CHAPTER XIX.
And next to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of Pythian Apollo, as also a temple of Delphian Apollo. And they say that, when this temple was completed except the roof, Theseus came to the city incognito. And having a long garment down to his feet and his hair being elegantly plaited, when he came near this temple, those who were building the roof asked him jeeringly why a maiden ripe for marriage was wandering about alone. And his only answer was, it is said, unyoking the oxen from the waggon which stood by, and throwing it in the air higher than the roof they were building. And with respect to the place that they call The Gardens, and the temple of Aphrodite, there is no account given by the Athenians, nor in respect to the statue of Aphrodite which stands next the temple, and is square like the Hermæ, and the inscription declares that Celestial Aphrodite is the oldest of those that are called Fates. The statue of Aphrodite in The Gardens is the work of Alcamenes, and is among the few things at Athens best worth seeing. There is also a temple of Hercules called Cynosarges: (i.e., of the white dog); the history of the white dog may be learnt by those who have read the oracle. And there are altars to Hercules and Hebe, (the daughter of Zeus), who, they think, was married to Hercules. There is also an altar of Alcmene and Iolaus, who was associated with Hercules in most of his Labours. And the Lyceum gets its name from Lycus the son of Pandion, but is now as of old considered a temple of Apollo, for Apollo was here called Lyceus originally. And it is also said that the natives of Termilæ, where Lycus went when he fled from Ægeus, are called Lycians from the same Lycus. And behind the Lyceum is the tomb of Nisus who was king of Megara and slain by Minos, and the Athenians brought his corpse here and buried it. About this Nisus there is a story that he had purple hair, and that the oracle said he would die if it was shorn off. And when the Cretans came into the land, they took all the other cities of Megaris by storm, but had to blockade Nisæa, into which Nisus had fled for refuge. And here they say the daughter of Nisus, who was enamoured of Minos, cut off her father’s locks. This is the story. Now the rivers of Attica are the Ilissus and the Eridanus that flows into it, having the same name as the Celtic Eridanus. The Ilissus is the river where they say Orithyia was playing when carried off by the North Wind, who married her, and because of his affinity with the Athenians aided them and destroyed many of the barbarians’ ships. And the Athenians think the Ilissus sacred to several gods, and there is an altar also on its banks to the Muses. The place is also shewn where the Peloponnesians slew Codrus, the son of Melanthus, the king of Athens. After you cross the Ilissus is a place called Agræ, and a temple of Artemis Agrotera, (The Huntress), for here they say Artemis first hunted on her arrival from Delos: accordingly her statue has a bow. And what is hardly credible to hear, but wonderful to see, is a stadium of white marble; one can easily conjecture its size in the following manner. Above the Ilissus is a hill, and this stadium extends from the river to the hill in a crescent-shaped form. It was built by Herodes an Athenian, and most of the Pentelican quarry was used in its construction.