Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says—

For the boy wore a garland on his brow
Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).

Some garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to this day among the Alexandrians. And Chæremon the tragic poet mentions them in his Bacchus, saying—

The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,
Made up of ivy and narcissus.

But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Helanicus, in his History of Egypt, writes as follows—“There is a city on the banks of the river, named Tindium. This is place where many gods are assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the temple there are [p. 1086] white and black thorns, on which garlands were placed made of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the pomegranate, and of vine leaves. And these keep green for ever. These garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)” But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt, says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes thus— “But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Aethiopians who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble garlands.” And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.