Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
But some writers of Naxos tell a different story, peculiar to
themselves, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, of whom one,
they say, was married to Dionysus in Naxos, and was the mother of
Staphylus and his brother, while the younger was carried off by Theseus,
and came to Naxos after he deserted her; and a nurse called Korkyne came
with her, whose tomb they point out. Then Naxians also says that this
Ariadne died there, and is honoured, but not so much as the elder; for
at the feast in honour of the elder, there are merriment and revelry,
but at that of the younger gloomy rites are mingled with mirth.
XXI. Theseus, when he sailed away from Crete, touched at Delos; here he
sacrificed to the god and offered up the statue of Aphrodite, which
Ariadne had given him; and besides this, he and the youths with him
danced a measure which they say is still practised by the people of
Delos to this day, being an imitation of the turnings and windings of
the Labyrinth expressed by complicated evolutions performed in regular
order. This kind of dance is called by the Delians "the crane dance,"
according to Dikaearchus. It was danced round the altar of the Horns,
which is all formed of horns from the left side. They also say that he
instituted games at Delos, and that then for the first time a palm was
given by him to the victor.
XXII. As he approached Attica, both he and his steersman in their
delight forgot to hoist the sail which was to be a signal of their
safety to Aegeus; and he in his despair flung himself down the cliffs
and perished. Theseus, as soon as he reached the harbour, performed at
Phalerum the sacrifices which he had vowed to the gods if he returned
safe, and sent off a herald to the city with the news of his safe
return. This man met with many who were lamenting the death of the king,
and, as was natural, with others who were delighted at the news of their
safety, and who congratulated him and wished to crown him with garlands.
These he received, but placed them on his herald's staff, and when he
came back to the seashore, finding that Theseus had not completed his
libation, he waited outside the temple, not wishing to disturb the
sacrifice. When the libation was finished he announced the death of
Aegeus, and then they all hurried up to the city with loud lamentations:
wherefore to this day, at the Oschophoria, they say that it is not the
herald that is crowned, but his staff, and that at the libations the
bystanders cry out, "Eleleu, Iou, Iou;" of which cries the first is used
by men in haste, or raising the paean for battle, while the second is
used by persons in surprise and trouble.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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