1. Isocrates, Orations, 9.57 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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2. Thucydides, The History of The Peloponnesian War, 1.24, 2.15.1, 2.43.1 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 2.15.1. From very early times this had been more the case with the Athenians than with others. Under Cecrops and the first kings, down to the reign of Theseus, Attica had always consisted of a number of independent townships, each with its own town-hall and magistrates. Except in times of danger the king at Athens was not consulted; in ordinary seasons they carried on their government and settled their affairs without his interference; sometimes even they waged war against him, as in the case of the Eleusinians with Eumolpus against Erechtheus. 2.43.1. So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country, though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as the present, you must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honor in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valor, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer. |
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3. Xenophon, Symposium, 8.40 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 8.40. You may regard it as certain, therefore, that our city would be quick to entrust itself to your hands, if you so desire. For you possess the highest qualifications for such a trust: you are of aristocratic birth, of Erechtheus’ line, Callias’s family belonged to the priestly clan of the Ceryces, who traced their lineage back to Ceryx, son of Hermes and Aglaurus. The latter, however, was not a descendant of Erechtheus, but one of his nurses. a priest serving the gods who under the leadership of Iacchus took the field against the barbarian; Herodotus (VIII, 65) and Plutarch ( Life of Themistocles, XV) report the tradition that while the Greek fleet was at anchor near Salamis just before the critical sea-fight, great elation was caused at sight of a big cloud of dust (or, in the later version, a brilliant light) off toward Eleusis , and a wonderful sound as of the Eleusinian festival with its cries to Iacchus, followed by a cloud that drifted directly toward the fleet. and in our day you outshine your predecessors in the splendour of your priestly office in the festival; In addition to being one of the priestly Ceryces, Callias was an hereditary torch-bearer in the Eleusinian festival. and you possess a person more goodly to the eye than any other in the city and one at the same time able to withstand effort and hardship. |
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4. Philochorus, Fragments, 105 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
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5. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.3.2-1.3.4, 1.26.2, 10.21.5-10.21.6 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.3.2. Near the portico stand Conon, Timotheus his son and Evagoras Evagoras was a king of Salamis in Cyprus, who reigned from about 410 to 374 B.C. He favoured the Athenians, and helped Conon to defeat the Spartan fleet off Cnidus in 394 B.C. King of Cyprus, who caused the Phoenician men-of-war to be given to Conon by King Artaxerxes. This he did as an Athenian whose ancestry connected him with Salamis, for he traced his pedigree back to Teucer and the daughter of Cinyras. Here stands Zeus, called Zeus of Freedom, and the Emperor Hadrian, a benefactor to all his subjects and especially to the city of the Athenians. 1.3.3. A portico is built behind with pictures of the gods called the Twelve. On the wall opposite are painted Theseus, Democracy and Demos. The picture represents Theseus as the one who gave the Athenians political equality. By other means also has the report spread among men that Theseus bestowed sovereignty upon the people, and that from his time they continued under a democratical government, until Peisistratus rose up and became despot. 560-527 B.C. But there are many false beliefs current among the mass of mankind, since they are ignorant of historical science and consider trustworthy whatever they have heard from childhood in choruses and tragedies; one of these is about Theseus, who in fact himself became king, and afterwards, when Menestheus was dead, the descendants of Theseus remained rulers even to the fourth generation. But if I cared about tracing the pedigree I should have included in the list, besides these, the kings from Melanthus to Cleidicus the son of Aesimides. 1.3.4. Here is a picture of the exploit, near Mantinea, of the Athenians who were sent to help the Lacedaemonians. 362 B.C. Xenophon among others has written a history of the whole war—the taking of the Cadmea, the defeat of the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, how the Boeotians invaded the Peloponnesus,and the contingent sent to the Lacedacmonians from the Athenians. In the picture is a cavalry battle, in which the most famous men are, among the Athenians, Grylus the son of Xenophon, and in the Boeotian cavalry, Epaminondas the Theban. These pictures were painted for the Athenians by Euphranor, and he also wrought the Apollo surnamed Patrous (Paternal) in the temple hard by. And in front of the temple is one Apollo made by Leochares; the other Apollo, called Averter of evil, was made by Calamis. They say that the god received this name because by an oracle from Delphi he stayed the pestilence which afflicted the Athenians at the time of the Peloponnesian War. 430 B.C. 1.26.2. So Athens was delivered from the Macedonians, and though all the Athenians fought memorably, Leocritus the son of Protarchus is said to have displayed most daring in the engagement. For he was the first to scale the fortification, and the first to rush into the Museum; and when he fell fighting, the Athenians did him great honor, dedicating his shield to Zeus of Freedom and in scribing on it the name of Leocritus and his exploit. 10.21.5. On this day the Attic contingent surpassed the other Greeks in courage. of the Athenians themselves the bravest was Cydias, a young man who had never before been in battle. He was killed by the Gauls, but his relatives dedicated his shield to Zeus God of Freedom, and the inscription ran:— Here hang I, yearning for the still youthful bloom of Cydias, The shield of a glorious man, an offering to Zeus. I was the very first through which at this battle he thrust his left arm, When the battle raged furiously against the Gaul . 10.21.6. This inscription remained until Sulla and his army took away, among other Athenian treasures, the shields in the porch of Zeus, God of Freedom. After this battle at Thermopylae the Greeks buried their own dead and spoiled the barbarians, but the Gauls sent no herald to ask leave to take up the bodies, and were indifferent whether the earth received them or whether they were devoured by wild beasts or carrion birds. |
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6. Demosthenes, Orations, 20.70, 60.26, 60.28-60.31
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7. Lysias, Orations, 2.18, 2.61
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