Pausanias, reputedly born in Lydia, was a Greek traveler (as well as Greece he also
visited Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus) during height of Roman
rule. His most important work is the Description of Greece [Periegesis Hellados],
a sort of tourist guidebook, which remains an invaluable text on ancient ruins.
The Description of Greece survives in ten books in the form of a tour of
Greece starting in Attica. The first book seems to have been completed after 143 CE, but
before 161CE. No event after 176CE is mentioned in the work.
Pausanias begins his description of each city with a synopsis of its history followed
by an account of the monuments in topographical order. He also discusses local daily life,
ceremonial rituals, legend and folklore. His main concentration is on artistic workd from
the glories of classical Greece, especially religious art and architecture. That he
can be relied on for building and works which have since disappeared is shown by the
accuracy of his descriptions of buildings which do survive.
For at Athens he discusses the pictures, portraits, and inscriptions recording the laws
of Solon; the great gold and ivory statue of Athena in the Parthenon; and the monuments to
famous men and of Athenians who died in battle.
BOOK II: Corinth
[2.1.1] The Corinthian land is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Corinthus.
That Corinthus was a son of Zeus I have never known anybody say seriously except the
majority of the Corinthians. Eumelus, the son of Amphilytus,1 of the family
called Bacchidae, who is said to have composed the epic poem, says in his Corinthian
History (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra, the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first
in this land; that afterwards Marathon, the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of
Helius (Sun), fleeing from the lawless violence of his father migrated to the sea coast of
Attica; that on the death of Epopeus he came to Peloponnesus, divided his kingdom among
his sons, and returned to Attica; and that Asopia was renamed after Sicyon, and Ephyraea
after Corinthus.
[2.1.2] Corinth is no longer inhabited by any of the old Corinthians, but by colonists
sent out by the Romans. This change is due to the Achaean League.1 The
Corinthians, being members of it, joined in the war against the Romans, which Critolaus,
when appointed general of the Achaeans, brought about by persuading to revolt both the
Achaeans and the majority of the Greeks outside the Peloponnesus. When the Romans won the
war, they carried out a general disarmament of the Greeks2 and dismantled the
walls of such cities as were fortified. Corinth was laid waste by Mummius, who at that
time commanded the Romans in the field, and it is said that it was afterwards refounded by
Caesar,3 who was the author of the present constitution of Rome. Carthage, too,
they say, was refounded in his reign. [2.1.3] In the Corinthian territory is also the
place called Cromyon from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say that Phaea was bred;
overcoming this sow was one of the traditional achievements of Theseus. Farther on the
pine still grew by the shore at the time of my visit, and there was an altar of
Melicertes. At this place, they say, the boy was brought ashore by a dolphin; Sisyphus
found him lying and gave him burial on the Isthmus, establishing the Isthmian games in his
honor.[2.1.4] At the beginning of the Isthmus is the place where the brigand Sinis used to
take hold of pine trees and draw them down. All those whom he overcame in fight he used to
tie to the trees, and then allow them to swing up again. Thereupon each of the pines used
to drag to itself the bound man, and as the bond gave way in neither direction but was
stretched equally in both, he was torn in two. This was the way in which Sinis himself was
slain by Theseus. For Theseus rid of evildoers the road from Troezen to Athens, killing
those whom I have enumerated and, in sacred Epidaurus, Periphetes, thought to be the son
of Hephaestus, who used to fight with a bronze club.[2.1.5] The Corinthian Isthmus
stretches on the one hand to the sea at Cenchreae, and on the other to the sea at
Lechaeum. For this is what makes the region to the south mainland. He who tried to make
the Peloponnesus an island gave up before digging through the Isthmus. Where they began to
dig is still to be seen, but into the rock they did not advance at all. So it still is
mainland as its nature is to be. Alexander the son of Philip wished to dig through Mimas,
and his attempt to do this was his only unsuccessful project. The Cnidians began to dig
through their isthmus, but the Pythian priestess stopped them. So difficult it is for man
to alter by violence what Heaven has made.
[2.1.6] A legend of the Corinthians about their land is not peculiar to them, for I
believe that the Athenians were the first to relate a similar story to glorify Attica. The
Corinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helius (Sun) about the land, and that
Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmus and the parts
adjoining, and giving to Helius the height above the city.Ever since, they say, the
Isthmus has belonged to Poseidon.[2.1.7] Worth seeing here are a theater and a
white-marble race-course. Within the sanctuary of the god stand on the one side portrait
statues of athletes who have won victories at the Isthmian games, on the other side pine
trees growing in a row, the greater number of them rising up straight. On the temple,
which is not very large, stand bronze Tritons. In the fore-temple are images, two of
Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside
were dedicated in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except for the
hoofs, which are of ivory,[2.1.8] and two gold Tritons beside the horses, with the parts
below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and there is the boy
Palaemon upright upon a dolphin. These too are made of ivory and gold. On the middle of
the base on which the car is has been wrought a Sea holding up the young Aphrodite, and on
either side are the nymphs called Nereids. I know that there are altars to these in other
parts of Greece, and that some Greeks have even dedicated to them precincts by shores,
where honors are also paid to Achilles. In Gabala is a holy sanctuary of Doto, where there
was still remaining the robe by which the Greeks say that Eriphyle was bribed to wrong her
son Alcmaeon.[2.1.9] Among the reliefs on the base of the statue of Poseidon are the sons
of Tyndareus, because these too are saviours of ships and of sea-faring men. The other
offerings are images of Calm and of Sea, a horse like a whale from the breast onward, Ino
and Bellerophontes, and the horse Pegasus.
2,1,1,n1. 8th cent. B.C.
2,1,2,n1. A league of states in the northern Peloponnesus. It was most influential in
the second half of the third century B.C. Founded 280 B.C.
2,1,2,n2. 146 B.C.
2,1,2,n3. 44 B.C.
[2.2.1] Within the enclosure is on the left a temple of Palaemon, with images in it of
Poseidon, Leucothea and Palaemon himself. There is also what is called his Holy of Holies,
and an underground descent to it, where they say that Palaemon is concealed. Whosoever,
whether Corinthian or stranger, swears falsely here, can by no means escape from his oath.
There is also an ancient sanctuary called the altar of the Cyclopes, and they sacrifice to
the Cyclopes upon it.[2.2.2] The graves of Sisyphus and of Neleus--for they say that
Neleus came to Corinth, died of disease, and was buried near the Isthmus--I do not think
that anyone would look for after reading Eumelus. For he says that not even to Nestor did
Sisyphus show the tomb of Neleus, because it must be kept unknown to everybody alike, and
that Sisyphus is indeed buried on the Isthmus, but that few Corinthians, even those of his
own day, knew where the grave was. The Isthmian games were not interrupted even when
Corinth had been laid waste by Mummius, but so long as it lay deserted the celebration of
the games was entrusted to the Sicyonians, and when it was rebuilt the honor was restored
to the present inhabitants.
[2.2.3] The names of the Corinthian harbors were given them by Leches and Cenchrias,
said to be the children of Poseidon and Peirene the daughter of Achelous, though in the
poem called The Great Eoeae1 Peirene is said to be a daughter of Oebalus. In
Lechaeum are a sanctuary and a bronze image of Poseidon, and on the road leading from the
Isthmus to Cenchreae a temple and ancient wooden image of Artemis. In Cenchreae are a
temple and a stone statue of Aphrodite, after it on the mole running into the sea a bronze
image of Poseidon, and at the other end of the harbor sanctuaries of Asclepius and of
Isis. Right opposite Cenchreae is Helen's Bath. It is a large stream of salt, tepid water,
flowing from a rock into the sea.[2.2.4] As one goes up to Corinth are tombs, and by the
gate is buried Diogenes1 of Sinope, whom the Greeks surname the Dog. Before the
city is a grove of cypresses called Craneum. Here are a precinct of Bellerophontes, a
temple of Aphrodite Melaenis and the grave of Lais, upon which is set a lioness holding a
ram in her fore-paws.
[2.2.5] There is in Thessaly another tomb which claims to be that of Lais, for she went
to that country also when she fell in love with Hippostratus. The story is that originally
she was of Hycara in Sicily. Taken captive while yet a girl by Nicias and the Athenians,
she was sold and brought to Corinth, where she surpassed in beauty the courtesans of her
time, and so won the admiration of the Corinthians that even now they claim Lais as their
own.[2.2.6] The things worthy of mention in the city include the extant remains of
antiquity, but the greater number of them belong to the period of its second ascendancy.
On the market-place, where most of the sanctuaries are, stand Artemis surnamed Ephesian
and wooden images of Dionysus, which are covered with gold with the exception of their
faces; these are ornamented with red paint. They are called Lysius and Baccheus,[2.2.7]
and I too give the story told about them. They say that Pentheus treated Dionysus
despitefully, his crowning outrage being that he went to Cithaeron, to spy upon the women,
and climbing up a tree beheld what was done. When the women detected Pentheus, they
immediately dragged him down, and joined in tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb.
Afterwards, as the Corinthians say, the Pythian priestess commanded them by an oracle to
discover that tree and to worship it equally with the god. For this reason they have made
these images from the tree.
[2.2.8] There is also a temple of Fortune, with a standing image of Parian marble.
Beside it is a sanctuary for all the gods. Hard by is built a fountain, on which is a
bronze Poseidon; under the feet of Poseidon is a dolphin spouting water. There is also a
bronze Apollo surnamed Clarius and a statue of Aphrodite made by Hermogenes of Cythera.
There are two bronze, standing images of Hermes, for one of which a temple has been made.
The images of Zeus also are in the open; one had not a surname, another they call
Chthonius (of the Lower World) and the third Most High.
2,2,3,n1. Said to be a work of Hesiod.
2,2,4,n1. The "Cynic" philosopher
[2.3.1] In the middle of the market-place is a bronze Athena, on the pedestal of which
are wrought in relief figures of the Muses. Above the market-place is a temple of Octavia
the sister of Augustus, who was emperor of the Romans after Caesar, the founder of the
modern Corinth.[2.3.2] On leaving the market-place along the road to Lechaeum you come to
a gateway, on which are two gilded chariots, one carrying Phaethon the son of Helius
(Sun), the other Helius himself. A little farther away from the gateway, on the right as
you go in, is a bronze Heracles. After this is the entrance to the water of Peirene. The
legend about Peirene is that she was a woman who became a spring because of her tears shed
in lamentation for her son Cenchrias, who was unintentionally killed by Artemis.
[2.3.3] The spring is ornamented with white marble, and there have been made chambers
like caves, out of which the water flows into an open-air well. It Is pleasant to drink,
and they say that the Corinthian bronze, when red-hot, is tempered by this water, since
bronze . . . the Corinthians have not. Moreover near Peirene are an image and a sacred
enclosure of Apollo; in the latter is a painting of the exploit of Odysseus against the
suitors.
[2.3.4] Proceeding on the direct road to Lechaeum we see a bronze image of a seated
Hermes. By him stands a ram, for Hermes is the god who is thought most to care for and to
increase flocks, as Homer puts it in the Iliad:--
Son was he of Phorbas, the dearest of Trojans to Hermes,
Rich in flocks, for the god vouchsafed him wealth in abundance.1
The story told at the mysteries of the Mother about Hermes and the ram I know but
do not relate. After the image of Hermes come Poseidon, Leucothea, and Palaemon on a
dolphin.[2.3.5] The Corinthians have baths in many parts of the city, some put up at the
public charge and one by the emperor Hadrian. The most famous of them is near the
Poseidon. It was made by the Spartan Eurycles,1 who beautified it with various
kinds of stone, especially the one quarried at Croceae in Laconia. On the left of the
entrance stands a Poseidon, and after him Artemis hunting. Throughout the city are many
wells, for the Corinthians have a copious supply of flowing water, besides the water which
the emperor Hadrian brought from Lake Stymphalus, but the most noteworthy is the one by
the side of the image of Artemis. Over it is a Bellerophontes, and the water flows through
the hoof of the horse Pegasus. [2.3.6] As you go along another road from the market-place,
which leads to Sicyon, you can see on the right of the road a temple and bronze image of
Apollo, and a little farther on a well called the Well of Glauce. Into this they say she
threw herself in the belief that the water would be a cure for the drugs of Medea. Above
this well has been built what is called the Odeum (Music Hall), beside which is the tomb
of Medea's children. Their names were Mermerus and Pheres, and they are said to have been
stoned to death by the Corinthians owing to the gifts which legend says they brought to
Glauce. [2.3.7] But as their death was violent and illegal, the young babies of the
Corinthians were destroyed by them until, at the command of the oracle, yearly sacrifices
were established in their honor and a figure of Terror was set up. This figure still
exists, being the likeness of a woman frightful to look upon but after Corinth was laid
waste by the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers broke the
custom of offering those sacrifices to the sons of Medea, nor do their children cut their
hair for them or wear black clothes.[2.3.8] On the occasion referred to Medea went to
Athens and married Aegeus, but subsequently she was detected plotting against Theseus and
fled from Athens also; coming to the land then called Aria she caused its inhabitants to
be named after her Medes. The son, whom she brought with her in her flight to the Arii,
they say she had by Aegeus, and that his name was Medus. Hellanicus,1 however,
calls him Polyxenus and says that his father was Jason.[2.3.9] The Greeks have an epic
poem called Naupactia. In this Jason is represented as having removed his home after the
death of Pelias from Iolcus to Corcyra, and Mermerus, the elder of his children, to have
been killed by a lioness while hunting on the mainland opposite. Of Pheres is recorded
nothing. But Cinaethon1 of Lacedaemon, another writer of pedigrees in verse,
said that Jason's children by Medea were a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis; he too,
however, gives no further information about these children. [2.3.10] Eumelus said that
Helius (Sun) gave the Asopian land to Aloeus and Epliyraea to Aeetes. When Aeetes was
departing for Colchis he entrusted his land to Bunus, the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and
when Bunus died Epopeus the son of Aloeus extended his kingdom to include the Ephyraeans.
Afterwards, when Corinthus, the son of Marathon, died childless, the Corinthians sent for
Medea from Iolcus and bestowed upon her the kingdom.
[2.3.11] Through her Jason was king in Corinth, and Medea, as her children were born,
carried each to the sanctuary of Hera and concealed them, doing so in the belief that so
they would be immortal. At last she learned that her hopes were vain, and at the same time
she was detected by Jason. When she begged for pardon he refused it, and sailed away to
Iolcus. For these reasons Medea too departed, and handed over the kingdom to Sisyphus.
2,3,4,n1. Hom. Il. 14.490
2,3,5,n1. Probably a contemporary of Augustus.
2,3,8,n1. A writer of the fifth century B.C.
2,3,9,n1. An early epic writer.
[2.4.1] This is the account that I read, and not far from the tomb is the temple of
Athena Chalinitis (Bridler). For Athena, they say, was the divinity who gave most help to
Bellerophontes, and she delivered to him Pegasus, having herself broken in and bridled
him. The image of her is of wood, but face, hands and feet are of white marble. [2.4.2]
That Bellerophontes was not an absolute king, but was subject to Proetus and the Argives
is the belief of myself and of all who have read carefully the Homeric poems.1
When Bellerophontes migrated to Lycia it is clear that the Corinthians none the less were
subject to the despots at Argos or Mycenae. By themselves they provided no leader for the
campaign against Troy, but shared in the expedition as part of the forces, Mycenaean and
other, led by Agamemnon. [2.4.3] Sisyphus had other sons besides Glaucus, the father of
Bellerophontes a second was Ornytion, and besides him there were Thersander and Almus.
