nEPIXTEPA I43 



nEPIITEPA {continued). 

 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. Xevubs 'A^poSiV^y dpi yap ntpi- 

 arepos : 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 KaroiKidioi 

 and the aypiai, fioo-Kades, or vopades, 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 nepia-TepoTpocpelov : 

 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 cmo- 

 nepyj/ov dyyeXXovra tov irepuTTepov. Anacreont. fr. 149, Bergk, iii. p. 305 

 (ed. 4) 'Avanpeav p enepyjsev | rrpos naxda, npos BddvXXov | . . . eya) 5' [epaaplr] 

 neXeia] ' 'Avaxpeovri \ diaKovco roo-avra' | Kai vvv, 6pas } exeivov | enio-roXcis 

 Kopifa. 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 ; c f- Frontin. Strategem. iii. 13, 8. See also Mart. Epigr. 

 viii. 32, &c, &c. 



On Decoy Pigeons, see (int. al.) Ar. Av. 1082 ras nepLarepas & onoicos 

 ^uXXnj3<ui' (Ip^as e'x e£ ) | KanavayKa^ei nakeveiv deBepxvas iv Siktvg) (cf. Schol. 

 tovto ykcoo-o-rjpariKcos irakeveiv eXeyov) ; they were blinded for the purpose, 

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

 i ^anaTooaai Ka\ vnayovo-ai npos iavrd rjyovv evedpevovcrai. 



A Dove-cote, 7repiaTepea>v, Plat. Theaet. 197 C, D, 198 B, 200 B, 

 Galen, Aesop, &c. ; also Trepio-rtpoTpocpe'iov, Varro. On the dove-cotes 

 in Herod's garden at Jerusalem, irvpyoi TrtXeiaScov rjpepav, 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, 



