Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER V.

Near the council chamber of The Five Hundred is the room called the Rotunda, and here the Prytanes sacrifice, and there are some silver statues not very large. And higher up are some statues of the heroes, from whom the tribes of the Athenians in later times got their names. And who made the tribes ten instead of four, and changed their names from the old ones, has been told by Herodotus. And of the heroes who gave their names to the tribes, (Eponymus is the name they give them), are Hippothoon, the son of Poseidon by Alope the daughter of Cercyon, and Antiochus, one of the sons of Hercules by Meda the daughter of Phylas, and the third Ajax, the son of Telamon; and of the Athenians Leo, who is said to have devoted all his daughters for the public weal at the bidding of the oracle. Erechtheus also is among the Eponymi, who conquered the Eleusinians in battle, and slew their commander Immaradus, the son of Eumolpus; also Ægius, and Œneus the illegitimate son of Pandion, and of the sons of Theseus Acamas. And what Cecrops and Pandion they hold in honour, (for I saw their statues too among the Eponymi), I do not know, for there were two of each; the first Cecrops, that was king, married the daughter of Actæus, and the other, who settled at Eubœa, was the son of Erechtheus, the grandson of Pandion and the great grandson of Erichthonius, and the two Pandion kings were the son of Erichthonius and the son of Cecrops the younger. The latter was deposed from his kingdom by the Metionidæ, and when he fled to Megara, the daughter of whose king he had married, his sons were banished with him. And it is said that Pandion died there of illness, and his tomb is near the sea in Megara, on the rock that is called the rock of Athene the Diver. But his sons returned from exile at Megara, and expelled the Metionidæ, and Ægeus, being the eldest, had the sovereignty over the Athenians. Pandion also reared daughters, but not with good fortune, nor had they any sons to avenge him. And yet for the love of power he had made affinity with the king of Thrace. But man has no power to escape what is willed by the Deity. They say that Tereus (though married to Procne) dishonoured Philomela, not acting according to the law of the Greeks: and, having still further murdered the damsel, he compelled the women to punish him. There is also another statue erected to Pandion in the Acropolis, well worth seeing. These are the ancient Eponymi of the Athenians. And after these they have as Eponymi Attalus the Mysian, and Ptolemy the Egyptian, and, in my time, the Emperor Adrian, who worshipped the gods more religiously than anyone, and who contributed most to the individual happiness of his subjects. And he never willingly undertook any war, only he punished the revolt of the Hebrews who live beyond the Syrians. And as to the temples of the gods, part of which he originally built, and part of which he adorned with votive offerings and decorations, or of the gifts which he gave to the Greek cities and to those of the barbarians who asked for them, all these good deeds of his are written up at Athens, in the temple common to all the gods.

CHAPTER VI.

