subject | book bibliographic info |
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parthenon | Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 451, 452, 531 Bremmer, Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East (2008) 19 Capra and Floridi, Intervisuality: New Approaches to Greek Literature (2023) 122, 176, 177, 178, 179, 183, 184, 186, 222 Del Lucchese, Monstrosity and Philosophy: Radical Otherness in Greek and Latin Culture (2019) 25, 46 Gygax, Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City: The Origins of Euergetism (2016) 100, 144, 148 Heymans, The Origins of Money in the Iron Age Mediterranean World (2021) 187 Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 111, 132, 301, 314, 330 Meinel, Pollution and Crisis in Greek Tragedy (2015) 240, 241 Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (2006) 36, 42, 263, 285, 286, 287, 290, 292 Naiden, Smoke Signals for the Gods: Ancient Greek Sacrifice from the Archaic through Roman Periods (2013) 128 Raaflaub Ober and Wallace, Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece (2007) 131 Rüpke and Woolf, Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE (2013) 252 Stavrianopoulou, Ritual and Communication in the Graeco-Roman World (2006) 272, 273 Westwood, The Rhetoric of the Past in Demosthenes and Aeschines: Oratory, History, and Politics in Classical Athens (2020) 4, 18, 113 |
parthenon, acropolis | Giusti, Disclosure and Discretion in Roman Astrology: Manilius and his Augustan Contemporaries (2018) 95 |
parthenon, athena | Athanassaki and Titchener, Plutarch's Cities (2022) 115 |
parthenon, athena and themis, north metope | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 229 |
parthenon, athens | Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174 Roller, A Guide to the Geography of Pliny the Elder (2022) 206, 284 Steiner, Images in Mind: Statues in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature and Thought (2001) 101, 102, 103, 104 Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 15, 20, 91, 148, 286, 288, 292, 294, 350, 369, 371 |
parthenon, athens, conversion | Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 25, 148, 189, 294 |
parthenon, centauromachy, gigantomachy, and amazonomachy | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 227 |
parthenon, christian church | Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 174 |
parthenon, christian church, conversion of | Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 157, 158, 294, 323 |
parthenon, christian church, graves | Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 208 |
parthenon, christian church, inscriptions on columns | Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 371, 374 |
parthenon, chryselephantine statue of athena parthenos at | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 33, 163, 227, 231 |
parthenon, chryselephantine statue of athena parthenos at phidias | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 33, 162, 163, 227, 231 |
parthenon, east frieze, aphrodite on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 272, 276, 280, 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, apollo on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 198, 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, ares on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, artemis on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 198, 280, 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, athena on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 227, 250, 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, demeter on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 98, 99, 100, 292, 395 |
parthenon, east frieze, dionysus on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 292, 395 |
parthenon, east frieze, female cult attendants/arrephoroi | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 127, 128, 378 |
parthenon, east frieze, hephaestus on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 250, 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, hermes on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, hestia missing from | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 127, 128, 367 |
parthenon, east frieze, pairings of gods on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 292 |
parthenon, east frieze, poseidon and apollo sitting together on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 80, 276, 361 |
parthenon, east pediment, aphrodite, artemis, and leto | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 232, 278, 280 |
parthenon, east pediment, birth of athena on | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 229, 231, 232 |
parthenon, east pediment, demeter and kore | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 118 |
parthenon, east pediment, dionysus | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 321, 395 |
parthenon, east pediment, leto | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 280 |
parthenon, east pediment, zeus | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 231 |
parthenon, epistatai | Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land in Ancient Athens (2011) 230 |
parthenon, fire | Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 20 |
parthenon, frieze | Naiden, Smoke Signals for the Gods: Ancient Greek Sacrifice from the Archaic through Roman Periods (2013) 20, 66, 92, 123 Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 263, 265 |
parthenon, frieze, aphrodite, and | Shear, Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (2021) 347, 353 |
parthenon, frieze, archaeology | Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 250, 267, 362 |
parthenon, frieze, burkert, walter, and | Shear, Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (2021) 350 |
parthenon, frieze, peplos, and | Shear, Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (2021) 135, 347, 348 |
parthenon, funding of | Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land in Ancient Athens (2011) 87, 301 |
parthenon, missing from east frieze of hestia | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 127, 128, 367 |
parthenon, olive wood cult statue of athena at | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 227 |
parthenon, pagan temple | Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 3, 7, 68, 82, 114, 144, 152, 154, 155, 165 |
parthenon, statuary, athena of pheidias at | Steiner, Images in Mind: Statues in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature and Thought (2001) 101, 102 |
parthenon, west pediment | Bierl, Time and Space in Ancient Myth, Religion and Culture (2017) 172, 181 |
parthenon, west pediment, reconstruction of | Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 229, 231 |
11 validated results for "parthenon" |
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1. Hesiod, Works And Days, 59-105 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • parthenoi, goddesses • parthenos/parthenoi Found in books: Brule, Women of Ancient Greece (2003) 35; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse (2022) 32, 34 60 Ἥφαιστον δʼ ἐκέλευσε περικλυτὸν ὅττι τάχιστα, 61 γαῖαν ὕδει φύρειν, ἐν δʼ ἀνθρώπου θέμεν αὐδὴν, 62 καὶ σθένος, ἀθανάτῃς δὲ θεῇς εἰς ὦπα ἐίσκειν, 63 παρθενικῆς καλὸν εἶδος ἐπήρατον· αὐτὰρ Ἀθήνην, 64 ἔργα διδασκῆσαι, πολυδαίδαλον ἱστὸν ὑφαίνειν·, 65 καὶ χάριν ἀμφιχέαι κεφαλῇ χρυσέην Ἀφροδίτην, 66 καὶ πόθον ἀργαλέον καὶ γυιοβόρους μελεδώνας·, 67 ἐν δὲ θέμεν κύνεόν τε νόον καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος, 68 Ἑρμείην ἤνωγε, διάκτορον Ἀργεϊφόντην. 69 ὣς ἔφαθʼ· οἳ δʼ ἐπίθοντο Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι. 70 αὐτίκα δʼ ἐκ γαίης πλάσσεν κλυτὸς Ἀμφιγυήεις, 71 παρθένῳ αἰδοίῃ ἴκελον Κρονίδεω διὰ βουλάς·, 72 ζῶσε δὲ καὶ κόσμησε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·, 73 ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ Χάριτές τε θεαὶ καὶ πότνια Πειθὼ, 74 ὅρμους χρυσείους ἔθεσαν χροΐ· ἀμφὶ δὲ τήν γε, 75 Ὧραι καλλίκομοι στέφον ἄνθεσιν εἰαρινοῖσιν·, 76 πάντα δέ οἱ χροῒ κόσμον ἐφήρμοσε Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη. 77 ἐν δʼ ἄρα οἱ στήθεσσι διάκτορος Ἀργεϊφόντης, 78 ψεύδεά θʼ αἱμυλίους τε λόγους καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος, 79 τεῦξε Διὸς βουλῇσι βαρυκτύπου· ἐν δʼ ἄρα φωνὴν, 80 θῆκε θεῶν κῆρυξ, ὀνόμηνε δὲ τήνδε γυναῖκα, 81 Πανδώρην, ὅτι πάντες Ὀλύμπια δώματʼ ἔχοντες, 82 δῶρον ἐδώρησαν, πῆμʼ ἀνδράσιν ἀλφηστῇσιν. 83 αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δόλον αἰπὺν ἀμήχανον ἐξετέλεσσεν, 84 εἰς Ἐπιμηθέα πέμπε πατὴρ κλυτὸν Ἀργεϊφόντην, 85 δῶρον ἄγοντα, θεῶν ταχὺν ἄγγελον· οὐδʼ Ἐπιμηθεὺς, 86 ἐφράσαθʼ, ὥς οἱ ἔειπε Προμηθεὺς μή ποτε δῶρον, 87 δέξασθαι πὰρ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου, ἀλλʼ ἀποπέμπειν, 88 ἐξοπίσω, μή πού τι κακὸν θνητοῖσι γένηται. 