BOHN’S CLASSICAL LIBRARY.

PAUSANIAS’ DESCRIPTION OF GREECE.

PAUSANIAS’
DESCRIPTION OF GREECE,

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

WITH NOTES AND INDEX

BY ARTHUR RICHARD SHILLETO, M.A.,

Sometime Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge.

VOLUME I.

“Pausanias est un homme qui ne manque ni de bon sens ni de bonne foi, mais qui croit ou au moins voudrait croire à ses dieux.” —Champagny.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS,
YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1886.

CHISWICK PRESS:—C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

PREFACE.

Of Pausanias personally we know very little, but that he lived during the Reign of the Antonines, and travelled all round Greece, and wrote his famous Tour round Greece, or Description of Greece, in 10 Books, describing what he had seen and heard. His chief merit is his showing to us the state of the works of art still remaining in his day in the Greek cities, which have since been swept away by the various invasions that have devastated that once happy land. “When Pausanias travelled through Greece, during the age of the Antonines, about 1690 years ago, he found every city teeming with life and refinement; every Temple a Museum of Art; and every spot hallowed by some tradition which contributed to its preservation. The ruthless destruction of these works of art, in subsequent ages, has reduced them to a small number; and the Traveller now pauses, with a melancholy interest, to reflect upon the objects described by Pausanias, but which no longer exist.”[1]

Pausanias’ Description of Greece is also full of various information on many topics. It is for example a mine of Mythology. For its various matter it has been happily compared to a “County History.” There is often a quiet vein of humour in Pausanias, who seems to have been almost equally a believer in Providence and in Homer.

I have translated from Schubart’s Text in the Teubner Series, (1875), but have taken the liberty always, where the text seemed hopeless, to adopt a reading that seemed preferable from any other source. I have constantly had before me the valuable edition of Siebelis, (Lipsiæ, 1827), to whom I am much indebted, especially for his Illustrations, still veracity obliges me to state that occasionally he too gives one reason to remember the famous lines of a well-known Rector of Welwyn in the Eighteenth Century.

“The commentators each dark passage shun,

And hold their farthing candle to the Sun.”

In the Index it is hardly necessary to state that I owe much to Schubart.

Cambridge,
May, 1886.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] George Scharf, Esq., F.S.A. 1859. Wordsworth’s Greece, p. 1.

CONTENTS.

PAUSANIAS.

BOOK I.—ATTICA.

CHAPTER I.

On the mainland of Greece, facing the islands called the Cyclades and the Ægean sea, the promontory of Sunium stands out on Attic soil: and there is a harbour for any one coasting along the headland, and a temple of Athene of Sunium on the summit of the height. And as one sails on is Laurium, where the Athenians formerly had silver mines, and a desert island of no great size called after Patroclus; for he had built a wall in it and laid a palisade, when he sailed as admiral in the Egyptian triremes, which Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, sent to punish the Athenians, Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, in person making a raid into their territory with a land force and ravaging it, and the fleet simultaneously hemming them in by sea. Now the Piræus was a township in ancient times, but was not a port until Themistocles ruled the Athenians; but their port was Phalerum, (for here the sea is nearest to Athens), and they say that it was from thence that Menestheus sailed with the ships to Troy, and before him Theseus to exact vengeance from Minos for the death of Androgeos. But when Themistocles was in power, because the Piræus appeared to him to be more convenient as a harbour, and it was certainly better to have three harbours than one as at Phalerum, he made this the port. And even up to my time there were stations for ships, and at the largest of the three harbours the tomb of Themistocles; for they say that the Athenians repented of their conduct to him, and that his relatives exhumed his remains and brought them home from Magnesia. Certain it is that the sons of Themistocles returned from exile, and hung up a painting of Themistocles in the Parthenon. Now of all the things in the Piræus best worth seeing is the temple of Athene and Zeus; both their statues are of gold, and Zeus has a sceptre and Victory, while Athene is armed with a spear. Here, too, is a painting by Arcesilaus of Leosthenes and his sons, that famous hero who at the head of the Athenians and all the Greeks defeated the Macedonians in battle in Bœotia, and again beyond Thermopylæ, and drove them into Lamia over against Mount Œta and shut them up there. And it is in the long portico, where those near the sea have their market, (for there is another market for those more inland), and in the back of the portico near the sea are statues of Zeus and Demos, the design of Leochares. And near the sea is a temple erected to Aphrodite by Conon, after his victory over the Lacedæmonian fleet off Cnidus in the peninsula of Caria. For Aphrodite is the tutelary saint of the men of Cnidus, and they have several temples of the goddess; the most ancient celebrates her as Doritis, the next in date as Acræa, and latest of all that which everybody else calls Athene of Cnidus, but the Cnidians themselves call it Athene of the Fair Voyage.

The Athenians have also another harbour at Munychia, and a temple of Artemis of Munychia, and another at Phalerum, as has been stated by me before, and near it a temple of Demeter. Here too is a temple of Sciradian Athene, and of Zeus at a little distance, and altars of gods called unknown, and of heroes, and of the children of Theseus and Phalerus; for this Phalerus, the Athenians say, sailed with Jason to Colchis. There is also an altar of Androgeos the son of Minos, though it is only called altar of a hero, but those who take pains to know more accurately than others their country’s antiquities are well aware that it is the altar of Androgeos. And twenty stades[2] further is the promontory Colias; when the fleet of the Persians was destroyed the tide dashed the wrecks against it. There is here also a statue of Aphrodite of Colias and the goddesses who are called Genetyllides. I am of opinion that the Phocian goddesses in Ionia, that they call by the name of Gennaides, are the same as these at Colias called Genetyllides. And there is on the road to Athens from Phalerum a temple of Hera without doors or roof; they say that Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, burnt it. But the statue there now is (as they say) the work of Alcamenes; this, indeed, the Persian cannot have touched.

CHAPTER II.

As one enters into the city there is a monument of Antiope the Amazon. Pindar says that this Antiope was carried off by Pirithous and Theseus, but the account by Hegias of Trœzen is as follows: that Hercules besieging Themiscyra near the river Thermodon could not take it; but that Antiope being enamoured of Theseus, (who was besieging the place with Hercules), handed the place over to him. This is the account Hegias has given. But the Athenians say that, when the Amazons came, Antiope was shot by Molpadia with an arrow, and that Molpadia was slain by Theseus. There is a monument also to Molpadia among the Athenians. And as one ascends from the Piræus there are remains of the walls which Conon re-erected after the sea-fight off Cnidus; for those which Themistocles had built after the defeat of the Persians had been pulled down during the rule of The Thirty Tyrants, as they were called. And along the way the most notable tombs are those of Menander the son of Diopeithes, and a cenotaph of Euripides without the body. For Euripides was buried in Macedonia, having gone to the court of King Archelaus; and the manner of his death, for it has been told by many, let it be as they say. Poets even in those days lived with kings and earlier still, for when Polycrates was tyrant at Samos Anacreon lived at his court, and Æschylus and Simonides journeyed to Syracuse to the court of Hiero; and to Dionysius, who was afterwards tyrant in Sicily, went Philoxenus; and to Antigonus, king of the Macedonians, went Antagoras of Rhodes and Aratus of Soli. On the other hand Hesiod and Homer either did not get the chance of living at kings’ courts, or of their own accord didn’t value it, the former because he lived in the country and shrank from travelling, and the latter, having gone on his travels to very distant parts, depreciated pecuniary assistance from the powerful in comparison with the glory he had amongst most men, for from him too we have the description of Demodocus’ being at the court of Alcinous, and that Agamemnon left a poet with his wife. There is also a tomb not far from the gates, with the statue of a soldier standing near a horse; who the soldier is I don’t know, but Praxiteles modelled both the horse and the soldier.

As one enters into the city there is a building for the getting ready of processions, which they conduct some annually, some at various intervals. And near is the temple of Demeter, and the statues in it are her and her daughter and Iacchus with a torch; and it is written on the wall in Attic letters that they are the production of Praxiteles. And not far from this temple is Poseidon on horseback, in the act of hurling his spear at the giant Polybotes, in respect to whom there is a story among the Coans as to the promontory of Chelone; but the inscription of our days assigns the statue to another and not to Poseidon. And there are porticoes from the gates to the Ceramicus, and in front of them brazen statues of women and men who have obtained some celebrity. And one of the porticoes has not only shrines of the gods, but also what is called the gymnasium of Hermes; and there is in it the house of Polytion, in which they say the most notable of the Athenians imitated the Eleusinian mysteries. But in my time it was consecrated to Dionysus. And this Dionysus they call Melpomenos for the same reason that they call Apollo Musagetes. Here are statues of Pæonian Athene and Zeus and Mnemosyne and the Muses, and Apollo (the votive offering and work of Eubulides), and Acratus a satellite of Dionysus: his face alone is worked in the wall. And next to the shrine of Dionysus is a room with statues of earthenware, Amphictyon the king of the Athenians feasting Dionysus and all the other gods. Here too is Pegasus Eleutherensis, who introduced Dionysus to the Athenians; and he was assisted by the oracle at Delphi, which foretold that the god would come and settle there in the days of Icarius. And this is the way Amphictyon got the kingdom. They say that Actæus was first king of what is now Attica; and on his death Cecrops succeeded to the kingdom having married Actæus’ daughter, and he had three daughters, Erse, and Aglaurus, and Pandrosus, and one son, Erysichthon. He never reigned over the Athenians, for he chanced to die in his father’s lifetime, and the kingdom of Cecrops fell to Cranaus, the foremost of the Athenians in power and influence. And they say that Cranaus had among other daughters Atthis; from her they named the country Attica, which was before called Actæa. And Amphictyon rose up in insurrection against Cranaus, although he was married to his daughter, and deposed him from the kingdom; but was himself afterwards ejected by Erichthonius and his fellow conspirators. And they say that Erichthonius had no mortal father, but that his parents were Hephæstus and Mother Earth.

CHAPTER III.

Now the place Ceramicus gets its name from the hero Ceramus, he too reputed to be the son of Dionysus and Ariadne; and the first portico on the right is called the royal portico, for there the king sits during his yearly office which is called kingdom. On the roof of this portico are statues of earthenware, Theseus hurling Sciron into the sea, and Aurora carrying off Cephalus, who, being most handsome, was, they say, carried off by enamoured Aurora, and his son was Phaethon. And he made him sacristan of the temple. All this has been told by others, and by Hesiod in his poem about women. And near the portico are statues of Conon and his son Timotheus, and Evagoras, the king of the Cyprians, who got the Phœnician triremes given to Conon by King Artaxerxes; and he acted as an Athenian and one who had ancestral connection with Salamis, for his pedigree went up to Teucer and the daughter of Cinyras. Here too are statues of Zeus, surnamed Eleutherius, and the Emperor Adrian, a benefactor to all the people he ruled over, and especially to the city of the Athenians. And the portico built behind has paintings of the so-called twelve gods. And Democracy and Demos and Theseus are painted on the wall beyond. The painting represents Theseus restoring to the Athenians political equality. The popular belief has prevailed almost universally that Theseus played into the hands of the people, and that from his time they remained under a democratical government, till Pisistratus rose up and became tyrant. There are other untrue traditions current among the mass of mankind, who have no research and take for gospel all they heard as children in the choruses and tragedies. One such tradition is that Theseus himself was king, and that after the death of Menestheus his descendants continued kings even to the fourth generation. But if I had a fancy for genealogies, I should certainly have enumerated all the kings from Melanthus to Cleidicus the son of Æsimidas as well as these.

Here too is painted the action of the Athenians at Mantinea, who were sent to aid the Lacedæmonians. Xenophon and others have written the history of the entire war, the occupation of Cadmeia, and the slaughter of the Lacedæmonians at Leuctra, and how the Bœotians made a raid into the Peloponnese, and of the help that came to the Lacedæmonians from the Athenians. And in the picture is the cavalry charge, the most noted officers in which were on the Athenian side Gryllus, the son of Xenophon, and in the Bœotian cavalry Epaminondas the Theban. These paintings were painted for the Athenians by Euphranor, and in the temple hard by he represented Apollo under the name Patrous. And in front of the temple Leochares represented another Apollo, and Calamis the Apollo who is called Averter of Evil. And they say the god got this name by stopping from his oracle at Delphi the noisome pestilence, that smote them at the same time as the Peloponnesian war. There is also a temple to the Mother of the Gods wrought by Phidias, and next to it a council chamber for those who are called The Five Hundred, who are appointed annually. And in the council chamber are erected statues to Zeus the Counsellor, and to Apollo (the artistic design of Pisias), and to Demos (the work of Lyson). And the legislators were painted by the Caunian Protogenes, but Olbiades painted Callippus, who led the Athenians to Thermopylæ to prevent the invasion of the Galati into Greece.

CHAPTER IV.

Now these Galati inhabit the remotest parts of Europe, near a mighty sea, not navigable where they live: it has tides and breakers and sea monsters quite unlike those in any other sea: and through their territory flows the river Eridanus, by whose banks people think the daughters of the sun lament the fate of their brother Phaethon. And it is only of late that the name Galati has prevailed among them: for originally they were called Celts both by themselves and by all other nations. And an army gathered together by them marched towards the Ionian Sea, and dispossessed all the nations of Illyria and all that dwelt between them and the Macedonians, and even the Macedonians themselves, and overran Thessaly. And when they got near to Thermopylæ, most of the Greeks did not interfere with their onward march, remembering how badly handled they had formerly been by Alexander and Philip, and how subsequently Antipater and Cassander had nearly ruined Greece; so that, on account of their weakness, they did not consider it disgraceful individually that a general defence should be abandoned. But the Athenians, although they had suffered more than any other of the Greeks during the long Macedonian war, and had had great losses in battles, yet resolved to go forth to Thermopylæ with those of the Greeks who volunteered, having chosen this Callippus as their General. And having occupied the narrowest pass they endeavoured to bar the passage of the barbarians into Greece. But the Celts having discovered the same defile by which Ephialtes the Trachinian had formerly conducted the Persians, and having routed those of the Phocians who were posted there in battle array, crossed Mount Œta unbeknown to the Greeks. Then it was that the Athenians displayed themselves to the Greeks as most worthy, by their brave defence against the barbarians, being taken both in front and flank. But those suffered most that were in their ships, inasmuch as the Lamiac Gulf was full of mud near Thermopylæ; the explanation is, as it seems to me, that here warm springs have their outlet into the sea. Here therefore they suffered much. For, having taken on board their comrades, they were obliged to sail over mud in vessels heavy with men and armour. Thus did the Athenians endeavour to save the Greeks in the manner I have described. But the Galati having got inside Pylæ, and not caring to take the other fortified towns, were most anxious to plunder the treasures of the god at Delphi. And the people of Delphi, and those of the Phocians who dwelt in the cities round Parnassus, drew up in battle array against them. A contingency of the Ætolians also arrived: and you must know that at that era the Ætolians were eminent for manly vigour. And when the armies engaged not only did lightnings dismay the Galati, and fragments of rock coming down on them from Parnassus, but three mighty warriors pressed them hard, two, they say, came from the Hyperboreans, Hyperochus and Amadocus, and the third was Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. And in consequence of this aid the Delphians offer sacrifice to Pyrrhus, though before they held his tomb in dishonour as that of an enemy. But the greater part of the Galati having crossed into Asia Minor in their ships, ravaged its maritime parts. And some time afterwards the inhabitants of Pergamum, which in old times was called Teuthrania, drove the Galati from the sea into the region now called Galatia. They lived in the region east of the river Sangarius, having captured Ancyra, a city of the Phrygians which Midas the son of Gordias had formerly built. And the anchor which Midas found was still, even in my time, in the temple of Zeus, and the well shown which was called Midas’ well: which Midas, they say, poured wine into that he might capture Silenus. As well as Ancyra they captured Pessinus near the mountain Agdistis, where they say Atte was buried. And the people of Pergamum have spoils of the Galati, and there is a painting of their action with the Galati. And the region which the people of Pergamum inhabit was in old times, they say, sacred to the Cabiri. And they claim to be Arcadians who crossed over with Telephus into Asia Minor. Of their other wars, if they fought any, the fame has not universally spread: but three most notable exploits have been performed by them, their gaining dominion over the southern part of Asia Minor, and their expulsion of the Galati from thence, and their venture under Telephus against the forces of Agamemnon, when the Greeks, unable to find Ilium, ravaged the Mysian plain, thinking it was Trojan territory. But I return to where I made my digression from.

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.

And in the theatre, which they call Odeum, there are statues, in the entrance, of the Egyptian kings. Their names are all Ptolemy alike, but each has another distinguishing name also. Thus they call one Philometor, and another Philadelphus, and the son of Lagus Soter, a name the Rhodians gave him. Philadelphus is the one whom I have before made mention of as one of the Eponymi. And near him is also a statue of his sister Arsinoe.

CHAPTER IX.

Now the Ptolemy called Philometor is the eighth in descent from Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and he got his name in irony; for none of these kings that we know of was so hated by their mother as he was; for though he was the eldest of her sons she would not allow them to call him to the kingdom, but got him banished to Cyprus by his father previously. Now of this dislike of Cleopatra to her son they allege other motives, but especially this one, that she thought Alexander, the younger of her sons, would be more obsequious to her. And therefore she urged the Egyptians to choose Alexander for their king. And when the people opposed her in this, she sent Alexander to Cyprus, nominally as general, but really because she wished through him to make herself more formidable to Philometor. And at last having mutilated those of the eunuchs whom she thought most friendly, she brought them before the populace, and pretended that she was plotted against by Philometor, and that the eunuchs had been treated in that shameful manner by him. And the Alexandrians were eager to kill Philometor, but, as he got on shipboard and escaped them, they made Alexander king on his return from Cyprus. But Cleopatra was punished eventually for her getting Philometor banished by being slain by Alexander, whom she had got appointed king over the Egyptians. And the crime being detected, and Alexander fleeing from fear of the citizens, Philometor quietly returned from exile and a second time held Egypt, and warred against the Thebans who had revolted. And having reduced them in the third year after the revolt, he punished them so severely that there was no vestige left them of their ancient prosperity, which had reached such a pitch that they excelled in wealth the wealthiest of the Greeks, even the treasures of the temple at Delphi and the Orchomenians. And Philometor not long after meeting the common fate, the Athenians who had been well treated by him in many respects that I need not enumerate, erected a brazen statue both of him and Berenice, his only legitimate child. And next to the Egyptian kings are statues of Philip and his son Alexander. They performed greater exploits than to be mere appendages to an account of something else. To the other Egyptian kings gifts were given as being of real merit and benefactors, but to Philip and Alexander more, from the flattery of the community towards them, for they also honoured Lysimachus by a statue, not so much out of good will as thinking him useful under existing circumstances.

Now this Lysimachus was by birth a Macedonian and the armour-bearer of Alexander, whom Alexander once in anger shut up in a building with a lion and found him victorious over the beast. In all other respects he continued to admire him, and held him in honour as among the foremost of the Macedonians. And after Alexander’s death Lysimachus ruled over those Thracians who were contiguous to the Macedonians, over whom Alexander had ruled, and still earlier Philip. And these would be no very great portion of Thrace. Now no nations are more populous than all the Thracians, except the Celts, if one compares one race with another; and that is why none of the Romans ever subdued all Thrace at an earlier period. But all Thrace is now subject to the Romans, and as much of the Celtic land as they think useless from the excessive cold and inferiority of the soil has been purposely overlooked by them, but the valuable parts they stick to. Now Lysimachus at this period fought with the Odrysæ first of all his neighbours, and next went on an expedition against Dromichetes and the Getæ. And fighting with men not inexperienced in war, and in number far superior, he himself getting into the greatest danger, fled for his life; and his son Agathocles, now first accompanying his father on campaign, was captured by the Getæ. And Lysimachus after this, being unfortunate in battles and being greatly concerned at the capture of his son, made a peace with Dromichetes, abandoning to Getes his possessions across the Ister, and giving him his daughter in marriage, more of necessity than choice. But some say that it was not Agathocles who was captured, but Lysimachus himself, and that he was ransomed by Agathocles negotiating with Getes on his account. And when he returned he brought with him for Agathocles a wife in Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy Lagus and Eurydice. And he crossed over into Asia Minor in his fleet, and destroyed the rule of Antigonus. And he built the present city of the Ephesians near the sea, bringing into it as settlers Lebedians and Colophonians, after destroying their cities, so that Phœnix, the Iambic writer, laments the capture of Colophon. Hermesianax, the Elegiac writer, could not have lived, it seems to me, up to this date; for else he would surely have written an elegy over the capture of Colophon. Lysimachus also waged war against Pyrrhus the son of Æacides. And watching for his departure from Epirus, as indeed he was wandering most of his time, he ravaged all the rest of Epirus, and even meddled with the tombs of the kings. I can scarce believe it, but Hieronymus of Cardia has recorded that Lysimachus took up the tombs of the dead and strewed the bones about. But this Hieronymus has the reputation even on other grounds of having written with hostility against all the kings except Antigonus, and of not having been altogether just even to him. And in this account of the tombs in Epirus he clearly must have invented the calumny, that a Macedonian would interfere with the tombs of the dead. And besides it appears that Lysimachus did not know that the people of Epirus were not only the ancestors of Pyrrhus but also of Alexander; for Alexander was not only a native of Epirus, but on his mother’s side one of the Æacidæ. And the subsequent alliance between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus proves that if they did fight together there was no irreconcilable animosity between them. But perhaps Hieronymus had other causes of complaint against Lysimachus besides the chief one that he destroyed the city of Cardia, and built instead of it Lysimachia on the Isthmus of the Thracian Chersonese.

CHAPTER X.

Now as long as Aridæus, and after him Cassander and his sons, ruled, there was friendship between Lysimachus and the Macedonians; but when the kingdom came to Demetrius the son of Antigonus, then at once Lysimachus thought war would be waged against him by Demetrius, and preferred to take the initiative himself, knowing that it was a family tradition with Demetrius to wish to be grasping something, and at the same time observing that he had come to Macedonia on being sent for by Alexander the son of Cassander, and on his arrival had killed Alexander and taken in his stead the kingdom of the Macedonians. For these reasons he fought with Demetrius at Amphipolis and was within an ace of being ejected from Thrace, but through the help of Pyrrhus he retained Thrace and afterwards ruled the Nestians and Macedonians also. But the greater part of Macedonia Pyrrhus kept for himself, coming with a force from Epirus and being useful to Lysimachus at that time. But when Demetrius crossed over into Asia Minor and fought with Seleucus, as long as the fortunes of Demetrius lasted the alliance between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus remained unbroken; but when Demetrius got into the power of Seleucus the friendship was dissolved, and Lysimachus fought with Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, and with Pyrrhus himself, and was easily victorious and got Macedonia and compelled Pyrrhus to return to Epirus. Now many misfortunes are wont to come on men through love. For Lysimachus being already advanced in age, and being reputed fortunate in respect to his offspring, and although his son Agathocles had children by Lysandra, yet married Arsinoe Lysandra’s sister. And it is said that this Arsinoe, fearing for her children that after the death of Lysimachus they would be in the hands of Agathocles, for these reasons conspired against Agathocles. And some writers have alleged that Arsinoe was violently in love with Agathocles, but being disappointed in this plotted his death. And they say that afterwards Lysimachus came to know of the awful doings of his wife, when it was too late to be of any service to him, being entirely deprived of his friends. For when Lysimachus permitted Arsinoe to put Agathocles to death, Lysandra fled to Seleucus, taking with her her sons and brothers, and in consequence of what had happened they fled for refuge to Ptolemy. And these fugitives to the court of Seleucus were accompanied by Alexander also, the son of Lysimachus by his wife Odrysiades. And they, having got to Babylon, besought Seleucus to go to war with Lysimachus; and Philetærus at the same time, who had had all the money of Lysimachus entrusted to him, indignant at the death of Agathocles and thinking the conduct of Arsinoe suspicious, occupied Pergamum beyond the river Caicus, and sent an envoy and offered himself and his money to Seleucus. And Lysimachus, learning all this, crossed into Asia Minor forthwith, and himself began the war, and encountering Seleucus was badly beaten and himself killed. And Alexander, who was his son by his wife Odrysiades, after much entreaty to Lysandra recovered his corpse, and subsequently conveyed it to the Chersonese and buried it there, where even now his tomb is to be seen, between the village Cardia and Pactye. Such was the fate of Lysimachus.

CHAPTER XI.

The Athenians also have a statue of Pyrrhus. This Pyrrhus was only related to Alexander by ancestry. For Pyrrhus was the son of Æacides the son of Arybbas, whereas Alexander was the son of Olympias the daughter of Neoptolemus. Now, Neoptolemus and Arybbas had the same father, Alcetas the son of Tharypus. And from Tharypus to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, are fifteen generations. For he first, after the capture of Ilium, neglected, returning home to Thessaly, and removed to Epirus and dwelt there in accordance with the oracles of Helenus. And he had no son by Hermione, but by Andromache he had Molossus and Pielus and the youngest Pergamus. And Helenus also had a son Cestrinus by Andromache, whom he married after the death of Pyrrhus at Delphi. And when Helenus died having handed over the kingdom to Molossus the son of Pyrrhus, Cestrinus with the Epirotes who volunteered to go with him occupied the region across the river Thyamis, and Pergamus, crossing into Asia Minor, killed Arius the king of Teuthrania in single combat for the sovereignty of the country, and gave the city his own name, which it now has. There is also to this day a temple of Andromache, who accompanied him, in the city. But Pielus remained at home in Epirus, and it was to him and not to Molossus that Pyrrhus the son of Æacides and his fathers traced up their ancestry. Now up to the days of Alcetas the son of Tharypus Epirus was under one king; but the sons of Alcetas after some quarrelling changed the government to an equal share for each, and remained loyal to that agreement; and afterwards Alexander the son of Neoptolemus died in Lucania, and Olympias returned to Epirus from fear of Antipater, and Æacides, the son of Arybbas, in all respects remained loyal to Olympias, and even joined her in fighting against Aridæus and the Macedonians, though the people of Epirus were unwilling to enter into it. But as Olympias, when she conquered, had acted infamously in connection with the death of Aridæus, and far more so to the Macedonians, and consequently was thought afterwards to have only met with her deserts from Cassander, the Epirotes would not receive Æacides for a time owing to their hostility against Olympias; and when he obtained pardon from them some time after Cassander again prevented his return to Epirus. And a battle being fought between Philip (the brother of Cassander) and Æacides at Œnidæ, Æacides was wounded and died no long time after. And the people of Epirus made Alcetas king, the son of Arybbas and elder brother of Æacides, a man on previous occasions of ungovernable temper, and for that very reason banished by his father. And now on his arrival he immediately so madly raged against the people of Epirus, that they rose up against him by night and killed him and his sons. And when they had killed him they brought back from exile Pyrrhus the son of Æacides. And immediately on his arrival Cassander marched against him, as being young and not firmly established in the sovereignty. But Pyrrhus, on the invasion of the Macedonians, went to Egypt to Ptolemy the son of Lagus; and Ptolemy gave him as wife the uterine sister of his own children, and restored him with a force of Egyptians. And Pyrrhus, on becoming king, attacked the Corcyræans first of the Greeks, seeing that the island of Corcyra lay opposite to his own territory, and not wishing it to be a base for operations against him. And after the capture of Corcyra all the defeats he met with fighting against Lysimachus, and how after he had driven Demetrius out of Macedonia he ruled there until he in turn was ejected by Lysimachus,—all these, the most important events at that time in Pyrrhus’ life, have been already narrated by me in connection with Lysimachus. And we know of no Greek before Pyrrhus that warred with the Romans. For there is no record of any engagement between Æneas and Diomede and the Argives with him; and the Athenians, who were very ambitious and desired to reduce all Italy, were prevented by the disaster at Syracuse from attacking the Romans; and Alexander the son of Neoptolemus, of the same race as Pyrrhus but older in age, was prevented by his death in Lucania from coming to blows with the Romans.

CHAPTER XII.

