Pausanias Analysis

The Athenians have statues in their theatre of poets both of tragedy and comedy, most of whom are relatively obscure. For aside from Menander, there was no comic poet worthy of notable fame. Among the famous tragedians represented there are Euripides and Sophocles. They say that upon Sophocles' death the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica, and their commander had a vision of Dionysus standing over him and commanding him to honor with customary funeral rites the new Siren; and this dream seemed clearly to refer to Sophocles and his poetry, for even now it remains customary to liken the charm of poetry and eloquence to a Siren.

The portrait of Aeschylus, I believe, was made much later than his death and later than the painting showing the battle at Marathon. Aeschylus, it is said, while still a youth, fell asleep as he kept watch over grape clusters in a field. Dionysus appeared, standing beside him, and commanded him to compose tragedy. At daybreak—for Aeschylus was eager to obey—he immediately set about attempting to compose it.

These things he related. Upon the wall known as the Southern, which faces toward the theater from the Acropolis, there is placed a gilded head of Medusa the Gorgon, and around it is fashioned an aegis. At the very top of the theater, under the Acropolis and among the rocks, is a cave. Above this also stands a tripod. Within the cave, Apollo and Artemis are depicted slaying the children of Niobe. This same Niobe I myself saw when I ascended Mount Sipylus: from near at hand it is simply a rock and cliff, showing no resemblance whatsoever either to a woman or to one grieving; but if you go a little further away, it seems indeed like a woman bowed down in sorrow, shedding tears.

On the road leading to the Acropolis in Athens from the theatre is buried Kalos. Daedalus, having slain this Kalos, who was his sister's son and pupil in his craft, fled to Crete, and some time later escaped to Sicily, to the court of Cocalus. The sanctuary of Asclepius is worthy of viewing both for the statues—those depicting the god and his children—and for the paintings it contains. Within it there is a spring, by which they say Halirrhothius, son of Poseidon, was slain by Ares, after he molested Alcippe, the daughter of Ares, and that this was the first trial held concerning homicide.

Here among other objects is placed a Sarmatian breastplate; whoever sees this will declare that the barbarians are no less ingenious in craftsmanship than the Greeks themselves. The Sarmatians neither have iron ore mined in their own land nor do they import it from abroad; for they are especially isolated among the barbarians in these parts. Therefore they have devised the following solution to this shortage: instead of iron, they fit their spearheads with bone points, and use bows made of horn, arrows, and bone-tipped darts. They also throw ropes around their enemies and, when they catch them, they wheel their horses about and overturn those thus entangled.

Their breastplates they fashion in the following manner. Each man rears many horses, since, as nomads, their land is neither divided into private holdings nor producing anything except wild woodlands. These horses they use not only for warfare but also sacrifice to their local gods and, additionally, use as food. Gathering the hoofs, they clean and split them, then make from these pieces something resembling serpent scales. If someone has never before seen a serpent, certainly he has seen the still-green cone of a pine tree. Thus, comparing this work made from hoofs to the overlapping scales visible on a pine cone, one would not be mistaken. Piercing these scales and sewing them together using horse or ox sinews, they produce breastplates that are neither inferior in beauty nor weaker than the Greek ones; indeed, they withstand blows both at close quarters and from afar.

The linen corselets, however, are not equally useful in warfare, for iron weapons can pierce through them when forced. But for hunting purposes they are beneficial, since even the teeth of lions and leopards become entangled in them. Linen corselets may be seen dedicated in various sanctuaries, notably at Gryneium, where there is a most beautiful grove of Apollo, with trees both cultivated and fruitless varieties offering either fragrance or a pleasing appearance.