herodotus

them into Hellas. Also the Ionians from ancient time call paper"skins," because formerly, paper being scarce, they used skins of goatand sheep; nay, even in my own time many of the Barbarians write onsuch skins. 59. I myself too once saw Cadmeian characters in thetemple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes of the Bœotians, engraved oncertain[49a] tripods, and in most respects resembling the Ionicletters: one of these tripods has the inscription,"Me Amphitryon offered from land Teleboian returning:"[50]this inscription would be of an age contemporary with Laïos the son ofLabdacos, the son of Polydoros, the son of Cadmos. 60. Another tripodsays thus in hexameter rhythm:"Me did Scaios offer to thee, far-darting Apollo,Victor in contest of boxing, a gift most fair in thine honour:"now Scaios would be the son of Hippocoön (at least if it were reallyhe who offered it, and not another with the same name as the son ofHippocoön), being of an age contemporary with Œdipus the son of Laïos:61, and the third tripod, also in hexameter rhythm, says:"Me Laodamas offered to thee, fair-aiming Apollo,He, of his wealth,[51] being king, as a gift most fair in thine honor:"now it was in the reign of this very Laodamas the son of Eteocles thatthe Cadmeians were driven out by the Argives and turned to go to theEnchelians; and the Gephyraians being then left behind were afterwardsforced by the Bœotians to retire to Athens. Moreover they have templesestablished in Athens, in which the other Athenians have no part, andbesides others which are different from the rest, there is especiallya temple of Demeter Achaia and a celebration of her mysteries.62. I have told now of the vision of a dream seen by Hipparchos, andalso whence the Gephrynians were descended, of which race were themurderers of Hipparchos; and in addition to this I must resume andcontinue the story which I was about to tell at first, how theAthenians were freed from despots. When Hippias was despot and wasdealing harshly with the Athenians because of the death of Hipparchos,the Alcmaionidai, who were of Athenian race and were fugitives fromthe sons of Peisistratos,[52] as they did not succeed in their attemptmade together with the other Athenian exiles to return by force, butmet with great disaster when they attempted to return and set Athensfree, after they had fortified Leipsydrion which is above Paionia,--these Alomaionidai after that, still devising every means against thesons of Peisistratos, accepted the contract to build and complete the