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88 ANCIENT GREECE. [CHAP. vir.become rich by means of commerce and industry in thearts, -temples were built by single towns. Beside this, as weshall show more fullyin another place, the luxury of thepublic was connected almost exclusively with these temples,and they were to serve as the measure of the splendour andwealth of the "respectivecities. The building of temples,therefore, became, especially after the Persian wars, andeven a century before them, a matter, in which the honourof the cities was concerned, and their public spiritwas exhibited. In this manner that multitude of temples arose,which still present, in their numerous ruins, master-piecesof architecture. But it was not and could not have been soin the earliest times. The building of a temple was thencommonly a joint undertaking partly because these tem;ples, however they may have been inferior to the later ones/were still too costlyto be erected by the separate communities ;and partly and chiefly because such common ainctuarieswere needed for celebrating the common festivals ofeach tribe.Such a sanctuary formed in some measure a point ofunion. It was an object of common care ; it became necessary to watch over the temple itself, its estates, and itspossessions ;and as this could not be done by the severalcommunities at large,what was more natural, than to deputeenvoys for the purpose ? But in a nation where every thingwas freely developed, and so little was fixed by establishedforms, it coulcl not but happen, that other affairs of generalinterest should occasionally be discussed ;either at the popular festivals, or in the assemblies of the delegates ;andthat is the most probable, as the allies considered themselves,for the most part, as branches of the same nation.Theybecame therefore, the points of political union ;the idea ofa formal alliance was not yet connected with them, butmight be expected from their maturity.We find traces of such Amphictyonic assemblies in Greeceitself, and in the colonies. 2 Their origin, especially in theSK^f1 x *p * 810> says of the temple8j wMch werc BUCC*A catalogue of them, which might perhaps be enlarged, has been given by^ri"?**" a^^^l/i^/s 9 p. 115, etc. We follow him, a*ill afford, at the same time, proofs of what has been said above. There wassuch an Arophictyonia in Bo30tia, at Orchestas, in a lemnle of Neifimc : iii