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Of Zeus in the land of Europe. Who, having completed the walls, after two years sent his own younger brother, the one called Ganymede, whom he loved as he was comely and younger, to carry the gifts to the temple of Zeus and to fulfill the sacrifice of the order, having given him 50 men. And having crossed the sea, he set out for the temple of Zeus. But Tantalus, having learned of this, thinking that he had come to spy on the land of Europe, sent many armed men, and they seized Ganymede and those with him before he reached the temple. But Ganymede fell ill from fear. And Tantalus asked him, saying, "How did you dare to come into a foreign kingdom as a spy?" And he told him, "I and those with me came for the sake of a sacrifice to Zeus." And Tantalus, understanding this, ordered him to wait and be cared for on account of his illness. But Ganymede himself, being ill for three days, died. And Tantalus ordered that the gifts he had brought and the sacrifice be delivered to the temple of Zeus; and that the remains of Ganymede himself 81 be placed inside the shrine of Zeus as an honor. But those sent with him, having made a coffin for him, placed him in it, having inscribed on it: "Tros, king of Asia, along with the sacrifice, dedicated to Zeus Ganymede, his son, who lies here." And Tantalus did this to appease his father. For it was not the custom for the Greeks to bury the remains of a mortal man inside a holy house, so that the divine things might not be profaned. And these things were recorded by the most wise Didymus, the historian and chronographer. Therefore some say that Ganymede was seized by an eagle on account of the very swiftness of the death that befell him. And after Tros, Ilus reigned over the Phrygians. and at that time the victory of the contest between Pelops the Lydian and Oenomaus of Pisa, which took place at the festival of the sun, was spoken of; which things were recorded by Charax the historian. And after these times, Samson was a judge and leader of Israel, a noble and mystic man and a doer of wonders, as is related in the Hebrew writing. In which times, Lapathus reigned over the land of Egypt. And he had two sons, Achaeus and Lacon. and when he was about to die, he ordered his own sons to divide his kingdom and the land into two. Achaeus, after the death of his father, 82 having divided the whole land into two, gave to his brother Lacon half of the land from their paternal kingdom. And he called the land ruled by him by his own name, Laconia. and Lacon reigned for 33 years, and he founded a city by the name of Githillia on the coast. and after him many others ruled the Laconians until the reign of Thestius, king of the Laconians; who founded a city in his own name, Thestia, beside the river called Eurotas. and this same Thestius had three daughters, beautiful beyond all measure, Leda and Clytia and Melanippe; who as they went about were called the Laconides. And Leda her father Thestius gave in marriage to one named Tyndareus; who after the death of Thestius reigned over the land of the Laconians. And this same Tyndareus had a daughter from Leda named Clytemnestra; whom after a time when she had grown up, Agamemnon, the king of the land of the Mycenaeans, took as his wife. But she committed fornication, being seduced into adultery by a certain young senator, named Cycnus, son of Ederion, king of Achaea, who was descended from Picus Zeus, while Tyndareus, the husband of Leda, was unaware of the adultery. And Leda committed fornication while strolling in her own suburban estate situated beside the river Eurotas, and having become pregnant by Cycnus the adulterer, son of king Ederion, she gave birth in a single delivery to three infants, Castor 83 and Polydeuces and Helen. which Helen had a terrible beauty, whom afterwards he gave

