Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
chapter:
chapter 1-23chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24-6chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27-30chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31-4chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35-9chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 39chapter 40-9chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50-5chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56-65chapter 56chapter 57chapter 59chapter 60Achapter 60Bchapter 60Cchapter 61chapter 62chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66-9chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68Achapter 68Cchapter 69chapter 70-82chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83-96chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97-9chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100-2chapter 100chapter 101chapter 103chapter 104-6chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107-12chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112chapter 113-20chapter 113chapter 114chapter 115chapter 116chapter 117chapter 118chapter 119chapter 120chapter 121-5chapter 121chapter 122chapter 123chapter 124chapter 125chapter 126-9chapter 126chapter 127chapter 128chapter 129chapter 130-2chapter 130chapter 131chapter 132chapter 133-44chapter 133chapter 134chapter 135chapter 136chapter 137chapter 138chapter 140Achapter 140Bchapter 141chapter 142chapter 143chapter 144
This text is part of:
Τροιζῆνα. Plutarch (Them. 10) adds φιλοτίμως πάνυ τῶν Τροιζηνίων ὑποδεχομένων. καὶ γὰρ τρέφειν ἐψηφίσαντο δημοσίᾳ, δύο ὀβόλους ἑκάστῳ διδόντες, καὶ τῆς ὀπώρας λαμβάνειν τοὺς παῖδας ἐξεῖναι πανταχόθεν, ἔτι δ̓ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν διδασκάλοις τελεῖν μισθούς. We may note that the places of refuge were all commanded by the Athenian fleet, so that the refugees would not become hostages in the hands of the Peloponnesians (Grundy, 353).
τῷ χρηστηρίῳ. The advice to flee given vii. 140. 2, 141. 4. This snake was known as οἰκουρὸς ὄφις (Arist. Lys. 758; Hesych. οἰκουρὸν ὄφιν τὸν τῆς Πολιάδος φύλακα δράκοντα. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἕνα φασίν, οἱ δὲ δύο ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως). In the earliest form of the legend Erichthonius (Erechtheus) was the sacred serpent (Paus. i. 24. 7; J. H. S. xxi. 329); later he becomes the child of Earth and foster son of Athena hidden in a chest, being half-man, half-serpent (Hyginus, fab. 166), or a child guarded by serpents (Eur. Ion 20 f., 267-74; Apollodorus iii. 14. 6). For further discussion of the myths of Erichthonius cf. Frazer on Paus. i. 18. 2; Harrison, Mythology of Athens, xxvi-xxxvi; and on the deity as a snake Harrison, Prolegomena to Greek Religion, pp. 17-21, 325 f. ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ: probably the Erechtheum; cf. ch. 55; v. 72. 3 n. ὡς ἐόντι. H. will not pledge himself to the existence of the snake, which was believed to be concealed in a secret chest or chamber of the temple, and to prove its existence by the disappearance of the honey-cake offered every new moon (τὰ ἐπιμήνια, cf. vi. 57. 2). Cf. i. 181. 5 n. Plutarch (Them. 10) declares that Themistocles suggested to the priests the interpretation of the portent that the cake on this occasion remained untouched.
τῆς θεοῦ: i.e. Athena Polias (v. 82. 3 n.). The snake was the symbol of her foster-child, Erichthonius, and sacred to the goddess herself. For gods deserting a doomed city cf. Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. 304 f.; Eur. Tro. 25; Virg. Aen. ii. 351; Hor. Odes ii. 1. 25; Tac. Hist. v. 13.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.