As one goes to the portico [stoā] that they call painted [poikilē], because of its paintings [graphai], there is a bronze statue of Hermes of-the-Marketplace [agoraios], and near it a gate [pulē]. Placed over it [= the gate] is a trophy [tropaion] erected by the Athenians, who in a cavalry action overcame Pleistarkhos, to whose command his brother Kassandros had entrusted his cavalry and mercenaries. This portico [stoā] contains [wall paintings that represent], first, the Athenians arrayed against the Lacedaemonians at Oinoe in the Argive territory. What has been painted [graphesthai] is not the critical-point [akmē] of the struggle [agōn] nor when the action [ergon] had advanced as far as the display [epideixis] of deeds of valor, but the beginning of the fight when the combatants were about to close in on each other.

On the middle wall are [wall paintings that represent] the Athenians and Theseus fighting with the Amazons. So it seems that only the women did not lose through their defeats their reckless courage in the face of danger; Themiskyra was taken by Hēraklēs, and afterwards the army that they [= the Amazons] dispatched to Athens was destroyed, but nevertheless they [= the Amazons] came to Troy to fight all the Greeks [Hellēnes] as well as the Athenians themselves. Next after the Amazons are shown the Greeks [Hellēnes] when they have taken Troy [Ilion], and the kings assembled on account of the outrage [tolmēma] committed by Ajax against Cassandra. The painting [graphē] includes Ajax himself, Cassandra, and other captive women.

At the concluding part of the painting [graphē] are [represented] the men who fought at Marathon, namely, the men from [the city of] Plataea-in-Boeotia and the men from all the territory-of-Athens [= Attica]. They are at the moment of coming into contact in hand-to-hand combat with the barbarians. At this point, the two sides are evenly matched for the action [ergon], but then, in a close-up of the battle [makhē], the barbarians are starting to turn and run, heading for the marshland [helos] and crowding each other [into the morass]. At the outer edges of the painting are [represented] the [beached] ships of the Phoenician navy and the Greeks [Hellēnes] who are slaughtering those of the barbarians who are scrambling to climb on board. And at this point is painted [graphesthai] also the hero [hērōs] by the name of Marathon, after whom the plain [pedíon] called Marathon gets its name. Also represented [eikazesthai] is Theseus as he appeared when he was coming back up from under the earth. Also, Athena and Hēraklēs. I say-this-because [gar], the people of Marathon were the first to establish-the-custom-of-venerating [nomizein] Hēraklēs as a god [theos]. Featured most prominently in the painting [graphē] are Kallimakhos, who had been elected commander-in-chief [polem-arkhos] by the Athenians, and Miltiades, one of the generals [stratēgoi]. Also [featured is] a hero [hērōs] called Ekhetlos, about whom I will make mention [mnēmē] at a later point as well.¹

Here are dedicated bronze shields, and some have an inscription [saying] that they are taken from the Skiōnaioi and their allies,¹ while others, smeared with pitch lest they should be worn by age and rust, are said to be those of the Lacedaemonians who were taken prisoners in the island of Sphakteria.²