Description of Greece

​The sanctuary of the Dioscuri is ancient, they themselves standing, and their sons seated on horses. Here Polygnotus painted the marriage of the daughters of Leucippus, which related to them, and Micon painted those who sailed with Jason to the Colchians; and for Micon, the care in his painting is directed especially towards Acastus and the horses of Acastus.

​Above the sanctuary of the Dioscuri is the precinct of Aglaurus. They say that Athena, having placed Erichthonius in a chest, gave him to Aglaurus and her sisters, Herse and Pandrosus, forbidding them to be inquisitive about what was entrusted to them. They say that Pandrosus indeed obeyed, but the other two—for they opened the chest—went mad when they saw Erichthonius, and threw themselves down from the acropolis where it was most precipitous. At this point, the Medes, having climbed up, slaughtered those of the Athenians who thought they knew more about the oracle than Themistocles did, and had barricaded the acropolis with wooden palisades and stakes.

​Near is the Prytaneum, in which the laws of Solon are inscribed, and statues of the goddesses Peace (Eirene) and Hestia are placed, as well as other statues, including Autolycus the pancratiast; for they changed the inscriptions on the statues of Miltiades and Themistocles to a Roman man and a Thracian.

​From here, as one goes to the lower parts of the city, there is a sanctuary of Sarapis, whom the Athenians introduced as a god from Ptolemy. Among the Egyptian sanctuaries of Sarapis, the most famous is that of the Alexandrians, and the oldest is in Memphis; into this latter it is not permitted for either foreigners or priests to enter until they bury Apis. Not far from the sanctuary of Sarapis is a place where they say Pirithous and Theseus, having made an agreement, set out for Lacedaemon and later to the Thesprotians.

​Near is built a temple of Eileithyia, who, they say, came from the land of the Hyperboreans to Delos and became a helper to Leto in her labor pains; and they say that the others learned the name of Eileithyia from the Delians. And the Delians sacrifice to Eileithyia and sing a hymn of Olen. But the Cretans think that Eileithyia was born at Amnisus in the Knossian territory and is a child of Hera. Only for the Athenians are the wooden images (xoana) of Eileithyia draped to the tips of the feet. The women said that two of them were Cretan and dedications of Phaedra, but the oldest Erysichthon brought from Delos.

​Before entering the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus—Hadrian, the emperor of the Romans, dedicated both the temple and the statue, which is worth seeing, to which in size, except that the Rhodians and Romans have their colossi, other statues are likewise inferior; it is made of ivory and gold and shows good workmanship to those who look at its size—here there are statues of Hadrian, two of Thasian stone and two of Egyptian. And bronze statues stand before the columns, which the Athenians call the colonial cities. The entire enclosure is about four stades, and is full of statues; for from every city a statue of the emperor Hadrian is dedicated, and the Athenians surpassed them by dedicating behind the temple a colossus worth seeing.

​There are ancient things within the enclosure, a bronze Zeus, a temple of Cronus and Rhea, and a precinct of Earth (Ge) surnamed Olympia. Here the ground is parted about a cubit, and they say that after the flood which happened in the time of Deucalion, the water flowed away through this opening; and every year they cast into it wheat meal mixed with honey.

​And on a column stands a statue of Isocrates, who left behind three things for memory: the most laborious, that although he lived ninety-eight years, he never ceased to have pupils; the most temperate, that he continually abstained from politics and did not meddle in public affairs; the most liberal, that having been grieved at the news of the battle of Chaeronea, he ended his life voluntarily. And there are also Persians of Phrygian stone supporting a bronze tripod, worth seeing themselves and the tripod. And they say that Deucalion built the ancient sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, pointing out as a sign that Deucalion dwelt in Athens his tomb, which is not far from the present temple.

​Hadrian built also other things for the Athenians: a temple of Hera and of Zeus Panhellenios, and a sanctuary common to all the gods; but the most splendid are a hundred columns of Phrygian stone; and the walls for the colonnades are built in the same way. And there are rooms there with a gilded roof and alabaster stone, decorated moreover with statues and paintings; and books are laid up in them. And there is a gymnasium named after Hadrian; and here too are a hundred columns from the quarries of the Libyans.