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running through the middle of the whole world, having taken it captive, he will bring it as a gift to his father. This will be her house; and her name will be Mary." Having written this oracle in bronze letters on a marble stone, they set it up over the lintel of the temple, at that time calling the house that of Rhea, mother of the gods, but later in the time of Zeno the emperor, it was renamed the temple of the holy Theotokos. Then the Argonauts, setting out from there, and wishing to pass through by sailing upriver, were hindered by Amycus who was campaigning against them. Being afraid, therefore, they put in at a certain wild and wooded bay. And there, having seen a divine vision from heaven which appeared to them in the form of a fearsome man, wearing wings like an eagle, taking courage from this, they joined battle with Amycus. And having killed him, they founded a shrine in the place of the vision. And having erected a statue in the image of the form that had appeared to them, they named the shrine Sosthenion because they were saved in it. This shrine, later, Constantine, the great among emperors, having been instructed in a dream, transformed it, and he fashioned the altar to face the east, and he called the temple that of the archangel Michael, having fashioned in it all beautiful cultivation and fruitfulness. After the victory over Amycus, the Argonauts, with Heracles, sailing out to the Pontic sea, built a city in the name of Heracles. Then, because of the golden fleece, having crossed over to Colchis, they took it and 1.211 Medea, the daughter of the king of Colchis, who had fallen in love with Jason, and returned. At that time Tros also ruled the country of the Phrygians, the father of Ilus and Ganymede. He built two cities, Troy and Ilion, and having invited the neighboring citizens to the dedication of the cities, he forgot Tantalus, the ruler of the Mycenaeans; who for this reason also became his enemy. Before the building of the cities, Tros had made a vow to Zeus, sending sacrifices and gifts to Europe. And when the cities were completed, he sends Ganymede with fifty men and gifts and sacrifices to the shrine of Zeus. But Tantalus, suspecting a trick, sent a force and seized Ganymede and those with him, who were saying they were bringing sacrifices to European Zeus. But Ganymede, because of the shame and the fear, falls ill, and obtains pardon, but after a short time he dies. And the gifts, at Tantalus's command, were delivered to the shrine of Zeus, but his remains were placed inside the temple. From this they created the myth that Zeus, having become an eagle, because of the swiftness of the seizure, took up Ganymede to be his wine-pourer. In the same times of the judges, Lapathus ruled over Europe, and he had two sons, Achaeus and Lacon. And when their father died, the rule was divided in two. So Lacon, having received by lot half the country, called it Laconia; having ruled it for thirty-three years, he founded the coastal city of Gathynia. 1.212 And after him, certain others ruled until Thestius, who built the city Thestia beside the river Eurotas. This Thestius, having ruled the Laconians, begets three daughters of exceeding beauty, Leda and Clytia and Melippe, who were also called the Laconides. However Tyndareus, taking Leda as his wife, who also after Thestius ruled the country of the Laconians, had by her Clytemnestra, whom Agamemnon, the king of the Mycenaeans, later took as his wife. However Leda, while beautifying herself in a suburb by the Eurotas, since Tyndareus was not present, being seduced by a certain youth called Cycnus, son of Ederion, king of Achaia, gives birth to three infants in one birth, Castor, Polydeuces, and Helen. And Helen was most beautiful, whom Tyndareus gave as a wife to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, who was then ruling the Argives. Therefore the poets have mythologized in vain that Zeus became a swan and came together with Leda. In the times of the judge Samson

