Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXII.

Next to the temple of Æsculapius as you go to the Acropolis is the temple of Themis. And before it is the sepulchre of Hippolytus. His death they say came to him in consequence of the curses of his father. But the story of the guilty love of Phædra, and the bold forwardness of her nurse, is well known even to any barbarians who know Greek. There is also a tomb of Hippolytus among the Træzenians, and their legend is as follows. When Theseus intended to marry Phædra, not wishing if he had children by her that Hippolytus should either be their subject or king, he sent him to Pittheus, to be brought up at Træzen and to be king there. And some time after Pallas and his sons revolted against Theseus, and he having slain them went to Træzen to be purified of the murder, and there Phædra first saw Hippolytus, and became desperately enamoured of him, and (being unsuccessful in her suit) contrived his death. And the people of Træzen have a myrtle whose leaves are perforated throughout, and they say it did not grow like that originally, but was the work of Phædra which she performed in her love-sickness with her hairpin. And Theseus established the worship of the Pandemian Aphrodite and of Persuasion, when he combined the Athenians into one city from several townships. Their old statues did not exist in my time: but those in my time were by no mean artists. There is also a temple to Earth, the Rearer of Children, and to Demeter as Chloe. The meaning of these names may be learnt from the priests by enquirers. To the Acropolis there is only one approach: it allows of no other, being everywhere precipitous and walled off. The vestibules have a roof of white marble, and even now are remarkable both for their beauty and size. As to the statues of the horsemen I cannot say with precision, whether they are the sons of Xenophon, or merely put there for decoration. On the right of the vestibules is the shrine of Wingless Victory. From it the sea is visible, and there Ægeus drowned himself as they say. For the ship which took his sons to Crete had black sails, but Theseus told his father, (for he knew there was some peril in attacking the Minotaur), that he would have white sails, if he should sail back a conqueror. But he forgot this promise in his loss of Ariadne. And Ægeus seeing the ship with black sails, thinking his son was dead, threw himself in and was drowned. And the Athenians have a hero-chapel to his memory. And on the left of the vestibules is a building with paintings: and among those that time has not destroyed are Diomede and Odysseus, the one taking away Philoctetes’ bow in Lemnos, the other taking the Palladium from Ilium. Among other paintings here is Ægisthus being slain by Orestes, and Pylades slaying the sons of Nauplius that came to Ægisthus’ aid. And Polyxena about to have her throat cut near the tomb of Achilles. Homer did well not to mention this savage act. He also appears to me to have done well, in his account of the capture of Scyrus by Achilles, to have said not a word about what others relate, of Achilles having lived at Scyrus among the maidens, which Polygnotus has painted; who has also painted Odysseus suddenly making his appearance as Nausicaa and her maids were bathing in the river, just as Homer has described it. And among other paintings is Alcibiades, and there are traces in the painting of the victory of his horses at Nemea. There too is Perseus sailing to Seriphus, carrying to Polydectes the head of Medusa. But I am not willing to tell the story of Medusa under ‘Attica.’ And, among other paintings, to pass over the lad carrying the waterpots, and the wrestler painted by Timænetus, is one of Musæus. I have read verses in which it is recorded that Musæus could fly as a gift of Boreas, but it seems to me that Onomacritus wrote the lines, and there is nothing certainly of Musæus’ composition except the Hymn to Demeter written for the Lycomidæ. And at the entrance to the Acropolis is a Hermes, whom they call Propylæus, and the Graces, which they say were the work of Socrates the son of Sophroniscus, whom the Pythian priestess testified to have been the wisest of men, a thing which was not said to Anacharsis, though he went to Delphi on purpose.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Now the Greeks among other things say that they had the seven wise men. And among these they include the Lesbian tyrant and Periander the son of Cypselus: and yet Pisistratus and his son Hippias were far more humane and wise than Periander, both in war and in all that appertained to citizen life, until Hippias because of the death of Hipparchus acted with great cruelty, especially to a woman called Leæna, (Lioness). For after the death of Hipparchus, (I speak now of what has never before been recorded in history, but yet is generally believed by the Athenians), Hippias tortured her to death, knowing that she had been Aristogiton’s mistress, and thinking that she could not have been ignorant of the plot against Hipparchus. In return for this, when the Pisistratidæ had been deposed from the kingdom, a brazen lioness was erected by the Athenians to her memory, and near her a statue of Aphrodite, which they say was a votive offering of Callias, designed by Calamis.

And next is a brazen statue of Diitrephes pierced with arrows. This Diitrephes, among other things which the Athenians record, led back the Thracian mercenaries who came too late, for Demosthenes had already sailed for Syracuse. And when he got to the Euripus near Chalcis, and opposite Mycalessus in Bœotia, he landed and took Mycalessus: and the Thracians slew not only the fighting men, but also the women and children. And this proves what I say, that all the cities of the Bœotians, whom the Thebans had dispossessed, were inhabited in my time by those who had fled at their capture. Therefore if the barbarians had not landed and slain all the Mycalessians, those that were left would afterwards have repeopled the city. A very wonderful fact about this statue of Diitrephes is that it was pierced with arrows, seeing that it was not customary for any Greeks but the Cretans to shoot with the bow. For we know that the Opuntian Locrians were so armed as early as the Persian war, for Homer described them as coming to Ilium with bows and slings. But the use of bows did not long remain even with the Malienses: and I think that they did not use them before the days of Philoctetes, and soon afterwards ceased to use them. And next to Diitrephes, (I shall not mention the more obscure images), are some statues of goddesses, as Hygiea, (Health), who they say was the daughter of Æsculapius, and Athene by the same name of Hygiea. And there is a small stone such as a little man can sit on, on which they say Silenus rested, when Dionysus came to the land. Silenus is the name they give to all old Satyrs. About the Satyrs I have conversed with many, wishing to know all about them. And Euphemus a Carian told me that sailing once on a time to Italy he was driven out of his course by the winds, and carried to a distant sea, where people no longer sail. And he said that here were many desert islands, some inhabited by wild men: and at these islands the sailors did not like to land, as they had landed there before and had experience of the natives, but they were obliged on that occasion. These islands he said were called by the sailors Satyr-islands, the dwellers in them were red-haired, and had tails at their loins not much smaller than horses. When they perceived the sailors they ran down to the ship, spoke not a word, but began to handle the women on board. At last the sailors in dire alarm landed a barbarian woman on the island: and the Satyrs treated her in such a way as we will not venture to describe.

