Description of Greece

​Therefore, my account did not urge me to disclose the matters of Cresphontes and the children of Aristodemus here. But Temenus, in an open manner, employed Deiphontes—the son of Antimachus, son of Thrasyanor, son of Ctesippus, son of Heracles—as general for battles instead of his sons, and held him as adviser in all things, inasmuch as he had already previously made him his son-in-law and was pleased most of all with Hyrnetho among his children, and it was already suspected that he was turning the kingdom to her and Deiphontes. Because of these things, a plot was formed against him by his sons; and of them, Ceisus, being the eldest, held the rule from him.

​But the Argives, since they loved equality of speech and autonomy from the oldest times, reduced the power of the kings to the minimum, with the result that only the name of the kingdom was left to Medon, the son of Ceisus, and to his descendants. As for Meltas, the son of Lacedes, the tenth descendant of Medon, the people condemned him and completely deposed him from the rule.

​For the Argives, the most prominent of the things in the city is the sanctuary of Apollo Lycius. Now, the image in our time was the work of Attalus the Athenian, but the original temple and the wooden statue were the offering of Danaus; for I am persuaded that at that time all images were wooden, and especially the Egyptian ones. Danaus founded the sanctuary of Apollo Lycius for the following reason. Having arrived in Argos, he disputed with Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas, concerning the rule. When many and persuasive things had been spoken by both before the people, and Gelanor seemed to speak no less justly, the people postponed—so they say—judging until the following day.

​At the beginning of the day, a wolf rushed into a herd of oxen grazing before the wall, and falling upon them, fought against the bull, the leader of the oxen. It then occurred to the Argives to liken Gelanor to the bull and Danaus to the wolf, because this beast is not a companion to humans, nor had Danaus been so to them up to that time. When the wolf overcame the bull, because of this Danaus held the rule. Thinking, therefore, that Apollo had led the wolf against the herd of oxen, he founded the sanctuary of Apollo Lycius.

​Here is dedicated the throne of Danaus, and there lies an image of Biton, a man carrying a bull on his shoulders; as Lyceas wrote, when the Argives were leading a sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, Biton, by his strength and power, lifted the bull and carried it. Next to this image, they burn a fire, naming it to be of Phoroneus; for they do not at all agree that Prometheus gave fire to humans, but they wish to transfer the discovery of fire to Phoroneus.

​As for the wooden statues of Aphrodite and Hermes, they say one is the work of Epeius, and the other is the offering of Hypermnestra. For Danaus brought her alone of his daughters to trial, because she had disregarded his command, thinking that the survival of Lynceus was not without danger to himself, and because, by not sharing in the bold deed, she increased the disgrace for her sisters and the one who had planned it. But being tried among the Argives, she was acquitted, and because of this, she dedicated Aphrodite Nicephorus.

​Inside the temple is Ladas, who surpassed those of his own time in swiftness of foot, and Hermes holding a tortoise for the making of a lyre. In front of the temple is a pit having represented in relief a battle of a bull and a wolf, and with them a maiden throwing a stone at the bull; they believe the maiden to be Artemis. Danaus dedicated these, and nearby some pillars and a wooden statue of Zeus and Artemis.

​And there are tombs, one of Linus, the son of Apollo and Psamathe, daughter of Crotopus, and the other they say is of Linus who made the epic verses. Now, the matters concerning this poet, being more appropriate to another account, I pass over in this one, but the matters concerning Psamathe my Megarian narrative has already disclosed. Next to these is Apollo Agyieus and an altar of Zeus Hyetius, where those who joined in urging Polyneices in his return to Thebes swore to die if it should not be possible for them to take Thebes. In regard to the tomb of Prometheus, they seem to me to speak things less probable than the Opuntians do, but they speak them nevertheless.