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∆ιὸς τοῦ εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην χώραν. ὅστις πληρώσας τὰ τείχη μετὰ δύο ἔτη ἔπεμψε τὸν ἴδιον αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸν τὸν μικρότερον, τὸν λεγόμενον Γανυμήδην, ὃν ἠγάπα, ὡς εὐπρεπῆ καὶ μικρότερον, εἰς τὸ ἀπενέγκαι τὰ δῶρα εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ∆ιὸς καὶ πληρῶσαι τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ τάγματος, δεδωκὼς αὐτῷ ἄνδρας νʹ. καὶ ἀντιπεράσας τὴν θάλασσαν ἀπήρχετο ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ∆ιός. μαθὼν δὲ ὁ Τάνταλος, νομίσας ὅτι κατασκοπῆσαι ἦλθε τὴν Εὐρώπην χώραν, ἔπεμψε πολλοὺς ὡπλισμένους, καὶ ἥρπασαν τὸν Γανυμήδην πρὸ τοῦ φθάσαι τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ Γανυμήδης ἐκ τῆς δειλίας ἠῤῥώστησεν· ἐπηρώτησε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Τάνταλος λέγων, Ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις βασιλείοις πῶς ἐτόλμησας ἐλθεῖν κατάσκοπος; καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὅτι Θυσίας χάριν τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἦλθον ἐγὼ καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐμοῦ. καὶ γνοὺς τοῦτο ὁ Τάνταλος, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτῷ περιμεῖναι καὶ ἀνεθῆναι διὰ τὴν νόσον. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Γανυμήδης τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀῤῥωστήσας τελευτᾷ· καὶ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Τάνταλος ἀποδοθῆναι ἃ ἤνεγκε δῶρα καὶ τὴν θυσίαν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ∆ιός· καὶ τὸ λείψανον δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Γανυμήδους 81 τεθῆναι ἔσω ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ ∆ιὸς πρὸς τιμήν. οἱ δὲ μετ' αὐτοῦ ἀποσταλέντες ποιήσαντες αὐτῷ σορόν, ἔθηκαν αὐτὸν ἐπιγράψαντες ἐν αὐτῷ, Τρῶος, βασιλεὺς Ἀσίας, σὺν τῇ θυσίᾳ τὸν ἐνταῦθα κείμενον Γανυμήδην, υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀνέθετο ∆ιί. τοῦτο δὲ ἐποίησεν ὁ Τάνταλος πρὸς θεραπείαν τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ· οὐκ ἦν γὰρ ἔθος Ἕλλησι θάπτειν ἔνδον ἱεροῦ οἴκου λείψανον θνητοῦ ἀνθρώπου διὰ τὸ μὴ κοινοῦσθαι τὰ θεῖα. ταῦτα δὲ συνεγράψατο ὁ σοφώτατος ∆ίδυμος ὁ ἱστορικὸς χρονογράφος. λέγουσιν οὖν τινες τὸν Γανυμήδην ἁρπαγέντα ὑπὸ ἀετοῦ διὰ τὸ συμβὰν αὐτῷ ὀξύτατον τοῦ θανάτου. Μετὰ δὲ Τρῶον ἐβασίλευσε τῶν Φρυγῶν ὁ Ἴλιος· ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ καιρῷ ἐλαλεῖτο ἡ νίκη τοῦ ἀγῶνος Πέλοπος τοῦ Λυδοῦ καὶ Οἰνομάου τοῦ Πισαίου, ἐπιτελεσθεῖσα ἐν τῇ ἡλιακῇ ἑορτῇ· ἅτινα συνεγράψατο Χάραξ ὁ ἱστορικός. Μετὰ δὲ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους ἦν κριτὴς καὶ ἡγούμενος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ Σαμψών, ἀνὴρ γενναῖος καὶ μυστικὸς καὶ θαύματα ποιῶν, καθὰ ἐν τῇ Ἑβραϊκῇ ἐμφέρεται συγγραφῇ. ἐν οἷς χρόνοις ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Αἰγύπτου χώρας ὁ Λάπαθος· ἔσχε δὲ υἱοὺς δύο, τὸν Ἀχαὸν καὶ τὸν Λάκωνα. μέλλων δὲ τελευτᾶν ἐκέλευσε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ υἱοῖς διαμερίσασθαι τὸ βασίλειον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν χώραν εἰς δύο· ὅστις Ἀχαὸς μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ αὐτοῦ πατρὸς ἀπο 82 μερίσας τὴν χώραν πᾶσαν εἰς δύο ἔδωκε τῷ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφῷ Λάκωνι τὸ ἥμισυ τῆς χώρας ἐκ τῆς πατρικῆς αὐτῶν βασιλείας. καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ βασιλευομένην χώραν εἰς ὄνομα ἴδιον Λακωνικήν· καὶ ἐβασίλευσε Λάκων ἔτη λγʹ, καὶ κτίζει πόλιν ὀνόματι Γιθιλλίαν εἰς τὴν πάραλον. καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ἐβασίλευσαν Λακώνων ἄλλοι πολλοὶ ἕως τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεστίου, βασιλέως Λακώνων· ὃς ἔκτισε πόλιν εἰς ἴδιον ὄνομα Θεστίαν παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν λεγόμενον Εὐρώταν. καὶ ἔσχεν ὁ αὐτὸς Θέστιος θυγατέρας τρεῖς, εὐπρεπεῖς πᾶσαν ὑπερβολήν, τὴν Λήδαν καὶ τὴν Κλυτίαν καὶ τὴν Μελανίππην· αἵτινες ἐκαλοῦντο προϊοῦσαι Λακωνίδες. τὴν δὲ Λήδαν ἐξέδωκεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς Θέστιος πρὸς γάμον τινὶ ὀνόματι Τυνδαρίῳ· ὅστις μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Θεστίου ἐβασίλευσε τῆς τῶν Λακώνων χώρας. ἔσχε δὲ θυγατέρα ἐκ τῆς Λήδας ὁ αὐτὸς Τύνδαρος ὀνόματι Κλυταιμνήστραν· ἥντινα μετὰ χρόνον αὐξηθεῖσαν ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα Ἀγαμέμνων, ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς Μυκηναίων χώρας. ἡ δὲ ἐπορνεύθη μοιχευθεῖσα ὑπό τινος νεωτέρου συγκλητικοῦ, ὀνόματι Κύκνου, υἱοῦ Ἐδερίωνος, βασιλέως τῆς Ἀχαΐας, τοῦ καταγομένου ἐκ τοῦ Πίκου ∆ιός, Τυνδαρίου, τοῦ τῆς Λήδας ἀνδρός, ἀγνοοῦντος τὴν μοιχείαν. ἡ δὲ Λήδα ἐπορνεύθη μετεωριζομένη ἐν προαστείῳ ἰδίῳ κειμένῳ παρὰ τὸν Εὐρώταν ποταμόν, καὶ ἔγκυος γενομένη ὑπὸ Κύκνου τοῦ μοιχοῦ, υἱοῦ Ἐδερίωνος βασιλέως, ἔτεκεν ἐν ἑνὶ τοκετῷ βρέφη τρία, Κάστο 83 ρα καὶ Πολυδεύκην καὶ Ἑλένην. ἥτις Ἑλένη εἶχε φοβερὸν κάλλος, ἣν ἐξέδωκε μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