les of Greek sculpture, and the stone itself
is mentioned in several of the Greek plays.

With reference to this, Mr. Lethaby, in his Architecture, Mysticism, and
Myth, observes: 'We may see embodied in this myth of the centre-stone
the result of the general direction of thought; as each people were
certainly "the people" first born and best beloved of the gods, so their
country occupied the centre of the world. It would be related how the
oldest and most sacred city, or rather temple, was erected exactly on
the navel. A story like this told of a temple would lead to the marking
in the centre of its area the true middle point by a circular stone, a
stone which would become most sacred and ceremonial in its import.'

And Dr. Schliemann thus writes of a central circle he unearthed in the
palace at Tirynthus: 'In the exact centre of the hall, and therefore
within the square enclosed by the four pillars, there is found in the
floor a circle of about 3.30 m. diameter. There can be little doubt that
this circle indicates the position of the hearth in the centre of the
megaron. The hearth was in all antiquity the centre of the house, about
which the family assembled, at which food was prepared, and where the
guest received the place of honour. Hence it is frequently indicated by
poets and philosophers as the navel or centre of the house. In the
oldest time it was not only symbolically but actually the centre of the
house, and especially of the megaron. It was only in later days, in the
palaces of the great Romans, that it was removed from the chief rooms
and established in a small by-room.'

All which may be true enough, and yet the placing of the hearthstone in
the centre of the house may have had less reference to the earth-centre
idea, than to the fact that in the circular huts of primitive man it was
necessary to have a hole at the apex of the roof. Still, it is
interesting to note that, as in the Imperial palace at Constantinople,
so on the floor of St. Peter's at Rome, and elsewhere, is a flat
circular slab of porphyry, associated with all ceremonials.

Is there any connection between the old central hearthstone and the
Dillestein--Lid of Hell--one meets with in Grimm?

We have seen that the centre of the world is placed in Europe, in Asia,
and in Africa, but who would expect to find it in America many centuries
ago? Yet the traditions of Peru have it that Cuzco was founded by the
gods, and that its name signifies 'n