Note 733 — DAMATER, or CERES.

As in these temples there was always a [733]light, and a fire burning on the hearth, some of the Grecians have varied in their etymology, and have derived the name from πυρ, Pur. Suidas supposes it to have been originally called Πυρος ταμειον. [734]Πρυτανειον, πυρος ταμειον, ενθα ην ασβεστον πυρ. The Scholiast upon Thucydides speaks to the same purpose. [735]Αλλοι δε φασιν, ὁτι το Πρυτανειον πυρος ην ταμειον, ενθα ην ασβεστον πυρ. Others tell us, that the Prutaneion was of old called Puros Tameion, from πυρ, pur: because it was the repository of a perpetual fire. It was sacred to Hestia, the Vesta of the Romans; which was only another title for Damater: and the sacred hearth had the same name. [736]Ἑστιαν δ' αν κυριωτατα καλοιης την εν Πρυτανειῳ, εφ' ἡς το πυρ το ασβεστον αναπτεται. I have mentioned, that these places were temples, and at the same time courts of justice: hence we find, that in the Prutaneion at Athens, the laws of Solon were [737]engraved. These laws were described upon wooden cylinders: some of which remained to the time of [738]Plutarch.