DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0328
296 RUINS OF SICYON.
which the fine arts had attained the highest pitch of excellence
and perfection, their coinage was of the most negligent and inele-
gant kind. The same was the case with Corinth and Argos, of
which cities very few coins of fine style have been found. On
the other hand, Epiros, Acarnania, the Locri Opuntii, and several
places in Arcadia, as Basilis, Stymphalos, and Pheneos, which
appear never to have been particularly famed for the knowledge of
the fine arts, produced medals of the grandest style, and in the most
refined taste. The principal exiQqpM of Sicyon, and that which is
generally seen on the coins of that place, was the dove. The chi-
maera is also very frequently represented upon the money of Sicyon.
Some pieces have the head of Apollo, allusive to the particular
worship which was there paid to that divinity. The lion, the dol-
phin, the tripod, and caduceus, are also seen upon their coins.
The soil, which is of a white colour, between Corinth and Sicyon,
assumes a dark hue near the latter place. It is extremely fertile;
but the village of Basilika is small and miserable. Its inhabitants
are Greeks, Mho are the most obliging people I have met with,
but they are merged in the lowest depths of ignorance. They
thought me perfectly mad for purchasing their antiquities, and
seemed to pity my folly. After they had sold me all their coins,
they went into the fields to pick up cows horns, horses hoofs, and
bits of bone, which they offered to me as antiques.
From Sicyon I took a general view, comprising the gulf, with the
opposite coast of Phocis and Bceotia; from which the mountains
of Kirphis, Parnassos, Helicon, and Cithseron, rise in conspicuous
majesty. The isthmus also, and the Acrocorinthos, are clearly
distinguished. It would appear as if Plutarch had never been at
Sicyon, and did not reflect how near it is to Corinth; for he men-
tions, as a wonderful circumstance, that, when the Sicyonians set
fire to their tyrant's palace, the conflagration was so vast, that it
was visible from Corinth.1 These two places, however, arc not
1 Life of Arafos.
which the fine arts had attained the highest pitch of excellence
and perfection, their coinage was of the most negligent and inele-
gant kind. The same was the case with Corinth and Argos, of
which cities very few coins of fine style have been found. On
the other hand, Epiros, Acarnania, the Locri Opuntii, and several
places in Arcadia, as Basilis, Stymphalos, and Pheneos, which
appear never to have been particularly famed for the knowledge of
the fine arts, produced medals of the grandest style, and in the most
refined taste. The principal exiQqpM of Sicyon, and that which is
generally seen on the coins of that place, was the dove. The chi-
maera is also very frequently represented upon the money of Sicyon.
Some pieces have the head of Apollo, allusive to the particular
worship which was there paid to that divinity. The lion, the dol-
phin, the tripod, and caduceus, are also seen upon their coins.
The soil, which is of a white colour, between Corinth and Sicyon,
assumes a dark hue near the latter place. It is extremely fertile;
but the village of Basilika is small and miserable. Its inhabitants
are Greeks, Mho are the most obliging people I have met with,
but they are merged in the lowest depths of ignorance. They
thought me perfectly mad for purchasing their antiquities, and
seemed to pity my folly. After they had sold me all their coins,
they went into the fields to pick up cows horns, horses hoofs, and
bits of bone, which they offered to me as antiques.
From Sicyon I took a general view, comprising the gulf, with the
opposite coast of Phocis and Bceotia; from which the mountains
of Kirphis, Parnassos, Helicon, and Cithseron, rise in conspicuous
majesty. The isthmus also, and the Acrocorinthos, are clearly
distinguished. It would appear as if Plutarch had never been at
Sicyon, and did not reflect how near it is to Corinth; for he men-
tions, as a wonderful circumstance, that, when the Sicyonians set
fire to their tyrant's palace, the conflagration was so vast, that it
was visible from Corinth.1 These two places, however, arc not
1 Life of Arafos.