So Pyrrhus is the first that crossed the Ionian Sea from Greece to fight against the Romans. And he crossed at the invitation of the people of Tarentum, who had had earlier than this a war of long standing with the Romans: and being unable to resist them by themselves, (and they had already done services to Pyrrhus, for they had aided him with their fleet when he was warring against Corcyra), their envoys won Pyrrhus over, giving him to understand that it would be for the happiness of all Greece, and that it would not be honourable for him to leave them in the lurch, inasmuch as they were friends and on the present occasion suppliants. And as the envoys urged these things, the remembrance of the capture of Ilium came to Pyrrhus, and he hoped the same would happen to him: for he, a descendant of Achilles, would be warring against colonies of Trojans. And as the idea pleased him, (and he was not the man to loiter at anything he had a mind for), he forthwith equipped men-of-war and transports and got ready cavalry and infantry to take with him. Now, there are some books written by men not remarkable for historical power still extant, called Commentaries of Events. As often as I read them I am inclined to marvel, not only at the daring of Pyrrhus which he displayed in action, but also at the forethought which he always exhibited. On this occasion he crossed over into Italy in his ships unbeknown to the Romans, and his arrival was unknown to them until, (an attack being made by them upon the people of Tarentum), he first showed himself at the head of his army, and, attacking them contrary to their expectation, threw them into confusion as was only likely. And, knowing full well that he was not a match for the Romans in fighting, he contrived to let loose elephants upon them. Now Alexander was the first European who had elephants, after the conquest of Porus and India: and on his death other European kings had them, and Antigonus a very large quantity of them: and the elephants of Pyrrhus were captured by him in the battle with Demetrius. And now on their appearance a panic seized the Romans, who thought they were something superhuman. For the use of ivory indeed all nations have clearly known from the earliest times; but the animals themselves, until the Macedonians crossed into Asia, no nations had seen at all except the Indians and Libyans and the adjacent nations. And Homer proves this, who has represented the beds and houses of the wealthier of the kings as decked with ivory, but has made no mention whatever of the elephant. And if he had seen or heard of them he would, I think, have recorded them rather than the battle of the Pygmies and cranes. Pyrrhus was also invited into Sicily by an embassy of Syracusans. For the Carthaginians used to cross over and take the Greek cities in Sicily, and Syracuse the only one left they were blockading and besieging. And Pyrrhus, hearing this from the envoys, left Tarentum and the Italians that dwelt on the headland, and crossed over into Sicily and compelled the Carthaginians to raise the siege. And, having overweening self-confidence, he was elated to fight on sea against the Carthaginians, (who were the greatest maritime nation of all the barbarians of that day, having been originally Tyrians and Phœnicians), with the natives of Epirus only, who even after the capture of Ilium were most of them unacquainted with the sea, and knew not the use of salt. As that line of Homer, in the “Odyssey,” bears me out:

“Men who know not the sea, nor eat food seasoned with salt.”[3]

CHAPTER XIII.

Then Pyrrhus, after his defeat, sailed for Tarentum with the remnant of his fleet. There his fortunes suffered great reverses, and he contrived his flight in the following manner, (for he knew that the Romans would not let him go scot-free). On his return from Sicily he first sent letters everywhere to Asia Minor and Antigonus, asking for soldiers from some of the kings and for money from others, and for both from Antigonus. And when the messengers returned and their letters were given to him, he called together a council of the chief men of Epirus and Tarentum, and read none of the letters which he had with him but merely said that aid would come. And quickly a report spread among the Romans, that the Macedonians and other tribes of Asia Minor were going to come over to the help of Pyrrhus. So the Romans when they heard this remained quiet, and Pyrrhus under the shelter of the next night crossed over to the mountains which they call Ceraunia. And after this reverse in Italy he remained quiet with his forces for some time, and then proclaimed war against Antigonus, bringing other charges against him but mainly because he had failed to bring reinforcements to Italy. And having beaten Antigonus’ own troops, and the foreign contingent with him of the Galati, he pursued them to the maritime cities, and became master of Upper Macedonia and Thessaly. And the greatness of the battle and the magnitude of Pyrrhus’ victory are shown by the arms of the Galati hung up in the temple of Athene Itonia between Pheræ and Larissa, and the inscription on them is as follows:

“Molossian Pyrrhus hung up these shields of the brave Galati to Itonian Athene, when he had destroyed all the host of Antigonus. No great wonder. The Æacidæ are warriors now as formerly.”

The shields of the Galati he put here, but those of the Macedonians he hung up to Zeus of the Macedonians at Dodona. And the following is the inscription on them:

“These formerly ravaged the wealthy Asian territory,

These also brought slavery to the Greeks;

But now hang up on the pillars in the house of Zeus

The spoils snatched from boasting Macedonia.”

But Pyrrhus was prevented from overthrowing the Macedonians entirely, though he came within an ace of it, and was only too ready always to seize whatever was at his feet, by Cleonymus. Now this Cleonymus, who had persuaded Pyrrhus to leave Macedonia and come to the Peloponnese, although a Lacedæmonian led a hostile force into the territory of the Lacedæmonians, for the reason which I shall give after his pedigree. Pausanias that led the Greeks at Platæa had a son Pleistoanax, and he a son Pausanias, and he a son Cleombrotus, who fought against Epaminondas and the Thebans, and was killed at Leuctra. And Cleombrotus had two sons Agesipolis and Cleomenes, and the former dying childless Cleomenes had the kingdom. And he had two sons, the elder Acrotatus and the younger Cleonymus. And Acrotatus dying first and after him Cleomenes, there was a dispute who should be king between Acrotatus’ son, Areus, and Cleonymus. And Cleonymus, determined to get the kingdom whether or no, called in Pyrrhus into the country. And the Lacedæmonians before Leuctra had met with no reverse, so that they would not admit they could be conquered by a land army: for in the case of Leonidas they said his followers were not sufficient to completely destroy the Persians, and as for the exploit of Demosthenes and the Athenians at the island of Sphacteria, they said that was a fluke of war and not a genuine victory. But after their first reverse in Bœotia, they had a second severe one with Antipater and the Macedonians: and thirdly the war with Demetrius came on the land as an unexpected evil. And when fourthly Pyrrhus invaded them, when they saw the enemy’s army, they drew up in battle array together with their allies from Argos and Messene. And Pyrrhus conquered and was within an ace of taking Sparta at the first assault; but after having ravaged their territory and got much booty he rested for awhile. And the Spartans prepared for a siege, Sparta even before in the war with Demetrius having been fortified by deep trenches and strong palisades, and in the weakest parts by special works. And during this time and the long Laconian war Antigonus having fortified the towns of the Macedonians pressed into the Peloponnese, perceiving that Pyrrhus, if he should subdue Sparta and most of the Peloponnese, would not go into Epirus, but into Macedonia again and to the war sure to come there. And when Antigonus was intending to move his army from Argos into Spartan territory, Pyrrhus himself had arrived at Argos. And, being victorious, he followed the fugitives and entered the city with them, and, as was likely, his army dispersed into all quarters of the city. And as they were fighting in the temples and houses and alleys and in all parts of the city promiscuously, Pyrrhus was left all alone and got wounded in the head. They say Pyrrhus was killed by a tile thrown by a woman: but the Argives say it was not a woman that slew him, but Demeter in the form of a woman. This is the account which the Argives themselves give of the death of Pyrrhus; this is also what Lyceas, the expounder of his country’s usages, has written in his verses. And on the spot where Pyrrhus died was erected a temple to Demeter in accordance with the oracle of the god: and in it was Pyrrhus buried. I am astonished that of all those who were called Æacidæ their end happened in the same supernatural manner, since Homer says Achilles was slain by Alexander the son of Priam and by Apollo; and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, was ordered to be slain by the Pythian oracle at Delphi; and this son of Æacides met his fate as has been recorded by the Argives and sung by Lyceas. And yet this is different to the account given by Hieronymus of Cardia: for one that lives with a king must needs write history like a courtier. And if Philistus, hoping for a return to Syracuse, was justified in concealing the most flagitious acts of Dionysius, then Hieronymus, I ween, had good excuse for writing to please Antigonus. Such was the end of the glory of Epirus.

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.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Now the temple of the Dioscuri is ancient; they are designed standing, and their sons seated on horseback. Here too is a painting by Polygnotus of the marriage of the daughters of Leucippus, and by Micon of the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to Colchi: in this painting Acastus and his horses stand out remarkably well. And above the temple of the Dioscuri is the grove of Aglaurus, to whom and to her sisters Erse and Pandrosus they say Athene gave Erichthonius, after putting him in a chest and forbidding them to pry into the contents. Pandrosus they say obeyed, but the other two opened the chest, and went mad when they saw Erichthonius, and threw themselves down the Acropolis at the very steepest place. It was on that very spot that the Persians landed, and slew those Athenians who thought they understood the oracle better than Themistocles, and fortified the Acropolis with wooden palisades. And next is the Prytaneum, where the laws of Solon are written up, and where are images of the goddesses Peace and Vesta, and among other statues one to Autolycus the pancratiast; for Miltiades and Themistocles have been removed for a Roman and a Thracian! As one goes thence to the lower parts of the city is the temple of Serapis, whose worship the Athenians introduced to please Ptolemy. Of the Egyptian temples to Serapis the most famous is that at Alexandria, but the oldest is that at Memphis, into which strangers may not enter, nor even priests except during the ritual in connection with Apis. And not far from the temple of Serapis is the place where they say Pirithous and Theseus agreed to go to Lacedæmon, and afterwards to Thesprotia. And next is a temple erected to Ilithyia, who they say came from the Hyperborean regions to assist Leto in her travail-throes, and of whom other nations learnt from the people of Delos, who sacrifice to her and sing at her altar the Hymn of Olen. But the Cretans consider her to have been born at Amnisus in Gnossian territory, and to have been the daughter of Hera. And among the Athenians alone her statues are draped to the bottom of her feet. Two of her statues the women said were Cretan and votive offerings of Phædra, while the oldest was brought by Erysichthon from Delos.

And before going into the temple of Olympian Zeus—which Adrian the Roman Emperor built, and in which he placed that remarkable statue of Olympian Zeus (larger than any works of art except the Colossuses at Rhodes and Rome); it is in ivory and gold, and elegant if you consider the size—are two statues of Adrian in Thasian stone, and two in Egyptian stone: and brazen statues in front of the pillars of what the Athenians call their colonial cities. The whole circuit of the temple is about four stades, and is full of statues; for from each city is a statue of the Emperor Adrian, and the Athenians outdid them by the very fine colossal statue of the Emperor which they erected at the back of the temple. And in the temple precincts is an ancient statue of Zeus in brass and a shrine of Cronos and Rhea, and a grove to Earth by the title of Olympian. Here there is about a cubit’s subsidence of soil, and they say that after Deucalion’s flood the water came in and escaped there, and they knead every year a cake of barley meal with honey and throw it into the cavity. And there is on a pillar a statue of Isocrates, who left behind him 3 notable examples, his industry (for though he lived to the age of 98 he never left off taking pupils), his wisdom (for all his life he kept aloof from politics and public business), and his love of liberty (for after the news of the battle of Chæronea he pined away and died of voluntary starvation). And there are some Persians in stone holding up a brazen tripod, both themselves and the tripod fine works of art. And they say that Deucalion built the old temple of Olympian Zeus, bringing as evidence that Deucalion lived at Athens his tomb not far from this very temple. Adrian erected also at Athens a temple of Hera and Pan-Hellenian Zeus, and a temple for all the gods in common. But the most remarkable things are 100 pillars wrought in Phrygian stone, and the walls in the porticoes corresponding. And there is a room here with a roof of gold and alabaster stone, adorned also with statues and paintings: and books are stored up in it. And there is a gymnasium called the Adrian gymnasium: and here too are 100 pillars of stone from Libyan quarries.

CHAPTER XIX.

And next to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of Pythian Apollo, as also a temple of Delphian Apollo. And they say that, when this temple was completed except the roof, Theseus came to the city incognito. And having a long garment down to his feet and his hair being elegantly plaited, when he came near this temple, those who were building the roof asked him jeeringly why a maiden ripe for marriage was wandering about alone. And his only answer was, it is said, unyoking the oxen from the waggon which stood by, and throwing it in the air higher than the roof they were building. And with respect to the place that they call The Gardens, and the temple of Aphrodite, there is no account given by the Athenians, nor in respect to the statue of Aphrodite which stands next the temple, and is square like the Hermæ, and the inscription declares that Celestial Aphrodite is the oldest of those that are called Fates. The statue of Aphrodite in The Gardens is the work of Alcamenes, and is among the few things at Athens best worth seeing. There is also a temple of Hercules called Cynosarges: (i.e., of the white dog); the history of the white dog may be learnt by those who have read the oracle. And there are altars to Hercules and Hebe, (the daughter of Zeus), who, they think, was married to Hercules. There is also an altar of Alcmene and Iolaus, who was associated with Hercules in most of his Labours. And the Lyceum gets its name from Lycus the son of Pandion, but is now as of old considered a temple of Apollo, for Apollo was here called Lyceus originally. And it is also said that the natives of Termilæ, where Lycus went when he fled from Ægeus, are called Lycians from the same Lycus. And behind the Lyceum is the tomb of Nisus who was king of Megara and slain by Minos, and the Athenians brought his corpse here and buried it. About this Nisus there is a story that he had purple hair, and that the oracle said he would die if it was shorn off. And when the Cretans came into the land, they took all the other cities of Megaris by storm, but had to blockade Nisæa, into which Nisus had fled for refuge. And here they say the daughter of Nisus, who was enamoured of Minos, cut off her father’s locks. This is the story. Now the rivers of Attica are the Ilissus and the Eridanus that flows into it, having the same name as the Celtic Eridanus. The Ilissus is the river where they say Orithyia was playing when carried off by the North Wind, who married her, and because of his affinity with the Athenians aided them and destroyed many of the barbarians’ ships. And the Athenians think the Ilissus sacred to several gods, and there is an altar also on its banks to the Muses. The place is also shewn where the Peloponnesians slew Codrus, the son of Melanthus, the king of Athens. After you cross the Ilissus is a place called Agræ, and a temple of Artemis Agrotera, (The Huntress), for here they say Artemis first hunted on her arrival from Delos: accordingly her statue has a bow. And what is hardly credible to hear, but wonderful to see, is a stadium of white marble; one can easily conjecture its size in the following manner. Above the Ilissus is a hill, and this stadium extends from the river to the hill in a crescent-shaped form. It was built by Herodes an Athenian, and most of the Pentelican quarry was used in its construction.

CHAPTER XX.

Now there is a way from the Prytaneum called The Tripods, so called from some large temples of the gods there and some brazen tripods in them, which contain many works of art especially worthy of mention. For there is a Satyr on which Praxiteles is said to have prided himself very much: and when Phryne once asked which was the finest of his works, they say that he offered to give it her like a lover, but would not say which he thought his finest work. A servant of Phryne at this moment ran up, and said that most of Praxiteles’ works were destroyed by a sudden fire that had seized the building where they were, but that they were not all burnt. Praxiteles at once rushed out of doors, and said he had nothing to show for all his labour, if the flames had consumed his Satyr and Cupid. Phryne then bade him stay and be of good cheer, for he had suffered no such loss, but it was only her artifice to make him confess which were his finest works. She then selected the Cupid. And in the neighbouring temple is a boy Satyr handing a cup to Dionysus. And there is a painting by Thymilus of Cupid standing near Dionysus. But the most ancient temple of Dionysus is at the theatre. And inside the sacred precincts are two shrines of Dionysus and two statues of him, one by Eleuthereus, and one by Alcamenes in ivory and gold. There is a painting also of Dionysus taking Hephæstus to Heaven. And this is the story the Greeks tell. Hera exposed Hephæstus on his birth, and he nursing up his grievance against her sent her as a gift a golden seat with invisible bonds, so that when she sat in it she was a prisoner, and Hephæstus would not obey any of the gods, and Dionysus, whose relations with Hephæstus were always good, made him drunk and took him to Heaven. There are paintings also of Pentheus and Lycurgus paying the penalty for their insults to Dionysus, and of Ariadne asleep, Theseus putting out to sea, and Dionysus coming to carry her off. And there is near the temple of Dionysus and the theatre a work of art, said to have been designed in imitation of Xerxes’ tent. It is a copy, for the original one was burnt by Sulla the Roman general when he took Athens. And this is how the war came about. Mithridates was king of the barbarians in the neighbourhood of the Euxine Sea. Now his pretext for fighting against the Romans, and how he crossed into Asia, and the cities he reduced by war or won over by diplomacy, let those who wish to know the whole history of Mithridates concern themselves about all this: I shall merely relate the circumstances attending the capture of Athens. There was an Athenian called Aristion, whom Mithridates employed as ambassador to the Greek States: he persuaded the Athenians to prefer the friendship of Mithridates to that of the Romans. However he persuaded only the democracy and the fiercer spirits, for as to the more respectable Athenians they of their own accord joined the Romans. And in the battle that ensued the Romans were easily victorious, and pursued Aristion and the fleeing Athenians to the city, and Archelaus and the barbarians to the Piræus. Now Archelaus was the general of Mithridates, whom before this the Magnesians who inhabit Sipylus wounded, as he was ravaging their territory, and killed many of the barbarians. So Athens was blockaded, and Taxilus another general of Mithridates happened to be investing Elatea in the Phocian district, but when tidings of this came to him he withdrew his forces into Attica. And the Roman general learning this left part of his army to continue the siege of Athens, but himself went with the greater part of his force to encounter Taxilus in Bœotia. And the third day after news came to both the Roman camps, to Sulla that the walls at Athens had been carried, and to the force besieging Athens that Taxilus had been defeated at Chæronea. And when Sulla returned to Attica, he shut up in the Ceramicus all his Athenian adversaries, and ordered them to be decimated by lot. And Sulla’s rage against the Athenians not a whit relaxing, some of them secretly went to Delphi: and when they enquired if it was absolutely fated that Athens should be destroyed, the Pythian priestess gave them an oracular response about the bladder.[4] And Sulla after this had the same complaint with which I learn Pherecydes the Syrian was visited. And the conduct of Sulla to most of the Athenians was more savage than one would have expected from a Roman: but I do not consider this the cause of his malady, but the wrath of Zeus the God of Suppliants, because when Aristion fled for refuge to the temple of Athene he tore him away and put him to death. Athens being thus injured by the war with the Romans flourished again when Adrian was Emperor.

CHAPTER XXI.

Now the Athenians have statues in the theatre of their tragic and comic dramatists, mostly mediocrities, for except Menander there is no Comedian of first-rate powers, and Euripides and Sophocles are the great lights of Tragedy. And the story goes that after the death of Sophocles the Lacedæmonians made an incursion into Attica, and their leader saw in a dream Dionysus standing by him, and bidding him honour the new Siren with all the honours paid to the dead: and the dream seemed manifestly to refer to Sophocles and his plays. And even now the Athenians are wont to compare the persuasiveness of his poetry and discourses to a Siren’s song. And the statue of Æschylus was I think completed long after his death, and subsequently to the painting which exhibits the action at Marathon. And Æschylus used to tell the story that when he was quite a lad, he slept in a field watching the grapes, and Dionysus appeared to him and bade him write tragedy: and when it was day, he wished to obey the god, and found it most easy work. This was his own account. And on the South Wall, which looks from the Acropolis to the theatre, is the golden head of Medusa the Gorgon, with her ægis. And at the top of the theatre there is a crevice in the rocks up to the Acropolis: and there is a tripod also here. On it are pourtrayed Apollo and Artemis carrying off the sons of Niobe. I myself saw this Niobe when I ascended the mountain Sipylus: the rock and ravine at near view convey neither the idea of a woman, nor a woman mourning, but at a distance you may fancy to yourself that you see a woman all tears and with dejected mien.

As you go from the theatre to the Acropolis is the tomb of Calus. This Calus, his sister’s son and art-pupil, Dædalus murdered and fled to Crete: and afterwards escaped into Sicily to Cocalus. And the temple of Æsculapius, in regard to the statues of the god and his sons and also the paintings, is well worth seeing. And there is in it a spring, in which they say Halirrhothius the son of Poseidon was drowned by Ares for having seduced his daughter, and this was the first case of trial for murder. Here too among other things is a Sarmatic coat of mail: anyone looking at it will say that the Sarmatians come not a whit behind the Greeks in the arts. For they have neither iron that they can dig nor do they import it, for they have less idea of barter than any of the barbarians in those parts. This deficiency they meet by the following invention. On their spears they have bone points instead of iron, and bows and arrows of cornel wood, and bone points to their arrows: and they throw lassoes at the enemy they meet in battle, and gallop away and upset them when they are entangled in these lassoes. And they make their coats of mail in the following manner. Everyone rears a great many mares, being as they are a nomadic tribe, the land not being divided into private allotments, and indeed growing nothing but forest timber. These mares they use not only for war, and sacrifice to the gods of the country, but also for food. And after getting together a collection of hoofs they clean them and cut them in two, and make of them something like dragons’ scales. And whoever has not seen a dragon has at any rate seen a pine nut still green: anyone therefore comparing the state of the hoof to the incisions apparent on pine nuts would get a good idea of what I mean. These they perforate, and having sewn them together with ligaments of horses and oxen make them into coats of mail no less handsome and strong than Greek coats of mail: for indeed whether they are struck point-blank or shot at they are proof. But linen coats of mail are not equally useful for combatants, for they admit the keen thrust of steel, but are some protection to hunters, for the teeth of lions and panthers break off against them. And you may see linen coats of mail hung up in other temples and in the Gryneum, where is a most beautiful grove of Apollo, where the trees both cultivated and wild please equally both nose and eye.

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.

CHAPTER XXV.

There are also in the Acropolis at Athens statues of Pericles the son of Xanthippus and Xanthippus himself, who fought against the Persians at Mycale. The statue of Pericles stands by itself, but near that of Xanthippus is Anacreon of Teos, the first after Lesbian Sappho who wrote erotic poetry mainly: his appearance is that of a man singing in liquor. And near are statues by Dinomenes of Io the daughter of Inachus, and Callisto the daughter of Lycaon, both of whom had precisely similar fates, the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera, Io being changed into a cow, and Callisto into a she-bear. And on the southern wall Attalus has pourtrayed the legendary battle of the giants, who formerly inhabited Thrace and the isthmus of Pallene, and the contest between the Amazons and the Athenians, and the action at Marathon against the Persians, and the slaughter of the Galati in Mysia, each painting two cubits in size. There too is Olympiodorus, illustrious for the greatness of his exploits, notably at that period when he infused spirit in men who had been continually baffled, and on that account had not a single hope for the future. For the disaster at Chæronea was a beginning of sorrows for all the Greeks, and made slaves alike of those who were absent from it, and of those who fought at it against the Macedonians. Most of the Greek cities Philip captured, and though he made a treaty with the Athenians nominally, he really hurt them most, robbing them of their islands, and putting down their naval supremacy. And for some time they were quiet, during the reign of Philip and afterwards of Alexander, but when Alexander was dead and the Macedonians chose Aridæus as his successor, though the whole power fell to Antipater, then the Athenians thought it no longer endurable that Greece should be for all time under Macedonia, but themselves took up arms and urged others to do the same. And the cities of the Peloponnesians which joined them were Argos, Epidaurus, Sicyon, Trœzen, Elis, Phlius, Messene, and outside the Peloponnese the Locrians, the Phocians, the Thessalians, the Carystians, and those Acarnanians who ranked with the Ætolians. But the Bœotians who inhabited the Theban territory which had been stripped of Thebans, fearing that the Athenians would eject them from Thebes, not only refused to join the confederate cities but did all they could to further the interests of the Macedonians. Now the confederate cities were led each by their own general, but the Athenian Leosthenes was chosen generalissimo, partly from his city’s renown, partly from his own reputation for experience in war. He had besides done good service to all the Greeks. For when Alexander wished to settle in Persia all of those who had served for pay with Darius and the satraps, Leosthenes was beforehand with him and conveyed them back to Europe in his ships. And now too, after having displayed more brilliant exploits than they expected, he infused dejection in all men by his death, and that was the chief reason of their failure. For a Macedonian garrison occupied first Munychia, and afterwards the Piræus and the long walls. And after the death of Antipater Olympias crossed over from Epirus and ruled for some time, after putting Aridæus to death, but not long after she was besieged by Cassander, and betrayed by the multitude. And when Cassander was king, (I shall only concern myself with Athenian matters), he captured Fort Panactus in Attica and Salamis, and got Demetrius the son of Phanostratus, (who had his father’s repute for wisdom), appointed king over the Athenians. He was however, deposed by Demetrius the son of Antigonus, a young man well disposed to the Greeks: but Cassander, (who had a deadly hatred against the Athenians), won over Lachares, who had up to this time been the leader of the democracy, and persuaded him to plot to be king: and of all the kings we know of he was most savage to men and most reckless to the gods. But Demetrius the son of Antigonus, though he had not been on the best of terms with the Athenian democracy, yet was successful in putting down the power of Lachares. And when the town was taken Lachares fled into Bœotia. But as he had taken the golden shields from the Acropolis, and had stripped the statue of Athene of all the ornaments that were removable, he was supposed to be very rich, and was killed for his money’s sake by the people of Corone. And Demetrius the son of Antigonus, having freed the Athenians from the yoke of Lachares, did not immediately after the flight of Lachares give up to them the Piræus, but after being victorious in war with them put a garrison in the town, and fortified what is called the Museum. Now the Museum is within the old town walls, on a hill opposite the Acropolis, where they say that Musæus sang, and died of old age, and was buried. And on the same place afterwards a tomb was erected to a Syrian. This hill Demetrius fortified.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Some time after a few remembered the fame of their ancestors, and when they considered what a change had come over the glory of Athens, they elected Olympiodorus as their general. And he led against the Macedonians old men and lads alike, hoping that by zeal rather than strength their fortunes in war would be retrieved. And when the Macedonians came out against him he conquered them in battle, and when they fled to the Museum he took it. So Athens was delivered from the Macedonians. And of the Athenians that distinguished themselves so as to deserve special mention, Leocritus the son of Protarchus is said to have displayed most bravery in action. For he was the first to scale the wall and leap into the Museum: and as he fell in the fight, among other honours conferred on him by the Athenians, they dedicated his shield to Zeus Eleutherius, writing on it his name and his valour. And this is the greatest feat of Olympiodorus, though he also recovered the Piræus and Munychia: and when the Macedonians invaded Eleusis he collected a band of Eleusinians and defeated them. And before this, when Cassander intended to make a raid into Attica, he sailed to Ætolia and persuaded the Ætolians to give their help, and this alliance was the chief reason why they escaped war with Cassander. And Olympiodorus has honours at Athens in the Acropolis and Prytaneum, and a painting at Eleusis. And the Phocians who dwell at Elatea have erected a brazen statue to him at Delphi, because he also helped them when they revolted from Cassander.

And next the statue of Olympiodorus is a brazen image of Artemis called Leucophryene, and it was erected to her by the sons of Themistocles: for the Magnesians, over whom Themistocles ruled, having received that post from the king, worship Artemis Leucophryene. But I must get on with my subject, as I have all Greece to deal with. Endœus was an Athenian by race, and the pupil of Dædalus, and accompanied Dædalus to Crete, when he fled there on account of his murder of Calus. The statue of Athene sitting is by him, with the inscription that Callias dedicated it and Endœus designed it.

There is also a building called the Erechtheum: and in the vestibule is an altar of Supreme Zeus, where they offer no living sacrifice, but cakes without the usual libation of wine. And as you enter there are three altars, one to Poseidon, (on which they also sacrifice to Erechtheus according to the oracle,) one to the hero Butes, and the third to Hephæstus. And on the walls are paintings of the family of Butes. The building is a double one, and inside there is sea water in a well. And this is no great marvel, for even those who live in inland parts have such wells, as notably the Aphrodisienses in Caria. But this well is represented as having a roar as of the sea when the South wind blows. And in the rock is the figure of a trident. And this is said to have been Poseidon’s proof in regard to the territory Athene disputed with him.

