Note (return) — THE TEMPLE ON THE ACROPOLIS BURNT BY THE PERSIANS.

According to Dr. Dörpfeld it was opposite this Pythium that the Panathenaic ship came to rest. 124 In Ion, 285, Euripides makes it clear that, from the wall near the Pythium, the watchers looked toward Harma for that lightning which was the signal for the sending of the offering to Delphi. This passage would have no meaning if referred to lightning to be seen by looking toward Harma from any position near the existing Olympieum; for the rocks referred to by Euripides are to the northwest, and so could not be visible from the later Pythium. To be sure, in later times the official title of the Apollo of the cave seems to have been υπ' ακραίω or εν ακραις, but this was only after such a distinction became necessary from the increased number of Apollo precincts in the city. The inscriptions referring to the cave in this manner are without exception of Roman date. 125 From Strabo we learn 126 that the watch looked "toward Harma" from an altar to Zeus Astrapæus on the wall between the Pythium and the Olympieum. This wall has always been a source of trouble to those who place the Pythium in question near the present Olympieum. But this difficulty vanishes if we accept the authority of Euripides, for the altar of Zeus Astrapæus becomes located on the northwest wall of the Acropolis; and from this lofty position above the Pythium, with an unobstructed view of the whole northern horizon, it is most natural to expect to see these flashes from Harma.