Book 1
1.32
There is yet another version, that it was the work of Hephaestus presented by the god to Pelops on his marriage. Thence it passed to Menelaus and was carried off by Paris along with Helen and was thrown by her into the Coan sea, for she said it would be a cause of strife. In process of time certain people of Lebedus, having purchased a catch of fish thereabouts, obtained possession of the tripod, and, quarrelling with the fishermen about it, put in to Cos, and, when they could not settle the dispute, reported the fact to Miletus, their mother-city. The Milesians, when their embassies were disregarded, made war upon Cos; many fell on both sides, and an oracle pronounced that the tripod should be given to the wisest; both parties to the dispute agreed upon Thales. After it had gone the round of the sages, Thales dedicated it to Apollo of Didyma.
1.33
The oracle which the Coans received was on this wise: Hephaestus cast the tripod in the sea; Until it quit the city there will be No end to strife, until it reach the seer Whose wisdom makes past, present, future clear. That of the Milesians beginning Who shall possess the tripod? has been quoted above. So much for this version of the story.
