As one enters into the city there is a building for the getting ready of processions, which they conduct some annually, some at various intervals. And near is the temple of Demeter, and the statues in it are her and her daughter and Iacchus with a torch; and it is written on the wall in Attic letters that they are the production of Praxiteles. And not far from this temple is Poseidon on horseback, in the act of hurling his spear at the giant Polybotes, in respect to whom there is a story among the Coans as to the promontory of Chelone; but the inscription of our days assigns the statue to another and not to Poseidon. And there are porticoes from the gates to the Ceramicus, and in front of them brazen statues of women and men who have obtained some celebrity. And one of the porticoes has not only shrines of the gods, but also what is called the gymnasium of Hermes; and there is in it the house of Polytion, in which they say the most notable of the Athenians imitated the Eleusinian mysteries. But in my time it was consecrated to Dionysus. And this Dionysus they call Melpomenos for the same reason that they call Apollo Musagetes. Here are statues of Pæonian Athene and Zeus and Mnemosyne and the Muses, and Apollo (the votive offering and work of Eubulides), and Acratus a satellite of Dionysus: his face alone is worked in the wall. And next to the shrine of Dionysus is a room with statues of earthenware, Amphictyon the king of the Athenians feasting Dionysus and all the other gods. Here too is Pegasus Eleutherensis, who introduced Dionysus to the Athenians; and he was assisted by the oracle at Delphi, which foretold that the god would come and settle there in the days of Icarius. And this is the way Amphictyon got the kingdom. They say that Actæus was first king of what is now Attica; and on his death Cecrops succeeded to the kingdom having married Actæus’ daughter, and he had three daughters, Erse, and Aglaurus, and Pandrosus, and one son, Erysichthon. He never reigned over the Athenians, for he chanced to die in his father’s lifetime, and the kingdom of Cecrops fell to Cranaus, the foremost of the Athenians in power and influence. And they say that Cranaus had among other daughters Atthis; from her they named the country Attica, which was before called Actæa. And Amphictyon rose up in insurrection against Cranaus, although he was married to his daughter, and deposed him from the kingdom; but was himself afterwards ejected by Erichthonius and his fellow conspirators. And they say that Erichthonius had no mortal father, but that his parents were Hephæstus and Mother Earth. CHAPTER III.