Description of Greece

​Here Athena is represented striking the Silenus Marsyas, because indeed he picked up the flutes, when the goddess wished them to have been cast away. —Beyond these things which I have mentioned, there is the so-called fight of Theseus against the bull called the bull of Minos, whether it was a man or a beast of such a kind as the story has prevailed; for even in our time women have given birth to monsters far more wonderful than this.

​There is also placed Phrixus, the son of Athamas, carried out to Colchis by the ram; having sacrificed it to some god—as one may conjecture, to the one called Laphystius among the Orchomenians—and having cut out the thigh-pieces according to the custom of the Greeks, he is looking at them as they burn. And next are placed other statues, including one of Heracles; and he is strangling the serpents, as the story goes. There is also Athena rising out of the head of Zeus. And there is also a bull, a dedication of the Council of the Areopagus, for whatever reason the Council dedicated it;

​many are the conjectures one might make if one wished. It has also been said by me before that the Athenians have a greater zeal for divine things than others; for they were the first to surname Athena Ergane, and the first to dedicate handless and feetless Herms, and in their temple along with them is the daemon of †earnest men. And whoever prefers works made with art to those which have reached antiquity, may also behold the following. There is a man putting on a helmet by Cleoetas, and Cleoetas made his fingernails of silver; and there is also a statue of Ge entreating Zeus to rain upon her, whether the Athenians themselves stood in need of rain, or a drought had occurred to all the Greeks. There too stand both Timotheus the son of Conon and Conon himself; and Procne, having planned her design against her child, and Itys himself, were dedicated by Alcamenes. There are also represented Athena producing the plant of the olive tree and Poseidon showing a wave;

​and there is a statue of Zeus, both that of Leochares and the one called Polieus, for whom, though I write of the established customs regarding the sacrifice, I do not write the reason said to be for them. Having placed barley mixed with wheat on the altar of Zeus Polieus, they have no guard over them; and the ox, which they keep in readiness and guard for the sacrifice, goes to the altar and touches the grain. They call one of the priests the ox-slayer, who, having killed the ox and thrown down the axe there—for such is his custom—goes fleeing away; and the others, as if not knowing the man who did the deed, bring the axe to trial. These things they do in the manner described; and as one enters into the temple which they call the Parthenon, ​all things that lie in the so-called pediments relate to the birth of Athena, and those at the back are the strife of Poseidon with Athena for the land; and the statue itself is made of ivory and gold. On the middle of her helmet is placed an image of a Sphinx—and what is said concerning the Sphinx I will write when my account progresses to Boeotian affairs—and on either side of the helmet griffins are wrought.

​These griffins, Aristeas of Proconnesus says in his epic poems, fight for the gold with the Arimaspians who are beyond the Issedones; and that the gold, which the griffins guard, is produced by the earth; and that the Arimaspians are all one-eyed men from birth, and the griffins are beasts like lions, but having wings and the beak of an eagle. And concerning the griffins, let so much have been said.

​The statue of Athena is standing upright in a tunic reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is wrought in ivory; and she holds a Nike of about four cubits, and in her hand a spear, and at her feet lies a shield, and near the spear is a serpent; this serpent would be Erichthonius. And on the pedestal of the statue is wrought the birth of Pandora. It has been represented by Hesiod and others that this Pandora was the first woman; and before Pandora came to be, there was as yet no race of women. There I know of having seen a statue of the Emperor Hadrian alone, and near the entrance one of Iphicrates, who achieved many wonderful deeds.

​Beyond the temple there is a bronze Apollo, and they say that Phidias made the statue; and they call him Parnopius, because when locusts were devastating their land, the god said he would avert them from the country. That he did avert them they know, but they do not say in what manner. I myself know of locusts having been destroyed three times already on Mount Sipylus, and not in the same way; but some a violent wind fell upon and drove out, and others, after the god had rained, a strong heat overtook and destroyed, and others perished being caught by a sudden cold.