St John, who, according to Cantacuzenus, occupied Delos. M. Lebégue is of opinion that these vestiges are exclusively Hellenic or Romans[1] If the Hospitallers had permanent quarters, they were probably on Rheneia. In 1878 there were no habitations whatever on Delos: on Rheneia, only a cottage or two, and the buildings erected by the Greek government for the officers of quarantine.
The foregoing sketch will have served to show the historical interest of the Delian inscriptions. Many gaps in our previous knowledge have been filled up. Much that was dim and vague has become vivid and precise. For the years from 300 to 100 B.C. the gain is especially large. Delos stands out with a more continuous clearness in its relations to the Greek and Roman world. The Sacred Isle is like a tiny disc in which a wide landscape is mirrored.
This general survey taken, we may next turn to the new results in topography. On the accompanying sketch-map, reduced from M. Lebégue's, I have marked the principal points of interest, (1) The summit of Cynthus, on which stood the temple of Zeus Cynthius and Athena Cynthia. (2) A grotto, once used as a temple, in the western face of Cynthus. (3) The temple of Serapis (designated by earlier writers as a temple of Isis), near the junction of two sacred roads leading to the temples higher up on Cynthus. (4) The theatre, of which the left
- ↑ Recherches sur Délos, p. 129.
