Pausanias Analysis

As for the throne at the point where the god would sit, it is not continuous throughout at this place, but instead provides several seats, and by each seat there remains an open space; the central space is the widest of all, and it is there that the statue has been placed.

As for its size, I know of no one who has measured it exactly, but one estimating would probably find it to be about thirty cubits high. This statue is not a work of Bathykles; it is ancient and not crafted with artistic skill. For except for the face and the extremities of the feet and hands, the rest resembles a bronze pillar. On its head it wears a helmet, and in its hands it holds a spear and a bow.

The pedestal of the statue has the shape of an altar, and it is said that Hyacinthus is buried within it. At the festival of the Hyacinthia, before sacrificing to Apollo, they make offerings through a bronze door on this altar to Hyacinthus; this door is situated on the left side of the altar. On the altar there are carved figures: one image of Biris, another of Amphitrite and Poseidon, and near them Zeus and Hermes conversing with each other; close by stand Dionysus and Semele, with Ino beside Semele.

On the altar are carved Demeter and Kore, as well as Plouton; above them stand the Moirai (Fates) and the Horai (Seasons), and together with these goddesses are Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis. They are depicted bringing up to heaven Hyakinthos and Polyboia, his sister who, they say, died while still a virgin. Now, this statue of Hyakinthos already has a beard, but Nikias, son of Nikomedes, depicted him especially handsome in order to recall the love that Apollo is said to have felt toward Hyakinthos.

On the altar is depicted also Heracles, led by Athena and the other gods, as he too is taken up into heaven. Represented on the altar are likewise the daughters of Thestius, as well as the Muses and the Horae. Concerning the wind Zephyrus, and the accidental death of Hyacinthus by Apollo, and the transformation of the youth into the flower, perhaps one could interpret it otherwise as well; yet let it be as it is traditionally told.

Amyclae, destroyed by the Dorians and thereafter remaining merely as a village, nevertheless offered worthy things to view, including a sanctuary and a statue of Alexandra. This Alexandra, according to the Amyclaeans, is Cassandra, daughter of Priam. Here also is an image of Clytemnestra, a statue of Agamemnon, and what is said to be his tomb. The locals worship the Amyclaean god and Dionysus, whom they very fittingly call Psilax (Winged Dionysus); for in the Doric dialect "psila" means wings, and wine lifts and frees men's spirits no less than wings do birds. Such then are the notable things still preserved at Amyclae. Another road leads from the city to Therapne.

Along the road there is a wooden image of Athena Alea. Before crossing the Eurotas, slightly above the riverbank, there is a sanctuary that is shown to be dedicated to Zeus Plousios (Zeus of Wealth). After crossing, there is a temple of Asclepius Cotyleus, built by Heracles. After being healed of the wound in his hip joint ("cotyle") which had occurred in the previous battle against Hippocoon and his sons, Heracles named the god Asclepius "Cotyleus." Of all the sanctuaries built along this road, the most ancient is said to be a sanctuary of Ares. This sanctuary is on the left-hand side of the road, and both the statue and the Dioscuri are said to have been brought from Colchis.

They call him Theritas after Thero, whom they say was Ares' nurse. Possibly they have heard this name Theritas from the Colchians; at least the Greeks know no nurse of Ares named Thero. But in my opinion, the epithet Theritas was not given to Ares on account of any nurse, but because a warrior, when entering into battle with an enemy, must put aside every gentleness—a point similarly expressed by Homer regarding Achilles: "Like a lion, he knows savage ways."

Therapne received its name from the daughter of Lelex. There is a temple of Menelaus here, and they say both Menelaus and Helen were buried in this spot. However, the Rhodians disagreeing with the Lacedaemonians say that after Menelaus' death, and while Orestes was still wandering, Helen was driven into exile at that time by Nicostratus and Megapenthes, came to Rhodes, as she had a close friendship with Polyxo, the wife of Tlepolemus.

For Polyxo, they say, was Argive by birth, and, having been married earlier to Tlepolemus, she had shared in his flight to Rhodes, where she remained behind ruling the island at that time, left guardian over an orphaned child. This Polyxo, it is said, desiring to avenge Helen for the death of Tlepolemus, when Helen fell into her hands, sent upon her, as she bathed, serving women disguised as Erinyes; and these women seized Helen and hanged her from a tree. Because of this event, the Rhodians have a sanctuary dedicated to Helen "of the Tree" (Dendritis).

I shall now mention a tradition concerning Helen which I know the people of Croton relate, and which the inhabitants of Himera also agree with. There is in the Euxine Sea an island located near the mouths of the Ister sacred to Achilles. The name of this island is Leuke, its circumference is twenty stadia, and it is entirely covered with trees, filled with wild and tame animals; and upon it there is a temple dedicated to Achilles and a statue of him.

The first who is said to have sailed to this island was Leonymus of Croton. For when war arose between the Crotoniats and the Locrians in Italy, and the Locrians, due to their kinship with the Opuntians, called upon Ajax son of Oileus to support them in battle, Leonymus, who was commanding the Crotoniats, attacked the enemy at precisely the place where he heard Ajax had been arrayed against them. He received a wound in his chest, and, suffering terribly from the injury, travelled to Delphi. Upon his arrival, the Pythian priestess sent Leonymus to the island of Leuke, telling him that there Ajax would appear to him and would heal his wound.

After some time, once he had recovered and returned from Leuke, he claimed to have seen Achilles, as well as both Ajax, the son of Oileus, and Ajax, the son of Telamon, and reported that Patroclus and Antilochus were also in their company. He added that Helen lived together with Achilles, and that Achilles had commanded him, upon his voyage to Himera, to inform Stesichorus that the loss of his eyesight had come upon him through Helen's wrath. For this reason, Stesichorus composed his recantation.