γῆς δὲ τῆς Πλαταιίδος ἐν τῷ Κιθαιρῶνι ὀλίγον τῆς εὐθείας ἐκτραπεῖσιν ἐς δεξιὰ Ὑσιῶν καὶ Ἐρυθρῶν ἐρείπιά ἐστι. πόλεις δέ ποτε τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἦσαν, καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἐν τοῖς ἐρειπίοις τῶν Ὑσιῶν ναός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος ἡμίεργος καὶ φρέαρ ἱερόν· πάλαι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ φρέατος κατὰ τὸν Βοιωτῶν λόγον ἐμαντεύοντο πίνοντες.
ἐπανελθοῦσι δὲ ἐς τὴν λεωφόρον ἐστὶν αὖθις ἐν δεξιᾷ Μαρδονίου λεγόμενον μνῆμα εἶναι. καὶ ὅτι μὲν εὐθὺς ἦν μετὰ τὴν μάχην ἀφανὴς ὁ Μαρδονίου νεκρός, ἔστιν ὡμολογημένον· τὸν δὲ θάψαντα οὐ κατὰ ταὐτά, ὅστις ἦν, λέγουσι· φαίνεται δὲ Ἀρτόντης ὁ Μαρδονίου πλεῖστα μὲν δοὺς Διονυσοφάνει δῶρα ἀνδρὶ Ἐφεσίῳ, δοὺς μέντοι καὶ ἄλλοις Ἰώνων ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἀμελὲς γενόμενον ταφῆναι Μαρδόνιον.
αὕτη μὲν ἀπʼ Ἐλευθερῶν ἐς Πλάταιαν ἄγει, τοῖς δὲ ἐκ Μεγάρων ἰοῦσι πηγή τέ ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ καὶ προελθοῦσιν ὀλίγον πέτρα· καλοῦσι δὲ τὴν μὲν Ἀκταίωνος κοίτην, ἐπὶ ταύτῃ καθεύδειν φάμενοι τῇ πέτρᾳ τὸν Ἀκταίωνα ὁπότε κάμοι θηρεύων, ἐς δὲ τὴν πηγὴν ἐνιδεῖν λέγουσιν αὐτὸν λουμένης Ἀρτέμιδος ἐν τῇ πηγῇ. Στησίχορος δὲ ὁ Ἱμεραῖος ἔγραψεν ἐλάφου περιβαλεῖν δέρμα Ἀκταίωνι τὴν θεόν, παρασκευάζουσάν οἱ τὸν ἐκ τῶν κυνῶν θάνατον, ἵνα δὴ μὴ γυναῖκα Σεμέλην λάβοι.
ἐγὼ δὲ ἄνευ θεοῦ πείθομαι νόσον λύσσαν τοῦ Ἀκταίωνος ἐπιλαβεῖν τοὺς κύνας· μανέντες δὲ καὶ οὐ διαγινώσκοντες διαφορήσειν ἔμελλον πάντα τινὰ ὅτῳ περιτύχοιεν. καθότι δὲ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος Πενθεῖ τῷ Ἐχίονος ἐγένετο ἡ συμφορὰ ἢ Οἰδίποδα ὅπῃ τεχθέντα ἐξέθεσαν, οἶδεν οὐδείς, καθάπερ γε ἴσμεν τὴν Σχιστὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐπὶ Φωκέων, ἐφʼ ᾗ τὸν πατέρα Οἰδίπους ἀπέκτεινεν, ἃ δὴ καὶ ἐς πλέον ἐπέξειμι, ἐπειδὰν ἐς αὐτὰ ὁ λόγος καθήκῃ μοι.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἔσοδον μάλιστα τὴν ἐς Πλάταιαν τάφοι τῶν πρὸς Μήδους μαχεσαμένων εἰσί. τοῖς μὲν οὖν λοιποῖς ἐστιν Ἕλλησι μνῆμα κοινόν· Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίων τοῖς πεσοῦσιν ἰδίᾳ τέ εἰσιν οἱ τάφοι καὶ ἐλεγεῖά ἐστι Σιμωνίδου γεγραμμένα ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς. οὐ πόρρω δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Διός ἐστιν Ἐλευθερίου βωμὸς τοῦτον μὲν δὴ χαλκοῦ, τοῦ Διὸς δὲ τόν τε βωμὸν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐποίησεν λευκοῦ λίθου.
