Acadine

The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus described in Book 11.89 of his Bibliotheca historica a pool that spouted hot, sulfurous water at the sanctuary of the Palici in Sicily, and said solemn oaths were undertaken there. According to the Aristotelian On Marvellous Things Heard, a sworn statement would be written on a tablet and thrown into the pool. If true it floated, but otherwise it sank to the bottom and the perjuror would be scalded.¹ Renaissance and later authors took up this story, calling it the Acadine fountain, though this name is not attested in ancient sources.²

Charles-Victoire-Frédéric Moench's 1814 painting The Acadine Fountain illustrates the myth of Acadine. The oil on canvas measures 131.5 × 102.6 cm (51 3/4 × 40 3/8 in.) and was auctioned at Sotheby's Paris on June 30, 2020, with a final price of €77,825, surpassing its estimated value of €30,000–50,000.³