Sacred to Athene is all the rest of Athens, and similarly all Attica: for although they worship different gods in different townships, none the less do they honour Athene generally. And the most sacred of all is the statue of Athene in what is now called the Acropolis, but was then called the Polis (city), which was universally worshipped many years before the various townships formed one city: and the rumour about it is that it fell from heaven. As to this I shall not give an opinion, whether it was so or not. And Callimachus made a golden lamp for the goddess. And when they fill this lamp with oil it lasts for a whole year, although it burns continually night and day. And the wick is of a particular kind of cotton flax, the only kind imperishable by fire. And above the lamp is a palmtree of brass reaching to the roof and carrying off the smoke. And Callimachus the maker of this lamp, although he comes behind the first artificers, yet was remarkable for ingenuity, and was the first who perforated stone, and got the name of Art-critic, whether his own appellation or given him by others.

CHAPTER XXVII.

In the temple of Athene Polias is a Hermes of wood, (said to be a votive offering of Cecrops,) almost hidden by myrtle leaves. And of the antique votive offerings worthy of record, is a folding chair the work of Dædalus, and spoils taken from the Persians, as a coat of mail of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at Platæa, and a scimetar said to have belonged to Mardonius. Masistius we know was killed by the Athenian cavalry: but as Mardonius fought against the Lacedæmonians and was killed by a Spartan, they could not have got it at first hand, nor is it likely that the Lacedæmonians would have allowed the Athenians to carry off such a trophy. And about the olive they have nothing else to tell but that the goddess used it as a proof of her right to the country when it was contested by Poseidon. And they record also that this olive was burnt when the Persians set fire to Athens, but though burnt it grew the same day two cubits. And next to the temple of Athene is the temple of Pandrosus; who was the only one of the three sisters who didn’t peep into the forbidden chest. Now the things I most marvelled at are not universally known. I will therefore write of them as they occur to me. Two maidens live not far from the temple of Athene Polias, and the Athenians call them the carriers of the holy things: for a certain time they live with the goddess, but when her festival comes they act in the following way by night. Putting upon their heads what the priestess of Athene gives them to carry, (neither she nor they know what these things are,) these maidens descend, by a natural underground passage, from an enclosure in the city sacred to Aphrodite of the Gardens. In the sanctuary below they deposit what they carry, and bring back something else closely wrapped up. And these maidens they henceforth dismiss, and other two they elect instead of them for the Acropolis. And near the temple of Athene is an old woman, about a cubit in size, well-modelled, with an inscription saying that she is the handmaid Lysimache, and there are large brazen statues of two men standing apart as for a fight: the one they call Erechtheus and the other Eumolpus. And yet all that know Athenian Antiquities are aware that it was Eumolpus’ son, Immaradus, that was slain by Erechtheus. And at the base are statues of Tolmides’ prophet, and Tolmides himself, who was the Athenian Admiral, and did great damage especially to the maritime region of the Peloponnesians, and burnt the dockyards of the Lacedæmonians at Gythium, and took Bœæ in the neighbouring country, and the island of Cytherus, and made a descent on Sicyonia, and, when the Sicyonians fought against him as he was ravaging their land, routed them and pursued them up to the city. And afterwards when he returned to Athens, he conducted colonies of the Athenians to Eubœa and Naxos, and attacked the Bœotians with a land force: and, having laid waste most of the country, and taken Chæronea after a siege, when he got to Haliartia was himself killed in battle and his whole army defeated. Such I learnt were the fortunes of Tolmides. And there are old statues of Athene: they are entire but rather grimy, and too weak to bear a knock, for fire passed upon them when Xerxes found the city bare of fighting men, as they had all gone to man the fleet. There is also a representation of a boar-hunt, (about which I know nothing for certain unless it is the Calydonian boar,) and of the fight between Cycnus and Hercules. This Cycnus they say killed among others the Thracian Lycus in a prize fight: but was himself slain by Hercules near the river Peneus.

Of the legends that they tell at Trœzen about Theseus one is that Hercules, visiting Pittheus at Trœzen, threw down during dinner his lion’s skin, and that several Trœzenian lads came into the room with Theseus, who was seven years of age at most. They say that all the other boys when they saw the lion’s skin fled helter skelter, but Theseus not being afraid kept his ground, and plucked an axe from one of the servants, and began to attack it fiercely, thinking the skin was a live lion. This is the first Trœzenian legend about him. And the next is that Ægeus put his boots and sword under a stone as means of identifying his son, and then sailed away to Athens, and Theseus when he was eighteen lifted the stone and removed what Ægeus had left there. And this legend is worked in bronze, all but the stone, in the Acropolis. They have also delineated another exploit of Theseus. This is the legend. A bull was ravaging the Cretan territory both elsewhere and by the river Tethris. In ancient times it appears wild beasts were more formidable to men, as the Nemean and Parnasian lions, and dragons in many parts of Greece, and boars at Calydon and Erymanthus and Crommyon in Corinth, of whom it was said that some sprang out of the ground, and others were sacred to the gods, and others sent for the punishment of human beings. And this bull the Cretans say Poseidon sent into their land, because Minos, who was master of the Grecian sea, held Poseidon in no greater honour than any other god. And they say that this bull crossed over from Crete to the Peloponnese, and that one of the twelve Labours of Hercules was to fetch it to Eurystheus. And when it was afterwards let go on the Argive plain, it fled through the Isthmus of Corinth, and into Attica to the township of Marathon, and killed several people whom it met, and among them Androgeos the son of Minos. And Minos sailed to Athens, (for he could not be persuaded that the Athenians had had no hand in the death of Androgeos,) and did great damage, until it was covenanted to send annually seven maidens and seven boys to Crete to the Minotaur, who was fabled to live in the Labyrinth at Gnossus. As to the bull that had got to Marathon, it is said to have been driven by Theseus into the Acropolis, and sacrificed to Athene. And the township of Marathon has a representation of it.

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.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Now the small townships of Attica, founded by haphazard, have the following records. The Alimusii have a temple to Law-giving Demeter and her daughter Proserpine; and in Zoster [Belt] by the sea is an altar to Athene and Apollo and Artemis and Leto. They say that Leto did not give birth to her children here, but loosed her belt as if she were going to, and that was why the place got that name. The Prospaltii also have a temple to Proserpine and Demeter, and the Anagyrasians have a temple to the Mother of the Gods. And at Cephalæ Castor and Pollux are held in highest honour: for they call them the Great Gods.

And the people of Prasiæ have a temple of Apollo: here came (they say) the firstfruits of the Hyperboreans, handed over by them to the Arimaspians, and by the Arimaspians to the Issedones, and brought thence by the Scythians to Sinope, and thence carried by the Greeks to Prasiæ, and by the Athenians to Delos: these firstfruits are hidden in an ear of wheat, and may be looked at by nobody. At Prasiæ there is also a monument to Erysichthon, who died on his passage home, as he sailed back from Delos after his mission there. That Cranaus the king of the Athenians was expelled by Amphictyon, though he was his kinsman, I have before narrated: and they say that when he fled with his adherents to the Lamprian township he was killed and buried there: and his tomb is there to this day. And Ion the son of Xuthus, (for he too dwelt in Attica, and commanded the Athenians in the war against the Eleusinians,) has a tomb in the place called Potami.

So far tradition goes. And the Phlyenses have altars to Dionysus-giving Apollo and Lightgiving Artemis, and to Dionysus Crowned with flowers, and to the Nymphs of the River Ismenus, and to Earth whom they call the Great Goddess: and another temple has altars to Fruitbearing Demeter, and Zeus the Protector of Property, and Tithronian Athene, and Proserpine the Firstborn, and to the goddesses called The Venerable Ones, (i.e. the Eumenides.) And at Myrrhinus there is a statue to Colænian Artemis. And the Athmonenses worship Amarynthian Artemis. And when I enquired of the Interpreters and Experts as to these Goddesses, I could obtain no accurate information, but I conjecture as follows. Amarynthus is in Eubœa, and there too they worship the Amarynthian Artemis. And the Athenians at her feast bestow as much honour on her as the Eubœans. In this way I think she got her name among the Athmonenses, and Colænian Artemis at Myrrhinus from Colænus. I have written already elsewhere that it is the opinion of many in the townships that there were kings at Athens before Cecrops. Now Colænus is the name of a king who ruled at Athens before Cecrops, according to the tradition of the people of Myrrhinus. And there is a township at Acharnæ: the Acharnians worship among other gods Apollo of the Streets and Hercules. And there is an altar to Athene Hygiea: they also worship Athene by the name of Horse-lover, and Dionysus by that of Songster, and Ivy-God, for they say ivy grew here first.

CHAPTER XXXII.

And the mountains of Attica are Pentelicus, famous for its stonequarries, and Parnes, which affords good hunting of wild boars and bears, and Hymettus, which is the best place for bees next to the territory of the Alazones. For among the Alazones the bees are so tame that they live with the people, and go freely about for their food anywhere, and are not confined in hives: and they make honey anywhere, and it is so firm and compact that you cannot separate it from the comb. And on the mountains of Attica also are statues of the gods. At Pentelicus there is a statue of Athene, and at Hymettus one of Zeus of Hymettus: there are altars also to Rainy Zeus, and Apollo the Fore-seer. And at Parnes there is a brazen statue of Parnesian Zeus, and an altar to Semalean Zeus. There is also another altar at Parnes, and they sacrifice on it sometimes to Zeus the Rainy, sometimes to Zeus the Averter of Ill. There is also the small mountain called Anchesmus, and on it the statue of Anchesmian Zeus.

Before I turn to the description of the islands, I will enter again into the history of the townships. The township of Marathon is about equidistant from Athens and Carystus in Eubœa. It was this part of Attica that the Persians landed at, and were defeated, and lost some of their ships as they were putting out to sea in retreat. And in the plain is the tomb of the Athenians, and on it are pillars with the names of the dead according to their tribes. And another for the Platæans of Bœotia and their slaves: for this was the first engagement in which slaves fought. And there is apart a monument to Miltiades the son of Cimon, whose death occurred afterwards, when he failed to capture Paros, and was on that account put on his trial by the Athenians. Here every night one may hear horses neighing and men fighting: those who come on purpose to see the sight suffer for their curiosity, but if they are there as spectators accidentally the wrath of the gods harms them not. And the people of Marathon highly honour those that fell in the battle, calling them heroes, as also they pay honours to Marathon (from whom the township gets its name), and Hercules, whom they say they first of all the Greeks worshipped as a god. And it chanced, as they say, in the battle that a man of rustic appearance and dress appeared, who slew many of the Persians with a ploughshare, and vanished after the fight: and when the Athenians made enquiry of the oracle, the god gave no other answer, but bade them honour the hero Echetlæus. And a trophy of white stone was erected there. And the Athenians say that they buried the Persians, (it being a matter of decency to bury in the ground a man’s corpse,) but I could find no tomb. For there was no mound nor any other visible trace of burial. So they must have carried them to some hole and thrown them in pell mell. And there is at Marathon a fountain called Macaria, and this is the tradition about it. When Hercules fled from Eurystheus at Tiryns, he went to his friend Ceyx the king of Trachis. And when Hercules left mankind Eurystheus asked for his children, and Ceyx sent them to Athens, pleading his own weakness, and suggesting that Theseus might be able to protect them. And coming to Athens as suppliants, they brought about the first war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, as Theseus would not give them up to Eurystheus, though he begged hard for them. And they say that an oracle told the Athenians that one of the children of Hercules must voluntarily die, or else they would not get the victory. Hereupon Macaria, the daughter of Deianira and Hercules, sacrificed herself that the Athenians might conquer in the war, and the fountain gets its name from her. And there is at Marathon a lake for the most part muddy: into it the fugitive Persians fell not knowing the way, and most of the slaughter happened they say here. And above the lake are the mangers of the horses of Artaphernes in stone, and among the rocks vestiges of a tent. And a river flows from the lake, affording pleasant water to the herds that come to the lake, but at its outlet into the sea it is salt and full of sea fish. And at a little distance from the plain is a mountain of Pan, and a cave well worth seeing. The entrance to it is narrow, but when you get well in there are rooms and baths, and what is called Pan’s herd of goats, rocks very like goats in shape.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

And not far from Marathon is Brauron, where they say Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, landed in her flight from the Tauri, bringing with her the statue of Artemis, and, having left it here, went on to Athens and afterwards to Argos. Here is indeed an ancient statue of Artemis. But those who have the Tauric statue of the goddess in my opinion, I shall show in another part of my work. And about sixty stades from Marathon is Rhamnus, as you go along the shore to Oropus. And there are buildings near the sea for men, and a little way from the sea on the cliff is a temple of Nemesis, who is the most implacable of all the gods to haughty men. And it seems that those Persians who landed at Marathon met with vengeance from this goddess: for despising the difficulty of capturing Athens, they brought Parian marble to make a trophy of, as if they had already conquered. This marble Phidias made into a statue of Nemesis, and on the goddess’ head is a crown with some figures of stags, and some small statues of Victory: in one hand she has a branch of an apple tree, in the other a bowl, on which some Ethiopians are carved. As to these Ethiopians I could not myself conjecture what they referred to, nor could I accept the account of those who thought they knew, who say that they were carved on the bowl because of the river Oceanus: for the Ethiopians dwelt by it, and Oceanus was Nemesis’ father. For indeed Oceanus is not a river but a sea, the remotest sea sailed on by men, and on its shore live the Spaniards and Celts, and in it is the island of Britain. But the remotest Ethiopians live beyond Syene by the Red Sea, and are fisheaters, from which circumstance the gulf near which they live is called Fish-eater. But the most upright ones[7] inhabit the city Meroe, and what is called the Ethiopian plain: these shew the Table of the Sun, but have no sea or river except the Nile. And there are other Ethiopians (who live near the Mauri), that extend to the territory of the Nasamones. For the Nasamones, whom Herodotus calls the Atlantes, but geographers call Lixitæ, are the remotest of the Libyans who live near Mount Atlas. They sow nothing, and live on wild vines. And neither these Ethiopians nor the Nasamones have any river. For the water near Mount Atlas, though it flows in three directions, makes no river, for the sand sucks it all in. So the Ethiopians live by no river or ocean. And the water from Mount Atlas is muddy, and at its source there are crocodiles two cubits long, and when men approach they dive down into the water. And many have the idea that this water coming up again out of the sand makes the river Nile in Egypt. Now Mount Atlas is so high that its peaks are said to touch the sky, and it is inaccessible from the water and trees which are everywhere. The neighbourhood of the Nasamones has been explored, but we know of no one who has sailed by the parts near the sea. But let this account suffice. Neither this statue of Nemesis nor any other of the old statues of her are delineated with wings, not even the most holy statues at Smyrna: but in later times people, wishing to shew this goddess as especially following upon Love, gave Nemesis wings as well as Love. I shall describe what is at the base of the statue, only clearing up the following matter. They say Nemesis was the mother of Helen, but Leda suckled her and brought her up: but her father the Greeks generally think was Zeus and not Tyndareus. Phidias having heard this represented on the base of the statue Helen being carried by Leda to Nemesis, and Tyndareus and his sons, and a man called Hippeus with a horse standing by. There too are Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Pyrrhus the son of Achilles, the first husband of Hermione, the daughter of Helen. Orestes was passed over for the murder of his mother, though Hermione remained with him all her life and bore him a son. And next come Epochus, and another young man. I have heard nothing else of them than that they are the brothers of Œnoe, who gave her name to the township.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The land about Oropus between Attica and Tanagra, which originally belonged to Bœotia, is now Athenian. The Athenians fought for it continually, but got no firm hold of it till Philip gave it them after the capture of Thebes. The city is near the sea and has played no great part in history: about 12 stades from it is the temple of Amphiaraus. And it is said that, when Amphiaraus fled from Thebes, the earth opened and swallowed up him and his chariot: but it did not they say happen here but at a place called Harma (Chariot), on the way from Thebes to Chalcis. And the Oropians first made Amphiaraus a god, and since all the Greeks have so accounted him. I can mention others who were once men, who have honours paid to them as gods, and cities dedicated to them, as Eleus in the Chersonese to Protesilaus, and Lebadea in Bœotia to Trophonius: so Amphiaraus has a temple at Oropus, and a statue in white stone. And the altar has five divisions: one belongs to Hercules and Zeus and Pæonian Apollo, and another is dedicated to heroes and heroes’ wives. And the third belongs to Vesta and Hermes and Amphiaraus and the sons of Amphilochus: but Alcmæon, owing to the murder of Eriphyle, has no honour with Amphiaraus, nor with Amphilochus. And the fourth division of the altar belongs to Aphrodite and Panacea, and also to Jason and Hygiea and Pæonian Athene. And the fifth has been set apart for the Nymphs and Pan, and the rivers Achelous and Cephisus. And Amphilochus has also an altar at Athens, and at Mallus in Cilicia an oracle most veracious even in my day. And the Oropians have a fountain near the temple, which they call Amphiaraus’, but they neither sacrifice at it, nor use it for lustrations or washing their hands. But when any disease has been cured by means of the oracle, then it is customary to throw into the fountain some gold or silver coin: and here they say Amphiaraus became a god. And the Gnossian Iophon, one of the interpreters of Antiquities, has preserved some oracular responses of Amphiaraus in Hexameters, given he says to the Argives who were despatched to Thebes. These lines had irresistible attraction for the general public. Now besides those who are said of old to have been inspired by Apollo, there was no oracle-giving seer, but there were people good at explaining dreams, and inspecting the flights of birds and the entrails of victims. Amphiaraus was I think especially excellent in divination by dreams: and it is certain when he became a god that he instituted divination by dreams. And whoever comes to consult Amphiaraus has first (such is the custom) to purify himself, that is to sacrifice to the god. They sacrifice then to all the other gods whose names are on the altar. And after all these preliminary rites, they sacrifice a ram, and wrapping themselves up in its skin go to sleep, and expect divine direction through a dream.

CHAPTER XXXV.

And the Athenians have various islands not far from Attica, one called after Patroclus, about which I have already given an account, and another a little beyond Sunium, as you sail leaving Attica on the left: here they say Helen landed after the capture of Ilium, so the Island is called Helena. And Salamis lies over against Eleusis and extends towards Megaris. The name Salamis was they say originally given to this island from Salamis the mother of Asopus, and afterwards the Æginetans under Telamon inhabited the island: and Philæus, the son of Eurysaces and grandson of Ajax, became an Athenian and handed it over to Athens. And many years afterwards the Athenians expelled the people of Salamis, condemning them for having been slack of duty in the war with Cassander, and for having surrendered their city to the Macedonians more from choice than compulsion: and Ascetades (who had been chosen as Governor of Salamis) they condemned to death, and swore that for all time they would remember this treason of the people of Salamis. And there are yet ruins of the market, and a temple of Ajax, and his statue in ebony. And divine honours are to this day paid by the Athenians to Ajax and Eurysaces: the latter has also an altar at Athens. And a stone is shown at Salamis not far from the harbour: on which they say Telamon sate and gazed at the vessel in which his sons were sailing away to Aulis, to join the general expedition of the Greeks against Ilium. And the natives of Salamis say that after the death of Ajax a flower first appeared on their island: white and red, smaller than the lily especially in its petals, with the same letters on it as the hyacinth.[8] And I have heard the tradition of the Æolians (who afterwards inhabited Ilium) as to the controversy about the arms of Achilles, and they say that after the shipwreck of Odysseus these arms were washed ashore by the sea near the tomb of Ajax. And some particulars as to his great size were given me by a Mysian. He told me that the sea washed his tomb which was on the seashore, and made entrance to it easy, and he bade me conjecture the huge size of his body by the following detail. His kneepans, (which the doctors call mills,) were the size of the quoits used by any lad practising for the Pentathlum. I do not wonder at the size of those who are called Cabares, who, remotest of the Celts, live in a region thinly peopled from the extreme cold, for their corpses are not a bit bigger than Egyptian ones. I will now relate some remarkable cases of dead bodies. Among the Magnesians at Lethæus one of the citizens, called Protophanes, was victor on the same day at Olympia in the pancratium and in the wrestling: some robbers broke into his tomb, thinking to find something valuable there, and after them came others to see his corpse: his ribs were not separated as is usual, but he was all bone from his shoulders to the lowest ribs, which are called by the doctors false ribs. And the Milesians have in front of their city the island Lade, which breaks off into two little islands, one of which is called Asterius. And they say that Asterius was buried here, and that he was the son of Anax, and Anax was the son of Earth: his corpse is two cubits, no less. The following circumstance also appears to me wonderful. In Upper Lydia there is a small town called the Gates of Temenus. Some bones were discovered here, when a piece of cliff broke off in a storm, in shape like those of a man, but on account of their size no one would have thought them a man’s. And forthwith a rumour spread among the populace that it was the dead body of Geryon the son of Chrysaor, and that a man’s seat fashioned in stone on the hillside was his seat. And they called the mountain torrent Oceanus, and said that people ploughing often turned up horns of oxen, for the story goes that Geryon bred most excellent oxen. But when I opposed their theory, and proved to them that Geryon lived at Gades, and that he has no known tomb but a tree of various forms, hereupon the Lydian Antiquarians told the real truth, that it was the dead body of Hyllus, and that Hyllus was the son of Earth, and gave his name to the river Hyllus. They said also that Hercules on account of his former intercourse with Omphale called his son Hyllus after the same river.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

At Salamis, to return to my subject, there is a temple of Artemis, and a trophy erected for the victory which Themistocles the son of Neocles won for the Greeks. There is also a temple to Cychreus. For when the Athenians were fighting the naval engagement with the Persians it is said that a dragon was seen in the Athenian fleet, and the oracle informed the Athenians that it was the hero Cychreus. And there is an island facing Salamis called Psyttalea, on which they say as many as 400 Persians landed: who after the defeat of Xerxes’ fleet were they say slain by the Greeks who passed over into Psyttalea. There is not one statue in the island which is a work of art, but there are some rude images of Pan made anyhow.

And as you go to Eleusis from Athens, by the way which the Athenians call the Sacred Way, is the tomb of Anthemocritus, to whom the Megarians acted most unscrupulously, inasmuch as they killed him though he came as a herald, to announce to them that henceforth they were not to cultivate the sacred land. And for this act of theirs the wrath of the two goddesses[9] still abides, since they are the only Greeks that the Emperor Adrian was not able to aggrandise. And next to the column of Anthemocritus is the tomb of Molottus, who was chosen as General of the Athenians when they crossed over into Eubœa to the aid of Plutarch. And near this is a village called Scirus for the following reason. When the people of Eleusis were at war with Erechtheus, a prophet came from Dodona Scirus by name, who also built at Phalerum the old temple of Sciradian Athene. And as he fell in battle the Eleusinians buried him near a mountain torrent, and both the village and torrent get their name from the hero. And near is the tomb of Cephisodorus, who was the leader of the people, and especially opposed Philip the son of Demetrius, the king of the Macedonians. And Cephisodorus got as allies for the Athenians the Mysian king Attalus, and the Egyptian king Ptolemy, and independent nations as the Ætolians, and islanders as the Rhodians and Cretans. And as the succours from Egypt and Mysia and Crete came for the most part too late, and as the Rhodians (fighting by sea only) could do little harm to heavy-armed soldiers like the Macedonians, Cephisodorus sailed for Italy with some of the Athenians, and begged the Romans to aid them. And they sent them a force and a general, who so reduced Philip and the Macedonians that eventually Perseus, the son of Philip, lost his kingdom, and was carried to Italy as a captive. This Philip was the son of Demetrius: who was the first of the family who was king of Macedonia, after slaying Alexander the son of Cassander, as I have before related.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

And next to the tomb of Cephisodorus are buried Heliodorus the Aliensian, (you may see a painting of him in the large temple of Athene): and Themistocles the son of Poliarchus, the great grandson of the Themistocles that fought the great sea-fight against Xerxes and the Medes. All his other descendants except Acestius I shall pass by. But she the daughter of Xenocles, the son of Sophocles, the son of Leo, had the good fortune to have all her ancestors torchbearers even up to her great grandfather Leo, and in her life she saw first her brother Sophocles a torchbearer, and after him her husband Themistocles, and after his death her son Theophrastus. Such was the good fortune she is said to have had.

And as you go a little further is the grove of the hero Lacius, who gives his name to a township. There too is the tomb of Nicocles of Tarentum, who won the greatest fame of all harpers. There is also an altar to Zephyrus, and a temple of Demeter and Proserpine: Athene and Poseidon have joint honours with them. Here they say Phytalus received Demeter into his house, and the goddess gave him in return a fig tree. My account is confirmed by the inscription on Phytalus’ tomb.

“Here Phytalus king-hero once received

Holy Demeter, when she first vouchsafed

The fruit that mortals call the fig: since when

The race of Phytalus has deathless fame.”

And before crossing over the river Cephisus, is the tomb of Theodorus, one of the best tragic actors of his day. And there are two statues near the river, Mnesimaches, and his son cutting off his hair as a votive offering to the Cephisus. That it was an ancient custom for all the Greeks to cut off locks of their hair to rivers one would infer from the verses of Homer, who describes Peleus as vowing to cut off his hair to the river Spercheus if his son Achilles returned safe from Troy.[10]

On the other side of the Cephisus is an ancient altar to Milichian (i.e. mild) Zeus, where Theseus got purified after slaying the progeny of Phytalus. He had slain other robbers, and Sinis, who was his relation by Pittheus his maternal grandfather. And there are the tombs here of Theodectes the son of Phaselites, and of Mnesitheus. This last they say was a noted doctor, and dedicated several statues, and among them one of Iacchus. And by the roadside is a small temple called the temple of Cyamites (Bean-man): but I have no certain information, whether he first sowed beans, or whether they gave the name to some hero, because it was not lawful to ascribe the invention of beans to Demeter. And whoever has seen the Eleusinian mysteries, or has read the Orphic poems, knows what I mean. And of the tombs that are finest for size and beauty are two especially, one of a Rhodian who had migrated to Athens, the other of Pythionice, made by Harpalus a Macedonian, who had fled from Alexander and sailed to Europe from Asia, and coming to Athens was arrested by the Athenians, but escaped by bribing the friends of Alexander and others, and before this had married Pythionice, whose extraction I don’t know, but she was a courtesan both at Athens and Corinth. He was so enamoured of her that, when she died, he raised this monument to her, the finest of all the ancient works of art in Greece.

And there is a temple in which are statues of Demeter and Proserpine and Athene and Apollo: but originally the temple was built to Apollo alone. For they say that Cephalus the son of Deioneus went with Amphitryon to the Teleboæ, and was the first dweller in the island which is now called from him Cephallenia: and that he fled from Athens, and lived for some time at Thebes, because he had murdered his wife Procris. And in the tenth generation afterwards Chalcinus and Dætus his descendants sailed to Delphi, and begged of the god permission to return to Athens: and he ordered them first to sacrifice to Apollo on the spot where they should see a trireme on land moving. And when they got to the mountain called Pœcilus a dragon appeared eagerly running into its hole: and here they sacrificed to Apollo, and afterwards on their arrival at Athens the Athenians made them citizens. Next to this is a temple of Aphrodite, and before it a handsome wall of white stone.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Now the channels called Rheti are like rivers only in their flow, for their water is sea water. And one might suppose that they flow from the Euripus near Chalcis underground, falling into a sea with a lower level. These Rheti are said to be sacred to Proserpine and Demeter, and their priests only may catch the fish in them. And they were, as I hear, in old times the boundaries between the territory of the Eleusinians and Athenians. And the first inhabitant on the other side of the Rheti was Crocon, and that district is called to this day the kingdom of Crocon. This Crocon the Athenians say married Sæsara the daughter of Celeus. This at least is the tradition of the occupants of the township of Scambonidæ. Crocon’s tomb indeed I could not find, but Eumolpus’ tomb the Athenians and Eubœans both show. This Eumolpus they say came from Thrace, and was the son of Poseidon and Chione: and Chione was they say the daughter of Boreas and Orithyia. Homer has not indeed given us his pedigree, but he calls him in his poem a noble man. And in the battle between the people of Eleusis and the Athenians Erechtheus the king of Athens was slain, and also Immaradus the son of Eumolpus: and peace was concluded on these conditions, that the people of Eleusis should be in all other respects Athenians, but should have the private management of their Mysteries. And the rites of the two goddesses, Demeter and Proserpine, were performed by the daughters of Celeus. Pamphus and Homer alike call them by the names Diogenea, and Pammerope, and Sæsara. But on the death of Eumolpus Ceryx the youngest son was the only one left, who (the heralds say) was not the son of Eumolpus at all, but the son of Hermes by Aglaurus the daughter of Cecrops.

