Athenaeus - Deipnosophists Book VII
Book VII. 276 f – 277 a
Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander were apple-lovers, according to Dorotheus in the sixth book of his History of Alexander. And Chares of Mitylene records that Alexander, finding that the best apples were in Babylonia, filled his ships with them and got up an apple fight from the ships, making a very delightful spectacle.
Book VII. 289 a – f
This boast, Athena is my witness, would not have been ventured even by the Syracusan Menecrates, surnamed Zeus, who prided himself greatly on being the sole cause of life to mankind through his skill in medicine. He used, at any rate, to compel those whom he cured of the so-called sacred diseases to sign a bond that they would obey him as his slaves if they were restored to health. And one man who became his attendant wore the dress and went by the name of Heracles; he was Nicostratus of Argos, who had been cured of the sacred sickness. Ephippus mentions them in The Peltast, speaking as follows: “Did not Menecrates assert that he was Zeus, a god? And Nicostratus of Argos, that he was another Heracles?” Another attendant, with the riding-cloak and herald’s staff, “and wings besides,” was called Hermes, like Nicagoras of Zeleia, who became tyrant of his native city, according to the account given by Baton in his History of the Tyrants in Ephesus. And Hegesander says that Astycreon, who had been cured by him, was called Apollo. Still another of his patients who had been restored to health moved about in his company clad in the garb of Asclepius. As for Zeus himself, dressed in purple, with a gold crown on his head and carrying a scepter, his feet shod with slippers, he walked about attended by this divine choir. In a letter to King Philip he wrote as follows: “Zeus-Menecrates to Philip, greeting: You are king of Macedonia, but I am king of Medicine. You can destroy healthy people whensoever you wish, but I can save the ailing, and the robust who follow my prescriptions I can keep alive without sickness until old age comes. Therefore, while you are attended by a bodyguard of Macedonians, I am attended by all posterity. For I, Zeus, give them life.” In answer to him Philip wrote, treating him as a crazy man: “Philip to Menecrates, come to your senses!” In similar vein Menecrates wrote also to Archidamus, king of Sparta, and in fact to all his correspondents, never refraining from the name of Zeus. Once Philip invited him, along with his own peculiar band of gods, to a dinner, and made them all recline together on the central couch, which was raised very high and decked in a way befitting the most elaborate ritual. He then set before them a table on which lay an altar and first-fruits of all kinds of products of the earth. And when the food was brought in for the rest of the company, the slaves would burn incense and offer libations before Menecrates and his crew, until at last this new Zeus, derided as he was, fled with his subject gods from the symposium. This is narrated by Hegesander.
Book VII. 298 b
Returning to the subject of eels: Hicesius says, in his work On Materials, that eels are juicier than all other fish, and that in wholesomeness they surpass most; for they are filling and nutritious. He puts Macedonian eels in the class of smoked fish.