Editing Trophonius (section)

==In the classical tradition==
"To descend into the cave of Trophonios" became a proverbial way of saying "to suffer a great fright". This saying is alluded to in [[Aristophanes]]' ''Clouds''.

Several ancient philosophers, including [[Heraclides Ponticus]], wrote commentaries on the cult of Trophonios that are now lost. Trophonios has been of interest to classical scholars because the rivers of [[Lethe]] and [[Mnemosyne]] have close parallels with the [[Myth of Er]] at the end of [[Plato]]'s [[Republic]], with a series of [[Orpheus|Orphic]] [[Totenpass|funerary inscriptions on gold leaves]], and with several passages about Memory and forgetting in [[Hesiod]]'s [[Theogony]]. [[The Hellfire Club]] once constructed a "Cave of Trophonius" with obscene wall-paintings in which to conduct their revels. The philosopher [[Søren Kierkegaard]] references "the cave of Trophonius" when discussing his childhood and later philosophical revelations in his work [[Either/Or (Kierkegaard book)|Either/Or]]. The philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] makes a reference to "Trophonius" in the preface to his ''[[The Dawn of Day|Daybreak]]'', alluding to his labor in the "underground" of moral prejudices.