[329] Aug. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen, p. 160. Probably Mommsen is right in his conjecture that the sacrifice of the Metageitnia mentioned by Plutarch was an actual part or at least preliminary to the Herakleia.
[330] I selected the worship of Herakles for discussion because we have definite evidence that Herakles is connected with Diomeia as well as Melite. An equally striking case of the shift of a foreign cult from Melite to the district of the Ilissos is that of Aphrodite Ourania. Pausanias (I. 14. 7) saw the sanctuary in Melite, noted its oriental origin and the current story that Porphyrion founded a sanctuary of Aphrodite in the deme Athimoneus, i.e. on the way from Marathon. When he came to the Ilissos to the district of the Gardens (I. 19. 2) he sees the sanctuary of Aphrodite Ourania, her image as a herm and the inscription says she is eldest of the Fates. He notes that there is ‘no local legend.’ How should there be if the cult was transplanted? From this sanctuary he passes on next to Kynosarges.
[331] Paus. I. 19. 5.
[332] Plat. Phaedr. 229 A.
[333] See Myth. and Mon. Anc. Athens, p. 226 and Fig. 17. Since I wrote that account excavations have been undertaken by the Greek Archaeological Society on the supposed site of the Enneakrounos on the Ilissus; traces of channels for the conducting of water have been found, but the water so conducted is not drinkable. For report see Πρακτικὰ τῆς Ἀρχ. Ἑταιρίας, 1893, pp. 111-136.
[334] Etym. Mag. Ἐννεάκρουνος· κρήνη Ἀθήνησι παρὰ τὸν Ἴλισσον, ἡ πρότερον Καλλιρόη ἔσκεν ἀφ’ ἧς τὰ λουτρὰ ταῖς γαμουμέναις μετίασι. Πολύζηλος Δημοτυνδαρέῳ
‘ἴξει πρὸς Ἐννεάκρουνον, εὔυδρον τόπον.’
See Koch, Frag. Com. vol. I. pp. 790-2. Polyzelos is of course not responsible for the statement about the Ilissos.
[335] Hesych. s.v. Ἐννεάκρουνος takes his account and acknowledges it ὥς φησι καὶ Θουκυδίδης.
[336] Suidas, s.v. νυμφικὰ λουτρά—τὰ εἰς γάμους ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀπὸ κρήνης λαμβανόμενα.