Pactolus
place · 2 works · 2 mentions · 2 anchored passages
river Pactolus · the fabled stream of gold
in the texts
Protrepticus
A legendary river of gold, used as a hyperbolic measure of wealth insufficient to buy salvation.
Not even if one were to measure out the whole Pactolus, the fabled stream of gold, would he count out a worthy price for salvation.
The Histories
Gold-bearing river running through the Sardis marketplace, where the besieged Lydians and Persians gathered to defend themselves during the fire.
While the city was burning, the Lydians and all the Persians who were in the citadel, being hemmed in on every side since the fire was consuming the outer parts and having no exit from the city, came thronging into the marketplace and to the river Pactolus, which flows through the marketplace carrying down gold dust from Tmolus and issues into the river Hermus, which in turn issues into the sea.