S I C Y O N. 535 
ornaments, and some broken columns of the Ionic CH \p. 
IX. 
order. Hard by the Acropolis may also be seen 
the CAVES before mentioned, as in the vicinity 
of Athens: in all probability they were rather 
the sepulchres 3 than the habitations of the 
earliest inhabitants, although this cannot now 
be ascertained: they are all lined with stucco: 
and Pausanias mentions certain secret recesses 4 
belonging to the Sicyonians, in which particular 
images were kept for their annual processions 
to the Temple of Bacchus beyond the Theatre. 
(3) The Sepulchres of the Sicyonians in the second century consisted 
of a heap of earth, above which stood a stele, resting upon a stone base, 
and surmounted by a species of ornament resembling the pediment of a 
temple ; or that part of the roof which was called " THE EAGLE." ( Vid. 
Pans. Cor. c. 7. p. 126. ed. Kuhn.J The history of the Eagle upon 
the Grecian temples is briefly this. The souls of kings, over whose 
sepulchres temples were originally erected, were believed (a^i~a-fai) to be 
carried to heaven upon eagles' wings. At the ritual of the deification of 
Rjman Emperors, after the funeral ( Vid. Herodian. lib. iv. cap. 3. 
torn. I. p. 180. Argenturati, 1694) it was customary to let an eagle fly 
from the Campus Martiuti and, in allusion to a similar custom, Lycophron 
calls Achilles iir, an eagle, because he carried about Hector's body. 
An eagle, therefore, with expanded wings, was formerly represented 
upon the tympanum of the pediment in all temples ; and, ultimately, this 
part of the edifice itself received the appellation of AETO2, the Eagle. 
Ornaments of the same trilateral shape are often seen surmounting the 
entrances of antient sepulchres, hewn in the rocks of Syria, and of Asia 
Minor. 
(4) "AXX* l\ xya^fttrtt ix 'AnOPPHTil! ?iKVViiif \fri. PauSan. Cor. 
c. 7- p. 127. ed. Kuhnii. 
