[374] There is some doubt respecting the modern name of Thespiæ; the Austrian map places the ruins near Erimokastro.
[375] Placing Ascra at Pyrgaki, there is little doubt that Aganippe, whence the Muses were called Aganippides, is the fountain which issues from the left bank of the torrent flowing midway between Paleopanaghea and Pyrgaki. Around this fountain Leake observed numerous square blocks, and in the neighbouring fields stones and remains of habitations. The position of the Grove of the Muses is fixed at St. Nicholas, by an inscription which Leake discovered there relating to the Museia, or the games of the Muses, which were celebrated there under the presidency of the Thespians. Paus. b. ix. c. 31. In the time of Pausanias the Grove of the Muses contained a larger number of statues than any other place in Bœotia, and this writer has given an account of many of them. The statues of the Muses were removed by Constantine from this place to his new capital, where they were destroyed by fire, in A. D. 404. Smith.
[376] Works and Days, 639.
[377] This is a mistake, since the loftiest summit of Helicon is barely 5000 feet high, whilst that of Parnassus is upwards of 8000 feet. Smith. Helicon is a range of mountains with several summits, of which the loftiest is a round mountain now called Paleovuni. Smith. The Austrian map gives the modern name Zagora to Helicon.
[378] Twenty stadia from the Grove of the Muses was the fountain Hippocrene, which was said to have been produced by the horse Pegasus striking the ground with his foot. Paus. b. ix. ch. 31. Hippocrene was probably at Makariotissa, which is noted for a fine spring of water. Smith. The Austrian map places it at Kukuva. Leibethrum, or Leibethreium, is described by Pausanias as distant 40 stadia from Coroneia, and is therefore probably the mount Zagora. Smith.
[379] Il. ii. 499.
[380] The remains of Haliartus are situated upon a hill about a mile from the village of Mazi, on the road from Thebes to Lebadeia, and at the distance of about 15 miles from either place. Although the walls of the town are scarcely anywhere traceable, its extent is marked on the east and west by two small rivers, of which that to the west issues from the foot of the hill of Mazi, the eastern, called the Kafalari, has its origin in Mount Helicon. The stream on the western side of the city is the one called Hoplites by Plutarch, where Lysander fell in battle with the Thebans, B. C. 395, and is apparently the same as the Lophis of Pausanias. The stream on the eastern side, the Kafalari, is formed by the union of two rivulets, which appear to be the Permessus and Olmeius, which are described by Strabo as flowing from Helicon, and after their union entering the Lake Copais, near Haliartus. Smith.
[381] It was celebrated for the worship of Athena, who is hence called Alalcomeneis in Homer. The temple of the goddess stood at a little distance from the town, on the Triton, a small stream flowing into the Lake Copais. The modern village Sulinari is the site of Alalcomenæ. Smith.
[382] Phœnicium, or Sphingium, now called Faga, the mountain between the Lakes Copais and Hylica, connecting Mount Ptoum with the range of Helicon. Forchamer supposes that Phœnicium and Sphingium are the names of two different mountains, separated from one another by the small plain of the stream Daulos; but the name of Pœnicium rests only on the authority of Strabo, and it is probably a corruption of Phicium. Φίξ is the Æolic form of Σπ/ἱγξ, (Hes. Theog. 326,) and therefore there can be no doubt that Phicium and Sphingium are two different forms of the same name. Smith.
[383] Il. ii. 502.