Ornytion had a son Phocus, reputed to have been begotten by Poseidon. He migrated to
Tithorea in what is now called Phocis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion, remained
behind at Corinth. Thoas begat Damophon, Damophon begat Propodas, and Propodas begat
Doridas and Hyanthidas. While these were kings the Dorians took the field against Corinth,
their leader being Aletes, the son of Hippotas, the son of Phylas, the son of Antiochus,
the son of Heracles. So Doridas and Hyanthidas gave up the kingship to Aletes and remained
at Corinth, but the Corinthian people were conquered in battle and expelled by the
Dorians.[2.4.4] Aletes himself and his descendants reigned for five generations to
Bacchis, the son of Prumnis, and, named after him, the Bacchidae reigned for five more
generations to Telestes, the son of Aristodemus. Telestes was killed in hate by Arieus and
Perantas, and there were no more kings, but Prytanes (Presidents) taken from the Bacchidae
and ruling for one year, until Cypselus, the son of Eetion, became tyrant and expelled the
Bacchidae.1 Cypselus was a descendant of Melas, the son of Antasus. Melas from
Gonussa above Sicyon joined the Dorians in the expedition against Corinth. When the god
expressed disapproval Aletes at first ordered Melas to withdraw to other Greeks, but
afterwards, mistaking the oracle, he received him as a settler.Such I found to be the
history of the Corinthian kings. [2.4.5] Now the sanctuary of Athena Chalinitis is by
their theater, and near is a naked wooden image of Heracles, said to be a work of
Daedalus. All the works of this artist, although rather uncouth to look at, are
nevertheless distinguished by a kind of inspiration. Above the theater is a sanctuary of
Zeus surnamed in the Latin tongue Capitolinus, which might be rendered into Greek
"Coryphaeos". Not far from this theater is the ancient gymnasium, and a spring
called Lerna. Pillars stand around it, and seats have been made to refresh in summer time
those who have entered it. By this gymnasium are temples of Zeus and Asclepius. The images
of Asclepius and of Health are of white marble, that of Zeus is of bronze.[2.4.6] The
Acrocorinthus is a mountain peak above the city, assigned to Helius by Briareos when he
acted as adjudicator, and handed over, the Corinthians say, by Helius to Aphrodite. As you
go up this Acrocorinthus you see two precincts of Isis, one if Isis surnamed Pelagian
(Marine) and the other of Egyptian Isis, and two of Serapis, one of them being of Serapis
called "in Canopus." After these are altars to Helius, and a sanctuary of
Necessity and Force, into which it is not customary to enter.
[2.4.7] Above it are a temple of the Mother of the gods and a throne; the image and the
throne are made of stone. The temple of the Fates and that of Demeter and the Maid have
images that are not exposed to view. Here, too, is the temple of Hera Bunaea set up by
Bunus the son of Hermes. It is for this reason that the goddess is called Bunaea.
2,4,2,n1. Hom. Il. 6.159
2,4,4,n1. 655 B.C.
[2.5.1] On the summit of the Acrocorinthus is a temple of Aphrodite. The images are
Aphrodite armed, Helius, and Eros with a bow. The spring, which is behind the temple, they
say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had
ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker
before he had a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus. When Asopus granted this request
Sisyphus turned informer, and on this account he receives--if anyone believes the
story--punishment in Hades. I have heard people say that this spring and Peirene are the
same, the water in the city flowing hence under-ground.[2.5.2] This Asopus rises in the
Phliasian territory, flows through the Sicyonian, and empties itself into the sea here.
His daughters, say the Phliasians, were Corcyra, Aegina, and Thebe. Corcyra and Aegina
gave new names to the islands called Scheria and Oenone, while from Thebe is named the
city below the Cadmea. The Thebans do not agree, but say that Thebe was the daughter of
the Boeotian, and not of the Phliasian, Asopus.[2.5.3] The other stories about the river
are current among both the Phliasians and the Sicyonians, for instance that its water is
foreign and not native, in that the Maeander, descending from Celaenae through Phrygia and
Caria, and emptying itself into the sea at Miletus, goes to the Peloponnesus and forms the
Asopus. I remember hearing a similar story from the Delians, that the stream which they
call Inopus comes to them from the Nile. Further, there is a story that the Nile itself is
the Euphrates, which disappears into a marsh, rises again beyond Aethiopia and becomes the
Nile.[2.5.4] Such is the account I heard of the Asopus. When you have turned from the
Acrocorinthus into the mountain road you see the Teneatic gate and a sanctuary of
Eilethyia. The town called Tenea is just about sixty stades distant. The inhabitants say
that they are Trojans who were taken prisoners in Tenedos by the Greeks, and were
permitted by Agamemnon to dwell in their present home. For this reason they honor Apollo
more than any other god.
[2.5.5] As you go from Corinth, not into the interior but along the road to Sicyon,
there is on the left not far from the city a burnt temple. There have, of course, been
many wars carried on in Corinthian territory, and naturally houses and sanctuaries outside
the wall have been fired. But this temple, they say, was Apollo's, and Pyrrhus the son of
Achilles burned it down. Subsequently I heard another account, that the Corinthians built
the temple for Olympian Zeus, and that suddenly fire from some quarter fell on it and
destroyed it.[2.5.6] The Sicyonians, the neighbours of the Corinthians at this part of the
border, say about their own land that Aegialeus was its first and aboriginal inhabitant,
that the district of the Peloponnesus still called Aegialus was named after him because he
reigned over it, and that he founded the city Aegialea on the plain. Their citadel, they
say, was where is now their sanctuary of Athena; further, that Aegialeus begat Europs,
Europs Telchis, and Telchis Apis. [2.5.7] This Apis reached such a height of power before
Pelops came to Olympia that all the territory south of the Isthmus was called after him
Apia. Apis begat Thelxion, Thelxion Aegyrus, the Thurimachus, and Thurimachus Leucippus.
Leucippus had no male issue, only a daughter Calchinia. There is a story that this
Calchinia mated with Poseidon; her child was reared by Leucippus, who at his death handed
over to him the kingdom. His name was Peratus.
[2.5.8] What is reported of Plemnaeus, the son of Peratus, seemed to me very wonderful.
All the children borne to him by his wife died the very first time they wailed. At last
Demeter took pity on Plemnaeus, came to Aegialea in the guise of a strange woman, and
reared for Plemnaeus his son Orthopolis. Orthopolis had a daughter Chrysorthe, who is
thought to have borne a son named Coronus to Apollo. Coronus had two sons, Corax and a
younger one Lamedon.
[2.6.1] Corax died without issue, and at about this time came Epopeus from Thessaly and
took the kingdom. In his reign the first hostile army is said to have invaded the land,
which before this had enjoyed unbroken peace. The reason was this. Antiope, the daughter
of Nycteus, had a name among the Greeks for beauty, and there was also a report that her
father was not Nycteus but Asopus, the river that separates the territories of Thebes and
Plataea.[2.6.2] This woman Epopeus carried off but I do not know whether he asked for her
hand or adopted a bolder policy from the beginning. The Thebans came against him in arms,
and in the battle Nycteus was wounded. Epopeus also was wounded, but won the day. Nycteus
they carried back ill to Thebes, and when he was about to die he appointed to be regent of
Thebes his brother Lycus for Labdacus, the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus, being
still a child, was the ward of Nycteus, who on this occasion entrusted the office of
guardian to Lycus. He also besought him to attack Aegialea with a larger army and bring
vengeance upon Epopeus; Antiope herself, if taken, was to be punished.[2.6.3] As to
Epopeus, he forthwith offered sacrifice for his victory and began a temple of Athena, and
when this was complete he prayed the goddess to make known whether the temple was finished
to her liking, and after the prayer they say that olive oil flowed before the temple.
Afterwards Epopeus also died of his wound, which he had neglected at first, so that Lycus
had now no need to wage war. For Lamedon, the son of Coronus, who became king after
Epopeus, gave up Antiope. As she was being taken to Thebes by way of Eleutherae, she was
delivered there on the road.[2.6.4] On this matter Asius the son of Amphiptolemus1
says in his poem:--
Zethus and Amphion had Antiope for their mother,
Daughter of Asopus, the swift, deep-eddying river,
Having conceived of Zeus and Epopeus, shepherd of peoples.2
Homer traces their descent to the more august side of their family, and says that
they were the first founders of Thebes, in my opinion distinguishing the lower city from
the Cadmea.[2.6.5] When Lamedon became king he took to wife an Athenian woman, Pheno, the
daughter of Clytius. Afterwards also, when war had arisen between him and Archander and
Architeles, the sons of Achaeus, he brought in as his ally Sicyon from Attica, and gave
him Zeuxippe his daughter to wife. This man became king, and the land was named after him
Sicyonia, and the city Sicyon instead of Aegiale. But they say that Sicyon was not the son
of Marathon, the son of Epopeus, but of Metion the son of Erechtheus. Asius confirms their
statement, while Hesiod makes Sicyon the son of Erechtheus, and Ibycus says that his
father was Pelops.[2.6.6] Sicyon had a daughter Chthonophyle, and they say that she and
Hermes were the parents of Polybus. Afterwards she married Phlias, the son of Dionysus,
and gave birth to Androdamas. Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus the son of
Bias, king of the Argives; and when Adrastus fled from Argos he came to Polybus at Sicyon,
and afterwards on the death of Polybus he became king at Sicyon. When Adrastus returned to
Argos, Ianiscus, a descendant of Clytius the father-in-law of Lamedon, came from Attica
and was made king, and when Ianiscus died he was succeeded by Phaestus, said to have been
one of the children of Heracles.[2.6.7] After Phaestus in obedience to an oracle migrated
to Crete, the next king is said to have been Zeuxippus, the son of Apollo and the nymph
Syllis. On the death of Zeuxippus, Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and king
Hippolytus, the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phaestus. In terror of the army that was
attacking him, Hippolytus agreed to become subject to Agamemnon and the Mycenaeans. This
Hippolytus was the father of Lacestades. Phalces the son of Temenus, with the Dorians,
surprised Sicyon by night, but did Lacestades no harm, because he too was one of the
Heracleidae, and made him partner in the kingdom.
2,6,4,n1. fl. 640-617 B.C.
2,6,4,n2. Asius, unknown work
[2.7.1] From that time the Sicyonians became Dorians and their land a part of the
Argive territory. The city built by Aegialeus on the plain was destroyed by Demetrius the
son of Antigonus,1 who founded the modern city near what was once the ancient
citadel. The reason why the Sicyonians grew weak it would be wrong to seek; we must be
content with Homer's saying about Zeus:--
Many, indeed, are the cities of which he has levelled the strongholds.
When they had lost their power there came upon them an earthquake, which almost
depopulated their city and took from them many of their famous sights. It damaged also the
cities of Caria and Lycia, and the island of Rhodes was very violently shaken, so that it
was thought that the Sibyl had had her utterance about Rhodes2 fulfilled.
[2.7.2] When you have come from the Corinthian to the Sicyonian territory you see the
tomb of Lycus the Messenian, whoever this Lycus may be; for I can discover no Messenian
Lycus who practised the pentathlon1 or won a victory at Olympia. This tomb is a
mound of earth, but the Sicyonians themselves usually bury their dead in a uniform manner.
They cover the body in the ground, and over it they build a basement of stone upon which
they set pillars. Above these they put something very like the pediment of a temple. They
add no inscription, except that they give the dead man's name without that of his father
and bid him farewell.[2.7.3] After the tomb of Lycus, but on the other side of the Asopus,
there is on the right the Olympium, and a little farther on, to the left of the road, the
grave of Eupolis, 1 the Athenian comic poet. Farther on, if you turn in the
direction of the city, you see the tomb of Xenodice, who died in childbirth. It has not
been made after the native fashion, but so as to harmonize best with the painting, which
is very well worth seeing.
[2.7.4] Farther on from here is the grave of the Sicyonians who were killed at Pellene,
at Dyme of the Achaeans, in Megalopolis and at Sellasia.1 Their story I will
relate more fully presently. By the gate they have a spring in a cave, the water of which
does not rise out of the earth, but flows down from the roof of the cave. For this reason
it is called the Dripping Spring.[2.7.5] On the modern citadel is a sanctuary of Fortune
of the Height, and after it one of the Dioscuri. Their images and that of Fortune are of
wood. On the stage of the theater built under the citadel is a statue of a man with a
shield, who they say is Aratus, the son of Cleinias. After the theater is a temple of
Dionysus. The god is of gold and ivory, and by his side are Bacchanals of white marble.
These women they say are sacred to Dionysus and maddened by his inspiration. The
Sicyonians have also some images which are kept secret. These one night in each year they
carry to the temple of Dionysus from what they call the Cosmeterium (Tiring-room), and
they do so with lighted torches and native hymns.
[2.7.6] The first is the one named Baccheus, set up by Androdamas, the son of Phlias,
and this is followed by the one called Lysius (Deliverer), brought from Thebes by the
Theban Phanes at the command of the Pythian priestess. Phanes came to Sicyon when
Aristomachus, the son of Cleodaeus, failed to understand the oracle1 given him,
and therefore failed to return to the Peloponnesus. As you walk from the temple of
Dionysus to the market-place you see on the right a temple of Artemis of the lake. A look
shows that the roof has fallen in, but the inhabitants cannot tell whether the image has
been removed or how it was destroyed on the spot.[2.7.7] Within the market-place is a
sanctuary of Persuasion; this too has no image. The worship of Persuasion was established
among them for the following reason. When Apollo and Artemis had killed Pytho they came to
Aegialea to obtain purification. Dread coming upon them at the place now named Fear, they
turned aside to Carmanor in Crete, and the people of Aegialea were smitten by a plague.
When the seers bade them propitiate Apollo and Artemis, [2.7.8] they sent seven boys and
seven maidens as suppliants to the river Sythas. They say that the deities, persuaded by
these, came to what was then the citadel, and the place that they reached first is the
sanctuary of Persuasion. Conformable with this story is the ceremony they perform at the
present day; the children go to the Sythas at the feast of Apollo, and having brought, as
they pretend, the deities to the sanctuary of Persuasion, they say that they take them
back again to the temple of Apollo. The temple stands in the modern market-place, and was
originally, it is said, made by Proetus, because in this place his daughters recovered
from their madness. [2.7.9] It is also said that in this temple Meleager dedicated the
spear with which he slew the boar. There is also a story that the flutes of Marsyas are
dedicated here. When the Silenus met with his disaster, the river Marsyas carried the
flutes to the Maeander; reappearing in the Asopus they were cast ashore in the Sicyonian
territory and given to Apollo by the shepherd who found them. I found none of these
offerings still in existence, for they were destroyed by fire when the temple was burnt.
The temple that I saw, and its image, were dedicated by Pythocles.
2,7,1,n1. 303 B.C.
2,7,1,n2. That it should perish and he left destitute.
2,7,2,n1. See p. 157.
2,7,3,n1. Flourished at the time of the Peloponnesian war.
2,7,4,n1. 222 B.C.
2,7,6,n1. I To wait for "the third fruit," i.e. the third generation. It was
interpreted to mean the third year.
[2.8.1] The precinct near the sanctuary of Persuasion that is devoted to Roman emperors
was once the house of the tyrant Cleon. He became tyrant in the modern city there was
another tyranny while the Sicyonians still lived in the lower city,1 that of
Cleisthenes, the son of Aristonymus, the son of Myron. Before this house is a hero-shrine
of Aratus,2 whose achievements eclipsed those of all contemporary Greeks. His
history is as follows.[2.8.2] After the despotism of Cleon, many of those in authority
were seized with such an ungovernable passion for tyranny that two actually became tyrants
together, Euthydemus and Timocleidas. These were expelled by the people, who made
Cleinias, the father of Aratus, their champion. A few years afterwards Abantidas became
tyrant. Before this time Cleinias had met his death, and Aratus went into exile, either of
his own accord or because he was compelled to do so by Abantidas. Now Abantidas was killed
by some natives, and his father Paseas immediately became tyrant.[2.8.3] He was killed by
Nicocles, who succeeded him.1 This Nicocles was attacked by Aratus with a force
of Sicyonian exiles and Argive mercenaries. Making his attempt by night, he eluded some of
the defenders in the darkness; the others he overcame, and forced his way within the wall.
Day was now breaking, and taking the populace with him he hastened to the tyrant's house.
This he easily captured, but Nicocles himself succeeded in making his escape. Aratus
restored equality of political rights to the Sicyonians, striking a bargain for those in
exile; he restored to them their houses and all their other possessions which had been
sold, compensating the buyers out of his own purse.[2.8.4] Moreover, as all the Greeks
were afraid of the Macedonians and of Antigonus, the guardian of Philip, the son of
Demetrius, he induced the Sicyonians, who were Dorians, to join the Achaean League. He was
immediately elected general by the Achaeans, and leading them against the Locrians of
Amphissa and into the land of the Aetolians, their enemies, he ravaged their territory.
Corinth was held by Antigonus, and there was a Macedonian garrison in the city, but he
threw them into a panic by the suddenness of his assault, winning a battle and killing
among others Persaeus, the commander of the garrison, who had studied philosophy under
Zeno,1 the son of Mnaseas.[2.8.5] When Aratus had liberated Corinth, the League
was joined by the Epidaurians and Troezenians inhabiting Argolian Acte, and by the
Megarians among those beyond the Isthmus, while Ptolemy made an alliance with the
Achaeans. The Lacedaemonians and king Agis, the son of Eudamidas, surprised and took
Pellene by a sudden onslaught, but when Aratus and his army arrived they were defeated in
an engagement, evacuated Pellene, and returned home under a truce.[2.8.6] After his
success in the Peloponnesus, Aratus thought it a shame to allow the Macedonians to hold
unchallenged Peiraeus, Munychia, Salamis, and Sunium; but not expecting to be able to take
them by force he bribed Diogenes, the commander of the garrisons, to give up the positions
for a hundred and fifty talents, himself helping the Athenians by contributing a sixth
part of the sum. He induced Aristomachus also, the tyrant of Argos, to restore to the
Argives their democracy and to join the Achaean League; he captured Mantinea from the
Lacedaemonians who held it. But no man finds all his plans turn out according to his
liking, and even Aratus was compelled to become an ally of the Macedonians and Antigonus
in the following way.
