νῆσοι δὲ Ἀθηναίοις οὐ πόρρω τῆς χώρας εἰσίν, ἡ μὲν Πατρόκλου καλουμένη—τὰ δὲ ἐς αὐτὴν ἤδη μοι δεδήλωται—, ἄλλη δὲ ὑπὲρ Σουνίου τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ παραπλέουσιν· ἐς ταύτην ἀποβῆναι λέγουσιν Ἑλένην μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τὴν Ἰλίου, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὄνομά ἐστιν Ἑλένη τῇ νήσῳ.
Σαλαμὶς δὲ κατὰ Ἐλευσῖνα κειμένη παρήκει καὶ ἐς τὴν Μεγαρικήν. πρῶτον δὲ τῇ νήσῳ τὸ ὄνομα θέσθαι τοῦτο Κυχρέα ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Σαλαμῖνος τῆς Ἀσωποῦ, καὶ ὕστερον Αἰγινήτας τοὺς σὺν Τελαμῶνι ἐποικῆσαι· Φίλαιον δὲ τὸν Εὐρυσάκους τοῦ Αἴαντος παραδοῦναι λέγουσιν Ἀθηναίοις τὴν νῆσον, γενόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν Ἀθηναῖον. Σαλαμινίους δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τούτων ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ἀναστάτους ἐποίησαν, καταγνόντες ἐθελοκακῆσαι σφᾶς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ πρὸς Κάσσανδρον καὶ τὴν πόλιν γνώμῃ τὸ πλέον Μακεδόσιν ἐνδοῦναι· καὶ Αἰσχητάδου τε κατέγνωσαν θάνατον, ὃς τότε ᾕρητο ἐς τὴν Σαλαμῖνα στρατηγός, καὶ ἐς τὸν πάντα ἐπώμοσαν χρόνον Σαλαμινίοις ἀπομνημονεύςειν προδοσίαν.
ἔστι δὲ ἀγορᾶς τε ἔτι ἐρείπια καὶ ναὸς Αἴαντος, ἄγαλμα δὲ ἐξ ἐβένου ξύλου· διαμένουσι δὲ καὶ ἐς τόδε τῷ Αἴαντι παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις τιμαὶ αὐτῷ τε καὶ Εὐρυσάκει, καὶ γὰρ Εὐρυσάκους βωμός ἐστιν ἐν Ἀθήναις. δείκνυται δὲ λίθος ἐν Σαλαμῖνι οὐ πόρρω τοῦ λιμένος· ἐπὶ τούτου καθήμενον Τελαμῶνα ὁρᾶν λέγουσιν ἐς τὴν ναῦν ἀποπλεόντων οἱ τῶν παίδων ἐς Αὐλίδα ἐπὶ τὸν κοινὸν τῶν Ἑλλήνων στόλον.
λέγουσι δὲ οἱ περὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα οἰκοῦντες ἀποθανόντος Αἴαντος τὸ ἄνθος σφίσιν ἐν τῇ γῇ τότε φανῆναι πρῶτον· λευκόν ἐστιν, ὑπέρυθρον, κρίνου καὶ αὐτὸ ἔλασσον καὶ τὰ φύλλα· γράμματα δὲ ἔπεστιν οἷα τοῖς ὑακίνθοις καὶ τούτῳ. λόγον δὲ τῶν μὲν Αἰολέων τῶν ὕστερον οἰκησάντων Ἴλιον ἐς τὴν κρίσιν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅπλοις ἤκουσα, οἳ τῆς ναυαγίας Ὀδυσσεῖ συμβάσης ἐξενεχθῆναι κατὰ τὸν τάφον τὸν Αἴαντος τὰ ὅπλα λέγουσι· τὸ δὲ ἐς τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ Μυσὸς ἔλεγεν ἀνήρ.
