JOURNEY TO MOUNT HELICON. 113 
with a lance or spear, standing by a horse, chap. 
III. 
Thence turning- towards the left, we crossed a i . -' ^ 
river which runs from Helicox into the plain, 
and saw the shaft of a column lying in the chan- 
nel of it. We then ascended gradually towards 
the side of Helicon, now called Zagara, and 
came to the village of Neocorio, considered by vniage of 
fVheler as antiently Thespia : it is distant one ^'^<'"'*'''- 
hour, or three miles, from Leuctra. There 
are so many ruins at the foot of Helicon, 
that we could not confirm the observations of 
TVheler as to the exact situation of Thespia. 
The ruins at Phria have perhaps more pretension 
to the name of Thespia than the village called 
Neocorio, where there is not a trace even of the 
broken pottery which is always found upon the 
site of antient cities, nor of any antiquity what- 
soever'. At a short distance from Neocorio, in 
our way thither, upon our right, we thought we 
had found the situation of Thespia, by the Doubts 
P • ■, -, 11 respecting 
quantity oi ruins we there observed: but its thesuppos- 
.... . , ed situation 
position is by no means certain; nor have we ofXHESPiA. 
since been satisfied with what other travellers, 
whom we consulted, have said upon the subject. 
(3) The very name of the place is against the notion of its having 
ever been an antient city. Neocorio signifies New-town ; in opposition to 
Pal(Bo-corio, and Palao-castro, names generally applied to places where 
there are ruins. 
VOL. VII. T 
