Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

418 From Daimon to Olympian [ch.
As to the aetiological myth Pausanias is rightly sceptical.
Happily he adds
:
The women of Megara to this day perform rites that are analogous to the
story told.
Did the ' Bringing up of Semele ' take place at an omphalos-
sanctuary ? At Delphi we cannot say for certain. It is possible
that in the fragmentary Paean, ' For the Delphians,' Pindar 1 may
allude to some such ceremonial. He goes gladly to Pytho we
are told
:
to Apollo's grove, nurse of wreaths and feasts, where oft by the shadowed
omphalos of Earth the maidens of Delphi beat the ground with swift feet, as
they sing of the son of Leto.
But the reference is too vague to be of much use as evidence.
At Athens we are more fortunate. Pindar we remember 2 , in
his spring Dithyramb, bids the very Olympians come to the
omphalos 3 of Athens, where, as on an altar, incense smokes and
where many feet are treading. So insistent is he on the flowers
and the '
fragrant spring ' that we can scarcely doubt that his
song was written for the Anthesteria. We are sure it was written
for a ' Bringing up of Semele,' for
Then, then are. flung over the immortal Earth lovely petals of pansies,
and roses are amid our hair ; and voices of song are loud among the pipes,
the dancing-floors are loud with the calling of croimed Semele*.
On Gaia worship as seen in ' The Bringing up of Semele
much light is thrown by the familiar ' Anodos ' vases 5 . The
design in Fig. 124 6 shows the Anodos. We have a great mound
of earth artificially covered in with a thick coat of white. On it
1 Paeans, frg. vi. 15, Grenfell and Hunt, Oxyrhynch. Pap. Part v. p. 41.
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