89 αὐτὰρ ὃ δεξάμενος, ὅτε δὴ κακὸν εἶχʼ, ἐνόησεν. 90 Πρὶν μὲν γὰρ ζώεσκον ἐπὶ χθονὶ φῦλʼ ἀνθρώπων, 91 νόσφιν ἄτερ τε κακῶν καὶ ἄτερ χαλεποῖο πόνοιο, 92 νούσων τʼ ἀργαλέων, αἵ τʼ ἀνδράσι Κῆρας ἔδωκαν. 93 αἶψα γὰρ ἐν κακότητι βροτοὶ καταγηράσκουσιν. 94 ἀλλὰ γυνὴ χείρεσσι πίθου μέγα πῶμʼ ἀφελοῦσα, 95 ἐσκέδασʼ· ἀνθρώποισι δʼ ἐμήσατο κήδεα λυγρά. 96 μούνη δʼ αὐτόθι Ἐλπὶς ἐν ἀρρήκτοισι δόμοισιν, 97 ἔνδον ἔμιμνε πίθου ὑπὸ χείλεσιν, οὐδὲ θύραζε, 98 ἐξέπτη· πρόσθεν γὰρ ἐπέλλαβε πῶμα πίθοιο, 99 αἰγιόχου βουλῇσι Διὸς νεφεληγερέταο. 100 ἄλλα δὲ μυρία λυγρὰ κατʼ ἀνθρώπους ἀλάληται· 101 πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα·, 102 νοῦσοι δʼ ἀνθρώποισιν ἐφʼ ἡμέρῃ, αἳ δʼ ἐπὶ νυκτὶ, 103 αὐτόματοι φοιτῶσι κακὰ θνητοῖσι φέρουσαι, 104 σιγῇ, ἐπεὶ φωνὴν ἐξείλετο μητίετα Ζεύς. 105 οὕτως οὔτι πη ἔστι Διὸς νόον ἐξαλέασθαι. 59 You stole the fire, content with what you’d done, 60 And duped me. So great anguish shall befall, 61 Both you and future mortal men. A thing, 62 of ill in lieu of fire I’ll afford, 63 Them all to take delight in, cherishing, 64 The evil”. Thus he spoke and then the lord, 65 of men and gods laughed. Famed Hephaistus he, 66 Enjoined to mingle water with some clay, 67 And put a human voice and energy, 68 Within it and a goddess’ features lay, 69 On it and, like a maiden, sweet and pure, 70 The body, though Athene was to show, 71 Her how to weave; upon her head allure, 72 The golden Aphrodite would let flow, 73 With painful passions and bone-shattering stress. 74 Then Argus-slayer Hermes had to add, 75 A wily nature and shamefacedness. 76 Those were his orders and what Lord Zeus bade, 77 They did. The famed lame god immediately, 78 Formed out of clay, at Cronus’ son’s behest, 79 The likeness of a maid of modesty. 80 By grey-eyed Queen Athene was she dressed, 81 And cinctured, while the Graces and Seduction, 82 Placed necklaces about her; then the Hours, 83 With lovely tresses, heightened this production, 84 By garlanding this maid with springtime flowers. 85 Athene trimmed her up, while in her breast, 86 Hermes put lies and wiles and qualitie, 87 of trickery at thundering Zeus’ behest: 88 Since all Olympian divinitie, 89 Bestowed this gift, Pandora was her name, 90 A bane to all mankind. When they had hatched, 91 This perfect trap, Hermes, that man of fame, 92 The gods’ swift messenger, was then dispatched, 93 To Epimetheus. Epimetheus, though, 94 Ignored Prometheus’ words not to receive, 95 A gift from Zeus but, since it would cause woe, 96 To me, so send it back; he would perceive, 97 This truth when he already held the thing. 98 Before this time men lived quite separately, 99 Grief-free, disease-free, free of suffering, 100 Which brought the Death-Gods. Now in misery 101 Men age. Pandora took out of the jar, 102 Grievous calamity, bringing to men, 103 Dreadful distress by scattering it afar. 104 Within its firm sides, Hope alone was then, 105 Still safe within its lip, not leaping out, |
2. Hesiod, Theogony, 570-612 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • parthenoi, goddesses • parthenos/parthenoi Found in books: Brule, Women of Ancient Greece (2003) 35; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti, The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse (2022) 32, 34 570 αὐτίκα δʼ ἀντὶ πυρὸς τεῦξεν κακὸν ἀνθρώποισιν· 571 γαίης γὰρ σύμπλασσε περικλυτὸς Ἀμφιγυήεις, 572 παρθένῳ αἰδοίῃ ἴκελον Κρονίδεω διὰ βουλάς. 573 ζῶσε δὲ καὶ κόσμησε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη, 574 ἀργυφέη ἐσθῆτι· κατὰ κρῆθεν δὲ καλύπτρην, 575 δαιδαλέην χείρεσσι κατέσχεθε, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι·, 576 ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ στεφάνους, νεοθηλέος ἄνθεα ποίης, 577 ἱμερτοὺς περίθηκε καρήατι Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη. 578 ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ στεφάνην χρυσέην κεφαλῆφιν ἔθηκε, 579 τὴν αὐτὸς ποίησε περικλυτὸς Ἀμφιγυήεις, 580 ἀσκήσας παλάμῃσι, χαριζόμενος Διὶ πατρί. 581 τῇ δʼ ἐνὶ δαίδαλα πολλὰ τετεύχατο, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι, 582 κνώδαλʼ, ὅσʼ ἤπειρος πολλὰ τρέφει ἠδὲ θάλασσα, 583 τῶν ὅ γε πόλλʼ ἐνέθηκε,—χάρις δʼ ἀπελάμπετο πολλή,—, 584 θαυμάσια, ζῴοισιν ἐοικότα φωνήεσσιν. 585 αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ τεῦξε καλὸν κακὸν ἀντʼ ἀγαθοῖο. 586 ἐξάγαγʼ, ἔνθα περ ἄλλοι ἔσαν θεοὶ ἠδʼ ἄνθρωποι, 587 κόσμῳ ἀγαλλομένην γλαυκώπιδος ὀβριμοπάτρης. 588 θαῦμα δʼ ἔχʼ ἀθανάτους τε θεοὺς θνητούς τʼ ἀνθρώπους, 589 ὡς εἶδον δόλον αἰπύν, ἀμήχανον ἀνθρώποισιν. 590 ἐκ τῆς γὰρ γένος ἐστὶ γυναικῶν θηλυτεράων, 591 τῆς γὰρ ὀλώιόν ἐστι γένος καὶ φῦλα γυναικῶν, 592 πῆμα μέγʼ αἳ θνητοῖσι μετʼ ἀνδράσι ναιετάουσιν, 593 οὐλομένης πενίης οὐ σύμφοροι, ἀλλὰ κόροιο. 594 ὡς δʼ ὁπότʼ ἐν σμήνεσσι κατηρεφέεσσι μέλισσαι, 595 κηφῆνας βόσκωσι, κακῶν ξυνήονας ἔργων—, 596 αἳ μέν τε πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα, 597 ἠμάτιαι σπεύδουσι τιθεῖσί τε κηρία λευκά, 598 οἳ δʼ ἔντοσθε μένοντες ἐπηρεφέας κατὰ σίμβλους, 599 ἀλλότριον κάματον σφετέρην ἐς γαστέρʼ ἀμῶνται—, 600 ὣς δʼ αὔτως ἄνδρεσσι κακὸν θνητοῖσι γυναῖκας, 601 Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης θῆκεν, ξυνήονας ἔργων, 602 ἀργαλέων· ἕτερον δὲ πόρεν κακὸν ἀντʼ ἀγαθοῖο·, 603 ὅς κε γάμον φεύγων καὶ μέρμερα ἔργα γυναικῶν, 604 μὴ γῆμαι ἐθέλῃ, ὀλοὸν δʼ ἐπὶ γῆρας ἵκοιτο, 605 χήτεϊ γηροκόμοιο· ὅ γʼ οὐ βιότου ἐπιδευὴς, 606 ζώει, ἀποφθιμένου δὲ διὰ κτῆσιν δατέονται, 607 χηρωσταί· ᾧ δʼ αὖτε γάμου μετὰ μοῖρα γένηται, 608 κεδνὴν δʼ ἔσχεν ἄκοιτιν ἀρηρυῖαν πραπίδεσσι, 609 τῷ δέ τʼ ἀπʼ αἰῶνος κακὸν ἐσθλῷ ἀντιφερίζει, 610 ἐμμενές· ὃς δέ κε τέτμῃ ἀταρτηροῖο γενέθλης, 611 ζώει ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔχων ἀλίαστον ἀνίην, 612 θυμῷ καὶ κραδίῃ, καὶ ἀνήκεστον κακόν ἐστιν. 570 The child of Ocean, and their progeny 571 Were mighty Atlas, fine Menoetiu, 572 And clever, treacherous Prometheus, 573 And mad Epimetheus, to mortality, 574 A torment from the very first, for he, 575 Married the maid whom Zeus had formed. But Zeu, 576 At villainous Menoetius let loose, 577 His lurid bolt because his vanity, 578 And strength had gone beyond the boundary, 579 of moderation: down to Erebu, 580 He went headlong. Atlas was tirele, 581 In holding up wide Heaven, forced to stand, 582 Upon the borders of this earthly land, 583 Before the clear-voiced daughters of the West, 584 A task assigned at wise Zeus’s behest. 585 Zeus bound clever Prometheus cruelly, 586 With bonds he could not break apart, then he, 587 Drove them into a pillar, setting there, 588 A long-winged eagle which began to tear, 589 His liver, which would regrow every day, 590 So that the bird could once more take away, 591 What had been there before. Heracles, the son, 592 of trim-ankled Clymene, was the one, 593 Who slew that bird and from his sore distre, 594 Released Prometheus – thus his wretchedne, 595 Was over, and it was with Zeus’s will, 596 Who planned that hero would be greater still, 597 Upon the rich earth than he was before. 598 Lord Zeus then took these things to heart therefore; 599 He ceased the anger he had felt when he, 600 Had once been matched in ingenuity, 601 By Prometheus, for when several gods and men, 602 Had wrangled at Mecone, even then, 603 Prometheus calved a giant ox and set, 604 A share before each one, trying to get, 605 The better of Lord Zeus – before the rest, 606 He set the juicy parts, fattened and dressed, 607 With the ox’s paunch, then very cunningly, 608 For Zeus he took the white bones up, then he, 609 Marked them with shining fat. “O how unfair,”, 610 Spoke out the lord of gods and men, “to share, 611 That way, most glorious lord and progeny, 612 of Iapetus.” Zeus, whose sagacity, |
3. Aristophanes, Birds, 827 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • parthenoi in ritual • peplos, and Parthenon frieze • wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi • wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi Found in books: Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 227; Shear, Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (2021) 135 πολιοῦχος ἔσται; τῷ ξανοῦμεν τὸν πέπλον; NA> |
