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πλατανίστῳ ... ἀμπέλῳ: both were believed to be the works of Theodorus the Samian (Phot. Bibl. 612 ff.; Himer. Ecl. xxxi. 8), and were renowned less for size than for the workmanship and precious stones, e.g. the bunches of grapes on the vine (Athenaeus xii. 514 f.). The date of the artist (cf. i. 51. 3; iii. 41. 1) shows that they must have been made for Alyattes and inherited by Pythius. After their transference to the treasury at Susa they became wonders of the world, though Antiochus the Arcadian, anxious to depreciate the resources of Persia, declared τὴν ὑμνουμένην χρυσῆν πλάτανον οὐχ ἱκανὴν εἶναι τέττιγι σκιὰν παρέχειν (Xen. Hell. vii. 1. 38). Their fame continued even in the middle ages, long after they had been melted down by Antigonus, 316 B. C. (Diodorus, xix. 48).

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