Pausanias Analysis

The sanctuary of the Dioscuri is ancient; the Dioscuri themselves are standing, and their sons are seated upon horses. Here Polygnotus painted the marriage of the daughters of Leucippus, including the Dioscuri's role in it, while Micon depicted the expedition of Jason and his companions sailing to Colchis. The painting particularly emphasizes Acastus and the horses of Acastus.

Above the sanctuary of the Dioscuri is the precinct of Aglauros. It is said that Athena entrusted Erichthonios, whom she had placed in a chest, to Aglauros and her sisters, Herse and Pandrosos, instructing them not to pry into the entrusted charge. Pandrosos, they say, obeyed this instruction, but the other two opened the chest, and upon viewing Erichthonios, they went mad and flung themselves from the steepest part of the Acropolis. It was at this very place that the Persians climbed up and slaughtered those Athenians who thought they understood the oracle better than did Themistocles and had fortified the Acropolis with timber and palisades.

Near by is the Prytaneion, in which stand the written laws of Solon and statues of the goddesses Peace and Hestia. There are also statues of various other persons, including Autolykos the pancratiast; but the images of Miltiades and Themistocles have been re-inscribed as a Roman and a Thracian.

As you go from here down into the lower parts of the city, there is a sanctuary of Serapis, a god whom the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy. Among the Egyptians, the most famous sanctuary of Serapis is in Alexandria, but the oldest is in Memphis. Into this sanctuary at Memphis neither foreigners nor even priests may enter until the time they bury Apis. Near the sanctuary of Serapis in Athens, there is a place where they say that Peirithous and Theseus made an agreement to journey first to Lacedaemon, and afterwards to the Thesprotians.

Nearby was built a temple of Eileithyia, who, according to tradition, came from the Hyperboreans to Delos to assist at Leto's childbirth. They say it was from the Delians themselves that the other peoples learned the name of Eileithyia. The Delians sacrifice to Eileithyia and sing the hymn composed by Olen. But the Cretans of the territory of Knossos maintain that Eileithyia was born at Amnisos, and that she is the daughter of Hera. The Athenians alone cover the wooden images of Eileithyia down to their feet. The women said that two of these statues are Cretan in origin and dedicated by Phaedra, while the oldest one was brought from Delos by Erysichthon.

Before entering the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus—it was Hadrian, emperor of the Romans, who dedicated the temple and the statue worthy of viewing. In its size, apart from the colossi of the Rhodians and Romans, it surpasses all other statues; it is crafted from ivory and gold, and the skill demonstrated in its creation is worthy of admiration for such a scale.—Before this sanctuary stand four statues of Hadrian, two made of Thasian stone, two of Egyptian marble; and bronze figures, called "colonies" by the Athenians, stand in front of the columns. The entire enclosure measures approximately four stades in circumference and is full of statues: for every city has dedicated a likeness of the emperor Hadrian. The Athenians themselves surpassed them in erecting the colossal statue behind the temple, one worthy indeed of being seen.

Within the enclosure there is an ancient bronze statue of Zeus, as well as a temple dedicated to Cronus and Rhea, and a precinct sacred to Earth, surnamed Olympias. Here, the ground is split apart for about a cubit, and they say that after the deluge in the time of Deucalion the water drained away through this fissure. Into it every year they pour wheat meal mixed with honey.

On a column stands the statue of Isocrates, who left behind him three notable memorials: the most painstaking, that he continued to have pupils without interruption until nearly one hundred years old; the most prudent, that he steadfastly refrained from politics and avoided meddling in public affairs; yet the noblest of all, that when he received news of the defeat at Chaeroneia, he grieved and voluntarily ended his life. Nearby stand Persians carved of Phrygian marble, holding aloft a bronze tripod—both they and the tripod itself are worthy of observation. As for the temple of Olympian Zeus, they say that the original sanctuary was founded by Deucalion, citing as evidence the fact that Deucalion lived in Athens and pointing out his grave not far from the present temple.

Hadrian constructed also other buildings for the Athenians, including a temple of Hera and Zeus Panhellenios; and a common sanctuary for all the gods. The most remarkable features of it are the hundred columns of Phrygian marble, and the walls of the porticoes built of the same material. There are rooms there whose ceilings are adorned with gilt and alabaster, decorated further with statues and paintings, and furnished with books. There is also a gymnasium named after Hadrian, which likewise has a hundred columns from quarries in Libya.