1.28.1 Why they set up a bronze statue of Kylon in spite of his plotting a tyranny [turannis],^* I cannot say for certain; but I infer that it was because he was very beautiful to look upon, and of no undistinguished fame [doxa], having won an Olympian victory in the double-foot-race [diaulos], and he had married the daughter of Theagenes, tyrant of Megara.

1.28.2 Above and beyond the things that I have so far inventoried [katalegein], there are two tithes [dekatai] dedicated by the Athenians in the aftermath of wars. There is first a bronze statue [agalma] of Athena, tithe [dekatē] from the [victory over the] Persians who landed at Marathon. It is the work [tekhnē] of Pheidias, but the reliefs upon the shield, including the fight between Centaurs and Lapithai, are said to have been metalworked [toreuein] by someone named Mys, for whom they say Parrhasios son of Euenor designed [kata-graphein] this and the rest of his works [erga]. The point of the spear of this Athena and the crest of her helmet are already visible to those sailing to Athens as they pass by Cape Sounion. The other tithe [dekatē] is a bronze chariot, offered by the Boeotians and by the people of Khalkis in Euboea.^* There are two other offerings [anathēmata], (1) a statue of Pericles, the son of Xanthippos, and (2) the best of those works of Pheidias that are most worthy of viewing [théā], the statue [agalma] of Athena named ‘the one from Lemnos’, since those who dedicated [anatithenai] it were from there.

1.28.3 All the Acropolis is surrounded by a wall; a part was constructed by Kimon, son of Miltiades, but all the rest is said to have been built round it by the Pelasgians, who once lived under the Acropolis. The builders, they say, were Agrolas and Hyperbios. On inquiring who they were I could discover nothing except that they were Sicilians originally who emigrated to Akarnania.

1.28.4 As one descends, not to the lower city, but to just beneath the Propylaia [‘Gateway’], there is a fountain [pēgē] and near it a sacred space [hieron] of Apollo in a cave [spēlaion]. It was here, according to customary-thinking [nomizein], that Apollo had sex [sun-genesthai] with Kreousa, daughter of Erekhtheus. [There seems to be a gap here in the text.] When the Persians [Medes] had landed in Attica, Philippides was sent as a messenger [from Marathon] to Sparta [Lacedaemon]. When he returned [to Marathon], he said that the Spartans [Lacedaemonians] had postponed sending out [any reinforcements], on the grounds that it was their custom not to go out to fight before the circle of the moon was full. Philippides went on to say that near Mount Parthenios he had been met by Pan, who told him that he is kindly-disposed [eu-nous] to the Athenians and would come as their ally [summakhos] to Marathon. This deity, then, gets honored [tīmâsthai] in return for this message [angeliā].

1.28.5 There is also the Peak of Ares [Areiopagos], so named because Ares was the first to be put on trial here; my narrative [logos] has already made it clear [dēloûn]^* that he killed Halirrhothios, and what were the grounds for this act of his. Afterwards, they say, Orestes was put on trial for killing his mother, and there is an altar [bōmos] to Athena Areia [‘Warlike’], which he dedicated [anathenai] after he was acquitted. The unhewn stones on which stand the defendants and the prosecutors, they call the stone of Hubris [‘Outrage’] and the stone of Anaideia [‘Shamelessness’].

1.28.6 Close by is a sanctuary [hieron] of the goddesses [theai] whom the Athenians call the Semnai [‘the august ones’], but Hesiod in the Theogony calls them Erinyes [‘Furies’].^* It was Aeschylus who first represented them with snakes in their hair. But on the statues [agalmata] neither of these nor of any of the under-earth [hupo-gaioi] deities [theoi] is there anything horrific. There are statues [agalmata] of Pluto [Ploutōn], Hermes, and Earth, in the name of whom sacrifices-are-made [thuein] by those who are acquitted of guilt [aitiā] on the Peak of Ares [Areiopagos]; sacrifices-are-made [thuein] also on other occasions by both city-folk and visitors [xenoi].

1.28.7 Within the enclosure [peribolos] is a tomb [mnēma] of Oedipus, whose bones, after diligent inquiry, I found were brought [komizein] from Thebes. I am prevented from thinking as trustworthy the things having to do with the death of Oedipus as composed-in-poetry [poieîn] by Sophocles. I am prevented by Homer, who says that, after the death of Oedipus, Mekisteus [of Athens] came to Thebes and participated-in-the-athletic contest [agōnizesthai] at the funeral-compensating-for-his-death [epitaphios].

1.28.8 The Athenians have other law courts [dikastēria] as well, which do not have so great a fame [doxa]. There is the so-called Parabuston and the Triangle [Trigōnon]; the first of the two is in an obscure part of the city, and in it the most trivial cases are tried; the second is named from its shape. The names of Frog Court [Batrakhioûn] and Red Court [Phoinikioûn], due to their colors, have lasted down to the present day. The largest court, to which the greatest numbers come, is called Hēliaiā. One of the other courts that deal with bloodshed is called […] Palladion, into which are brought cases of involuntary homicide. All are agreed that Demophon was the first to be put on trial there, but as to the nature of the charge accounts differ.

1.28.9 It is said that after the capture of Troy [Ilion] Diomedes was returning-home [komizesthai] with his ships when night overtook them as they sailed near Phaleron. The Argives went ashore, though they thought that they had landed in hostile territory, since the darkness prevented them from seeing that they were in Attica. At that point, they say that Demophon, he too being unaware of the facts and ignorant that those who had landed were Argives, responded-to-the-alarm-and-went-on-the-attack [ek-boētheîn]. He killed a number of the men, seized the Palladium, and rode off with it. An Athenian, however, not seeing in the dark that Demophon, riding his horse, was heading in that direction, was knocked over and trampled to death. So, Demophon was brought to trial, some say by the relatives of the man who was trampled, others say by the community [tò koinon] of the Argives.

1.28.10 At the Delphinion are tried those who claim that they have committed justifiable homicide, which was the plea put forward by Theseus on the occasion when he was acquitted, after having killed Pallas, who had risen in revolt against him, and his sons. Before Theseus was acquitted it was the established custom among all men for the one who sheds blood to go into exile, or, if he remained, to be put to a similar death. The Court in the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’], as it is called, where they try iron and all similar inanimate things, had its origin, I think [nomizō], in-response-to [epi + dative case] the following event. It was when Erekhtheus was king of Athens that the ox-slayer [bou-phonos] first killed an ox at the altar [bōmos] of Zeus Polieus. Leaving the axe [pelekus] where it lay he went out of the land into exile, and the axe [pelekus] was immediately put-on-trial [krinesthai] and acquitted, and the trial has been repeated year by year down to the present.

1.28.11 Furthermore, it is also said that inanimate objects have on occasion of their own accord inflicted righteous retribution upon men; of this the scimitar [akinakēs] of Cambyses affords the best and most famous instance.^* Near the sea at the Peiraieus is Phreattys. Here it is that men in exile, when a further charge has been brought against them in their absence, make their defense on a ship while the judges listen on land. The story [logos] is that Teukros first defended himself in this way before Telamon, claiming that he had not done anything that contributed to the death of Ajax. Let this account suffice for those who are interested to learn about the law courts [dikastēria].