Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Why they erected a brazen statue to Cylon, although he plotted for the sovereignty, I cannot clearly tell. But I conjecture the reason was that he was very handsome in person and not unknown to fame, as he had won the victory at Olympia in the double course, and it was his good fortune to wed the daughter of Theagenes the king of Megara. And besides those I have mentioned there are two works of art especially famous, made out of Athenian spoil, a brazen statue of Athene, the work of Phidias, made out of spoil taken from the Persians who landed at Marathon: (the battle of the Lapithæ with the Centaurs, and all the other things represented on her shield, are said to have been carved by Mys, but Parrhasius is said to have drawn for Mys the outline of these and of his other works.) The spearpoint of this Athene, and the plume of her helmet, are visible from Sunium as you sail in. And there is a brazen chariot made out of spoil of the Bœotians and Chalcidians in Eubœa. And there are two other votive offerings, a statue of Pericles the son of Xanthippus, and, (one of the finest works of Phidias,) a statue of Athene, called the Lemnian Athene because an offering from the people of Lemnos. The walls of the Acropolis, (except what Cimon the son of Miltiades built,) are said to have been drawn out by Pelasgians who formerly lived under the Acropolis. Their names were Agrolas and Hyperbius. When I made enquiries who they were, all that I could learn of them was that they were originally Sicilians, who had emigrated to Acarnania.

As you descend, not into the lower part of the city but only below the Propylæa, there is a well of water, and near it a temple of Apollo in a cave. Here they think Apollo had an amour with Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus. And as to Pan, they say that Philippides, (who was sent as a messenger to Lacedæmon when the Persians landed), reported that the Lacedæmonians were deferring their march: for it was their custom not to go out on a campaign till the moon was at its full. But he said that he had met with Pan near the Parthenian forest, and he had said that he was friendly to the Athenians, and would come and help them at Marathon. Pan has been honoured therefore for this message. Here is also the Areopagus, so called because Ares was first tried here. I have before stated how and why he slew Halirrhothius. And they say that subsequently Orestes was tried here for the murder of his mother. And there is an altar of Athene Area, which Orestes erected when he escaped punishment. And the two white stones, on which both defendants and plaintiffs stand in this court, are respectively called Rigour-of-the-law and Impudence.

And not far off is the temple of the Goddesses whom the Athenians call The Venerable Ones, but Hesiod in his Theogony calls them the Erinnyes. And Æschylus first represented them with snakes twined in their hair: but in the statues here, either of these or of any other infernal gods, there is nothing horrible. Here are statues of Pluto and Hermes and Earth. Here all that have been acquitted before the Areopagus offer their sacrifices, besides foreigners and citizens occasionally. Within the precincts is also the tomb of Œdipus. After many enquiries I found that his bones had been brought there from Thebes: for I could not credit Sophocles’ account about the death of Œdipus, since Homer records that Mecisteus went to Thebes after the death of Œdipus and was a competitor in the funeral games held in his honour there.[5]

The Athenians have other Courts of Law, but not so famous as the Areopagus. One they call Parabystum and another Trigonum, [that is Crush and Triangle,] the former being in a low part of the city and crowds of litigants in very trumpery cases frequenting it, the other gets its name from its shape. And the Courts called Froggy and Scarlet preserve their names to this day from their colours. But the largest Court, which has also the greatest number of litigants, is called Heliæa. Murder-cases are taken in the Court they call the Palladium, where are also tried cases of manslaughter. And that Demophon was the first person tried here no one disputes: but why he was tried is debated. They say that Diomede, sailing home after the capture of Ilium, put into Phalerum one dark night, and the Argives landed as on hostile soil, not knowing in the dark that it was Attica. Thereupon they say Demophon rushed up, being ignorant that the men in the ships were Argives, and slew several of them, and went off with the Palladium which he took from them, and an Athenian not recognized in the melée was knocked down and trodden underfoot by Demophon’s horse. For this affair Demophon had to stand his trial, prosecuted some say by the relations of this Athenian, others say by the Argives generally. And the Delphinium is the Court for those who plead that they have committed justifiable homicide, which was the plea of Theseus when he was acquitted for killing Pallas and his sons who rose up against him. And before the acquittal of Theseus every manslayer had to flee for his life, or if he stayed to suffer the same death as he had inflicted. And in the Court called the Prytaneum they try iron and other inanimate things. I imagine the custom originated when Erechtheus was king of Athens, for then first did Ox-killer kill an ox at the temple of Zeus Guardian of the City: and he left the axe there and fled the country, and the axe was forthwith acquitted after trial, and is tried annually even nowadays. Other inanimate things are said to have spontaneously committed justifiable homicide: the best and most famous illustration of which is afforded by the scimetar of Cambyses.[6] And there is at the Piræus near the sea a Court called Phreattys: here fugitives, if (after they have once escaped) a second charge is brought against them, make their defence on shipboard to their hearers on land. Teucer first (the story goes) thus made his defence before Telamon that he had had no hand in the death of Ajax. Let this suffice for these matters, that all who care may know everything about the Athenian law-courts.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Near the Areopagus is shewn the ship that is made for the procession at the Panathenæa. And this perhaps has been outdone. But the ship at Delos is the finest I have ever heard of, having nine banks of rowers from the decks.

