[ 26 ] 



in Greece ; and, as one of thefe only is mentioned as an Idot^ 

 I fliould, if I may be allowed to hazard a conjecture, which I 

 defire may be received merely as fuch, be inclined to think 

 that the worflilp of any thing in the human form was yet 

 novel * and unufual in that half-civilized region. It may 



indeed 



I rtiould be tempted to fuppofe that whatever idols of this kind exirted in Greece were of 

 foreign workmanlhip, and had been brought thither from Afia, and particularly from Egypt. 

 That in the earlier ages, long antecedent to the Trojan war, fculpture was unknown in Greece, 

 has already been made probable, from the fort of idols then in ufe, and we (hall find in the 

 next note the Egyptian Danaus, who probably had neglefted to bring with him any idol from his 

 native country, compelled to content himfelf with confecrating, as a fymbol of Minerva, in her 

 temple at Mindus, a rough block of wood. 



* I muft not however conceal that there are ancient authorities, not only for the exiftence 

 of ftatues during the age of the Trojan war and even previous to it, but for fuch rtatues having 

 been ufed as idols. Paufanias, Achaica, p. 531. cites a tradition, which however he only 

 mentions as fuch, that the temple of Juno at Samos was built by the Argonauts, and that the 

 flatue, TO xytt>.i^a, of that goddefs was by them tranfported thither from Argos. His own opi- 

 nion however is, that this temple mull have been extremely ancient, as the image therein con- 

 tained is the work of Smilis of Egina, who was contemporary with Dsedalus, though lefs 

 illuftrious — He then proceeds to fpeak of Da;dalus the Athenian, generally accounted the moft 

 ancient of ftatuaries, who executed, fays he, Aya^f<a^a, which here mud mean carved worit, 

 for Minos and for his daughters, as Homer Informs us in the Il'uid. The palfjge of Homer here 

 alluded to is in the defcription of the laft compartment of the (hield of Achilles, where the 

 dance is reprefented, Lib. xviii. V. 590. The lines are as follow : 



1u IkeXoj', may ttot in Kvuaau Ivfeivi . 



ii«(o«Aoj vjaKrtffiv xaXXi7rAo«a^w Afiactri, 



This Daedalus is fup pofed to haye flourifhed in the time of Hercules and Thefeus, forty yearj 

 before the Trojan war j but modern fagacity has difcovered that the ancients were erroneous ia 

 afcribing ftatues to him, an error into which they have been led by confounding this very ancient 

 perfonage with Daedalus of Sicyon, who was indeed a ftatuary, but who lived many ages after 

 his namefake of Athens. This affertion of the moderns againft the ancients, and particularly 

 againft Paufanias backed by Homer, whofe meaning he probably underftood, may poflibly be 



true. 