As to the actions of Attalus and Ptolemy, not only are they become more ancient from the progress of time, so that the fame of them no longer remains, but also those who lived with those kings in former days neglected to register their exploits. I thought it well therefore to record whatever works they did, and how it was that the government of Egypt and of the Mysi, and of the neighbouring nations, fell to their fathers. Ptolemy, the Macedonians think, was really the son of Philip the son of Amyntas, (but putatively the son of Lagus), for his mother, they say, was pregnant when she was given to Lagus to wife by Philip. And they say that Ptolemy not only distinguished himself brilliantly in Asia Minor, but, when danger befel Alexander at Oxydracæ, he of all his companions was foremost to bring him aid. And upon the death of Alexander, he it was who mainly resisted those who wished to give all the dominions of Alexander to Aridæus the son of Philip, and he again was responsible for the different nationalities being divided into kingdoms. And he himself crossed into Egypt and slew Cleomenes, whom Alexander had made satrap of Egypt, thinking him friendly to Perdiccas and therefore not loyal to himself, and persuaded those of the Macedonians who were appointed to carry the dead body of Alexander to Ægæ to hand it over to him, and buried him at Memphis with the customary Macedonian rites; but, feeling sure that Perdiccas would go to war with him, he filled Egypt with garrisons. And Perdiccas, to give a specious colour to his expedition, led about with him Aridæus the son of Philip, and the lad Alexander, the son of Alexander by Roxana the daughter of Oxyartes, but really was plotting to take away the kingdom of Egypt from Ptolemy. But having been thrust out of Egypt, and consequently losing his former prestige as a general, and having incurred odium among the Macedonians on other grounds, he was assassinated by his bodyguard. The death of Perdiccas roused Ptolemy to immediate action: simultaneously he seized Syria and Phœnicia, welcomed Seleucus the son of Antiochus, a fugitive who had been driven into exile by Antigonus, and made preparations to take the field in person against Antigonus. And Cassander the son of Antipater, and Lysimachus king of Thrace, he persuaded to join him in the war, saying that the exile of Seleucus and the aggrandisement of Antigonus was a common danger to all of them. Now Antigonus for a time went on with his preparations, but by no means courted war. But when he heard that Ptolemy had gone to Libya to put down a revolt of the people of Cyrene, forthwith he took Syria and Phœnicia by a coup-de-main, and, handing them over to his son Demetrius, a boy in years a man in intellect, returned to the Hellespont. But before getting there, on hearing that Demetrius had been beaten in battle by Ptolemy, he led his army back again. But Demetrius, so far from yielding ground altogether to Ptolemy, planned an ambush and cut to pieces a few of the Egyptians. And now, upon Antigonus’ coming up, Ptolemy did not wait for him, but retired into Egypt. And when the winter was over Demetrius sailed to Cyprus and beat Menelaus, Ptolemy’s satrap, in a naval engagement, and then Ptolemy himself, as he tried to force his way through. And he fled into Egypt and was blockaded both by land and sea by Antigonus and Demetrius. But Ptolemy, although in great straits, yet preserved his kingdom by stationing himself with his army at Pelusium on the qui vive, and by keeping the enemy from the river with his fleet. And Antigonus had no further hope that he could take Egypt in the present state of affairs, so he despatched Demetrius to the Rhodians with a large army and ships, hoping that, if he could get possession of Rhodes, he could use it as his base against the Egyptians. But not only did the Rhodians exhibit great daring and ingenuity against their besiegers, but also Ptolemy himself to the utmost of his power assisted them in the war. And Antigonus, though unsuccessful with Rhodes and Egypt, ventured not long afterwards to fight against Lysimachus and Cassander and the army of Seleucus, and lost the greater part of his forces, and himself died mainly from being worn out by the length of the war against Eumenes. And of the kings that put down the power of Antigonus I think the most unscrupulous was Cassander, who, having preserved his rule over the Macedonians only owing to Antigonus, went and fought against a man that had been his benefactor. And after the death of Antigonus, Ptolemy again took Syria and Cyprus, and restored Pyrrhus to Thesprotian Epirus. And when Cyrene revolted, Magas the son of Berenice, who was at this time the wife of Ptolemy, took it in the fifth year after the revolt. Now if this Ptolemy was really the son of Philip the son of Amyntas, it will be clear that he inherited this madness for women from his father, who, though married to Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater, and having children by her, yet fell in love with Berenice, (whom Antipater had sent into Egypt as a companion to Eurydice), and so enamoured was he of her that he had children by her, and when his end was near willed to reign over Egypt Ptolemy, (from whom the Athenians name one tribe), his son by Berenice and not by Eurydice.

CHAPTER VII.

