The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

Herodotus 2.148
oi9 ga_r e0pestew~tej tw~n Ai0gupti/wn deiknu&nai au)ta_ ou)damw~j h1qelon, fa&menoi
qh&kaj au)to&qi ei]nai tw~n te a)rxh_n to_n labu&rinqon tou~ton oi0kodomhsame/nwn
basile/wn kai\ tw~n i9rw~n krokodei/lwn. Ou3tw tw~n me\n ka&tw pe/ri oi0khma&twn
a)koh|~ paralabo&ntej le/gomen, ta_ de\ a1nw me/zona a)nqrwphi/wn e1rgwn au)toi\
w(rw~men. Ai3 te ga_r e1codoi dia_ tw~n stege/wn kai\ oi9 ei9ligmoi\ dia_ tw~n au)le/wn
e0o&ntej poikilw&tatoi qw~ma muri/on parei/xonto e0c au)lh~j te e0j ta_ oi0kh&mata
dieciou~si kai\ e0k tw~n oi0khma&twn e0j pasta&daj, e0j ste/gaj te a1llaj e0k
tw~n pasta&dwn kai\ e0j au)la_j a1llaj e0k tw~n oi0khma&twn. 0Orofh_ de\ pa&ntwn
tou&twn liqi/nh kata& per oi9 toi=xoi, oi9 de\ toi=xoi tu&pwn e0ggeglumme/nwn ple/oi,
au)lh_ de\ e9ka&sth peri/stuloj li/qou leukou~ a(rmosme/nou ta_ ma&lista. Th~j de\ gwni/hj
teleutw~ntoj tou~ laburi/nqou e1xetai purami\j tesserakonto&rguioj, e0n th|~ zw|~a
mega&la e0gge/gluptai: o(do_j d' e0j au)th_n u(po_ gh~n pepoi/htai.
Furthermore, they resolved to leave a memorial of themselves in common, and in
pursuance of resolve they made a labyrinth, a little above Lake Moeris, and situated near
what is called the City of Crocodiles. I saw it myself, and it is indeed a wonder past
words; for if one were to collect together all the buildings of the Greeks and their most
striking works of architecture, they would all clearly be shown to have cost less labor and
money than this labyrinth. Yet the temple at Ephesus and that in Samos are surely
remarkable. The pyramids, too, were greater than words could tell, and each of them is
the equivalent of many of the great works of the Greeks; but the labyrinth surpasses the
pyramids also. It has twelve roofed courts, with doors facing one another, six to the north
and six to the south and in a continuous line. One wall on the outside encompasses them
all. There are double sets of chambers in it, some underground and some above, and their
number is three thousand; there are fifteen hundred of each. We ourselves saw the
aboveground chambers, for we went through them and so we can talk of them, but the
underground chambers we can speak only from hearsay. For the officials of the
Egyptians entirely refused to show us these, saying that there are in them the coffins of
the kings who had builded the labyrinth at the beginning and also those of the holy
crocodiles. So we speak from hearsay of these underground places; but what we saw
aboveground was certainly greater than all human works. The passages through the
rooms and the winding goings-in and out through the courts, in their extreme
complication, caused us countless marvelings as we went through, from the court into the
rooms, and from the rooms into the pillared corridors, and then from these corridors into
other rooms again, and from the rooms into other courts afterwards. The roof of the
whole is stone, as the walls are, and the walls are full of engraved figures [tu&pwn], and
each court is set round with pillars of white stone, very exactly fitted. At the corner
where the labyrinth ends there is, nearby, a pyramid two hundred and forty feet high and
engraved with great animals [zw|~a]. The road to this is made underground.
103
Herodotus 3.47
379