Pausanias Analysis

Some time afterward, a small group of men were inspired by the memory of their ancestors and by reflecting upon how greatly the prestige of Athens had declined; immediately, acting as they could under the circumstances, they chose Olympiodorus as their general. He led them against the Macedonians, taking with him older men and youths alike, believing that in war success depends more upon enthusiasm than upon brute strength. When the Macedonians marched out to meet them, he defeated them in battle and, after they had fled to the place called the Mouseion, captured it.

Thus was Athens freed from the Macedonians. Among the Athenians who, all alike, fought in a manner worthy of mention, Leokritos, the son of Protarchos, is said to have been especially bold in action. He was the first to climb upon the wall and the first to leap into the Mouseion. When he fell in battle, the Athenians honored him with various distinctions, and they dedicated his shield in the temple of Zeus Eleutherios, inscribing upon it the name of Leokritos and the record of his deed.

For Olympiodorus, aside from the accomplishments of recovering Piraeus and Munychia, the following exploit was his greatest deed: when the Macedonians made an incursion into Eleusis, Olympiodorus organized the Eleusinians and defeated the Macedonians. Even earlier than these events, when Cassander invaded Attica, Olympiodorus sailed to Aetolia, persuaded the Aetolians to provide aid, and secured this alliance which particularly enabled the Athenians to escape the war against Cassander. For these actions, Olympiodorus was honored at Athens on the Acropolis and in the Prytaneion, and in Eleusis an inscription commemorates him. The Phocians who occupied Elateia also dedicated a bronze statue of Olympiodorus at Delphi, because he had aided them when they revolted against Cassander.

Near the image of Olympiodorus there stands a bronze statue of Artemis, surnamed Leukophryene, which the sons of Themistocles dedicated. For the Magnesians, whom Themistocles governed after receiving them from the Persian king, hold Artemis Leukophryene in honor. But I must proceed further in my account, dealing similarly with all the Greek memorials. Endoios was an Athenian by birth and a pupil of Daidalos, who followed Daidalos when he fled to Crete on account of the death of Kalos. Here stands a seated statue of Athena by him, bearing an inscription stating that Kallias dedicated it and Endoios made it.

There is also a building called the Erechtheion. Before the entrance stands an altar to Zeus Hypatos; here no living thing is sacrificed—they simply place cakes upon it, and they consider it unlawful to use wine. Upon entering, there are altars: first of Poseidon, on which, by an oracle, they also sacrifice to Erechtheus; then one to the hero Boutes, and a third to Hephaistos. On the walls are paintings relating to the lineage of the Boutadai; and—for the building is double—within there is a well containing seawater. This latter fact, indeed, is no great marvel, since inland peoples possess such wells—as, for instance, the inhabitants of Aphrodisias in Caria—but this particular well elicits mention because when the south wind blows, it produces the sound of waves. Moreover, in the rock there is the mark of a trident: these things are said to have appeared as testimonies for Poseidon in his dispute over possession of the land.

Sacred to Athena is not only the rest of the city but equally the whole region itself; for even those who, within their demes, have other established gods whom they worship, nonetheless hold Athena in honor no less than these. But the holiest thing of all, revered in common by many people for years before they came together from the demes, is the statue of Athena upon what is now the Acropolis, but in those days called simply "the city." The tradition about it is that it fell from heaven. Whether this account is true or otherwise, I do not propose to examine; but a lamp of gold dedicated to the goddess was made by Callimachus.

Having filled the lamp with oil, they await the very same day in the following year, and that oil suffices in the meanwhile, with the lamp burning continuously by day and night. It has a wick of Carpasian linen, which alone among linens is imperishable by fire. Above the lamp, reaching upward to the ceiling, is a bronze palm tree, which draws off the smoke. Callimachus, who made the lamp, although he fell short of supreme excellence in the primary art itself, yet was so remarkably skilled in craftmanship that he was the first who pierced stone and gave himself the title "refiner of art," or else adopted it from others who first coined it.