1.22.1 Moving past the sanctuary [hieron] of Asklepios, as one goes along this way toward the Acropolis, there is a shrine [nāos] of Themis. In front of it, heaped-up-as-a-tumulus [kekhōstai], is a tomb [mnēma] for Hippolytus. The end of his life, they say, came from curses [katārai]. Everybody, even a barbarian who has learned the language of the Greeks [Hellēnes], knows about the erotic-passion [erōs] of Phaedra and about the wickedness that her nurse [trophos] dared to commit as her servant. The people of Troizen also [= just as the Athenians] have a tomb [taphos] of Hippolytus, and their story [logos] about it is as follows.

1.22.2 When Theseus was about to marry Phaedra, he did not wish, in case he had children, for Hippolytus either to be ruled by them or for Hippolytus to be king [basileuein] instead of them, and so he sent him [= Hippolytus] to Pittheus [in Troizen] to be raised there to become the future king of Troizen. Sometime later, Pallas and his sons rebelled against Theseus. After killing them he [= Theseus] went to Troizen for purification [katharsia], and Phaedra first saw Hippolytus there. Conceiving-a-passion [erasthēnai] for him she made-contrivances [bouleuein] that resulted in death. The people in Troizen have a myrtle-bush [mursinē] that has every one of its leaves pricked with holes; they say that it did not grow originally in this way, the holes being the result-created [ergon] by two causes. One was the saturation-of-longing [asē] that she felt in her erotic-passion [erōs] and the other was the pin [peronē] that Phaedra wore in her hair.

1.22.3 When Theseus had united into one state [polis] the many Athenian demes [dēmoi], he established the custom of worshipping [sebesthai] Aphrodite, surnamed ‘common to every district’ [Pan-dēmos] and [worshipping also] Persuasion [Peithō]. The old statues [agalmata] no longer existed in my time, but those I saw were the work of no inferior artisans [tekhnītai]. There is also a sanctuary [hieron] of Earth [Gē] [who has the epithet] Kourotrophos [‘nurturing the young’] and of Demeter [who has the epithet] Chloe [Khloē ‘burst of green’]. One can learn all about their epithets [epōnumiai] by getting into conversations [logoi] with the priests [hiereis].

1.22.4 There is only one entrance to the Acropolis. It affords no other, being precipitous all around and having a strong wall. The Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] has a roof of white marble, and down to the present day it is unrivalled for the arrangement [kosmos] and size of its stones. Now as to the likenessess [eikones] of the horsemen [hippeis], I cannot tell for certain whether they are the sons of Xenophon or whether they were made merely for their good looks [euprepeia]. On the right of the Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] is a temple [nāos] of Wingless Nike. From this point the sea is visible, and here it was, so they say, that Aigeus threw himself down to his death.

1.22.5 I say-this-because [gar] the ship that carried the young people to Crete began its voyage with black sails; but Theseus, who was sailing off on his daring-adventure [tolmē] against the bull of Minos, so it is called, had told his father beforehand that he would use white sails if he should sail back victorious over the bull. But he had a memory-loss [lēthē] of these things after Ariadne was taken from him. So, Aigeus, when from this vantage-point he saw the vessel carried along [komizesthai] by black sails, thinking that his son was dead, threw himself down to destruction. There is in Athens a hero-shrine [hērōion] that is named as belonging to Aigeus.

1.22.6 On the left of the Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] is a building [oikēma] that houses paintings [graphai]. Among those not effaced by time there was Diomedes taking the [statue of] Athena from Troy, and Odysseus in Lemnos taking away the bow [toxon] of Philoctetes. There in the paintings [graphai] is Orestes killing Aigisthos, and Pylades killing the sons of Nauplios, who had come as helpers [boēthooi] for Aigisthos. And there is Polyxena about to be slaughtered [sphazesthai] near the tomb [taphos] of Achilles. Homer did well in bypassing this deed, which is so raw-in-its-cruelty [ōmon]. And I think he also did well in making [poieîn] Achilles capture Skyros, differing entirely from those who say that Achilles had a life-experience [diaita] in Skyros together with the maidens there, as Polygnotus has pictured-in-painting [graphein]. He [= Polygnotus] also painted [graphein] Odysseus happening upon the girls washing clothes with Nausikaa at the river, just like what Homer made-in-poetry [poieîn]. There are also other paintings, including one that features Alcibiades,

1.22.7 and in that painting are signs [sēmeia] indicating the victory [nīkē] his horses won at Nemeā. There is also Perseus returning [komizesthai] to Seriphos and carrying to Polydektes the head of Medusa. As for things having to do with Medusa I am not inclined [prothūmos] to give-indications [sēmainein] in my account [here] about Attica. Included among the paintings [graphai]—I omit the boy carrying the water-jars [hudriai] and the wrestler of Timainetos^*—is Musaeus. I have read [epilegesthai] verses [epē] in which Musaeus receives from the North Wind [Boreas] the gift of flight, but, in my opinion, Onomacritus made [poieîn] these [verses], and there is nothing that is verifiably by Musaeus except for a hymn [humnos] to Demeter, [composed] for the Lykomidai.

1.22.8 Right at the very entrance to the Acropolis [at the Propulaia / Propylaea] are (1) a Hermes called Hermes of the Propulaia [/Propylaea] and (2) [statues of] the Graces [Kharites]. These they say were made [poieîn] by Socrates, the son of Sophroniskos. The Pythia was witness to his being the wisest [sophōtatos] of humans. She refused to address in the same way Anakharsis, although he really wanted it to happen, and that is why he had come to Delphi.