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private persons, coming both from the city itself and from the foreign
cities over which they held sway. There was an altar too, which in
size and workmanship corresponded to this magnificence, and the
palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the kingdom and
the glory of the temple.
In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot
water, in gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully adapted
for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters.
They constructed buildings about them and planted suitable trees, also
they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to
be used in winter as warm baths; there were the kings' baths, and the
baths of private persons, which were kept apart; and there were
separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of
them they gave as much adornment as was suitable. Of the water which
ran off they carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing
all manner of trees of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the
excellence of the soil, while the remainder was conveyed by aqueducts
along the bridges to the outer circles; and there were many temples
built and dedicated to many gods; also gardens and places of exercise,
some for men, and others for horses in both of the two islands formed
by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was set
apart a race-course of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to
extend all round the island, for horses to race in. Also there were
guardhouses at intervals for the guards, the more trusted of whom were
appointed-to keep watch in the lesser zone, which was nearer the
Acropolis while the most trusted of all had houses given them within
the citadel, near the persons of the kings. The docks were full of
triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready for use.
Enough of the plan of the royal palace.
Leaving the palace and passing out across the three you came to a wall
which began at the sea and went all round: this was everywhere distant
fifty stadia from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed the whole,
the ends meeting at the mouth of the channel which led to the sea. The
entire area was densely crowded with habitations; and the canal and
the largest of the harbours were full of vessels and merchants coming
from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a multitudinous sound
of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night and day.
I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace
nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent
the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land. The whole country
was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the
sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a
level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards
the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in
one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it
was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the
south, and was sheltered from the north. The surrounding mountains
were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any
which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of
country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough
for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts,
abundant for each and every kind of work.
I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by
the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for
the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the
straight line followed the circular ditch. The depth, and width, and
length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression that a
work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could never have
been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told. It was
excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and its breadth was a
stadium everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the plain, and
was ten thousand stadia in length. It received the streams which came
down from the mountains, and winding round the plain and meeting at
the city, was there let off into the sea. Further inland, likewise,