Arion of Methymna fountain
Arion of Methymna, the legendary man credited with the invention of the dithyramb at Corinth, where Periander was tyrant, rode upon a dolphin's back to Taenarus (at the southern end of the Peloponnese). Arion had been visiting Sicily and Italy where he may have earned money as a singer, and was returning home on a Corinthian merchant ship setting out from Tarentum (Taras) when, facing death by merchants-turned-pirates on the ship, he first sang a song and then jumped into the sea. There a dolphin rescued him, possibly summoned beforehand by the song. |
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