temple
of Pallas-Athene, in the tower of the city of Larissa, served as the
sepulchre of Acrisius, and the Acropolis at Athens received the ashes of
Cecrops, founder of the city.

A temple was frequently dedicated to two or more gods, and was always built
after the manner considered most acceptable to the particular divinities to
whom it was consecrated; for just as trees, birds, and animals of {190}
every description were held to be sacred to certain deities, so almost
every god had a form of building peculiar to himself, which was deemed more
acceptable to him than any other. Thus the Doric style of architecture was
sacred to Zeus, Ares, and Heracles; the Ionic to Apollo, Artemis, and
Dionysus; and the Corinthian to Hestia.

In the porch of the temple stood a vessel of stone or brass, containing
holy water (which had been consecrated by putting into it a burning torch,
taken from the altar), with which all those admitted to take part in the
sacrifices were besprinkled. In the inmost recess of the sanctuary was the
most holy place, into which none but the priests were suffered to enter.

Temples in the country were usually surrounded with groves of trees. The
solitude of these shady retreats naturally tended to inspire the worshipper
with awe and reverence, added to which the delightful shade and coolness
afforded by tall leafy trees is peculiarly grateful in hot countries.
Indeed so general did this custom of building temples in groves become,
that all places devoted to sacred purposes, even where no trees existed,
were called groves. That this practice must be of very remote antiquity is
proved by the Biblical injunction, having for its object the separation of
the Jews from all idolatrous practices: "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove
of trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God."

STATUES.

The Greeks worshipped their gods without any visible representations of
them until the time of Cecrops. The most ancient of these representations
consisted of square blocks of stone, upon which the name of the deity
intended to be represented was engraved. The first attempts at sculpture
were rude stocks, with a head at one end and a shapeless trunk at the
other, tapering slightly down to the feet, which, however, were not
divided, the limbs being in no way defined. But the artists of later times
devoted all their genius to the {191} successful production of the highest
ideals of their gods, some of which are preserved t