Geography

​The city itself is a rock in a plain, inhabited all around. On this rock is the sanctuary of Athena, both the ancient temple of Polias in which is the inextinguishable lamp, and the Parthenon which Ictinus built, in which is the chryselephantine Athena, the work of Pheidias. But indeed, falling into the multitude of things celebrated and rumored about this city, I hesitate to go into too much detail, lest the writing happen to fall away from its purpose. For there occurs to my mind what Hegesias says: “I see the Acropolis and the mark of the extraordinary trident there; I see Eleusis, and I have become an initiate of the sacred rites; that is the Leokorion, this is the Theseion; I cannot point out each one individually, for Attica belongs to the gods themselves who took possession of it, and to the ancestral heroes...” Now he indeed mentioned only one of the monuments on the Acropolis, but Polemon the topographer wrote four books about the votive offerings on the Acropolis. And the same proportion holds also for the other parts of the city and the country. For having mentioned Eleusis, one of the one hundred and seventy-four demes, as they say, he named none of the others.

​Even if not all, at least most of them possess numerous myths and histories. For example, Aphidna has the rape of Helen by Theseus and its destruction by the Dioscuri and the recovery of their sister; Marathon has the Persian struggle; Rhamnus has the wooden statue of Nemesis, which some say is the work of Diodotus and others of Agoracritus the Parian, highly successful in both size and beauty, and a rival to the works of Pheidias. In the same way, Decelea was the base of operations for the Peloponnesians during the Deceleian War, and Phyle is the place from which Thrasybulus led the people to Peiraeus and from there to the city. Thus also one can relate many things about many other places. And furthermore, the Leokorion and the Theseion possess histories, as do the Lyceum and the Olympium, which the king who dedicated it left unfinished when he died; likewise also the Academy, the gardens of the philosophers, the Odeion, the Painted Portico, and the temples in the city, all containing the works of famous artists.

​The account would be much longer if one were to examine the founders of the settlement, starting from Cecrops; for not everyone says the same things. This is also clear from the names: for they say that Acte was named after Actaeon, Attis and Attica after Attis the daughter of Cranaus, after whom the inhabitants were also called Cranaoi, Mopsopia after Mopsopus, Ionia after Ion the son of Xuthus, and Poseidonia and Athens after the eponymous deities. And it has been said that the nation of the Pelasgians also appears to have migrated here, and that they were called Pelargoi by the Atticans because of their wandering.

​The greater the ambition concerning famous things, and the more those who have spoken about them, the greater is the exposure of error if one does not master the history. For instance, Callimachus in his “Collection of Rivers” says that he laughs if anyone has the courage to write that the Athenian virgins “draw the pure liquid of Eridanus,” from which even beasts of burden would keep away. It is true that now, as they say, there are springs of pure and potable water outside the so-called gates of Diochares near the Lyceum; and formerly a certain fountain-house of abundant and good water had been constructed nearby. But even if it is not so now, what wonder would it be if in ancient times it was abundant and pure so as to be potable, but changed later? Therefore, while it is not possible to linger over individual details, which are so numerous, neither indeed is it right to pass them over in silence without mentioning some of them at least in summary.