There is also a hero-chapel to Hippothoon, from whom a tribe gets its name, and near it one to Zarex, who is said to have learnt music of Apollo. But my own idea is that Zarex was a stranger, a Lacedæmonian who had come into Attica, and that the city Zarex in Laconia by the sea was called after him. But if the hero Zarex was a native of Attica, I know nothing about him. And the river Cephisus flows near the Eleusinian territory with greater speed than before: and here is a place called Erineus, where Pluto they say descended, when he carried off Proserpine. On the banks of this river Theseus slew the robber Polypemon, who was surnamed Procrustes. And the Eleusinians have a temple to Triptolemus, and to Propylæan Artemis, and to Father Poseidon, and a well called Callichorus, where the Eleusinian women first danced and sang songs to the goddess. And the Rharian plain was the first sown and the first that produced crops according to tradition, and this is the reason why it is the custom to use barley from it to make cakes for the sacrifices. Here is shown Triptolemus’ threshing-floor and altar. But what is inside the sacred wall I am forbidden by a dream to divulge, for those who are uninitiated, as they are forbidden sight of them, so also clearly may not hear of the mysteries. And the hero Eleusis, from whom the city gets its name, was according to some the son of Hermes and Daira the daughter of Oceanus, others make him the son of Ogygus. For the ancients, when they had no data for their pedigrees, invented fictitious ones, and especially in the pedigrees of heroes.

And as you turn from Eleusis to Bœotia the boundary of Attica is the Platæan district. That was the old boundary between the Athenians and the people of Eleutheræ. But when the people of Eleutheræ became Athenians then Mount Cithæron in Bœotia became the boundary. And the people of Eleutheræ became Athenians not by compulsion, but from hatred to the Thebans and a liking for the Athenian form of government. In this plain too is a temple of Dionysus, and a statue of the god was removed thence to Athens long ago: the one at Eleutheræ now is an imitation of it. And at some distance is a small grotto, and near it a spring of cold water. And it is said that Antiope gave birth to twins and left them in this grotto, and a shepherd finding them near the spring gave them their first bath in it, having stript them of their swaddling clothes. And there was still in my day remains of a wall and buildings at Eleutheræ. This makes it clear that it was a town built a little above the plain towards Mount Cithæron.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

And another road leads from Eleusis to Megara: as you go along this road is a well called the Well of Flowers. Pamphus records that it was at this well that Demeter sat in the guise of an old woman after the rape of Proserpine: and that she was taken thence as an old woman of the country by the daughters of Celeus to their mother, and that Metanira entrusted her with the education of her son. And not far from the well is the temple of Metanira, and next to it the tombs of those that fell at Thebes. For Creon, who was at that time the ruler at Thebes (being Regent for Laodamas the son of Eteocles), would not allow their relations to bury the dead: and Adrastus having supplicated Theseus, and a battle having been fought between the Athenians and Bœotians, when Theseus was the victor, he conveyed the dead bodies to Eleusis and there buried them. But the Thebans say that they surrendered the dead bodies of their own free will, and did not fight on this question. And next to the tombs of the Argives is the monument of Alope, who they say was the mother of Hippothoon by Poseidon, and was in consequence put to death by her father Cercyon. Now this Cercyon is said in other respects to have been harsh to strangers, and especially to those who would not contend with him in wrestling: and this place was called even in my day Cercyon’s wrestling ground, at a little distance from the tomb of Alope. And Cercyon is said to have killed all that wrestled with him but Theseus. But Theseus wrestled against him cunningly throw for throw and beat him: for he was the first who elevated wrestling into a science, and afterwards established training schools for wrestling: for before the time of Theseus only size and strength were made use of in wrestling.

Such in my opinion are the most noteworthy among Athenian traditions or sights. And in my account I have selected out of a mass of material that only which was important enough to be considered history.

Next to Eleusis is the district called Megaris: it too belonged originally to the Athenians, having been bequeathed to Pandion by (its) king Pylas. Proofs of what I assert are the tomb of Pandion in that district, and the fact that Nisus, though he conceded the kingdom of Attica to Ægeus the head of the family, yet himself was selected to be king of Megara and the whole district up to Corinth: and even now the Megarians have a dockyard called Nisæa after him. And afterwards, when Codrus was king, the Peloponnesians marched against Athens: and not having any brilliant success there they went home again, but took Megara from the Athenians, and gave it to the Corinthians and others of their allies that wished to dwell in it. Thus the Megarians changed their customs and dialect and became Dorians. And they say the city got its name in the days of Car, the son of Phoroneus, who was king in this district: in his day they say first temples were built to Demeter among them, and the inhabitants called them Halls.[11] This is at any rate the tradition of the Megarians. But the Bœotians say that Megareus the son of Poseidon lived at Onchestus, and went with an army of Bœotians to aid Nisus in his war against Minos, and that he fell in the battle, and got buried there, and the city which had been formerly called Nisa, got its name Megara from him. And years afterwards, in the 12th generation from Car, the son of Phoroneus, the Megarians say Lelex came from Egypt and became king, and during his reign the Megarians were called Leleges. And he had a son Cleson, and a grandson Pylas, and a great-grandson Sciron, who married the daughter of Pandion, and afterwards, (Sciron having a controversy with Nisus the son of Pandion about the sovereignty), Æacus was arbitrator, and gave his decision that the kingdom was to belong to Nisus and his descendants, but the command of the army was to devolve upon Sciron. And Megareus the son of Poseidon, having married Iphinoe the daughter of Nisus, succeeded Nisus they say in the kingdom. But of the Cretan war, and the capture of the city in the days of King Nisus, they pretend to know nothing.

CHAPTER XL.

There is in the city a conduit erected by Theagenes, of whom I mentioned before that he married his daughter to Cylon an Athenian. This Theagenes when he was king erected this conduit, well worth seeing for its size and beauty and the number of its pillars. And the water that flows into is called after the Sithnidian Nymphs, who, according to the Megarian tradition, are natives, and one of them bare a son to Zeus, whose name was Megarus, and who escaped Deucalion’s flood by getting to the top of Mount Gerania (Cranemountain), which was not the original name of the mountain, but was so called because he followed in his swimming the flight of some cranes by their cry. And not far from this conduit is an ancient temple, and there are some statues in it of Roman Emperors, and an image of Artemis in brass by the name of Saviour. The story goes that some men in the army of Mardonius who had overrun Megaris wished to return to Thebes to join Mardonius, but by the contrivance of Artemis wandered about all night, and lost their way, and got into the mountainous part of the country, and, endeavouring to ascertain if the enemy’s army was about, shot some arrows, and the rock shot at returned a groan, and they shot again and again furiously. And at last their arrows were expended in shooting at their supposed foes. And when day dawned, and the Megarians really did attack them, (well armed against men badly armed and now minus ammunition), they slew most of them. And this is why they put up an image to Artemis the Saviour. Here too are images of the so-called 12 gods, the production of Praxiteles. He also made an Artemis of the Strongylii. And next, as you enter the sacred enclosure of Zeus called the Olympieum, there is a temple well worth seeing: the statue of Zeus is not finished in consequence of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, in which the Athenians every year by land and by sea injured the Megarians both publicly and privately, ravaging their territory, and bringing them individually to the greatest poverty. And the head of this statue of Zeus is of ivory and gold, but the other parts are of clay and earthenware: and they say it was made by Theocosmus a native, assisted by Phidias. And above the head of Zeus are the Seasons and the Fates: it is plain to all that Fate is his servant, and that he orders the Seasons as is meet. In the back part of the temple there are some wooden figures only half finished: Theocosmus intended to finish them when he had adorned the statue of Zeus with ivory and gold. And in the temple there is the brazen ram of a trireme, which was they say taken at Salamis, in the sea fight against the Athenians. The Athenians do not deny that there was for some time a defection on the part of Salamis to the Megarians, but Solon they say by his elegiac verses stirred the Athenians up, and they fought for it, and eventually retook it. But the Megarians say that some of their exiles, called Doryclei, mixed themselves among the inhabitants and betrayed Salamis to the Athenians. And next to the enclosure of Zeus, as you ascend the Acropolis still called the Carian from Car the son of Phoroneus, is the temple of Nyctelian Dionysus, and the temple of Aphrodite the Procuress, and the Oracle of Night, and a roofless temple of dusty Zeus. And statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea, both the work of Bryaxis. Here too is the sacred Hall of Demeter: which they say was erected by Car when he was king.

CHAPTER XLI.

As you descend from the Acropolis in a Northerly direction, you come to the sepulchre of Alcmene near the Olympieum. She died they say at Megara on her journey from Argos to Thebes, and the sons of Hercules had a dispute, some wishing to take her dead body to Argos, others to Thebes: for the sons of Hercules by Megara were buried at Thebes, as also Amphitryon’s sons. But Apollo at Delphi gave the oracular response that it would be better for them to bury Alcmena at Megara. From this place the interpreter of national Antiquities took me to a place called Rhun (Flow), so called because some water flowed here from the hills above the city, but Theagenes when he was king diverted the water into another direction, and erected here an altar to Achelous. And at no great distance is the monument of Hyllus the son of Hercules, who fought in single combat with the Arcadian Echemus, the son of Aeropus. Who this Echemus was that slew Hyllus I shall shew in another place, but Hyllus is buried at Megara. The expedition to the Peloponnese, when Orestes was king, might rightly be called an expedition of the sons of Hercules. And not far from the monument of Hyllus is the temple of Isis, and near it the temple of Apollo and Artemis. This last they say was built by Alcathous, after he had slain the lion that was called the lion of Mount Cithæron. This lion had they say devoured several Megarians and among them the king’s son Euippus: whose elder brother Timalcus had been killed by Theseus still earlier, when he went with Castor and Pollux to the siege of Aphidna. Megareus therefore promised his daughter in marriage, and the succession to the kingdom, to whoever should kill the lion of Mount Cithæron. So Alcathous (the son of Pelops) attacked the beast and slew him, and, when he became king built this temple, dedicating it to Huntress Artemis and Hunter Apollo. This at any rate is the local tradition. But though I don’t want to contradict the Megarians, I cannot find myself in agreement with them entirely, for though I quite admit that the lion of Mount Cithæron was killed by Alcathous, yet who ever recorded that Timalcus the son of Megareus went to Aphidna with Castor and Pollux? And how (if he had gone there) could he have been thought to have been killed by Theseus, seeing that Alcman in his Ode to Castor and Pollux, recording how they took Athens, and carried away captive the mother of Theseus, yet says that Theseus was away? Pindar also gives a very similar account, and says that Theseus wished to be connected by marriage with Castor and Pollux, till he went away to help Pirithous in his ambitious attempt to wed Proserpine. But whoever drew up the genealogy plainly knew the simplicity of the Megarians, since Theseus was the descendant of Pelops. But indeed the Megarians purposely hide the real state of things, not wishing to own that their city was captured when Nisus was king, and that Megareus who succeeded to the kingdom was the son in law of Nisus, and that Alcathous was the son in law of Megareus. But it is certain that it was not till after the death of Nisus, and a revolution at Megara, that Alcathous came there from Elis. And this is my proof. He built up the wall anew, when the whole of the old wall had been demolished by the Cretans. Let this suffice for Alcathous and the lion, whether he slew the lion on Mount Cithæron or somewhere else, before he erected the temple to Huntress Artemis and Hunter Apollo.

As you descend from this temple is the hero-chapel of Pandion, who, as I have already shewn, was buried at what is called the rock of Athene the Diver. He has also divine honours paid to him at Megara. And near the hero-chapel of Pandion is the monument of Hippolyta. This is the Megarian tradition about her. When the Amazons, on account of Antiope, made an expedition against the Athenians, they were beaten by Theseus, and most of them (it so happened) fell in battle, but Hippolyta (the sister of Antiope), who was at that time leader of the Amazons, fled to Megara with the remnant of them, and there, having been unsuccessful with her army, and dejected at the present state of things, and still more despondent about getting safe home again to Themiscyra, died of grief and was buried. And the device on her tomb is an Amazon’s shield. And not far distant is the tomb of Tereus, who married Procne the daughter of Pandion. Tereus was king (according to the Megarian tradition) of Pagæ in Megaris, but in my opinion (and there are still extant proofs of what I state) he was king of Daulis N.W. of Chæronea: for most of what is now called Hellas was inhabited in old time by barbarians. And his subjects would no longer obey Tereus after his vile conduct to Philomela, and after the murder of Itys by Procne and Philomela. And he committed suicide at Megara, and they forthwith piled up a tomb for him, and offer sacrifices to him annually, using pebbles in the sacrifice instead of barley. And they say the hoopoe was first seen here. And Procne and Philomela went to Athens, and lamenting what they had suffered and done melted away in tears: and the tradition that they were changed into a nightingale and swallow is, I fancy, simply that these birds have a sorrowful and melancholy note.

CHAPTER XLII.

There is also another citadel at Megara that gets its name from Alcathous. As one goes up to it, there is on the right hand a monument of Megareus, who started from Onchestus to aid the Megarians in the Cretan War. There is also shown an altar of the gods called Prodromi: and they say that Alcathous first sacrificed to them when he was commencing to build his wall. And near this altar is a stone, on which they say Apollo put his harp down, while he assisted Alcathous in building the wall. And the following fact proves that the Megarians were numbered among the Athenians: Peribœa the daughter of Alcathous was certainly sent by him to Crete with Theseus in connection with the tribute. And Apollo, as the Megarians say, assisted him in building the wall, and laid his harp down on the stone: and if one chances to hit it with a pebble, it sounds like a harp being played. This inspired great wonder in me, but not so much as the Colossus in Egypt. At Thebes in Egypt, when you cross the Nile, at a place called the Pipes (Syringes), there is a seated statue that has a musical sound, most people call it Memnon: for he they say went from Ethiopia to Egypt and even to Susa. But the Thebans say it was a statue not of Memnon, but Phamenophes a Theban, and I have heard people say it was Sesostris. This statue Cambyses cut in two: and now the head to the middle of the body lies on the ground, but the lower part remains in a sitting posture, and every morning at sunrise resounds with melody, and the sound it most resembles is that of a harp or lyre with a chord broken.

And the Megarians have a council chamber, which was once as they say the tomb of Timalcus, who, as I said a little time back, was killed by Theseus. And on the hill where the citadel stands is a temple of Athene, and a brazen statue of the goddess, except the hands and the toes, which as well as the face are of ivory. And there is another temple here of Athene called Victory, and another of her as Aiantis. As regards the latter, all mention of it is passed over by the interpreters of curiosities at Megara, but I will write my own ideas. Telamon the son of Æacus married Peribœa the daughter of Alcathous. I imagine then that Aias, having succeeded to the kingdom of Alcathous, made this statue of Athene Aiantis.

The old temple of Apollo was made of brick: but afterwards the Emperor Adrian built it of white stone. The statues called Apollo Pythius and Apollo Decataphorus are very like Egyptian statues, but the one they call Archegetes is like Æginetan handiwork. And all alike are made of ebony. I heard a Cyprian, a cunning herbalist, say that the ebony has neither leaves nor fruit, and that it is never seen exposed to the sun, but its roots are underground, and the Ethiopians dig them up, and there are men among them who know how to find it. There is also a temple of Law-giving Demeter. And as you go down from thence is the tomb of Callipolis the son of Alcathous. Alcathous had also an elder son called Ischepolis, whom his father sent to assist Meleager in Ætolia against the Calydonian boar. And when he was killed Callipolis heard the news first in this place: and he ran to the citadel, where his father was sacrificing to Apollo, and threw down the wood from the altar. And Alcathous, not having yet heard the news about Ischepolis, was vexed with Callipolis for his irreverence, and in his wrath killed him instantaneously by striking him on the head with one of the pieces of wood he had thrown down from the altar.

On the road to the Prytaneum there is a hero-chapel of Ino, and a cornice of stone round it. Some olive-trees also grow there. The Megarians are the only Greeks that say that the dead body of Ino was cast on the shore of Megaris, and that Cleso and Tauropolis, the daughters of Cleso and granddaughters of Lelex, found it and buried it. And they say that Ino was called by them first Leucothea, and they sacrifice to her every year.

CHAPTER XLIII.

They also lay claim to the possession of a mortuary-chapel of Iphigenia, for she too they say died at Megara. But I have heard a different account of Iphigenia from the Arcadians, and I know that Hesiod in his Catalogue of Women describes Iphigenia as not dying, but being changed into Hecate by the will of Artemis. And Herodotus[12] wrote not dissimilarly to this, that the Tauric people in Scythia after shipwreck sacrifice to a virgin, who is they say Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon. Adrastus also has divine honours among the Megarians: he too they say died among them (when he was leading the army back after the capture of Thebes), of old age and sorrow for the death of Ægialeus. And Agamemnon erected an altar to Artemis at Megara, when he went to Calchas, a native of the place, to persuade him to join the expedition to Ilium. And in the Prytaneum they say Euippus the son of Megareus was buried, and also Ischepolis the son of Alcathous. And there is a rock near the Prytaneum called The Calling Rock, because Demeter (if there is any truth in the tale), when she wandered about seeking her daughter, called out for her here. And the Megarian women still perform a kind of mimic representation of this. And the Megarians have tombs in the city: one they erected for those who fell fighting against the Medes, the other, called Æsymnian, is a monument to heroes. For when Hyperion, the last king of Megara, the son of Agamemnon, was killed by Sandion on account of his greed and haughtiness, they chose no longer to be under kingly government, but to have chief magistrates annually chosen, so as to be under one another’s authority by turn. Then it was that Æsymnus, second to none of the Megarians in fame and influence, went to Apollo at Delphi, and asked how they were to have prosperity. And the god among other things told them they would fare well if they deliberated on affairs with the majority. Thinking these words had reference to the dead, they built here a council chamber, that the tomb of the heroes might be inside their council chamber. As you go from thence to the hero-chapel of Alcathous, which the Megarians now use as a Record Office, there are two tombs, one they say of Pyrgo, the wife of Alcathous before he married Euæchma the daughter of Megareus, the other of Iphinoe the daughter of Alcathous, who they say died unmarried. At her tomb it is the custom of maidens before marriage to pour libations, and sacrifice some of their long hair, as the maidens of Delos used to do to Hecaerge and Opis. And near the entrance to the temple of Dionysus are the tombs of Astycratea and Manto, the daughters of Polyidus, (the son of Cœranus, the son of Abas, the son of Melampus,) who went to Megara, and purged Alcathous for the murder of his son Callipolis. And Polyidus also built the temple of Dionysus, and erected a statue of the god veiled in my day except the face: that is visible. And a Satyr is near Dionysus, the work of Praxiteles in Parian marble. And this they call Tutelary Dionysus, and another they call Dionysus Dasyllius (the Vine-ripener), and this statue they say was erected by Euchenor the son of Cœranus the son of Polyidus. And next to the temple of Dionysus is the shrine of Aphrodite, and a statue of the goddess in ivory, under the title Praxis (Action). This is the oldest statue in the shrine. And Persuasion and another goddess whom they call Consolation are by Praxiteles: and by Scopas Love and Desire and Yearning, each statue expressing the particular shade of meaning marked by the words. And near the shrine of Aphrodite is the temple of Chance: this too is by Praxiteles. And in the neighbouring temple Lysippus has made the Muses and a brazen Zeus.

The Megarians also have the tomb of Corœbus: the verses about him I shall relate here though they are also Argive intelligence. In the days when Crotopus was king in Argos, his daughter Psamathe they say had a child by Apollo, and being greatly afraid of her father knowing it exposed the child. And some sheep dogs of Crotopus lit upon the child and killed it, and Apollo sent upon the city Punishment, a monster who took children away from their mothers (they say), till Corœbus killed it to ingratiate himself with the Argives. And after killing it, as a second plague came on them and vexed them sore, Corœbus of his own accord went to Delphi, and offered to submit to the punishment of the god for killing Punishment. The Pythian priestess forbade Corœbus to return to Argos, but told him to carry a tripod from the temple, and wherever the tripod should fall, there he was to build a temple to Apollo and himself dwell. And the tripod slipt out of his hand and fell (without his contrivance) on the mountain Gerania, and there he built the village Tripodisci. And his tomb is in the market-place at Megara: and there are some elegiac verses on it that relate to Psamathe and Corœbus himself, and a representation on the tomb of Corœbus killing Punishment. These statues are the oldest Greek ones in stone that I have myself seen.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Next Corœbus is buried Orsippus, who, though the athletes according to olden custom had girdles round their loins, ran naked at Olympia in the race and won the prize. And they say that he afterwards as general cut off a slice of his neighbours’ territory. But I think at Olympia he dropped his girdle on purpose, knowing that it is easier for a man to run naked than with a girdle on. And as you descend from the market-place by the way called Straight, there is on the right hand a temple of Protecting Apollo: you can find it by turning a little out of the way. And there is in it a statue of Apollo well worth seeing, and an Artemis and Leto, and other statues, and Leto and her sons by Praxiteles. And there is in the ancient gymnasium, near the gates called Nymphades, a stone in shape like a small pyramid. This they call Apollo Carinus, and there is here a temple to Ilithyia also. Such are the notable things the city contains. And as you descend to the dockyard, which is still called Nisæa, is a temple of Demeter the Wool-bearer. Several explanations are given of this title, among them that those who first reared sheep in this country gave her that name. And one would conjecture that the roof had fallen from the temple by the lapse of time. There is here also a citadel called Nisæa. And as you descend from it there is near the sea a monument of Lelex the king, who is said to have come from Egypt, and to have been the son of Poseidon by Libye the daughter of Epaphus. There is an island too near Nisæa of no great size called Minoa. Here the navy of the Cretans was moored in the war with Nisus. And the mountainous part of Megaris is on the borders of Bœotia, and contains two towns, Pagæ and Ægosthena. As you go to Pagæ, if you turn a little off from the regular road, there is shewn the rock which has arrows fixed in it everywhere, into which the Medes once shot in the night. At Pagæ too well worth seeing is a brazen statue of Artemis under the title of Saviour, in size and shape like the statues of the goddess at Megara. There is also here a hero-chapel of Ægialeus the son of Adrastus. He, when the Argives marched against Thebes the second time, was killed in the first battle at Glisas, and his relations carried him to Pagæ in Megaris, and buried him there, and the hero-chapel is still called after his name. And at Ægosthena is a temple of Melampus the son of Amythaon, and a man of no great size is carved on a pillar. And they sacrifice to Melampus and have a festival to him every year. But they say that he has no prophetic powers either in dreams or in any other way. And I also heard at Erenea a village of Megaris, that Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus, excessively grieving at the death of Actæon, and the circumstances of it which tradition records, and the general misfortunes of her father’s house, migrated there from Thebes: and her tomb is in that village.

And as you go from Megara to Corinth there are several tombs, and among them that of the Samian flute-player Telephanes. And they say that this tomb was erected by Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip the son of Amyntas. And there is a monument of Car the son of Phoroneus, originally only a mound of earth, but afterwards in consequence of the oracle it was beautified with a shell-like stone. And the Megarians are the only Greeks who possess this peculiar kind of stone, and many things in their city are made of it. It is very white, and softer than other stone, and seashells are everywhere in it. Such is this kind of stone. And the road, called the Scironian road after Sciron, is so called because Sciron, when he was commander in chief of the Megarians, first made it a road for travellers according to tradition. And the Emperor Adrian made it so wide and convenient that two chariots could drive abreast.

Now there are traditions about the rocks which project in the narrow part of the road; with regard to the Molurian rock, that Ino threw herself into the sea from it with Melicerta, the younger of her sons: for Learchus the oldest was killed by his father. Athamas also is said to have acted in the same way when mad, and to have exhibited ungovernable rage to Ino and her children, thinking that the famine which befell the Orchomenians, which also apparently caused the death of Phrixus, was not the visitation of God, but a stepmother’s contrivance against them all. So she to escape him threw herself and her boy Melicerta into the sea from the Molurian rock. And the boy, being carried it is said by a dolphin to the Isthmus of Corinth, had various honours paid to him under the name of Palæmon, and the Isthmian games were celebrated in his honour. This Molurian rock they consider sacred to Leucothea and Palæmon, but the rocks next to it they consider accursed, because Sciron lived near them, who threw into the sea all strangers that chanced to come there. And a tortoise used to swim about near these rocks, so as to devour those that were thrown in: these sea tortoises are like land tortoises, except in size and the shape of their feet which are like those of seals. But the whirligig of time which brought on Sciron punishment for all this, for he himself was thrown by Theseus into the same sea. And on the top of the mountain is a temple to Zeus called the Remover. They say that Zeus was so called because when a great drought once happened to the Greeks, and Æacus in obedience to the oracle prayed to Pan-Hellenian Zeus at Ægina, he took it away and removed it. Here are also statues of Aphrodite and Apollo and Pan. And as you go on a little further is the tomb of Eurystheus. They say that he fled here from Attica after the battle with the Heraclidæ, and was killed by Iolaus. As you descend this road is a temple of Latoan Apollo, and near to it the boundaries between Megaris and Corinth, where they say Hyllus the son of Hercules had a single combat with the Arcadian Echemus.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] A stade was about one-eighth of a Roman mile.

[3] Odyssey, xi., 122, 123.

[4] See Plutarch’s “Life of Theseus.”

[5] Iliad, xxiii., 677-680.

[6] See Herod., iii., 64.

[7] Perhaps a reminiscence of Hom. Il. i. 423.

[8] See Verg. Ecl. 3. 106. Theocr. x. 28. And especially Ovid, Metamorph. x. 210-219.

[9] Demeter and Proserpine.

[10] Iliad xxiii. 144-148.

[11] The Greek is Megara. Hence the paronomasia.

[12] Herod. iv. 99, and 103.

BOOK II.—CORINTH.

CHAPTER I.

The Corinthian territory, a part of Argolis, gets its name from Corinthus, and that he was the son of Zeus I know of none who seriously assert but most Corinthians, for Eumelus the son of Amphilytus of the race called Bacchidæ, who is also said to have been a poet, says in his History of Corinth (if indeed he is the author of it), that Ephyre the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land, and that afterwards Marathon the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of the Sun, fled from the lawless insolence of his father, and took a colony into the maritime parts of Attica, and when Epopeus was dead returned to the Peloponnese, and after dividing the kingdom among his sons went back into Attica, and from his son Sicyon Asopia got the name of Sicyonia, and Ephyrea got called Corinth from his son Corinthus.

Now Corinth is inhabited by none of the ancient Corinthians, but by colonists who were sent there by the Romans. And this is owing to the Achæan confederacy. For the Corinthians joined it, and took their part in the war with the Romans which Critolaus, who had been appointed commander in chief of the Achæans, brought about, having persuaded the Achæans and most of the Greeks outside the Peloponnese to revolt against Rome. And the Romans, after conquering all the other Greeks in battle, took away from them their arms, and razed the fortifications of all the fortified cities: but they destroyed Corinth under Mummius the General of the Roman army, and they say it was rebuilt by Julius Cæsar, who instituted the present form of government at Rome, (the Imperial). Carthage also was rebuilt in his term of power.

