MYCENAE. 515 
the superstitions and festivities connected with CHAP. 
VIII. 
the Dionysia came into Greece with Danaus from 
Egypt b . The cities of^4rgolis are, consequently, 
of all places the most likely to retain vestiges . 
of these antient orgies; and the orbicular sym- 
bols consecrated to the Sun, together with 
the pyramidal form of the tablets, the style 
of architecture observable in the walls of 
Mycence, and the magnificent remains of the 
the sepulchres of her kings, all associate with 
our recollections of Egypt, and forcibly direct 
the attention towards that country. That the. 
rites of Apollo at Mycence had reference to the 
worship of the Sun is a circumstance beau- 
tifully and classically alluded to by Sophocles; 
who introduces Electra hailing the holy light 6 , 
and calling the swallow Messenger of THE GoD 7 , 
because, being the herald of the coming spring, 
it was then held sacred, as it now is in that 
country. 
(5) According to Plutarch, the Dionysia were the same with the 
tian Pantylia. T?jv 3s rav nAMTAIflN logrw &yii<rl;, (aftrip i*gnrat) 
oufav, x.r. X. Plut. de hid, el Osir, cap. 36. Fraticof. 1599. 
For the ^Egyptian origin of these festivals, see also Herodot. lib. ii. 
The Orgia, an;! Trietei'ica, came from Thrace, but they were originally 
from JEgypt. See Diod. Sic. vol. I. pp. 239, 248. 
(0) r flipa ay. Sophocl.Ekct. v. 86. p. 186. torn. I. Paris, 1781. 
(7) A*o( iyytXaf. Ibid. V. 149. 
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