Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
their admiration of him, buried him in the temple of Artemis Eukleia,
with this inscription on his tomb:
"Euchidas ran to Delphi and back again in one day."
As for Eukleia, most persons believe her to be Artemis, and worship
her as that goddess; but some say that she was a daughter of Herakles
and Myrto, the daughter of Menœtius, who was the sister of Patroklus,
and who, dying a virgin, is worshipped by the Bœotians and Lokrians.
An altar and image of her stands in every market-place in these
countries, and those who are about to marry, sacrifice to her.
XXI. After this Aristeides proposed at a general assembly of all the
Greeks, that all the cities of Greece should every year send deputies
and religious representatives to the city of Platæa, and that every
fifth year Eleutheria, or a festival in honour of Freedom, should be
celebrated there. Also he proposed that there should be a general levy
throughout Greece, for the war against the Persians, of ten thousand
heavy armed troops, a thousand horse, and a hundred ships of war; and
that the Platæans should be held inviolable, and consecrated to the
service of the gods, to whom they offered sacrifice on behalf of all
Greece. These things were ratified, and the people of Platæa undertook
to make yearly sacrifices in honour of those who had fallen fighting
for Greece, and whose bodies were buried there. This they perform
even at the present day in the following fashion. On the sixteenth day
of the month Maimakterion, which in the Bœotian calendar is called
Alalkomenius, they make a procession headed by a trumpeter sounding
the charge. After him follow waggons full of myrtle and garlands of
flowers, a black bull, libations of wine and milk in jars, and
earthenware vessels full of oil and perfume. These are carried by
young men of noble birth, for no slave is allowed to take any part in
the proceedings, because the men in whose honour the sacrifice is
made, died fighting for liberty. Last of all comes the chief
magistrate of Platæa, who, during the rest of his term of office, is
not allowed to touch iron, or to wear clothes of any colour but white.
On this day, however, he wears a scarlet tunic, takes an urn[25] from
the public record office in one hand, and a sword in the other, and
proceeds through the middle of the city to the sepulchres. There he
with his own hands draws water from the well, washes the head-stones
of the graves, and anoints them with oil. After this he cuts the
throat of the bull, places his bones on a funeral pile, and with
prayer to Zeus, and Hermes who conducts men's souls into the nether
world, he calls on the brave men who died for Greece, to come to the
feast and drink the libations of blood. Next he mixes a large bowl of
wine and water, pours out a cup for himself, and says, "I drink to
those who died in defence of the freedom of Greece." This custom is
observed even to this day by the Platæans.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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