2,8,1,n1. c. 590 B.C.
2,8,1,n2. 271-213 B.C.
2,8,3,n1. 251 B.C.
2,8,4,n1. The Stoic philosopher (c. 360-270 B.C.).
[2.9.1] Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, the son of Cleonymus, having succeeded to the
kingship at Sparta, resembled Pausanias1 in being dissatisfied with the
established constitution and in aiming at a tyranny. A more fiery man than Pausanias, and
no coward, he quickly succeeded by spirit and daring in accomplishing all his ambition. He
poisoned Eurydamidas, the king of the other2 royal house, while yet a boy,
raised to the throne by means of the ephors his brother Epicleidas, destroyed the power of
the senate, and appointed in its stead a nominal Council of Fathers. Ambitious for greater
things and for supremacy over the Greeks, he first attacked the Achaeans, hoping if
successful to have them as allies, and especially wishing that they should not hinder his
activities. [2.9.2] Engaging them at Dyme beyond Patrae, Aratus being still leader of the
Achaeans, he won the victory.1 In fear for the Achaeans and for Sicyon itself,
Aratus was forced by this defeat to bring in Antigouus as an ally. Cleomenes had violated
the peace which he had made with Antigonus and had openly acted in many ways contrary to
treaty, especially in laying waste Megalopolis. So Antigonus crossed into the Peloponnesus
and the Achaeans met Cleomenes at Sellasia.2 The Achaeans were victorious, the
people of Sellasia were sold into slavery, and Lacedaemon itself was captured. Antigonus
and the Achaeans restored to the Lacedaemonians the constitution of their fathers;[2.9.3]
but of the children of Leonidas, Epicleidas was killed in the battle, and Cleomenes fled
to Egypt. Held in the highest honor by Ptolemy, he came to be cast into prison, being
convicted of inciting Egyptians to rebel against their king. He made his escape from
prison and began a riot among the Alexandrians, but at last, on being captured, he fell by
his own hand. The Lacedaemonians, glad to be rid of Cleomenes, refused to be ruled by
kings any longer, but the rest of their ancient constitution they have kept to the present
day. Antigonus remained a constant friend of Aratus, looking upon him as a benefactor who
hid helped him to accomplish brilliant deeds.[2.9.4] But when Philip succeeded to the
throne, since Aratus did not approve of his violent treatment of his subjects, and in some
cases even opposed the accomplishment of his purposes, he killed Aratus by giving him
secretly a dose of poison. This fate came upon Aratus at Aegium, from which place he was
carried to Sicyon and buried, and there is still in that city the hero-shrine of Aratus.
Philip treated two Athenians, Eurycleides and Micon, in a similar way. These men also, who
were orators enjoying the confidence of the people, he killed by poison.[2.9.5] After all,
Philip himself in his turn was fated to suffer disaster through the fatal cup. Philip's
son, Demetrius, was poisoned by Perseus, his younger son, and grief at the murder brought
the father also to his grave. I mention the incident in passing, with my mind turned to
the inspired words of the poet Hesiod,1 that he who plots mischief against his
neighbor directs it first to himself.
[2.9.6] After the hero-shrine of Aratus is an altar to Isthmian Poseidon, and also a
Zeus Meilichius (Gracious) and an Artemis named Patroa (Paternal), both of them very
inartistic works. The Meilichius is like a pyramid, the Artemis like a pillar. Here too
stand their council-chamber and a portico called Cleisthenean from the name of him who
built it. It was built from spoils by Cleisthenes, who helped the Amphictyons in the war
at Cirrha.1 In the market-place under the open sky is a bronze Zeus, a work of
Lysippus,2 and by the side of it a gilded Artemis.[2.9.7] Hard by is a
sanctuary of Apollo Lycius (Wolf-god), now fallen into ruins and not worth any attention.
For wolves once so preyed upon their flocks that there was no longer any profit therefrom,
and the god, mentioning a certain place where lay a dry log, gave an oracle that the bark
of this log mixed with meat was to be set out for the beasts to eat. As soon as they
tasted it the bark killed them, and that log lay in my time in the sanctuary of the
Wolf-god, but not even the guides of the Sicyonians knew what kind of tree it was.[2.9.8]
Next after this are bronze portrait statues, said to be the daughters of Proetus, but the
inscription I found referred to other women. Here there is a bronze Heracles, made by
Lysippus the Sicyonian, and hard by stands Hermes of the Market-place.
2,9,1,n1. The victor of Plataea (479 B.C.). Afterwards put to death for treachery.
2,9,1,n2. There were two kings at Sparta, one from each of the two royal houses.
2,9,2,n1. 225 B.C.
2,9,2,n2. 222 B.C.
2,9,5,n1. Hes. WD 265
2,9,6,n1. c. 590 B.C.
2,9,6,n2. Contemporary of Alexander the Great.
[2.10.1] In the gymnasium not far from the market-place is dedicated a stone Heracles
made by Scopas.1 There is also in another place a sanctuary of Heracles. The
whole of the enclosure here they name Paedize; in the middle of the enclosure is the
sanctuary, and in it is an old wooden figure carved by Laphaes the Phliasian. I will now
describe the ritual at the festival. The story is that on coming to the Sicyonian land
Phaestus found the people giving offerings to Heracles as to a hero. Phaestus then refused
to do anything of the kind, but insisted on sacrificing to him as to a god. Even at the
present day the Sicyonians, after slaying a lamb and burning the thighs upon the altar,
eat some of the meat as part of a victim given to a god, while the rest they offer as to a
hero. The first day of the festival in honor of Heracles they name . . . ; the second they
call Heraclea.[2.10.2] From here is a way to a sanctuary of Asclepius. On passing into the
enclosure you see on the left a building with two rooms. In the outer room lies a figure
of Sleep, of which nothing remains now except the head. The inner room is given over to
the Carnean Apollo; into it none may enter except the priests. In the portico lies a huge
bone of a sea-monster, and after it an image of the Dream-god and Sleep, surnamed Epidotes
(Bountiful), lulling to sleep a lion. Within the sanctuary on either side of the entrance
is an image, on the one hand Pan seated, on the other Artemis standing.
[2.10.3] When you have entered you see the god, a beardless figure of gold and ivory
made by Calamis.1 He holds a staff in one hand, and a cone of the cultivated
pine in the other. The Sicyonians say that the god was carried to them from Epidaurus on a
carriage drawn by two mules, that he was in the likeness of a serpent, and that he was
brought by Nicagora of Sicyon, the mother of Agasicles and the wife of Echetimus. Here are
small figures hanging from the roof. She who is on the serpent they say is Aristodama, the
mother of Aratus, whom they hold to be a son of Asclepius. [2.10.4] Such are the
noteworthy things that this enclosure presented to me, and opposite is another enclosure,
sacred to Aphrodite. The first thing inside is a statue of Antiope. They say that her sons
were Sicyonians, and because of them the Sicyonians will have it that Antiope herself is
related to themselves. After this is the sanctuary of Aphrodite, into which enter only a
female verger, who after her appointment may not have intercourse with a man, and a
virgin, called the Bath-bearer, holding her sacred office for a year. All others are wont
to behold the goddess from the entrance, and to pray from that place.[2.10.5] The image,
which is seated, was made by the Sicyonian Canachus, who also fashioned the Apollo at
Didyma of the Milesians, and the Ismenian Apollo for the Thebans. It is made of gold and
ivory, having on its head a polos,1 and carrying in one hand a poppy and in the
other an apple. They offer the thighs of the victims, excepting pigs; the other parts they
burn for the goddess with juniper wood, but as the thighs are burning they add to the
offering a leaf of the paideros.
[2.10.6] This is a plant in the open parts of the enclosure, and it grows nowhere else
either in Sicyonia or in any other land. Its leaves are smaller than those of the esculent
oak, but larger than those of the holm; the shape is similar to that of the oak-leaf. One
side is of a dark color, the other is white. You might best compare the color to that of
white-poplar leaves.
[2.10.7] Ascending from here to the gymnasium you see in the right a sanctuary of
Artemis Pheraea. It is said that the wooden image was brought from Pherae. This gymnasium
was built for the Sicyonians by Cleinias, and they still train the youths here. White
marble images are here, an Artemis wrought only to the waist, and a Heracles whose lower
parts are similar to the square Hermae.
2,10,1,n1. Flourished first half of fourth century B.C.
2,10,3,n1. A famous early fifth century sculptor.
2,10,5,n1. A curiously shaped head-gear.
[2.11.1] Turning away from here towards the gate called Holy you see, not far from the
gate, a temple of Athena. Dedicated long ago by Epopeus, it surpassed all its
contemporaries in size and splendor. Yet the memory of even this was doomed to perish
through lapse of time--it was burnt down by lightning--but the altar there, which escaped
injury, remains down to the present day as Epopeus made it. Before the altar a barrow has
been raised for Epopeus himself, and near the grave are the gods Averters of evil. Near
them the Greeks perform such rites as they are wont to do in order to avert misfortunes.
They say that the neighboring sanctuary of Artemis and Apollo was also made by Epopeus,
and that of Hera after it by Adrastus. I found no images remaining in either. Behind the
sanctuary of Hera he built an altar to Pan, and one to Helius (Sun) made of white
marble.[2.11.2] On the way down to the plain is a sanctuary of Demeter, said to have been
founded by Plemnaeis as a thank-offering to the goddess for the rearing of his son. A
little farther away from the sanctuary of Hera founded by Adrastus is a temple of the
Carnean Apollo. Only the pillars are standing in it; you will no longer find there walls
or roof, nor yet in that of Hera Pioneer. This temple was founded by Phalces, son of
Temenus, who asserted that Hera guided him on the road to Sicyon.[2.11.3] On the direct
road from Sicyon to Phlius, on the left of the road and just about ten stades from it, is
a grove called Pyraea, and in it a sanctuary of Hera Protectress and the Maid. Here the
men celebrate a festival by themselves, giving up to the women the temple called Nymphon
for the purposes of their festival. In the Nymphon are images of Dionysus, Demeter, and
the Maid, with only their faces exposed. The road to Titane is sixty stades long, and too
narrow to be used by carriages drawn by a yoke.[2.11.4] At a distance along it, in my
opinion, of twenty stades, to the left on the other side of the Asopus, is a grove of holm
oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the August, and by the
Sicyonians the Kindly Ones. On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and
offer sheep big with young as a burnt offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation
of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practise similar rites at the
altar of the Fates; it is in an open space in the grove.[2.11.5] On turning back to the
road, and having crossed the Asopus again and reached the summit of the hill, you come to
the place where the natives say that Titan first dwelt. They add that he was the brother
of Helius (Sun), and that after him the place got the name Titane. My own view is that he
proved clever at observing the seasons of the year and the times when the sun increases
and ripens seeds and fruits, and for this reason was held to be the brother of Helius.
Afterwards Alexanor, the son of Machaon, the son of Asclepius, came to Sicyonia and built
the sanctuary of Asclepius at Titane.[2.11.6] The neighbors are chiefly servants of the
god, and within the enclosure are old cypress trees. One cannot learn of what wood or
metal the image is, nor do they know the name of the maker, though one or two attribute it
to Alexanor himself. Of the image can be seen only the face, hands, and feet, for it has
about it a tunic of white wool and a cloak. There is a similar image of Health; this, too,
one cannot see easily because it is so surrounded with the locks of women, who cut them
off and offer them to the goddess, and with strips of Babylonian raiment. With whichever
of these a votary here is willing to propitiate heaven, the same instructions have been
given to him, to worship this image which they are pleased to call Health.[2.11.7] There
are images also of Alexanor and of Euamerion; to the former they give offerings as to a
hero after the setting of the sun; to Euamerion, as being a god, they give burnt
sacrifices. If I conjecture aright, the Pergamenes, in accordance with an oracle, call
this Euamerion Telesphorus (Accomplisher) while the Epidaurians call him Acesis (Cure).
There is also a wooden image of Coronis, but it has no fixed position anywhere in the
temple. While to the god are being sacrificed a bull, a lamb, and a pig, they remove
Coronis to the sanctuary of Athena and honor her there. The parts of the victims which
they offer as a burnt sacrifice, and they are not content with cutting out the thighs,
they burn on the ground, except the birds, which they burn on the altar.
[2.11.8] In the gable at the ends are figures of Heracles and of Victories. In the
portico are dedicated images of Dionysus and Hecate, with Aphrodite, the Mother of the
gods, and Fortune. These are wooden, but Asclepius, surnamed Gortynian, is of stone. They
are unwilling to enter among the sacred serpents through fear, but they place their food
before the entrance and take no further trouble. Within the enclosure is a bronze statue
of a Sicyonian named Granianus, who won the following victories at Olympia: the pentathlon1
twice, the foot-race, the double-course foot-race twice, once without and once with the
shield.
2,11,8,n1. See note on Paus. 1.29.5
[2.12.1] In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the
image of Coronis. In it is an old wooden figure of Athena, and I was told that it, too,
was struck by lightning. The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an
Altar of the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year.
He also performs other secret rites at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts, and
he is said to chant as well charms of Medea.
[2.12.2] On reaching Sicyon from Titane, as you go down to the shore you see on the
left of the road a temple of Hera having now neither image nor roof. They say that its
founder was Proetus, the son of Abas. When you have gone down to the harbor called the
Sicyonians' and turned towards Aristonautae, the Port of Pellene, you see a little above
the road on the left hand a sanctuary of Poseidon. Farther along the highway is a river
called the Helisson, and after it the Sythas, both emptying themselves into the
sea.[2.12.3] Phliasia borders on Sicyonia. The city is just about forty stades distant
from Titane, and there is a straight road to it from Sicyon. That the Phliasians are in no
way related to the Arcadians is shown by the passage in Homer that deals with the list of
the Arcadians, in which the Sicyonians are not included among the Arcadian confederates.
As my narrative progresses it will become clear that they were Argive originally, and
became Dorian later after the return of the Heracleidae to the Peloponnesus. I know that
most of the traditions concerning the Phliasians are contradictory, but I shall make use
of those which have been most generally accepted. [2.12.4] They say that the first man in
this land was Aras, who sprang from the soil. He founded a city around that hillock which
even down to our day is called the Arantine Hill, not far distant from a second hill on
which the Phliasians have their citadel and their sanctuary of Hebe. Here, then, he
founded a city, and after him in ancient times both the land and the city were called
Arantia. While he was king, Asopus, said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon, discovered
for him the water of the river which the present inhabitants call after him Asopus. The
tomb of Aras is in the place called Celeae, where they say is also buried Dysaules of
Eleusis.
[2.12.5] Aras had a son Aoris and a daughter Araethyrea, who, the Phliasians say, were
experienced hunters and brave warriors. Araethyrea died first, and Aoris, in memory of his
sister, changed the name of the land to Araethyrea. This is why Homer, in making a list of
Agamemnon's subjects, has the verse:
Orneae was their home and Araethyrea the delightful.1
The graves of the children of Aras are, in my opinion, on the Arantine Hill and
not in any other part of the land. On the top of them are far-seen gravestones, and before
the celebration of the mysteries of Demeter the people look at these tombs and call Aras
and his children to the libations.[2.12.6] The Argives say that Phlias, who has given the
land its third name, was the son of Ceisus, the son of Temenus. This account I can by no
means accept, but I know that he is called a son of Dionysus, and that he is said to have
been one of those who sailed on the Argo. The verses of the Rhodian poet confirm me in my
opinion:--
Came after these Phlias from Araethyrea to the muster;
Here did he dwell and prosper, because Dionysus his father
Cared for him well, and his home was near to the springs of Asopus.1
The account goes on to say that the mother of Phlias was Araethyrea and not
Chthonophyle. The latter was his wife and bore him Androdamas.
2,12,5,n1. Hom. Il. 2.571
2,12,6,n1. Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica 1.115-117.
[2.13.1] On the return of the Heracleidae disturbances took place throughout the whole
of the Peloponnesus except Arcadia, so that many of the cities received additional
settlers from the Dorian race, and their inhabitants suffered yet more revolutions. The
history of Phlius is as follows. The Dorian Rhegnidas, the son of Phalces, the son of
Temenus, attacked it from Argos and Sicyonia. Some of the Phliasians were inclined to
accept the offer of Rhegnidas, which was that they should remain on their own estates and
receive Rhegnidas as their king, giving the Dorians with him a share in the land. [2.13.2]
Hippasus and his party, on the other hand, urged the citizens to defend themselves, and
not to give up many advantages to the Dorians without striking a blow. The people,
however, accepted the opposite policy, and so Hippasus and any others who wished fled to
Samos. Great-grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras,1 the celebrated sage.
For Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphranor, the son of Hippasus. This
is the account the Phliasians give about themselves, and the Sicyonians in general agree
with them. [2.13.3] I will now add an account of the most remarkable of their famous
sights. On the Phliasian citadel is a grove of cypress trees and a sanctuary which from
ancient times has been held to be peculiarly holy. The earliest Phliasians named the
goddess to whom the sanctuary belongs Ganymeda; but later authorities call her Hebe, whom
Homer1 mentions in the duel between Menelaus and Alexander, saying that she was
the cup-bearer of the gods; and again he says, in the descent of Odysseus to Hell,2
that she was the wife of Heracles. Olen,3 in his hymn to Hera, says that Hera
was reared by the Seasons, and that her children were Ares and Hebe. Of the honors that
the Phliasians pay to this goddess the greatest is the pardoning of suppliants.[2.13.4]
All those who seek sanctuary here receive full forgiveness, and prisoners, when set free,
dedicate their fetters on the trees in the grove. The Phliasians also celebrate a yearly
festival which they call Ivy-cutters. There is no image, either kept in secret or openly
displayed, and the reason for this is set forth in a sacred legend of theirs though on the
left as you go out is a temple of Hera with an image of Parian marble.
[2.13.5] On the citadel is another enclosure, which is sacred to Demeter, and in it are
a temple and statue of Demeter and her daughter. Here there is also a bronze statue of
Artemis, which appeared to me to be ancient. As you go down from the citadel you see on
the right a temple of Asclepius with an image of the god as a beardless youth. Below this
temple is built a theater. Not far from it is a sanctuary of Demeter and old, seated
images.[2.13.6] On the market-place is a votive offering, a bronze she-goat for the most
part covered with gold. The following is the reason why it has received honors among the
Phliasians. The constellation which they call the Goat on its rising causes continual
damage to the vines. In order that they may suffer nothing unpleasant from it, the
Phliasians pay honors to the bronze goat on the market-place and adorn the image with
gold. Here also is the tomb of Aristias, the son of Pratinas.1 This Aristias
and his father Pratinas composed satyric plays more popular than any save those of
Aeschylus.[2.13.7] Behind the market-place is a building which the Phliasians name the
House of Divination. Into it Amphiaraus entered, slept the night there, and then first,
say the Phliasians, began to divine. According to their account Amphiaraus was for a time
an ordinary person and no diviner. Ever since that time the building has been shut up. Not
far away is what is called the Omphalos (Navel), the center of all the Peloponnesus, if
they speak the truth about it. Farther on from the Omphalos they have an old sanctuary of
Dionysus, a sanctuary of Apollo, and one of Isis. The image of Dionysus is visible to all,
and so also is that of Apollo, but the image of Isis only the priests may behold.
[2.13.8] The Phliasians tell also the following legend. When Heracles came back safe
from Libya, bringing the apples of the Hesperides, as they were called, he visited Phlius
on some private matter. While he was staying there Oeneus came to him from Aetolia. He had
already allied himself to the family of Heracles, and after his arrival on this occasion
either he entertained Heracles or Heracles entertained him. Be this as it may, displeased
with the drink given him Heracles struck on the head with one of his fingers the boy
Cyathus, the cup-bearer of Oeneus, who died on the spot from the blow. A chapel keeps the
memory of the deed fresh among the Phliasians; it is built by the side of the sanctuary of
Apollo, and it contains statues made of stone representing Cyathus holding out a cup to
Heracles.
2,13,2,n1. The philosopher and mathematician.Fl. c. 527 B.C.
2,13,3,n1. Hom. Il. 4.2 foll.
2,13,3,n2. Hom. Od. 11.603
2,13,3,n3. A mythical poet of Greece, associated with Apollo.
2,13,6,n1. fl. c. 500 B.C.
[2.14.1] Celeae is some five stades distant from the city, and here they celebrate the
mysteries in honor of Demeter, not every year but every fourth year. The initiating priest
is not appointed for life, but at each celebration they elect a fresh one, who takes, if
he cares to do so, a wife. In this respect their custom differs from that at Eleusis, but
the actual celebration is modelled on the Eleusinian rites. The Phliasians themselves
admit that they copy the "performance" at Eleusis.[2.14.2] They say that it was
Dysaules, the brother of Celeus, who came to their land and established the mysteries, and
that he had been expelled from Eleusis by Ion, when Ion, the son of Xuthus, was chosen by
the Athenians to be commander-in-chief in the Eleusinian war. Now I cannot possibly agree
with the Phliasians in supposing that an Eleusinian was conquered in battle and driven
away into exile, for the war terminated in a treaty before it was fought out, and Eumolpus
himself remained at Eleusis.[2.14.3] But it is possible that Dysaules came to Phlius for
some other reason than that given by the Phliasians. I do not believe either that he was
related to Celeus, or that he was in any way distinguished at Eleusis, otherwise Homer
would never have passed him by in his poems. For Homer is one of those who have written in
honor of Demeter, and when he is making a list of those to whom the goddess taught the
mysteries he knows nothing of an Eleusinian named Dysaules. These are the verses:--
She to Triptolemus taught, and to Diocles, driver of horses,
Also to mighty Eumolpus, to Celeus, leader of peoples,
Cult of the holy rites, to them all her mystery telling.1
[2.14.4] At all events, this Dysaules, according to the Phliasians, established
the mysteries here, and he it was who gave to the place the name Celeae. I have already
said that the tomb of Dysaules is here. So the grave of Aras was made earlier, for
according to the account of the Phliasians Dysaules did not arrive in the reign of Aras,
but later. For Aras, they say, was a contemporary of Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, and
three generations of men older than Pelasgus the son of Arcas and those called at Athens
aboriginals. On the roof of what is called the Anactorum they say is dedicated the chariot
of Pelops.
2,14,3,n1. HH Dem. 474-476
[2.15.1] These are the things that I found most worthy of mention among the Phliasians.
On the road from Corinth to Argos is a small city Cleonae. They say that Cleones was a son
of Pelops, though there are some who say that Cleone was one of the daughters of Asopus,
that flows by the side of Sicyon. Be this as it may, one or other of these two accounts
for the name of the city. Here there is a sanctuary of Athena, and the image is a work of
Scyllis and Dipoenus.1 Some hold them to have been the pupils of Daedalus, but
others will have it that Daedalus took a wife from Gortyn, and that Dipoenus and Scyllis
were his sons by this woman. Cleonae possesses this sanctuary and the tomb of Eurytus and
Cteatus. The story is that as they were going as ambassadors from Elis to the Isthmian
contest they were here shot by Heracles, who charged them with being his adversaries in
the war against Augeas.[2.15.2] From Cleonae to Argos are two roads; one is direct and
only for active men, the other goes along the pass called Tretus (Pierced), is narrow like
the other, being surrounded by mountains, but is nevertheless more suitable for carriages.
In these mountains is still shown the cave of the famous lion, and the place Nemea is
distant some fifteen stades. In Nemea is a noteworthy temple of Nemean Zeus, but I found
that the roof had fallen in and that there was no longer remaining any image. Around the
temple is a grove of cypress trees, and here it is, they say, that Opheltes was placed by
his nurse in the grass and killed by the serpent.[2.15.3] The Argives offer burnt
sacrifices to Zeus in Nemea also, and elect a priest of Nemean Zeus; moreover they offer a
prize for a race in armour at the winter celebration of the Nemean games. In this place is
the grave of Opheltes; around it is a fence of stones, and within the enclosure are
altars. There is also a mound of earth which is the tomb of Lycurgus, the father of
Opheltes. The spring they call Adrastea for some reason or other, perhaps because Adrastus
found it. The land was named, they say, after Nemea, who was another daughter of Asopus.
Above Nemea is Mount Apesas, where they say that Perseus first sacrificed to Zeus of
Apesas.[2.15.4] Ascending to Tretus, and again going along the road to Argos, you see on
the left the ruins of Mycenae. The Greeks are aware that the founder of Mycenae was
Perseus, so I will narrate the cause of its foundation and the reason why the Argives
afterwards laid Mycenae waste. The oldest tradition in the region now called Argolis is
that when Inachus was king he named the river after himself and sacrificed to Hera.
[2.15.5] There is also another legend which says that Phoroneus was the first
inhabitant of this land, and that Inachus, the father of Phoroneus, was not a man but the
river. This river, with the rivers Cephisus and Asterion, judged concerning the land
between Poseidon and Hera. They decided that the land belonged to Hera, and so Poseidon
made their waters disappear. For this reason neither Inachus nor either of the other
rivers I have mentioned provides any water except after rain. In summer their streams are
dry except those at Lerna. Phoroneus, the son of Inachus, was the first to gather together
the inhabitants, who up to that time had been scattered and living as isolated families.
The place into which they were first gathered was named the City of Phoroneus.
2,15,1,n1. fl. sixth cent. B.C.
[2.16.1] Argus, the grandson of Phoroneus, succeeding to the throne after Phoroneus,
gave his name to the land. Argus begat Peirasus and Phorbas, Phorbas begat Triopas, and
Triopas begat Iasus and Agenor. Io, the daughter of Iasus, went to Egypt, whether the
circumstances be as Herodotus records or as the Greeks say. After Iasus, Crotopus, the son
of Agenor, came to the throne and begat Sthenelas, but Danaus sailed from Egypt against
Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas, and stayed the succession to the kingdom of the descendants
of Agenor. What followed is known to all alike: the crime the daughters of Danaus
committed against their cousins, and how, on the death of Danaus, Lynceus succeeded him.
[2.16.2] But the sons of Abas, the son of Lynceus, divided the kingdom between themselves;
Acrisius remained where he was at Argos, and Proetus took over the Heraeum, Mideia,
Tiryns, and the Argive coast region. Traces of the residence of Proetus in Tiryns remain
to the present day. Afterwards Acrisius, learning that Perseus himself was not only alive
but accomplishing great achievements, retired to Larisa on the Peneus. And Perseus,
wishing at all costs to see the father of his mother and to greet him with fair words and
deeds, visited him at Larisa. Being in the prime of life and proud of his inventing the
quoit, he gave displays before all, and Acrisius, as luck would have it, stepped unnoticed
into the path of the quoit.[2.16.3] So the prediction of the god to Acrisius found its
fulfillment, nor was his fate prevented by his precautions against his daughter and
grandson. Perseus, ashamed because of the gossip about the homicide, on his return to
Argos induced Megapenthes, the son of Proetus, to make an exchange of kingdoms; taking
over himself that of Megapenthes, he founded Mycenae. For on its site the cap (myces) fell
from his scabbard, and he regarded this as a sign to found a city. I have also heard the
following account. He was thirsty, and the thought occurred to him to pick up a mushroom
(myces) from the ground. Drinking with joy water that flowed from it, he gave to the place
the name of Mycenae.[2.16.4] Homer in the Odyssey mentions a woman Mycene in the following
verse:--
Tyro and Alcmene and the fair-crowned lady Mycene.1
She is said to have been the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor in the
poem which the Greeks call the Great Eoeae. So they say that this lady has given her name
to the city. But the account which is attributed to Acusilaus, that Myceneus was the son
of Sparton, and Sparton of Phoroneus, I cannot accept, because the Lacedaemonians
themselves do not accept it either. For the Lacedaemonians have at Amyclae a portrait
statue of a woman named Sparte, but they would be amazed at the mere mention of a Sparton,
son of Phoroneus.[2.16.5] It was jealousy which caused the Argives to destroy Mycenae. For
at the time of the Persian invasion the Argives made no move, but the Mycenaeans sent
eighty men to Thermopylae who shared in the achievement of the Lacedaemonians. This
eagerness for distinction brought ruin upon them by exasperating the Argives. There still
remain, however, parts of the city wall, including the gate, upon which stand lions.
These, too, are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who made for Proetus the wall at
Tiryns.[2.16.6] In the ruins of Mycenae is a fountain called Persea; there are also
underground chambers of Atreus and his children, in which were stored their treasures.
There is the grave of Atreus, along with the graves of such as returned with Agamemnon
from Troy, and were murdered by Aegisthus after he had given them a banquet. As for the
tomb of Cassandra, it is claimed by the Lacedaemonians who dwell around Amyclae. Agamemnon
has his tomb, and so has Eurymedon the charioteer, while another is shared by Teledamus
and Pelops, twin sons, they say, of Cassandra,
[2.16.7] whom while yet babies Aegisthus slew after their parents. Electra has her
tomb, for Orestes married her to Pylades. Hellanicus adds that the children of Pylades by
Electra were Medon and Strophius. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus were buried at some little
distance from the wall. They were thought unworthy of a place within it, where lay
Agamemnon himself and those who were murdered with him.
2,16,4,n1. Hom. Od., unknown line
[2.17.1] Fifteen stades distant from Mycenae is on the left the Heraeum. Beside the
road flows the brook called Water of Freedom. The priestesses use it in purifications and
for such sacrifices as are secret. The sanctuary itself is on a lower part of Euboea.
Euboea is the name they give to the hill here, saying that Asterion the river had three
daughters, Euboea, Prosymna, and Acraea, and that they were nurses of Hera. [2.17.2] The
hill opposite the Heraeum they name after Acraea, the environs of the sanctuary they name
after Euboea, and the land beneath the Heraeum after Prosymna. This Asterion flows above
the Heraeum, and falling into a cleft disappears. On its banks grows a plant, which also
is called asterion. They offer the plant itself to Hera, and from its leaves weave her
garlands.[2.17.3] It is said that the architect of the temple was Eupolemus, an Argive.
The sculptures carved above the pillars refer either to the birth of Zeus and the battle
between the gods and the giants, or to the Trojan war and the capture of Ilium. Before the
entrance stand statues of women who have been priestesses to Hera and of various heroes,
including Orestes. They say that Orestes is the one with the inscription, that it
represents the Emperor Augustus. In the fore-temple are on the one side ancient statues of
the Graces, and on the right a couch of Hera and a votive offering, the shield which
Menelaus once took from Euphorbus at Troy. [2.17.4] The statue of Hera is seated on a
throne; it is huge, made of gold and ivory, and is a work of Polycleitus. She is wearing a
crown with Graces and Seasons worked upon it, and in one hand she carries a pomegranate
and in the other a sceptre. About the pomegranate I must say nothing, for its story is
somewhat of a holy mystery. The presence of a cuckoo seated on the sceptre they explain by
the story that when Zeus was in love with Hera in her maidenhood he changed himself into
this bird, and she caught it to be her pet. This tale and similar legends about the gods I
relate without believing them, but I relate them nevertheless.[2.17.5] By the side of Hera
stands what is said to be an image of Hebe fashioned by Naucydes; it, too, is of ivory and
gold. By its side is an old image of Hera on a pillar. The oldest image is made of
wild-pear wood, and was dedicated in Tiryns by Peirasus, son of Argus, and when the
Argives destroyed Tiryns they carried it away to the Heraeum. I myself saw it, a small,
seated image.[2.17.6] Of the votive offerings the following are noteworthy. There is an
altar upon which is wrought in relief the fabled marriage of Hebe and Heracles. This is of
silver, but the peacock dedicated by the Emperor Hadrian is of gold and gleaming stones.
He dedicated it because they hold the bird to be sacred to Hera. There lie here a golden
crown and a purple robe, offerings of Nero.[2.17.7] Above this temple are the foundations
of the earlier temple and such parts of it as were spared by the flames. It was burnt down
because sleep overpowered Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, when the lamp before the
wreaths set fire to them. Chryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Athena Alea. Although so
great a disaster had befallen them the Argives did not take down the statue of Chryseis;
it is still in position in front of the burnt temple.
[2.18.1] By the side of the road from Mycenae to Argos there is on the left hand a
hero-shrine of Perseus. The neighboring folk, then, pay him honors here, but the greatest
honors are paid to him in Seriphus and among the Athenians, who have a precinct sacred to
Perseus and an altar of Dictys and Clymene, who are called the saviours of Perseus.
Advancing a little way in the Argive territory from this hero-shrine one sees on the right
the grave of Thyestes. On it is a stone ram, because Thyestes obtained the golden lamb
after debauching his brother's wife. But Atreus was not restrained by prudence from
retaliating, but contrived the slaughter of the children of Thyestes and the banquet of
which the poets tell us.[2.18.2] But as to what followed, I cannot say for certain whether
Aegisthus began the sin or whether Agamemnon sinned first in murdering Tantalus, the son
of Thyestes. It is said that Tantalus had received Clytaemnestra in marriage from
Tyndareus when she was still a virgin. I myself do not wish to condemn them of having been
wicked by nature; but if the pollution of Pelops and the avenging spirit of Myirtilus
dogged their steps so long, it was after all only consistent that the Pythian priestess
said to the Spartan Glaucus, the son of Epicydes, who consulted her about breaking his
oath, that the punishment for this also comes upon the descendants of the sinner.
