Pausanias Analysis

As you descend from the acropolis, on the side facing north, there is a tomb of Alcmene near the temple of Olympian Zeus. They say that while she was traveling from Argos to Thebes, Alcmene died on the way at Megara. A dispute then arose among the Heracleidae: some wanted to carry her body back to Argos, while others wished to transport it to Thebes. The sons of Heracles already buried at Megara had a tomb there, while Amphitryon's resting place was in Thebes. However, the god at Delphi gave an oracle that it was better for them to bury Alcmene at Megara.

From there, our local guide conducted us to a place which he claimed is called Rous ("Stream"), because once a flow of water descended this way from the mountains above the city. Theagenes, who at that time was tyrant, diverted the water in another direction and established there an altar to Acheloos. Near to it is the tomb of Hyllos, the son of Herakles, who fought in single combat against Echemos, an Arcadian, son of Aeropos. Who this Echemos was that killed Hyllos I shall explain elsewhere, but Hyllos too is buried at Megara. This expedition of the Heracleidae against the Peloponnese in the reign of Orestes might rightly be called their first campaign.

Not far from the tomb of Hyllus is a temple dedicated to Isis, and beside it stands another temple sacred to Apollo and Artemis. Alcathous, they say, built it after killing the lion known as the "Cithaeronian lion." By this lion many had been destroyed, among them Euippus, the son of their king Megareus. An elder son named Timalcus had previously been slain by Theseus, when campaigning together with the Dioscuri against Aphidna. Thus Megareus promised his daughter in marriage and succession to his kingdom to the man who should kill the Cithaeronian lion. It was for these reasons that Alcathous, son of Pelops, undertook the fight against the beast, prevailed against it, and later, when he became king, erected this sacred place, naming Artemis "Agrotera" (the Huntress) and Apollo "Agraeus" (the Hunter).

They say these things happened thus; but while I wish to record what is agreed upon by the Megarians, I cannot find myself believing all their claims entirely. Yet I am convinced that a lion was indeed slain by Alcathous on Mount Cithaeron. But regarding Timalcus, son of Megareus—who ever wrote that he came to Aphidna in company with the Dioscuri? And how could it be imagined that, upon arriving, he was killed by Theseus, when even Alcman, in composing a hymn for the Dioscuri on how they captured Athens and took captive Theseus’s mother, nevertheless says that Theseus himself was absent?

Pindar relates these matters similarly, stating also that Theseus, wishing to be related to the Dioscuri by marriage, carried off Helen and kept watch over her until he departed to join Peirithous in his celebrated bridal expedition. Yet whoever devised this genealogy evidently relied greatly upon the simplicity of the Megarians, if indeed Theseus were a descendant of Pelops. Actually the Megarians, though aware of the true account, conceal it, unwilling to admit that their city fell to hostile capture during the rule of Nisus, and preferring instead the story of its succession passing legitimately from Nisus to his son-in-law Megareus, and subsequently from Megareus to Alcathous.

It appears that after Nisus died and affairs in Megara had been ruined in his time, Alcathous arrived from Elis at this critical moment. As evidence for this, he built the city wall anew, since the original fortification had been demolished by the Cretans. Regarding Alcathous and the lion—whether he killed it on Mount Cithaeron or elsewhere—he founded a temple of Artemis Agrotera and Apollo Agraeus; let this much stand as the remembrance of it. Descending from this sanctuary is the hero shrine of Pandion. That Pandion was buried on the crag called "Athena Aethyia," my account has already shown; among the Megarians he is also honored within the city itself.

Near the hero-shrine of Pandion is the tomb of Hippolyte. I shall also mention the stories concerning her as told by the Megarians. When the Amazons made war upon the Athenians because of Antiope, they were defeated by Theseus. While the greater number of them perished fighting, Hippolyte, being Antiope's sister and at that time the leader of the women, fled to Megara with a few companions. However, having suffered such calamities with her army, she grieved excessively over their misfortune and was even more deeply troubled by anxiety concerning her safe return home to Themiscyra. In her distress, she died of sorrow. They buried her after her death, and her tomb is shaped like an Amazonian shield.

Not far from here is the tomb of Tereus, the husband of Procne, daughter of Pandion. According to the Megarians, Tereus ruled around the region called Pagae in Megaris, but I myself hold, supported by evidence still available today, that he governed Daulis, a territory situated beyond Chaeronea. For in ancient times most of the regions now called Hellas were occupied by barbarians. After Tereus had committed that deed against Philomela, and subsequently the women had done what they did to Itys, he was unable to capture them.

And he ended his life by his own hand at Megara. Immediately they raised a tomb for him and offer annual sacrifices there, using small pebbles instead of grains during the ritual. They also say the hoopoe bird appeared there for the first time. The women, however, arrived at Athens, but while lamenting their sufferings and deeds, perished from weeping. Because of this, the tale arose of their transformation into the nightingale and the swallow, possibly since these birds likewise sing songs of pity and mournful lamentation.