Description of Greece

​They say that Hera, having become angry for some reason with Zeus, withdrew to Euboea, and they say that Zeus, since he could not persuade her, went to Cithaeron, who was then ruling in Plataea; for Cithaeron was second to no one in wisdom. He therefore advised Zeus to make an image of wood and, having covered it, to carry it on a yoke of oxen, and to say that he was marrying Plataea, the daughter of Asopus.

​And he acted according to the advice of Cithaeron; Hera heard of it immediately and arrived immediately. When she approached the wagon and tore open the clothing of the image, she was pleased with the trick, finding a wooden image instead of a bride, and she made peace with Zeus. To celebrate this reconciliation they hold a festival called Daidala, because the people of old called wooden images “daidala”; and they called them so, in my opinion, even before Daedalus, the son of Palamaon, was born in Athens, and I think that he later received his surname from the “daidala”, and that this name was not given to him from birth.

​The Plataeans therefore hold the festival of Daidala, every seventh year indeed, as the local guide used to say, but in truth at a shorter and not so long an interval; though we wished to calculate the intervening time from one Daidala to another with the greatest accuracy, we were not able to do so. They hold the festival in this manner.

​There is a oak-wood of Alalcomenae not far off; there are the largest trunks of oaks in Boeotia here. The Plataeans, having come to this wood, set out portions of boiled meat. Other birds indeed do not trouble them at all, but they keep a strict watch on the crows—for these come to them. They watch which of the trees the crow that snatched a piece of meat sits on. On whichever tree it sits, they cut it down and from this they make the “daidalon”; for indeed they call the wooden image itself “daidalon”.

​The Plataeans hold this festival privately, calling it the Lesser Daidala; but the Boeotians celebrate the festival of the Great Daidala with them, and they hold it every sixtieth year; for they say that the festival was omitted for so long a time when the Plataeans were in exile. Fourteen wooden images are ready for them, having been prepared each year at the Lesser Daidala.

​These are taken by lot by the Plataeans, Coroneans, Thespians, Tanagraeans, Chaeroneans, Orchomenians, Lebadeans, and Thebans; for the latter also deemed it right to be reconciled with the Plataeans, to share in the common assembly, and to send a sacrifice to the Daidala, when Cassander, the son of Antipater, rebuilt Thebes. Of the smaller towns, as many as are of less account, they choose a joint contribution.

​And having carried the image to the Asopus and placed it on a wagon, they place a woman on it as a bridesmaid; and they again draw lots as to what order they will lead the procession. From there on, they drive the wagons from the river to the summit of Cithaeron. An altar has been prepared for them on the peak of the mountain, and they make the altar in this manner: fitting square pieces of wood to one another, they put them together in the same way as if they were making a building of stone, and having raised it to a height, they bring brushwood upon it.

​Then the cities and the magistrates, having each sacrificed a female cow to Hera and a bull to Zeus, burn the victims, full of wine and incense, together with the “daidala” on the altar; and private individuals sacrifice as much as the wealthy can, while for those who are less able it is customary to sacrifice the smaller of the sheep, but to burn all the victims alike. And the fire, taking hold, consumes the altar itself along with them; and I know that this was the greatest flame raised, visible from the greatest distance.

​Below the summit, on which they make the altar, if one goes down about fifteen stades, there is a cave of the Cithaeronian nymphs, called Sphragidion, where the story goes that the nymphs used to prophesy in ancient times.