on account of the neighboring pirates, who occupy a
place called Nitriae, nor is it specially rich in articles
of merchandise; and furthermore the roadstead for
shipping is a long way from the land, and cargoes have
to be brought in and carried out in boats. Th e king of
Muziris, at the date of publication, was Caelobothras.
Th ere is another more serviceable port, belonging to
the Neacyndi tribe, called Porakad; this is where king
Pandion reigned, his capital being a town in the interior
a long way from the port, called Madura; while the
district from which pepper is conveyed to Becare in
canoes made of hollowed tree trunks is called Cottonara.
But all these names of tribes and ports or towns are to
be found in none of the previous writers, which seem to
show that the local conditions of the places are changing.
Travelers set sail from India on the return voyage at the
beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis, which is our
December, or at all events before the sixth day of the
Egyptian Mechir, which works out at before January 13
in our calendar—so making it possible to return home in
the same year. Th ey set sail from India with a southeast
wind and after entering the Red Sea continue the voyage
with a south-west or south wind.From: Internet History Sourcebooks.
Available online. URL:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/.[1.1.1] On the Greek mainland facing the Cyclades
Islands and the Aegean Sea the Sunium promontory
stands out from the Attic land. When you have
rounded the promontory you see a harbor and a temple
to Athena of Sunium on the peak of the promontory.
Farther on is Laurium, where once the Athenians had
silver mines, and a small uninhabited island called
the Island of Patroclus. For a fortifi cation was built on
it and a palisade constructed by Patroclus, who was
admiral in command of the Egyptian men-of-war sent
by Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, to help the
Athenians, when Antigonus, son of Demetrius, was
ravaging their country, which he had invaded with an
army, and at the same time was blockading them by
sea with a fl eet.
[1.1.2] Th e Peiraeus was a parish from early times,
though it was not a port before Th emistocles became
an archon of the Athenians. Th eir port was Phalerum,
for at this place the sea comes nearest to Athens, and
from here men say that Menestheus set sail with his
fl eet for Troy, and before him Th eseus, when he went to
give satisfaction to Minos for the death of Androgeos.
But when Th emistocles became archon, since he
thought that the Peiraeus was more conveniently
situated for mariners and had three harbors as against
one at Phalerum, he made it the Athenian port. Even
up to my time there were docks there, and near the
largest harbor is the grave of Th emistocles. For it is
said that the Athenians repented of their treatment
of Th emistocles and that his relations took up his
bones and brought them from Magnesia. And the
children of Th emistocles certainly returned and set
up in the Parthenon a painting, on which is a portrait
of Th emistocles. Th e most noteworthy sight in the
Peiraeus is a precinct of Athena and Zeus. Both their
images are of bronze; Zeus holds a staff and a Victory,
Athena a spear....
[1.1.4] Th e Athenians have also another harbor, at
Munychia, with a temple of Artemis of Munychia,
and yet another at Phalerum, as I have already stated,
and near it is a sanctuary of Demeter. Here there is
also a temple of Athena Sciras, and one of Zeus some
distance away, and altars of the gods named Unknown,
and of heroes, and of the children of Th eseus and
Phalerus; for this Phalerus is said by the Athenians to
have sailed with Jason to Colchis.... Twenty stades
away is the Coliad promontory; on to it, when the
Persian fl eet was destroyed, the wrecks were carried
down by the waves. Th ere is here an image of the
Coliad Aphrodite, with the goddesses Genetyllides
(Goddesses of Birth), as they are called. And I am of
opinion that the goddesses of the Phocaeans in Ionia,
whom they call Gennaides, are the same as those at
Colias. On the way from Phalerum to Athens there
is a temple of Hera with neither doors nor roof. Men
say that Mardonius, son of Gobryas, burnt it. But
the image there to-day is, as report goes, the work of
Alcamenes. So that this, at any rate, cannot have been
damaged by the Persians.From: Internet History Sourcebooks.
Available online. URL: http://www.
fordham.edu/halsall/. Pausanias: Description of Greece,
Book I: Attica, second century c.e. Greececlimate and geography: primary source documents 271