Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XIV.

And as one enters the Odeum at Athens, there is a Dionysus and other things worth seeing. And near is a spring called the Nine Springs constructed so by Pisistratus: for there are wells all over the city but this is the only spring. And two temples have been built over the spring, one to Demeter and the other to Proserpine; in one of them is a statue to Triptolemus, about whom I will record the traditions, omitting what is said about Deiope. Now the Argives are those of the Greeks who chiefly dispute with the Athenians their rival claims to antiquity, and assert that they have received gifts from the gods, just as among the barbarians the Egyptians have similar disputes with the Phrygians. The story goes then that when Demeter came to Argos Pelasgus received her into his house, and that Chrysanthis, knowing of the rape of Proserpine, informed her of it: and afterwards Trochilus the initiating priest fled they say from Argos in consequence of the hatred of Agenor, and came to Attica, and there married a wife from Eleusis, and had children by her, Eubules and Triptolemus. This is the account of the Argives. But the Athenians and neighbouring tribes know that Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, was the first who sowed corn in the fields. And it is sung by Musæus, (if indeed the lines are by Musæus), that Triptolemus was the son of Ocean and Earth, and it is sung by Orpheus, (if these lines again are by Orpheus, which I doubt), that Dysaules was the father of Eubules and Triptolemus, and that Demeter taught them how to sow corn because they had given her information about the rape of her daughter. But the Athenian Chœrilus, in the play called “Alope,” says that Cercyon and Triptolemus were brothers, that their mother was a daughter of Amphictyon, and that the father of Triptolemus was Rharus, and the father of Cercyon Poseidon. And as I was intending to go further into the account, and narrate all things appertaining to the temple at Athens called the Eleusinium, a vision in the night checked me: but what it is lawful for me to write for everybody, to this I will turn. In front of this temple, where is also a statue of Triptolemus, there is a brazen bull being led to sacrifice, and Epimenides the Gnossian is pourtrayed in a sitting posture, who is recorded to have gone into a field and entered into a cave and slept there, and woke not from that sleep till forty years had rolled by, and afterwards wrote epic poems and visited Athens and other cities. And Thales, who stopped the plague at Lacedæmon, was no relation of his, nor of the same city as Epimenides: for the latter was a Gnossian, whereas Thales is declared to have been a Gortynian by the Colyphonian Polymnastus, who wrote a poem on him for the Lacedæmonians. And a little further is the temple of Euclea, (Fair Fame), a votive offering for the victory over the Persians at Marathon. And I think the Athenians prided themselves not a little on this victory: Æschylus, at any rate, on his death-bed, remembered none of his other exploits, though he was so remarkable as a Dramatist and had fought both at Artemisium and Salamis: and he wrote in the Poem he then composed his own name and the name of his city, and that he had as witnesses of his prowess the grove at Marathon and the Persians who landed there.

And beyond the Ceramicus and the portico called The Royal Portico is a temple of Hephæstus, and that a statue of Athene was placed in it I was not at all surprised at when I remembered the story about Erichthonius. But seeing that the statue of Athene had grey eyes, I found that this was a legend of the Libyans, who record that she was the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian Marsh, and that therefore her eyes were grey as those of Poseidon. And near is a temple of Celestial Aphrodite, who was first worshipped by the Assyrians, and after them by the Paphians of Cyprus, and by the Phœnicians who dwell at Ascalon in Palestine. And from the Phœnicians the people of Cythera learned her worship. And among the Athenians her worship was instituted by Ægeus, thinking that he had no children, (for he had none then), and that his sisters were unfortunate, owing to the wrath of the Celestial One. And her statue is still among us of Parian stone, the design of Phidias. And the Athenians have a township of the Athmoneans, who say that Porphyrion, who reigned even before Actæus, erected among them a temple to the Celestial Aphrodite. But the traditions of townships and the dwellers in cities are widely different.

CHAPTER XV.

And as one goes into the portico, which they call The Painted Chamber from the paintings, there is a brazen statue of Hermes of the Market-Place, and a gate near, and by it is a trophy of the Athenians who overcame Plistarchus in a cavalry engagement, who, being the brother of Cassander, had brought his cavalry and a foreign force against them. Now, this portico has first the Athenians drawn up in battle array, at Œnoe in Argive territory, against the Lacedæmonians: and it is painted not in the height of the action, nor when the time had come for the display of reckless valour in the heady fight, but at the commencement of the engagement, and when they were just coming to blows. And in the middle of the walls are painted the Athenians and Theseus fighting with the Amazons. Now these are the only women as it seems from whom reverses in war did not take away a relish for danger; for after the capture of Themiscyra by Hercules, and later on after the destruction of the army which they sent against Athens, they yet went to Ilium and fought with the Athenians and other Greeks. And next to the Amazons you may see painted the Greeks at the capture of Ilium, and the kings gathered together on account of Ajax’s violence to Cassandra: and the painting has Ajax himself, and Cassandra among the other captive women. And at the end of the painting are the Greeks that fought at Marathon, of the Bœotians the Platæans, and all the Attic contingent are marching against the barbarians. And in this part of the painting the valour is equal on both sides, but in the middle of the battle the barbarians are fleeing and pushing one another into the marsh. And at the end of this painting are the Phœnician ships, and the Greeks slaying the barbarians who are trying to get on board. Here too is a painting of the hero Marathon from whom the plain is named, and Theseus in the guise of putting out to sea, and Athene and Hercules: for by the people of Marathon first, as they themselves allege, was Hercules considered a god. And of the combatants there stand out most plainly in the painting Callimachus, who was chosen by the Athenians as Polemarch, and Miltiades, one of the generals, and the hero who was called Echetlus, of whom I shall make mention hereafter. Here also are fixed up brazen shields, and these have an inscription that they are from the Scionæans and their allies, and others smeared over with pitch, that neither time nor rust should hurt them, are said to have belonged to the Lacedæmonians who were captured in the island of Sphacteria.

