[136] Thus we read in Homer (Od. VII. 84-87):
῞Ὡστε γὰρ ἠελίου αἴγλη πέλεν ἠὲ σελήνης,
Δῶμα καθ᾽ ὑψερεφὲς μεγαλήτορος ᾿Αλκινόοιο,
Χάλκεοι μὲν γὰρ τοῖχοι ἐρηρέδατ᾿ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα,
᾽Ες μυχὸν ἐξ οὐδοῦ· περὶ δὲ θριγκὸς κυάνοιο.
"Like the sun or the moon beam in bright splendour, so beamed the high palace of the magnanimous Alcinoüs; for the brazen walls extended from the threshold of the gate to the innermost part of the building; their entablature was of blue steel."
Further the palaces of the immortal gods on Olympus must have been thought to be also ornamented with brazen plates, because Homer says (Iliad, I. 426): Διὸς ποτὶ χαλκοβατὲς δῶ, "To the brazen house of Jove."
We also read in Pausanias (II. 23):
῎Αλλα δέ ἐστιν ᾽Αργείοις θέας ἄξια · κατάγαιον οἰκοδόμημα, ἐπ᾽ αὺτο δὲ ἦν ὁ χαλκοῦς θάλαμος, ὃν ᾽Ακρίσιός ποτε φρουρὰν τῆς θυγατρὸς ἐποίησεν. Περίλαος δὲ καθεῖλεν αὐτὸν τυραννήσας · τοῦτό τε οὖν τὸ οἰκοδόμημά ἐστι. "In Argos there are still other remarkable objects: a subterranean vault, over which was the brazen chamber which Acrisius made for his daughter (Danaë's) prison; it was destroyed under the dominion of Perilaüs, but the building still exists."
Further in Horace (Carm. III. 16):