Product Code Database
Castalia (), in ancient Greek and Roman literature,The spring is mentioned in Herodotus, 8.39; Pindar, Pyth. 1.39; Virgil, Georgics 3.293; Horace, Odes 3.4.61; Statius, Thebaid 1.698 and elsewhere: see Liddell, Scott, Jones Greek Lexicon s.v. Κασταλία; Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary, s.v. Castalia. was the name of a spring near Delphi, sacred to the Muses; it is also known as the Castalian Spring. It is said to have derived its name from Castalia, a naiad-nymph, daughter of the river-god Achelous, who is said to have flung herself into the spring when pursued by the god Apollo.Smith, W. (1858). Classical Dictionary, s.v. Castalia.
In his commentary on Statius's Thebaid, Latin poet Lactantius Placidus says that to escape Apollo's amorous advances, Castalia transformed herself into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of Mount Parnassus, or at Mount Helicon. Castalia then became the sacred fountain of Poseidon.. She inspired the genius of poetry to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; the Sacred waters was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the Muses ( Castaliae Musae).
The 20th-century Germany writer Hermann Hesse used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943 masterpiece The Glass Bead Game. Castalia is home to an austere order of with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys, and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.
|
|
