CHAPTER III
THE ROMANCE OF THE STARS
In the vividness of their fancy, intensified by glorious scenery and sunny skies, the ancient Greeks believed that the gods dwelt on the summit of Mount Olympus and that queer and lovely beings roamed about the land. They heard the raging of the Wind-gods, the dancing feet of wood nymphs, the trip, trip, trip of satyrs and the music of Pandean pipes as this merry god went skipping over hill and lea. They knew that naiads peeped from the mist in fountains and dryads lived in the hearts of trees, while down in the sea, Neptune tossed up the billows with his trident and the little sea-maids sat in them and rocked and sang. Heroes, semi-divine, swept the earth of its monsters, while gods in golden chariots attended to the welfare of mankind. So deeply sincere was this mythological faith that great temples and beautiful shrines were built in honor of the gods, and one can scarce find a spot in all of Greece, or in all the sky that hangs over Greece, that is not hallowed by some wonderful legend.
This beloved country was thought to lie on the center of the earth, which was marked by the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi. In those days, the earth was supposed to hang like a disk in the great hollow globe of the world, its land divided into two parts by the Mediterranean Sea and its edges washed by the turbulent river of the ocean. The upper part of this globe was illuminated by the sun, moon and stars and was called Heaven, but the lower part tended below the earth-disk and formed a terrifying pit of utter darkness. The Milky Way was a road which led to the home of the gods, but this pit was a place of dire punishment.
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