τοῦ γὰρ τάφου τὰ πρὸς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἔφασκεν ἐπικλύσαι τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ἔσοδον ἐς τὸ μνῆμα οὐ χαλεπὴν ποιῆσαι, καί με τοῦ νεκροῦ τὸ μέγεθος τεκμαίρεσθαι τῇδε ἐκέλευε· πεντάθλου γὰρ παιδὸς εἶναί οἱ κατὰ δίσκον μάλιστα τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς γόνασιν ὀστᾶ, καλουμένας δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν μύλας. ἐγὼ δέ, ὁπόσοι μὲν οἰκοῦσιν ἔσχατοι Κελτῶν ἔχοντες ὅμορον τῇ διὰ κρυμὸν ἐρήμῳ, οὓς Καβαρεῖς ὀνομάζουσι, τούτων μὲν οὐκ ἐθαύμασα τὸ μῆκος, οἳ νεκρῶν οὐδέν τι διαφόρως ἔχουσιν Αἰγυπτίων· ὁπόσα δὲ ἄξια ἐφαίνετο εἶναί μοι θέας, διηγήσομαι.
Μάγνησι τοῖς ἐπὶ Ληθαίῳ Πρωτοφάνης τῶν ἀστῶν ἀνείλετο ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ νίκας ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ παγκρατίου καὶ πάλης· τούτου λῃσταὶ κερδανεῖν πού τι δοκοῦντες ἐσῆλθον ἐς τὸν τάφον, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς λῃσταῖς ἐσῄεσαν ἤδη θεασόμενοι τὸν νεκρὸν τὰς πλευρὰς οὐκ ἔχοντα διεστώσας, ἄλλά οἱ συμφυὲς ἦν ὅσον ἀπʼ ὤμων ἐς τὰς ἐλαχίστας πλευράς, καλουμένας δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν νόθας. ἔστι δὲ Μιλησίοις πρὸ τῆς πόλεως Λάδη νῆσος, ἀπερρώγασι δὲ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς νησῖδες· Ἀστερίου τὴν ἑτέραν ὀνομάζουσι καὶ τὸν Ἀστέριον ἐν αὐτῇ ταφῆναι λέγουσιν, εἶναι δὲ Ἀστέριον μὲν Ἄνακτος, Ἄνακτα δὲ Γῆς παῖδα· ἔχει δʼ οὖν ὁ νεκρὸς οὐδέν τι μεῖον πηχῶν δέκα.
τὸ δʼ ἐμοὶ θαῦμα παρασχόν, Λυδίας τῆς ἄνω πόλις ἐστὶν οὐ μεγάλη Τημένου θύραι· ἐνταῦθα παραραγέντος λόφου διὰ χειμῶνα ὀστᾶ ἐφάνη τὸ σχῆμα παρέχοντα ἐς πίστιν ὡς ἔστιν ἀνθρώπου, ἐπεὶ διὰ μέγεθος οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως ἂν ἔδοξεν. αὐτίκα δὲ λόγος ἦλθεν ἐς τοὺς πολλοὺς Γηρυόνου τοῦ Χρυσάορος εἶναι μὲν τὸν νεκρόν, εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὸν θρόνον· καὶ γὰρ θρόνος ἀνδρός ἐστιν ἐνειργασμένος ὄρους λιθώδει προβολῇ· καὶ χείμαρρόν τε ποταμὸν Ὠκεανὸν ἐκάλουν καὶ βοῶν ἤδη κέρασιν ἔφασάν τινας ἐντυχεῖν ἀροῦντας, διότι ἔχει λόγος βοῦς ἀρίστας θρέψαι τὸν Γηρυόνην.
ἐπεὶ δέ σφισιν ἐναντιούμενος ἀπέφαινον ἐν Γαδείροις εἶναι Γηρυόνην, οὗ μνῆμα μὲν οὔ, δένδρον δὲ παρεχόμενον διαφόρους μορφάς, ἐνταῦθα οἱ τῶν Λυδῶν ἐξηγηταὶ τὸν ὄντα ἐδείκνυον λόγον, ὡς εἴη μὲν ὁ νεκρὸς Ὕλλου, παῖς δὲ Ὕλλος εἴη Γῆς, ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ ὁ ποταμὸς ὠνομάσθη· Ἡρακλέα δὲ διὰ τὴν παρʼ Ὀμφάλῃ ποτὲ ἔφασαν δίαιταν Ὕλλον ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καλέσαι τὸν παῖδα.
