iddle of
her helmet is an image of the Sphinx--about whom I shall give an account
when I come to Boeotia--and on each side of the helmet are griffins
worked. These griffins, says Aristus the Proconnesian, in his poems,
fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the gold of the
soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians were all one-eyed
men from their birth; and the griffins were beasts like lions, with
wings and mouth like an eagle. Let so much suffice for these griffins.
But the statue of Athene is full length, with a tunic reaching to her
feet; and on her breast is the head of Medusa worked in ivory, and in
one hand she has a Victory four cubits high, in the other hand a spear,
and at her feet a shield; and near the spear a dragon which perhaps is
Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is a representation of the
birth of Pandora--the first woman, according to Hesiod and other poets;
for before her there was no race of women. Here too I remember to have
seen the only statue here of the Emperor Adrian; and at the entrance one
of Iphicrates, the celebrated Athenian general.

And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by Phidias; and
they call it Apollo, Averter of Locusts, because when the locusts
destroyed the land the god said he would drive them out of the country.
And they know that he did so, but they don't say how. I myself know of
locusts having been thrice destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in the
same way; for some were driven away by a violent wind that fell on them,
and others by a strong light that came on them after showers, and others
were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under my own
notice.

There is also a building called the Erechtheum, and in the vestibule is
an altar of Supreme Zeus, where they offer no living sacrifice, but
cakes without the usual libation of wine. And as you enter there are
three altars: one to Poseidon (on which they also sacrifice to
Erechtheus according to the oracle), one to the hero Butes, and the
third to Hephaestus. And on the walls are paintings of the family of
Butes. The building is a double one; and inside there is sea-water in a
well. And this is no great marvel; for even those who live in inland
parts have such wells, as notably Aphrodisienses in Caria. But this well
is represented as having a roar as of the sea when the south wind blows.
And in the rock is the figure of a trident. And this is said to have
been Pose