4. Euripides, Hecuba, 466-473 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Parthenon frieze • parthenoi in ritual • peplos, and Parthenon frieze • wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi • wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi Found in books: Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 227, 265; Shear, Serving Athena: The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities (2021) 348 466 ἢ Παλλάδος ἐν πόλει 467 τὰς καλλιδίφρους ̓Αθα-, 468 ναίας ἐν κροκέῳ πέπλῳ, 469 ζεύξομαι ἆρα πώλους ἐν, " 470 δαιδαλέαισι ποικίλλους", 471 ἀνθοκρόκοισι πήναις, ἢ, 472 Τιτάνων γενεὰν, 473 τὰν Ζεὺς ἀμφιπύρῳ κοιμί-, 466 Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the lovely chariot, shall I then upon her saffron robe yoke horses, 467 Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the lovely chariot, shall I then upon her saffron robe yoke horses, 469 Or in the city of Pallas, the home of Athena of the lovely chariot, shall I then upon her saffron robe yoke horses, 470 embroidering them on my web in brilliant varied shades, or the race of Titans, put to sleep by Zeus the son of Cronos with bolt of flashing flame? Choru, 473 embroidering them on my web in brilliant varied shades, or the race of Titans, put to sleep by Zeus the son of Cronos with bolt of flashing flame? Choru, |
5. Herodotus, Histories, 7.140 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Athens, Parthenon • wool, worked for Athena by parthenoi Wooden Walls debate Found in books: Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 174; Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 109, 112 7.140 The Athenians had sent messages to Delphi asking that an oracle be given them, and when they had performed all due rites at the temple and sat down in the inner hall, the priestess, whose name was Aristonice, gave them this answer: |
6. Thucydides, The History of The Peloponnesian War, 2.13.3, 6.54.6, 6.56.1 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Athens, Parthenon • Parthenon • Parthenon, east frieze, Demeter on • archaeology, Parthenon Frieze • parthenoi in ritual Found in books: Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 250; Gygax, Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City: The Origins of Euergetism (2016) 100, 148; Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 224; Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 99; Steiner, Images in Mind: Statues in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature and Thought (2001) 104 2.13.3 θαρσεῖν τε ἐκέλευε προσιόντων μὲν ἑξακοσίων ταλάντων ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ φόρου κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ξυμμάχων τῇ πόλει ἄνευ τῆς ἄλλης προσόδου, ὑπαρχόντων δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει ἔτι τότε ἀργυρίου ἐπισήμου ἑξακισχιλίων ταλάντων ʽτὰ γὰρ πλεῖστα τριακοσίων ἀποδέοντα μύρια ἐγένετο, ἀφ’ ὧν ἔς τε τὰ προπύλαια τῆς ἀκροπόλεως καὶ τἆλλα οἰκοδομήματα καὶ ἐς Ποτείδαιαν ἀπανηλώθἠ, 6.54.6 τὰ δὲ ἄλλα αὐτὴ ἡ πόλις τοῖς πρὶν κειμένοις νόμοις ἐχρῆτο, πλὴν καθ’ ὅσον αἰεί τινα ἐπεμέλοντο σφῶν αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς εἶναι. καὶ ἄλλοι τε αὐτῶν ἦρξαν τὴν ἐνιαύσιον Ἀθηναίοις ἀρχὴν καὶ Πεισίστρατος ὁ Ἱππίου τοῦ τυραννεύσαντος υἱός, τοῦ πάππου ἔχων τοὔνομα, ὃς τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν βωμὸν τὸν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἄρχων ἀνέθηκε καὶ τὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐν Πυθίου. 6.56.1 τὸν δ’ οὖν Ἁρμόδιον ἀπαρνηθέντα τὴν πείρασιν, ὥσπερ διενοεῖτο, προυπηλάκισεν: ἀδελφὴν γὰρ αὐτοῦ κόρην ἐπαγγείλαντες ἥκειν κανοῦν οἴσουσαν ἐν πομπῇ τινί, ἀπήλασαν λέγοντες οὐδὲ ἐπαγγεῖλαι τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀξίαν εἶναι. 2.13.3 Here they had no reason to despond. Apart from other sources of income, an average revenue of six hundred talents of silver was drawn from the tribute of the allies; and there were still six thousand talents of coined silver in the Acropolis, out of nine thousand seven hundred that had once been there, from which the money had been taken for the porch of the Acropolis, the other public buildings, and for Potidaea . 6.54.6 For the rest, the city was left in full enjoyment of its existing laws, except that care was always taken to have the offices in the hands of some one of the family. Among those of them that held the yearly archonship at Athens was Pisistratus, son of the tyrant Hippias, and named after his grandfather, who dedicated during his term of office the altar to the twelve gods in the market-place, and that of Apollo in the Pythian precinct. 6.56.1 To return to Harmodius; Hipparchus having been repulsed in his solicitations insulted him as he had resolved, by first inviting a sister of his, a young girl, to come and bear a basket in a certain procession, and then rejecting her, on the plea that she had never been invited at all owing to her unworthiness. |
7. Hyginus, Fabulae (Genealogiae), 164 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Parthenon • Parthenon, Athena and Themis, north metope • Parthenon, east pediment, birth of Athena on • Parthenon, west pediment, reconstruction of Found in books: Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (2006) 290; Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 229 " 164 ATHENS: When there was a contest between Neptune and Minerva as to who should be the first to found a town in the Attic land, they took Jove as judge. Minerva won because she first planted the olive in that land, said to be there to this day. But Neptune, in anger, wanted to have the sea flood that land. Mercury, at Joves command, forbade his doing that. And so Minerva in her own name founded Athens, a town said to be the first established in the world." |
8. Plutarch, Demetrius, 23.3, 26.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Parthenon Found in books: Lipka, Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus (2021) 188; Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (2006) 42; Stavrianopoulou, Ritual and Communication in the Graeco-Roman World (2006) 272, 273 23.3 τὸν γὰρ ὀπισθόδομον τοῦ Παρθενῶνος ἀπέδειξαν αὐτῷ κατάλυσιν· κἀκεῖ δίαιταν εἶχε, τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς λεγομένης ὑποδέχεσθαι καὶ ξενίζειν αὐτόν, οὐ πάνυ κόσμιον ξένον οὐδὲ ὡς παρθένῳ πρᾴως ἐπισταθμεύοντα. 26.3 διὸ καὶ Φιλιππίδης τὸν Στρατοκλέα λοιδορῶν ἐποίησεν· ὁ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν συντεμὼν εἰς μῆνʼ ἕνα, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ Παρθενῶνι κατασκηνώσεως· ὁ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν πανδοκεῖον ὑπολαβὼν καὶ τὰς ἑταίρας εἰσαγαγὼν τῇ παρθένῳ. 23.3 For instance, they assigned him the rear chamber of the Parthenon for his quarters; and there he lived, and there it was said that Athena received and entertained him, although he was no very orderly guest and did not occupy his quarters with the decorum due to a virgin. 26.3 Hence Philippides, in his abuse of Stratocles, wrote:âx80x94 "Who abridged the whole year into a single month," and with reference to the quartering of Demetrius in the Parthenon:âx80x94 "Who took the acropolis for a caravansery, 901And introduced to its virgin goddess his courtesans." 27 |
9. Plutarch, Pericles, 12-14 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Parthenon • Parthenon, funding of Found in books: Gygax, Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City: The Origins of Euergetism (2016) 144; Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (2006) 286; Papazarkadas, Sacred and Public Land in Ancient Athens (2011) 87, 301 12 But that which brought most delightful adornment to Athens, and the greatest amazement to the rest of mankind; that which alone now testifies for Hellas that her ancient power and splendor, of which so much is told, was no idle fiction,—I mean his construction of sacred edifices,—this, more than all the public measures of Pericles, his enemies maligned and slandered. They cried out in the assemblies: The people has lost its fair fame and is in ill repute because it has removed the public moneys of the Hellenes from Delos into its own keeping,and that seemliest of all excuses which it had to urge against its accusers, to wit, that out of fear of the Barbarians it took the public funds from that sacred isle and was now guarding them in a stronghold, of this Pericles has robbed it. And surely Hellas is insulted with a dire insult and manifestly subjected to tyranny when she sees that, with her own enforced contributions for the war, we are gilding and bedizening our city, which, for all the world like a wanton woman, adds to her wardrobe precious stones and costly statues and temples worth their millions.For his part, Pericles would instruct the people that it owed no account of their moneys to the allies provided it carried on the war for them and kept off the Barbarians; not a horse do they furnish, said he, not a ship, not a hoplite, but money simply; and this belongs, not to those who give it, but to those who take it, if only they furnish that for which they take it in pay.And it is but meet that the city, when once she is sufficiently equipped with all that is