HEPIITEPA 143 



riEPIITEPA {conlimied). 

 pigeons were not honoured in Persia, being deemed hostile to the Sun, 

 Herod, i. 138; the white doves had probably been the property of 

 Phoenician, Cilician, or Cypriote sailors (Hehn). On white pigeons, 

 cf. also Alexid. 3, 481, ap. Athen. I.e. \evKos ^A(})po8lTT]s flixi yap Trepi- 

 orepo? : see also Varro, De R. R. iii. 7, Ovid, F. i. 452, Ep. 

 XV. 37, Met. ii. 537, xiii. 674, xv. 715, Martial, &c. The white 

 pigeons were apparently the sacred race of Babylon, which after- 

 wards spread to Syria and to Europe : cf. Hehn, Culturpfl. p. 279, 

 Engl. ed. p. 258 ; they are still numerous in Damascus (cf. Thomson, 

 Land and Book, p. 271). Galen distinguishes between the KaToiKiSioi 

 and the aypiai, ^oaKc'idis, or vopadts, De Comp. Medic, ii. 10 (xiii. p. 514, 

 ed. Kiihn), cf. De Simpl. Med. Temp. x. 25 (xii. p. 302) ; for the latter, 

 dove-cotes were built in the fields near Pergamus. Varro, De R. R. 

 iii. 7 gives a similar account : agrestes maxime sequuntur turres, in 

 quas ex agro evolant, suapte sponte, et remeant. Alterum genus illud 

 columbarum est clementius, quod cibo domestico contentum intra 

 limina ianuae solet pasci. Hoc genus maxime est colore albo. There 

 is also a mixed breed, genus miscellum, reared in the Trepi(TT€poTpo(pe'iop : 

 cf. Ovid, Heroid. xv. 37 et variis albae iunguntur saepe columbae. 

 See also on the care of domesticated and half-domesticated pigeons, 

 Colum. De R. R. viii, 8, Pallad. i. 24, Geopon. xx. 



Homing or Carrier-Pigeons. — Pherecr. fr., ap. Athen. ix. 395 b dno- 

 irep'^ov ayyiXkovra top jreptorepoV. Anacreont. fr. 149, Bergk, iii. p. 305 

 (ed. 4) ^AvaKpfcov fJL '4tTfp.y\r€V \ npos Traida, irpos BddvWov | . • > eyoj 8' [^epaapir] 

 neXfia] 'AvaKpeovTi | diaKovo) Toaavrn' \ koi vvv, opas, eKeivov \ inKTroXas 

 KopiCco. A message sent from Pisa to Aegina, by Taurosthenes, 

 a victor in the Olympian games, to his father, Ael. V. H. ix. 2. Cf. 

 Varro, De R. R. iii. 7, 7 columbas redire solere ad locum licet anim- 

 advertere, quod multi in theatro e sinu missas faciunt. Pigeons sent 

 into the Consuls' camp by Dec. Brutus at the siege of Mutina, Plin. x. 

 (53) 37 '1 cf. Frontin. Strategem. iii. 13, 8. See also Mart. Epigr. 

 viii. 32, &c., &c. 



On Decoy Pigeons, see (int. al.) Ar. Av. I082 rds Trepttn-epay 6' oiJ-oius 

 ^vWn(3cbv eip^as ex^h I KanavayKa^ei TraXevfiv ^edepevai iv Biktvco (cf. Schol. 

 TovTo yXcoa-arjpnTiKcbs iraXeveiv eXeyov) ; they were blinded for the purpose, 

 Arist. H. A. ix. 7, 613. Cf. Hesych. Xeyovrai yap naXevrpiai avrai al 

 i^aTvaraxxai Ka\ VTvayovcrni. npos iavra rjyovv (veSptvovaai. 



A Dove-cote, nepiarepeuv, Plat. Theaet. 197 C, D, 198 B, 200 B, 

 Galen, Aesop, &c. ; also ■n-epi(TTepoTpo(pe''iov, Varro. On the dove-cotes 

 in Herod's garden at Jerusalem, irvpyoi TreXeidSwv ijpipuv, Joseph. De 

 Bell. Jud. V. 4, 4. Great dove-cotes are still conspicuous objects in many 

 parts of the East ; they are very numerous and large, for instance, in 

 Tenos, the modern site of the Panhellenic shrine and festival (cf. Bent, 



