τὸ δὲ χωρίον ὁ Κεραμεικὸς τὸ μὲν ὄνομα ἔχει ἀπὸ ἥρωος Κεράμου, Διονύσου τε εἶναι καὶ Ἀριάδνης καὶ τούτου λεγομένου· πρώτη δέ ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ καλουμένη στοὰ βασίλειος, ἔνθα καθίζει βασιλεὺς ἐνιαυσίαν ἄρχων ἀρχὴν καλουμένην βασιλείαν. ταύτης ἔπεστι τῷ κεράμῳ τῆς στοᾶς ἀγάλματα ὀπτῆς γῆς, ἀφιεὶς Θησεὺς ἐς θάλασσαν Σκίρωνα καὶ φέρουσα Ἡμέρα Κέφαλον, ὃν κάλλιστον γενόμενόν φασιν ὑπὸ Ἡμέρας ἐρασθείσης ἁρπασθῆναι· καί οἱ παῖδα γενέσθαι Φαέθοντα, ὃν ὕστερον ἡ Ἀφροδίτη ἥρπασε καὶ φύλακα ἐποίησε τοῦ ναοῦ. ταῦτα ἄλλοι τε καὶ Ἡσίοδος εἴρηκεν ἐν ἔπεσι τοῖς ἐς τὰς γυναῖκας.
πλησίον δὲ τῆς στοᾶς Κόνων ἕστηκε καὶ Τιμόθεος υἱὸς Κόνωνος καὶ βασιλεὺς Κυπρίων Εὐαγόρας, ὃς καὶ τὰς τριήρεις τὰς Φοινίσσας ἔπραξε παρὰ βασιλέως Ἀρταξέρξου δοθῆναι Κόνωνι· ἔπραξε δὲ ὡς Ἀθηναῖος καὶ τὸ ἀνέκαθεν ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος, ἐπεὶ καὶ γενεαλογῶν ἐς προγόνους ἀνέβαινε Τεῦκρον καὶ Κινύρου θυγατέρα. ἐνταῦθα ἕστηκε Ζεὺς ὀνομαζόμενος Ἐλευθέριος καὶ βασιλεὺς Ἀδριανός, ἐς ἄλλους τε ὧν ἦρχεν εὐεργεσίας καὶ ἐς τὴν πόλιν μάλιστα ἀποδειξάμενος τὴν Ἀθηναίων.
στοὰ δὲ ὄπισθεν ᾠκοδόμηται γραφὰς ἔχουσα θεοὺς τοὺς δώδεκα καλουμένους· ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ τοίχῳ τῷ πέραν Θησεύς ἐστι γεγραμμένος καὶ Δημοκρατία τε καὶ Δῆμος. δηλοῖ δὲ ἡ γραφὴ Θησέα εἶναι τὸν καταστήσαντα Ἀθηναίοις ἐξ ἴσου πολιτεύεσθαι· κεχώρηκε δὲ φήμη καὶ ἄλλως ἐς τοὺς πολλούς, ὡς Θησεὺς παραδοίη τὰ πράγματα τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνου δημοκρατούμενοι διαμείναιεν, πρὶν ἢ Πεισίστρατος ἐτυράννησεν ἐπαναστάς. λέγεται μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ἀληθῆ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς οἷα ἱστορίας ἀνηκόοις οὖσι καὶ ὁπόσα ἤκουον εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων ἔν τε χοροῖς καὶ τραγῳδίαις πιστὰ ἡγουμένοις, λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸν Θησέα, ὃς αὐτός τε ἐβασίλευσε καὶ ὕστερον Μενεσθέως τελευτήσαντος καὶ ἐς τετάρτην οἱ Θησεῖδαι γενεὰν διέμειναν ἄρχοντες. εἰ δέ μοι γενεαλογεῖν ἤρεσκε, καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Μελάνθου βασιλεύσαντας ἐς Κλείδικον τὸν Αἰσιμίδου καὶ τούτους ἂν ἀπηριθμησάμην.
