Note 422 — TAPH, TUPH, TAPHOS.

Near mount Cyllene in Arcadia was the sacred Taphos of [422]Æputus, who was supposed to have been stung by a serpent. Æputus was the same as Iapetus, the father of mankind. In the Dionusiaca the priests used to be crowned with serpents; and in their frantic exclamations to cry out [423]Eva, Eva; and sometimes Evan, Evan: all which related to some history of a serpent. Apollo, who is supposed by most to have been victor in his conflict with the Pytho, is by Porphyry said to have been slain by that serpent: Pythagoras affirmed, that he saw his tomb at Tripos in [424]Delphi; and wrote there an epitaph to his honour. The name of Tripos is said to have been given to the place, because the daughters of Triopus used to lament there the fate of Apollo. But Apollo and the Python were the same; and Tripus, or Triopus, the supposed father of these humane sisters, was a variation for Tor-Opus, the serpent-hill, or temple; where neither Apollo, nor the Python were slain, but where they were both worshipped, being one and the same Deity. [425]Πυθοι μεν ουν ὁ Δρακων ὁ Πυθιος θρησκευεται, και του Οφεως ἡ πανηγυρις καταγγελλεται Πυθια. At Python (the same as Delphi) the Pythian Dragon is worshipped; and the celebrity of the serpent is styled Pythian. The daughters of Triopus were the priestesses of the temple; whose business it was to chant hymns in memory of the serpent: and what is very remarkable, the festival was originally observed upon the seventh [426]day.