o those shrines which have been named. About his votive
offerings let it suffice to have said so much.

93. Of marvels to be recorded the land of Lydia has no great store as
compared with other lands, 104 excepting the gold-dust which is carried
down from Tmolos; but one work it has to show which is larger far than
any other except only those in Egypt and Babylon: for there is there the
sepulchral monument of Alyattes the father of Croesus, of which the base
is made of larger stones and the rest of the monument is of earth piled
up. And this was built by contributions of those who practised trade and
of the artisans and the girls who plied their traffic there; and still
there existed to my own time boundary-stones five in number erected upon
the monument above, on which were carved inscriptions telling how much
of the work was done by each class; and upon measurement it was found
that the work of the girls was the greatest in amount. For the daughters
of the common people in Lydia practice prostitution one and all, to
gather for themselves dowries, continuing this until the time when they
marry; and the girls give themselves away in marriage. Now the circuit
of the monument is six furlongs and two hundred feet, 105 and the
breadth is thirteen hundred feet. 106 And adjoining the monument is a
great lake, which the Lydians say has a never-failing supply of water,
and it is called the lake of Gyges. 107 Such is the nature of this
monument.

94. Now the Lydians have very nearly the same customs as the Hellenes,
with the exception that they prostitute their female children; and they
were the first of men, so far as we know, who struck and used coin of
gold or silver; and also they were the first retail-traders. And the
Lydians themselves say that the games which are now in use among them
and among the Hellenes were also their invention. These they say were
invented among them at the same time as they colonised Tyrsenia, 108 and
this is the account they give of them:--In the reign of Atys the son of
Manes their king there came to be a grievous dearth over the whole
of Lydia; and the Lydians for a time continued to endure it, but
afterwards, as it did not cease, they sought for remedies; and one
devised one thing and another of them devised another thing. And then
were discovered, they say, the ways of playing with the dice and the
knucklebones and the ball, and all the other games excepting draughts
(for the discovery of thi