And next to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of Pythian
Apollo, as also a temple of Delphian Apollo. And they say that, when
this temple was completed except the roof, Theseus came to the city
incognito. And having a long garment down to his feet and his hair
being elegantly plaited, when he came near this temple, those who were
building the roof asked him jeeringly why a maiden ripe for marriage
was wandering about alone. And his only answer was, it is said,
unyoking the oxen from the waggon which stood by, and throwing it in
the air higher than the roof they were building. And with respect to
the place that they call _The Gardens_, and the temple of Aphrodite,
there is no account given by the Athenians, nor in respect to the
statue of Aphrodite which stands next the temple, and is square like
the Hermæ, and the inscription declares that Celestial Aphrodite is
the oldest of those that are called _Fates_. The statue of Aphrodite
in _The Gardens_ is the work of Alcamenes, and is among the few things
at Athens best worth seeing. There is also a temple of Hercules
called Cynosarges: (_i.e._, _of the white dog_); the history of the
white dog may be learnt by those who have read the oracle. And there
are altars to Hercules and Hebe, (the daughter of Zeus), who, they
think, was married to Hercules. There is also an altar of Alcmene and
Iolaus, who was associated with Hercules in most of his Labours. And
the Lyceum gets its name from Lycus the son of Pandion, but is now
as of old considered a temple of Apollo, for Apollo was here called
Lyceus originally. And it is also said that the natives of Termilæ,
where Lycus went when he fled from Ægeus, are called Lycians from the
same Lycus. And behind the Lyceum is the tomb of Nisus who was king of
Megara and slain by Minos, and the Athenians brought his corpse here
and buried it. About this Nisus there is a story that he had purple
hair, and that the oracle said he would die if it was shorn off. And
when the Cretans came into the land, they took all the other cities of
Megaris by storm, but had to blockade Nisæa, into which Nisus had fled
for refuge. And here they say the daughter of Nisus, who was enamoured
of Minos, cut off her father’s locks. This is the story. Now the rivers
of Attica are the Ilissus and the Eridanus that flows into it, having
the same name as the Celtic Eridanus. The Ilissus is the river where
they say Orithyia was playing when carried off by the North Wind, who
married her, and because of his affinity with the Athenians aided them
and destroyed many of the barbarians’ ships. And the Athenians think
the Ilissus sacred to several gods, and there is an altar also on its
banks to the Muses. The place is also shewn where the Peloponnesians
slew Codrus, the son of Melanthus, the king of Athens. After you cross
the Ilissus is a place called Agræ, and a temple of Artemis Agrotera,
(_The Huntress_), for here they say Artemis first hunted on her arrival
from Delos: accordingly her statue has a bow. And what is hardly
credible to hear, but wonderful to see, is a stadium of white marble;
one can easily conjecture its size in the following manner. Above the
Ilissus is a hill, and this stadium extends from the river to the hill
in a crescent-shaped form. It was built by Herodes an Athenian, and
most of the Pentelican quarry was used in its construction.