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μέσον διαδραμὼν ἅπαντα κόσμον, ζωγρήσας πατρὶ προσάξει δῶρον. αὐτῆς ἔσται δόμος οὗτος· Μαρία δὲ τοὔνομα αὐτῆς." τοῦτον τὸν χρησμὸν ἐν λίθῳ μαρμα ρίνῳ χαλκέοις γράμμασι γράψαντες εἰς τὸ τοῦ ναοῦ ὑπέρθυρον ἀνέθεσαν, τότε μὲν καλέσαντες τὸν οἶκον Ῥέας μητρὸς θεῶν, ὕστερον δὲ ἐπὶ Ζήνωνος τοῦ βασιλέως ναὸς τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου μετωνόμασται. ἐκεῖθεν τοίνυν οἱ Ἀργωναῦται ἐξορμήσαντες, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἀνάπλου βουλόμενοι παρελθεῖν, ἐκωλύοντο ὑπὸ Ἀμύκου στρατευομένου κατ' αὐτῶν. δεδιότες οὖν κόλπῳ τινὶ ἀγρίῳ καὶ ἀλσώδει προσίσχουσι. κἀκεῖ ὀπτασίαν θείαν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ αὐτοῖς ἐπιφανεῖσαν ἐν ἀνδρὸς φοβεροῦ εἴδει, πτέρυγας ὡς ἀετοῦ περικει μένου, θεασάμενοι, τούτῳ καταθαρρήσαντες εἰς πόλεμον τῷ Ἀμύκῳ συμβάλλουσι. καὶ ἀποκτείναντες αὐτὸν ἔκτισαν ἐν τῷ τῆς ὀπτασίας τόπῳ ἱερόν. καὶ δι' εἰκόνος τῆς αὐτοῖς ὁραθείσης μορ φῆς τὸ ἐκτύπωμα ἀναστηλώσαντες Σωσθένιον τὸ ἱερὸν ὠνόμασαν διὰ τὸ ἐν τούτῳ αὐτοὺς σωθῆναι. τοῦτο τὸ ἱερὸν ὕστερον ὁ μέγας ἐν βασιλεῦσι Κωνσταντῖνος κατ' ὄναρ χρηματισθεὶς μετεποίησε, καὶ τὸ μὲν θυσιαστήριον πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ὁρᾶν ἐτύπωσε, τὸν δὲ ναὸν τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου Μιχαὴλ ἐκάλεσε, πᾶσαν καλλιεργίαν καὶ καρποφορίαν ἐν αὐτῷ τυπώσας. μετὰ δὲ τὴν νίκην Ἀμύκου οἱ Ἀργωναῦται μεθ' Ἡρακλέους ἐπὶ τὴν Ποντικὴν θάλασσαν ἐκπλεύσαντες πόλιν ἐδείμαντο ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ὀνόματι. εἶτα διὰ τὸ χρυσοῦν δέρας ἐπὶ τὴν Κολχίδα διαπεράσαντες αὐτό τε καὶ 1.211 Μήδειαν τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως Κολχίδος θυγατέρα, Ἰάσονος ἐρασθεῖ σαν, ἀνελόμενοι ὑπέστρεψαν. τότε καὶ Τρὼς τῆς Φρυγῶν χώρας ἦρχεν, ὁ Ἴλου καὶ Γανυμήδους πατήρ. οὗτος δύο πόλεις Τροίαν καὶ Ἴλιον ᾠκοδόμησε, καὶ τοὺς ἀστυγείτονας εἰς τὸν ἐγκαινισμὸν τῶν πόλεων προσκαλεσάμενος τοῦ Μυκηναίων ἀνάσσοντος Ταντά λου ἐπελάθετο· ὃς καὶ εἰς ἔχθραν αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦτο ἀντεκατέστη. ἦν δὲ ὁ Τρὼς πρὸ τῆς τῶν πόλεων οἰκοδομῆς εὐξάμενος εὐχὴν τῷ ∆ιί, θυσίας καὶ δῶρα πέμπων εἰς Εὐρώπην. καὶ ἐπεὶ αἱ πόλεις ἐτελέσθησαν, τὸν Γανυμήδην σὺν ἀνδράσι πεντήκοντα δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας πρὸς τὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἱερὸν ἐκπέμπει. Τάνταλος δὲ δόλον οἰη θείς, δύναμιν ἀποστείλας ἥρπασε Γανυμήδην καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ, οἳ καὶ ἔλεγον θυσίας κομίζειν τῷ Εὐρωπαίῳ ∆ιί. ὁ δὲ Γανυμή δης διὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην ἅμα καὶ τὸν φόβον ἀρρωστεῖ, καὶ συγγνώ μης τυγχάνει, ἀλλὰ μετ' ὀλίγον τελευτᾷ. καὶ τὰ μὲν δῶρα τοῦ Ταντάλου κελεύσαντος τῷ ἱερῷ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἀπεδόθη, τὸ δὲ λείψα νον αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ ναῷ ἔνδον ἀπετέθη. ἐντεῦθεν ἐμυθεύσαντο τὸν ∆ία γενόμενον ἀετόν, διὰ τὸ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς ὀξύ, τὸν Γανυμήδην ἀναλαβεῖν εἰς τὸ οἰνοχοεῖν αὐτῷ. Ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς χρόνοις τῶν κριτῶν ἐβασίλευσε τῆς Εὐρώπης ὁ Λάπαθος, ἔσχε δὲ δύο υἱοὺς Ἀχαιὸν καὶ Λάκωνα. τελευτή σαντος δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς δύο κατεμερίσθη ἡ ἀρχή. ὁ τοίνυν Λά κων τὴν ἡμίσειαν χώραν λαχὼν Λακωνικὴν ἐκάλεσεν· ἧς τριάκοντα τρεῖς χρόνους βασιλεύσας ἔκτισε πόλιν παράλιον τὴν Γαθυνίαν. 1.212 καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ἄλλοι τινὲς ἦρξαν ἕως Θεστίου, ὃς παρὰ τὸν Εὐ ρώταν ποταμὸν πόλιν οἰκοδομεῖ τὴν Θεστίαν. οὗτος ὁ Θέστιος τῶν Λακώνων βασιλεύσας τίκτει θυγατέρας τρεῖς εἰς ὑπερβολὴν εὐπρεπεῖς, Λήδαν καὶ Κλυτίαν καὶ Μελίππην, αἳ καὶ Λακωνίδες ἐκαλοῦντο. τὴν μέντοι Λήδαν Τυνδάρεως λαβὼν εἰς γυναῖκα, ὃς καὶ μετὰ Θέστιον τῆς τῶν Λακώνων χώρας ἐπεκράτησεν, ἔσχεν ἐξ αὐτῆς τὴν Κλυταιμνήστραν, ἣν μετὰ ταῦτα Ἀγαμέμνων ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα, τῶν Μυκηναίων ὁ βασιλεύς. ἡ μέντοι Λήδα ἐν προα στείῳ παρὰ τὸν Εὐρώταν ὡραϊζομένη, ἐπεὶ Τυνδάρεως μὴ παρὼν ἦν, μοιχευθεῖσα ὑπὸ νεωτέρου τινὸς Κύκνου καλουμένου, υἱοῦ Ἐδερίωνος βασιλέως Ἀχαΐας, τίκτει βρέφη τρία ἐν ἑνὶ τοκετῷ, Κάστορα Πολυδεύκην καὶ Ἑλένην. ἦν δὲ ἡ Ἑλένη ὡραιοτάτη,ἣν ὁ Τυνδάρεως Μενελάῳ ἀδελφῷ Ἀγαμέμνονος, βασιλεύοντι τότε τῶν Ἀργείων, εἰς γυναῖκα ἐξέδοτο. εἰκῇ οὖν τὸν ∆ία κύκνον γενέσθαι καὶ τῇ Λήδᾳ συνελθεῖν μεμυθολογήκασιν οἱ ποιηταί. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τοῦ κριτοῦ Σαμψὼν