The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2Müller, Karl Otfried
History
The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2
Müller, Karl Otfried
Dorians -- History; Greece -- Antiquities, Dorian; Greece -- History -- Dorian Invasions, approximately 1125-1025 B.C.
adopted Apollo altogether as a foreign deity is proved by the circumstance
of their not having united him with their native Jupiter, or Mercury, as
they did the Grecian Zeus, Hermes, &c. In our inquiries therefore into the
origin of the worship of Apollo, we are limited to the races of purely
Greek offspring. It remains only to be shown why we have selected the
_Dorians_ in particular from all these different tribes. And we merely
make this preliminary remark, that the mythical genealogy, in which Dorus
is called the son of Apollo,(861) was a simple expression for this fact.
2. The most ancient settlements of the Doric race, of which any historical
accounts are extant, were, as we before ascertained,(862) the country at
the foot of Olympus and Ossa, near the valley of TEMPE. In this district
there were two sanctuaries, bearing the character of the highest
antiquity, viz., the Pythium, on the ridge of Olympus, near a steep
mountain-pass leading to Macedonia; and the altar in the ravine of the
Peneus,(863) from which the god himself was called Τεμπείτας; and in an
inscription discovered near this spot, on the banks of the river between
Tempe and Larissa, are the words ΑΠΛΟΥΝΙ ΤΕΜΠΕΙΤΑ, “To Apollo of
Tempe.”(864) From another inscription found in this district we gather an
account of certain native Thessalian festivals, at which branches of
laurel were carried round, that were doubtless procured from the groves in
the valley of Tempe; whither also the Delphians every eight years, at the
expiration of the sacred period, sent the Pythian theori, who, after the
performance of a sacrifice, broke the expiatory branch from the sacred
laurel-tree.(865) According also to the admission of the Delphians
themselves, the temple of Apollo at Tempe was more ancient than their own,
since a perfect expiation could only be performed in that sanctuary. In
accordance with the tradition that Apollo himself, after having slain the
Python, fled to the altar at Tempe to be purified from the pollution, the
sacred boy, at each return of the appointed day, went to Tempe by a
certain path,(866) in imitation of the god whom he honoured, in order to
return home amidst the joyful songs of the choruses of virgins, as
δαφνηφόρος, or _laurel-bearer_. The religious usages at this festival will
be investigated hereafter; here we will only consider the route which the
procession took. It led through Thessaly and Pelasgia (that is, through
the plain of the Peneus, which stretches to the south as far as Pheræ);
then through the country of the Malians and Ænianes, over mount Œta,
through Doris and the western part of Locris;(867) avoiding in a
remarkable manner the shorter and more frequented road from Thessaly
through Thermopylæ, over Phocis, and through the pass of Panopeus and
Daulis to Delphi. The reasons of this deviation may have been the
opposition offered in early times by hostile tribes from the eastern side
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