SERPENT-TEMPLES.
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A similar fable is related of Orpheus , who, itwill be remembered, was the high priest ofOphiolatreia in Thrace .
Respecting the druidical circles, it was acommon tradition that the stones which com-posed them were once animated beings, andpetrified in the mazes of a dance. Thus Stone-henge was called “ the dance of the giants andRowldrich, a Druids’ temple, near ChippingNorton in Oxfordshire , is supposed to have beena king and his nobles similarly metamorphosed.The same is reported of Stanton Drew, inSomersetshire , which is vulgarly called “ theweddings being supposed to have been acompany of friends at a nuptial festival, whowere petrified in the midst of a dance.
Another Druids ’ temple, in Cumberland, iscalled “ Long Meg and her daughters ” from asimilar tradition b
If these coincidences prove nothing else, theyprove that “ the stones of Amphion,” and “ Or-pheus, ” were circular temples of the druidicalstructure. The stones of Amphion were pro-bably a temple of the sun; “ Amphion” being