Now the place called Crommyon in the Corinthian territory is so called from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say was the haunt of the Phæan boar, and the scene of Theseus’ legendary exploits against Pityocamptes, (the Pinebender). As you go forward the famous pine was to be seen even in my time near the seashore; and there was an altar to Melicerta there, for it was here they say that he was conveyed by the dolphin: and Sisyphus, finding him lying dead on the shore, buried him at the Isthmus, and established the Isthmian games in honour of him. Now it is at the head of the Isthmus that the robber Sinis took two pine-trees and bent them down to the ground: and whoever he conquered in battle he tied to these pine-trees, and let the pines go up into the air again: and each of these pines dragged the poor fellow tied to it, and (neither yielding but pulling with equal vigour) the victim tied to them was torn asunder. In this way Sinis himself was killed by Theseus. For Theseus cleared all the road from Trœzen to Athens of evildoers, having killed those whom I mentioned before, and, at Epidaurus the Holy, Periphetes the putative son of Hephæstus, whose weapon in fighting was a brazen club. The Isthmus of Corinth extends in one direction to the sea near Cenchreæ, and in the other to the sea near Lechæum. This Isthmus makes the Peloponnese a Peninsula. And whoever attempted to make the Peloponnese an island died before the completion of a canal across the Isthmus. And where they began to dig is now plainly visible, but they didn’t make much progress because of the rock. The Peloponnese remains therefore what it was by nature main land. And when Alexander, the son of Philip, wished to make a canal through Mimas, the work was all but completed. But the oracle at Delphi forbade the navvies to complete the work. So difficult is it for man to oppose the divine ordinances. And the Corinthians are not alone in their boasting about their country, but it seems to me that the Athenians even earlier used tall talk in regard to Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a controversy with the Sun about their land, and that Briareus was the Arbitrator, awarding the Isthmus and all in that direction to Poseidon, and giving the height above the city to the Sun. From this time they say the Isthmus belongs to Poseidon.

The great sights at Corinth are the Theatre, and the Stadium of white stone. And as you approach the temple of the god, there are statues of the Athletes who have been conquerors in the Isthmian games on one side, and on the other pine-trees planted in a row, mostly in a straight line. And at the temple, which is not very large, there stand some Tritons in brass. And there are statues in the porch two of Poseidon, and one of Amphitrite, and a brazen Sea. And inside Herod an Athenian placed in our time 4 horses all gold except the hoofs, which are of ivory. And two golden Tritons are near the horses, ivory below the waist. And Amphitrite and Poseidon are standing in a chariot, and their son Palæmon is seated bolt upright on the dolphin’s back: and these are made of ivory and gold. And on the middle of the base, on which the chariot rests, is the Sea supporting the child Aphrodite rising from it, and on each side are the so-called Nereids, who have I know altars in other parts of Greece, and some have temples dedicated to them as Shepherdesses, in places where Achilles is also honoured. And at Doto among the Gabali there is a holy temple, where the peplus is still kept, which the Greeks say Eriphyle took for her son Alcmæon. And on the base of Poseidon’s statue are in bas relief the sons of Tyndareus, because they are the patron saints of ships and sailors. And the other statues are Calm and Sea, and a horse like a sea-monster below the waist, and Ino and Bellerophon and Pegasus.

CHAPTER II.

And inside the precincts there is on the left hand a temple of Palæmon, and some statues in it of Poseidon and Leucothea and Palæmon himself. And there is also a crypt, approached by an underground passage, where they say Palæmon is buried: whatever Corinthian or foreigner commits perjury here has no chance of escaping punishment. There is also an ancient temple called the altar of the Cyclopes, to whom they sacrifice upon it. But the tombs of Sisyphus and Neleus, (for they say that Neleus came to Corinth, and died there of some disease, and was buried near the Isthmus), no one could find from the account in the poems of Eumelus. As to Neleus they say that his tomb was not even shewn to Nestor by Sisyphus: for it was to be unknown to all alike. But that Sisyphus was buried at the Isthmus, and indeed the very site of his tomb, a few Corinthians who were his contemporaries know. And the Isthmian games did not fall into disuse when Corinth was taken by Mummius, but as long as the city lay desolate, these games took place at Sicyon, and when the city was rebuilt the old honour came back to Corinth.

The Corinthian seaports got their names from Leches and Cenchrias, who were reputed to be the sons of Poseidon by Pirene the daughter of Achelous: though in Hesiod’s poem the great Eœæ Pirene is said to be the daughter of Œbalus. And there is at Lechæum a temple and brazen statue of Poseidon, and as you go to Cenchreæ from the Isthmus a temple of Artemis, and old wooden statue of the goddess. And at Cenchreæ there is a shrine of Aphrodite and her statue in stone, and next it, on the breakwater near the sea, a brazen statue of Poseidon. And on the other side of the harbour are temples of Æsculapius and Isis. And opposite Cenchreæ is the bath of Helen: where much salt water flows into the sea from the rock, like water just with the chill off.

As you go up the hill to Corinth there are several tombs along the wayside, and at the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks nickname the Cynic. And in front of the city is a grove of cypress trees called Craneum. Here is a temple of Bellerophon, and a shrine of Melænian Aphrodite, and the tomb of Lais, with a lioness carved on it with a ram in its front paws. And there is another monument of Lais said to exist in Thessaly: for she went to Thessaly when she was enamoured of Hippostratus. She is said to have come originally from Hyccara in Sicily, and to have been taken prisoner as a child by Nicias and the Athenians, and to have been sold at Corinth, and to have outstripped in beauty all the courtesans there, and so admired was she by the Corinthians that even now they claim her as a Corinthian.

The notable things in the city are partly the remains of antiquity still to be seen there, partly works of art more recent, when Corinth was at the height of all her glory. In the market-place, for most of the temples are there, is Ephesian Artemis, and there are two wooden statues of Dionysus gilt except the faces, which are painted with red paint, one they call Lysian Dionysus, and the other Dionysus the Reveller. The tradition about these statues I will record. Pentheus they say, when he outraged Dionysus, among other acts of reckless daring actually at last went to Mount Cithæron to spy the women, and climbed up into a tree to see what they were doing: and when they detected him, they forthwith dragged him down, and tore him limb from limb. And afterwards, so they say at Corinth, the Pythian Priestess told them to discover that tree and pay it divine honours. And that is why these statues are made of that very wood. There is also a Temple of Fortune: her statue is in a standing posture, in Parian marble. And near it is a temple to all the gods. And near it is a conduit, and a brazen Poseidon on it, and a dolphin under Poseidon’s feet passing the water. And there is a brazen statue of Apollo called the Clarian, and a statue of Aphrodite by Hermogenes of Cythera. And both the statues of Hermes are of brass and in a standing posture, and one of them has a shrine built for it. And there are three statues of Zeus in the open air, one has no special title, the second is called Zeus of the Nether World, and the third Zeus of Highest Heaven.

CHAPTER III.

And in the middle of the market-place is a statue of Athene in brass: on the base are sculptured effigies of the Muses. And above the market-place is a temple of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who was Emperor of the Romans after Cæsar, the founder of modern Corinth.

And as you go from the market-place towards Lechæum there are vestibules, on which are golden chariots, one with Phaethon in it (the son of the Sun), and the other with the Sun himself in it. And at a little distance from the vestibules on the right as you enter is a brazen statue of Hercules. And next to it is the approach to the well of Pirene. They say that Pirene became a well from a woman through the tears she shed, bewailing the death of her son Cenchrias at the hands of Artemis. And the well is beautified with white stone, and there are cells like caves to match, from which the water trickles into that part of the well which is in the open air, and it has a sweet taste, and they say that Corinthian brass when hissing hot is dipped into this water. There is also a statue of Apollo near Pirene, and some precincts of the god. There is also a painting of Odysseus taking vengeance on the suitors.

And as you go straight on for Lechæum, you will see a brazen Hermes in a sitting posture, and by it a ram, for Hermes more than any of the gods is thought to watch over and increase flocks, as indeed Homer has represented him in the Iliad “The son of Phorbas rich in flocks and herds, whom Hermes loved most of the Trojans, and increased his substance.”[13] But the tradition about Hermes and the ram in the rites of the Great Mother (though I know it) I purposely pass over. And next to the statue of Hermes are Poseidon and Leucothea, and Palæmon on the dolphin’s back. And there are several baths in various parts of Corinth, some erected at the public expense, and others by the Emperor Adrian. And the most famous of them is near the statue of Poseidon. It was erected by Eurycles a Spartan, who beautified it with various stones, amongst others by the stone they dig at Croceæ in Laconia. On the left of the entrance is a statue of Poseidon, and next to him one of Artemis hunting. And many conduits have been built in various parts of the city, as there is abundance of water, as well as the water which the Emperor Adrian brought from Stymphelus: the handsomest is the conduit by the statue of Artemis, and on it is a figure of Bellerophon, and the water flows by the hoof of Pegasus.

As you go from the market-place towards Sicyon, there is visible on the right of the road a temple and brazen statue of Apollo, and at a little distance a well called the well of Glauce: for she threw herself into it, thinking the water would be an antidote against the poison of Medea. Above this well is what is called the Odeum. And near it is the tomb of the sons of Medea, whose names were Mermerus and Pheres, who are said to have been stoned by the Corinthians because of the gifts which they took Glauce. But because their death was violent and unjust, the children of the Corinthians wasted away in consequence, until at the oracular response of the god yearly sacrifices were ordained for them, and a statue of Panic erected. This statue still remains to our day, the figure of a woman represented as feeling the greatest terror. But since the capture of Corinth by the Romans and the decay of the old Corinthians, the sacrifices are no longer continued by the new settlers, nor do their children continue to shear their hair, or wear black raiment. And Medea when she went to Athens, lived with Ægeus, but some time after (being detected plotting against Theseus) she had to fly from Athens also, and going to the country which was then called Aria, gave her name to its inhabitants, so that they were called Medes from her. And the son whom she carried off with her when she fled to the Arians was they say her son by Ægeus, and his name was Medus. But Hellanicus calls him Polyxenus, and says Jason was his father. And there are poems among the Greeks called Naupactian: in which Jason is represented as having migrated from Iolcus to Corcyra after the death of Pelias, and Mermerus (the elder of his sons) is said to have been torn to pieces by a lioness, as he was hunting on the mainland opposite: but about Pheres nothing is recorded. And Cinæthon the Lacedæmonian, who also wrote Genealogical Poems, said that Jason had by Medea a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis: but of any children more he too has made no mention. But Eumœlus’ account is that the Sun gave Asopia to Aloeus, and Ephyræa to Æetes: and Æetes went to Colchis, and left the kingdom to Bunus the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and after Bunus’ death, Epopeus reigned over the Ephyræans. And when in after days Corinthus the son of Marathon died childless, the Corinthians sent for Medea from Iolcus to hand over the kingdom to her: and it was through her that Jason became king of Corinth, and Medea had children, by Jason, but whenever each was born she took it to the temple of Hera and hid it there, for she thought that by hiding them they would be immortal: but eventually she learned that she was wrong in this expectation, and, being at the same time detected by Jason, he would not forgive her though she pleaded hard for forgiveness, but sailed away to Iolcus. Eventually Medea herself went away too, and handed over the kingdom to Sisyphus. This is the account I have read.

CHAPTER IV.

And not far from the tomb of Mermerus and Pheres is the temple of Athene the Bridler: who they say helped Bellerophon more than any of the gods in various ways, and gave him Pegasus, after having broken it in and bridled it herself. Her statue is of wood, but the head and hands and toes are of white stone. That Bellerophon was not absolute king at Corinth, but limited in his power by Prœtus and the Argives I am positive, as every one will be who has read Homer carefully. And when Bellerophon migrated into Lycia, the Corinthians seem just the same to have obeyed those who were in power at Argos or Mycenæ. And they had no separate commander-in-chief of their own in the expedition against Troy, but took part in the expedition only as a contingent with the men of Mycenæ; and Agamemnon’s other troops. And Sisyphus had as sons not only Glaucus the father of Bellerophon, but also Ornytion, and Thersander, and Almus. And Phocus was the son of Ornytion, though nominally the son of Poseidon. And he colonized Tithorea in what is now called Phocis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion, remained at Corinth. And Demophon was the son of Thoas, Propodas the son of Demophon, Doridas and Hyanthidas the sons of Propodas. During the joint reign of Doridas and Hyanthidas the Dorians led an expedition against Corinth, under the command of Aletes the son of Hippotas, (the son of Phylas, the son of Antiochus, the son of Hercules). Doridas and Hyanthidas handed over the kingdom to Aletes, and were permitted to remain at Corinth, but the Corinthian people were expelled, after being beaten in battle by the Dorians. And Aletes himself and his descendants reigned for five generations, down to Bacchis the son of Prumnis, and his descendants the Bacchidæ reigned five more generations, down to Telestes the son of Aristodemus. And Telestes was slain by Arieus and Perantas out of hatred, and there were no longer any kings, but Presidents elected annually from the Bacchidæ, till Cypselus the son of Eetion drove out the Bacchidæ, and made himself king. He was the descendant of Melas the son of Antasus. And when Melas joined the Dorian expedition against Corinth from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, Aletes at first according to the oracle told him to go to other Greeks, but afterwards disregarded the oracle and took him as associate. Such is the result of my researches about the kings of the Corinthians.

Now the temple of Athene the Bridler is near the theatre, and not far off is a wooden statue of a naked Hercules, which they say is the work of Dædalus. All the works of Dædalus are somewhat odd to look at, but there is a wonderful inspiration about them. And above the theatre is a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in the Roman diction, in Greek it would be Zeus Coryphæus. And not far from this theatre is an old gymnasium, and a well called Lerna. And there are pillars round it, and seats to refresh those who come in in summertime. In this gymnasium there are shrines of the gods, one of Zeus, one of Æsculapius: and statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea (Health) in white stone, and one of Zeus in brass. As you ascend to Acro-Corinthus, (it is the top of the hill above the city, Briareus gave it to the Sun, after litigation, and the Sun, as the Corinthians say, let Aphrodite have it), there are two temples of Isis, one they call the Pelagian and the other the Egyptian, and two of Serapis, one under the name of Canobus. And next them are altars to the Sun, and a temple of Necessity and Force, into which it is not customary to enter. Above this is a temple of the Mother of the Gods, and a stone pillar and seat. The temples of the Fates and Demeter and Proserpine have statues rather dim with age. Here too is a temple of Bunæan Hera, which Bunus the son of Hermes erected. Hence the goddess got the title Bunæan.

CHAPTER V.

On the ascent to Acro-Corinthus there is also a temple of Aphrodite: and statues of her in full armour, and the Sun, and Cupid with a bow. And the fountain behind the temple is they say the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus: for he, though he knew that Zeus had carried off Ægina the daughter of Asopus, refused to tell him unless he would give him this water on Acro-Corinthus. And Asopus giving this water he vouchsafed the required information, and for his information pays the penalty in Hades, if indeed this is credible. But I have heard people say that this fountain is Pirene, and that the water in the city flows down from it. This river Asopus has its rise in the neighbourhood of Phlius, flows through the Sicyonian district, and has its outlet in the Corinthian Gulf. And the people of Phlius say that Asopus’ daughters were Corcyra and Ægina and Thebe: and that from Corcyra and Ægina the islands Scheria and Œnone got their present names, and that Thebe gave its name to Thebes the city of Cadmus. But the Thebans do not admit this, for they say that Thebe was the daughter of the Bœotian Asopus, and not the Asopus that has its rise at Phlius. The Phliasians and Sicyonians say further about this river that it is foreign and not indigenous, for Mæander they say flowing down from Celænæ through Phrygia and Caria, and falling into the sea at Miletus, travelled to the Peloponnese and made the river Asopus. And I remember to have heard something of the same kind from the people of Delos of the river Inopus, which they say came to them from the Nile. And moreover there is a tradition that the same Nile is the river Euphrates, which was lost in a lake and re-emerged as the Nile in the remote part of Ethiopia. This is what I heard about the Asopus. As you turn towards the mountains from Acro-Corinthus is the Teneatic gate, and a temple of Ilithyia. Now Tenea is about 60 stades from Corinth. And the people of Tenea say that they are Trojans, and were carried away captive by the Greeks from Tenedos, and located here by Agamemnon: and accordingly Apollo is the god they hold in highest honour.

And as you go from Corinth along the coast in the direction of Sicyon there is a temple, which was burnt down, not far from the city on the left hand of the way. There have been several wars in the neighbourhood of Corinth, and fire has consumed, as one would indeed expect, both houses and temples outside the city walls: this was they say a temple of Apollo, and burnt down by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles. I have also heard another account, that the Corinthians erected this temple to Olympian Zeus, and that it was some accidental fire that burnt it down. And the people of Sicyon, who are near neighbours to the Corinthians, say of their region that Ægialeus the Autochthon first dwelt there, and that what is now called Ægialus in the Peloponnese was called after him its king, and that he was founder of Ægialea a city in the plain: and that the site of the temple of Apollo was the citadel. And they say that the son of Ægialeus was Europs, and the son of Europs Telchis, and the son of Telchis Apis. Now this Apis had grown to such magnitude before Pelops came to Olympia, that all the land inside the Isthmus was called after him Apian. And the son of Apis was Thelxion, and the son of Thelxion was Ægyrus, and his son was Thurimachus, and the son of Thurimachus was Leucippus, and Leucippus had no male children, and only one daughter Chalcinia, who they say bore a child to Poseidon, who was called Peratus, and was brought up by Leucippus, and on his death succeeded to the kingdom as his heir. And the history of Plemnæus the son of Peratus seems to me most marvellous. All his children died that his wife bare to him directly they were born and had uttered the first cry, till Demeter took compassion on him, and coming to Ægialea as a stranger to Plemnæus reared his child Orthopolis. And Orthopolis had a daughter Chrysorthe: she had a child, supposed to be Apollo’s, called Coronus. And Coronus had Corax and a younger son Lamedon.

CHAPTER VI.

And Corax dying childless, about this time Epopeus came from Thessaly and obtained the kingdom. In his reign first (they say) did a hostile army ever come into their country, as they had heretofore in all time lived in peace. And the origin of the war was this. Antiope the daughter of Nycteus had a great reputation for beauty among the Greeks, and there was a rumour about her that she was the daughter of Asopus, the river that forms the boundary between Thebes and Platæa, and not the daughter of Nycteus. I know not whether Epopeus asked her in marriage, or carried her off with more audacious designs from the beginning. But the Thebans came with an army, and Nycteus was wounded, and Epopeus too (though he won the victory). Nycteus though very bad they took back to Thebes, and, when he was on the point of death, he gave orders that Lycus his brother should be ruler of the Thebans for the present: for Nycteus himself was Regent for Labdacus, (the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus), who was still a child, and now he left the Regency to Lycus. He also begged Lycus to go with a larger force to Ægialea and punish Epopeus, and even to illtreat Antiope if he could get hold of her. And Epopeus at first offered sacrifices for his victory and built a temple to Athene, and when it was finished prayed that the goddess would shew by some sign if it was to her mind, and after the prayer they say oil trickled in front of the temple. But afterwards Epopeus chanced to die of his wound which had been originally neglected, so Lycus had no longer any need of war, for Lamedon (the son of Coronus) the king after Epopeus gave Antiope up. And she, as she was being conducted to Thebes, gave birth to a child on the road near Eleutheræ. And it is in reference to this event that Asius the son of Amphiptolemus has written the lines, “Antiope, the daughter of the deep-eddying river Asopus, bare Zethus and divine Amphion, being pregnant both by Zeus, and Epopeus shepherd of his people.”

But Homer[14] has given them a finer pedigree, and says that they first built Thebes, distinguishing as it seems to me the lower city from the city built by Cadmus. And King Lamedon married a wife from Athens, Pheno the daughter of Clytius: and afterwards, when there was war between him and Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achæus, he invited Sicyon from Attica to help him, and gave him his daughter Zeuxippe in marriage, and when he became king the region got called after him Sicyonia, and the town Sicyon instead of Ægialea. And the Sicyonians say that Sicyon was not the son of Marathon the son of Epopeus, but the son of Metion the son of Erechtheus. And Asius agrees with them. But Hesiod has represented Sicyon as the son of Erechtheus, and Ibycus says he was the son of Pelops. However Sicyon had a daughter Chthonophyle, who is said to have had a son Polybus by Hermes: and afterwards Phlias the son of Dionysus married her, and she had a son Androdamas. And Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus, the son of Bias, the king of the Argives: and when Adrastus fled from Argos he went to Polybus at Sicyon, and after Polybus’ death he obtained the chief power at Sicyon. But when Adrastus was restored to Argos, then Ianiscus the descendant of Clytius, the father in law of Lamedon, came from Attica and became king, and on his death Phæstus, who was reputed to be one of the sons of Hercules. And Phæstus having migrated to Crete in accordance with an oracle, Zeuxippus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Syllis, is said to have become king. And after the death of Zeuxippus Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and its king Hippolytus, the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phæstus. And Hippolytus fearing the invading army agreed to be subject to Agamemnon and Mycenæ. And this Hippolytus had a son Lacestades. And Phalces, the son of Temenus, having seized Sicyon by night in conjunction with the Dorians, did no harm to Lacestades (as being himself also a descendant of Hercules), but shared the royal power with him.

CHAPTER VII.

And the Sicyonians became Dorians after this, and a part of Argolis. And their city, built by Ægialeus in the plain, Demetrius the son of Antigonus razed to the ground, and built the present city on the site of what was in former times the citadel. And the reason of the low fortunes of the Sicyonians one could not find out by investigation, but one would have to be content with what is said by Homer about Zeus,[15]

“Who hath brought down the pride of many cities.”

And when they were in a far from favourable condition an earthquake came on them, and made the city almost bare of men, and robbed them of many works of art. This earthquake also injured the cities of Caria and Lycia, and the island of Rhodes suffered especially, insomuch that the oracle of the Sibyl about Rhodes was fulfilled.

And as you go from Corinth towards Sicyon you come to the tomb of Messenian Lycus, whoever this Lycus was. For I find no Messenian Lycus that practised in the pentathlum, or carried off the prize at Olympia. This tomb is a mound of earth, and the Sicyonians mostly bury in the following manner. The body they deposit in the ground, and over it a stone slab with pillars on the top, on which are figures, generally like the eagles in the temples. But they write no epitaph, but simply the name of the deceased, not even his parentage, and bid the dead farewell. And next to the tomb of Lycus, when you have crossed over the Asopus, is on the right hand the temple of Olympian Zeus, and a little further on, on the left side of the road, is the tomb of Eupolis the Athenian Comedian. Further on in the direction of the city is the tomb of Xenodice, who died in childbirth: it is unlike the tombs in this part of the country, and has a painting, which is very fine. A little further is the tomb of the Sicyonians, who died at Pellene, and Dyme in Achaia, and at Megalopolis and Sellasia, whose exploits I shall relate fully later on. And they have near the gate a well in a cave, which oozes through the roof of the cave, so it is called the Dripping Well.

And in the present citadel there is a temple to Fortune Dwelling on the Heights, and next it one to the Dioscuri. Both these and the statue of Fortune are of wood. And in the theatre built under the citadel the person represented on the stage-curtain is, they say, Aratus the son of Clinias. And next to the theatre is a temple of Dionysus: the god is fashioned in gold and ivory, and near him some Bacchantes in white stone. These women they say are sacred to Dionysus, and full of Bacchic fury. And the Sicyonians have other statues in a secret place, which one night in every year they bring to the temple of Dionysus from the place called Ornament Room, and they bring them with lighted torches and national Hymns. The leader of the procession is called Baccheus, this functionary was appointed by Androdamas the son of Phlias, and the next in the procession is called Lysius, whom the Theban Phanes brought from Thebes at the bidding of the Pythian Priestess. And Phanes came to Sicyon, when Aristomachus the son of Cleodæus, mistaking the oracle, lost thereby his return to the Peloponnese. And as you go from the temple of Dionysus to the market-place there is a shrine of Artemis Limnæa on the right hand. And that the roof has fallen in is clear to the spectator. But as to the statue of the goddess—for there is none now—the people of Sicyon do not say whether it was carried away to some other place, or how it was destroyed (if destroyed).

And as you enter the market-place is a temple of Persuasion, also without a statue. Persuasion is worshipped by them on the following ground. Apollo and Artemis after slaying Pytho went to Ægialea to purify themselves. But being seized with some panic fear in the place which they now call Fear, they turned aside to Crete to Carmanor, and a pestilence came upon the people at Ægialea, and they were ordered by the seers to propitiate Apollo and Artemis. And they sent 7 lads and 7 maidens to the river Sythas to supplicate Apollo and Artemis, and persuaded by them these deities went to what was then the citadel, and the place they first reached was the temple of Persuasion. A Pageant of all this goes on to this day. On the Festival of Apollo the lads go to the river Sythas, and, after bringing Apollo and Artemis to the temple of Persuasion, take them back again to the temple of Apollo. And that temple is in the middle of the present market-place, and they say it was originally built by Prœtus, because his daughters got cured of madness here. They say also that Meleager hung up in this temple the spear with which he killed the Calydonian boar: here too (they say) are deposited the flutes of Marsyas: for after his awful death the river Marsyas carried them to Mæander, and they turned up again at the Asopus and were landed at Sicyon, and given to Apollo by a shepherd who found them. Of these votive offerings there is no vestige: for they were burnt with the temple. And the temple and statue were re-erected in my time by Pythocles.

CHAPTER VIII.

The sacred enclosure near the temple of Persuasion, consecrated to the Roman emperors, was formerly the house of Cleon the king. For Clisthenes the son of Aristonymus, the son of Myro, was king of the Sicyonians in the lower part of the city, but Cleon in what is now the city (i.e. the upper part). In front of this house is a hero-chapel to Aratus, who did the greatest exploits of all the Greeks in his time: and this is what he did. After the death of Cleon there came on those in authority such unbridled lust for power, that Euthydemus and Timoclidas usurped the chief power. These the people afterwards drove out, and put in their place Clinias the father of Aratus: and not many years afterwards Abantidas got the chief power, (after the death of Clinias), and either exiled Aratus, or Aratus retired of his own free will. However the men of the country killed Abantidas, and Pascas his father succeeded him, and Nicocles killed him, and reigned in his room. Against him came Aratus with some Sicyonian refugees and mercenaries from Argos, and slipping by some of the garrison in the darkness (for he made his attack by night), and forcing others back, got inside the walls: and (for by now it was day) leading his men to the tyrant’s house, he made a fierce attack on it. And he took it by storm with no great difficulty, and Nicocles slipt out at a back door and fled. And Aratus granted the Sicyonians isonomy, reconciling them to the refugees, and giving back to the refugees all their houses and goods that had been sold, but not without full compensation to former purchasers. And because all the Greeks were greatly afraid of the Macedonians and Antigonus (the Regent for Philip the son of Demetrius), he forced the Sicyonians, though they were Dorians, into the Achæan league. And forthwith he was chosen commander in chief by the Achæans, and he led them against the Locrians that live at Amphissa, and into the territory of the hostile Ætolians, and ravaged it. And although Antigonus held Corinth with a Macedonian garrison, he dismayed them by the suddenness of his attack, and in a battle defeated and killed many of them, and among others Persæus the head of the garrison, who had been a disciple of Zeno (the son of Mnaseas) in philosophy. And when Aratus had set Corinth free, then the Epidaurians and the Trœzenians who occupy the coast of Argolis, and the Megarians beyond the Isthmus, joined the Achæan league, and Ptolemy also formed an alliance with them. But the Lacedæmonians and Agis (the son of Eudamidas) their king were beforehand with them, and took Pellene by a coup de main, but when Aratus and his army came up they were beaten in the engagement, and evacuated Pellene, and returned home again on certain conditions. And Aratus, as things had prospered so well in the Peloponnese, thought it monstrous that the Piræus and Munychia, and moreover Salamis and Sunium, should be allowed to continue in Macedonian hands, and, as he did not expect to be able to take them by storm, he persuaded Diogenes, who was Governor of these Forts, to surrender them for 150 talents, and of this money he himself contributed one sixth part for the Athenians. He also persuaded Aristomachus, who was king at Argos, to give a democratical form of government to the Argives, and to join the Achæan league. And he took Mantinea from the Lacedæmonians. But indeed all things do not answer according to a man’s wish, since even Aratus was obliged eventually to become the ally of the Macedonians and Antigonus. This is how it happened.

CHAPTER IX.

Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, and grandson of Cleonymus, when he succeeded to the kingdom in Sparta, imitated Pausanias in desiring to be an autocrat, and not to obey the established laws. And as he was more impetuous than Pausanias, and brave as a lion, he quickly moulded everything to his will by his sagacity and boldness, and took off by poison Eurydamidas, the king of the other royal branch, while quite a lad, and vested the power of the Ephors in his brother Epiclidas, and having put down the power of the Senate, he established instead of them The Great Council of Patronomi (as they were called). And being very ambitious of greater fortunes, and even the supremacy over Greece, he attacked the Achæans first, hoping to have them as allies if he conquered them, and not wishing to give them the chance to hinder his actions. And he attacked them and beat them at Dyme above Patræ, Aratus being in this action the Achæan general, and this defeat it was that compelled Aratus to invite the aid of Antigonus, being afraid for the Achæans, and even for the safety of Sicyon. And Cleomenes having violated his conditions with Antigonus, (having openly acted against the terms of the treaty in other respects, and especially by turning out the inhabitants of Megalopolis,) Antigonus crossed into the Peloponnese, and in concert with the Achæans attacked Cleomenes at Sellasia. And the Achæans were victorious, and Sellasia was enslaved, and Lacedæmon captured. Antigonus and the Achæans then gave back to the Lacedæmonians their old Polity: and of Leonidas’s sons, Epiclidas was killed in battle, and Cleomenes, (who fled to Egypt and received the greatest honours from Ptolemy), was cast into prison subsequently for inciting the Egyptians to revolt. And he escaped out of prison, and caused some trouble at Alexandria: but at last he was taken and committed suicide. And the Lacedæmonians, glad to get rid of Cleomenes, chose to submit to kingly government no longer, but from thenceforth until now had the republican form of government. And Antigonus continued friendly to Aratus, as he had done him many good and splendid services. But when Philip took the government into his own hands, because Aratus did not praise his frequent exhibition of temper to his subjects, and sometimes even checked him in his outbursts, he murdered him, giving him poison when he didn’t expect it. And from Ægium, for here fate took him, they took his body to Sicyon and buried him, and the hero-chapel Arateum is still called after him. And Philip acted in just the same way to Euryclides and Micon, who were Athenians: for them too, (being orators and not unpersuasive with the people), he took off by poison. But poison was it seems destined to bring disaster to Philip himself: for his son Demetrius was poisoned by Perseus, his youngest brother, and so caused his father’s death by sorrow. And I have gone out of my way to give this account, remembering the divine saying of Hesiod, that he who plots mischief for another brings it first on his own pate.[16]

And next to the hero-chapel of Aratus is an altar to Poseidon Isthmius, and rude statues of Milichian Zeus and Tutelary Artemis. Milichian Zeus is in the shape of Pyramid, Artemis in that of a Pillar. Here too has been built a Council Chamber, and a Porch called the Clisthenic from its builder Clisthenes, who built it out of spoil which he took in the war against Cirrha, as an ally of the Amphictyones. And in the part of the market-place which is in the open air there is a Zeus in brass, the work of Lysippus, and near it a golden Artemis. And next is the temple of Lycian (Wolf-god) Apollo, in a very dilapidated condition. When wolves used to devour the flocks so that there was no profit in keeping sheep, Apollo pointed out a certain place where some dry wood lay, and ordered the bark of this wood and flesh to be laid together before the wolves. And this bark killed the wolves immediately they tasted it. This wood is kept stored up in the temple of the Wolf-god: but what tree it is of none of the Sicyonian antiquaries know. And next are some brazen statues, said to be the daughters of Prœtus, but the inscription has other women’s names. There is also a Hercules in brass, by Sicyonian Lysippus. And near it is a statue of Hermes of the Market.

CHAPTER X.

Not far from the market-place in the gymnasium is a Hercules in stone, the work of Scopas. There is also elsewhere a temple of Hercules: the precincts of which they call Pædize, and the temple is in the middle of the precincts, and in it is an old wooden statue of Hercules by Laphaes of Phlius. And the sacrifices they are wont to conduct as follows. They say that Phæstus, when he went to Sicyon, found that the people there offered victims to Hercules as a hero, whereas he thought they ought to sacrifice to him as to a god. And now the Sicyonians sacrifice lambs and burn their thighs on the altar, and part of the meat they eat and part they offer as to a hero. And the first of the days of the Feast which they keep to Hercules they call Names, and the second Hercules’ Day.

A road leads from here to the temple of Æsculapius. In the precincts there is on the left hand a double building: in the outer room is a statue of Sleep, and there is nothing of it remaining but the head. And the inner room is dedicated to Carnean Apollo, and none but the priests may enter it. In the Porch is the huge bone of a sea-monster, and next it the statue of Dream, and Sleep, called the Bountiful, lulling a lion to rest. And as you go up to the temple of Æsculapius, on one side is a statue of Pan seated, on the other one of Artemis erect. At the entrance is the god himself (Æsculapius) beardless, in gold and ivory, the work of Calamis: he has his sceptre in one hand, and in the other the fruit of the pine-tree. And they say that the god was brought to them from Epidaurus by a pair of mules, and that he was like a dragon, and that he was brought by Nicagora a native of Sicyon, the mother of Agasicles, and the wife of Echetimus. There are also some small statues fastened to the ceiling. The woman seated on the dragon is they say Aristodama the mother of Aratus, and they consider Aratus the son of Æsculapius. Such are the notable things to be seen in these precincts.

And there are other precincts there sacred to Aphrodite: and in them first is the statue of Antiope. For they say her sons were born at Sicyon, and this is the connection with Antiope. Next is the temple of Aphrodite. None may enter into it but a maiden Sacristan, who must never marry, and another maiden who performs the annual rites. This maiden they call bath-carrier. All others alike must only look at the goddess from the porch and worship her there. Her figure seated is the design of Canachus a native of Sicyon, (who also designed the Didymæan Apollo for the Milesians, and the Ismenian Apollo for the Thebans). It is in gold and ivory. The goddess wears on her head a cap, and in one hand holds a poppy, in the other an apple. And they offer in sacrifice to her the thighs of any victims but wild boars, all other parts they burn with juniper wood, and when they burn the thighs they burn up together with them the leaves of pæderos; which is a plant that grows in the precincts of the goddess’ temple in the open air, and grows in no other land, nor in any other part of Sicyonia. And its leaves are smaller than the leaves of the beech, but larger than those of the holm oak, and their shape is that of the oak-leaf, partly black, partly white like the silvery white of the poplar tree.

And as you go hence to the gymnasium, on the right is the temple of Pheræan Artemis: the wooden statue of the goddess was they say brought from Pheræ. Clinias built this gymnasium, and they educate boys there still. There is an Artemis also in white stone, carved only down to the waist, and a Hercules in his lower parts like the square Hermæ.

CHAPTER XI.

And as you turn from thence to the gate called The Holy Gate, not far from the gate is a shrine of Athene, which Epopeus formerly erected, in size and beauty surpassing those of its time. But time has obscured its fame. The god struck it with lightning: and now there remains only the altar, for the lightning did not light on it. And in front of the altar is the tomb of Epopeus, and near his tomb are the Gods the Averters of Evil, to whom they sacrifice (as the Greeks generally) to avert evil. And they say that Epopeus built the neighbouring temple to Artemis and Apollo, and Adrastus the one next to Hera: but no statues remain in either temple. Adrastus also built behind the temple of Hera two altars, one to Pan, and one to the Sun God in white stone. And as you descend to the plain is a temple of Demeter, and they say Plemnæus built it in gratitude to the goddess for rearing his son. And at a little distance from the temple of Hera, which Adrastus built, is the temple of Carnean Apollo. There are only the pillars of it left, you will find neither walls nor roof nor anything else there—nor in the temple of Hera the Guide: which was built by Phalces the son of Temenus, who said that Hera was his guide on the way to Sicyon. And as you go from Sicyon on the straight road to Phlius, about ten stades, and then turn off to the left, is the grove called Pyræa, and in it a temple of Demeter Prostasia, and Proserpine. Here the men have a festival to themselves, and give up what is called the Nymphon to the women to celebrate their festival in, and there are statues of Dionysus and Demeter and Proserpine (showing only their faces) in the Nymphon. And the road to Titane is sixty stades, and because of its narrowness it is impassable by a carriage and pair: and 20 stades further you cross the Asopus, and see on the left a grove of holm-oaks, and a temple of the Goddesses whom the Athenians call the Venerable, but the Sicyonians the Eumenides. And every year they keep a feast to them on one day, sacrificing ewes big with young, and they are wont to pour libations of honey and milk, and to use flowers as chaplets. They go through the same rites on the altar of the Fates in the open air, in the grove. And as you turn back again to the road, and cross the Asopus again, you come to a mountain-top, where the natives say Titan first dwelt, who was the brother of the Sun, and gave the name Titane to this place. This Titan seems to me to have been wonderfully clever in watching the seasons of the year, as when the Sun fructified and ripened seeds and fruit, and this was why he was considered the Sun’s brother. And afterwards Alexanor, the son of Machaon, the son of Æsculapius, came to Sicyon, and built a temple of Æsculapius at Titane. A few people dwell there, but for the most part only the suppliants of the god, and there are within the precincts some old cypress trees. But it is not possible to learn of what wood or metal Æsculapius’ statue is made, nor do they know who made it, though some say Alexanor himself. The only parts of the statue that are visible are the face and fingers and toes, for a white woollen tunic and cloak are thrown round it. And there is a statue of Hygiea somewhat similar. You can not see it either easily, so hidden is it by the hair of the women which they shear to the goddess, and by the folds of a Babylonish garment. And whichever of these any one wishes to propitiate, he is instructed to worship Hygiea. Alexanor and Euamerion have also statues, to the former they offer sacrifices after sunset as to a hero, but to the latter they sacrifice as to a god. And (if my conjecture is correct) this Euamerion is called Telesphorus (according to some oracle) by the people of Pergamum, but by the people of Epidaurus Acesis. There is also a wooden statue of Coronis, but not anywhere in the temple: but when bull or lamb or pig are sacrificed to the goddess, then they take Coronis to the temple of Athene and honour her there. Nor are they contented merely with cutting off the thighs of the victims, but they burn all the victims whole on the ground except birds, and these they burn on the altar. On the gable ends are figures of Hercules, and several Victories. And in the porch are statues of Dionysus and Hecate and Aphrodite and The Mother of the Gods and Fortune: these are all in wood, and one of Gortynian Æsculapius in stone. And people are afraid to approach the sacred dragons: but if their food is put at the entrance they give no further trouble. There is also within the precincts a statue of Granianus, a native of Sicyon, in brass. He won two victories at Olympia in the pentathlum, and a third in the stadium, and two in the double course, which he ran both in armour and out of armour.

CHAPTER XII.

And at Titane there is also a temple of Athene, into which they carry the statue of Coronis. And in it is an old wooden statue of Athene. This too is said to have been struck by lightning. As you descend from the hill, for the temple is built on the hill, is the altar of the winds, on which the priest sacrifices to them one night in every year. And he performs mysterious rites at four pits, to tame their violence, chanting, so they say, the incantations of Medea.

And as you go from Titane to Sicyon, and descend towards the sea, there is on the left a temple of Hera, with neither statue nor roof. They say Prœtus the son of Abas built it. And as you go down to what is called the harbour of the Sicyonians, and turn to Aristonautæ, the port of the people of Pellene, there is, a little above the road, on the left a temple of Poseidon. And as you go on along the high road you come to the river Helisson, and next the river Sythas, both rivers flowing into the sea.

Next to Sicyonia is Phliasia. Its chief town Phlius is 40 stades at most distant from Titane, and the road to it from Sicyon is straight. That the Phliasians have no connection with the Arcadians is plain from the catalogue of the Arcadians in Homer’s Iliad, for they are not included among them. And that they were Argives originally, and became Dorians after the return of the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese, will appear in the course of my narrative. As I know there are many different traditions about among the Phliasians, I shall give those which are most generally accepted among them. The first person who lived in this land was they say Aras an Autochthon, and he built a city on that hill which is still in our time called the Arantine hill, (not very far from another hill, on which the Phliasians have their citadel and a temple of Hebe.) Here he built his city, and from him both land and city got called of old Arantia. It was in his reign that Asopus (said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon) found the water of the river which they still call Asopus from the name of the person who found it.[17] And the sepulchre of Aras is in a place called Celeæ, where they say also Dysaules, an Eleusinian, is buried. And Aras had a son Aoris and a daughter Aræthyrea, who the Phliasians say were cunning hunters and brave in war. And, Aræthyrea dying first, Aoris changed the name of the city into Aræthyrea. Homer has made mention of it (when recording those who went with Agamemnon to Ilium) in the line

“They lived at Orneæ and lovely Aræthyrea.”[18]

And I think the tombs of the sons of Aras are on the Arantine hill. And at their tombs are some remarkable pillars, and before the rites which they celebrate to Ceres they look at these tombs, and call Aras and his sons to the libations. As to Phlias, the third who gave his name to the land, I cannot at all accept the Argive tradition that he was the son of Cisus the son of Temenus, for I know that he was called the son of Dionysus, and was said to have been one of those who sailed in the Argo. And the lines of the Rhodian poet bear me out, “Phlias also came with the men of Aræthyrea, where he dwelt, wealthy through his sire Dionysus, near the springs of Asopus.” And Aræthyrea was the mother of Phlias and not Chthonophyle, for Chthonophyle was his wife and he had Andromedas by her.

CHAPTER XIII.

By the return of the Heraclidæ all the Peloponnese was disturbed except Arcadia, for many of the cities had to take Dorian settlers, and frequent changes of inhabitants took place. The following were the changes at Phlius. Rhegnidas a Dorian (the son of Phalces the son of Temenus) marched against it from Argos and Sicyon. And some of the Phliasians were content with his demands, that they should remain in their own land, that he should be their king, and that the Dorians and he should have lands assigned to them. But Hippasus and his party stood out for a vigorous defence, and not for yielding up to the Dorians their numerous advantages without a fight. But as the people preferred the opposite view, Hippasus and those who agreed with him fled to Samos. And the great grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, surnamed the Wise: who was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphron, the son of Hippasus. This is the account the Phliasians give of their own history, and in most particulars the Sicyonians bear them out.

The most notable public sights are as follows. There is in the citadel at Phlius a cypress grove, and a temple hoary from old antiquity. The deity to whom the temple belongs is said by the most ancient of the Phliasians to have been Ganymeda, but by later ones Hebe: of whom Homer has made mention in the single combat between Menelaus and Paris, saying that she was the cupbearer of the gods, and again in the descent of Odysseus to Hades he has said that she was the wife of Hercules. But Olen in his Hymn to Hera says that she was reared by the Seasons, and was mother of Ares and Hebe. And among the Phliasians this goddess has various honours and especially in regard to slaves; for they give them entire immunity if they come as suppliants here, and when prisoners are loosed of their fetters they hang them up on the trees in the grove. And they keep a yearly feast which they call Ivy-cuttings. But they have no statue in any secret crypt, nor do they display one openly: and they have a sacred reason for acting so, for on the left as you go out there is a temple of Hera with a statue in Parian marble. And in the citadel there are some precincts sacred to Demeter, and in them a temple and statue of Demeter and Persephone, and also a brazen statue of Artemis, which seemed to me ancient. And as you go down from the citadel there is on the right a temple and beardless statue of Æsculapius. Under this temple is a theatre. And not far from it is a temple of Demeter, and some old statues of the goddess in a sitting posture.

And in the market-place there is a brazen she-goat, mostly gilt. It got honours among the Phliasians for the following reason. The constellation which they call the She-Goat does continuous harm to vines at its rise. And that no serious detriment might result from it, they paid various honours to this brazen goat, and decked its statue with gold. Here too is a monument of Aristias the son of Pratinas. The Satyrs carved by Aristias and Pratinas are reckoned the best carving next to that of Æschylus. In the back part of the market-place is a house called by the Phliasians the seer’s house. Into it Amphiaraus went (so they say) and lay all night in sleep before giving his oracular responses: and according to their account he for some time lived there privately and not as a seer. And since his time the building has been shut up entirely. And not far off is what is called Omphalus, the centre of all the Peloponnese, if indeed their account is correct. Next you come to an ancient temple of Dionysus, and another of Apollo, and another of Isis. The statue of Dionysus may be seen by anybody, as also that of Apollo: but that of Isis may only be seen by the priests. The following is also a tradition of the Phliasians, that Hercules, when he returned safe from Libya with the apples of the Hesperides, went to Phlius for some reason or other, and when he was living there was visited by Œneus, who was a connexion by marriage. On his arrival from Ætolia either he feasted Hercules, or Hercules feasted him. However this may be, Hercules struck the lad Cyathus, the cupbearer of Œneus, on the head with one of his fingers, not being pleased with the drink he offered him: and as this lad died immediately from the blow, the Phliasians erected a chapel to his memory. It was built near the temple of Apollo, and has a stone statue of Cyathus in the act of handing the cup to Hercules.

CHAPTER XIV.

Now Celeæ is about five stades from Phlius, and they sacrifice to Demeter there every fourth year and not annually. Nor is the presiding priest appointed for life, but a different one is chosen on each occasion, who may marry if he chooses. In this respect they differ from the Eleusinian mysteries, though generally speaking, as the Phliasians themselves admit, their mysteries are an imitation of those. They say that Dysaules the brother of Celeus came to their country and established these rites, when he was driven from Eleusis by Ion the son of Xuthus, who had been chosen commander in chief by the Athenians in the war against the people of Eleusis. This statement of the Phliasians I cannot assent to, that an Eleusinian should have been conquered in battle and gone into exile, when before the war was fought out the matter was submitted to arbitration, and Eumolpus remained at Eleusis. But it is quite possible that Dysaules may have gone to Celeæ for some other reason, and not that which the Phliasians allege. Nor indeed had he, as it seems to me, any other relation with the Eleusinian chiefs than as brother of Celeus, for else Homer would not have passed him over in his Hymn to Demeter: where in his list of those who were taught the mysteries by the goddess he ignores Dysaules. These are his lines. “She shewed Triptolemus, and Diocles tamer of horses, and powerful Eumolpus, and Celeus leader of the people, the due performance of her rights and mysteries.”[19] However, according to the Phliasian tradition, this Dysaules established the mysteries here, and also gave the name Celeæ to the place. There is also here as I have said the tomb of Dysaules, but subsequent to the date of the tomb of Aras: for according to the Phliasian account Dysaules came after the days when Aras was king. For they say Aras was a contemporary of Prometheus the son of Iapetus, and lived three generations earlier than Pelasgus the son of Arcas, and those who were called the Autochthons at Athens. And they say the chariot of Pelops is attached to the roof of the temple called the Anactorum. Such are the most important traditions of the Phliasians.

CHAPTER XV.

On the road from Corinth to Argos you come to the small town of Cleonæ. Some say Cleone was the daughter of Pelops, others that she was one of the daughters of Asopus, the river that flows by Sicyon: however the town got its name from her. There is a temple of Athene there, and a statue of the goddess by Scyllis and Dipœnus, pupils of Dædalus. But some say that Dædalus took a wife from Gortyns, and that Dipœnus and Scyllis were his sons by her. At Cleonæ beside this temple is the tomb of Eurytus and Cteatus, who had gone from Elis to be spectators of the Isthmian games, and whom Hercules shot with arrows there, charging them with having fought against him in the battle with Augeas.

From Cleonæ there are two roads to Argos, one convenient for rapid walkers and the shorter route, the other called Tretus (Bored), more convenient for a carriage, though it too is narrow and has mountains on both sides. Among these mountains is still shown the lair of the Nemean lion, for Nemea is only about 15 stades distant.

At Nemea is a temple well worth seeing of Nemean Zeus, only the roof has tumbled in, and there is no longer any statue there: but there is a cypress grove near the temple, where they say that Opheltes, placed on the grass there by his nurse, was devoured by a dragon. The Argives also sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, and select the priest of Nemean Zeus, and have a contest in running for men in armour at the winter meeting at Nemea. Here too is the tomb of Opheltes, and round it a wall of stones, and altars within the precincts: and there is a piled up mound of earth as a monument to Lycurgus the father of Opheltes. And the fountain they call Adrastea, whether for some other reason or because Adrastus discovered it. And they say the name Nemea was given to the place by Nemea the daughter of Asopus. And above Nemea is the Mountain Apesas, where they say Perseus sacrificed first to Apesantian Zeus. And as you go up to Argos by the road called Tretus you will see on the left hand the ruins of Mycenæ. All Greeks know that Perseus founded Mycenæ, and I shall relate the circumstances of the founding, and why the Argives afterwards dispossessed the old inhabitants. For in what is now called Argolis they mention no older town, and they say that Inachus the king gave his name to the river, and sacrificed to Hera. They also say that Phoroneus was the first mortal in this land, and that Inachus his father was not a man but a river: and that he and Cephisus and Asterion were the arbitrators between Poseidon and Hera in their dispute about the land: and when they judged that it was Hera’s, then Poseidon took away all their water. And this is the reason why neither Inachus nor any other of these rivers mentioned have any water except after rain. And in summer their streams are dry except at Lerna. And Phoroneus the son of Inachus first gathered men together in communities, who before lived scattered and solitary: so the city in which they were first gathered together was called Phoronicum.

CHAPTER XVI.

And Argos his daughter’s son, who reigned after Phoroneus, gave Argos his own name. And to Argos were born Pirasus and Phorbas, and to Phorbas Triopas, and to Triopas Iasus and Agenor. Io the daughter of Iasus went to Egypt, either as Herodotus tells the story or as the Greeks tell the story, and Crotopus the son of Agenor had the rule after Iasus, and the son of Crotopus was Sthenelas. And Danaus sailed from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelas, and expelled from the kingdom the descendants of Agenor. All the world knows the history, how his daughters acted to their cousins, and how after his death Lynceus had the kingdom. And his grandsons, the sons of Abas, divided the kingdom, Acrisius remained at Argos, and Prœtus had Heræum and Midea and Tiryns and all the maritime parts of Argolis: and there are to this day remains of Prœtus’ palace at Tiryns. And some time afterwards Acrisius, hearing that Perseus was alive and a mighty man of valour, retired to Larissa by the river Peneus. And Perseus, as he wished excessively to see his mother’s father and greet him with kind words and deeds, went to him to Larissa. And being in the prime of life, and rejoicing in the invention of the game of quoits, he displayed his prowess to all, and by fatality Acrisius was unintentionally killed by the throw of his quoit. Thus was the prophecy of the god fulfilled to Acrisius, nor did his contrivances against his daughter and her son turn away his fate. But when Perseus returned to Argos, for he was ashamed of the infamy of this murder of his grandfather, he persuaded Megapenthes the son of Prœtus to exchange kingdoms with him, and founded Mycenæ, where the scabbard of his sword fell off, for he thought this an indication that he should build a city there. Another tradition is that when thirsty he took up a fungus from the ground, and when some water flowed from it he drank it and was pleased, and called the name of the place Mycenæ [which means both scabbard and fungus.] Homer indeed in the Odyssey[20] has recorded the lady Mycene in the following line,

“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”

and the poem called the Great Eœæ, by Hesiod, represents her as the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor: and from her some say the city got its name. But the tradition of Acusilaus which they also add, that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton the son of Phoroneus, I could not accept, far less would the Lacedæmonians. For they have at Amyclæ the image of a woman called Sparta, and if they heard that Sparton was the son of Phoroneus they would marvel at once.

Now the Argives destroyed Mycenæ in jealousy. For though they took no part against the Medes, the people of Mycenæ sent to Thermopylæ 80 men, who shared in the glory of the famous 300. This public spirit brought about their destruction, by provoking the Argives to jealousy. But there are still some remains of the precincts and the gate, and there are some lions on it: which were they say executed by the Cyclopes, who built the wall at Tiryns for Prœtus. And among the ruins at Mycenæ is a fountain called Perseus’, and some underground buildings belonging to Atreus and his sons, where their treasures were. And there is the tomb of Atreus, and of those whom Ægisthus slew at a banquet on their return from Ilium with Agamemnon. As to Cassandra’s tomb the Lacedæmonians of Amyclæ claim that they have it. And there is the tomb of Agamemnon there, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint-tomb of Teledamus and Pelops, who were twins of Cassandra, and were butchered by Ægisthus (while still babes) after their parents. There is also the tomb of Electra, who married Pylades, and Orestes gave her away. And Hellanicus has recorded that Medon and Strophius were the issue of the marriage. And Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were buried a little outside the walls, for they were thought unworthy to lie within the city, and mingle their ashes with Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him.

CHAPTER XVII.

About fifteen stades from Mycenæ on the left is a temple of Hera. By the road flows the river Eleutherius. And the priestesses use it for lustrations and for private sacrifices. And this temple is on the more level part of Eubœa, for Eubœa is a mountain, and they say the daughters of the river god Asterion were Eubœa and Prosymna and Acræa, and that they were nurses of Hera. And Acræa gave her name to all the mountain opposite the temple of Hera, and Eubœa to the mountain near the temple, and Prosymna to the ground below the temple. And this Asterion flows above the temple of Hera and falls into a ravine and so disappears. And the flower called Asterion grows on its banks: they carry this flower to Hera and plait her crowns of its leaves. The architect of the temple was they say Eupolemus the Argive: and all the carved work above the pillars relates partly to the birth of Zeus and the gods and the battle with the Giants, and partly to the Trojan war and the capture of Ilium. And there are some statues in the porch, of the priestesses of Hera, and of Orestes and other heroes. For they say the one bearing the inscription that it is the Emperor Augustus is really Orestes. In the Ante-chapel are some old statues of The Graces, and on the right hand the bed of Hera, and a votive offering, the spear which Menelaus took from Euphorbus at Ilium. And there is a huge statue of Hera seated on a throne, in gold and ivory, the design of Polycletus. And she has a crown on her head composed of Graces and Seasons, and in one hand she has the fruit of the pomegranate, and in the other her sceptre. As to the pomegranate let me pass that over, for I am forbid to speak of it. But as to the cuckoo which sits on the sceptre, they say that Zeus, when he was enamoured of Hera while still a maid, changed himself into that bird, and that Hera chased the supposed cuckoo in sport. This tradition and similar ones about the gods I do not record because I believe them, but I record them just the same. And near Hera is a statue of Hebe said to be by Naucydes, this too in ivory and gold. And near it on a pillar is an old statue of Hera. But the oldest statue of Hera was made of wild pear tree, and was placed at Tiryns by Pirasus the son of Argus, and the Argives when they took Tiryns conveyed it to the temple of Hera, and I myself have seen it, a statue not very large seated. And the votive offerings worthy of record are a silver altar, with the legendary marriage of Hebe and Hercules carved upon it, and a peacock of gold and precious stones, an offering of the Emperor Adrian: he made this present because the peacock is sacred to Hera. There is also a golden crown and purple robe, the offerings of Nero. And there are above this temple the foundations of an older one and whatever the flames have spared. That temple was burnt by Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, falling asleep, and her lamp first setting fire to the decorations. And Chryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Alean Athene: and the Argives, although such a misfortune had befallen them, did not remove the effigy of Chryseis, but it is there to this day in front of the burnt temple.

CHAPTER XVIII.

And as you go from Mycenæ to Argos there is on the left hand a hero-chapel of Perseus near the road. He has honours here from the people in the neighbourhood, but the greatest honours are paid him at Seriphus, and he has also a temple among the Athenians, and in it an altar to Dictys and Clymene, who are called the Saviours of Perseus. And as you advance on the road to Argos a little way from this hero-chapel is the tomb of Thyestes on the right hand: and on it is a ram in stone, for Thyestes stole the golden sheep, when he seduced his brother’s wife. And Atreus could not be satisfied with the law of Tit for Tat, but slaughtered the children of Thyestes and served them up to him at table. But afterwards I cannot pronounce decidedly whether Ægisthus began the injury, or whether it began with the murder of Tantalus the son of Thyestes by Agamemnon: for they say he married Clytæmnestra as her first husband having received her from Tyndareus. And I do not wish to accuse them of wickedness incarnate. But if the crime of Pelops and the ghost of Myrtilus haunted the family so ruthlessly, it reminds one of the answer of the Pythian Priestess to Glaucus the son of Epicydes the Spartan, when he purposed perjury, that punishment would come on his descendants.