[2.18.3] A little beyond the Rams--this is the name they give to the tomb of
Thyestes--there is on the left a place called Mysia and a sanctuary of Mysian Demeter, so
named from a man Mysius who, say the Argives, was one of those who entertained Demeter.
Now this sanctuary has no roof, but in it is another temple, built of burnt brick, and
wooden images of the Maid, Pluto and Demeter. Farther on is a river called Inachus, and on
the other side of it an altar of Helius (the Sun). After this you will come to a gate
named after the sanctuary near it. This sanctuary belongs to Eileithyia.[2.18.4] The
Argives are the only Greeks that I know of who have been divided into three kingdoms. For
in the reign of Anaxagoras, son of Argeus, son of Megapenthes, the women were smitten with
madness, and straying from their homes they roamed about the country, until Melampus the
son of Amythaon cured them of the plague on condition that he himself and his brother Bias
had a share of the kingdom equal to that of Anaxagoras. Now descended from Bias five men,
Neleids on their mother's side, occupied the throne for four generations down to
Cyanippus, son of Aegialeus, and descended from Melampus six men in six generations down
to Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus.[2.18.5] But the native house of the family of
Anaxagoras ruled longer than the other two. For Iphis, son of Alector, son of Anaxagoras,
left the throne to Sthenelus, son of Capaneus his brother. After the capture of Troy,
Amphilochus migrated to the people now called the Amphilochians, and, Cyanippus having
died without issue, Cylarabes, son of Sthenelus, became sole king. However, he too left no
offspring, and Argos was seized by Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was a neighbor. Besides
his ancestral dominion, he had extended his rule over the greater part of Arcadia and had
succeeded to the throne of Sparta; he also had a contingent of Phocian allies always ready
to help him.[2.18.6] When Orestes became king of the Lacedaemonians, they themselves
consented to accept him for they considered that the sons of the daughter of Tyndareus had
a claim to the throne prior to that of Nicostratus and Megapenthes, who were sons of
Menelaus by a slave woman. On the death of Orestes, there succeeded to the throne
Tisamenus, the son of Orestes and of Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus. The mother of
Penthilus, the bastard son of Orestes, was, according to the poet Cinaethon, Erigone, the
daughter of Aegisthus. [2.18.7] It was in the reign of this Tisamenus that the Heracleidae
returned to the Peloponnesus; they were Temenus and Cresphontes, the sons of Aristomachus,
together with the sons of the third brother, Aristodemus, who had died. Their claim to
Argos and to the throne of Argos was, in my opinion, most just, because Tisamenus was
descended from Pelops, but the Heracleidae were descendants of Perseus. Tyndareus himself,
they made out, had been expelled by Hippocoon, and they said that Heracles, having killed
Hippocoon and his sons, had given the land in trust to Tyndareus. They gave the same kind
of account about Messenia also, that it had been given in trust to Nestor by Heracles
after he had taken Pylus.[2.18.8] So they expelled Tisamenus from Lacedaemon and Argos,
and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, namely Alcmaeon, son of Sillus, son of
Thrasymedes, Peisistratus, son of Peisistratus, and the sons of Paeon, son of Antilochus,
and with them Melanthus, son of Andropompus, son of Borus, son of Penthilus, son of
Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went with his army to the land that is now Achaia.
[2.18.9] To what people Peisistratus retreated I do not know, but the rest of the
Neleidae went to Athens, and the clans of the Paeonidae and of the Alcmaeonidae were named
after them. Melanthus even came to the throne, having deposed Thymoetes the son of
Oxyntes; for Thymoetes was the last Athenian king descended from Theseus.
[2.19.1] It is not to my purpose that I should set forth here the history of
Cresphontes and of the sons of Aristodemus. But Temenus openly employed, instead of his
sons, Delphontes, son of Antimachus, son of Thrasyanor, son of Ctesippus, son of Heracles,
as general in war and as adviser on all occasions. Even before this he had made him his
son-in-law, while Hyrnetho was his favorite daughter; he was accordingly suspected of
intending to divert the throne to her and Delphontes. For this reason his sons plotted
against him, and Ceisus, the eldest of them, seized the kingdom.[2.19.2] But from the
earliest times the Argives have loved freedom and self-government, and they limited to the
utmost the authority of their kings, so that to Medon, the son of Ceisus, and to his
descendants was left a kingdom that was such only in name. Meltas, the son of Lacedas, the
tenth descendant of Medon, was condemned by the people and deposed altogether from the
kingship.[2.19.3] The most famous building in the city of Argos is the sanctuary of Apollo
Lycius (Wolf-god). The modern image was made by the Athenian Attalus,1 but the
original temple and wooden image were the offering of Danaus. I am of opinion that in
those days all images, especially Egyptian images, were made of wood. The reason why
Danaus founded a sanctuary of Apollo Lycius was this. On coming to Argos he claimed the
kingdom against Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas. Many plausible arguments were brought
forward by both parties, and those of Sthenelas were considered as fair as those of his
opponent; so the people, who were sitting in judgment, put off, they say, the decision to
the following day. [2.19.4] At dawn a wolf fell upon a herd of oxen that was pasturing
before the wall, and attacked and fought with the bull that was the leader of the herd. It
occurred to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull and Danaus like the wolf, for as
the wolf will not live with men, so Danaus up to that time had not lived with them. It was
because the wolf overcame the bull that Danaus won the kingdom. Accordingly, believing
that Apollo had brought the wolf on the herd, he founded a sanctuary of Apollo Lycius.
[2.19.5] Here is dedicated the throne of Danaus, and here Is placed a statue of Biton, in
the form of a man carrying a bull on his shoulders. According to the poet Lyceas, when the
Argives were holding a sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, Biton by sheer physical strength took
up a bull and carried it there. Next to this statue is a fire which they keep burning,
calling it the fire of Phoroneus. For they do not admit that fire was given to mankind by
Prometheus, but insist in assigning the discovery of fire to Phoroneus.[2.19.6] As to the
wooden images of Aphrodite and Hermes, the one they say was made by Epeus, while the other
is a votive offering of Hypermnestra. She was the only one of the daughters of Danaus who
neglected his command,1 and was accordingly brought to justice by him, because
be considered that his life was in danger so long as Lynceus was at large, and that the
refusal to share in the crime of her sisters increased the disgrace of the contriver of
the deed. On her trial she was acquitted by the Argives, and to commemorate her escape she
dedicated an image of Aphrodite, the Bringer of Victory.
[2.19.7] Within the temple is a statue of Ladas, the swiftest runner of his time, and
one of Hermes with a tortoise which he has caught to make a lyre. Before the temple is a
pit1 with a relief representing a fight between a bull and a wolf, and with
them a maiden throwing a rock at the bull. The maiden is thought to be Artemis. Danaus
dedicated these, and some pillars hard by and wooden images of Zeus and Artemis.
[2.19.8] Here are graves; one is that of Linus, the son of Apollo by Psamathe, the
daughter of Crotopus; the other, they say, is that of Linus the poet. The story of the
latter Linus is more appropriate to another part of my narrative, and so I omit it here,
while I have already given the history of the son of Psamathe in my account of Megara.
After these is an image of Apollo, God of Streets, and an altar of Zeus, God of Rain,
where those who were helping Polyneices in his efforts to be restored to Thebes swore an
oath together that they would either capture Thebes or die. As to the tomb of Prometheus,
their account seems to me to be less probable than that of the Opuntians,1 but
they hold to it nevertheless.
2,19,3,n1. A sculptor of unknown date
2,19,6,n1. To kill their husbands.
2,19,7,n1. Or (readingbathron pepoiêmenênandechon) "pedestal."
2,19,8,n1. i.e. both peoples claimed to have the grave.
[2.20.1] Passing over a statue of Creugas, a boxer, and a trophy that was set up to
celebrate a victory over the Corinthians, you come to a seated image of Zeus Meilichius
(Gracious), made of white marble by Polycleitus.1 I discovered that it was made
for the following reason. Ever since the Lacedaemonians began to make war upon the Argives
there was no cessation of hostilities until Philip, the son of Amyntas, forced them to
stay within the original boundaries of their territories. Before this, if the
Lacedaemonians were not engaged on some business outside the Peloponnesus, they were
always trying to annex a piece of Argive territory; or if they were busied with a war
beyond their borders it was the turn of the Argives to retaliate. [2.20.2] When the hatred
of both sides was at its height, the Argives resolved to maintain a thousand picked men.
The commander appointed over them was the Argive Bryas. His general behavior to the men of
the people was violent, and a maiden who was being taken to the bridegroom he seized from
those who were escorting her and ravished. When night came on, the girl waited until he
was asleep and put out his eyes. Detected in the morning, she took refuge as a suppliant
with the people. When they did not give her up to the Thousand for punishment both sides
took up arms; the people won the day, and in their anger left none of their opponents
alive.1 Subsequently they had recourse to purifications for shedding kindred
blood; among other things they dedicated an image of Zeus Meilichius.[2.20.3] Hard by are
Cleobis and Biton carved in relief on stone, themselves drawing the carriage and taking in
it their mother to the sanctuary of Hera. Opposite them is a sanctuary of Nemean Zeus, and
an upright bronze statue of the god made by Lysippus.1 Going forward from this
you see on the right the grave of Phoroneus, to whom even in our time they bring offerings
as to a hero. Over against the Nemean Zeus is a temple of Fortune, which must be very old
if it be the one in which Palamedes dedicated the dice that he had invented.[2.20.4] The
tomb near this they call that of the maenad Chorea, saying that she was one of the women
who joined Dionysus in his expedition against Argos, and that Perseus, being victorious in
the battle, put most of the women to the sword. To the rest they gave a common grave, but
to Chorea they gave burial apart because of her high rank.[2.20.5] A little farther on is
a sanctuary of the Seasons. On coming back from here you see statues of Polyneices, the
son of Oedipus, and of all the chieftains who with him were killed in battle at the wall
of Thebes. These men Aeschylus has reduced to the number of seven only, although there
were more chiefs than this in the expedition, from Argos, from Messene, with some even
from Arcadia. But the Argives have adopted the number seven from the drama of Aeschylus,
and near to their statues are the statues of those who took Thebes: Aegialeus, son of
Adrastus; Promachus, son of Parthenopaeus, son of Talaus; Polydorus, son of Hippomedon;
Thersander; Alcmaeon and Amphilochus, the sons of Amphiaraus; Diomedes, and Sthenelus.
Among their company were also Euryalus, son of Mecisteus, and Adrastus and Timeas, sons of
Polyneices.[2.20.6] Not far from the statues are shown the tomb of Danaus and a cenotaph
of the Argives who met their death at Troy or on the journey home. Here there is also a
sanctuary of Zeus the Saviour. Beyond it is a building where the Argive women bewail
Adonis. On the right of the entrance is the sanctuary of Cephisus. It is said that the
water of this river was not utterly destroyed by Poseidon, but that just in this place,
where the sanctuary is, it can be heard flowing under the earth.
[2.20.7] Beside the sanctuary of Cephisus is a head of Medusa made of stone, which is
said to be another of the works of the Cyclopes. The ground behind it is called even at
the present time the Place of Judgment, because it was here that they say Hypermnestra was
brought to judgment by Danaus. Not far from this is a theater. In it are some noteworthy
sights, including a representation of a man killing another, namely the Argive Perilaus,
the son of Alcenor, killing the Spartan Othryadas. Before this, Perilaus had succeeded in
winning the prize for wrestling at the Nemean games.[2.20.8] Above the theater is a
sanctuary of Aphrodite, and before the image is a slab with a representation wrought on it
in relief of Telesilla, the lyric poetess. Her books lie scattered at her feet, and she
herself holds in her hand an helmet, which she is looking at and is about to place on her
head. Telesilla was a distinguished woman who was especially renowned for her poetry. It
happened that the Argives had suffered an awful defeat at the hands of Cleomenes, the son
of Anaxandrides, and the Lacedaemonians. Some fell in the actual fighting; others, who had
fled to the grove of Argus, also perished. At first they left sanctuary under an
agreement, which was treacherously broken, and the survivors, when they realized this,
were burnt to death in the grove. So when Cleomenes led his troops to Argos there were no
men to defend it.1 [2.20.9] But Telesilla mounted on the wall all the slaves
and such as were incapable of bearing arms through youth or old age, and she herself,
collecting the arms in the sanctuaries and those that were left in the houses, armed the
women of vigorous age, and then posted them where she knew the enemy would attack. When
the Lacedaemonians came on, the women were not dismayed at their battle-cry, but stood
their ground and fought valiantly. Then the Lacedaemonians, realizing that to destroy the
women would be an invidious success while defeat would mean a shameful disaster, gave way
before the women.
[2.20.10] This fight had been foretold by the Pythian priestess in the oracle quoted by
Herodotus, who perhaps understood to what it referred and perhaps did not:--
But when the time shall come that the female conquers in battle,
Driving away the male, and wins great glory in Argos,
Many an Argive woman will tear both cheeks in her sorrow.1
Such are the words of the oracle referring to the exploit of the women.
2,20,1,n1. c. 480-410 B.C.
2,20,2,n1. 418 B.C.
2,20,3,n1. See p. 297.
2,20,8,n1. 510 B.C.
2,20,10,n1. Hdt. 6.77
[2.21.1] Having descended thence, and having turned again to the market-place, we come
to the tomb of Cerdo, the wife of Phoroneus, and to a temple of Asclepius. The sanctuary
of Artemis, surnamed Persuasion, is another offering of Hypermnestra after winning the
trial to which she was brought by her father because of Lynceus. Here there is also a
bronze statue of Aeneas, and a place called Delta. I intentionally do not discuss the
origin of the name, because I could not accept the traditional accounts.[2.21.2] In front
of it stands an altar of Zeus Phyxius (God of Fight), and near is the tomb of
Hypermnestra, the mother of Amphiaraus, the other tomb being that of Hypermnestra, the
daughter of Danaus, with whom is also buried Lynceus. Opposite these is the grave of
Talaus, the son of Bias; the history of Bias and his descendants I have already given.
[2.21.3] A sanctuary of Athena Trumpet they say was founded by Hegeleos. This Hegeleos,
according to the story, was the son of Tyrsenus, and Tyrsenus was the son of Heracles and
the Lydian woman; Tyrsenus invented the trumpet, and Hegeleos, the son of Tyrsenus, taught
the Dorians with Temenus how to play the instrument, and for this reason gave Athena the
surname Trumpet. Before the temple of Athena is, they say, the grave of Epimenides. The
Argive story is that the Lacedaemonians made war upon the Cnossians and took Epimenides
alive; they then put him to death for not prophesying good luck to them, and the Argives
taking his body buried it here.[2.21.4] The building of white marble in just about the
middle of the marketplace is not, as the Argives declare, a trophy in honor of a victory
over Pyrrhus of Epeirus, but it can be shown that his body was burnt here, and that this
is his monument, on which are carved in relief the elephants and his other instruments of
warfare. This building then was set up where the pyre stood, but the bones of Pyrrhus lie
in the sanctuary of Demeter, beside which, as I have shown in my account of Attica, his
death occurred. At the entrance to this sanctuary of Demeter you can see a bronze shield
of Pyrrhus hanging dedicated over the door.[2.21.5] Not far from the building in the
market-place of Argos is a mound of earth, in which they say lies the head of the Gorgon
Medusa. I omit the miraculous, but give the rational parts of the story about her. After
the death of her father, Phorcus, she reigned over those living around Lake Tritonis,
going out hunting and leading the Libyans to battle. On one such occasion, when she was
encamped with an army over against the forces of Perseus, who was followed by picked
troops from the Peloponnesus, she was assassinated by night. Perseus, admiring her beauty
even in death, cut off her head and carried it to show the Greeks.[2.21.6] But Procles,
the son of Eucrates, a Carthaginian, thought a different account more plausible than the
preceding. It is as follows. Among the incredible monsters to be found in the Libyan
desert are wild men and wild women. Procles affirmed that he had seen a man from them who
had been brought to Rome. So he guessed that a woman wandered from them, reached Lake
Tritonis, and harried the neighbours until Perseus killed her; Athena was supposed to have
helped him in this exploit, because the people who live around Lake Tritonis are sacred to
her.[2.21.7] In Argos, by the side of this monument of the Gorgon, is the grave of
Gorgophone (Gorgon-kilIer), the daughter of Perseus. As soon as you hear the name you can
understand the reason why it was given her. On the death of her husband, Perieres, the son
of Aeolus, whom she married when a virgin, she married Oebalus, being the first woman,
they say, to marry a second time; for before this wives were wont, on the death of their
husbands, to live as widows.