necessary for prosecuting the war, should apply her abundance to such works as, by their completion, will bring her everlasting glory, and while in process of completion will bring that abundance into actual service, in that all sorts of activity and diversified demands arise, which rouse every art and stir every hand, and bring, as it were, the whole city under pay, so that she not only adorns, but supports herself as well from her own resources.And it was true that his military expeditions supplied those who were in the full vigor of manhood with abundant resources from the common funds, and in his desire that the unwarlike throng of common laborers should neither have no share at all in the public receipts, nor yet get fees for laziness and idleness, he boldly suggested to the people projects for great constructions, and designs for works which would call many arts into play and involve long periods of time, in order that the stay-at-homes, no whit less than the sailors and sentinels and soldiers, might have a pretext for getting a beneficial share of the public wealth.The materials to be used were stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress-wood; the arts which should elaborate and work up these materials were those of carpenter, moulder, bronze-smith, stone-cutter, dyer, worker in gold and ivory, painter, embroiderer, embosser, to say nothing of the forwarders and furnishers of the material, such as factors, sailors and pilots by sea,and, by land, wagon-makers, trainers of yoked beasts, and drivers. There were also rope-makers, weavers, leather-workers, road-builders, and miners. And since each particular art, like a general with the army under his separate command, kept its own throng of unskilled and untrained laborers in compact array, to be as instrument unto player and as body unto soul in subordinate service, it came to pass that for every age, almost, and every capacity the city’s great abundance was distributed and scattered abroad by such demands. 13 So then the works arose, no less towering in their grandeur than inimitable in the grace of their outlines, since the workmen eagerly strove to surpass themselves in the beauty of their handicraft. And yet the most wonderful thing about them was the speed with which they rose. Each one of them, men thought, would require many successive generations to complete it, but all of them were fully completed in the heyday of a single administration.And yet they say that once on a time when Agatharchus the painter was boasting loudly of the speed and ease with which he made his figures, Zeuxis heard him, and said, Mine take, and last, a long time. And it is true that deftness and speed in working do not impart to the work an abiding weight of influence nor an exactness of beauty; whereas the time which is put out to loan in laboriously creating, pays a large and generous interest in the preservation of the creation.For this reason are the works of Pericles all the more to be wondered at; they were created in a short time for all time. Each one of them, in its beauty, was even then and at once antique; but in the freshness of its vigor it is, even to the present day, recent and newly wrought. Such is the bloom of perpetual newness, as it were, upon these works of his, which makes them ever to look untouched by time, as though the unfaltering breath of an ageless spirit had been infused into them.His general manager and general overseer was Pheidias, although the several works had great architects and artists besides. of the Parthenon, for instance, with its cella of a hundred feet in length, Callicrates and Ictinus were the architects; it was Coroebus who began to build the sanctuary of the mysteries at Eleusis, and he planted the columns on the floor and yoked their capitals together with architraves; but on his death Metagenes, of the deme Xypete, carried up the frieze and the upper tier of columns;while Xenocles, of the deme Cholargus, set on high the lantern over the shrine. 41 For the long wall, concerning which Socrates says Plat. Gorg. 455e . he himself heard Pericles introduce a measure, Callicrates was the contractor. Cratinus pokes fun at this work for its slow progress, and in these words:— Since ever so long now In word has Pericles pushed the thing; in fact he does not budge it. From a play of unknown name. Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 100 The Odeum, which was arranged internally with many tiers of seats and many pillars, and which had a roof made with a circular slope from a single peak, they say was an exact reproduction of the Great King’s pavilion, and this too was built under the superintendence of Pericles.Wherefore Cratinus, in his Thracian Women, rails at him again:— The squill-head Zeus! lo! here he comes, The Odeum like a cap upon his cranium, Now that for good and all the ostracism is o’er. Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 35. Then first did Pericles, so fond of honor was he, get a decree passed that a musical contest be held as part of the Panathenaic festival. He himself was elected manager, and prescribed how the contestants must blow the flute, or sing, or pluck the zither. These musical contests were witnessed, both then and thereafter, in the Odeum.The Propylaea of the acropolis were brought to completion in the space of five years, Mnesicles being their architect. A wonderful thing happened in the course of their building, which indicated that the goddess was not holding herself aloof, but was a helper both in the inception and in the completion of the work.One of its artificers, the most active and zealous of them all, lost his footing and fell from a great height, and lay in a sorry plight, despaired of by the physicians. Pericles was much cast down at this, but the goddess appeared to him in a dream and prescribed a course of treatment for him to use, so that he speedily and easily healed the man. It was in commemoration of this that he set up the bronze statue of Athena Hygieia on the acropolis near the altar of that goddess, which was there before, as they say.But it was Pheidias who produced the great golden image of the goddess, and he is duly inscribed on the tablet as the workman who made it. Everything, almost, was under his charge, and all the artists and artisans, as I have said, were under his superintendence, owing to his friendship with Pericles. This brought envy upon the one, and contumely on the other, to the effect that Pheidias made assignations for Pericles with free-born women who would come ostensibly to see the works of art.The comic poets took up this story and bespattered Pericles with charges of abounding wantonness, connecting their slanders with the wife of Menippus, a man who was his friend, and a colleague in the generalship, and with the bird-culture of Pyrilampes, who, since he was the comrade of Pericles, was accused of using his peacocks to bribe the women with whom Pericles consorted.And why should any one be astonished that men of wanton life lose no occasion for offering up sacrifices, as it were, of contumelious abuse of their superiors, to the evil deity of popular envy, when even Stesimbrotus of Thasos has ventured to make public charge against Pericles of a dreadful and fabulous impiety with his son’s wife?To such degree, it seems, is truth hedged about with difficulty and hard to capture by research, since those who come after the events in question find that lapse of time is an obstacle to their proper perception of them; while the research of their contemporaries into men’s deeds and lives, partly through envious hatred and partly through fawning flattery, defiles and distorts the truth. 14 Thucydides and his party kept denouncing Pericles for playing fast and loose with the public moneys and annihilating the revenues. Pericles therefore asked the people in assembly whether they thought he had expended too much, and on their declaring that it was altogether too much, Well then, said he, let it not have been spent on your account, but mine, and I will make the inscriptions of dedication in my own name.When Pericles had said this, whether it was that they admired his magimity or vied with his ambition to get the glory of his works, they cried out with a loud voice and bade him take freely from the public funds for his outlays, and to spare naught whatsoever. And finally he ventured to undergo with Thucydides the contest of the ostracism, wherein he secured his rival’s banishment, 442. B.C. and the dissolution of the faction which had been arrayed against him. |
10. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.24.5-1.24.6, 1.26.5, 1.27.3, 1.28.2, 5.11 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Athens, Parthenon • Parthenon • Parthenon, Athena and Themis, north metope • Parthenon, Centauromachy, Gigantomachy, and Amazonomachy • Parthenon, chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos at • Parthenon, east frieze, Athena on • Parthenon, east frieze, Poseidon and Apollo sitting together on • Parthenon, east pediment, birth of Athena on • Parthenon, olive wood cult statue of Athena at • Parthenon, pagan temple • Parthenon, west pediment, reconstruction of • Phidias, Parthenon, chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos at • olive wood cult statue of Athena at Parthenon • parthenoi in ritual Found in books: Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 82; Capra and Floridi, Intervisuality: New Approaches to Greek Literature (2023) 178, 179; Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 167, 170; Jenkyns, God, Space, and City in the Roman Imagination (2013) 301; Munn, The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (2006) 290, 292; Parker, Polytheism and Society at Athens (2005) 221; Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 33, 227, 229, 361 1.24.5 ὁπόσα ἐν τοῖς καλουμένοις ἀετοῖς κεῖται, πάντα ἐς τὴν Ἀθηνᾶς ἔχει γένεσιν, τὰ δὲ ὄπισθεν ἡ Ποσειδῶνος πρὸς Ἀθηνᾶν ἐστιν ἔρις ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς· αὐτὸ δὲ ἔκ τε ἐλέφαντος τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ χρυσοῦ πεποίηται. μέσῳ μὲν οὖν ἐπίκειταί οἱ τῷ κράνει Σφιγγὸς εἰκών—ἃ δὲ ἐς τὴν Σφίγγα λέγεται, γράψω προελθόντος ἐς τὰ Βοιώτιά μοι τοῦ λόγου—, καθʼ ἑκάτερον δὲ τοῦ κράνους γρῦπές εἰσιν ἐπειργασμένοι. 1.24.6 τούτους τοὺς γρῦπας ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν Ἀριστέας ὁ Προκοννήσιος μάχεσθαι περὶ τοῦ χρυσοῦ φησιν Ἀριμασποῖς τοῖς ὑπὲρ Ἰσσηδόνων· τὸν δὲ χρυσόν, ὃν φυλάσσουσιν οἱ γρῦπες, ἀνιέναι τὴν γῆν· εἶναι δὲ Ἀριμασποὺς μὲν ἄνδρας μονοφθάλμους πάντας ἐκ γενετῆς, γρῦπας δὲ θηρία λέουσιν εἰκασμένα, πτερὰ δὲ ἔχειν καὶ στόμα ἀετοῦ. καὶ γρυπῶν μὲν πέρι τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω·, 1.26.5 —ἔστι δὲ καὶ οἴκημα Ἐρέχθειον καλούμενον· πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἐσόδου Διός ἐστι βωμὸς Ὑπάτου, ἔνθα ἔμψυχον θύουσιν οὐδέν, πέμματα δὲ θέντες οὐδὲν ἔτι οἴνῳ χρήσασθαι νομίζουσιν. ἐσελθοῦσι δέ εἰσι βωμοί, Ποσειδῶνος, ἐφʼ οὗ καὶ Ἐρεχθεῖ θύουσιν ἔκ του μαντεύματος, καὶ ἥρωος Βούτου, τρίτος δὲ Ἡφαίστου· γραφαὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν τοίχων τοῦ γένους εἰσὶ τοῦ Βαυταδῶν καὶ—διπλοῦν γάρ ἐστι τὸ οἴκημα— καὶ ὕδωρ ἐστὶν ἔνδον θαλάσσιον ἐν φρέατι. τοῦτο μὲν θαῦμα οὐ μέγα· καὶ γὰρ ὅσοι μεσόγαιαν οἰκοῦσιν, ἄλλοις τε ἔστι καὶ Καρσὶν Ἀφροδισιεῦσιν· ἀλλὰ τόδε τὸ φρέαρ ἐς συγγραφὴν παρέχεται κυμάτων ἦχον ἐπὶ νότῳ πνεύσαντι. καὶ τριαίνης ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ σχῆμα· ταῦτα δὲ λέγεται Ποσειδῶνι μαρτύρια ἐς τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν τῆς χώρας φανῆναι. 1.27.3 ἃ δέ μοι θαυμάσαι μάλιστα παρέσχεν, ἔστι μὲν οὐκ ἐς ἅπαντα ς γνώριμα, γράψω δὲ οἷα συμβαίνει. παρθένοι δύο τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς Πολιάδος οἰκοῦσιν οὐ πόρρω, καλοῦσι δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι σφᾶς ἀρρηφόρους· αὗται χρόνον μέν τινα δίαιταν ἔχουσι παρὰ τῇ θεῷ, παραγενομένης δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς δρῶσιν ἐν νυκτὶ τοιάδε. ἀναθεῖσαί σφισιν ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἃ ἡ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱέρεια δίδωσι φέρειν, οὔτε ἡ διδοῦσα ὁποῖόν τι δίδωσιν εἰδυῖα οὔτε ταῖς φερούσαις ἐπισταμέναις—ἔστι δὲ περίβολος ἐν τῇ πόλει τῆς καλουμένης ἐν Κήποις Ἀφροδίτης οὐ πόρρω καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ κάθοδος ὑπόγαιος αὐτομάτη—, ταύτῃ κατίασιν αἱ παρθένοι. κάτω μὲν δὴ τὰ φερόμενα λείπουσιν, λαβοῦσαι δὲ ἄλλο τι κομίζουσιν ἐγκεκαλυμμένον· καὶ τὰς μὲν ἀφιᾶσιν ἤδη τὸ ἐντεῦθεν, ἑτέρας δὲ ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν παρθένους ἄγουσιν ἀντʼ αὐτῶν. 1.28.2 χωρὶς δὲ ἢ ὅσα κατέλεξα δύο μὲν Ἀθηναίοις εἰσὶ δεκάται πολεμήσασιν, ἄγαλμα Ἀθηνᾶς χαλκοῦν ἀπὸ Μήδων τῶν ἐς Μαραθῶνα ἀποβάντων τέχνη Φειδίου —καί οἱ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος μάχην Λαπιθῶν πρὸς Κενταύρους καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἐστὶν ἐπειργασμένα λέγουσι τορεῦσαι Μῦν, τῷ δὲ Μυῒ ταῦτά τε καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἔργων Παρράσιον καταγράψαι τὸν Εὐήνορος· ταύτης τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἡ τοῦ δόρατος αἰχμὴ καὶ ὁ λόφος τοῦ κράνους ἀπὸ Σουνίου προσπλέουσίν ἐστιν ἤδη σύνοπτα—, καὶ ἅρμα κεῖται χαλκοῦν ἀπὸ Βοιωτῶν δεκάτη καὶ Χαλκιδέων τῶν ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ. δύο δὲ ἄλλα ἐστὶν ἀναθήματα, Περικλῆς ὁ Ξανθίππου καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν Φειδίου θέας μάλιστα ἄξιον Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναθέντων καλουμένης Λημνίας. 5.11 καθέζεται μὲν δὴ ὁ θεὸς ἐν θρόνῳ χρυσοῦ πεποιημένος καὶ ἐλέφαντος· στέφανος δὲ ἐπίκειταί οἱ τῇ κεφαλῇ μεμιμημένος ἐλαίας κλῶνας. ἐν μὲν δὴ τῇ δεξιᾷ φέρει Νίκην ἐξ ἐλέφαντος καὶ ταύτην καὶ χρυσοῦ, ταινίαν τε ἔχουσαν καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ στέφανον· τῇ δὲ ἀριστερᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ χειρὶ ἔνεστι σκῆπτρον μετάλλοις τοῖς πᾶσιν ἠνθισμένον, ὁ δὲ ὄρνις ὁ ἐπὶ τῷ σκήπτρῳ καθήμενός ἐστιν ὁ ἀετός. χρυσοῦ δὲ καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἱμάτιον ὡσαύτως ἐστί· τῷ δὲ ἱματίῳ ζῴδιά τε καὶ τῶν ἀνθῶν τὰ κρίνα ἐστὶν ἐμπεποιημένα. ὅσον δὲ τοῦ ἐδάφους ἐστὶν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἀγάλματος, τοῦτο οὐ λευκῷ, μέλανι δὲ κατεσκεύασται τῷ λίθῳ· περιθεῖ δὲ ἐν κύκλῳ τὸν μέλανα λίθου Παρίου κρηπίς, ἔρυμα εἶναι τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῷ ἐκχεομένῳ. ἔλαιον γὰρ τῷ ἀγάλματί ἐστιν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ συμφέρον, καὶ ἔλαιόν ἐστι τὸ ἀπεῖργον μὴ γίνεσθαι τῷ ἐλέφαντι βλάβος διὰ τὸ ἑλῶδες τῆς Ἄλτεως. ἐν ἀκροπόλει δὲ τῇ Ἀθηναίων τὴν καλουμένην Παρθένον οὐκ ἔλαιον, ὕδωρ δὲ τὸ ἐς τὸν ἐλέφαντα ὠφελοῦν ἐστιν· ἅτε γὰρ αὐχμηρᾶς τῆς ἀκροπόλεως οὔσης διὰ τὸ ἄγαν ὑψηλόν, τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐλέφαντος πεποιημένον ὕδωρ καὶ δρόσον τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος ποθεῖ. ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ δὲ ἐρομένου μου καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν οὔτε ὕδωρ τῷ Ἀσκληπιῷ σφισιν οὔτε ἔλαιόν ἐστιν ἐγχεόμενον, ἐδίδασκόν με οἱ περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ὡς καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ θρόνος ἐπὶ φρέατι εἴη πεποιημένα. ὁ δὲ θρόνος ποικίλος μὲν χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις, ποικίλος δὲ καὶ ἐβένῳ τε καὶ ἐλέφαντί ἐστι· καὶ ζῷά τε ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ γραφῇ μεμιμημένα καὶ ἀγάλματά ἐστιν εἰργασμένα. Νῖκαι μὲν δὴ τέσσαρες χορευουσῶν παρεχόμεναι σχῆμα κατὰ ἕκαστον τοῦ θρόνου τὸν πόδα, δύο δέ εἰσιν ἄλλαι πρὸς ἑκάστου πέζῃ ποδός. τῶν ποδῶν δὲ ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν παῖδές τε ἐπίκεινται Θηβαίων ὑπὸ σφιγγῶν ἡρπασμένοι καὶ ὑπὸ τὰς σφίγγας Νιόβης τοὺς παῖδας Ἀπόλλων κατατοξεύουσι καὶ Ἄρτεμις. τῶν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου μεταξὺ ποδῶν τέσσαρες κανόνες εἰσίν, ἐκ ποδὸς ἐς πόδα ἕτερον διήκων ἕκαστος. τῷ μὲν δὴ κατʼ εὐθὺ τῆς ἐσόδου κανόνι, ἑπτά ἐστιν ἀγάλματα ἐπʼ αὐτῷ, τὸ γὰρ ὄγδοον ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἴσασι τρόπον ὅντινα ἐγένετο ἀφανές· εἴη δʼ ἂν ἀγωνισμάτων ἀρχαίων ταῦτα μιμήματα, οὐ γάρ πω τὰ ἐς τοὺς παῖδας ἐπὶ ἡλικίας ἤδη καθειστήκει τῆς Φειδίου. τὸν δὲ αὑτὸν ταινίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀναδούμενον ἐοικέναι τὸ εἶδος Παντάρκει λέγουσι, μειράκιον δὲ Ἠλεῖον τὸν Παντάρκη παιδικὰ εἶναι τοῦ Φειδίου· ἀνείλετο δὲ καὶ ἐν παισὶν ὁ Παντάρκης πάλης νίκην Ὀλυμπιάδι ἕκτῃ πρὸς ταῖς ὀγδοήκοντα. ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν κανόνων τοῖς λοιποῖς ὁ λόχος ἐστὶν ὁ σὺν Ἡρακλεῖ μαχόμενος πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας· ἀριθμὸς μὲν δὴ συναμφοτέρων ἐς ἐννέα ἐστὶ καὶ εἴκοσι, τέτακται δὲ καὶ Θησεὺς ἐν τοῖς συμμάχοις τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ. ἀνέχουσι δὲ οὐχ οἱ πόδες μόνοι τὸν θρόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ κίονες ἴσοι τοῖς ποσὶ μεταξὺ ἑστηκότες τῶν ποδῶν. ὑπελθεῖν δὲ οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν ὑπὸ τὸν θρόνον, ὥσπερ γε καὶ ἐν Ἀμύκλαις ἐς τὰ ἐντὸς τοῦ θρόνου παρερχόμεθα· ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ δὲ ἐρύματα τρόπον τοίχων πεποιημένα τὰ δὲ ἀπείργοντά ἐστι. τούτων τῶν ἐρυμάτων ὅσον μὲν ἀπαντικρὺ τῶν θυρῶν ἐστιν, ἀλήλιπται κυανῷ μόνον, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ αὐτῶν παρέχεται Παναίνου γραφάς. ἐν δὲ αὐταῖς ἔστι μὲν οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν Ἄτλας ἀνέχων, παρέστηκε δὲ καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἐκδέξασθαι τὸ ἄχθος ἐθέλων τοῦ Ἄτλαντος, ἔτι δὲ Θησεύς τε καὶ Πειρίθους καὶ Ἑλλάς τε καὶ Σαλαμὶς ἔχουσα ἐν τῇ χειρὶ τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς ναυσὶν ἄκραις ποιούμενον κόσμον, Ἡρακλέους τε τῶν ἀγωνισμάτων τὸ ἐς τὸν λέοντα τὸν ἐν Νεμέᾳ καὶ τὸ ἐς Κασσάνδραν παρανόμημα Αἴαντος, Ἱπποδάμειά τε ἡ Οἰνομάου σὺν τῇ μητρὶ καὶ Προμηθεὺς ἔτι ἐχόμενος μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν δεσμῶν, Ἡρακλῆς δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν ἦρται· λέγεται γὰρ δὴ καὶ τόδε ἐς τὸν Ἡρακλέα, ὡς ἀποκτείναι μὲν τὸν ἀετὸν ὃς ἐν τῷ Καυκάσῳ τὸν Προμηθέα ἐλύπει, ἐξέλοιτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν Προμηθέα ἐκ τῶν δεσμῶν. τελευταῖα δὲ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ Πενθεσίλειά τε ἀφιεῖσα τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἀνέχων ἐστὶν αὐτήν· καὶ Ἑσπερίδες δύο φέρουσι τὰ μῆλα ὧν ἐπιτετράφθαι λέγονται τὴν φρουράν. Πάναινος μὲν δὴ οὗτος ἀδελφός τε ἦν Φειδίου καὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἐν Ποικίλῃ τὸ Μαραθῶνι ἔργον ἐστὶ γεγραμμένον. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς ἀνωτάτω τοῦ θρόνου πεποίηκεν ὁ Φειδίας ὑπὲρ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ ἀγάλματος τοῦτο μὲν Χάριτας, τοῦτο δὲ Ὥρας, τρεῖς ἑκατέρας. εἶναι γὰρ θυγατέρας Διὸς καὶ ταύτας ἐν ἔπεσίν ἐστιν εἰρημένα· Ὅμηρος δὲ ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐποίησε τὰς Ὥρας καὶ ἐπιτετράφθαι τὸν οὐρανὸν καθάπερ τινὰς φύλακας βασιλέως αὐλῆς. τὸ ὑπόθημα δὲ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς τοῖς ποσίν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ καλούμενον θρανίον, λέοντάς τε χρυσοῦς καὶ Θησέως ἐπειργασμένην ἔχει μάχην τὴν πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας, τὸ Ἀθηναίων πρῶτον ἀνδραγάθημα ἐς οὐχ ὁμοφύλους. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ βάθρου τοῦ τὸν θρόνον τε ἀνέχοντος καὶ ὅσος ἄλλος κόσμος περὶ τὸν Δία, ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ βάθρου χρυσᾶ ποιήματα, ἀναβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ἅρμα Ἤλιος καὶ Ζεύς τέ ἐστι καὶ Ἥρα, ἔτι δὲ Ἥφαιστος, παρὰ δὲ αὐτὸν Χάρις· ταύτης δὲ Ἑρμῆς ἔχεται, τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ δὲ Ἑστία· μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑστίαν Ἔρως ἐστὶν ἐκ θαλάσσης Ἀφροδίτην ἀνιοῦσαν ὑποδεχόμενος, τὴν δὲ Ἀφροδίτην στεφανοῖ Πειθώ· ἐπείργασται δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλων σὺν Ἀρτέμιδι Ἀθηνᾶ τε καὶ Ἡρακλῆς, καὶ ἤδη τοῦ βάθρου πρὸς τῷ πέρατι Ἀμφιτρίτη καὶ Ποσειδῶν Σελήνη τε ἵππον ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐλαύνουσα. τοῖς δέ ἐστιν εἰρημένα ἐφʼ ἡμιόνου τὴν θεὸν ὀχεῖσθαι καὶ οὐχ ἵππου, καὶ λόγον γέ τινα ἐπὶ τῷ ἡμιόνῳ λέγουσιν εὐήθη. μέτρα δὲ τοῦ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ Διὸς ἐς ὕψος τε καὶ εὖρος ἐπιστάμενος γεγραμμένα οὐκ ἐν ἐπαίνῳ θήσομαι τοὺς μετρήσαντας, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ εἰρημένα αὐτοῖς μέτρα πολύ τι ἀποδέοντά ἐστιν ἢ τοῖς ἰδοῦσι παρέστηκεν ἐς τὸ ἄγαλμα δόξα, ὅπου γε καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν μάρτυρα ἐς τοῦ Φειδίου τὴν τέχνην γενέσθαι λέγουσιν. ὡς γὰρ δὴ ἐκτετελεσμένον ἤδη τὸ ἄγαλμα ἦν, ηὔξατο ὁ Φειδίας ἐπισημῆναι τὸν θεὸν εἰ τὸ ἔργον ἐστὶν αὐτῷ κατὰ γνώμην· αὐτίκα δʼ ἐς τοῦτο τοῦ ἐδάφους κατασκῆψαι κεραυνόν φασιν, ἔνθα ὑδρία καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἐπίθημα ἦν ἡ χαλκῆ. 1.24.5 Their ritual, then, is such as I have described. As you enter the temple that they name the Parthenon, all the sculptures you see on what is called the pediment refer to the birth of Athena, those on the rear pediment represent the contest for the land between Athena and Poseidon. The statue itself is made of ivory and gold. On the middle of her helmet is placed a likeness of the Sphinx—the tale of the Sphinx I will give when I come to my description of Boeotia—and on either side of the helmet are griffins in relief. 1.24.6 These griffins, Aristeas An early Greek traveller and writer. of Proconnesus says in his poem, fight for the gold with the Arimaspi beyond the Issedones. The gold which the griffins guard, he says, comes out of the earth; the Arimaspi are men all born with one eye; griffins are beasts like lions, but with the beak and wings of an eagle. I will say no more about the griffins. " 1.26.5 There is also a building called the Erechtheum. Before the entrance is an altar of Zeus the Most High, on which they never sacrifice a living creature but offer cakes, not being wont to use any wine either. Inside the entrance are altars, one to Poseidon, on which in obedience to an oracle they sacrifice also to Erechtheus, the second to the hero Butes, and the third to Hephaestus. On the walls are paintings representing members of the clan Butadae; there is also inside—the building is double—sea-water in a cistern. This is no great marvel, for other inland regions have similar wells, in particular Aphrodisias in Caria . But this cistern is remarkable for the noise of waves it sends forth when a south wind blows. On the rock is the outline of a trident. Legend says that these appeared as evidence in support of Poseidons claim to the land.", 1.27.3 I was much amazed at something which is not generally known, and so I will describe the circumstances. Two maidens dwell not far from the temple of Athena Polias, called by the Athenians Bearers of the Sacred offerings. For a time they live with the goddess, but when the festival comes round they perform at night the following rites. Having placed on their heads what the priestess of Athena gives them to carry—neither she who gives nor they who carry have any knowledge what it is—the maidens descend by the natural underground passage that goes across the adjacent precincts, within the city, of Aphrodite in the Gardens. They leave down below what they carry and receive something else which they bring back covered up. These maidens they henceforth let go free, and take up to the Acropolis others in their place. 1.28.2 In addition to the works I have mentioned, there are two tithes dedicated by the Athenians after wars. There is first a bronze Athena, tithe from the Persians who landed at Marathon. It is the work of Pheidias, but the reliefs upon the shield, including the fight between Centaurs and Lapithae, are said to be from the chisel of Mys fl. 430 B.C. for whom they say Parrhasius the son of Evenor, designed this and the rest of his works. The point of the spear of this Athena and the crest of her helmet are visible to those sailing to Athens, as soon as Sunium is passed. Then there is a bronze chariot, tithe from the Boeotians and the Chalcidians in Euboea c. 507 B.C. There are two other offerings, a statue of Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, and the best worth seeing of the works of Pheidias, the statue of Athena called Lemnian after those who dedicated it. " 5.11 The god sits on a throne, and he is made of gold and ivory. On his head lies a garland which is a copy of olive shoots. In his right hand he carries a Victory, which, like the statue, is of ivory and gold; she wears a ribbon and—on her head—a garland. In the left hand of the god is a scepter, ornamented with every kind of metal, and the bird sitting on the scepter is the eagle. The sandals also of the god are of gold, as is likewise his robe. On the robe are embroidered figures of animals and the flowers of the lily. All the floor in front of the image is paved, not with white, but with black tiles. In a circle round the black stone runs a raised rim of Parian marble, to keep in the olive oil that is poured out. For olive oil is beneficial to the image at Olympia, and it is olive oil that keeps the ivory from being harmed by the marshiness of the Altis. On the Athenian Acropolis the ivory of the image they call the Maiden is benefited, not by olive oil, but by water. For the Acropolis, owing to its great height, is over-dry, so that the image, being made of ivory, needs water or dampness. When I asked at Epidaurus why they pour neither water nor olive oil on the image of Asclepius, the attendants at the sanctuary informed me that both the image of the god and the throne were built over a cistern. The throne is adorned with gold and with jewels, to say nothing of ebony and ivory. Upon it are painted figures and wrought images. There are four Victories, represented as dancing women, one at each foot of the throne, and two others at the base of each foot. On each of the two front feet are set Theban children ravished by sphinxes, while under the sphinxes Apollo and Artemis are shooting down the children of Niobe. Between the feet of the throne are four rods, each one stretching from foot to foot. The rod straight opposite the entrance has on it seven images; how the eighth of them disappeared nobody knows. These must be intended to be copies of obsolete contests, since in the time of Pheidias contests for boys had not yet been introduced. This statement is certainly incorrect; Pausanias himself says that contests for the boys were introduced at the thirty-seventh Festival, i.e. in 632 B.C. Several suggestions have been made for correcting the text. One of the most attractive is that of C. Robert (see Hermes XXIII. 