DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0086
76
inhabitants of some of the smaller British islands; I where the
Women, crowned with hoy, celebrated his clamorous nocturnal rites
upon the shores of the Northern Ocean, in the same manner as the
Thracians did upon the banks of the Apsinthus, or the Indians
upon those of the Ganges.1 In Stukeley's Itinerary is the ground
plan of an ancient Celtic or Scandinavian temple, found in Zealand,
consisting of a circle of rude stones within a square : and it is pro-
bable that many others of these circles were originally enclosed in
square areas. Stonehenge is the most important monument of this
kind now extant; and from a passage of Hecataeus, preserved by
Diodorus Siculus, it seems to have been not wholly unknown to
that ancient historian; who might have collected some vague ac-
counts of the British islands from the Phoenician and Carthaginian
merchants, who traded there for tin. " The Hyperboreans," said
he, " inhabit an island beyond Gaul, in which Apollo is wor-
shipped in a circular temple considerable for its size and riches"
This island can be no other than Britain; in which we know of no
traces of any other circular temple, which could have appeared consi-
derable to a Greek or Phoenician of that age. That the account
should be imperfect and obscure is not surprising; since even the
most inquisitive and credulous travellers among the Greeks could
scarcely obtain sufficient information concerning the British islands
to satisfy them of their existence.3 A temple of the same form was
situated upon Mount Zilmissus in Thrace, and dedicated to the
1 AyX' Se v7](riadwi> erepos iropos, cvda yvvaiKts
AvSptav aVTiirapyjdev ayavwv ajAviTOAOv
Opvvpevai TeAeoutTi Kara vop.ov Upa BaKX<t>,
2T6i^a^efat Kitrtroio fie\afj.<pvh\oio Kopvpfioi;,
EwwX""' mrayris 5e MyvBpaos opvincu 7JXV- <£• T, A.
V. 570.
What islands are meant is uncertain; but probably the Hebrides or
Orcades.
1 'Etcarcuos Kat rives erepoi <pafftv, ev rois avriirepav ttjs Ke\riK7]s tottois Kara toi*
niceavov eirai vt\aov ovk €A«tto> tjjs SiKeAias--vxapxtw 5e Kara ti\v vi\aov
T(p.evos t6 A7roAAa>xos lue7aAo7rpeJrej, Kal vaov 0I10A0701' ava.QrHia'Ji tuAAois KE/toff/nj/ieiw
(TcpaipoetSi) tif Diodor. Sic. lib. ii. c. xiii. The whole passage is ex-
tremely curious.
3 Owe vtpms cu5a K«£rrjTfpi5«s tovtras, (Krern/S Kaaairtpos fii»v <pofT«. Herodot. lib.
iii. 115.
inhabitants of some of the smaller British islands; I where the
Women, crowned with hoy, celebrated his clamorous nocturnal rites
upon the shores of the Northern Ocean, in the same manner as the
Thracians did upon the banks of the Apsinthus, or the Indians
upon those of the Ganges.1 In Stukeley's Itinerary is the ground
plan of an ancient Celtic or Scandinavian temple, found in Zealand,
consisting of a circle of rude stones within a square : and it is pro-
bable that many others of these circles were originally enclosed in
square areas. Stonehenge is the most important monument of this
kind now extant; and from a passage of Hecataeus, preserved by
Diodorus Siculus, it seems to have been not wholly unknown to
that ancient historian; who might have collected some vague ac-
counts of the British islands from the Phoenician and Carthaginian
merchants, who traded there for tin. " The Hyperboreans," said
he, " inhabit an island beyond Gaul, in which Apollo is wor-
shipped in a circular temple considerable for its size and riches"
This island can be no other than Britain; in which we know of no
traces of any other circular temple, which could have appeared consi-
derable to a Greek or Phoenician of that age. That the account
should be imperfect and obscure is not surprising; since even the
most inquisitive and credulous travellers among the Greeks could
scarcely obtain sufficient information concerning the British islands
to satisfy them of their existence.3 A temple of the same form was
situated upon Mount Zilmissus in Thrace, and dedicated to the
1 AyX' Se v7](riadwi> erepos iropos, cvda yvvaiKts
AvSptav aVTiirapyjdev ayavwv ajAviTOAOv
Opvvpevai TeAeoutTi Kara vop.ov Upa BaKX<t>,
2T6i^a^efat Kitrtroio fie\afj.<pvh\oio Kopvpfioi;,
EwwX""' mrayris 5e MyvBpaos opvincu 7JXV- <£• T, A.
V. 570.
What islands are meant is uncertain; but probably the Hebrides or
Orcades.
1 'Etcarcuos Kat rives erepoi <pafftv, ev rois avriirepav ttjs Ke\riK7]s tottois Kara toi*
niceavov eirai vt\aov ovk €A«tto> tjjs SiKeAias--vxapxtw 5e Kara ti\v vi\aov
T(p.evos t6 A7roAAa>xos lue7aAo7rpeJrej, Kal vaov 0I10A0701' ava.QrHia'Ji tuAAois KE/toff/nj/ieiw
(TcpaipoetSi) tif Diodor. Sic. lib. ii. c. xiii. The whole passage is ex-
tremely curious.
3 Owe vtpms cu5a K«£rrjTfpi5«s tovtras, (Krern/S Kaaairtpos fii»v <pofT«. Herodot. lib.
iii. 115.