And the Athenians in the townships, and on the roads outside the city, have temples of the gods, and tombs of men and heroes. And not far distant is the Academy, once belonging to a private man, now a gymnasium. And as you go down to it are the precincts of Artemis, and statues of her as Best and Beautifullest: I suppose these titles have the same reference as the lines of Sappho, another account about them I know but shall pass over. And there is a small temple, to which they carry every year on appointed days the statue of Dionysus Eleuthereusis. So many temples to the gods are there here. There are also tombs, first of Thrasybulus the son of Lycus, in all respects one of the most famous of the Athenians either since his day or before him. Most of his exploits I shall pass by, but one thing will be enough to prove my statement. Starting from Thebes with only sixty men he put down the Thirty Tyrants, and persuaded the Athenians who were in factions to be reconciled to one another and live on friendly terms. His is the first tomb, and near it are the tombs of Pericles and Chabrias and Phormio. And all the Athenians have monuments here that died in battle either on land or sea, except those that fought at Marathon. For those have tombs on the spot for their valour. But the others lie on the road to the Academy, and slabs are on their tombs recording the name and township of each. First come those whom the Edoni unexpectedly fell upon and slew in Thrace, when they had made themselves masters of all the country up to Drabescus: and it is said also that hailstones fell on them. And among generals are Leagrus, who had the greatest amount of power committed to him, and Sophanes of Decelea, who slew the Argive Eurybates, (who was helping the Æginetans), the victor in five contests at Nemea. And this is the third army the Athenians sent out of Greece. For all the Greeks by mutual consent fought against Priam and the Trojans: but the Athenians alone sent an army into Sardinia with Iolaus, and again to Ionia, and the third time to Thrace. And before the monument is a pillar with a representation of two cavalry officers fighting, whose names are Melanopus and Macartatus, who met their death contending against the Lacedæmonians and Bœotians, at the border of the Eleonian and Tanagræan territory. And there is the tomb of the Thessalian cavalry who remembered their ancient friendship to Athens, when the Peloponnesians under Archidamas first invaded Attica: they are near the Cretan archers. And again there are tombs of the Athenians, as of Clisthenes, (who made the regulations for the tribes which are observed even now,) and the cavalry who were slain on that day of danger, when the Thessalians brought aid. Here too are the Cleonæi, who came with the Argives into Attica: why they came I shall tell when I come to Argos. Here too is the tomb of the Athenians who fought with the Æginetans before the Persian War. And that was I ween a just decree of the people that, if the Athenians gave a public burial to the slaves, their names should be written on a pillar. And this proves that they behaved well to their masters in the wars. And there are also monuments of other valiant men, who fell fighting in various places: the most illustrious of those that fought at Olynthus, and Melesander (who sailed in his ships up the Mæander in Upper Caria), and those who fell in the war with Cassander, and those Argives who were formerly the allies of the Athenians. This alliance came about (they say) in the following manner. There was an earthquake at Lacedæmon, and the Helots revolted and went to Ithome: and when they revolted the Lacedæmonians sent for aid to the Athenians and others: and they despatched to them picked men under Cimon the son of Miltiades. These the Lacedæmonians sent back moved by suspicion. And the Athenians thought such an outrage insufferable, and, on their return home again, made an offensive and defensive alliance with the Argives, who had always been the enemies of the Lacedæmonians. And afterwards, when a battle between the Athenians and Bœotians and Lacedæmonians was on the eve of taking place at Tanagra, the Argives came to the aid of the Athenians. And when the Argives were having the better of it, night came on and took away the certainty of victory, and the next day the Lacedæmonians won the victory, the Thessalians having betrayed the Athenians. I ought also to mention Apollodorus the leader of the mercenaries, who was an Athenian, but had been sent by Arsites, the satrap of Phrygia near the Hellespont, and had relieved Perinthia, when Philip attacked it with an army. He is buried here, with Eubulus the son of Spintharus, and other men who although they deserved it did not meet with good fortune; some fell conspiring against the tyrant Lachares, and others counselled the seizure of the Piræus when the Macedonians guarded it, but before they could carry out their plan they were informed against by their fellow-conspirators and put to death. Here too are the tombs of those who fell at Corinth: and it was palpably shewn here (and afterwards at Leuctra) by the Deity, that those whom the Greeks call brave were nothing without good fortune, since the Lacedæmonians who had formerly conquered the Corinthians and Athenians, and moreover the Argives and Bœotians, were afterwards so completely routed at Leuctra by the Bœotians alone. And next to the tombs of those that fell at Corinth, some elegiac lines testify that the pillar was erected not only to them, but also to those that died at Eubœa and Chios, as also to some whom it declares were slain in the remote parts of the continent of Asia Minor, and in Sicily. And all the Generals are inscribed on it except Nicias, and the Platæan soldiers and citizens together. Nicias was passed over for the following reason: I give the same account as Philistus, who said that Demosthenes made conditions of surrender for everybody but himself, and when he was taken attempted suicide, whereas Nicias surrendered voluntarily. And so his name was not written on the pillar, as he was shewn to be a willing captive and not a man fit for war. On another pillar are the names of those who fought in Thrace, and at Megara, and when Alcibiades persuaded the Mantinæans and Eleans to revolt from the Lacedæmonians, and those who conquered the Syracusans before Demosthenes came to Sicily. Those also are buried here who fought the naval engagement at the Hellespont, and those who fought against the Macedonians at Chæronea, and those who served with Cleon at Amphipolis, and those who fell at Delium in the territory of the Tanagræans, and those whom Leosthenes led to Thessaly, and those who sailed to Cyprus with Cimon, and those, thirteen only, who with Olympiodorus drove out the Macedonian garrison. And the Athenians say that, when the Romans were fighting against one of their neighbours, they sent a small force to their aid, and certainly afterwards there were five Attic triremes present at the sea-fight between the Romans and Carthaginians. These also have their tomb here. The exploits of Tolmides and his men, and the manner of their death, I have already described: but let any one to whom their memory is dear know that they too lie buried on this road. They too lie here who on the same day won under Cimon a glorious victory both by land and sea. Here too lie Conon and Timotheus, father and son, second only to Miltiades and Cimon in their brilliant feats. Here too lie Zeno the son of Mnaseas, and Chrysippus of Soli, and Nicias the son of Nicomedes, (the best painter of animals in his day,) and Harmodius and Aristogiton who murdered Hipparchus the son of Pisistratus, and the orators Ephialtes, (who did his best to discredit the legislation of the Areopagus,) and Lycurgus the son of Lycophron. This Lycurgus put into the public treasury 6,500 talents more than Pericles the son of Xanthippus got together, and furnished elaborate apparatus for the processions of Athene, and golden Victories, and dresses for 100 maidens, and for war arms and darts, and 400 triremes for naval engagements. And as for buildings he finished the theatre though others began it, and during his term of office built docks at the Piræus, and a gymnasium at the Lyceum. All his silver and gold work Lachares plundered when he was in power: but the buildings remain to this day.

