DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5179#0274
23G TEMPLE OF DIANA.
Temple remaining without a roof, Avho would have
ventured to place deposits in an exposed place?
.... And after the refusal of Alexander's offer,
it is not to be supposed that they would have con-
sented to build the Temple with the sacrilegious
pillage of deposits."1 But we have no proof, and
indeed no reason to suppose that there were no
deposits in the Temple at this period, for the Temple
bad hitherto been universally respected; Croesus
had contributed to its treasures, and Xerxes spared
it alone,3 Avitb the temple at Delos, out of all the
temples of Greece ; and the next sentence evidently
shows that Strabo is speaking without a knowledge
of the facts, when he says :—•" That if there had
been (deposits) they would have been consumed in
the fire;" for it is evident, that as the deposits
would all be in the precious metals, they would be
merely melted, and not destroyed : besides, as there
were always priests living within the peribolus, if
not within the naos of the Temple,3 they must have
been able to rescue some of the objects deposited
in the Temple ; and we know that they so rescued
the statue of Diana, for we are told by St. Luke
1 Strabo, p. 640.
2 Id. p. 034. Perhaps because the Sun and Moon were
Persian divinities. " The Persian Diana was much worshipped by
those beyond the Euphrates."—(Pint. Local. 24.) Solinua says he
spared it only on account of its magnificence. — (Edit, of 149S,
caput li.; edit, of 1G4G, caput xliii.)
3 See Pans. ii. 17, where is is stated that the Temple of Juno at
Eubcea was burnt through the priest falling asleep.
Temple remaining without a roof, Avho would have
ventured to place deposits in an exposed place?
.... And after the refusal of Alexander's offer,
it is not to be supposed that they would have con-
sented to build the Temple with the sacrilegious
pillage of deposits."1 But we have no proof, and
indeed no reason to suppose that there were no
deposits in the Temple at this period, for the Temple
bad hitherto been universally respected; Croesus
had contributed to its treasures, and Xerxes spared
it alone,3 Avitb the temple at Delos, out of all the
temples of Greece ; and the next sentence evidently
shows that Strabo is speaking without a knowledge
of the facts, when he says :—•" That if there had
been (deposits) they would have been consumed in
the fire;" for it is evident, that as the deposits
would all be in the precious metals, they would be
merely melted, and not destroyed : besides, as there
were always priests living within the peribolus, if
not within the naos of the Temple,3 they must have
been able to rescue some of the objects deposited
in the Temple ; and we know that they so rescued
the statue of Diana, for we are told by St. Luke
1 Strabo, p. 640.
2 Id. p. 034. Perhaps because the Sun and Moon were
Persian divinities. " The Persian Diana was much worshipped by
those beyond the Euphrates."—(Pint. Local. 24.) Solinua says he
spared it only on account of its magnificence. — (Edit, of 149S,
caput li.; edit, of 1G4G, caput xliii.)
3 See Pans. ii. 17, where is is stated that the Temple of Juno at
Eubcea was burnt through the priest falling asleep.