Phœbe, in the _Theogonia_, marries Coios, and becomes the mother of Leto, or Latona, and so the grandmother of Apollo. The “birthday gift” was commonly presented on the eighth day after birth, when the child was named. The oracle is spoken of as such a gift to Apollo, as bearing the name of Phœbos. Footnote 468: The sacred circular pool of Delos is the crater of an extinct volcano. There Apollo was born, and thence he passed through Attica to Parnassos, to take possession of the oracle, according to one form of the myth, depriving Themis of it and slaying the dragon Python that kept guard over it. Footnote 469: The people of Attica are thus named either as being mythically descended from Erichthonios the son of Hephæstos, or as artificers, who own him as their father. The words refer to the supposed origin of the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi, passing through Bœotia and Phokis. When the Athenians sent envoys to consult the oracle they were preceded by men bearing axes, in remembrance of the original pioneering work which had been done for Apollo. The first work of active civilisation was thus connected with the worship of the giver of Light and Wisdom. Footnote 470: Delphos, the hero _Eponymos_ (name-giving) of Delphi, was honoured as the son of Poseidon. Hence the Priestess invokes the latter as one of the guardian deities of the shrine. Footnote 471: Pronaia, as having her shrine or statue in front of the temple of Apollo. Footnote 472: The Korykian rock in Parnassos, as in Soph., _Antig._, v. 1128; known also as the “Nymphs' cavern.” Footnote 473: Bromios, a name of Dionysos, embodying the special attributes of loud, half-frenzied revelry. Footnote 474: In the legend which Euripides follows, Kithæron, not Parnassos, is the scene of the death of Pentheus. He, it was said, opposed the wild or frantic worship of the Pelasgic Bacchos, concealed himself that he might behold the mysteries of the Mœnads, and was torn to pieces by his mother and two others, on whose eyes the God had cast such glamour that they took him for a wild beast. English readers may be referred to Dean Milman's translation of the _Bacchanals_ of Euripides. Footnote 475: Pleistos, topographically, a river flowing through the vale of Delphi, mythically the father of the nymphs of Korykos. Footnote 476: At one time the Oracle had been open to questioners once in the year only, afterwards once a month. The pilgrims, after they had made their offerings, cast lots, and the doors were opened to him to whom the lot had fallen. Plutarch, _Qu. Græc._, p. 292. Footnote 477: