Note 891 — OMPHI,

Cyrus, in his expedition against the Medes, is represented as making vows [891]Ἑστιᾳ Πατρῳᾳ, και Διι Πατρῳῳ, και τοις αλλοις Θεοις. But the Persians, from whom this history is presumed to be borrowed, could not mean by these terms Dii Patrii: for nothing could be more unnecessary than to say of a Persic prince, that the homage, which he payed, was to Persic Deities. It is a thing of course, and to be taken for granted, unless there be particular evidence to the contrary. His vows were made to Mithras, who was styled by the nations in the east Pator; his temples were Patra, and Petra, and his festivals Patrica. Nonnus gives a proper account of the Petra, when he represents it as Omphean, or oracular: