632 
PARNASSUS. 
earth to the roots, planted in pots filled with pretty-ftrong 
frefh undunged earth, and placed in a fhady fituation, 
where, if they are conftantly watered in dry weather, 
they will thrive very well, and flower every fummer; 
but, if planted in the full ground, it fhould be in a very 
moift fhady border, otherwife they will not live; and 
thefe fliould be as duly watered as thofe in the pots in 
dry weather, to make them produce ftrong flowers. They 
may be propagated by parting their roots, which fliould 
be done in March, before they put out new leaves; but 
the roots fliould not be divided too final], for that will pre¬ 
vent their flowering the following fummer. Thefe roots 
fliould always be planted in pretty ftrong frefh earth, for 
they will not thrive in a light rich foil. In the fpring 
they mult be conftantly watered, if the feafon fhould 
prove dry, otherwife they will not flower ; nor fhould 
they be parted oftener than every third year, to have them 
ftrong. 
PARNAS'SIAN, adj. [from Parnaffus.] Belonging to 
mount Parnaffus. 
PARNAS'SIDES, f. [from Parnaffus.'] The Mufes. 
PARNAS'SUS, in ancient geography and mythology, 
a mountain of Greece, in the Phocide, confecrated by 
the poets to the Mufes, thence called Parnaffides, and to 
A.pollo and Bacchus. It was fituated to the fouth-eaft: of 
the Crilfean gulf, and north-weft of the river Cephinus ; 
near Delphos, and the mounts Cithseron and Helicon. 
It had two tops (Ovid, Lucan); the one called Cirrlia, 
facred to Apollo ; and the other Nija, facred to Bacchus 
(Juvenal). It was covered with bay-trees (Virgil); and 
was originally called Larnaffus, from Deucalion’s larnax , 
or ark, thither conveyed by the flood (Stephanus on 
Apollonius) ; but after the flood Parnaffus, from Har 
Nahas, changing the h into p, the Hill of Divination or 
Augury (Peucerus) ; the oracle of Delphos Handing at 
its foot. 
Chandler, who vifited it about the middle of the lafl 
century, defcribes it as follows: Parnaffus was the weftern 
boundary of Phocis ; and, ftretching northward from 
about Delphi towards the Oetaean mountains, feparated 
the weftern Locri from thofe who poffeffed the fea-coaft 
before Eubcea. It was a place of refuge to the Delphians 
in times of danger. In the deluge which happened 
under Deucalion, the natives were faved on it by follow¬ 
ing the cry of wolves. On the invafion by Xerxes, fovne 
tranfported their families over to Achaia ; but many con¬ 
cealed themfelves in the mountain, and in Corycium, a 
grotto of the Nymphs. All Parnaffus was renowned for 
fanftity, but Corycium was the moft noted among the 
hallowed caves and places. “ On the way to the fuinmit 
of Parnaffus,” fays Paufanias, “as much as fixty ftadia 
beyond Delphi, is a brazen image; and from thence the 
afcent to Corycium is eafier for a man on foot, and for 
mules and horfes. Of all the caves in which I have been, 
this appeared to me the bell: worth feeing. On the coafts, 
and by the fea-fide, are more than can be numbered ; but 
fome are very famous both in Greece and in other coun¬ 
tries. The Corycian cave exceeds in magnitude thofe I 
have mentioned, and for the moft part may be paffed 
through without a light. It is fufficiently high : and 
has water, fome fpringing up, and yet more from the 
roof, which petrifies ; fb that the bottom of the whole 
cave is covered with fparry icicles. The inhabitants of 
Parnaffus efteem it facred to the Corycian Nymphs, and 
particularly to Pan. From the cave to reach the fummits 
of the mountain is difficult even to a man on foot. The 
fummits are above the clouds; and tirewomen called 
Thyades madden on them in the rites of Bacchus and 
Apollo.” Their frantic orgies were performed yearly. 