As you go on a little to the left from the Rams, for so they call the tomb of Thyestes, is a place called Mysia, and a temple of Mysian Demeter, so called from a man called Mysius, who was as the Argives say a host of Demeter. It has no roof. And in it is a shrine of baked brick, and images of Proserpine and Pluto and Demeter. And a little further is the river Inachus, and on the other side of the river is an altar of the Sun. And you will go thence to the gate called from the neighbouring temple, the temple of Ilithyia.

The Argives are the only Greeks I know of who were divided into three kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, the son of Argos, the son of Megapenthes, a madness came on the women, they went from their homes and wandered up and down the country, till Melampus the son of Amythaon cured them of that complaint, on condition that he and his brother Bias should share alike with Anaxagoras. And five kings of Bias’ race reigned for four generations to Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus, being all descended from Neleus on the mother’s side, and from Melampus six generations and six kings to Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus. But the native race, the descendants of Anaxagoras, reigned longer. For Iphis, the son of Alector, the son of Anaxagoras, left the kingdom to Sthenelus the son of his brother Capaneus: and Amphilochus after the capture of Ilium having migrated to what is now called Amphilochi, and Cyanippus dying childless, Cylarabes the son of Sthenelus had the kingdom alone. And he too had no children, and so Orestes the son of Agamemnon got Argos, as he was a near neighbour, and besides his hereditary sway had added to his dominions much Arcadian territory, and as he had also got the kingdom in Sparta, and had ever ready help in the alliance of the Phocians. And he was king of the Lacedæmonians at their own request. For they thought the sons of Tyndareus’ daughters better entitled to the kingdom than Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the sons of Menelaus by a bondmaid. And when Orestes died Tisamenus, the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the kingdom. And Penthilus, Orestes’ bastard son by Erigone the daughter of Ægisthus, is mentioned by Cinæthon in his Verses. It was in the reign of this Tisamenus that the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese, viz. Temenus and Cresphontes the sons of Aristomachus, and, as Aristodemus had died earlier, his sons came too. And they laid claim to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds, for Tisamenus was a descendant of Pelops, but the Heraclidæ derived from Perseus. And they represented that Tyndareus had been turned out by Hippocoon, and they said that Hercules had slain Hippocoon and his sons, and had given the country back to Tyndareus. Similarly they said about Messenia, that it was given to Nestor as a charge by Hercules when he took Pylos. They turned out therefore Tisamenus from Lacedæmon and Argos, and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, viz. Alcmæon the son of Sillus the son of Thrasymedes, and Pisistratus the son of Pisistratus, and the sons of Pæon the son of Antilochus, and besides them Melanthus the son of Andropompus, the son of Borus, the son of Penthilus, the son of Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went to what is now called Achaia with his army: and all the other sons of Neleus but Pisistratus, (for I don’t know to what people he betook himself), went to Athens, and the Pæonidæ and the Alcmæonidæ were called after them. Melanthus also had the kingdom, after driving out Thymœtes, the son of Oxyntas, who was the last of the descendants of Theseus that reigned at Athens.

CHAPTER XIX.

As to Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus there is nothing pressing to narrate about them. But Temenus openly made use of Deiphontes (the son of Antimachus, the son of Thrasyanor, the son of Ctesippus, the son of Hercules) as general for his battles instead of his sons, and made him his associate in all things, and gave him as wife his daughter Hyrnetho whom he loved more than all his children, and was suspected of intending to make her and Deiphontes his heirs in the kingdom. And for these reasons he was slain by his sons, and Cisus the eldest of them became king. But the Argives, who had from the most ancient times loved equality and home rule, reduced the kingly power so low, that Medon, the son of Cisus, and his descendants were left the royal title only. And Meltas the son of Lacedas, the 10th descendant of Medon, the people sentenced to deprivation of his kingdom altogether.

Of the temples in the city of the Argives the most notable is that of Lycian (Wolf-God) Apollo. The statue in our day was the work of an Athenian, Attalus, but originally the temple and wooden statue was the offering of Danaus. I think all statues were wooden in those days, and especially Egyptian ones. Now Danaus built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God for the following reason. When he came to Argos, he and Gelanor the son of Sthenelas were rival competitors for the kingdom. And many ingratiating words having been spoken by both of them to the people, and Gelanor’s speech seeming rather the best, the people, they say, put off the decision to the next day. And at break of day a wolf attacked a herd of cattle that were feeding near the walls, and had a fierce encounter with the bull, the leader of the herd. And it occurred to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull, Danaus like the wolf, for just as this animal does not live with human beings so Danaus had not up to that time lived with them. And as the wolf mastered the bull, so Danaus got the kingdom. And he thinking that Apollo had sent that wolf against the herd, built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God. In it is the throne of Danaus, and an image of Biton, the man who carried a bull on his shoulders (as Lyceas has represented), for, when the Argives were sacrificing to Zeus at Nemea, Biton took up a bull by sheer strength and carried it to the altar. And they light the fire close to this image, and they call it the fire of Phoroneus: for they do not admit that Prometheus gave fire to men, but they attribute the invention of fire to Phoroneus. Here also are wooden statues of Aphrodite and Hermes, the latter the work of Epeus, and the former the offering of Hypermnestra. For she, the only one of his daughters who disobeyed his cruel order, was brought to trial by Danaus, partly because he thought his own safety compromised by that of Lynceus, and partly because her not joining with her sisters in their atrocious deed augmented the disgrace of the contriver of the deed. And, being acquitted by the Argives, she erected as a votive offering in this temple a statue of Victorious Aphrodite. And there is inside the temple a statue of Ladas, who excelled all his contemporaries in fleetness of foot, and one of Hermes making a lyre out of a tortoise. And there is in front of the temple an amphitheatre with a representation of the fight between the bull and the wolf, and a maiden throwing a stone at the bull. They think this maiden represents Artemis. Danaus had all this constructed, and some pillars near, and wooden statues of Zeus and Artemis.

Here also are the tombs of Linus the son of Apollo, and of Psamathe the daughter of Crotopus, and this is that Linus they say who wrote poetry. I pass him by now as more meet to be discussed in another place, and as regards Psamathe I have already given a full account of her in what I have written about Megara. Next is a statue of Apollo the Guardian of the Streets, and the altar of Rainy Zeus, where those who conspired the return of Polynices to Thebes swore that they would die if unsuccessful in taking Thebes. As to the sepulchre of Prometheus, the Argives seem to me to give a less credible account than the Opuntians, but they stick to their account all the same.

CHAPTER XX.

And passing by the effigy of Creux the boxer, and the trophy erected over the Corinthians, you come to the statue of Milichian Zeus seated, the work of Polycletus in white stone. I ascertained that the following was the reason why it was made. When the Lacedæmonians began the war with the Argives, they continued hostilities till Philip the son of Amyntas compelled them to remain within their original boundaries. For during all previous time the Lacedæmonians never interfered outside the Peloponnese, but were always cutting a slice off Argolis, or the Argives, if the Lacedæmonians were engaged in war, would at such a time make a swoop on their borders. And when their mutual animosity was at its height, the Argives resolved to keep a standing army of 1000 picked men, and their captain was Bryas the Argive, who in other respects was insolent to the people, and outraged a maiden, who was being led in procession to her bridegroom’s house, tearing her away from her escort. But during the night catching him asleep she blinded Bryas: and being arrested at daybreak implored protection from the people. As they would not abandon her to the vengeance of the thousand, there ensued a fight, and the people were victorious, and in the heat of victory left not one of the 1000 alive. But afterwards they made expiation for this shedding of kinsmen’s blood, and erected a statue to Milichian Zeus. And near are statues in stone of Cleobis and Bito, who themselves drew the car with their mother in it to the temple of Hera.[21] And opposite these is the temple of Nemean Zeus, and in it a brazen statue of the god erect, the design of Lysippus. And next to it, as you go forward, on the right hand, is the tomb of Phoroneus: to whom they still offer victims. And opposite the temple of Nemean Zeus is a temple of Fortune of most ancient date, since Palamedes the inventor of dice made a votive offering of his dice to this temple. And the tomb near they call that of the Mænad Chorea, who they say with the other women accompanied Dionysus to Argos, and Perseus being victorious in the battle slew most of the women: the others they buried all together, but for her they had a tomb separately, as she excelled the others in merit. And at a little distance is a temple of the Seasons. And as you go on there are some full-length statues of Polynices, the son of Œdipus, and all the chief warriors that died with him in battle fighting against Thebes. These men Æschylus has described as only seven in number, though more must have come from Argos and Messene and Arcadia. And near these seven, (for the Argives also follow the description of Æschylus), are the statues of those that took Thebes, Ægialeus the son of Adrastus, and Promachus the son of Parthenopæus the son of Talaus, and Polydorus the son of Hippomedon, and Thersander, and Alcmæon and Amphilochus the sons of Amphiaraus, and Diomede and Sthenelus: also Euryalus the son of Mecisteus, and Adrastus and Timeas, the sons of Polynices. And not far from these statues is exhibited the sepulchre of Danaus, and a cenotaph of the Argives whom fate seized in Ilium or on the journey home. And there is here also a temple of Zeus Soter, at a little distance from which is a building where the Argive women bewail Adonis. And on the right hand of the entrance a temple has been built to the river Cephisus: the water of this river they say was not altogether dried up by Poseidon, but flowed under ground on the site of the temple. And near the temple of the Cephisus is a head of the Medusa in stone: this also they say is the work of the Cyclopes. And the place behind they call to this day Judgement Hall, because they say that Hypermnestra was put upon her trial there by Danaus. And not far distant is a theatre: and in it among other things well worth seeing is Perilaus the Argive, the son of Alcenor, slaying Othryades the Spartan. Perilaus before this had had the good luck to carry off the prize for wrestling in the Nemean games. And beyond the theatre is a temple of Aphrodite, in front of which is a statue of Telesilla the poetess on a pillar: at her feet lie her volumes of poetry, and she herself is looking at a helmet, which she holds in her hand and is about to put on her head. This Telesilla was otherwise remarkable among women, besides being honoured for her poetic gifts. For when upon the Argives fell disaster untold at the hands of Cleomenes (the son of Anaxandrides) and the Lacedæmonians, and most of them perished in the battle, and when all that fled for refuge to the grove at Argos perished also, at first coming out for quarter, but when they found that the promised quarter was not granted, setting themselves and the grove on fire together, then Cleomenes led the Lacedæmonians to an Argos stript of men. Then it was that Telesilla manned the walls with all the slaves who through youth or age were reckoned unfit to carry arms, and herself getting together all the arms which were left in the houses or the temples, and mustering all the women in the prime of life, armed them, and drew them up in battle array where she knew the enemy would approach. And when the Lacedæmonians came up, and the women so far from being dismayed at their war cry received their attack stoutly, then the Lacedæmonians considering that if they killed all the women their victory would be discreditable, and if they themselves were beaten their reverse would be disgraceful, yielded to the women. Now the Pythian Priestess had foretold this, and Herodotus, whether understanding the oracle or not, had recorded it as follows.[22] “But when the female conquering the male shall drive him out and win fame for the Argives, then shall the god make many of the Argive women wretched.” These words of the oracle describe the action of the women.

CHAPTER XXI.

And as you descend from thence and turn to the market-place you see the tomb of Cerdo, the wife of Phoroneus, and the temple of Æsculapius. And the temple of Artemis, under the name Persuasion, was erected also by Hypermnestra, when she was victorious over her father in the trial about Lynceus. There is also a brazen statue of Æneas, and a place called Delta, but why it is called Delta I purposely pass over, for I didn’t like the explanation. And in front of it is a temple of Zeus Promoter of Flight, and near it is the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the mother of Amphiaraus, and the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the daughter of Danaus, who lies in the same grave with Lynceus. And opposite them is the tomb of Talaus the son of Bias, about whom and his descendants I have spoken already. And there is a temple of Athene under the name of Trumpet, which they say Hegeleus built. This Hegeleus they say was the son of Tyrsenus, who was the son of Hercules and a Lydian woman, and Tyrsenus was the first who invented the trumpet, and Hegeleus his son taught the Dorians who followed Temenus the use of it, and that was why he called Athene Trumpet. And before the temple of Athene is they say the tomb of Epimenides: for the Lacedæmonians when they fought against the Gnossians took Epimenides alive, but killed him afterwards because he did not prophesy auspiciously for them, and they say they brought his remains, and buried them, here. And the building of white stone, nearly in the middle of the market-place, is not a trophy over Pyrrhus the king of Epirus, as the Argives say, but a memorial that his body was burnt here, inasmuch as elephants and all other things which he used in battle are represented here. This was the building for his funeral pyre: but his bones lie in the temple of Demeter, where in my account of Attica I have shown that he died. And at the entrance of this temple of Demeter you may see his brazen shield hanging over the door.

And not far from the building in the market-place of the Argives is a mound of earth. They say the head of the Gorgon Medusa lies under it. To omit fable, it has been recorded of her that she was the daughter of Phorcus, and that after the death of her father she ruled over the people that live near the Tritonian marsh, and used to go out hunting and led the Libyans in battle, and moreover resisted with her army the power of Perseus, though picked men followed him from the Peloponnese, but she was treacherously slain by night, and Perseus, marvelling at her beauty even after death, cut her head off and brought it home to display to the Greeks. But Procles the Carthaginian, the son of Eucrates, has another account more plausible than this one. The desert of Libya produces monsters scarce credible to those that hear of them, and there both wild men and wild women are born: and Procles said he had seen one of those wild men that had been taken to Rome. He conjectured therefore that Medusa was a woman who had wandered from them, and gone to the Tritonian marsh, and illtreated the inhabitants till Perseus slew her: and Athene he thought assisted Perseus in the work, because the men in the neighbourhood of the Tritonian marsh were sacred to her. And in Argos close to this monument of the Gorgon is the tomb of the Gorgon-slayer Perseus. Why she was called Gorgon is plain to the hearer at once.[23] They say she was the first woman who ever married a second husband, for she married one Œbalus, when her husband Perieres the son of Æolus was dead, with whom she had lived from her virginity. Previously it was customary for women to remain widows if their husband died. And before this tomb is a trophy erected in stone to the Argive Laphaes, whom, according to the Argive tradition, the people rose up against and expelled when he was king, and when he fled to Sparta the Lacedæmonians endeavoured to restore him, but the Argives being victorious in the battle slew Laphaes and most of the Lacedæmonians. And not far from this trophy is the temple of Leto, and a statue of her by Praxiteles. And the figure near the goddess is the maiden they call Chloris, who they say was the daughter of Niobe, and was originally called Melibœa. And when the children of Amphion and Niobe were slain by Apollo and Artemis, she alone and Amyclas were saved alive, as they supplicated Leto. But fear turned Melibœa so pale that she remained so all the rest of her life, insomuch that her name was changed from Melibœa into Chloris (pale). This Chloris and Amyclas the Argives say built the original temple of Leto. But I myself am of opinion, (for I lean more than most people to the authority of Homer,) that none of the children of Niobe survived. The following line bears me out.

“Two arrows only slew the whole family.”[24]

Homer therefore describes the whole family of Amphion as cut off.

CHAPTER XXII.

Now the temple of Flowery Hera is on the right hand of the temple of Leto, and in front of it is the tomb of the women who fell in the fight between the Argives and Perseus, and had marched with Dionysus from the islands in the Ægean, and who were called Marines from that circumstance. And right opposite the sepulchre of those women is the temple of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian because Pelasgus the son of Triopas built it, and at no great distance from the temple is Pelasgus’ tomb. And beyond the tomb is a brazen shrine not very large, which contains old statues of Artemis and Zeus and Athene. Lyceas in his verses has represented it as a votive offering to Zeus the Contriver, and said that the Argives who went on the expedition to Ilium swore here that they would not give over fighting, till they should either capture Ilium or be killed fighting there. But others have said that the remains of Tantalus are in that brazen shrine. I will not dispute that the Tantalus who was the son of Thyestes or Broteus, (for both traditions are current), who married Clytæmnestra before Agamemnon, was buried here. But the Tantalus who was said to be son of Zeus or Pluto was buried at Sipylus in a very handsome tomb which I have myself seen. And moreover there was no necessity for him to flee from Sipylus, as happened afterwards to Pelops when Ilus the Phrygian came against him with an army. But let the enquiry proceed no further. As for the rites which take place at the neighbouring trench, they say they were instituted by Nicostratus, a man of those parts. To this day they place in the trench lighted torches to Proserpine the daughter of Demeter. There too is a temple of Poseidon under the name of the Flood-god—for Poseidon flooded most of the region, because Inachus and the other arbitrators decided that the land was Hera’s and not his. But Hera afterwards got Poseidon to draw the water off: and the Argives, at the place where the stream retired, built a temple to Poseidon the Flood-god. And as you go a little further is the tomb of Argos, who was reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe the daughter of Phoroneus: and next is the temple of the Dioscuri. And there are statues of them and their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous, and with them their mothers Hilaira and Phœbe, in black ebony wood, by Dipœnus and Scyllis. Even the horses are mostly made of ebony, though partly of ivory. And near this temple of the Dioscuri is a temple of Ilithyia, the offering of Helen, when Theseus went with Pirithous to Thesprotia, and Aphidna was captured by the Dioscuri, and Helen was taken to Lacedæmon. For they say she was pregnant by Theseus, and bare a child in Argos and built this temple to Ilithyia, and gave the child to Clytæmnestra, who was now the wife of Agamemnon, and the child afterwards became the wife of Menelaus. Euphorion the Chalcidian and Alexander the Pleuronian have mentioned it in their poems, and still earlier Stesichorus of Himera, and they say like the Argives that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus by Helen. And beyond the temple of Ilithyia is the temple of Hecate, and the statue is the work of Scopas. It is of stone and right opposite are two brazen statues of Hecate, one by Polycletus, and the other by his brother Naucydes the son of Mothon. And as you go straight for the gymnasium, which is called Cylarabis after Cylarabus, the son of Sthenelus, you come to the tomb of Licymnius the son of Electryon. Homer says he was slain by Tleptolemus the son of Hercules, who had to fly from Argos in consequence of this murder. And, as you turn off a little towards Cylarabis and the gate in this direction, is the sepulchre of Sacadas, who was the first who played the Hymn to Apollo at Delphi on the flute: and it seems the anger of Apollo against flute-players (which he had in consequence of the contest with Marsyas the Silenus) was appeased by this Sacadas. In this gymnasium of Cylarabus is a bust of Athene Capanea, and they show the tomb of Sthenelus, and of Cylarabus himself. And not far from this gymnasium is a monument to the Argives who sailed with the Athenians to reduce Syracuse and Sicily.

CHAPTER XXIII.

As you go thence on the road called the Hollow Way, there is on the right hand a temple of Dionysus: the statue of the god they say came from Eubœa. For when the Greeks returning from Ilium were shipwrecked at Caphareus, those of the Argives who contrived to escape to shore were in evil plight from cold and hunger. But when they prayed that one of the gods would save them in their present emergency, immediately as they went forward they saw a cave of Dionysus, and a statue of the god in the cave, and some wild goats that had taken refuge from the cold were huddled together in it. These the Argives killed, and eat their flesh, and used their skins for clothing. And when the winter was over, they repaired their vessels and sailed homewards, and took with them the wooden statue from the cave, and worship it to this day. And very near the temple of Dionysus you will see the house of Adrastus, and at some distance from it the temple of Amphiaraus, and beyond that the tomb of Eriphyle. And next these is the shrine of Æsculapius, and close to it the temple of Bato, who was of the family of Amphiaraus and one of the Melampodidæ, and was Amphiaraus’ charioteer when he went out to battle: and when the rout from Thebes came about, the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraus and the chariot and Bato all together. And as you return from the Hollow Way you come to the reputed tomb of Hyrnetho. If it is a cenotaph and merely in memory of her, their account is probable enough, but if they say that the body of Hyrnetho lies there I cannot believe them, but let him believe them who knows nothing about Epidaurus. The most famous of the temples of Æsculapius at Argos has a statue still to be seen, Æsculapius seated, in white stone, and next to him a statue of Hygiea. There are also seated near them those who designed these statues, Xenophilus and Strato. That temple was originally built by Sphyrus, the son of Machaon, and the brother of the Alexanor who has honours among the Sicyonians at Titane. And the statue of Pheræan Artemis, (for the Argives worship Pheræan Artemis as well as the Athenians and Sicyonians,) was they say brought from Pheræ in Thessaly. But I cannot agree with the Argives who say that they have at Argos the tombs of Deianira the daughter of Œneus, and of Helenus the son of Priam, and that they have the statue of Athene that was carried away from Ilium, and whose loss caused its fall. The Palladium, for that is its name, was certainly carried by Æneas to Italy. As to Deianira, we know she died at Trachis and not at Argos, and her tomb is near that of Hercules on Mount Œta. And as to Helenus the son of Priam, I have already shown that he went with Pyrrhus the son of Achilles to Epirus, and married Andromache, and was Regent for the sons of Pyrrhus, and that Cestrine in Epirus took its name from his son Cestrinus. Not that the Argive antiquarians are ignorant that all their traditions are not true, still they utter them: for it is not easy to get the mass of mankind to change their preconceived opinions. There are other things at Argos worth seeing, as the underground building, (in which is the brazen chamber which Acrisius formerly got constructed for the safe custody of his daughter, Perilaus deposed and succeeded him,) and the tomb of Crotopus, and the temple of Cretan Dionysus. For they say that Dionysus, after he had warred with Perseus and got friendly again with him, was highly honoured by the Argives in various respects, and was given as a special honour this enclosure. And afterwards it was called the temple of Cretan Dionysus, because they buried Ariadne here. And Lyceas says that when the temple was restored an earthenware cinerary urn was found that contained the ashes of Ariadne: which he said several Argives had seen. And near this temple of Dionysus is the temple of Celestial Aphrodite.

CHAPTER XXIV.

And the citadel they call Larissa from the daughter of Pelasgus, and from two cities of that name in Thessaly, one on the coast, and one by the river Peneus. And as you go up to the citadel there is a temple of Hera Dwelling on the Heights, there is also a temple of Apollo, which Pythæus, who first came from Delphi, is said to have erected. The statue is of brass erect, and is called Apollo of the Ridgeway, for the place is called Ridge. Oracular responses, for there is an oracle there even to our day, are given in the following manner. The prophetess is debarred from marriage: and when a lamb is sacrificed every month, she tastes of the blood and becomes possessed by the god. And next to the temple of Apollo of the Ridgeway is the temple of Athene called Sharp-eyed, the votive offering of Diomede, because when he was fighting at Ilium the goddess upon one occasion took a mist from his eyes.[25] And close by is the race-course where they hold the games to Nemean Zeus and to Hera. On the left of the road to the citadel is a monument to the sons of Ægyptus. Their heads are here apart from their bodies, for the bodies are at Lerna where the murder of the young men was perpetrated, and when they were dead their wives cut their heads off, to show their father their desperate deed. And on the summit of Larissa is the temple of Larissæan Zeus, which has no roof to it: and the statue, which is made of wood, stands no longer on its base. And there is a temple of Athene well worth seeing. There are several votive offerings there, and a wooden statue of Zeus, with the usual two eyes, and a third in the forehead. This Zeus they say was the tutelary god of Priam the son of Laomedon, and was placed in his hall in the open air, and when Ilium was taken by the Greeks, it was to his altar that Priam fled for refuge. And when they divided the spoil Sthenelus the son of Capaneus got it, and placed it here. One might conjecture that the god has three eyes for the following reason. That he reigns in heaven is the universal tradition of all mankind. And that he reigns also under the earth the line of Homer proves, speaking of him as

“Zeus the lord of the under world, and dread Proserpine.”[26]

And Æschylus the son of Euphorion calls him also Zeus of the sea. The sculptor therefore whoever he was represented him with three eyes to denote that the god rules in these three departments of the universe.

Among the roads from Argos to various parts of the Peloponnese, is one to Tegea a town in Arcadia. On the right of this road is the mountain Lycone, full of cypress trees. And on the top of the mountain is a temple to Orthian Artemis, and there are statues of Apollo and Leto and Artemis in white stone; said to be by Polycletus. And as you go down from the mountain there is on the left of the road a temple of Artemis. And at a little distance on the right is the mountain called Chaon. And underneath it trees are planted, and manifestly here the Erasinus has its rise: for a while it flows from Stymphalus in Arcadia, as the Rheti flow from Euripus to Eleusis and so to the sea. And where the river Erasinus gushes out on the mountain-side they sacrifice to Dionysus and Pan, and keep the feast of Dionysus called Medley. And as you return to the Tegean road, you come to Cenchreæ on the right of what is called Trochus. Why it was called Cenchreæ they do not tell us, except the name came from Cenchreus the son of Pirene. There is here a general tomb of the Argives who conquered the Lacedæmonians in battle near Hysiæ. I ascertained that this battle was fought when Pisistratus was ruler at Athens, and in the 4th year of the Olympiad in which Eurybotus the Athenian won the prize in the course. And as you descend to the plain are the ruins of the town Hysiæ in Argolis, and here they say the reverse happened to the Lacedæmonians.

CHAPTER XXV.

The road to Mantinea from Argos is not the same as the road to Tegea, but you start from the gates near the ridge. And on this road there is a temple with a double entrance, one facing west, another east. At the east end is a wooden statue of Aphrodite, at the west one of Ares. These statues are they say votive offerings of Polynices and the Argives who were associated with him in his expedition. And as you go on from thence after crossing the winter torrent called Ravine you come to Œnoe, which gets its name (so the Argives say) from Œneus, who was king in Ætolia, and expelled they say from his kingdom by the sons of Agrius, and went to Argos to Diomede. And he helped him somewhat by leading an army into Calydonia, but he couldn’t he said stay there: but recommended him if he liked to accompany him to Argos. And when he went there, he treated him in all respects well, as one would expect a person to treat his grandfather, and when he died he buried him here. The place got called Œnoe by the Argives after him. And above Œnoe is the Mountain Artemisium, and a temple of Artemis on the top of the mountain. And on this mountain are the sources of the Inachus: for it has its rise here, though it flows underground for some way. There is nothing else to see here.

And another road from the gates near the Ridge goes to Lyrceia. This is the place to which Lynceus alone of all the 50 brothers is said to have escaped, and when he got there safe, he held up a lighted torch there. For it was no doubt agreed between Hypermnestra and him that he should do so as a signal, if he should escape from Danaus and get to a place of safety. And she also they say kindled another at Larissa, manifestly to show that she too was in no danger. And in memory of this the Argives every year have a torch procession. And in those days the place was called Lynceia, but afterwards, because Lyrcus an illegitimate son of Abas lived there, it got the name Lyrceia from him. There is nothing very notable among the ruins but the effigy of Lyrcus on a pillar. From Lyrceia to Argos is about 60 stades, and it is about the same distance from Lyrceia to Orneæ. Homer has made no mention of Lyrceia in his catalogue, as the city was already depopulated at the time of the expedition to Ilium: but Orneæ, which was still inhabited, Homer[27] has recorded before Phlius and Sicyon, according to its geographical situation in Argolis. And it got its name from Orneus the son of Erechtheus: and this Orneus had a son Peteos, and he had a son Menestheus, who aided Agamemnon with a force from Athens to put down the dominion of Priam. From Orneus then the city got its name, and the Argives afterwards dispossessed the people of Orneæ; and when they were dispossessed they were naturalized among the Argives. And there is at Orneæ a temple of Artemis, and a wooden statue of the goddess in an erect posture, and another temple to all the gods in common. And beyond Orneæ are Sicyonia and Phliasia.