ἄγουσι δὲ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἀγῶνα διὰ ἔτους πέμπτου τὰ Ἐλευθέρια, ἐν ᾧ μέγιστα γέρα πρόκειται δρόμου· θέουσι δὲ ὡπλισμένοι πρὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ. τρόπαιον δέ, ὃ τῆς μάχης τῆς Πλαταιᾶσιν ἀνέθεσαν οἱ Ἕλληνες, πεντεκαίδεκα σταδίοις μάλιστα ἕστηκεν ἀπωτέρω τῆς πόλεως.
ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ πόλει προϊοῦσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀγάλματος ἃ τῷ Διὶ πεποίηται τῷ Ἐλευθερίῳ, Πλαταίας ἐστὶν ἡρῷον· καί μοι τὰ ἐς αὐτὴν ἤδη, τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ ὁποῖα αὐτὸς εἴκαζον, ἔστιν εἰρημένα. Πλαταιεῦσι δὲ ναός ἐστιν Ἥρας, θέας ἄξιος μεγέθει τε καὶ ἐς τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τὸν κόσμον. ἐσελθοῦσι μὲν Ῥέα τὸν πέτρον κατειλημένον σπαργάνοις, οἷα δὴ τὸν παῖδα ὃν ἔτεκε, Κρόνῳ κομίζουσά ἐστι· τὴν δὲ Ἥραν Τελείαν καλοῦσι, πεποίηται δὲ ὀρθὸν μεγέθει ἄγαλμα μέγα· λίθου δὲ ἀμφότερα τοῦ Πεντελησίου, Πραξιτέλους δέ ἐστιν ἔργα. ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἄλλο Ἥρας ἄγαλμα καθήμενον Καλλίμαχος ἐποίησε· Νυμφευομένην δὲ τὴν θεὸν ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε ὀνομάζουσιν.
On Mount Cithaeron in the Plataean territory, if you turn a little to the right out of the straight road, you come to ruins of Hysiae and Erythrae. They were once cities of Boeotia, and even now among the ruins of Hysiae there is a half-finished temple of Apollo and a sacred well. Long ago, say the Boeotians, people divined by drinking of the well.
Returning to the highway we come to what is said to be the tomb of Mardonius, also on the right. That the corpse of Mardonius disappeared immediately after the battle is admitted ; but people are not agreed as to the person who buried it. It is known that Mardonius’ son, Artontes, gave many gifts, not only to Dionysophanes of Ephesus, but also to other Ionians, on the ground that they had been not unmindful of having Mardonius buried. This, then, is the road from Eleutherae to Plataea.
On the road from Megara there is a spring on the right, and a little farther on a rock. They call the rock Actaeon’s bed, for they say that he slept on this rock when he was weary with the chase ; and they tell that he looked into the spring while Artemis was bathing in it. Stesichorus of Himera says that the goddess threw a deer-skin round Actaeon to ensure his death by the dogs, lest he should take Semele to wife. I am persuaded that without the intervention of the goddess the dogs of Actaeon went mad, and in this condition they would be sure to rend in pieces without distinction whomsoever they fell in with. On what part of Cithaeron Pentheus, son of Echion, met his doom, or where Oedipus was exposed at birth, no man knows with that certainty wherewith we know the Cleft Way on the road to Phocis, where Oedipus slew his father. [Mount Cithaeron is sacred to Cithaeronian Zeus.] These things I will describe more fully in their proper place.
Just at the entrance into Plataea are the graves of the men who fought against the Medes. There are separate graves for the Lacedaemonians and Athenians who fell, and elegies of Simonides are carved upon them. The rest of the Greeks are buried in a common tomb. Not far from this common tomb is an altar of Zeus of Freedom. . . . It is of bronze; but the altar and image of Zeus are made of white marble. They still celebrate games called the Eleutheria (‘games of freedom’) every fourth year, at which the chief prizes offered are for running. They run in armour in front of the altar. The trophy which the Greeks set up for the battle of Plataea stands about fifteen furlongs from the city.
Going forward from the altar and image erected to Zeus of Freedom, we come, in the city itself, to a shrine of the heroine Plataea. I have already mentioned the legend about her and my own conjectures on the subject. There is a temple of Hera at Plataea, which is worth seeing both for its size and for the beauty of its images. On entering we see Rhea bringing to Cronus the stone wrapt in swaddling bands, as if it were the child whom she had given birth to. They call Hera Full-grown: her image is upright and of colossal size. Both images are of Pentelic marble, and are works of Praxiteles. There is another image of Hera here: it is seated, and is by Callimachus. They name the goddess the Bride for the following reason.
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