66 EARLY GEOGRAPHICAL SPECULATIONS. [CHAP. was reputed to have selected this spot as the chosen seat of his worship, and the fame of the wealth of its temple and the wisdom of its oracle dated from the earliest period of Greek history, for both of these are mentioned in the Homeric poems. In the Iliad Achilles speaks of the riches that were stored at Pytho as being com- parable to the possessions of Ilium1; and in the Odyssey Agamemnon is related to have obtained thence an oracular response before proceeding to Troy8. By degrees it became more and more the political as well as the religious centre of the country, for its influence was exerted in the direction of holding the Greek states together and counteracting their centrifugal tendencies, and its wide outlook and practical sagacity in all matters which affected the Hellenic community caused it to be generally resorted to for the sake of the good counsel which it supplied. This was especially the case at the time of the foundation of the Greek colonies, for the influence which the oracle exercised in regulating that movement was so great, that when the Spartan Dorieus met with disaster in endeavouring to found a colony in Libya, his failure was attributed to his having neglected to consult the god beforehand3. The national position which Delphi thus obtained caused it to be regarded, not only metaphorically, but locally, as the middle point of Greece— a character which it might fairly claim from its geographical situation; and since Greece was considered by its inhabitants to occupy a central position among the countries of the world, this pkce came to be called "the navel of the Earth," and the idea 1 X. 9. 40!— 5; ofl yd/) tyol ^tffc dvrdfto^ 01)8* foa rb rpfcr €V d^f, *pb frOeb rfas ' 8