DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0272
240 THE KATABATHRA, OR EMISSARIES OF THE LAKE.
mentioned by Wheler, which are cut perpendicularly in the rock,
until they reach the subterraneous streams. The passages were thus
cleared and probably enlarged. The general size of these pits is
four feet square ; the depth varies according to the unevenness of the
ground, under which the water is conducted to its outlet. It is im-
possible to penetrate into these deep recesses, which are most of
them filled with stones, or overgrown with bushes ; but it would not
be difficult to ascertain their depth, and their direction might be
traced by following the shafts, which extend nearly to the sea. Pits
of the same kind are seen in Italy, on the mountain through which
theEmissarium1 penetrates at the lake Fucinus, in the country of the
Marsi. Whether the Boeotian plains were inundated by the deluge
of Ogyges and Deucalion, or whether Hercules2 produced that effect
by blocking up the chasms, and thus turning the Cephissos into the
lake, is matter of uncertain conjecture. Polyoenus3 mentions one
chasm that was closed by Hercules, but afterwards re-opened. Dio-
dorus4 says, that Hercules obstructed the river which flowed by Or-
chomenos, and inundated the plain. Plutarch5 relates, that the lake
overflowed the year6 before the defeat of the Thebans, at Koroneia,
by Agesilaus ; the waters reaching to Haliartos. These natural out-
lets occur in several parts of Greece, and other countries which
abound in lakes and mountains; but they are found principally in
calcareous rocks. I have never seen any except artificial emissaries
in volcanic soils.
The lakes of Stymphalos and Pheneos, in Arcadia, have their
katabathra. The lake of Joannina, in Epiros, has also two natural
outlets. The Psophis and the Erymanthos, in Arcadia, issue from
subterraneous abysses. The Alpheios and the Eurotas enter the
1 Cicero, b. 16. Epist. ad Tiron. Vitruv. b. 8. c. 7- Suetonius in Claud, c. 20.
2 Diodorus Siculus says, that Hercules checked the course of the river at Orchomenos, and
inundated the plain, because the Minyans had enslaved the Thebans, b. 4. c. 18.
3 Stratag. b. 1. c. 5. * ]}_ 4 c ^g. s De Genio Socrat.
6 Three hundred and ninety-five years before Christ.
mentioned by Wheler, which are cut perpendicularly in the rock,
until they reach the subterraneous streams. The passages were thus
cleared and probably enlarged. The general size of these pits is
four feet square ; the depth varies according to the unevenness of the
ground, under which the water is conducted to its outlet. It is im-
possible to penetrate into these deep recesses, which are most of
them filled with stones, or overgrown with bushes ; but it would not
be difficult to ascertain their depth, and their direction might be
traced by following the shafts, which extend nearly to the sea. Pits
of the same kind are seen in Italy, on the mountain through which
theEmissarium1 penetrates at the lake Fucinus, in the country of the
Marsi. Whether the Boeotian plains were inundated by the deluge
of Ogyges and Deucalion, or whether Hercules2 produced that effect
by blocking up the chasms, and thus turning the Cephissos into the
lake, is matter of uncertain conjecture. Polyoenus3 mentions one
chasm that was closed by Hercules, but afterwards re-opened. Dio-
dorus4 says, that Hercules obstructed the river which flowed by Or-
chomenos, and inundated the plain. Plutarch5 relates, that the lake
overflowed the year6 before the defeat of the Thebans, at Koroneia,
by Agesilaus ; the waters reaching to Haliartos. These natural out-
lets occur in several parts of Greece, and other countries which
abound in lakes and mountains; but they are found principally in
calcareous rocks. I have never seen any except artificial emissaries
in volcanic soils.
The lakes of Stymphalos and Pheneos, in Arcadia, have their
katabathra. The lake of Joannina, in Epiros, has also two natural
outlets. The Psophis and the Erymanthos, in Arcadia, issue from
subterraneous abysses. The Alpheios and the Eurotas enter the
1 Cicero, b. 16. Epist. ad Tiron. Vitruv. b. 8. c. 7- Suetonius in Claud, c. 20.
2 Diodorus Siculus says, that Hercules checked the course of the river at Orchomenos, and
inundated the plain, because the Minyans had enslaved the Thebans, b. 4. c. 18.
3 Stratag. b. 1. c. 5. * ]}_ 4 c ^g. s De Genio Socrat.
6 Three hundred and ninety-five years before Christ.