DOI chapter:
Division A: The Agora and adjacent buildings lying to the west and north of the Acropolis, from the city gate to the Prytaneion
DOI chapter:Section II
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0200
28
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
Sir C. T. Newton,44 the colossal stone lion which he brought with
such difficulty from the promontory' of Cnidus, and which now
stands in the Elgin Room of the British Museum, was a monu-
ment over the graves of the fallen in this momentous fight ; if so,
it has to be associated for ever in our minds with the name of
Konon. To his military glory he had yet to add a crowning civil
distinction. Athens, though victorious at sea, still lay in ruins.
Konon, again with the help of Evagoras, was to be its second
founder. The great king, skilfully manipulated by Konon and
Evagoras, was persuaded to undertake the cost of restoration ;
Cyprian, Cilician, and Phoenician workmen 45 were furnished by
Evagoras ; they worked in friendly rivalry with Athenians and
Boeotians ; the fortifications of the Peiraeus, the long walls con-
necting the seaport with the city, were speedily rebuilt. On the
shoulders of Konon and Evagoras fell the mantle of Themistocles,
Cimon, and Pericles. In an outburst of gratitude the city set up
the statues of its joint benefactors ; in the Peiraeus was built
the sanctuary to Aphrodite to commemorate the victory at Cnidus
(Paus., i. I, 3). Athens had, “ as by the touch of magic, been trans-
muted from a poor and impotent district town into a wealthy and
powerful city, the ally of the great king as well as of the rich and
fortunate prince in Cyprus” (Curtius, Ward, iv. 283). The pro-
sperity of Konon was brief; he fled in voluntary exile to the court
of Evagoras, and died—how it is not known—about 389 B.C.
It is in part to the ingratitude of Athens that we owe incidentally
an eloquent tribute to the memory of Konon. Demosthenes,46 in
his speech against Leptines (about 355-352 B.C.), opposes the
author of a law to abolish hereditary immunities conferred on
public benefactors. To stir the popular sympathy he can think
of no better cause celebre than the enactment in honour of
Konon. “Of him, and of him only,” the orator says, “is this
written on the stele, that ‘Konon set free the Athenian allies.’
Such is the inscription — a glory to him in your eyes, to you
before the eyes of all Hellas. For this cause our ancestors gave
to Konon not only exemption from burdens, but also a bronze
statue, as before they gave to Harmodios and Aristogeiton. For
they deemed that it was no small tyranny he had put an end to,
even this lordship of the Lacedaemonians.”
Timotheos no doubt started life with the prestige natural to
his father’s son, but if we are to believe the portrait left us by his
intimate friend Isocrates, he had ample personal claims for dis-
tinction. He won his chief laurels in connection with the Naval
MYTHOLOGY AND MONUMENTS
DIV. A
Sir C. T. Newton,44 the colossal stone lion which he brought with
such difficulty from the promontory' of Cnidus, and which now
stands in the Elgin Room of the British Museum, was a monu-
ment over the graves of the fallen in this momentous fight ; if so,
it has to be associated for ever in our minds with the name of
Konon. To his military glory he had yet to add a crowning civil
distinction. Athens, though victorious at sea, still lay in ruins.
Konon, again with the help of Evagoras, was to be its second
founder. The great king, skilfully manipulated by Konon and
Evagoras, was persuaded to undertake the cost of restoration ;
Cyprian, Cilician, and Phoenician workmen 45 were furnished by
Evagoras ; they worked in friendly rivalry with Athenians and
Boeotians ; the fortifications of the Peiraeus, the long walls con-
necting the seaport with the city, were speedily rebuilt. On the
shoulders of Konon and Evagoras fell the mantle of Themistocles,
Cimon, and Pericles. In an outburst of gratitude the city set up
the statues of its joint benefactors ; in the Peiraeus was built
the sanctuary to Aphrodite to commemorate the victory at Cnidus
(Paus., i. I, 3). Athens had, “ as by the touch of magic, been trans-
muted from a poor and impotent district town into a wealthy and
powerful city, the ally of the great king as well as of the rich and
fortunate prince in Cyprus” (Curtius, Ward, iv. 283). The pro-
sperity of Konon was brief; he fled in voluntary exile to the court
of Evagoras, and died—how it is not known—about 389 B.C.
It is in part to the ingratitude of Athens that we owe incidentally
an eloquent tribute to the memory of Konon. Demosthenes,46 in
his speech against Leptines (about 355-352 B.C.), opposes the
author of a law to abolish hereditary immunities conferred on
public benefactors. To stir the popular sympathy he can think
of no better cause celebre than the enactment in honour of
Konon. “Of him, and of him only,” the orator says, “is this
written on the stele, that ‘Konon set free the Athenian allies.’
Such is the inscription — a glory to him in your eyes, to you
before the eyes of all Hellas. For this cause our ancestors gave
to Konon not only exemption from burdens, but also a bronze
statue, as before they gave to Harmodios and Aristogeiton. For
they deemed that it was no small tyranny he had put an end to,
even this lordship of the Lacedaemonians.”
Timotheos no doubt started life with the prestige natural to
his father’s son, but if we are to believe the portrait left us by his
intimate friend Isocrates, he had ample personal claims for dis-
tinction. He won his chief laurels in connection with the Naval