Description of Greece

The Achaeans of Patrae assert indeed that Hephaestus made the chest brought by Eurypylus from Troy, but they do not actually exhibit it to view. In Cyprus is a city Amathus, in which is an old sanctuary of Adonis and Aphrodite. Here they say is dedicated a necklace given originally to Harmonia, but called the necklace of Eriphyle, because it was the bribe she took to betray her husband. It was dedicated at Delphi by the sons of Phegeus (how they got it I have already related in my history of Arcadia),[*](See Paus. 8.24.10.) but it was carried off by the tyrants of Phocis.

However, I do not think that it is in the sanctuary of Adonis at Amathus. For the necklace at Amathus is composed of green stones held together by gold, but the necklace given to Eriphyle was made entirely of gold, according to Homer, who says in the Odyssey:—

1. Who received precious gold, the price of her own husband.

For example, in the speech of Eumaeus to Odysseus before Telemachus reaches the court from Pylus, he says:—

1. There came a cunning man to the home of my father,
2. With a necklace of gold strung with amber in between.

Again, in the passage called the gifts of Penelope, for he represents the wooers, Eurymachus among them, offering her gifts, he says:—

1. And Eurymachus straightway brought a necklace of varied materials,
2. Of gold strung with pieces of amber, like the sun.