DISCOVERY 



261 



Oracle was in the more inaccessible parts of the moun- 

 tain and not in the plain, for it was guarded b\- the 

 Satra; and Bessi. wild mountaineers, whose peculiar 

 charge it was. Pangieum was inhabited " principally 

 by the Satrje," he says in a passage already quoted. 

 No remains of a building which can be identified 

 with the Oracle have yet been found on the mountain, 

 which is remarkable for the almost entire absence of 

 signs of ancient habitation. It must be presumed that 

 so savage and primitive a people as the Satrse con- 

 trolled an oracle that was of a simple and elementarv 

 nature. It is generally believed now that the Sat\-rs 

 of ancient mythology, who are the semi-human 

 attendants of Dionvsus, are to be derived by way of 

 legend and art from these wild people of Pangsum. 

 Their name itself seems to be the same. In the same 

 waj^ the ogres of fairy stories are said to originate 

 from some half-forgotten folk-memory of Palaeolithic 

 cave-men, and dwarfs and gnomes from old half- 

 legendary people, as, for instance, the Picts. 



So 'we shall probably not be far wrong in looking 

 for the famous Oracle in some cave on Pangsum. 

 possibly in the cave of Ascetotripo. Nothing to sug- 

 gest the certainty of such an identification was visible 

 in the cave when I saw it, but the accumulations of 

 ages and the constant deposit of calcareous matter 

 had rendered an examination of the soil impossible. 

 The difficulty was increased by the depth and darkness 

 of the cave. Only by excavation will it be possible 

 to find out the purpose of the cave and the traces of 

 its inhabitants. Few caves in Greece are empty of 

 all traces of habitation, and many are sanctuaries. 

 The Dictsean and Kamares caves in Crete and the 

 caves of Pan on H\mettus and Parnes in Attica have 

 all given up a rich store of antiquities to the excavator, 

 and it is not unreasonable to hope for interesting 

 discoveries from this Pangsan cave. 



Of the Bessi, who seem to have been the sacred 

 caste of the worshippers of Dionysus, we know more 

 than of the Satrte. The tribe of Bessi is frequently 

 mentioned throughout history from the time of Hero- 

 dotus to the Christian era. " All these tribes," says 

 Strabo,! speaking of the tribes of Thrace, " are most 

 addicted to brigandage, but the Bessi, who for the most 

 part live in Hsemus [i.e. the northern part of the 

 Balkans], are called brigands even by brigands." It 

 seems to have been a detachment or special caste of 

 these Bessi of Hsemus who served Dionysus on 

 Pangseum away from their northern home. Persian, 

 Greek, and Roman alike left them unsubdued. As 

 each invader came across the plains, the}^ descended 

 from the mountains, attacked his troops and trans- 

 port, and withdrew unbeaten. Only in the Christian 

 era are they said at last to have been led into the 



1 Ch. 318. 



path^of respectability. In the fourth century a.d. 

 Bishop Nikitas of Dacia claims to have converted 

 them : they are made the subject of a poem or con- 

 gratulatory ode written to the bishop bj^ his friend 

 Paulinas - : 



Hard were their lands and hard those Bessi bold. 

 Cold were their snows, their hearts than snow more cold ; 

 Sheep in the fold from roaming now they cease. 

 Thy fold of Peace. 



That the Satrae of Pangseum and the Satyrs of 

 Dionysus are both the true natives of the mountain 

 seems clear. All the beautiful silver coins of the 

 towns and tribes in the immediate vicinity bear as 

 types fantastic sat\-rs in a variety of attitudes and 

 occupations. With them on man\- coins are nymphs, 

 usually in the role of reluctant or protesting captives. 

 There were no nymphs on Pangjeum, and the Sat\Ts, 

 like the savage mountain tribe that they were, raided 

 the villages of the plain. 



Such are the problems that cluster round the sacred 

 mountain of Pangxum. Little has yet been found 

 out and much remains to be done. It is no mere 

 coincidence that Athos, the sacred mountain of 

 Orthodox Christianity, rises to the south in Chalcidice 

 and, towermg higher than Pangaeum, throws a chal- 

 lenge to the most pagan shrine of Paganism. Its 

 status as a republic throughout the Turkish domina- 

 tion and its accessibility to travellers have made it 

 known to the world just as Pangaeum has remained 

 unknown. While Athos has always been a refuge for 

 the oppressed or ascetic Christian, Pangaum has never 

 been more than a refuge for unruly tribesmen and, 

 in more recent times, for brigands and outlaws who 

 wished to escape the tax-collector, the army, and the 

 police of the various races which have from time to 

 time controlled this wild and barren coast. 



The clue to much history lies in these northern 

 provinces. To Athens in the fifth century Thrace and 

 Macedonia meant as much as, and more than, they 

 had been to the adventurers in the si.Kth. Her empire 

 might have been consolidated and her wealth assured 

 if she had concentrated all her efforts towards streng- 

 thening the bonds between herself and the Greek cities 

 of the coast and towards increasing the influence she 

 already possessed with the princes of Thrace and Mace- 

 donia. But she was induced to dissipate her strength 

 in more distant regions, and to abandon any projects 

 she may have formed for development in the north. 



' Translated by J. Harrison in Prolegomena to the Study of 

 Greek Religion, p. 371. There are three more verses. 



The November Discovery will contain articles on — 

 Inflation and Unemplovment, The Fear of Death, The 

 Second Mount Everest Expedition, The British Associa- 

 tion's Meeting, Some Children's Games and Songs in 

 Ancient Greece, etc. 



