The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-25
THE TEwPLE on EGTNA.
was It the Sanctuary Of Athena Or Aphna'
a Cretan NYmDh2

NA"h"
To THE EDITOR OF The SUN-Sir: read
with interest Mr.. RobinsOn's review OF Furt-
wanRler's "EEina' in yesterdays sun. but IL
seems to me that the arguments advanced
In support of the new hypothesis relative TO
the identity Of the goddess to whom the tenn
pie was sacred are open TO serious objections
and do not appear at all convincing.
Previously the temple had been assigned
to the goddess Athena on the ground that
she was represented a. the principal figure
among the sculptured groups remaining.
and on the authority Of q passage In Herod-
Otus where we find that the h,ginetans, to
celebrate a naval victory gained over certain
Samian settlers In Crete. caused the prows
OF the captured ships to be placed In. the
temple OF Athens. In Egina. To destroy
the credit OF this passage. however. we are
told that las long ago as IssS Hermann
Schultz advanced the opinion that Athena
should be read 'Aphaa,' and that the emple
was sacred to this CTetan nymph. heroine
OF an obscure legend. whose identity was
sometimes lost In that Of Diana. Witness the
following from Solinus: "Cretes Dianam
religlosissime venerantur. Britomarten gem
filter nominantes. quOd sermOne nostro sOnat
virginem dulcem."
In further support OF the new claimant
reference Is made to certain inscriptions I'M
earthed during the recent excavations, ia which
the name Aphsa il Incorporated: to a pas
sage In Pausanias, who mentions a shrine to
Aphea "on the way TO the mountain OF Zeus
Panhellenios. and to the fact that the temple
was ello we'd TO fall into disuse after the Athen-
ian conquest. which would not have been the
case. II Ia claimed. had IL been sacred to the
worship Of Athena
These arguments are uncOnvinoing. Greater
Importance must be attached to the presence
OF sculptured figures than to inscriptions
such as were found amid the ruins OF this
ancient temple. "a we know IL Is not uncom-
mon 10 find in temples objects foreign TO their
immediate use, either placed there by the
worshippers. as was the case with the ships'
prows in the passage OF Herodotus. or con-
veyed there by some accident during the
passing of centuries. Returning to the
literary evidence in the case. there would
appear TO be as much reason TO suspect the
passage in Pausanias az that in Herodotus.
for the latter speaks OF this goddess but once
and then under her Cretan appellation OF
Dictynna, which the most careless tran
scriber would hardly mistake for Athena.
Even allowing the text OF Pausanias to be
uncorrupt, il Ia by no means certain that the
shrine to AphRa "on the way to the mountain
of Zeus Panhellenios" Ia identical with the
ruins under discussion. as We shall see by
examining the geographical position Of the
two points. The island OF Rgina nearly
resembles an equilateral triangle, with an
apex toward the south. In which are located
the mountain and temple of Zeus Panhellenios
in the extreme northeast corner are situated
the ruins Of our temple. the harbor and sea-
port being south of and near the opposite
angle. With this in mind IL seems very i'm
probable that the ancient traveller in writing
Of a shrine on the way TO the mountain" &c.
should have referred to ruins in the northeast
corner Of the island and consequently entirely
outside of any rational route toward the
south.
That the temple was allO wed TO fall into
decline after the Athenian conquest proves
nothing but the implacable hatred of the con-
auerors. whose ancient grudge, dating from
the time when the islanders sent submits
sions to Darius. seems to have been satisfied
with nothing short of the destruction of the
conquered. although it would seem that
recollections of the services the latter rem
dered at Sslamis should have interviewed to
mitigate their revenge. j. l.. ELDRID0E.
RENSSELAER,. October %.