CHAP. 56, 57. THE SAMIAN EXILES AT SIPHNOS. 451 This was the first expedition into Asia of the Lacedæmonian Dorians.* 57. The Samians who had fought against Polycrates, when they knew that the Lacedæmonians were about to forsake them, left Samos themselves, and sailed to Siphnos. They happened to be in want of money; and the Siphnians at that time were at the height of their greatness, no islanders having so much wealth as they. There were mines of gold and silver in their country, and of so rich a yield, that from a tithe of the ores the Siphnians furnished out a treasury at Delphi which was on a par with the grandest there. What the mines yielded was divided year by year among the citizens. At the time when they formed the treasury, the Siphnians consulted the oracle, and asked whether their good things would remain to them many years. The Pythoness made answer as follows: "When the Prytanies' seat shines white' in the island of Siphnos, These words are emphatic. They mark the place which this expedition occupies in the mind of Herodotus. It is an aggression of the Greeks upon ASIA, and therefore a passage in the history of the great quarrel between Persia and Greece, for all Asia is the King's (i. 4). Indeed, it is probable that Polycrates, though really independent, was in nominal subjection to Persia. This is implied both in the statement (i. 169), that "the lonians of the islands gave themselves up to Cyrus," and in the request of Polycrates (iii. 44) that Cambyses would not omit to ask aid from Samos." Cambyses was only collecting troops from his subjects. 6 (Phaleg. 1. xiv. p. 413). He considers that the first settlers were Phoenicians. Pausanias, in the second century A. C., saw this treasury (1. s. c.). He relates that the mines were submerged because the Siphnians, from avarice, ceased to pay the tithe of the ores to Delphi. The same account is given by Suidas (v. Eipro). Ross thinks the fact of the submersion highly probable (vol. i. p. 141). 5 Siphnos (the modern Sifanto) is one of the western Cyclades. It is situated in the 37th parallel of latitude, a little south of the direct course from Samos to Hermione. Lead was still abundant in the island in the 7 The mention of whiteness here, time of Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, and the expression "then," show that tom. i. p. 174), but the gold and silver | the attack was to be made before 452 DEFEAT OF THE SIPHNIANS. BOOK III. Now about this time the forum of the Siphnians and their town-hall or prytaneum had been adorned with Parian marble. 8 58. The Siphnians, however, were unable to understand the oracle, either at the time when it was given, or afterwards on the arrival of the Samians. For these last no sooner came to anchor off the island than they sent one of their vessels, with an ambassage on board, to the city. All ships in these early times were painted with vermilion; and this was what the Pythoness had meant when she told them to beware of danger "from a wooden host, and a herald in scarlet." So the ambassadors came ashore and besought the Siphnians to lend them ten talents, but the Siphnians refused, whereupon the Samians began to plunder their lands. Tidings of this reached the Siphnians, who straightway sallied forth to save their crops; then a battle was fought, in which the Siphnians suffered defeat, and many of their number were cut off from the city by the Samians, after which these latter forced the Siphnians to give them a hundred talents. 59. With this money they bought of the Hermioni the Siphnians had had time to colour their buildings. In Herodotus's time they were evidently painted, but "then" they had merely the natural hue of the white marble. The Greek custom of painting their monuments was common from the earliest to the latest times, and traces of colour are found on the Parthenon and other buildings. At first they were covered with painted stucco; and when marble took its place it received the same coloured ornaments for which it was as well suited as its less durable predecessor.-G. W.] This is the first known instance of the use of Parian marble in ornamental building. It was later, though perhaps not by many years, that the Alemæonidæ, having undertaken the ontract for rebuilding the temple of | Delphi, faced the whole with Parian marble instead of common stone (vide infra, v. 62). The vicinity of Paros to Siphnos (about 20 miles) may account for its earlier use there than elsewhere. 9 Yet Homer almost invariably speaks of "black ships" (vñes μéXawa). Perhaps, however, there is no contradiction here. For Homer's ships are poivikorápnoi (Od. xi. 124, xxiii. 272) or pλтоñáρŋоi (Il. ii. 637, Od. ix. 125), "crimson-cheeked," or "vermilion-cheeked." It would seem that while the hull of the vessel was in the main black, being probably covered with pitch or some similar substance, the sides above the water, which Homer called the "cheeks" of the ship, were red. Herodotus may not mean more than this. CHAP. 58, 59. PURCHASE OF HYDREA. 453 ans the island of Hydrea,' off the coast of the Peloponnese, and this they gave in trust to the Trozenians,2 to keep for them, while they themselves went on to Crete, and founded the city of Cydonia. They had not meant, when they sat sail, to settle there, but only to drive out the Zacynthians from the island. However they rested at Cydonia, where they flourished greatly for five years. It was they who built the various temples that may still be seen at that place, and among them the fane of Dictyna. But in the sixth year they were attacked by the Eginetans, who beat them in a sea-fight, and, with the help of the Cretans, reduced them all to slavery. The beaks of their ships, which carried the figure of a wild boar, they sawed off and laid them up in the temple of Minerva in Egina. The Eginetans took part against the Samians on account of an ancient grudge, since the Samians had first, when Amphicrates was king of