CHAPTER XXX.

Before the entrance into the Academy is an altar of Eros, with the inscription that Charmus was the first of the Athenians to offer votive offerings to Eros. And they say that the altar in the city called the altar of Anteros is the offering of the resident aliens, for Meles an Athenian, tired of Timagoras, a resident alien who was enamoured of him, bade him go to the highest part of the rock and throw himself down. And Timagoras careless of his life, and wishing in all things to gratify the stripling’s commands, threw himself down accordingly. But Meles, when he saw that Timagoras was dead, was so stricken with remorse, that he threw himself down from the same rock, and so perished. And in consequence it was ordained that the resident aliens should worship as a god Anteros, the avenger of Timagoras. And in the Academy is an altar of Prometheus, and they run from it to the city with lighted torches. The game is to keep the torch alight as they run. And if the torch goes out there is no longer victory to the first, but the second wins instead. And if his is out, then the third. And so on. And if the torches of all go out, then there is no one who can win the game. There is also an altar of the Muses, and another of Hermes, and in the interior one of Athene, and another of Hercules. And there is an olive-tree, which is said to have been the second that ever was. And not far from the Academy is the tomb of Plato, to whom the Deity foretold that he would be most excellent in Philosophy, and foretold it in the following way. Socrates, the night before Plato was going to be his pupil, dreamed that a swan flew into his bosom. Now the swan is a bird that has a fame for music, for they say that Cycnus [Swan], king of the Ligyans across the Eridanus in Celtic territory, was fond of music, and when he died was at Apollo’s desire changed into a bird. I daresay a musical man reigned over the Ligyans, but I can hardly believe that a man became a bird. Here too is seen the tower of Timon, who was the only person who thought one can be happy in no way except by shunning one’s kind. There is also shewn here a place called Colonus, sacred to Poseidon the creator of horses, the first place in Attica which they say Œdipus came to: this is however different from the account of Homer, still it is the account they give. There is also an altar of Poseidon God of Horses and of Athene Goddess of Horses, and a hero-chapel of Pirithous and Theseus and Œdipus and Adrastus. But Poseidon’s grove and temple were burnt by Antigonus, when he invaded Attica and ravaged it with his army.