PARNASSUS, a mountain of Phocis, near Delphi, with two tops; the one sacred to Apollo, the other sacred to Bacchus. It is thus described by Chandler :—“Parnassus was the western boundary of Phocis, and, stretching northward from about Delphi toward the Oetaean Mountains, separated the western Locri from those who possessed the sea-coast before Euboea. It was a place of refuge to the Delphians in times of danger. In the deluge which happened under Deucalion, the natives were saved on it by following the cry of wolves. On the invasion by Xerxes, some transported their families over to Achaia, but many concealed them in the mountain, and in Corycium, a grotto of the Nymphs. All Parnassus was renowned for sanctity, but Corycium was the most noted among the hallowed caves and places. ‘ On the way to the summit of Parnassus,’ says Pausanias, ‘ as much as sixty stadia beyond Delphi, is a brazen image; and from thence the ascent to Corycium is easier for a man on foot, and for mules and horses. Of all the caves in which I have been, this appeared to me the best worth seeing. On the coasts, and by the sea side, are more than can be numbered; but some are very famous both in Greece and in other countries. The Corycian cave exceeds in magnitude those I have [7:17:92]mentioned, and for the most part may be passed through without a light. It is sufficiently high; and has water, some springing up, and yet more from the roof, which petrifies, so that the bottom of the whole cave is covered with sparry icicles. The inhabitants of Parnassus esteem it sacred to the Corycian nymphs, and particularly to Pan. From the cave to reach the summits of the mountain is difficult even to a man on foot. The summits are above the clouds, and the women called Thyades madden on them in the rites of Bacchus and Apollo.’ Their frantic orgies were performed yearly. Wheler and his company ascended Parnassus from Delphi, some on horses, by a track between the stadium and the clefts of the mountain. Stairs were cut in the rock, with a strait channel, perhaps a "water-duct. In a long hour, after many traverses, they gained the top, and entering a plain, turned to the right, towards the summits of Castalia, which are divided by deep precipices. From this eminence they had a fine prospect of the Gulf of Corinth, and of the coast; Mount Cirphis appearing beneath them as a plain, bounded on the east by the bay of Asprospitia, and on the west by that of Salona. A few shepherds had huts there. They returned to the way which they had quitted, and crossed a hill covered with pines and snow. On their left was a lake, and beyond it a peak, exceedingly high, white with snow. They travelled to the foot of it through a valley four or five miles in compass, and rested by a plentiful fountain called Drosonigo, the stream boiling up a foot in diameter, and nearly as much above the surface of the ground. It runs into the lake, which is about a quarter of a mile distant to the south-east. They did not discover Corycium, or proceed farther on, but keeping the lake on their right, came again to the brink of the mountain, and descended by a deep and dangerous track to Racovi, a village four or five miles eastward from Delphi. It was the opinion of Wheler, that no mountain in Greece was higher than Parnassus; that it was not inferior to Mont Cenis amongst the Alps; and that, if detached, it would be seen at a greater distance than even Mount Athos. The summits are perpetually increasing, every new fall of snow adding to the perennial heap, whilst the sun has power only to thaw the superficies. Castalis, Pleistus, and innumerable springs are fed, some invisibly, from the lakes and reservoirs, which, without these drains and subterraneous vents, would swell, especially after heavy rains and the melting of snow, so as to fill the valleys, and run over the tops of the rocks down upon Delphi, spreading wide an inundation, similar, as has been surmised, to the Deucalio-nian deluge.”