1888, p. 451), who would read ἀγωνιστῶν for ἀγωνισμάτων and transpose οὐ γάρ (for which he reads ἄρα ) πω . . τῆς Φειδίου to after ὀγδοήκοντα. This would mean: “So P. had not reached the age of boys at the time of Pheidias.” The figure of one binding his own head with a ribbon is said to resemble in appearance Pantarces, a stripling of Elis said to have been the love of Pheidias. Pantarces too won the wrestling-bout for boys at the eighty-sixth Festival. On the other rods is the band that with Heracles fights against the Amazons. The number of figures in the two parties is twenty-nine, and Theseus too is ranged among the allies of Heracles. The throne is supported not only by the feet, but also by an equal number of pillars standing between the feet. It is impossible to go under the throne, in the way we enter the inner part of the throne at Amyclae. At Olympia there are screens constructed like walls which keep people out. of these screens the part opposite the doors is only covered with dark-blue paint; the other parts show pictures by Panaenus. Among them is Atlas, supporting heaven and earth, by whose side stands Heracles ready to receive the load of Atlas, along with Theseus; Perithous, Hellas, and Salamis carrying in her hand the ornament made for the top of a ships bows; then Heracles exploit against the Nemean lion, the outrage committed by Ajax on Cassandra, Hippodameia the daughter of Oenomaus with her mother, and Prometheus still held by his chains, though Heracles has been raised up to him. For among the stories told about Heracles is one that he killed the eagle which tormented Prometheus in the Caucasus, and set free Prometheus himself from his chains. Last in the picture come Penthesileia giving up the ghost and Achilles supporting her; two Hesperides are carrying the apples, the keeping of which, legend says, had been entrusted to them. This Panaenus was a brother of Pheidias; he also painted the picture of the battle of Marathon in the painted portico at Athens . On the uppermost parts of the throne Pheidias has made, above the head of the image, three Graces on one side and three Seasons on the other. These in epic poetry Hes. Th. 901 are included among the daughters of Zeus. Homer too in the Iliad Hom. Il. 5.470 foll. says that the Seasons have been entrusted with the sky, just like guards of a kings court. The footstool of Zeus, called by the Athenians thranion, has golden lions and, in relief, the fight of Theseus against the Amazons, the first brave deed of the Athenians against foreigners. On the pedestal supporting the throne and Zeus with all his adornments are works in gold: the Sun mounted on a chariot, Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus, and by his side Grace. Close to her comes Hermes, and close to Hermes Hestia. After Hestia is Eros receiving Aphrodite as she rises from the sea, and Aphrodite is being crowned by Persuasion. There are also reliefs of Apollo with Artemis, of Athena and of Heracles; and near the end of the pedestal Amphitrite and Poseidon, while the Moon is driving what I think is a horse. Some have said that the steed of the goddess is a mule not a horse, and they tell a silly story about the mule. I know that the height and breadth of the Olympic Zeus have been measured and recorded; but I shall not praise those who made the measurements, for even their records fall far short of the impression made by a sight of the image. Nay, the god himself according to legend bore witness to the artistic skill of Pheidias. For when the image was quite finished Pheidias prayed the god to show by a sign whether the work was to his liking. Immediately, runs the legend, a thunderbolt fell on that part of the floor where down to the present day the bronze jar stood to cover the place." |
11. Marinus, Vita Proclus, 6-7, 10-11, 14-15, 29-30 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Parthenon (Athens) • Parthenon (Athens), conversion • Parthenon, Christian church, inscriptions on columns • Parthenon, pagan temple Found in books: Breytenbach and Tzavella, Early Christianity in Athens, Attica, and Adjacent Areas (2022) 7, 152, 154, 155, 165, 371; Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 148, 286, 288, 294, 371 6 Such were the physical and mental qualities which he received from his mother Marcella, legitimate wife of Patricius. Both were Lycians, noble, and very virtuous. At birth he was welcomed by the Poliouchos of Byzantium the goddess Athena, who as it were assisted his mother in childbirth. She might have been considered the cause of his life, because he was born in the town she protects and saves; and who, when he reached childhood and youth, made him live well: for she appeared to him in a dream inducing him to follow philosophy. That is how he began so close an intimacy with the goddess, so that he sacrificed especially to her, and practiced her precepts with the greatest enthusiasm. Shortly after his birth, his parents removed him to their homeland, to Xanthus, a town dedicated to Apollo, and which thus, by some divine chance, became his own homeland. For it seemed no more than fitting that a man who was to become a prince of all sciences should be raised and grow under the influence of the divine Leader of the Muses. The excellent education he received there permitted him to acquire the moral virtues, and to accustom himself to love what duty commands, and to avoid the contrary. " 7 That was the time when the great favor of the gods that he had enjoyed since his birth became most evident. One day he was suffering from a serious illness, and he had been given up for lost when above his bed appeared a child, an exceedingly beautiful boy who, even before he announced his name, was easily recognized as Telesphorus. As he stood near, bending over the pillow, he announced his name and touched the patients head, curing him of his sickness, and then suddenly disappeared. This divine miracle testified to the favor of the gods for the youth.", 10 After having studied under the teachers in Alexandria, and having profited by their lessons according to their talent and science, it seemed to him, one day on reading an author with his teacher, that the latters explanation of the passage had failed to represent the authors meaning. So he looked upon these schools with scorn, and simultaneously remembering the divine vision that had visited him in Constantinople, and the command which it had brought him, he embarked for Athens, so to speak under the escort of divine oracles and all the gods and good daimons who watch over the preservation of philosophy. For he was being sent there by the gods of philosophy to preserve the school of Plato in its truth and pureness. This was clearly demonstrated by the circumstances of his arrival, and the really divine symbols which clearly prognosticated the function which he was to inherit from his father, and the election which was, one day, to call him to the direction and administration of the School. For at his landing in the Piraeus, and as soon as his arrival was bruited about in Athens, Nikolaus, who was later to become so famous as a sophist, and who at this time was pursuing his studies here, came to the harbor to welcome him, and to offer him hospitality, as he was acquainted with him personally, and was his co-national, from Lycia. So Nikolaus led him to the town; but on the way, having arrived at the monument to Socrates, Proclus felt himself tired of walking. Now he did not know, and had never heard tell that there existed there a place sacred to Socrates. Yet he begged Nikolaus to stop there a moment, so he might sit down to rest, and asked him to fetch him a little water, from any place at all, for, said he, "I am dying of thirst." Nikolaus, very anxious, had some brought him, not from any chance place, but from the consecrated shrine itself, for the spring of Socratess Pillar was not far off. After Proclus had drunk, Nikolaus suddenly saw in this a symbol, and told him that he was resting in a place consecrated to Socrates, and that the water he had drunk, the first Attic water he had tasted, was from this source. So Proclus rose, and before proceeding, offered a prayer. As he was arriving at the fortified gate, at the entrance he met the porter, who was already preparing to insert his keys in the lock, and he actually said to Proclus: "Really, if you had not arrived, I should have closed!" Could there have been a clearer omen, and one whose interpretation would need neither a Polles, nor a Melampus, nor any other? 11 Although he was anxiously invited by the teachers of eloquence, as if he had come for this very purpose, he scorned the oratorical theories and methods. Chance led him to hear first Syrianus, son of Philoxenus, at whose lecture was present Lachares, who was profoundly versed in the doctrines of the philosophers, and at that time was an assiduous auditor of the philosopher, although his art in sophistry excited as much admiration as Homers in poetry. It happened to be late dusk, and the sun was setting during their conversation, and the moon, quitting her conjunction with the sun, began to appear. So as to be able to adore the goddess alone and leisurely, they tried to dismiss the youth who to them was a stranger. But, after having taken but a few steps from the house Proclus, — he also seeing the moon leaving her celestial house — stopped in his tracks, undid his shoes, and in plain sight of them adored the goddess. Struck by the free and bold action of the youth, Lachares then said to Syrianus this admirable expression of Platos about geniuses: "Here is a man who will be a great good, or its contrary!" Such are the presages, — to mention only a few of them — that the gods sent to our philosopher just as he arrived in Athens. 14 Besides, he acquired political virtues, which he derived from Aristotles political writings, and Platos Laws and Republic. He was in this dilemma, that he could not mingle with politics, because his thoughts took a higher flight; and yet he did not wish people to believe that his knowledge was verbal only, and that he made no practical application thereof. So he encouraged Archiadas to devote himself to them, instructing him, explaining to him the political virtues and methods, acting like the coaches who pace runners, exhorting him to direct the affairs of his whole town, and at the same time to render services to individuals, in all kinds of virtues, but especially in justice. And indeed he succeeded in arousing in Archiadas a noble emulation, taught him liberality in ficial matters, and munificence, himself making benefactions to his friends, relatives, and fellow citizens, in everything showing himself superior to the vanity of wealth. Proclus did indeed make important public benefactions, and at his death bequeathed his fortune to Xanthus and Athens, after the decease of Archiadas. The latter indeed showed himself, both by his own nature, and by his affection for Proclus, so sincere a friend of religion that even our contemporaries, when they spoke of him, called him by the venerable name, "the most pious Archiadas.", 15 Nevertheless, sometimes he undertook to give political advice. He would attend the public meetings where they deliberated on the town interests, proposed resolutions of a great practical wisdom, conferred with the magistrates on matters appertaining to justice, and not only gave them counsel, but, with a philosophers boldness would partly constrain them to administer justice generally. He watched over the honorable character of those charged with public education, obliging them to practice temperance in their public conduct; teaching them the virtues not only by discourses, but also by the actions and occupations of his whole life; making himself, so to speak, an exemplar of temperance. He even displayed political courage in a Herculean degree. For he managed to save his life in the midst of the greatest perils, when he had to weather terrible tempests, when all the unleashed typhoons were shaking his so well regulated life, without letting himself be frightened or discouraged. One day, indeed, when he found himself the object of the suspicions and vexations of a sort of vultures that surrounded him i.e. certain Christians, obeying that Power which starts revolutions in this world, he left Athens and made a journey to Asia, where his residence became most profitable to him. For his guardian spirit (daimonion) furnished him the occasion of this departure in order that he might not remain ignorant of the ancient religious institutions which had been there preserved. Indeed, among the Lydians, he succeeded in gaining a clear conception of these doctrines, while they through long vicissitudes had come to neglect certain liturgical operations, received from him a more complete doctrine, because the philosopher more perfectly conceived what relates to the divinities. By doing this and in thus ordering his conduct, he succeeded in achieving oblivion, even better than the Pythagoreans observed the inviolate command of their master, to "live unnoticed." After no more than a years sojourn in Lydia he returned to Athens, guided by the providence of the wisdom-loving deity. That is how was firmly established in him the virtue of courage; first by nature, then by habit, then by science, and then by that practical wisdom which reasons from cause to effect. In another respect he showed that he knew how to put into practice his political art, by writing to the magistrates of towns, and by his suggestions rendering service to entire cities, as he did to the Athenians and the inhabitants of Andros, and elsewhere. " 29 If we wished to do so, we might easily extend our observations on the theurgic labors of this blessed man. From among thousands, I will mention but one, which is really miraculous. One day Asklepigenia, daughter of Archiadas and Plutarche, and now wife of our benefactor Theagenes, being still small, and being raised at her parents, became ill with a sickness pronounced incurable by the physicians. Archiadas was in despair, as the child was the familys only hope, and naturally uttered distressful lamentations. Seeing her abandoned by the physicians, the father, as in the gravest circumstances of life, turned to his last resort, and ran to the philosophers, as to the only person who could save her, and urgently besought him to come and pray for his daughter. The latter, taking with him the great Lydian Pericles, who also was a genuine philosopher, ran to the temple of Asklepios to pray to God in favor of the patient, for Athens was still fortunate enough to possess it, and it had not yet been sacked by the Christians. While he was praying according to the ancient rite, suddenly a change manifested in the little girls condition, and there occurred a sudden improvement, — for the Saviour, being a divinity, swiftly gave her back her health. On completing the religious ceremonies, Proclus visited Asklepigenia, who had just been delivered from the sufferings that had assailed her, and who now was in perfect health. He had indeed performed his vows and offered his prayers in spite of everybody, so as to preclude any possibility of malicious slander, and the whole household had taken part in this act. This indeed was one of Procluss good fortunes, that he lived in the house that suited him best, where had dwelt both Syrianus, whom he called his father, and Plutarch, whom he called his grandfather. It was in the vicinity of the Asklepius temple which Sophocles had immortalized, and of the Dionysus temple near the theater, and was in sight of the Acropolis.", 30 His choice of the philosophic life amply proves how dear he was to the wisdom-loving god Athena, But the goddess testified to that herself when the statue of the goddess which had been erected in the Parthenon had been removed by those who move that which should not be moved. In a dream the philosopher thought he saw coming to him a woman of great beauty, who announced to him that he must as quickly prepare his house "because the Athenian Lady wishes to dwell with you." How high he stood in the esteem of Asklepius has already been shown in the story I have related above, and we were, in his last malady, thereof convinced by the gods appearance. For being in a semi-waking condition, he saw a serpent creeping around his head, and from this moment on he felt relieved from his suffering; and he had the feeling that this apparition would cure him from his disease. But he seemed to have been restrained by an ardent and even violent desire for death, and I am indeed certain that he would have completely recovered his health if he had been willing to receive the care demanded by his condition. |