Pausanias Analysis

The Megarians have another acropolis named from Alcathous. As you ascend to this acropolis, on your right is the tomb of Megareus, who came as an ally to them from Onchestus during the war against the Cretans. There is also shown here a hearth of gods called Prodomeis ("Builders Beforehand"), first sacrificed to, they say, by Alcathous, when he was about to begin the construction of the wall.

Near this hearth there lies a stone, on which, they say, Apollo laid down his lyre while assisting Alcathous in building the wall. The following also demonstrates to me that the Megarians cooperated with the Athenians: for it appears that Alcathous' daughter Periboea along with Theseus was sent as part of the tribute to Crete. When Alcathous was building the wall, according to the Megarians, Apollo aided him in the task and set his lyre upon the stone. If anyone should strike this stone with a pebble, it emits a ringing sound identical to that of a lyre struck.

This too offered me matter for amazement, but by far the most astonishing thing was the colossus of the Egyptians. In Egyptian Thebes, after crossing the Nile to the so-called Pipes (Syringes), I saw a seated statue that still produced sound. Most people call it Memnon, since they say that Memnon set forth from Ethiopia into Egypt and as far as Susa. However, the Thebans themselves do not call it Memnon; rather they say this statue is of Phamenophis, a native. I have also heard it said that it is a statue of Sesostris, which Cambyses broke apart. Currently, as much as was broken off from the head to the waist has been thrown down, but what remains still sits and makes a sound every day at sunrise; and one might best liken this sound to that of a string breaking on a harp or lyre.

The Megarians have a council chamber, which they say was once the tomb of Timalkos, of whom I stated a little before that he was killed by Theseus. On the summit of their acropolis is built a temple of Athena, whose image is gilded except for the hands and the extremities of the feet; these parts, along with the face, are made of ivory. There is another sanctuary here dedicated to Athena called Nike (Victory), and yet another to Athena Aiantis. Concerning this latter, although the Megarians rely on their local guides for its history, I shall record what I myself consider to have occurred. Telamon, son of Aiakos, married Periboia, daughter of Alkathous, and thus, I suppose, Ajax, succeeding to the sovereignty of Alkathous, made the statue to Athena.

The ancient temple of Apollo was built of brick; later, however, the Emperor Hadrian constructed it in white marble. The statues called Pythian and the Decatephorus are especially similar to Egyptian wooden images; the one they call Archegetes resembles Aeginetan works. All these statues alike are made of ebony wood. I heard from a Cypriot man skilled in distinguishing plants for medicinal use, who said that ebony bears neither leaves nor any fruit, nor is it ever exposed to sunlight; rather, its roots remain underground, and it is these roots that the Ethiopians dig up. They have certain individuals among them who know how to find ebony.

There is also a temple of Demeter Thesmophoros here. Descending from this place, there is the tomb of Callipolis, the son of Alcathous. Alcathous also had another son, older than this one, named Ischepolis, whom his father sent to assist Meleager in overcoming the beast in Aetolia. When Ischepolis died there, Callipolis was the first to hear of his brother's death, and, running up to the acropolis—his father was at that moment offering a burnt sacrifice to Apollo—he scattered the wood from the altar. Alcathous, still ignorant of the death of Ischepolis, judged that Callipolis had acted impiously, and, immediately driven by anger, killed him by striking his head with one of the logs that had fallen from the altar.

Along the road leading to the Prytaneion stands a shrine of Ino, enclosed by a stone wall; olive trees also grow upon it. The Megarians alone among the Greeks say that the corpse of Ino washed ashore in their coastal lands, and that Kleso and Tauropolis—daughters of Kleson the son of Lelex—found the body and buried it. They claim further that the Megarians themselves were the first to call her Leukothea, and that they hold sacrifices in her honor every year.