Description of Greece

​There he must drink water called the water of Forgetfulness, so that he may forget all things that he was thinking of until then, and after this he must drink again another water, that of Memory; from this he remembers what was seen by him when he went down. Having gazed at an image which they say Daedalus made—and it is not shown by the priests except to those who are about to go to Trophonius—having seen this image, and having both worshipped it and prayed, he goes to the oracle, dressed in a linen tunic and having girt the tunic with ribbons, and having put on local boots.

​The oracle is above the grove on the mountain. A basement of white stone is built around it in a circle, and the circumference of the basement is like that of the smallest threshing floor, and its height is a little less than two cubits; upon the basement stand spikes, which are also of bronze, and the bands which connect them, and through them doors have been made. And within the enclosure is a chasm in the earth, not natural, but built with art and symmetry to the greatest precision.

​The shape of this building is like a bread-oven; its width, that is, its diameter, would be, as one might guess, about four cubits; and as for the depth of the building, neither would one guess this to go down to more than eight cubits. There is no passage built down to the floor; but when a man comes to Trophonius, they bring him a narrow and light ladder. And for the one who has gone down, there is an opening between the floor and the building; its width is two spans, and its height seemed to be one span.

​The one going down, therefore, having laid himself down on the floor holding barley-cakes kneaded with honey, first thrusts his feet into the opening and himself moves forward, eager for his knees to get inside the opening; and the rest of his body is immediately drawn after and follows his knees, just as the largest and swiftest of rivers would swallow up and sweep out of sight a man caught in a whirlpool. After this, for those who have gotten inside the adytum, there is not one and the same way in which they are taught the future, but one has seen and another has heard. And for those who have gone down, the return back is through the same opening, with their feet sliding out foremost.

​They say that no one of those who went down died, except only one of the bodyguards of Demetrius; of this man they say that he neither performed any of the customary rites about the sanctuary, nor did he go down to consult the god, but hoping to carry off gold and silver from the adytum. It is also said of him that his corpse appeared elsewhere, and was not cast out through the opening of the sanctuary. Of the things said about this man, although there are others, the most noteworthy have been related by me.

​The priests, having taken back the one who has come up from Trophonius, seat him upon a chair called the chair of Memory, which lies not far from the adytum; and when he has sat down there, they ask him all that he saw and learned. Having learned this, they then entrust him to his relatives. These carry him, lifting him up, to the building where he resided before, in the sanctuary of Good Fortune and the Good Daemon; he is still possessed with fear and unconscious of both himself and those near him. Afterwards, however, he will be in no way inferior in understanding than before, and laughter returns to him.

​I write not from hearsay, but having both seen others and myself consulted Trophonius. And for those who have gone down to Trophonius, it is necessary for them to dedicate all that each heard or saw, written on a tablet. There is also still left there the shield of Aristomenes; and what happened regarding it, I have explained in the earlier part of my narrative.