CHAPTER XXVI

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On the right of the temple of the Cabiri is a plain called the plain of Tenerus from Tenerus the seer, who they think was the son of Apollo and Melia, and a large temple to Hercules surnamed Hippodetes, because they say the Orchomenians came here with an army, and Hercules by night took their horses and tied them to their chariots. And a little further you come to the mountain where they say the Sphinx made her headquarters, reciting a riddle for the ruin of those she captured. Others say that with a naval force she used to sail the seas as a pirate, and made her port Anthedon, and occupied this mountain for her robberies, till Œdipus slew her after vanquishing her with a superior force, which he brought from Corinth. It is also said that she was the illegitimate daughter of Laius, and that her father out of good will to her told her the oracle that was given to Cadmus at Delphi, an oracle which no one knew but the kings of Thebes. Whenever then any one of her brothers came to consult her about the kingdom, (for Laius had sons by mistresses, and the oracle at Delphi only referred to his wife Epicaste and male children by her), she used subtlety to her brothers, saying that if they were the sons of Laius they would know the oracle given to Cadmus, and if they could not give it she condemned them to death, as being doubtful claimants of the blood royal. And Œdipus learnt this oracle in a dream.

About 15 stades from this mountain are the ruins of Onchestus, where they say Onchestus the son of Poseidon dwelt, and in my time there was a statue of Onchestian Poseidon, and the grove which Homer has mentioned.[63] And as you turn to the left from the temple of the Cabiri in about 50 stades you will come to Thespia built under Mount Helicon. The town got its name they say from Thespia the daughter of Asopus. Others say that Thespius the son of Erechtheus came from Athens, and gave his name to it. At Thespia is a brazen statue of Zeus Soter: they say that, when a dragon once infested the town, Zeus ordered one of the lads chosen by lot every year to be given to the monster. The names of his other victims they do not record, but for Cleostratus the last victim they say his lover Menestratus invented the following contrivance. He made for him a brazen breastplate with a hook on each of its plates bent in, and Cleostratus armed with this cheerfully gave himself up to the dragon, for he knew that though he would perish himself he would also kill the monster. From this circumstance Zeus was called the Saviour. They have also statues of Dionysus and Fortune, and Hygiea, and Athene the Worker, and near her Plutus.

[63] Iliad, ii. 506.

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