This Ptolemy being enamoured of Arsinoe, his sister on both sides, married her, doing what was by no means usual among the Macedonians, but not uncommon among his Egyptian subjects. And next he slew his brother Argæus plotting against him, as was said. And he brought the corpse of Alexander from Memphis. And he slew also another brother, the son of Eurydice, observing that he was trying to make the Cyprians revolt. And Magas the uterine brother of Ptolemy, (being the son of Berenice and one Philip, a Macedonian but one of the common people and otherwise unknown), who had been chosen by his mother to be governor of Cyrene, at this time persuaded the people of Cyrene to revolt from Ptolemy and marched with an army for Egypt. And Ptolemy, having guarded the approaches, awaited the arrival of the men of Cyrene; but Magas having had news brought him on the road that the Marmaridæ had revolted from him, (now the Marmaridæ are a tribe of Libyan Nomads), endeavoured to get back to Cyrene at once. And Ptolemy, intending to follow him, was prevented by the following reason. Among some of his defensive operations against Magas, he had invited in some foreign mercenaries, and among others some 4,000 Galati; but finding that they were plotting to make themselves masters of Egypt, he sent them down to the Nile to a desert island. And here they perished, partly by one another’s sword, partly by famine. And Magas being the husband of Apame, the daughter of Antiochus the son of Seleucus, persuaded Antiochus to violate the conditions which his father Seleucus had made with Ptolemy, and to lead an army into Egypt. But as he was preparing to do so, Ptolemy sent into all parts of Antichus’ dominions guerilla troops to ravage the country where the defenders were weak, and more formidable bodies he checked with his army, so that Antiochus had no longer the chance to invade Egypt. I have previously described how this Ptolemy sent a fleet to aid the Athenians against Antigonus and the Macedonians; but, indeed, the Athenians derived no great benefit from it. Now his sons were not by Arsinoe his sister, but by the daughter of Lysimachus, for although he was married to his sister and lived with her, she pre-deceased him and was childless, and the district Arsinoites is named after her.

CHAPTER VIII.

Our subject now demands that we should relate the doings of Attalus, for he is also one of the Athenian Eponymi. A Macedonian by name Docimus, one of Antigonus’ generals, who afterwards gave himself and his fortune into the hands of Lysimachus, had a Paphlagonian eunuch called Philetærus. Now all the circumstances of Philetærus’ revolt from Lysimachus, and how he invited in Seleucus, shall be narrated by me in my account of Lysimachus. But this Attalus was the son of Attalus, and nephew of Philetærus, and got the kingdom from Eumenes his cousin handing it over to him. And this is the greatest of his exploits, that he compelled the Galati to leave the coast and go inland to Galatia, the country which they now inhabit.

And next to the statues of the Eponymi are images of the gods, Amphiaraus and Peace with Wealth as a boy in her arms. Here, too, are statues in bronze of Lycurgus the son of Lycophron, and of Callias who negotiated peace, as most of the Athenians say, between the Greeks and Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes. Here, too, is Demosthenes, whom the Athenians drove into exile to Calauria, the island near Trœzen, and after having recalled him drove him into exile a second time after the defeat at Lamia. And when Demosthenes went into exile the second time, he crossed over again to Calauria, where he died by taking poison. And he was the only exile who was not handed over to Antipater and the Macedonians by Archias. Now this Archias, who was a native of Thurii, acted very inhumanly. All who had opposed the Macedonians before the disaster which befel the Greeks in Thessaly, Archias handed over to Antipater for punishment. Now this was the end of Demosthenes’ excessive affection for the Athenians. And it seems to me deserving of record, that a man who had been cruelly exiled for his policy, and had yet believed in the democracy, came to a bad end.

And near the statue of Demosthenes is the temple of Ares, where are two images of Aphrodite, and one of Ares designed by Alcamenes, and one of Athene designed by a Parian by name Locrus. Here too is an image of Enyo by the sons of Praxiteles. And round the temple are statues of Hercules, and Theseus, and Apollo with his long hair in a fillet: and statues of Calades, who was a legislator of the Athenians according to tradition, and of Pindar, who amongst other honour obtained this statue from the Athenians because he praised them in an Ode. And at no great distance are statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton, the murderers of Hipparchus: the motive and manner of this murder has been told by others. And of these statues some are by Critias, but the oldest ones by Antenor. And although Xerxes when he captured Athens, (the Athenians having left the city), took them off as booty, Antiochus sent them back afterwards to the Athenians.