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BOOK VIII
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171
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as
the one of Jupiter made for Cypselus, Tyrant of Corinth; columns, such
as the one in the Temple of Hercules in Egypt; lamps, such as those in
the Stronghold of Athens that Callimachus built to Minerva;
three-legged stands, such as the one placed in the Temple of Delphi by
the people of Aegina; stools, such as the one placed in the same temple
by Midas, King of Phrygia; tablets, such as the famous one of solid
gold in the temple of the Archangel Michael in Luneburg, a tablet two
feet long, one foot wide and three-quarters of an inch thick; and
finally seals, some of which are set with gems. There is a large and
famous goblet in Merseburg given by King Henry. According to Herodotus
there were six bowls in the Temple of Delphi that weighed three
thousand pounds. These had been placed there by Gyges. Among the gifts
of Croesus there were one hundred and seventeen half-bricks of gold.
The largest were seventeen and one-half inches long, about nine inches
wide and three inches thick. Four were of pure gold, the rest of white
gold. The latter weighed one hundred and fifty pounds apiece, the
former two hundred pounds. Croesus had a golden lion that weighed one
thousand pounds and a large bowl weighing eight hundred and
seventy-five pounds. He also has a golden basin and a four and one-half
foot statue of a woman. At Thebes in the Temple of Apollo Ismenias
there were presents that Croesus had given to Amphiar-aus, golden
shields, javelins and spears with golden heads.
Man
uses golden basins, dishes and goblets. Antoninus Heliogabalus, the
most infamous man who ever lived, and Bassa, who amused himself by
making fun of the priests of Mars, caught their vomit in golden vessels
because they said the metal was unclean. Coffins have been made from
this metal, such as the one in Elis made by Trophonius for Augeas. King
Antigonus placed the bones of Pyrrhus in a golden urn. Bessus bound
Darius Codomanus with golden foot-shackles.6 Glaucus had
golden armor; the Persians, golden swords, sabers, helmets and
breastplates. Maximinus the Younger used a gold breastplate and swords.
The soldiers of Antioch-us, King of Syria, had gold nails in the soles
of their sandals. Mention must be made of the famous golden plane tree
of Xerxes under which he used to sit and of the golden palanquin of the
king of India with pearls hanging all around it. Homer writes that men
were accustomed to weave gold through their hair in olden times. The
Emperor Gallienus sprinkled bears with gold dust and Heliogabalus
sprinkled the portico with it. All of the objects that I have mentioned
above were made from either pure gold, gold mixed with variable amounts
of silver, or electrum which contains a fifth portion of
silver.' Gold foil is used to cover objects made of silver, brass,
iron, wood, and even the pills of physicians. The Romans used it to
cover the horns of sacrificial animals while one of the kings of Egypt
preserved the body of his daughter in the statue of a cow covered
• Darius was later murdered by Bessus.
7 The electrum referred to here is an alloy and not the mineral electrum.
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