Note 1287 — Chapter XII · REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY

Many of the stories go back to Greek writers earlier even than Ctesias. The pygmies who fight with storks are found in Homer, the half-dog-half-men in Hesiod, the umbrella-footed men in Alcman, the gold-guarding griffons and the one-eyed Arimaspians in the writings of Aristeas of Proconnesus. Hecataeus, Scylax, Aeschylus, and, above all, Herodotus, repeat many of these yarns. Ctesias of Cnidus gathered together most of the earlier tales and added to them stories that he himself 468had heard in the Persian realm, or, perhaps, he wrote down descriptions of monsters that he had seen depicted or sculptured on the walls of the great palaces at Persepolis. Ctesias’ book became the great reservoir to which later writers looked for their marvels. See Doberentz, loc. cit.