DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0448
ANATHEMATA IN THE EREOIITIIEIUM. 425
Among the ancient anathemata in the temple worth mentioning,
continues Pausanias, was a folding chair, the work of Daadalus. Such
chairs appear to have been common enough among the Athenians,1 and
therefore we may suppose that this was remarkable only for its anti-
quity and some peculiarity of workmanship. From the Persian spoils
was the breastplate of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at
Plataaa, and a scimitar said to have belonged to Mardonius. Pausanias,
however, appears to have entertained some doubts respecting the
genuineness of the scimitar. Masistius, he observes, was killed, I know,
by Athenian knights; but as Mardonius was opposed to the Lacedae-
monians, and killed by a Spartan,2 the Athenians could hardly have
obtained the scimitar, nor would the Lacedaemonians have allowed
them to carry it off. We have before adverted to this scimitar as
stolen by Glaucetes,3 and at all events, therefore, that seen by Pau-
sanias may have been an imitation. Leake is of opinion4 that the
&i<j>po<; apjvpoTrov;, or silver-footed throne of Xerxes, was also in the
temple of Polias, referring to Demosthenes (in Timoc. p. 741, Eeiske),
and the scholia on the third Olynthiac (p. 35, rather 39). But Demo-
sthenes only says that these objects were taken " from the Acropolis,"
which might embrace either temple, and the scholiast mentions no
place whatever. These authorities therefore cannot invalidate the
direct testimony of Harpocration and Suidas, that the throne was in
the Parthenon; though it must be allowed that the later grammarians
not unfrequently confound the two goddesses.
Pausanias next adverts to the sacred olive tree, which is a sign that
he is approaching the temple of Pandrosus, though he has not yet
entered it. All they tell us concerning it, he observes, is, that it is a
proof of the goddess's contention for the country. They also say that
when the Medes fired the city, the olive too was burnt; but that it
sprouted two cubits on the same day; which is an illustration of the
old maxim that a story loses nothing by the repeating of it. For in
the account of Herodotus it sprouts only one cubit, and that on the
1 See .Elian, V. H. iv. 22. 8 Above, p. 412.
2 By Aeimnestus, Herod, ix. G4. * vol. i. p. 154, note 6.
Among the ancient anathemata in the temple worth mentioning,
continues Pausanias, was a folding chair, the work of Daadalus. Such
chairs appear to have been common enough among the Athenians,1 and
therefore we may suppose that this was remarkable only for its anti-
quity and some peculiarity of workmanship. From the Persian spoils
was the breastplate of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at
Plataaa, and a scimitar said to have belonged to Mardonius. Pausanias,
however, appears to have entertained some doubts respecting the
genuineness of the scimitar. Masistius, he observes, was killed, I know,
by Athenian knights; but as Mardonius was opposed to the Lacedae-
monians, and killed by a Spartan,2 the Athenians could hardly have
obtained the scimitar, nor would the Lacedaemonians have allowed
them to carry it off. We have before adverted to this scimitar as
stolen by Glaucetes,3 and at all events, therefore, that seen by Pau-
sanias may have been an imitation. Leake is of opinion4 that the
&i<j>po<; apjvpoTrov;, or silver-footed throne of Xerxes, was also in the
temple of Polias, referring to Demosthenes (in Timoc. p. 741, Eeiske),
and the scholia on the third Olynthiac (p. 35, rather 39). But Demo-
sthenes only says that these objects were taken " from the Acropolis,"
which might embrace either temple, and the scholiast mentions no
place whatever. These authorities therefore cannot invalidate the
direct testimony of Harpocration and Suidas, that the throne was in
the Parthenon; though it must be allowed that the later grammarians
not unfrequently confound the two goddesses.
Pausanias next adverts to the sacred olive tree, which is a sign that
he is approaching the temple of Pandrosus, though he has not yet
entered it. All they tell us concerning it, he observes, is, that it is a
proof of the goddess's contention for the country. They also say that
when the Medes fired the city, the olive too was burnt; but that it
sprouted two cubits on the same day; which is an illustration of the
old maxim that a story loses nothing by the repeating of it. For in
the account of Herodotus it sprouts only one cubit, and that on the
1 See .Elian, V. H. iv. 22. 8 Above, p. 412.
2 By Aeimnestus, Herod, ix. G4. * vol. i. p. 154, note 6.