[2.21.8] In front of the grave is a trophy of stone made to commemorate a victory over
an Argive Laphaes. When this man was tyrant I write what the Argives themselves say
concerning themselves--the people rose up against him and cast him out. He fled to Sparta,
and the Lacedaemonians tried to restore him to power, but were defeated by the Argives,
who killed the greater part of them and Laphaes as well.Not far from the trophy is the
sanctuary of Leto; the image is a work of Praxiteles.[2.21.9] The statue of the maiden
beside the goddess they call Chloris (Pale), saying that she was a daughter of Niobe, and
that she was called Meliboea at the first. When the children of Amphion were destroyed by
Apollo and Arternis, she alone of her sisters, along with Amyclas, escaped; their escape
was due to their prayers to Leto. Meliboea was struck so pale by her fright, not only at
the time but also for the rest of her life, that even her name was accordingly changed
from Meliboea to Chloris.[2.21.10] Now the Argives say that these two built originally the
temple to Leto, but I think that none of Niobe's children survived, for I place more
reliance than others on the poetry of Homer, one of whose verses bears out my view:--
Though they were only two, yet they gave all to destruction.1
So Homer knows that the house of Amphion was utterly overthrown.
2,21,10,n1. Hom. Il. 24.609
[2.22.1] The temple of Hera Anthea (Flowery) is on the right of the sanctuary of Leto,
and before it is a grave of women. They were killed in a battle against the Argives under
Perseus, having come from the Aegean Islands to help Dionysus in war; for which reason
they are surnamed Haliae (Women of the Sea). Facing the tomb of the women is a sanctuary
of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian from Pelasgus, son of Triopas, its founder, and not far
from the sanctuary is the grave of Pelasgus.[2.22.2] Opposite the grave is a small bronze
vessel supporting ancient images of Artemis, Zeus, and Athena. Now Lyceas in his poem says
that the image is of Zeus Mechaneus (Contriver), and that here the Argives who set out
against Troy swore to hold out in the war until they either took Troy or met their end
fighting. Others have said that in the bronze vessel lie the bones of Tantalus.[2.22.3]
Now that the Tantalus is buried here who was the son of Thyestes or Broteas (both accounts
are given) and married Clytaemnestra before Agamemnon did, I will not gainsay; but the
grave of him who legend says was son of Zeus and Pluto--it is worth seeing--is on Mount
Sipylus. I know because I saw it. Moreover, no constraint came upon him to flee from
Sipylus, such as afterwards forced Pelops to run away when Ilus the Phrygian launched an
army against him.But I must pursue the inquiry no further. The ritual performed at the pit
hard by they say was instituted by Nicostratus, a native. Even at the present day they
throw into the pit burning torches in honor of the Maid who is daughter of
Demeter.[2.22.4] Here is a sanctuary of Poseidon, surnamed Prosclystius (Flooder), for
they say that Poseidon inundated the greater part of the country because Inachus and his
assessors decided that the land belonged to Hera and not to him. Now it was Hera who
induced Poseidon to send the sea back, but the Argives made a sanctuary to Poseidon
Prosclystius at the spot where the tide ebbed.[2.22.5] Going on a little further you see
the grave of Argus, reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus. After
these comes a temple of the Dioscuri. The images represent the Dioscuri themselves and
their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous, and with them are their mothers, Hilaeira and Phoebe.
They are of ebony wood, and were made by Dipoenus and Scyllis.1 The horses,
too, are mostly of ebony, but there is a little ivory also in their construction.[2.22.6]
Near the Lords is a sanctuary of Eilethyia, dedicated by Helen when, Theseus having gone
away with Peirithous to Thesprotia, Aphidna had been captured by the Dioscuri and Helen
was being brought to Lacedaemon. For it is said that she was with child, was delivered In
Argos, and founded there the sanctuary of Eilethyia, giving the daughter she bore to
Clytaemnestra, who was already wedded to Agamemnon, while she herself subsequently married
Menelaus.[2.22.7] And on this matter the poets Euphorion of Chalcis and Alexander of
Pleuron, and even before them, Stesichorus of Himera, agree with the Argives in asserting
that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus.1 Over against the sanctuary of
Eilethyia is a temple of Hecate, and the image is a work of Scopas. This one is of stone,
while the bronze images opposite, also of Hecate, were made respectively by Polycleitus2
and his brother Naucydes, son of Mothon.[2.22.8] As you go along a straight road to a
gymnasium, called Cylarabis after the son of Sthenelus, you come to the grave of
Licymnius, the son of Electryon, who, Homer says, was killed by Tleptolemus, the son of
Heracles for which homicide Tleptolemus was banished from Argos. On turning a little aside
from the road to Cylarabis and to the gate there, you come to the tomb of Sacadas, who was
the first to play at Delphi the Pythian flute-tune;[2.22.9] the hostility of Apollo to
flute-players, which had lasted ever since the rivalry of Marsyas the Silenus, is supposed
to have stayed because of this Sacadas. In the gymnasium of Cylarabes is an Athena called
Pania; they show also the graves of Sthenelus and of Cylarabes himself. Not far from the
gymnasium has been built a common grave of those Argives who sailed with the Athenians to
enslave Syracuse and Sicily.
2,22,5,n1. Sixth cent. B.C.
2,22,7,n1. c. 610-550 B.C.
2,22,7,n2. It is uncertain who this Polycleitus was or when he lived. He was not the
great Polycleitus, and flourished probably after 400 B.C.
[2.23.1] As you go from here along a road called Hollow there is on the right a temple
of Dionysus; the image, they say, is from Euboea. For when the Greeks, as they were
returning from Troy, met with the shipwreck at Caphereus, those of the Argives who were
able to escape to land suffered from cold and hunger. Having prayed that someone of the
gods should prove himself a saviour in their present distress, straightway as they
advanced they came upon a cave of Dionysus; in the cave was an image of the god, and on
this occasion wild she-goats had gathered there to escape from the storm. These the
Argives killed, using the flesh as food and the skins as raiment. When the storm was over
and the Argives, having refitted their ships, were returning home, they took with them the
wooden image from the cave, and continue to honor it to the present day.[2.23.2] Very near
to the temple of Dionysus you will see the house of Adrastus, farther on a sanctuary of
Amphiaraus, and opposite the sanctuary the tomb of Eriphyle. Next to these is a precinct
of Asclepius, and after them a sanctuary of Baton. Now Baton belonged to the same family
as Amphiaraus, to the Melampodidae, and served as his charioteer when he went forth to
battle. When the rout took place at the wall of Thebes, the earth opened and received
Amphiaraus and his chariot, swallowing up this Baton at the same time. [2.23.3] Returning
from Hollow Street, you see what they say is the grave of Hyrnetho. If they allow that it
is merely a cenotaph erected to the memory of the lady, their account is likely enough but
if they believe that the corpse lies here I cannot credit it, and leave anyone to do so
who has not learnt the history of Epidaurus. [2.23.4] The most famous sanctuary of
Asclepius at Argos contains at the present day a white-marble image of the god seated, and
by his side stands Health. There are also seated figures of Xenophilus and Straton, who
made the images. The original founder of the sanctuary was Sphyrus, son of Machaon and
brother of the Alexanor who is honored among the Sicyonians in Titane. [2.23.5] The
Argives, like the Athenians and Sicyorians, worship Artemis Pheraea, and they, too, assert
that the image of the goddess was brought from Pherae in Thessaly. But I cannot agree with
them when they say that in Argos are the tombs of Deianeira, the daughter of Oeneus, and
of Helenus, son of Priam, and that there is among them the image of Athena that was
brought from Troy, thus causing the capture of that city. For the Palladium, as it is
called, was manifestly brought to Italy by Aeneas. As to Deianeira, we know that her death
took place near Trachis and not in Argos, and her grave is near Heraclea, at the foot of
Mount Oeta. [2.23.6] The story of Helenus, son of Priam, I have already given: that he
went to Epeirus with Pyrrhus, the son of. Achilles; that, wedded to Andromache, he was
guardian to the children of Pyrrhus and that the district called Cestrine received its
name from Cestrinus, son of Helenus. Now even the guides of the Argives themselves are
aware that their account is not entirely correct. Nevertheless they hold to their opinion,
for it is not easy to make the multitude change their views. The Argives have other things
worth seeing; [2.23.7] for instance, an underground building over which was the bronze
chamber which Acrisius once made to guard his daughter. Perilaus, however, when he became
tyrant, pulled it down. Besides this building there is the tomb of Crotopus and a temple
of Cretan Dionysus. For they say that the god, having made war on Perseus, afterwards laid
aside his enmity, and received great honors at the hands of the Argives, including this
precinct set specially apart for himself.
[2.23.8] It was afterwards called the precinct of the Cretan god, because, when Ariadne
died, Dionysus buried her here. But Lyceas says that when the temple was being rebuilt an
earthenware coffin was found, and that it was Ariadne's. He also said that both he himself
and other Argives had seen it. Near the temple of Dionysus is a temple of Heavenly
Aphrodite.
[2.24.1] The citadel they call Larisa, after the daughter of Pelasgus. After her were
also named two of the cities in Thessaly, the one by the sea and the one on the Peneus. As
you go up the citadel you come to the sanctuary of Hera of the Height, and also a temple
of Apollo, which is said to have been first built by Pythaeus when he came from Delphi.
The present image is a bronze standing figure called Apollo Deiradiotes, because this
place, too, is called Deiras (Ridge). Oracular responses are still given here, and the
oracle acts in the following way. There is a woman who prophesies, being debarred from
intercourse with a man. Every month a lamb is sacrificed at night, and the woman, after
tasting the blood, becomes inspired by the god.[2.24.2] Adjoining the temple of Apollo
Deiradiotes is a sanctuary of Athena Oxyderces (Sharp-sighted), dedicated by Diomedes,
because once when he was fighting at Troy the goddess removed the mist from his eyes.
Adjoining it is the race-course, in which they hold the games in honor of Nemean Zeus and
the festival of Hera. As you go to the citadel there is on the left of the road another
tomb of the children of Aegyptus. For here are the heads apart from the bodies, which are
at Lerna. For it was at Lerna that the youths were murdered, and when they were dead their
wives cut off their heads, to prove to their father that they had done the dreadful
deed.[2.24.3] On the top of Larisa is a temple of Zeus, surnamed Larisaean, which has no
roof; the wooden image I found no longer standing upon its pedestal. There is also a
temple of Athena worth seeing. Here are placed votive offerings, including a wooden image
of Zeus, which has two eyes in the natural place and a third on its forehead. This Zeus,
they say, was a paternal god of Priam, the son of Laomedon, set up in the uncovered part
of his court, and when Troy was taken by the Greeks Priam took sanctuary at the altar of
this god. When the spoils were divided, Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus, received the
image, and for this reason it has been dedicated here. [2.24.4] The reason for its three
eyes one might infer to be this. That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all
men. As for him who is said to rule under the earth, there is a verse of Homer which calls
him, too, Zeus:--
Zeus of the Underworld, and the august Persephonea.1
The god in the sea, also, is called Zeus by Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion. So
whoever made the image made it with three eyes, as signifying that this same god rules in
all the three "allotments" of the Universe, as they are called. [2.24.5] From
Argos are roads to various parts of the Peloponnesus, including one to Teges on the side
towards Arcadia. On the right is Mount Lycone, which has trees on it, chiefly cypresses.
On the top of the mountain is built a sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (of the Steep), and
there have been made white-marble images of Apollo, Leto, and Artemis, which they say are
works of Polycleitus. On descending again from the mountain you see on the left of the
highway a temple of Artemis.[2.24.6] A little farther on there is on the right of the road
a mountain called Chaon. At its foot grow cultivated trees, and here the water of the
Erasinus rises to the surface. Up to this point it flows from Stymphalus in Arcadia, just
as the Rheiti, near the sea at Eleusis, flow from the Euripus. At the places where the
Erasinus gushes forth from the mountain they sacrifice to Dionysus and to Pan, and to
Dionysus they also hold a festival called Tyrbe (Throng).
[2.24.7] On returning to the road that leads to Tegea you see Cenchreae on the right of
what is called the Wheel. Why the place received this name they do not say. Perhaps in
this case also it was Cenchrias, son of Peirene, that caused it to be so called. Here are
common graves of the Argives who conquered the Lacedaemonians in battle at Hysiae.1
This fight took place, I discovered, when Peisistratus was archon at Athens, in the fourth
year of the twenty-seventh Olympiad, in which the Athenian, Eurybotus, won the foot-race.
On coming down to a lower level you reach the ruins of Hysiae, which once was a city in
Argolis, and here it is that they say the Lacedaemonians suffered their reverse.
2,24,4,n1. Hom. Il. 9.457
2,24,7,n1. 669-8 B.C.
[2.25.1] The road from Argos to Mantinea is not the same as that to Tegea, but begins
from the gate at the Ridge. On this road is a sanctuary built with two rooms, having an
entrance on the west side and another on the east. At the latter is a wooden image of
Aphrodite, and at the west entrance one of Ares. They say that the images are votive
offerings of Polyneices and of the Argives who joined him in the campaign to redress his
wrongs.[2.25.2] Farther on from here, across the torrent called Charadrus (Gully), is
Oenoe, named, the Argives say, after Oeneus. The story is that Oeneus, who was king in
Aetolia, on being driven from his throne by the sons of Agrius, took refuge with Diomedes
at Argos, who aided him by an expedition into Calydonia, but said that he could not remain
with him, and urged Oeneus to accompany him, if he wished, to Argos. When he came, he gave
him all the attention that it was right to give a father's father, and on his death buried
him here. After him the Argives name the place Oenoe. [2.25.3] Above Oenoe is Mount
Artemisius, with a sanctuary of Artemis on the top. On this mountain are also the springs
of the river Inachus. For it really has springs, though the water does not run
far.[2.25.4] Here I found nothing else that is worth seeing. There is another road, that
leads to Lyrcea from the gate at the Ridge. The story is that to this place came Lynceus,
being the only one of the fifty brothers to escape death, and that on his escape he raised
a beacon here. Now to raise the beacon was the signal he had agreed with Hypermnestra to
give if he should escape Danaus and reach a place of safety. She also, they say, lighted a
beacon on Larisa as a sign that she too was now out of danger. For this reason the Argives
hold every year a beacon festival.[2.25.5] At the first the place was called Lyncea; its
present name is derived from Lyrcus, a bastard son of Abas, who afterwards dwelt there.
Among the ruins are several things not worth mentioning, besides a figure of Lyrcus upon a
slab. The distance from Argos to Lyrcea is about sixty stades, and the distance from
Lyrcea to Orneae is the same. Homer in the Catalogue makes no mention of the city Lyrcea,
because at the time of the Greek expedition against Troy it already lay deserted; Omeae,
however, was inhabited, and in his poem he places it1 on the list before Phlius
and Sicyon, which order corresponds to the position of the towns in the Argive territory.
[2.25.6] The name is derived from Orneus, the son of Erechtheus. This Orneus begat
Peteos, and Peteos begat Menestheus, who, with a body of Athenians, helped Agamemnon to
destroy the kingdom of Priam. From him then did Omeae get its name, and afterwards the
Argives removed all its citizens, who thereupon came to live at Argos. At Orneae are a
sanctuary and an upright wooden image of Artemis; there is besides a temple devoted to all
the gods in common. On the further side of Orneae are Sicyonia and Phliasia.
[2.25.7] On the way from Argos to Epidauria there is on the right a building made very
like a pyramid, and on it in relief are wrought shields of the Argive shape. Here took
place a fight for the throne between Proetus and Acrisius; the contest, they say, ended in
a draw, and a reconciliation resulted afterwards, as neither could gain a decisive
victory. The story is that they and their hosts were armed with shields, which were first
used in this battle. For those that fell on either side was built here a common tomb, as
they were fellow citizens and kinsmen.[2.25.8] Going on from here and turning to the
right, you come to the ruins of Tiryns. The Tirynthians also were removed by the Argives,
who wished to make Argos more powerful by adding to the population. The hero Tiryns, from
whom the city derived its name, is said to have been a son of Argus, a son of Zeus. The
wall, which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the Cyclopes made
of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the
smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones were so inserted
that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together.[2.25.9] Going down seawards, you
come to the chambers of the daughters of Proetus. On returning to the highway you will
reach Medea on the left hand. They say that Electryon, the father of Alcmena, was king of
Medea, but in my time nothing was left of it except the foundations.
