Editing Castalia (section)

== Mythology ==
In older traditions, the Castalian Spring already existed by the time [[Apollo]] came to Delphi searching for Python.<ref>Homer, ''Hymn to Apollo''</ref> According to some, the water was a gift to Castalia from the river [[Cephissus (mythology)|Cephisus]]. 

In his commentary on [[Statius]]'s [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|''Thebaid'']], Latin poet [[Lactantius Placidus]] says that to escape Apollo's amorous advances, Castalia transformed herself into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of [[Mount Parnassus]], or at [[Mount Helicon]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|title=Castalia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98355/Castalia}}</ref><ref name="LactantiusJahnke">{{Cite book |last=Lactantius Placidus |author-link=Lactantius Placidus |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_fYj9nL6HlREC/page/70/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Lactantii Placidi qvi dicitvr Commentarios in Statii Thebaida it Commentarivm in Achilleida recensvit Ricardvs Jahnke |publisher=Lipsiae : in aedibvs B. G. Tevbneri |year=1898 |at=1.698 (p 71) |language=la |translator-last=Jahnke |translator-first=Richard |trans-title=Lactantius Placidus, On Statius's Thebaid |lccn=06008769 |ol=21778486M}}</ref> Castalia then became the sacred fountain of Poseidon.<ref>{{Harvnb|id=Hamilton|Hamilton|1978|p=25}}.</ref> She inspired the genius of [[poetry]] to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; the [[Sacred waters|sacred water]] was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the [[Muses]] (''Castaliae Musae'').

The 20th-century [[Germany|German]] writer [[Hermann Hesse]] used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943 [[masterpiece|magnum opus]] ''[[The Glass Bead Game]]''. Castalia is home to an austere order of [[intellectual]]s with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys, and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.