Pausanias Analysis

The power of the Epeirotes had thus come to an end. As one enters Athens, in the Odeion, among other things, there is an image of Dionysus worthy of seeing. Nearby there is a fountain called Enneakrounos ("Nine-Spouted"), thus ornamented by Peisistratus; for while there are wells throughout the entire city, this alone is a natural spring. Above the fountain stand temples—one dedicated to Demeter and Kore, and another containing a statue of Triptolemus. Of Triptolemus I shall record such stories as are told, passing over what concerns Deiope.

Of all the Greeks, those who especially dispute with the Athenians over their antiquity and the divine gifts they claim to possess are the Argives—just as among the barbarians, the Egyptians dispute with the Phrygians. It is therefore said that when Demeter came to Argos, Pelasgus received her into his home, and that Chrysanthis, knowing about the abduction of Kore, related these events. They later claim that Trochilus, a hierophant fleeing Argos because of hostility from Agenor, came into Attica, married a woman from Eleusis, and had children, Eubouleus and Triptolemus. Such is the Argive account; but the Athenians, and those who agree with them, hold that Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, was the first to sow cultivated grain.

Epic verses attributed to Musaeus—if indeed these truly belong to Musaeus—sing of Triptolemos as being the child of Oceanus and Earth. Other verses, attributed to Orpheus—though to me even these do not seem genuinely Orphic—say that Dysaules was father to Eubouleus and Triptolemos, and that after these two revealed what had happened to her daughter, Demeter gave them the gift of sowing grain. Choerilus of Athens, who composed a drama called 'Alope,' states that Kerkyon and Triptolemos were brothers, born of the daughter of Amphiktyon: the father of Triptolemos being Raros, and the father of Kerkyon being Poseidon. As I had intended to pursue this account further and to describe fully all that pertains to the sanctuary at Athens called the Eleusinion, I was halted by a vision in my dreams. Therefore, I turn aside from these things and proceed only with what it is proper for everyone to know.

Before this temple, where also stands the statue of Triptolemus, there is a bronze ox, appearing as if led to sacrifice, and a seated figure made of bronze representing Epimenides of Knossos. It is said that Epimenides once went into the countryside, entered a cave, and fell asleep; sleep did not release him until the fortieth year of his slumber had passed. Afterward, he composed poetry and purified cities, among them Athens. Thales, who ended the plague among the Spartans, was neither related by kinship nor was he from the same city as Epimenides; Epimenides was from Knossos, while Thales, according to Polymnastus of Colophon, who composed poetry about him for the Spartans, was from Gortyn.

Still further away is the temple of Eukleia ('Good Fame'), an offering also dedicated from the spoils of the Medes who had landed in Marathon. I suppose that the Athenians felt the greatest pride in this victory above all. Indeed Aeschylus himself, when the end of his life was approaching, although by then he had acquired great fame from poetry and had fought at Artemisium and in the naval battle at Salamis, mentioned none of these events but rather recorded only his name, his father's name and his city, declaring as witnesses to his valor the grove at Marathon and the Persians who disembarked there.

Above the Kerameikos and the portico known as Basileios is a temple of Hephaistos. That a statue of Athena stands beside him did not surprise me, knowing as I do the story regarding Erichthonios; yet, upon seeing that the statue of Athena had grey-blue eyes, I recognized in this the tale told by the Libyans. For according to them, Athena is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason her eyes, like Poseidon's, are grey-blue.

Nearby is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Ourania. The Assyrians were the first of mankind to worship Ourania; after the Assyrians, the practice passed to the Paphian Cyprians and to the Phoenicians who inhabit Ascalon in Palestine. From the Phoenicians, the people of Cythera learned and adopted her worship. Among the Athenians, Aegeus established her cult, believing that his lack of offspring—for at that time he had none—and the misfortune which befell his sisters were due to the anger of Ourania. The statue that exists in my day is of Parian marble and is a work by Pheidias. Among the Athenians there is a deme known as Athmonia, whose inhabitants say that Porphyrion, who ruled even before Actaeus, founded the sanctuary of Ourania among them. Indeed, the traditions recounted in the demes differ considerably from those held by the inhabitants of the city itself.