[2.25.10] On the straight road to Epidaurus is a village Lessa, in which is a temple of
Athena with a wooden image exactly like the one on the citadel Larisa. Above Lessa is
Mount Arachnaeus, which long ago, in the time of Inachus, was named Sapyselaton.1
On it are altars to Zeus and Hera. When rain is needed they sacrifice to them here.
2,25,5,n1. Hom. Il. 2.571
2,25,10,n1. See the Greek text, in which the name Sapyselaton is formed from the two
wordssapus elatôn.
[2.26.1] At Lessa the Argive territory joins that of Epidaurus. But before you reach
Epidaurus itself you will come to the sanctuary of Asclepius. Who dwelt in this land
before Epidaurus came to it I do not know, nor could I discover from the natives the
descendants of Epidaurus either. But the last king before the Dorians arrived in the
Peloponnesus was, they say, Pityreus, a descendant of Ion, son of Xuthus, and they relate
that he handed over the land to Deiphontes and the Argives without a struggle. [2.26.2] He
went to Athens with his people and dwelt there, while Deiphontes and the Argives took
possession of Epidauria. These on the death of Temenus seceded from the other Argives;
Deiphontes and Hyrnetho through hatred of the sons of Temenus, and the army with them,
because it respected Deiphontes and Hyrnetho more than Ceisus and his brothers. Epidaurus,
who gave the land its name, was, the Eleans say, a son of Pelops but, according to Argive
opinion and the poem the Great Eoeae,1 the father of Epidaurus was Argus, son
of Zeus, while the Epidaurians maintain that Epidaurus was the child of Apollo.[2.26.3]
That the land is especially sacred to Asclepius is due to the following reason. The
Epidaurians say that Phlegyas came to the Peloponnesus, ostensibly to see the land, but
really to spy out the number of the inhabitants, and whether the greater part of them was
warlike. For Phlegyas was the greatest soldier of his time, and making forays in all
directions he carried off the crops and lifted the cattle.[2.26.4] When he went to the
Peloponnesus, he was accompanied by his daughter, who all along had kept hidden from her
father that she was with child by Apollo. In the country of the Epidaurians she bore a
son, and exposed him on the mountain called Nipple at the present day, but then named
Myrtium. As the child lay exposed he was given milk by one of the goats that pastured
about the mountain, and was guarded by the watch-dog of the herd. And when Aresthanas (for
this was the herdsman's name)[2.26.5] discovered that the tale of the goats was not full,
and that the watch-dog also was absent from the herd, he left, they say, no stone
unturned, and on finding the child desired to take him up. As he drew near he saw
lightning that flashed from the child, and, thinking that it was something divine, as in
fact it was, he turned away. Presently it was reported over every land and sea that
Asclepius was discovering everything he wished to heal the sick, and that he was raising
dead men to life.[2.26.6] There is also another tradition concerning him. Coronis, they
say, when with child with Asclepius, had intercourse with Ischys, son of Elatus. She was
killed by Artemis to punish her for the insult done to Apollo, but when the pyre was
already lighted Hermes is said to have snatched the child from the flames.[2.26.7] The
third account is, in my opinion, the farthest from the truth; it makes Asclepius to be the
son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when Apollophanes the Arcadian, came to
Delphi and asked the god if Asclepius was the son of Arsinoe and therefore a Messenian,
the Pythian priestess gave this response:--
0 Asclepius, born to bestow great joy upon mortals,
Pledge of the mutual love I enjoyed with Phlegyas' daughter,
Lovely Coronis, who bare thee in rugged land Epidaurus.1
This oracle makes it quite certain that Asclepius was not a son of Arsinoe, and
that the story was a fiction invented by Hesiod, or by one of Hesiod's interpolators, just
to please the Messenians.[2.26.8] There is other evidence that the god was born in
Epidaurus for I find that the most famous sanctuaries of Asclepius had their origin from
Epidaurus. In the first place, the Athenians, who say that they gave a share of their
mystic rites to Asclepius, call this day of the festival Epidauria, and they allege that
their worship of Asclepius dates from then. Again, when Archias, son of Aristaechmus, was
healed in Epidauria after spraining himself while hunting about Pindasus, he brought the
cult to Pergamus.[2.26.9] From the one at Pergamus has been built in our own day the
sanctuary of Asclepius by the sea at Smyrna. Further, at Balagrae of the Cyreneans there
is an Asclepius called Healer, who like the others came from Epidaurus. From the one at
Cyrene was founded the sanctuary of Asclepius at Lebene, in Crete. There is this
difference between the Cyreneans and the Epidaurians, that whereas the former sacrifice
goats, it is against the custom of the Epidaurians to do so.[2.26.10] That Asclepius was
considered a god from the first, and did not receive the title only in course of time, I
infer from several signs, including the evidence of Homer, who makes Agamemnon say about
Machaon:--
Talthybius, with all speed go summon me hither Machaon,
Mortal son of Asclepius.1
As who should say, "human son of a god."
2,26,2,n1. A poem attributed to Hesiod.
2,26,7,n1. Unknown
2,26,10,n1. Hom. Il. 4.193
[2.27.1] The sacred grove of Asclepius is surrounded on all sides by boundary marks. No
death or birth takes place within the enclosure the same custom prevails also in the
island of Delos. All the offerings, whether the offerer be one of the Epidaurians
themselves or a stranger, are entirely consumed within the bounds. At Titane too, I know,
there is the same rule.[2.27.2] The image of Asclepius is, in size, half as big as the
Olympian Zeus at Athens, and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription tells us that the
artist was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotus. The god is sitting on a seat grasping
a staff; the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent; there is also a
figure of a dog lying by his side. On the seat are wrought in relief the exploits of
Argive heroes, that of Bellerophontes against the Chimaera, and Perseus, who has cut off
the head of Medusa. Over against the temple is the place where the suppliants of the god
sleep.[2.27.3] Near has been built a circular building of white marble, called Tholos
(Round House), which is worth seeing. In it is a picture by Pausias1
representing Love, who has cast aside his bow and arrows, and is carrying instead of them
a lyre that he has taken up. Here there is also another work of Pausias, Drunkenness
drinking out of a crystal cup. You can see even in the painting a crystal cup and a
woman's face through it. Within the enclosure stood slabs; in my time six remained, but of
old there were more. On them are inscribed the names of both the men and the women who
have been healed by Asclepius, the disease also from which each suffered, and the means of
cure. The dialect is Doric.[2.27.4] Apart from the others is an old slab, which declares
that Hippolytus dedicated twenty horses to the god. The Aricians tell a tale that agrees
with the inscription on this slab, that when Hippolytus was killed, owing to the curses of
Theseus, Asclepius raised him from the dead. On coming to life again he refused to forgive
his father rejecting his prayers, he went to the Aricians in Italy. There he became king
and devoted a precinct to Artemis, where down to my time the prize for the victor in
single combat was the priesthood of the goddess. The contest was open to no freeman, but
only to slaves who had run away from their masters.[2.27.5] The Epidaurians have a theater
within the sanctuary, in my opinion very well worth seeing. For while the Roman theaters
are far superior to those anywhere else in their splendor, and the Arcadian theater at
Megalopolis is unequalled for size, what architect could seriously rival Polycleitus in
symmetry and beauty? For it was Polycleitus1 who built both this theater and
the circular building. Within the grove are a temple of Artemis, an image of Epione, a
sanctuary of Aphrodite and Themis, a race-course consisting, like most Greek race-courses,
of a bank of earth, and a fountain worth seeing for its roof and general
splendour.[2.27.6] A Roman senator, Antoninus, made in our own day a bath of Asclepius and
a sanctuary of the gods they call Bountiful.1 He made also a temple to Health,
Asclepius, and Apollo, the last two surnamed Egyptian. He moreover restored the portico
that was named the Portico of Cotys, which, as the brick of which it was made had been
unburnt, had fallen into utter ruin after it had lost its roof. As the Epidaurians about
the sanctuary were in great distress, because their women had no shelter in which to be
delivered and the sick breathed their last in the open, he provided a dwelling, so that
these grievances also were redressed. Here at last was a place in which without sin a
human being could die and a woman be delivered.
[2.27.7] Above the grove are the Nipple and another mountain called Cynortium; on the
latter is a sanctuary of Maleatian Apollo. The sanctuary itself is an ancient one, but
among the things Antoninus made for the Epidaurians are various appurtenances for the
sanctuary of the Maleatian, including a reservoir into which the rain-water collects for
their use.
2,27,3,n1. 1. A famous painter of Sicyon.
2,27,5,n1. Probably the younger artist of that name.
2,27,6,n1. 138 or 161 A.D.
[2.28.1] The serpents, including a peculiar kind of a yellowish color, are considered
sacred to Asclepius, and are tame with men. These are peculiar to Epidauria, and I have
noticed that other lands have their peculiar animals. For in Libya only are to be found
land crocodiles at least two cubits long; from India alone are brought, among other
creatures, parrots. But the big snakes that grow to more than thirty cubits, such as are
found in India and in Libya, are said by the Epidaurians not to be serpents, but some
other kind of creature.[2.28.2] As you go up to Mount Coryphum you see by the road an
olive tree called Twisted. It was Heracles who gave it this shape by bending it round with
his hand, but I cannot say whether he set it to be a boundary mark against the Asinaeans
in Argolis, since in no land, which has been depopulated, is it easy to discover the truth
about the boundaries. On the Top of the mountain there is a sanctuary of Artemis Coryphaea
(of the Peak), of which Telesilla1 made mention in an ode.[2.28.3] On going
down to the city of the Epidaurians, you come to a place where wild olives grow; they call
it Hyrnethium. I will relate the story of it, which is probable enough, as given by the
Epidaurians. Ceisus and the other sons of Temenus knew that they would grieve Deiphontes
most if they could find a way to part him and Hyrnetho. So Cerynes and Phalces (for
Agraeus, the youngest, disapproved of their plan) came to Epidaurus. Staying their chariot
under the wall, they sent a herald to their sister, pretending that they wished to parley
with her. [2.28.4] When she obeyed their summons, the young men began to make many
accusations against Deiphontes, and besought her much that she would return to Argos,
promising, among other things, to give her to a husband in every respect better than
Deiphontes, one who ruled over more subjects and a more prosperous country. But Hyrnetho,
pained at their words, gave as good as she had received, retorting that Deiphontes was a
dear husband to her, and had shown himself a blameless son-in-law to Temenus; as for them,
they ought to be called the murderers of Temenus rather than his sons.[2.28.5] Without
further reply the youths seized her, placed her in the chariot, and drove away. An
Epidaurian told Deiphontes that Cerynes and Phalces had gone, taking with them Hyrnetho
against her will; he himself rushed to the rescue with all speed, and as the Epidaurians
learned the news they reinforced him. On overtaking the runaways, Deiphontes shot Cerynes
and killed him, but he was afraid to shoot at Phalces, who was holding Hyrnetho, lest he
should miss him and become the slayer of his wife; so he closed with them and tried to get
her away. But Phalces, holding on and dragging her with greater violence, killed her, as
she was with child.[2.28.6] Realizing what he had done to his sister, he began to drive
the chariot more recklessly, as he was anxious to gain a start before all the Epidaurians
could gather against him. Deiphontes and his children--for before this children had been
born to him, Antimenes, Xanthippus, and Argeus, and a daughter, Orsobia, who, they say,
after-wards married Pamphylus, son of Aegimius--took up the dead body of Hyrnetho and
carried it to this place, which in course of time was named Hyrnethium.
[2.28.7] They built for her a hero-shrine, and bestowed upon her various honors; in
particular, the custom was established that nobody should carry home, or use for any
purpose, the pieces that break off the olive trees, or any other trees, that grow there;
these are left there on the spot to be sacred to Hyrnetho.
[2.28.8] Not far from the city is the tomb of Melissa, who married Periander, the son
of Cypselus, and another of Procles, the father of Melissa. He, too, was tyrant of
Epidaurus, as Periander, his son-in-law, was tyrant of Corinth.1
2,28,2,n1. A famous lyric poetess. See p. 355.
2,28,8,n1. c. 600 B.C.
[2.29.1] The most noteworthy things which I found the city of Epidaurus itself had to
show are these. There is, of course, a precinct of Asclepius, with images of the god
himself and of Epione. Epione, they say, was the wife of Asclepius. These are of Parian
marble, and are set up in the open. There is also in the city a temple of Dionysus and one
of Artemis. The figure of Artemis one might take to be the goddess hunting. There is also
a sanctuary of Aphrodite, while the one at the harbor, on a height that juts out into the
sea, they say is Hera's. The Athena on the citadel, a wooden image worth seeing, they
surname Cissaea (Ivy Goddess).[2.29.2] The Aeginetans dwell in the island over against
Epidauria. It is said that in the beginning there were no men in it; but after Zeus
brought to it, when uninhabited, Aegina, daughter of Asopus, its name was changed from
Oenone to Aegina; and when Aeacus, on growing up, asked Zeus for settlers, the god, they
say, raised up the inhabitants out of the earth. They can mention no king of the island
except Aeacus, since we know of none even of the sons of Aeacus who stayed there; for to
Peleus and Telamon befell exile for the murder of Phocus, while the sons of Phocus made
their home about Parnassus, in the land that is now called Phocis. [2.29.3] This name had
already been given to the land, at the time when Phocus, son of Ornytion, came to it a
generation previously. In the time, then, of this Phocus only the district about Tithorea
and Parnassus was called Phocis, but in the time of Aeacus the name spread to all from the
borders of the Minyae at Orchomenos to Scarphea among the Locri.[2.29.4] From Peleus
sprang the kings in Epeirus; but as for the sons of Telamon, the family of Ajax is
undistinguished, because he was a man who lived a private life; though Miltiades, who led
the Athenians to Marathon,1 and Cimon, the son of Miltiades, achieved renown;
but the family of Teucer continued to be the royal house in Cyprus down to the time of
Evagoras. Asius the epic poet says that to Phocus were born Panopeus and Crisus. To
Panopeus was born Epeus, who made, according to Homer, the wooden horse; and the grandson
of Crisus was Pylades, whose father was Strophius, son of Crisus, while his mother was
Anaxibi ,sister of Agamemnon. Such was the pedigree of the Aeacidae (family of. Aeacus),
as they are called, but they departed from the beginning to other lands.
[2.29.5] Subsequently a division of the Argives who, under Deiphontes, had seized
Epidaurus, crossed to Aegina, and, settling among the old Aeginetans, established in the
island Dorian manners and the Dorian dialect. Although the Aeginetans rose to great power,
so that their navy was superior to that of Athens, and in the Persian war supplied more
ships than any state except Athens, yet their prosperity was not permanent but when the
island was depopulated by the Athenians,1 they took up their abode at Thyrea,
in Argolis, which the Lacedaemonians gave them to dwell in. They recovered their island
when the Athenian warships were captured in the Hellespont,2 yet it was never
given them to rise again to their old wealth or power.[2.29.6] Of the Greek islands,
Aegina is the most difficult of access, for it is surrounded by sunken rocks and reefs
which rise up. The story is that Aeacus devised this feature of set purpose, because he
feared piratical raids by sea, and wished the approach to be perilous to enemies. Near the
harbor in which vessels mostly anchor is a temple of Aphrodite, and in the most
conspicuous part of the city what is called the shrine of Aeacus, a quadrangular enclosure
of white marble. [2.29.7] Wrought in relief at the entrance are the envoys whom the Greeks
once dispatched to Aeacus. The reason for the embassy given by the Aeginetans is the same
as that which the other Greeks assign. A drought had for some time afflicted Greece, and
no rain fell either beyond the Isthmus or in the Peloponnesus, until at last they sent
envoys to Delphi to ask what was the cause and to beg for deliverance from the evil. The
Pythian priestess bade them propitiate Zeus, saying that he would not listen to them
unless the one to supplicate him were Aeacus.[2.29.8] And so envoys came with a request to
Aeacus from each city. By sacrifice and prayer to Zeus, God of all the Greeks
(Panellenios), he caused rain to fall upon the earth, and the Aeginetans made these
likenesses of those who came to him. Within the enclosure are olive trees that have grown
there from of old, and there is an altar which is raised but a little from the ground.
