The Lacedaemonians were at this time celebrating the festival of Hyacinthus,A festival said to be of pre-Dorian origin, commemorating the killing of Hyacinthus by Apollo. and their chief concern was to give the god his due; moreover, the wall which they were building on the Isthmus was by now getting its battlements. When the Athenian envoys arrived in Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon, bringing with them envoys from +Megara [23.35,38] (Perseus) Megara and Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea, they came before the ephors and said: