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PYLON
PYTHON
ship, liowever, sailed for the old port, so that he and his companions had to make the usual overland journey. In Puteoli they ' found brethren ' of whom thej' had no previous knowledge (as the absence of the article proves), and ' were cheered among tliem {TrapfK\-/i0riiiei> wap^ ai^roit), remaining seven days' (Ac 28"). This reading is preferred by W. M. Ramsay {St. Paul the rravdler, 1895, p. 212) and F. lilacs {Acta Apostolorum, 1895, p. 287) to 'were entreated by them ' (^tt' oi'tois), which would convey the idea that St. Paul, thougli a prisoner, was able to make his own arrangements ; whereas the truth probably was tliat wlien Julius decided that a halt must be made for a week, the Apostle used the measure of liberty given him, and passed the time in happy fellowship with the little Chris- tian Chureli. There had been a colony of Jews in Puteoli before the time of Christ (Jos. Ant. xvii. xii. 1, BJ II. vii. 1 ), so that the soil had been partly prepared for the seed of the gospel ; and as ships plied between Puteoli and every port in Syria and Egypt, it was nothing wonderful that St. Paul found Christianity already planted in that great commercial city. Other Eastern cults took root there sooner than in Rome, as a temple of Serapis, frequented in the 2nd cent. B.C., proved. The modern town (population, 17,000) retains many relics of ancient greatness — amphitheatre, baths, circus, villas. Its cathedral is built into a temple of Augustus.
Literature.— Strabo, v. iv. 7 ; C. Dubois, Pouzzoles antique^ 190S ; C. Baedeker, Southern Italy and Sicilyt^, 1896.
James Strahan. PYLON.— See Gate.
PYRRHUS (niJppos, aGreek name).— In S ABDE and several ancient versions Sopater of Beroea, who accompanied St. Paul on at least part of his return journey from Greece to Palestine, is described in Ac 20'' as 'the son of Pyrrlius' (SiiTrarpos Uuppou). In the TR llvppov is omitted in accordance with later MSS and versions. Hence the omission in the English AV and the addition in the RV. Nothing further is known of Pyrrhus or of Sopater {q.v.), unless the latter, as is possible, is identical with Sosipater of Ro 16-', who is one of three men who send salutations from Corinth as ' kinsmen ' of St. Paul, i.e. fellow-Jews. If we consider this identi- fication likely, we sliall suppo.se father and son to have been Hellenistic Jews, and perhaps both to have been among the ' many ' converts made at Beroea during the Apostle's visit there (Ac 17'"-"). The mention of Pyrrhus at all may indicate that he had become well known as a Christian. On the other hand, some commentators consider that his name has been inserted purposely to distinguish Sopater from Sosipater. This is the only instance of a [latronymic of the usual Greek fashion in the NT. It may point to a family of some social position. T. B. Allworthy.
PYTHON. — The primitive Aryans worshipped a deity named, from diriWa, 'the fold,' 'ATreXXui/ or 'AttoXXuii', ' he of the fold,' the special god of the cattle-pen, the patron deity of cattle-rearing. He was also called AvKios, ' he who frightens away the wolf.' As <i>or,3os, the sun-god, was the deity who opened the oTr^XXai ('cattle-pens') in the morning and drove out the herds, the one god became identified with the other. Apollo dwelt in caves.* Certain tribes of Aryan Hellenes who invaded and conquered what is now called Greece brouglit with them their cave-dwelling deity. One of these tribes settled in a narrow vale shut in between Mount Parnassus and Mount Cirphis. The place, afterwards called Delphi, was then named Ilueui or niiSuj'. In noeup was a cavern which emitted • ERE ii. 36.
vapour of a more or less meiihitic character. To the autochthons this was clear evidence of the presence of a chthonian spirit, most probably name- less, whom they worshipped. The cults of the two cavedwellers inevitably amalgamated, and Apollo took the place of the nameless chthonian spirit and was called HvOio!.' The name IliJffui' is in some way connected with TrvBeiv, ' to rot.' Such a cave in primitive times was certain to have been a resort of serpents, and an etiological myth arose to the effect that the cavern, which had been possessed by Themis, had been guarded by an immense serpent called Uvduv wbo was the oll'spring of Gaia, pro- duced from mud after the Hood of Deucalion. Four days after his birth Apollo, the child of Zeus and Leto, killed the serpent, from whom he took the name, its carcass being allowed to rot where it was killed.t
Cattle-rearing being the chief employment of the earlier Aryans and Apollo being the protector of the fold, we can understand how helpfulness became one of his characteristics. This developed along two lines. (1) He suggested means by which calamities might be avoided. This led (2) to the conception of a power of prediction. In this way Apollo became the prophet of Zeus. Plato calls him ' the interpreter of religion to all mankind.'J His oracle made Delphi particularly famous,§ he became the most typical representative Hellenic deity, and his oracle at Delphi the most powerful influence in guiding and moulding the growth of Hellenism.il At Delphi his cult and oracle-giving became recognized and organized institutions. The oracle in historic times was of the ecstatic, en- thusiastic, or epileptic kind. The chief agent was the Hvdia (the fern, of llvffioi). When an oracle was asked, she, after preparation, drank the water of the sacred stream, chewed the leaves of the sacred laurel, mounted a tripod above the cavern from which the mephitic vapour arose, and then began to speak. Near her were the toioi, live priests who listened and interpreted her sayings. II Thus the Hvdla, a virtuous woman, became a mere tool in the hands of the Holy Ones, whose power has been aptly compared to that of the prophet Samuel.** Apollo had the power of communicating this gift of oracle-giving to others besides the llvBla.ff Persons who were ventriloquists, in the original sense of that term, would naturally be supposed to have had it conferred on them. Hence IlOBoii' meant equally the divine being and the person whom it possessed. These iyyaaTplpivBoi were ap- parently very common throughout the countries where Greek influence predominated. They were called Eurykleidai, Sternomanteis, and Pythones.