And as you go from Argos to the district of Epidaurus there is a building on the right hand like a pyramid, with some Argolic shields worked on it as a design. Here Prœtus fought with Acrisius for the supremacy, and their contest was they say drawn, and they had a peace afterwards, as neither of them could conquer the other. And they say that they engaged first with shields, and then they and the army on both sides in full armour. And those who fell on both sides, as they were fellow citizens and kinsmen, had one tomb and monument in common. And as you go on from thence and turn to the right you come to the ruins of Tiryns. And the Argives dispossessed the inhabitants of Tiryns, wishing to take them in as settlers to aggrandize Argos. And they say the hero Tiryns, from whom the city got its name, was the son of Argus the son of Zeus. And the walls of the city, which are the only ruins left, are the work of the Cyclopes made of rude stones, each stone of so gigantic a size that the smallest of them could hardly be moved by a pair of mules. And in ancient times small stones were inserted so as to dovetail in with the large stones. And as you go down to the sea, are the chambers of the daughters of Prœtus. And when you return to the high road you will come to Midea on the left. They say that Electryon the father of Alcmena was king of Midea. But now nothing is left of Midea but the site. And on the direct road to Epidaurus is the village Lessa, and there is a temple of Athene in it, and a wooden statue very similar to that in the citadel at Larissa. And above Lessa is the Mountain Arachnæum, which in old times in the days of Inachus had the name of Sapyselaton. And there are altars on it to Zeus and Hera. They sacrifice to these gods here when there is a deficiency of rain.

CHAPTER XXVI.

And near Lessa is Epidaurus in Argolis, and before you get to the town itself, you will come to the temple of Æsculapius. I do not know who dwelt in this place before Epidaurus came to it: nor could I learn from any of the people of the neighbourhood anything about his descendants. But the last king they say before the Dorians came to the Peloponnese was Pityreus, the descendant of Ion the son of Xuthus. He they say gave up the land without fighting for it to Deiphontes and the Argives: and retired to Athens with his subjects and dwelt there, and Deiphontes and the Argives who espoused his cause occupied Epidauria. For there was a split among the Argives at the death of Temenus, Deiphontes and Hyrnetho being hostile to the sons of Temenus, and the army with them favouring Deiphontes and Hyrnetho more than Cisus and his brothers. Epidaurus, from whom the country got its name, was, as the people of Elis say, the son of Pelops: but according to the opinion of the Argives, and the poem of Hesiod called The Great Eœæ, the father of Epidaurus was Argus the son of Zeus. But the Epidaurians make Epidaurus the son of Apollo. And the district was generally held sacred to Æsculapius for the following reason. The Epidaurians say that Phlegyas came to the Peloponnese on the pretext of seeing the country, but really to spy out the population, and see if the number of fighting men was large. For Phlegyas was the greatest warrior of that day, and, whoever he attacked, used to carry off their corn and fruit and booty of all kinds. But when he came to the Peloponnese his daughter followed him, who though her father knew it not was with child by Apollo. And when she bore her child on Epidaurian soil, she exposed it on the mountain called in our day Titthion, but which was then called Myrgion. And as he was exposed there one of the she-goats feeding on the mountain gave him milk, and the watch-dog of the flock guarded him. And Aresthanas, for that was the name of the goat-herd, when he found the number of the goats not tallying and that the dog was also absent from the flock, went in search everywhere, and when he saw the child desired to take him away, but when he got near saw lightning shining from the child, and thinking there was something divine in all this, as indeed there was, he turned away. And it was forthwith noised abroad about the lad both by land and sea that he could heal sicknesses, and raise the dead. There is also another tradition told of him, that Coronis, when pregnant with Æsculapius, lay with Ischys the son of Elatus, and that she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness to Apollo, and when the funeral pyre was already lighted Hermes is said to have plucked the child from the flame. And a third tradition is as it seems to me the least likely of all, which makes Æsculapius the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when Apollophanes the Arcadian went to Delphi and enquired of the god, whether Æsculapius was the son of Arsinoe and a citizen at Messene, Apollo answered from his oracle, “O Æsculapius, that art born a great joy to all mortals, whom lovely Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas, bare to me the child of love, at rocky Epidaurus.” This oracular response shows plainly that Æsculapius was not the son of Arsinoe, but that Hesiod, or somebody that interpolated Hesiod, inserted that legend to please the people of Messene. And this too bears me out that Æsculapius was born at Epidaurus, that his worship is derived from thence. For the Athenians call the day on which they worship Æsculapius Epidauria, and they say the god is worshipped by them from Epidaurus; and also Archias the son of Aristæchmus, being healed in Epidauria of a convulsion that seized him when he was hunting near Pindasus, introduced the worship of the god at Pergamum. And from the people of Pergamum it passed in our time to the people of Smyrna. And at Balagræ amongst the Cyrenæans the Epidaurian Æsculapius is called Doctor. And from the Cyrenæans Æsculapius got worshipped in Labene among the Cretans. And there is this difference between the Cyrenæan and Epidaurian customs of worshipping Æsculapius, that the former sacrifice goats, which is not customary with the latter. And I find that Æsculapius was considered as a god from the beginning, and not merely as he got fame as time went on, from other proofs, and the testimony of Homer in what Agamemnon says about Machaon,

“Talthybius, call here as quickly as possible Machaon the mortal, the son of Æsculapius,”

as if he said the man the son of the god.[28]

CHAPTER XXVII.

The sacred grove of Æsculapius is walled in on all sides: nor do any deaths or births take place in the precincts of the god, just as is the case at the island Delos. And the sacrifices, whether any native of Epidaurus or stranger be the sacrificer, they consume in the precincts. The same I know happens at Titane. And the statue of Æsculapius is in size half that of Olympian Zeus at Athens, and is made of ivory and gold: and the inscription shows that it was by the Parian Thrasymede the son of Arignotus. The god sits on a seat holding a staff in one hand, and the other hand he has on a dragon’s head, and a dog is seated at his feet. And on the seat are represented the actions of Argive heroes, as Bellerophon killing the Chimæra, and Perseus with the head of Medusa. And beyond the temple is a sleeping-place for suppliants. And a round building has been built near well worth seeing, of white stone, called the Rotunda. And in it there is a painting by Pausias of Cupid throwing away his bow and arrows and taking up a lyre instead. There is also here a painting of Drunkenness, also by Pausias, drinking out of a glass bowl. You may see in the painting the glass bowl and in it a woman’s face reflected. And six pillars to this day stand in the precincts, but in old time there were more. On these are recorded the names of men and women healed by Æsculapius, and the complaint from which each suffered, and how they were cured, written in Doric. And apart from the rest is an ancient pillar, which states that Hippolytus offered 20 horses to the god. And the people of Aricia have a tradition corresponding to the inscription on this pillar, that, when Hippolytus died in consequence of the imprecations of Theseus, Æsculapius restored him to life again: and when he came to life again, he refused to pardon his father, and disregarding his entreaties went into Italy to the people of Aricia, and there became king and built a temple to Artemis, where in my time the prize for victory in single combat was to become the priest of the goddess. But the contest was not for freemen, but for slaves who had run away from their masters. And the Epidaurians have a theatre in their temple, especially well worth seeing in my opinion: for the Roman theatres beat all in the world in magnificence, and for size the Arcadian theatre at Megalopolis carries the day: but for beauty of proportion what architect could compete with Polycletus? And Polycletus it was that designed this theatre and round building. And within the grove there is a temple of Artemis, and a statue of Epione, and a temple of Aphrodite and Themis, and a stadium, as generally among the Greeks, consisting of a mound of earth, and a fountain well worth seeing for its roof and other decoration. And Antonine the Senator constructed in our days a bath of Æsculapius, and a temple of the gods they call the Bountiful Gods. He built also a temple for Hygiea and for Æsculapius and for Apollo under the title of Egyptian gods. He restored also Cotys’ porch for the roof had fallen in and it had all come to ruin as it had been built of unbaked brick. And the Epidaurians who lived near the temple were especially unfortunate, for their women might not bear children under a roof but only in the open air. But Antonine set this right and erected a building where it was lawful both to die and bear children. And there are two mountains above the grove, one called Titthion and the other Cynortion, and on the latter a temple to Maleatian Apollo. The building is ancient, but everything else in connection with the temple, as the reservoir e.g. in which rainwater is stored up, was put there by Antonine for the benefit of the Epidaurians.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Now all kinds of dragons, and especially those which incline to tawny in colour, are considered sacred to Æsculapius, and are tame, and the Epidaurian country alone breeds them. I find similar phenomena in other countries. Thus Libya alone breeds land crocodiles no smaller than two cubits, and from India alone come parrots and other birds. For the great snakes in size as big as 30 cubits, which are produced in India and in Libya, the Epidaurians say are not dragons but another species altogether. And as you ascend the mountain called Coryphon there is an olive tree called Twisted, its having been so moulded by Hercules’ hand is the origin of the name. I can hardly believe that he meant this for a boundary for the Asinæi in Argolis, for as the country on both sides lies waste one could find no clear boundary here. And on the top of the mountain Coryphon is the temple of Artemis, which Telesilla has mentioned in a poem. And as you go down to the city of the Epidaurians is a place, called Hyrnethium, full of wild olives that grow there. I shall record the Epidaurian tradition and the probable truth. Cisus and the other sons of Temenus knew that they would greatly vex Deiphontes, if they could by any means get Hyrnetho from him. Cerynes and Phalces therefore went alone to Epidaurus: for Argæeus the youngest did not approve of their plot. And they leaving their travelling carriage near the walls sent a messenger to their sister, wishing they said to have a conversation with her. And when she complied with their invitation, the young men at once brought various charges against Deiphontes, and begged her earnestly to return to Argos, making various promises, and that they would give her in marriage to a man in every respect better than Deiphontes, to the ruler of a larger population and a more fertile country. And Hyrnetho vexed at their words gave them back as good as they brought, and said that Deiphontes was acceptable to her as a husband, and that to be Temenus’ son in law was not to be despised, but they ought to be called rather Temenus’ murderers than his sons. And they made no reply to her, but took hold of her, put her into the travelling carriage, and drove off. And an Epidaurian took the news to Deiphontes that Cerynes and Phalces had gone off with Hyrnetho against her will. And he came to the rescue with all speed, and the Epidaurians when they heard what the matter was came to the rescue with him. And Deiphontes when he came up with Cerynes shot at him and killed him with an arrow, but as Phalces was close to Hyrnetho he did not dare to shoot at him, lest he should miss him and kill her, but he closed with him and endeavoured to get her away. But Phalces resisting and pulling Hyrnetho too violently killed her, for she was pregnant. And he perceiving what he had done to his sister, drove the travelling carriage at full speed, hastening to be off before the Epidaurians could come up: and Deiphontes with his sons (for he had had by Hyrnetho Antimenes and Xanthippus and Argeus, and one daughter Orsobia, who afterwards married Pamphylus the son of Ægimius), took the dead body of Hyrnetho and conveyed it to the place which is now called Hyrnethium. And they built a chapel to her memory and paid her other honours, and with regard to the olive trees that grow in her grove, or any other trees there, it is an established custom that no one should break pieces of them off and carry them away, nor use them for any purpose, but leave them intact as sacred to Hyrnetho. And not far from the city is the sepulchre of Melissa, who was the wife of Periander the son of Cypselus, and the sepulchre of Proclees the father of Melissa. And he was king at Epidaurus, as his son in law Periander was at Corinth.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Epidaurus has the following things most worthy of record. There is a temple of Æsculapius, and statues of Æsculapius and Epione, who they say was his wife. These are in the open air, and are of Parian marble. And there are temples of Dionysus and Artemis, the latter as a Huntress. There is a temple also built to Aphrodite: and near the harbour on the cliff jutting out into the sea is they say one of Hera. And the Athene in the citadel, a wooden statue well worth seeing, they call Cissæan Athene.

The Æginetans inhabit the island opposite Epidauria. And they say there were no inhabitants there originally, but Zeus having taken Ægina the daughter of Asopus there to that desert island, it was called Ægina after her instead of its old name Œnone, and when Æacus was grown up he asked of Zeus for settlers, and then they say that Zeus produced men from the soil. And they can tell of no king reigning there but Æacus, for we know of none of the sons of Æacus continuing there, for Peleus and Telamon had to flee for the murder of Phocus, and the sons of Phocus again dwelt near Parnassus in what is now called Phocis. And the name Phocis was given to the district when Phocus of the family of Ornytion first came to it. In the days of this Phocus the country near Tithorea and Parnassus was called Phocis: but in the days of Æacus the name Phocis included everybody from Minyæ near Orchomenus to Scarphea in Locris. And Peleus’ sons were kings in Epirus, and of Telamon’s sons the family of Ajax was rather obscure (as he lived in a retired way privately), except Miltiades, who led the Athenians at Marathon, and his son Cimon, both of whom were exceedingly illustrious. And the descendants of Teucer were kings of Cyprus down to Evagoras. And according to the poet Asius Phocus’ sons were Panopeus and Crisus: and the son of Panopeus was Epeus, who according to Homer was the contriver of the wooden horse, and the grandson of Crisus was Pylades, the son of Strophius, the son of Crisus by Anaxibia the daughter of Agamemnon. Such is the pedigree of the so-called Æacidæ, but they branched off from the beginning into other directions. And in after time a part of the Argives that had occupied Epidaurus with Deiphontes crossed over to Ægina, and, mixing among the old settlers at Ægina, introduced into the island the Doric language and manners. And the Æginetans became a great power, so that they were even a greater naval power than the Athenians, and in the Persian War furnished the greatest number of vessels next to the Athenians, but their prosperity did not last, for they were turned out of Ægina by the Athenians, and went and dwelt at Thyrea in Argolis, which the Lacedæmonians gave them. They recovered Ægina indeed, when the Athenian triremes were captured at the Hellespont, but never regained their former wealth and power. Of all the Greek islands Ægina is the most difficult of access. For there are rocks under the sea all round it, and sunken reefs. And they say that Æacus contrived this on purpose from fear of pirates, and that he might not be exposed to enemies. And near the chief harbour is a temple of Aphrodite, and in the most conspicuous part of the city what is called the Hall of Æacus, a square court of white stone: at the entrance of which are statues of the envoys who were sent by the Greeks to Æacus. All give the same account of this as the Æginetans. A drought for some time afflicted Greece, and there was no rain either beyond the Isthmus or in the Peloponnese, until they sent messengers to Delphi, to enquire the cause, and at the same time to beg to be rid of the evil. The Pythian Priestess told them to propitiate Zeus, and that, if he was to listen to them, Æacus must be the suppliant. Accordingly they sent envoys from every city to beg Æacus to do so. And he offered sacrifices and prayers to Pan-Hellenian Zeus and caused rain to come on the earth: and the Æginetans made these effigies of all the envoys that had come to him. And within the precincts are some olive trees planted a long time ago, and an altar not much higher than the ground, which it is secretly whispered is a memorial of Æacus. And near the Hall of Æacus is the tomb of Phocus, a mound of earth with a base in the shape of a circle, and on it is a rough stone: and when Telamon and Peleus invited Phocus to the contest of the pentathlum, and it was Peleus’ turn to throw the stone, which served them for a quoit, he purposely threw it at Phocus and hit him. And in this they gratified their mother, for they were the sons of Endeis the daughter of Sciron, and Phocus was the son of her sister Thetis, if the Greeks speak the truth. And Pylades appears to me for this reason, and not merely in friendship to Orestes, to have contrived the death of Neoptolemus. But when Phocus was struck by the quoit and fell down dead, then the sons of Endeis got on board ship and fled. And Telamon later on sent a messenger, and endeavoured to clear himself of having contrived the death of Phocus. But Æacus would not let him land on the island, but bade him if he liked pile up a mole in the sea and make his defence there. Accordingly he sailed to the harbour called Secret, and by night produced a mole, which remains to this day. And being pronounced guilty of the death of Phocus he sailed back again to Salamis. And not far from this harbour Secret is a theatre well worth seeing, in size and workmanship very similar to the one at Epidaurus. And behind it is built one side of a stadium, upholding the theatre and serving as a prop for it.

CHAPTER XXX.

And near one another are temples of Apollo, and Artemis, and Dionysus. The wooden statue of Apollo is naked and of native art, but Artemis and Dionysus are draped, and Dionysus is represented with a beard. But the temple of Æsculapius is on the other side and not here, and the statue of stone, seated. And of all the gods the people of Ægina honour Hecate most, and celebrate her rites annually, saying that Orpheus the Thracian introduced those rites. And within the precincts is a temple, containing a wooden statue of Hecate by Myron, with only one head and one body. Alcamenes as it seems to me was the first who made the statue of Hecate with three heads and three bodies which the Athenians call Hecate Epipurgidia: it stands near the temple of Wingless Victory. And in Ægina as you go to the mountain of Pan-Hellenian Zeus is the temple of Aphæa, about whom Pindar wrote an ode for the Æginetans. And the Cretans say, (for her worship is indigenous among them too), that Eubulus was the son of that Carmanor who purged Apollo of the murder of Python, and that Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus by Carme the daughter of Eubulus: and that she rejoiced in races and hunting, and was a very great friend of Artemis. And fleeing from Minos, who was enamoured of her, she threw herself into some nets set for catching fish. Artemis made her a goddess, and she is worshipped not only by the Cretans but also by the Æginetans, who say that Britomartis was seen in their island. And she is called Aphæa in Ægina, but Dictynna in Crete. And the mountain Pan-Hellenium has nothing of note but the temple of Zeus, which they say Æacus erected. As to what concerns Auxesia and Lamia, how there was no rain at Epidaurus, and how after receiving olive trees from Athens they made wooden statues according to the bidding of the oracle, and how the Epidaurians did not pay to the Athenians their charge for the Æginetans having these statues, and how the Athenians who crossed over to Ægina to exact payment perished, all this has been told accurately and circumstantially by Herodotus. I do not therefore care to write again what has been so well told before, but this much I may say that I have seen the statues and sacrificed to them as they are accustomed to sacrifice at Eleusis.

Let so much suffice for Ægina, and Æacus and his exploits. And next to Epidauria come the people of Trœzen, who are proud of their country if any people are. And they say that Orus was a native of their country. To me however the name Orus seems decidedly Egyptian and not at all Greek. However they say he was their king, and that the country was called Oræa after him, and Althepus the son of Poseidon by Leis the daughter of Orus, succeeding to Orus, called the country Althepia. When he was king they say that Athene and Poseidon had a dispute about the country, and resolved to hold it in common, for so Zeus ordered them to do. And so they worship Athene under the names Polias and Sthenias, and Poseidon under the name of king. And so their ancient coins have on them a trident and the head of Athene. And next to Althepus Saron was king, who they say built the temple to Saronian Artemis near the sea where it was muddy on the surface, insomuch that it was called the Phœbæan marsh. And it chanced that Saron, who was very fond of hunting, was pursuing a stag and followed it to the sea as it fled. And it swam further and further from the land, and Saron continued to follow it up, till in his impetuosity he got out to open sea, and, as he was by now tired, and the waves were too much for him, he was drowned. And his dead body was cast on shore on the Phœbæan marsh, and they buried him in the grove of Artemis, and they call the sea here after him the Saronian marsh instead of the Phœbæan. The names of the kings that followed him they do not know till Hyperes and Anthas, who they say were the sons of Poseidon by Alcyone the daughter of Atlas, and built the cities in that country called Hyperea and Anthea. And Aetius the son of Anthas, succeeding his father and uncle in the kingdom, called one of these two cities Poseidonias. And when Trœzen and Pittheus joined Aetius, there were three kings instead of one, and the sons of Pelops were the stronger. And this proves it. After the death of Trœzen Pittheus joined together Hyperea and Anthea, and combined the inhabitants into one city, which he called Trœzen from the name of his brother. And many years afterwards the descendants of Aetius, the son of Anthas, were sent on a colony from Trœzen, and colonized Halicarnassus in Caria, and Myndus. And the sons of Trœzen, Anaphlystus and Sphettus, migrated to Attica, and gave their names to two townships. And as regards Theseus the son of Pittheus’ daughter I do not write to people who know all the history. But I must narrate thus much. When the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese the people of Trœzen received as colonists the Dorians from Argos, having been formerly subject to the Argives. And Homer in his catalogue says that they were under the rule of Diomede. Diomede at least and Euryalus the son of Mecisteus, who were Regents for Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus, led the Argives to Troy. But Sthenelus, as I have shown before, was of more illustrious birth, being of the family of the Anaxagoridæ, and the kingdom of the Argives was more his by right. Such are all the historical details about Trœzen, except a list of the cities which are said to have been colonized from Trœzen. I will now describe the contents of the temples and other notable things in Trœzen.

CHAPTER XXXI.

In the market-place is a temple, and statues, of Artemis the Saviour. And it is said that Theseus built it and called her Saviour, when he returned from Crete after having killed Asterion the son of Minos. This seems to me to have been the most notable of all his exploits, not so much because Asterion excelled in bravery all who were killed by Theseus, but because he escaped the hidden snares of the labyrinth, and all this makes it clear that Theseus and his companions were saved by providence. In this temple are altars of the gods said to rule in the lower world: and they say that Semele was brought here from Hades by Dionysus, and that Hercules brought Cerberus here from Hades. But I do not think that Semele died at all, as she was the wife of Zeus: and as to Cerberus I shall elsewhere tell what I think.

And behind the temple there is a monument of Pittheus, and three seats are on it of white stone: and Pittheus and two others with him are said to be giving sentence on these seats. And at no great distance is a temple of the Muses, built they say by Ardalus, the son of Hephæstus: who they think discovered the use of the flute, and so they call the Muses Ardalian after him. Here they say Pittheus taught the art of language, and I have myself read a book written by Pittheus, that was given me by an Epidaurian. And not far from, the temple of the Muses is an ancient altar, erected as they say also by Ardalus. And they sacrifice on it to the Muses and Sleep, saying that Sleep is the god most friendly to the Muses. And near the theatre is a temple of Lycean Artemis, which Hippolytus built. Why the goddess was so called I could not find from the antiquarians, but it seems to me it was either because Hippolytus drove out the wolves that ravaged Trœzen and the neighbourhood, or that it was a title of Artemis among the Amazons, of whom his mother was one. Or there may be some other explanation which I do not know. And the stone in front of the temple called the holy stone was they say the stone on which formerly the 9 men of Trœzen cleared Orestes of the murder of his mother. And not far from the temple of Lycean Artemis are altars at no great distance from one another.

The first of them is one of Dionysus, called Saviour in accordance with some oracle, and the second is called Themidon, Pittheus dedicated it they say. And they very likely built an altar to the Sun the Liberator when they escaped the slavery of Xerxes and the Persians. And they say Pittheus built the temple of Thearian Apollo, which is the oldest of all I know. There is indeed an old temple of Athene among the Phocians in Ionia, which Harpagus the Persian burnt, old also is the temple of Pythian Apollo among the Samians, but far later are both than this one at Trœzen. And the statue of the god is still to be seen, the votive offering of Auliscus, and the design of Hermon of Trœzen, who also made wooden statues of the Dioscuri. And there are also in the porch in the market-place stone statues of the women and children whom the Athenians committed to the charge of the people of Trœzen, when they resolved to leave Athens, and not to encounter the attack of the Mede with a land force. And they are said to have put here statues not of all those women, for they are not many here, but only of those who were especially remarkable for merit. And there is a building in front of the temple of Apollo, called the tent of Orestes. For before he was cleared of his mother’s blood, none of the people of Trœzen would receive him in their houses: but they put him here and gradually cleared him and fed him here, till the expiatory rites were completed. And to this day the descendants of those that cleared him feast here on appointed days. And the expiations having been buried not far from this tent, they say a laurel sprang up from them, which is still to be seen in front of the tent. And they say that Orestes among other purgations used water from Hippocrene. For the people of Trœzen have a well called Hippocrene, and the tradition about it is the same as the Bœotian tradition. For they too say that water sprang up from the ground when Pegasus touched the ground with his hoof, and that Bellerophon came to Trœzen to ask for Æthra as his wife from Pittheus, but it so chanced that before the marriage came off he fled from Corinth.

And there is here a statue of Hermes called Polygius, and they say Hercules offered his club to it, and the club was of wild olive, and, (believe it who will,) sprouted in the earth and grew, and is now a tree, for Hercules they say discovered the wild olive in the Saronian marsh and cut a club of it. There is also a temple of Zeus Soter, built they say by King Aetius the son of Anthas. And they call their river Chrysorrhoe (golden stream), for when there was a drought in the land and no rain for nine years, and all other water they say dried up, this Chrysorrhoe continued to flow as usual.

CHAPTER XXXII.

And Hippolytus the son of Theseus has precincts and a temple in them and ancient statue. Diomede they say erected all these, and was the first to sacrifice to Hippolytus: and the people of Trœzen have a priest of Hippolytus who serves for life, and they have yearly sacrifices, and the following custom. Every maiden cuts off a lock of her hair before marriage, and takes it and offers it at this temple. And they don’t represent Hippolytus as having died through being torn in pieces by his horses, nor do they point out his tomb if they know it: but they try to make out that Hippolytus is called in heaven the Charioteer, and has this honour from the gods. And within his precincts is the temple of Apollo Epibaterius, the votive offering of Diomede when he escaped the storm which fell on the Greeks as they were returning from Ilium: they say also that Diomede first established the Pythian games in honour of Apollo. And as to Lamia and Auxesia (for they also have their share of honour) the people of Trœzen do not give the same account as the Epidaurians and Æginetans, but say that they were virgins who came from Crete, and in a general commotion in the city were stoned by one of the rival factions, and they have a festival to them called Stonethrowing. And in another part of the precincts is what is called Hippolytus’ race-course, and overlooking it a temple of Peeping Aphrodite: where, when Hippolytus was training, Phædra would gaze at him in her love. Here too grows the myrtle with the leaves pricked, as I described before: for when Phædra was in despair and found no relief for her love-pains, she wreaked her agony on the leaves of the myrtle. And Phædra’s tomb is here, not very far from the monument of Hippolytus, or that myrtle tree. And there is a statue of Æsculapius by Timotheus, but the people of Trœzen say it is not Æsculapius but Hippolytus. I saw also the house of Hippolytus, and in front of it is what is called the Well of Hercules, the water (as the people of Trœzen say) which Hercules discovered. And in the citadel there is a temple of Athene Sthenias, the wooden statue of the goddess is by Callon of Ægina; who was the pupil of Tectæus and Angelion, who designed the statue of Apollo at Delos; and they were pupils of Dipœnus and Scyllis. And as you go down from thence you come to the temple of Pan the Deliverer, for he shewed dreams to the chief people of the Trœzenians which brought about deliverance from the plague, which pressed so hard on the Athenians. And in the environs of Trœzen you will see a temple of Isis, and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height: the temple the Halicarnassians built for Trœzen their mother city; but the statue of Isis was a votive offering of the people of Trœzen.

As you go along the mountains to Hermione you see the source of the river Hyllicus, which was originally called Taurius, and a rock called Theseus’ rock, which used in former times to be called the altar of Sthenian Zeus, but had its name changed to Theseus’ rock because Theseus found under it the shoes and sword of Ægeus. And near this rock is the temple of Bridal Aphrodite, which was built by Theseus when he married Helen. And outside the walls is a temple of Fruit-giving Poseidon: for they say that Poseidon in wrath threatened to make their land fruitless, by casting brine on the seeds and roots of their plants, till mollified by their sacrifices and prayers he sent brine on their land no longer. And above the temple of Poseidon is Law-giving Demeter, which was built they say by Althepus. And as you descend to the harbour near what is called Celenderis, is the place which they call Natal-place, because they say Theseus was born there. And in front of this place is a temple of Ares on the spot where Theseus conquered the Amazons in battle: they must have been some of that band who fought in Attica with Theseus and the Athenians. And as you go towards the Psiphæan sea there is a wild olive tree called twisted Rhachus. The people of Trœzen give that name to every kind of olive that bears no fruit, whether its general name is κοτινός, or φυλίας, or ἔλαιος. And they call it twisted because, the reins catching in it, the chariot of Hippolytus got overturned. And at no great distance from this is the temple of Saronian Artemis, about which I have already given an account. But this much more shall be stated, that they keep an annual feast called Saronia to Artemis.