Whelerand his company afcended Parnaffus from Delphi, 
fome on horfes, by a track between the ftadium and the 
clefts of the mountain. Stairs were cut in the rock, 
with a ftrait channel, perhaps a water-dufl. In a long 
hour, after many traverfes, they gained the top; and, en¬ 
tering a plain, turned to the right towards the fummits 
of.Caftalia, which are divided by deep precipices. From 
this eminence they had a fine profpedt of the gulf of 
Corinth, and of the coaft; Mount Cirphis appearing 
beneath them as a plain, bounded on the eaft by the bay 
of Afprofpitia, and on the weft by that of Salona. A few 
fhepherds had huts there. They returned to the way 
which they had quitted, and crofted a hill covered with 
pines and fnow. On their left was a lake, and beyond 
it a peak, exceedingly high, white with fnow. They 
travelled to the foot of it through a valley, four or five 
miles in compafs; and refted by a plentiful fountain cal¬ 
led Drofonigo, the ftream boiling up a foot in diameter, 
and nearly as much above the furface of the ground. It 
runs into the lake, which is about a quarter of a mile 
diftant to the fouth-eaft. They did not difcover Cory¬ 
cium, or proceed farther on ; but, keeping the lake on 
the right, came again to the brink of the mountain, and 
defcended by a deep and dangerous track to Racovi, a 
village four or five miles eaftward from Delphi. It was 
the opinion of Wheler, that no mountain in Greece was 
higher than Parnaffus; that it was not inferior to mount 
Cenis among the Alps; and that, if detached, it would 
be feen at a greater diftance than even Mount Athos. 
The fummits are perpetually increafing, every new fall 
of fnow adding to the perennial heap, while the fun has 
only power to thaw the fuperficies. Caftnlis Pleiftus and 
innumerable fprings are fed, fome invifibly, from the 
lakes and refervoirs, which, without thefe drains and 
fubterraneous vents, would fwell, efpecially after heavy 
rain and the melting of fnowq fo as to fill the valleys, 
and run over the tops of the rocks down upon Delphi, 
fpreading wide an inundation, fimilar, as has been fur- 
mifed, to the Deucalonian deluge. Chandler's Travels 
in Greece, 4to. 1776. 
More recently this claflical fpot has been deferibed by 
that aftive and enterprifing traveller Mr. Galt.—“We 
left Livadia after breakfaft; and, in the courfe of the 
afternoon, arrived at Caftri, the ancient Delphi. Out¬ 
ride, for nearly half the way, was through a valley, wild, 
romantic, and magnificent, till we reached Rakova, and 
its fertile environs of cotton-fields and vineyards. From 
Rakova to Caftri, the road, afeending and defeefiding, 
affords, at every turning, the fineft views imaginable of 
favage feenery. Confidering the impreflions which the 
appearance of nature makes here, we could not but affent 
to the propriety of the ancients in regarding Parnaffus as 
the peculiar region of the Mufes. 
“ The ruins of Delphi confift of mutilated inferiptions, 
extenfive terraces, and a few fragments of pillars. It 
feems no longer poflible to difcover the feite of the great 
Temple of Apollo. It was, probably, where there is 
now a fmall monaftery, in the midft of an olive-grove. 
In that neighbourhood the niches in the rocks, for vo¬ 
tive offerings, are moft numerous. It was alfo generaily 
the cuftom, after the eftablilhment of Chriftianity, to ap¬ 
propriate the old confecrated ground to the fervice of the 
new religion. The Caftalian fpring ftill flows; and we 
enjoyed a draught, but without any effectual infpiration. 
A fquare bafon, excavated in the rock from which it 
iffues, is ftill almoft entire. Two wild fig-trees overhang 
the fource, and a drapery of ivy falls over a niche, aryl 
partly conceals a fmall chapel conftrufted in a hollow of 
the precipice. In a chafm above the fpring, the traces 
of the flairs remain, by which the priefts performed their 
pantomimes, to overawe the pilgrim as he knelt at the 
fountain to drink. 
“ The feenery round Caftri is folemn and grand. The 
village is overhung by lofty grey precipices ; a reclufe 
valley is feen, verdant and rural, far in the hollow be¬ 
low ; and the weftern profpeft, diverfified by the gulf 
of Salona, comprehends a long remote range of the moun¬ 
tains of the Morea. When we had reached the bottom 
of the valley, the fun was on the edge of the horizon ; 
and the effeft of his flanting light on the alpine features 
of Parnaffus produced an awful and ftupendous effeft. 
The 
