Pausanias Analysis

On the chest, regarding the second region, one may best begin describing the images from the left. A woman is depicted holding, in her right hand, a white child who is sleeping; in the other hand she holds a black child, who likewise appears asleep; both have their feet crossed. Although the inscriptions also explain them, it is clear even without these inscriptions that they are Death and Sleep, and Night serves as nurse to them both.

A beautiful woman punishing an ugly one, strangling her with one hand and striking her with a rod in the other, is Justice acting against Injustice. Two other women, reaching down into mortars with pestles, are thought to have knowledge of poisons, since otherwise there is no inscription concerning them. The hexameter verses beneath the man and the woman accompanying him explain who they are, for they say thus: "Idas brings back fair-ankled Marpessa, daughter of Evenus, whom Apollo had seized, and she does not go unwillingly."

A man, wearing a tunic, holds a goblet in his right hand and a necklace in his left; Alcmene is depicted accepting these gifts. The scene is created according to the Greek myth that Zeus, disguised as Amphitryon, had intercourse with Alcmene. Nearby Menelaus, clad in armor and wielding a sword, rushes forward intending to kill Helen; clearly Troy has been captured. Medea is seated upon a throne, and beside her Jason stands on her right hand; Aphrodite is beside her on the other side. There is also an epigram written beneath these figures: "Jason is marrying Medea, and Aphrodite commands."

Also represented are the Muses singing, with Apollo leading the song, and inscribed for them is the following epigram: "This is Leto's son, the far-shooting lord Apollo; around him are the Muses, a lovely chorus, whom he leads in song." Atlas, it is said, supports heaven and earth upon his shoulders, and he also holds the apples of the Hesperides. As for the man holding a sword and approaching Atlas, there is no inscription to identify him specifically, but it is clear to everyone that he is Herakles. There is also another inscription with these figures: "This Atlas holds up the sky, but soon he will surrender the apples."

There is also an image of Ares, clad in armor, leading away Aphrodite; upon this statue is inscribed the name Enyalios. Depicted too is Thetis, in the form of a maiden, being seized by Peleus, while from the hand of Thetis a serpent rushes forth against Peleus. The sisters of Medusa are represented pursuing Perseus as he flies, equipped themselves with wings; however, only Perseus's name is inscribed.

On the third side of the chest there are military scenes; most of those depicted are foot-soldiers, but horsemen riding pairs of chariot horses are also represented. Regarding these soldiers, one may interpret them either as gathering for battle or as meeting to greet and recognize one another. Both interpretations are offered by the guides. According to one account, these soldiers are the Aetolians who accompanied Oxylus and the ancient Eleans, coming together in mutual friendliness and in remembrance of their original kinship. Others say the soldiers are depicted preparing for battle, representing the Pylians and Arcadians fighting against each other by the city of Phea and along the river Iardanus.

Indeed, no one would accept, even at the outset, that the ancestor of Cypselus—a Corinthian himself and one who was making this chest his own possession—would willingly pass over everything native to Corinth, while carefully introducing upon the chest foreign matters and others not otherwise renowned. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate to me to conjecture these things. Cypselus and his ancestors originally belonged to the stock of Gonussa, which is situated above Sicyon, and their forefather was Melas, son of Antasus.

According to what I have already mentioned also in my description of Corinth, Aletes was at first unwilling to accept Melas and his army as fellow settlers, suspecting a prophecy given to him from Delphi. Thus, only after Melas had applied every sort of persuasion and entreaty, and after he had been driven away and returned again in supplication, did Aletes accept him, though reluctantly. These soldiers, one might reasonably suppose, are the same as those depicted on the chest.