Samos, made war on them and done great harm 1 Hydrea retains its name almost unchanged in the modern " "Hydra," an island about twelve miles long, and only two or three broad, off the coast of the Argolic peninsula. As it is bare and produces nothing, it could only be of value to a nautical people. At present its inhabitants, the Hydriots, are accounted the best sailors in the Levant. Trozen and Hermione, though contained within the district commonly called Argolis, yet appear always as independent states. Trozen is mentioned among the confederated Greeks at Artemisium (Herod. viii. 1), and again at Salamis, where Hermione likewise appears (ib. 43). Both occur among the allies of the Corinthians in their war with Corcyra, B.C. 436 (Thucyd. i. 27); and both seem, although not expressly named, to have been allies of Sparta in the Peloponnesian war. Hence the ravaging of their territory by Pericles in the second year (ib. ii. 56). Hermione is probably the modern "Kastri." (See Col. Leake's Morea, vol. ii. p. 461.) The ruins of Trozen are near Dhamalá, opposite Calauria (ibid. p. 446). Cydonia lay on the northern coast of Crete, towards the western end of the island (long. 24° East). The modern town of Khania is near the site. Dictyna, or Dictynna, was the same as Britomartis, an ancient goddess of the Cretans. The Greeks usually regarded her as identical with their Artemis (Diana). See Callimach. Hymn. ad Dian. 190; Diod. Sic. v. 76; Pausanias, II. XXX. ; Solinus. Polyhist. xi. p. 21, &c. Britomartis is said to have meant "dulcis virgo" (Solin. 1. s. c.). No satisfactory account has been given of the name Dictynna. It is impossible to fix the date of the reign of Amphicrates. Panofka (Sam Res, p. 26) supposes that it could scarcely be earlier than the 25th Olympiad, B.C. 670. 454 SAMIAN WORKS. BOOK III. to their island, suffering, however, much damage also themselves. Such was the reason which moved the Eginetans to make this attack." 60. I have dwelt the longer on the affairs of the Samians, because three of the greatest works in all Greece were made by them. One is a tunnel, under a hill one hundred and fifty fathoms high, carried entirely through the base of the hill, with a mouth at either end. The length of the cutting is seven furlongs-the height and width are each eight feet. Along the whole course there is a second cutting, twenty cubits deep and three feet broad, whereby water is brought, through pipes, from an abundant source into the city. The architect of this tunnel was Eupalinus, son of Naustrophus, a Megarian. Such is the first of their great works the second is a mole in the sea, which goes all round the harbour, near twenty fathoms deep, and in length above two furlongs. The third is a temple; the largest of all the temples known to us, whereof Rhocus, son of Phileus, a Samian, was first architect. If we may believe Strabo (viii. | p. 545), the Eginetans themselves colonised Cydonia, so that their attack would seem to have been caused by commercial jealousy. 7 One of the mouths of this tunnel, that to the N.W. of the present harbour, had been already discovered, but it remained little known till M. Guerin a short time ago rediscovered it, and cleared out the sand and stones to the distance of about 540 paces. M. Guerin also commenced some excavations in search of the site of the temple of Juno, but was stopped by the proprietor of the land. Excavations of Greek remains are difficult, whether belonging to Turks or Greeks, and at Delphi every opposition was made even to my copying the inscriptions there.-[G. W.] 8 Herodotus means no doubt "the largest Greek temple," since the Egyp 8 tian temples were of much greater size. Though so little of it remains, only one column now standing, the plan of the Heræum has been ascertained, and shows a length of 346, and a breadth of 189 feet. (See the opposite page.) This greatly exceeds all the other temples of Asia Minor whose dimensions are known, except that of Ephesus, which was of later date (suprà, ii. 148, note 3). The Olympium at Athens, and the Doric temples at Agrigentum and Selinus, are longer than the Samian Heræum, but their area is not so great. (Sce Leake's Asia Minor, Additional Notes, pp. 346-352.) The architecture of the Heræum is Ionic. According to Pausanias (VIII. xiv. § 5), and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxv. xii. § 43), this Rhecus was jointinventor with Theodore the Samian of the art of casting statues in bronze. CHAP. 60, 61. REVOLT OF THE PSEUDO-SMERDIS. 455 Because of these works I have dwelt the longer on the affairs of Samos.10 61. While Cambyses, son of Cyrus, after losing his senses, still lingered in Egypt, two Magi,' brothers, He also built, in conjunction with | Polycrates, like that of Pisistratus, Theodore and Smilis, the great labyrinth at Lemnos (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 13, and compare xxxiv. 8.) 10 It is probable that these are the pya Пoλvкpáreia of Aristotle (Polit. v. ix.); for even if Rhocus be rightly assigned to the 8th century B.C., which is uncertain, yet the temple, which he planned and commenced, may not have been completed till the time of Polycrates. Aristotle looks upon these works as marks of the grinding tyranny under which the Samians groaned at this period, but it may be questioned whether they were really of an oppressive character. The policy of seems to have been to conciliate the masses. Duris related that when any of his common soldiers fell in battle, he assigned the care of their bereaved mothers to some of the richer citizens, telling them to regard them as their own mothers (Fr. 49). And his works were doubtless in great part to give employment to the poorer classes. (Compare the cases of Pisistratus, Pericles, Appius Claudius Cæcus, and both Napoleons.) The Behistun Inscription. mentions but a single Magus, and Ctesias (Persic. Exc. § 10) knows of only one. Still it would be rash here to reject |