CHAPTER XVI.

And before the portico are brazen statues of Solon, the Athenian legislator, and a little further Seleucus, to whom came beforehand clear indications of his future prosperity. For when he started from Macedonia with Alexander, as he was sacrificing to Zeus at Pella, the wood laid on the altar moved to the statue of the god of its own accord, and burst into a blaze without fire. And on the death of Alexander Seleucus, fearing the arrival of Antigonus at Babylon, fled to Ptolemy the son of Lagus, but returned some time after to Babylon, and on his return defeated the army of Antigonus and slew Antigonus himself, and afterwards captured Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who came against him with an army. And as all these things succeeded with him, and not long after the power of Lysimachus collapsed, he handed over all his power in Asia Minor to his son Antiochus, and himself hurried into Macedonia, and took with him an army of Greeks and barbarians. But Ptolemy the brother of Lysandra, who had fled to Seleucus from Lysimachus, and who was generally speaking a very bold and daring fellow and on that account called Lightning, when the army of Seleucus reached Lysimachia privately slew Seleucus, and, allowing the other kings to take Seleucus’ money, became king of Macedonia, until venturing first of all the kings we know to fight against the Galati, he was killed by the barbarians, and Antigonus the son of Demetrius recovered the kingdom. And Seleucus, I am persuaded, was an especially upright king, pious and religious. I infer this partly because he restored to the Milesians at Branchidæ the brazen Apollo, that had been carried away to Ecbatana in Persia by Xerxes; and partly because, when he built Seleucia on the river Tigris and introduced Babylonians to dwell there, he destroyed neither the wall of Babylon nor the temple of Bel, but allowed the Chaldæans to dwell in its vicinity.

CHAPTER XVII.

And the Athenians have in the market-place among other things not universally notable an altar of Mercy, to whom, though most useful of all the gods to the life of man and its vicissitudes, the Athenians alone of all the Greeks assign honours. And not only is philanthropy more regarded among them; but they also exhibit more piety to the gods than others. For they have also an altar to Shame, and Rumour, and Energy. And it is clear that those people who have a larger share of piety than others have also a larger share of good fortune. And in the gymnasium of the market-place, which is not far off and is called after Ptolemy because he established it, are Hermæ in stone worth seeing, and a brazen statue of Ptolemy; and the Libyan Juba is here, and Chrysippus of Soli. And near the gymnasium is a temple of Theseus, where are paintings of the Athenians fighting against the Amazons. And this war has also been represented on the shield of Athene, and on the base of Olympian Zeus. And in the temple of Theseus is also painted the fight between the Centaurs and Lapithæ. Theseus is represented as just having slain a Centaur, but with all the rest in the picture the fight seems to be on equal terms. But the painting on the third wall is not clear to those who do not know the story, partly as the painting has faded from age, partly because Micon has not pourtrayed the whole story. When Minos took Theseus and the rest of the band of boys to Crete, he was enamoured of Peribœa, and when Theseus was very opposed to this, he in his rage among other sarcasms that he hurled against him said that he was not the son of Poseidon, for if he threw the ring which he chanced to be wearing into the sea he could not get it again, Minos is said at once to have thrown the ring into the sea when he had said this. And they say that Theseus jumped into the sea and came up with the ring and a golden crown, the gift of Amphitrite. And as to the death of Theseus many varying accounts have been given. For they say that he was once bound by Pluto until he was liberated by Hercules. But the most credible account I have heard is that Theseus having invaded Thesprotia, intending to carry off the wife of the king of the country, lost the greater part of his army, and himself and Pirithous were taken prisoners, (for Pirithous also came on the expedition marriage-hunting), and confined by the king of Thesprotia at Cichyrus.

Now among other things worth seeing in Thesprotia are the temple of Zeus at Dodona, and a beech-tree sacred to the god. And near Cichyrus there is a marsh called Acherusia and the river Acheron, and there too flows Cocytus with most unpleasant stream. And I fancy that Homer, having seen these, ventured to introduce them in his account of the rivers of Hades, and to borrow his names from these rivers in Thesprotia. However that may be, Theseus being detained there, the sons of Tyndarus led an expedition to Aphidna, and captured it, and restored Menestheus to the kingdom. And Menestheus paid no attention to the sons of Theseus, who had gone to Eubœa for shelter to Elephenor; but as to Theseus himself, thinking he would be a dangerous adversary if ever he returned from Thesprotia, he coaxed the people so that if Theseus ever returned he would be sent back again. Accordingly Theseus was sent to Crete to Deucalion, and being carried out of his way by storms to the island Scyrus, the Scyrians gave him a brilliant reception, both for the splendour of his race and the renown of his exploits; and it was owing to this that Lycomedes planned his death. And the shrine of Theseus at Athens was after the time that the Persians were at Marathon, for it was Miltiades’ son, Cimon, that drove out the inhabitants of Scyrus to revenge the hero’s death, and that conveyed his bones to Athens.