth._, p. 246.)] {111} [33\3: That the snake killed by Apollo was the guardian of the old ~mantei=on chtho/nion~ we have on unimpeachable authority (testim. collected by Th. Schreiber, _Apollo Pythoktonos_, p. 3): esp. Eur., _IT._ 1245 ff. Call., _fr._ 364; ~poiêtai/~ acc. to Paus. 10, 6, 6, who say that ~(to\n Pu/thôna) epi\ tô=| mantei/ô| phu/laka hupo\ Gê=s teta/chthai ktl.~ That the struggle was for the oracle is shown briefly and plainly by [Apollod.] 1, 4, 1, 3: ~hôs de\ ho phrourô=n to\ mantei=on Pu/thôn o/phis ekô/luen auto\n (Apo/llôna) parelthei=n epi\ to\ cha/sma~ (the oracular cleft), ~tou=ton anelô/n to\ mantei=on paralamba/nei~. The snake form is proper to earth-spirits, and, as earth-spirits always have mantic power, to oracle-spirits. Trophonios appeared as a snake and so did Asklepios. There can be no doubt that the Delphian ~dra/kôn~ is the embodiment of the pre-Apolline oracle-daimon. Thus Hesych. says exactly ~Pu/thôn daimo/nion mantiko/n~ (elaborated in Hyg. 140). Cf. _Act._ 16^16.--Supporters of the doctrine of the Greek "religion of Nature" find even in the legend of Apollo's fight with the snake an allegorical version of a physical fact tending to become an ethical one. I cannot regard such an allegory as primitive.] [34\3: An instructive parallel may be added. In [Clem.] _Hom._ 5, 22, p. 70, 32 Lag., there is mention of a _grave_ of Plouton ~en tê=| Acherousi/a| li/mnê|~. This may be explained as follows. At Hermione Hades under the name of Klymenos was honoured together with Demeter ~Chthoni/a~ and Kore. Pausanias knew well that Klymenos was a titular name (~epi/klêsis~) of Hades (2, 35, 9), but his rejection of the opinion that Klymenos was a man from Argos who had come to Hermione (as founder of the Chthonic cult) shows that this was the general view. Behind the temple of Chthonia lay ~chôri/a ha\ kalou=sin Hermionei=s to\ me\n Klume/nou, to\ de\ Plou/tônos, to\ tri/ton de\ autôn _li/mnên Acherousi/an_~. At this ~li/mnê Acherousi/a~ it is possible that a _grave_ of Hades, transformed into the Hero Klymenos, may have been shown. This Clemens referred to, but instead of Klymenos or Hades used inaccurately the name more familiar to later times, Plouton.]