At Cyzicus, inside the Temple of Apollonis, mother of Attalus and Eumenes: epigrams which were inscribed on the tablets set into the columns. These tablets contained narrative scenes, carved in low relief, as is set out below.
Cues within the book tell us when we are turning a corner within this temple and invite reconstruction, though the fragmentary state of some of the poems does not inspire confidence in any such scheme. After all, the temple is lost. And "tablets set into the columns" already sounds peculiar.
Attalus and Eumenes would have wanted to be remembered as dutiful sons, and the narrative scenes preponderantly depicted tales of filial piety. Here for instance is the epigram for the eighteenth column, showing the tale of Cleobis and Biton. Each of the epigrams comes with its own caption, which presumably is editorial intervention (a chopped-up guide's spiel?) rather than transcription of anything found in the temple itself:
On the eighteenth are Cleobis and Biton. Their mother was the priestess of Hera at Argos; they put their own necks beneath the yoke (because the team of oxen was too slow) and so enabled her to perform the sacred rites. According to the story, she was so pleased by this that she prayed to the goddess that her sons should meet with whatever was finest among mortals; and after she had made this prayer, the boys died that same night.This story of Cydippe and her sons,And of their holy reverence, is not false;Its truth is ample. For their toil was sweet,And in due season for their manly youth:For holy love of mother, they performedA famous labour. In the world belowMay you rejoice, men famed for piety,And may your tale alone endure all time.
Some of the legends are described in offbeat and otherwise unattested variants. As I said, it's a weird one, and I suggest it would repay serious study one day.