ἐνταῦθά ἐστι γεγραμμένον καὶ τὸ περὶ Μαντίνειαν Ἀθηναίων ἔργον, οἳ βοηθήσοντες Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐπέμφθησαν. συνέγραψαν δὲ ἄλλοι τε καὶ Ξενοφῶν τὸν πάντα πόλεμον, κατάληψίν τε τῆς Καδμείας καὶ τὸ πταῖσμα Λακεδαιμονίων τὸ ἐν Λεύκτροις καὶ ὡς ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐσέβαλον Βοιωτοὶ καὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν Λακεδαιμονίοις τὴν παρʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐλθοῦσαν· ἐν δὲ τῇ γραφῇ τῶν ἱππέων ἐστὶ μάχη, ἐν ᾗ γνωριμώτατοι Γρύλος τε ὁ Ξενοφῶντος ἐν τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἵππον τὴν Βοιωτίαν Ἐπαμινώνδας ὁ Θηβαῖος. ταύτας τὰς γραφὰς Εὐφράνωρ ἔγραψεν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ πλησίον ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ ναῷ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Πατρῷον ἐπίκλησιν· πρὸ δὲ τοῦ νεὼ τὸν μὲν Λεωχάρης, ὃν δὲ καλοῦσιν Ἀλεξίκακον Κάλαμις ἐποίησε. τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῷ θεῷ γενέσθαι λέγουσιν, ὅτι τὴν λοιμώδη σφίσι νόσον ὁμοῦ τῷ Πελοποννησίων πολέμῳ πιέζουσαν κατὰ μάντευμα ἔπαυσεν ἐκ Δελφῶν.
ᾠκοδόμηται δὲ καὶ Μητρὸς θεῶν ἱερόν, ἣν Φειδίας εἰργάσατο, καὶ πλησίον τῶν πεντακοσίων καλουμένων βουλευτήριον, οἳ βουλεύουσιν ἐνιαυτὸν Ἀθηναίοις· Βουλαίου δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ κεῖται ξόανον Διὸς καὶ Ἀπόλλων τέχνη Πεισίου καὶ Δῆμος ἔργον Λύσωνος. τοὺς δὲ θεσμοθέτας ἔγραψε Πρωτογένης Καύνιος, Ὀλβιάδης δὲ Κάλλιππον, ὃς Ἀθηναίους ἐς Θερμοπύλας ἤγαγε φυλάξοντας τὴν ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα Γαλατῶν ἐσβολήν.
The place called the Ceramicus has its name from a hero Ceramus, said to be a son of Dionysus and Ariadne. First on the right is a colonnade called the Royal Colonnade, where the king sits during his year of office, which is called the kingship. On the tiled roof of this colonnade are terra-cotta images—Theseus hurling Sciron into the sea, and Day carrying Cephalus, who, they say, was exceeding fair, and was ravished by Day; for she loved him and bore him a son, Phaethon .. . and made him guardian of the temple. This tale is told by Hesiod in his poem on women as well as by other writers. Near the colonnade stand statues of Conon and his son Timotheus, and Evagoras, king of Cyprus, who prevailed on King Artaxerxes to give Conon the Phoenician galleys. Evagoras did this because he considered himself an Athenian and of Salaminian descent ; for he traced his lineage up to Teucer and the daughter of Cinyras. Here stands an image of Zeus, named Zeus of Freedom, and a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, the benefactor of his subjects and especially of Athens.
Behind is built a colonnade with paintings of the gods, who are called the Twelve. On the opposite wall are painted Theseus, Democracy, and the People. The painting signifies that it was Theseus who established political equality at Athens. There is, indeed, a popular tradition that Theseus handed over the conduct of affairs to the people, and that the government continued to be democracy from his time down to the insurrection and tyranny of Pisistratus. But falsehood, in general, passes current among the multitude because they are ignorant of history and believe all that they have heard from childhood in choirs and tragedies. And Theseus, in particular, is the subject of such a falsehood. For, in point of fact, not only was he king himself, but his descendants, after the death of Menestheus, continued to bear rule down to the third generation. If I cared to trace pedigrees, I could have enumerated the kings from Melanthus to Clidicus son of Aesimides.
Here, too, is painted the battle fought at Mantinea by the Athenians, who were sent to help the Lacedaemonians. Xenophon and others have written the history of the whole war, including the seizure of the Cadmea, the defeat of the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, the Boeotian invasion of Peloponnese, and the arrival of an Athenian contingent to aid the Lacedaemonians. The picture represents the cavalry fight, in which the best-known figures are Grylus, the son of Xenophon, on the Athenian side, and Epaminondas the Theban among the Boeotian cavalry. Euphranor painted these pictures for the Athenians; and he also executed the Apollo, surnamed Paternal, in the temple hard by. In front of the temple is an image of the god by Leochares, and another by Calamis. The latter image is called Averter of Evil. They say this name was given to the god because by an oracle from Delphi he stayed the plague which afflicted Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian war.
There is a sanctuary also of the Mother of the Gods: her image is a work of Phidias. Near it is the Council House of the Five Hundred, as they are called, who form the annual council of Athens. In the Council House are a wooden image of Counsellor Zeus, an Apollo by Pisias, and a figure of the People by Lyson. The picture of the Lawgivers is by Protogenes of Caunus: the portrait of Callipus, who led the Athenians to Thermopylae to prevent the irruption of the Gauls into Greece, is by Olbiades.
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