Here too is Athene pourtrayed striking Marsyas the Silenus, because he
would take up her flutes, when the goddess wished them thrown away.
Besides those which I have mentioned is the legendary fight between
Theseus and the Minotaur, a man or a beast according to different
accounts. Certainly many more wonderful monsters than this have been
born of woman even in our times. Here too is Phrixus the son of
Athamas, who was carried to Colchi by the ram. He has just sacrificed
the ram to some god, (if one might conjecture to the god who is called
Laphystius among the Orchomenians), and having cut off the thighs
according to the Greek custom, he is looking at them burning on the
altar. And next, among other statues, is one of Hercules throttling
snakes according to the tradition. And there is Athene springing out
of the head of Zeus. And there also is a bull, the votive offering of
the council of the Areopagus. Why they offered it is not known, but
one might make many guesses if one liked. I have said before that the
Athenians more than any other Greeks have a zeal for religion. For they
first called Athene the worker, they first worshipped the mutilated
Hermæ, and in their temple along with these they have a God of the
Zealous. And whoever prefers modern works of real art to the antique,
may look at the following. There is a man with a helmet on, the work
of Cleœtas, and his nails are modelled in silver. Here is also a
statue of Earth supplicating to Zeus for rain, either wanting showers
for the Athenians, or a drought impending on all Greece. Here too is
Timotheus, the son of Conon, and Conon himself. Here too are cruel
Procne and her son Itys, by Alcamenes. Here too is Athene represented
showing the olive tree, and Poseidon showing water. And there is a
statue by Leochares of Zeus the Guardian of the city, in recording
whose customary rites I do not record the reasons assigned for them.
They put barley on the altar of this Zeus Guardian of the city, and do
not watch it: and the ox kept and fattened up for the sacrifice eats
the corn when it approaches the altar. And they call one of the priests
Ox-killer, and he after throwing the axe at the ox runs away, for that
is the usage: and (as if they did not know who had done the deed) they
bring the axe into court as defendant. They perform the rites in the
way indicated.
And as regards the temple which they call the Parthenon, as you
enter it everything pourtrayed on the gables relates to the birth of
Athene, and behind is depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athene
for the soil of Attica. And this work of art is in ivory and gold. In
the middle of her helmet is an image of the Sphinx--about whom I shall
give an account when I come to Bœotia--and on each side of the helmet
are griffins worked. These griffins, says Aristæus the Proconnesian in
his poems, fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the
gold of the soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians were
all one-eyed men from their birth, and the griffins were beasts like
lions, with wings and mouth like an eagle. Let so much suffice for
these griffins. But the statue of Athene is full length, with a tunic
reaching to her feet, and on her breast is the head of Medusa worked
in ivory, and in one hand she has a Victory four cubits high, in the
other hand a spear, and at her feet a shield, and near the spear a
dragon which perhaps is Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is
a representation of the birth of Pandora, the first woman according to
Hesiod and other poets, for before her there was no race of women. Here
too I remember to have seen the only statue here of the Emperor Adrian,
and at the entrance one of Iphicrates the celebrated Athenian general.
And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by Phidias: and
they call it Apollo _Averter of Locusts_, because when the locusts
destroyed the land the god said he would drive them out of the country.
And they know that he did so, but they don’t say how. I myself know
of locusts having been thrice destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in
the same way, for some were driven away by a violent wind that fell on
them, and others by a strong blight that came on them after showers,
and others were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under
my own notice.