I noticed other statues in the Acropolis, as the boy in brass with a laver in his hand by Lycius the son of Myron, and Perseus having slain Medusa by Myron. And there is a temple of Brauronian Artemis, the statue the design of Praxiteles, but the goddess gets her name from Brauron. And the ancient statue is at Brauron, called Tauric Artemis. And a brazen model of the Wooden Horse is here, and that this construction of Epeus was a design to break down the walls, every one knows who does not consider the Phrygians plainly fatuous. And tradition says of that Horse that it had inside it the bravest of the Greeks, and this model in brass corresponds in every particular, and Menestheus and Teucer are peeping out of it, as well as the sons of Theseus. And of the statues next the Horse, Critias executed that of Epicharinus training to run in heavy armour. And Œnobius did a kindness to Thucydides the son of Olorus. For he passed a decree that Thucydides should be recalled from exile to Athens, and as he was treacherously murdered on his return, he has a tomb not far from the Melitian gates. As to Hermolycus the Pancratiast, and Phormio the son of Asopichus, as others have written about them I pass them by: only I have this little bit more to say about Phormio. He being one of the noblest of the Athenians, and illustrious from the renown of his ancestors, was heavily in debt. He went therefore to the Pæanian township, and had his maintenance there until the Athenians chose him as Admiral. He however declined on the score that he owed money, and that he would have no influence with the sailors till he had paid it. Accordingly the Athenians paid his debts, for they would have him as Admiral.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Here too is Athene pourtrayed striking Marsyas the Silenus, because he would take up her flutes, when the goddess wished them thrown away. Besides those which I have mentioned is the legendary fight between Theseus and the Minotaur, a man or a beast according to different accounts. Certainly many more wonderful monsters than this have been born of woman even in our times. Here too is Phrixus the son of Athamas, who was carried to Colchi by the ram. He has just sacrificed the ram to some god, (if one might conjecture to the god who is called Laphystius among the Orchomenians), and having cut off the thighs according to the Greek custom, he is looking at them burning on the altar. And next, among other statues, is one of Hercules throttling snakes according to the tradition. And there is Athene springing out of the head of Zeus. And there also is a bull, the votive offering of the council of the Areopagus. Why they offered it is not known, but one might make many guesses if one liked. I have said before that the Athenians more than any other Greeks have a zeal for religion. For they first called Athene the worker, they first worshipped the mutilated Hermæ, and in their temple along with these they have a God of the Zealous. And whoever prefers modern works of real art to the antique, may look at the following. There is a man with a helmet on, the work of Cleœtas, and his nails are modelled in silver. Here is also a statue of Earth supplicating to Zeus for rain, either wanting showers for the Athenians, or a drought impending on all Greece. Here too is Timotheus, the son of Conon, and Conon himself. Here too are cruel Procne and her son Itys, by Alcamenes. Here too is Athene represented showing the olive tree, and Poseidon showing water. And there is a statue by Leochares of Zeus the Guardian of the city, in recording whose customary rites I do not record the reasons assigned for them. They put barley on the altar of this Zeus Guardian of the city, and do not watch it: and the ox kept and fattened up for the sacrifice eats the corn when it approaches the altar. And they call one of the priests Ox-killer, and he after throwing the axe at the ox runs away, for that is the usage: and (as if they did not know who had done the deed) they bring the axe into court as defendant. They perform the rites in the way indicated.

And as regards the temple which they call the Parthenon, as you enter it everything pourtrayed on the gables relates to the birth of Athene, and behind is depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athene for the soil of Attica. And this work of art is in ivory and gold. In the middle of her helmet is an image of the Sphinx—about whom I shall give an account when I come to Bœotia—and on each side of the helmet are griffins worked. These griffins, says Aristæus the Proconnesian in his poems, fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the gold of the soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians were all one-eyed men from their birth, and the griffins were beasts like lions, with wings and mouth like an eagle. Let so much suffice for these griffins. But the statue of Athene is full length, with a tunic reaching to her feet, and on her breast is the head of Medusa worked in ivory, and in one hand she has a Victory four cubits high, in the other hand a spear, and at her feet a shield, and near the spear a dragon which perhaps is Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is a representation of the birth of Pandora, the first woman according to Hesiod and other poets, for before her there was no race of women. Here too I remember to have seen the only statue here of the Emperor Adrian, and at the entrance one of Iphicrates the celebrated Athenian general.

And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by Phidias: and they call it Apollo Averter of Locusts, because when the locusts destroyed the land the god said he would drive them out of the country. And they know that he did so, but they don’t say how. I myself know of locusts having been thrice destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in the same way, for some were driven away by a violent wind that fell on them, and others by a strong blight that came on them after showers, and others were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under my own notice.