641 The hot springs of Himera (the modern _Termini_) were said to have been produced for the refreshment of the weary Hercules. See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 23. 1, v. 3. 4; Scholiast on Pindar, _Olymp._ xii. 25. The hero is said to have taught the Syracusans to sacrifice a bull annually to Persephone at the Blue Spring (_Cyane_) near Syracuse; the beasts were drowned in the water of the pool. See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 23. 4, v. 4. 1 _sq._ As to the spring, which is now thickly surrounded by tall papyrus-plants introduced by the Arabs, see K. Baedeker, _Southern Italy_7 (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 356, 357. 642 The splendid baths of Allifae in Samnium, of which there are considerable remains, were sacred to Hercules. See G. Wilmanns, _Exempla Inscriptionum Latinarum_ (Berlin, 1873), vol. i. p. 227, No. 735 C; H. Nissen, _Italische Landeskunde_, ii. 798. It is characteristic of the volcanic nature of the springs that the same inscription which mentions these baths of Hercules records their destruction by an earthquake. 643 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i. (Berlin, 1902) p. 113, No. 3891. 644 Speaking of thermal springs Lyell observes that the description of them “might almost with equal propriety have been given under the head of ‘igneous causes,’ as they are agents of a mixed nature, being at once igneous and aqueous” (_Principles of Geology_,12 i. 392). 645 See above, p. 194. M163 The hot springs of Callirrhoe in Moab. 646 S. I. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_ (Chicago, New York, and Toronto, 1902), pp. 116 _sq._; Mrs. H. H. Spoer, “The Powers of Evil in Jerusalem,” _Folk-lore_, xviii. (1907) p. 55. See above, p. 78. 647 Josephus, _Antiquit. Jud._ xvii. 6. 5. The medical properties of the spring are mentioned by Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ v. 72). 648 C. L. Irby and J. Mangles, _Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria and the Holy Land_ (London, 1844), pp. 144 _sq._; W. Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_ (London, 1873), i. 482, _s.v._ “Callirrhoë”; K. Baedeker, _Syria and Palestine_4 (Leipsic, 1906), p. 148; H. B. Tristram, _The Land of Moab_ (London, 1873), pp. 233-250, 285 _sqq._; Jacob E. Spafford, “Around the Dead Sea by Motor Boat,” _The Geographical Journal_, xxxix. (1912) pp. 39 _sq._ The river formed by the springs is now called the Zerka. M164 Prayers and sacrifices offered to the hot springs of Callirrhoe. 649 Antonin Jaussen, _Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab_ (Paris, 1908), pp. 359 _sq._ The Arabs think that the evil spirits let the hot water out of hell, lest its healing properties should assuage the pains of the damned. See H. B. Tristram, _The Land of Moab_ (London, 1873), p. 247.