The Athenians have the following islands not far from the coast: one called the island of Patroclus, of which I have already given an account; another beyond Sunium, as you sail with Attica on the left. On this latter island they say that Helen landed after the taking of Ilium, and hence the name of the island is Helene.
Salamis lies over against Eleusis, and extends as far as the territory of Megara. It is said that Cychreus first called the island by its present name after his mother Salamis, daughter of Asopus, and that afterwards it was colonised by the Aeginetans under Telamon; but they say that Philaeus, the son of Eurysaces, the son of Ajax, on being made an Athenian citizen, surrendered the island to the Athenians. Many years afterwards the Athenians expelled the Salaminians, on the ground that they had purposely been slack in the war with Cassander, and had willingly enough surrendered their city to the Macedonians. They also sentenced to death Ascetades, who had been chosen general of Salamis, and they swore that for all time they would bear the treachery of the Salaminians in mind against them. There are still ruins of the market-place, and there is a temple of Ajax: the image is of ebony. To this day honours continue to be paid by the Athenians to Ajax and Eurysaces; for there is an altar of Eurysaces at Athens. A stone is shown in Salamis not far from the harbour: on this stone they say that Telamon sat gazing at the ship as his children sailed away to Aulis to join the national Greek expedition.
The inhabitants of Salamis say that when Ajax died, the flower appeared for the first time in their land : it is white, with a tinge of red, smaller than a lily both in flower and leaf, and there are letters on it as on the hyacinth. From the Aeolians who afterwards inhabited Ilium I heard a story about the award in the affair of the arms. They said that when Ulysses was cast away the arms were washed ashore at the grave of Ajax. As to the size of Ajax, a man of Mysia said that the sea had washed against the side of the grave that faces the beach, and had made the entrance to the tomb not difficult ; and he told me I might judge of the size of the corpse from this: the knee bones or knee pans (as doctors call them) were about the size of a quoit used by a boy who practises the pentathlum. As to the remotest tribe of Celts called Cabarenses, who dwell on the borders of the frozen desert, I was not astonished at their stature, which does not differ from that of Egyptian corpses.
But I will mention what struck me as remarkable. Protophanes, a citizen of Magnesia on the Lethaeus, was victorious in the pancratium and in wrestling on the same day at Olympia. Robbers, expecting to find some plunder, entered his grave ; and after the robbers some people went in to view the corpse, the ribs of which were not separate, but were united in a single piece from the shoulders to the smallest ribs which doctors call false.
In front of the city of Miletus is the island of Lade, and detached from Lade are two islets, one of which they name the isle of Asterius. They say that Asterius is buried in it, and that he was a son of Anax, and that Anax was a son of Earth. At all events the corpse is not less than ten cubits. 6. The following affair excited my surprise. In Upper Lydia there is a city of no great size called Temenothyrae: here a hillside having been swept away by a storm, some bones came to light, the shape of which seemed to prove that they were the bones of a man, though the size of them could never have suggested that they were so. Immediately a story got abroad that the skeleton was that of Geryon, the son of Chrysaor, and that the chair was his too; for there is a man’s chair wrought in a rocky spur of a mountain. And to a winter torrent they gave the name of Ocean, and said that some men in ploughing had lighted on the horns of cows ; for the story goes that Geryon bred very fine cows. But when I gainsaid them and showed that Geryon is at Cadiz, where, though he has no tomb, there is a tree that takes diverse forms, the Lydian guides let out the truth, to wit, that the skeleton was that of Hyllus, that Hyllus was a son of Earth, and that the river was named after him. They said, too, that Hercules called his son Hyllus after the river on account of his former stay with Omphale.
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