That this altar is also the tomb of Aeacus is told as a holy secret. [2.29.9] Beside the
shrine of Aeacus is the grave of Phocus, a barrow surrounded by a basement, and on it lies
a rough stone. When Telamon and Peleus had induced Phocus to compete at the pentathlon,
and it was now the turn of Peleus to hurl the stone, which they were using for a quoit, he
intentionally hit Phocus. The act was done to please their mother; for, while they were
both born of the daughter of Sciron, Phocus was not, being, if indeed the report of the
Greeks be true, the son of a sister of Thetis. I believe it was for this reason, and not
only out of friendship for Orestes, that Pylades plotted the murder of
Neoptolemus.[2.29.10] When this blow of the quoit killed Phocus, the sons of Endeis
boarded a ship and fled. Afterwards Telamon sent a herald denying that he had plotted the
death of Phocus. Aeacus, however, refused to allow him to land on the island, and bade him
make his defence standing on board ship, or if he wished, from a mole raised in the sea.
So he sailed into the harbor called Secret, and proceeded to make a mole by night. This
was finished, and still remains at the present day. But Telamon, being condemned as
implicated in the murder of Phocus, sailed away a second time and came to Salamis.
[2.29.11] Not far from the Secret Harbor is a theater worth seeing; it is very similar
to the one at Epidaurus, both in size and in style. Behind it is built one side of a
race-course, which not only itself holds up the theater, but also in turn uses it as a
support.
2,29,4,n1. 490 B.C.
2,29,5,n1. 431 B.C.
2,29,5,n2. 405 B.C.
[2.30.1] There are three temples close together, one of Apollo, one of Artemis, and a
third of Dionysus. Apollo has a naked wooden image of native workmanship, but Artemis is
dressed, and so, too, is Dionysus, who is, moreover, represented with a beard. The
sanctuary of Asclepius is not here, but in another place, and his image is of stone, and
seated.[2.30.2] Of the gods, the Aeginetans worship most Hecate, in whose honor every year
they celebrate mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thracian established among them.
Within the enclosure is a temple; its wooden image is the work of Myron,1 and
it has one face and one body. It was Alcamenes,2 in my opinion, who first made
three images of Hecate attached to one another, a figure called by the Athenians
Epipurgidia (on the Tower); it stands beside the temple of the Wingless Victory.[2.30.3]
In Aegina, as you go towards the mountain of Zeus, God of all the Greeks, you reach a
sanctuary of Aphaea, in whose honor Pindar composed an ode for the Aeginetans. The Cretans
say (the story of Aphaea is Cretan) that Carmanor, who purified Apollo alter he had killed
Pytho, was the father of Lubulus, and that the daughter of Zeus and of Carme, the daughter
of Eubulus, was Britomartis. She took delight, they say, in running and in the chase, and
was very dear to Artemis. Fleeing from Minos, who had fallen in love with her, she threw
herself into nets which had been cast (aphemena) for a draught of fishes. She was made a
goddess by Artemis, and she is worshipped, not only by the Cretans, but also by the
Aeginetans, who say that Britomartis shows herself in their island. Her surname among the
Aeginetans is Aphaea; in Crete it is Dictynna (Goddess of Nets).[2.30.4] The Mount of all
the Greeks, except for the sanctuary of Zeus, has, I found, nothing else worthy of
mention. This sanctuary, they say, was made for Zeus by Aeacus. The story of Auxesia and
Damia, how the Epidaurians suffered from drought, how in obedience to an oracle they had
these wooden images made of olive wood that they received from the Athenians, how the
Epidaurians left off paying to the Athenians what they had agreed to pay, on the ground
that the Aeginetans had the images, how the Athenians perished who crossed over to Aegina
to fetch them--all this, as Herodotus1 has described it accurately and in
detail, I have no intention of relating, because the story has been well told already; but
I will add that I saw the images, and sacrificed to them in the same way as it is
customary to sacrifice at Eleusis.[2.30.5] So much I must relate about Aegina, for the
sake of Aeacus and his exploits. Bordering on Epidauria are the Troezenians, unrivalled
glorifiers of their own country. They say that Orus was the first to be born in their
land. Now, in my opinion, Orus is an Egyptian name and utterly un-Greek; but they assert
that he became their king, and that the land was called Oraea after him and that Althepus,
the son of Poseidon and of Leis, the daughter of Orus, inheriting the kingdom after Orus,
named the land Althepia.[2.30.6] During his reign, they say, Athena and Poseidon disputed
about the land, and after disputing held it in common, as Zeus commanded them to do. For
this reason they worship both Athena, whom they name both Polias (Urban) and Sthenias
(Strong), and also Poseidon, under the surname of King. And moreover their old coins have
as device a trident and a face of Athena.[2.30.7] After Althepus, Saron became king. They
said that this man built the sanctuary for Saronian Artemis by a sea which is marshy and
shallow, so that for this reason it was called the Phoebaean lagoon. Now Saron was very
fond of hunting. As he was chasing a doe, it so chanced that it dashed into the sea and he
dashed in alter it. The doe swam further and further from the shore, and Saron kept close
to his prey, until his ardor brought him to the open ocean. Here his strength failed, and
he was drowned in the waves. The body was cast ashore at the grove of Artemis by the
Phoebaean lagoon, and they buried it within the sacred enclosure, and after him they named
the sea in these parts the Saronic instead of the Phoebaean lagoon.[2.30.8] They know
nothing of the later kings down to Hyperes and Anthas. These they assert to be sons of
Poseidon and of Alcyone, daughter of Atlas, adding that they founded in the country the
cities of Hyperea and Anthea; Aetius, however, the son of Anthas, on inheriting the
kingdoms of his father and of his uncle, named one of the cities Poseidonias. When Troezen
and Pittheus came to Aetius there were three kings instead of one, but the sons of Pelops
enjoyed the balance of power.[2.30.9] Here is evidence of it. When Troezen died, Pittheus
gathered the inhabitants together, incorporating both Hyperea and Anthea into the modem
city, which he named Troezen after his brother. Many years afterwards the descendants of
Aetius, son of Anthas, were dispatched as colonists from Troezen, and founded
Halicarnassus and Myndus in Caria. Anaphlystus and Sphettus, sons of Troezen, migrated to
Attica, and the parishes are named after them. As my readers know it already, I shall not
relate the story of Theseus, the grandson of Pittheus. There is, however, one incident
that I must add.
[2.30.10] On the return of the Heracleidae, the Troezenians too received Dorian
settlers from Argos. They had been subject at even an earlier date to the Argives; Homer,
too, in the Catalogue, says that their commander was Diomedes. For Diomedes and Euryalus,
son of Mecisteus, who were guardians of the boy Cyanippus, son of Aegialeus, led the
Argives to Troy. Sthenelus, as I have related above, came of a more illustrious family,
called the Anaxagoridae, and he had the best claim to the Kingdom of Argos. Such is the
story of the Troezenians, with the exception of the cities that claim to be their
colonies. I will now proceed to describe the appointments of their sanctuaries and the
remarkable sights of their country.
2,30,2,n1. fl. c. 460 B.C.
2,30,2,n2. A contemporary of Pheidias.
2,30,4,n1. Hdt. 5.82-87
[2.31.1] In the market-place of Troezen is a temple of Artemis Saviour, with images of
the goddess. It was said that the temple was founded and the name Saviour given by Theseus
when he returned from Crete after overcoming Asterion the son of Minos. This victory he
considered the most noteworthy of his achievements, not so much, in my opinion, because
Asterion was the bravest of those killed by Theseus, but because his success in
unravelling the difficult Maze and in escaping unnoticed after the exploit made credible
the saying that it was divine providence that brought Theseus and his company back in
safety.[2.31.2] In this temple are altars to the gods said to rule under the earth. It is
here that they say Semele was brought out of Hell by Dionysus, and that Heracles dragged
up the Hound of Hell.1 But I cannot bring myself to believe even that Semele
died at all, seeing that she was the wife of Zeus; while, as for the so-called Hound of
Hell, I will give my views in another place.2 [2.31.3] Behind the temple is the
tomb of Pittheus, on which are placed three seats of white marble. On them they say that
Pittheus and two men with him used to sit in judgment. Not far off is a sanctuary of the
Muses, made, they told me, by Ardalus, son of Hephaestus. This Ardalus they hold to have
invented the flute, and after him they name the Muses Ardalides. Here, they say, Pittheus
taught the art of rhetoric, and I have myself read a book purporting to be a treatise by
Pittheus, published by a citizen of Epidaurus. Not far from the Muses' Hall is an old
altar, which also, according to report, was dedicated by Ardalus. Upon it they sacrifice
to the Muses and to Sleep, saying that Sleep is the god that is dearest to the
Muses.[2.31.4] Near the theater a temple of Artemis Lycea (Wolfish) was made by
Hippolytus. About this surname I could learn nothing from the local guides, but I gathered
that either Hippolytus destroyed wolves that were ravaging the land of Troezen, or else
that Lycea is a surname of Artemis among the Amazons, from whom he was descended through
his mother. Perhaps there may be another explanation that I am unaware of. The stone in
front of the temple, called the Sacred Stone, they say is that on which nine men of
Troezen once purified Orestes from the stain of matricide.[2.31.5] Not far from Artemis
Lycea are altars close to one another. The first of them is to Dionysus, surnamed, in
accordance with an oracle, Saotes (Saviour); the second is named the altar of the Themides
(Laws), and was dedicated, they say, by Pittheus. They had every reason, it seems to me,
for making an altar to Helius Eleutherius (Sun, God of Freedom), seeing that they escaped
being enslaved by Xerxes and the Persians.[2.31.6] The sanctuary of Thearian Apollo, they
told me, was set up by Pittheus; it is the oldest I know of. Now the Phocaeans, too, in
Ionia have an old temple of Athena, which was once burnt by Harpagus the Persian, and the
Samians also have an old one of Pythian Apollo; these, however, were built much later than
the sanctuary at Troezen. The modern image was dedicated by Auliscus, and made by Hermon
of Troezen. This Hermon made also the wooden images of the Dioscuri.[2.31.7] Under a
portico in the market-place are set up women; both they and their children are of stone.
They are the women and children whom the Athenians gave to the Troezenians to be kept
safe, when they had resolved to evacuate Athens and not to await the attack of the
Persians by land. They are said to have dedicated likenesses, not of all the women--for,
as a matter of fact, the statues are not many--but only of those who were of high
rank.[2.31.8] In front of the sanctuary of Apollo is a building called the Booth of
Orestes. For before he was cleansed for shedding his mother's blood, no citizen of Troezen
would receive him into his home; so they lodged him here and gave him entertainment while
they cleansed him, until they had finished the purification. Down to the present day the
descendants of those who cleansed Orestes dine here on appointed days. A little way from
the booth were buried, they say, the means of cleansing, and from them grew up a bay tree,
which, indeed, still remains, being the one before this booth.
[2.31.9] Among the means of cleansing which they say they used to cleanse Orestes was
water from Hippocrene (Horse's Fount) for the Troezenians too have a fountain called the
Horse's, and the legend about it does not differ from the one which prevails in Boeotia.
For they, too, say that the earth sent up the water when the horse Pegasus struck the
ground with his hoof, and that Bellerophontes came to Troezen to ask Pittheus to give him
Aethra to wife, but before the marriage took place he was banished from Corinth.
[2.31.10] Here there is also a Hermes called Polygius. Against this image, they say,
Heracles leaned his club. Now this club, which was of wild olive, taking root in the earth
(if anyone cares to believe the story), grew up again and is still alive; Heracles, they
say, discovering the wild olive by the Saronic Sea, cut a club from it. There is also a
sanctuary of Zeus surnamed Saviour, which, they say, was made by Aetius, the son of
Anthas, when he was king. To a water they give the name River of Gold. They say that when
the land was afflicted with a drought for nine years, during which no rain fell, all the
other waters dried up, but this River of Gold even then continued to flow as before.
2,31,2,n1. Cerberus, the fabulous watch-dog.
2,31,2,n2. Paus. 3.25.6.
[2.32.1] To Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, is devoted a very famous precinct, in which
is a temple with an old image. Diomedes, they say, made these, and, moreover, was the
first to sacrifice to Hippolytus. The Troezenians have a priest of Hippolytus, who holds
his sacred office for life, and annual sacrifices have been established. They also observe
the following custom. Every maiden before marriage cuts off a lock for Hippolytus, and,
having cut it, she brings it to the temple and dedicates it. They will not have it that he
was dragged to death by his horses, and, though they know his grave, they do not show it.
But they believe that what is called the Charioteer in the sky is the Hippolytus of the
legend, such being the honor he enjoys from the gods.[2.32.2] Within this enclosure is a
temple of Apollo Seafaring, an offering of Diomedes for having weathered the storm that
came upon the Greeks as they were returning from Troy. They say that Diomedes was also the
first to hold the Pythian games in honor of Apollo. Of Damia and Auxesia (for the
Troezenians, too, share in their worship) they do not give the same account as the
Epidaurians and Aeginetans, but say that they were maidens who came from Crete. A general
insurrection having arisen in the city, these too, they say, were stoned to death by the
opposite party; and they hold a festival in their honor that they call Stoning.[2.32.3] In
the other part of the enclosure is a race-course called that of Hippolytus, and above it a
temple of Aphrodite Spy. For from here, whenever Hippolytus practised his exercises,
Phaedra, who was in love with him, used to gaze upon him. Here there still grew the
myrtle, with its leaves, as I have described above, pierced with holes. When Phaedra was
in despair and could find no relief for her passion, she used to vent her spleen upon the
leaves of this myrtle.[2.32.4] There is also the grave of Phaedra, not far from the tomb
of Hippolytus, which is a barrow near the myrtle. The image of Asclepius was made by
Timotheus, but the Troezenians say that it is not Asclepius, but a likeness of Hippolytus.
I remember, too, seeing the house of Hippolytus; before it is what is called the Fountain
of Heracles, for Heracles, say the Troezenians, discovered the water.[2.32.5] On the
citadel is a temple of Athena, called Sthenias. The wooden image itself of the goddess I
was made by CalIon, of Aegina.1 Callon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion,
who made the image of Apollo for the Delians. Angelion and Tectaeus were trained in the
school of Dipoenus and Scyllis.[2.32.6] On going down from here you come to a sanctuary of
Pan Lyterius (Releasing), so named because he showed to the Troezenian magistrates dreams
which supplied a cure for the epidemic that had afflicted Troezenia, and the Athenians
more than any other people. Having crossed the sanctuary, you can see a temple of Isis,
and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height. The temple of Isis was made by the
Halicarnassians in Troezen, because this is their mother-city, but the image of Isis was
dedicated by the people of Troezen.[2.32.7] On the road that leads through the mountains
to Hermione is a spring of the river Hyllicus, originally called Taurius (Bull-like), and
a rock called the Rock of Theseus; when Theseus took up the boots and sword of Aegeus
under it, it, too, changed its name, for before it was called the altar of Zeus Sthenius
(Strong). Near the rock is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Nymphia (Bridal), made by Theseus when
he took Helen to wife.[2.32.8] Outside the wall there is also a sanctuary of Poseidon
Nurturer (Phytalmios). For they say that, being wroth with them, Poseidon smote the land
with barrenness, brine (halme) reaching the seeds and the roots of the plants (phyta),1
until, appeased by sacrifices and prayers, he ceased to send up the brine upon the earth.
Above the temple of Poseidon is Demeter Lawbringer (Thesmophoros), set up, they say, by
Althepus.[2.32.9] On going down to the harbor at what is called Celenderis, you come to a
place called Birthplace (Genethlion), where Theseus is said to have been born. Before this
place is a temple of Ares, for here also did Theseus conquer the Amazons in battle. These
must have belonged to the army that strove in Attica against Theseus and the Athenians.
[2.32.10] As you make your way to the Psiphaean Sea you see a wild olive growing, which
they call the Bent Rhacos. The Troezenians call rhacos every kind of barren
olive--cotinos, phylia, or elaios--and this tree they call Bent because it was when the
reins caught in it that the chariot of Hippolytus was upset. Not far from this stands the
sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, and I have already given an account of it. I must add that
every year they hold in honor of Artemis a festival called Saronia.
2,32,5,n1. early fifth cent. B.C.
2,32,8,n1. The epithet phytalmios means nourishing, but to judge from the story he
gives, Pausanias must have connected it with the Greek words for brine and plant.
[2.33.1] The Troezenians possess islands, one of which is near the mainland, and it is
possible to wade across the channel. This was formerly called Sphaeria, but its name was
changed to Sacred Island for the following reason. In it is the tomb of Sphaerus, who,
they say, was charioteer to Pelops. In obedience forsooth to a dream from Athena, Aethra
crossed over into the island with libations for Sphaerus. After she had crossed, Poseidon
is said to have had intercourse with her here. So for this reason Aethra set up here a
temple of Athena Apaturia,1 and changed the name from Sphaeria to Sacred
Island. She also established a custom for the Troezenian maidens of dedicating their
girdles before wedlock to Athena Apaturia.[2.33.2] Calaurea, they say, was sacred to
Apollo of old, at the time when Delphi was sacred to Poseidon. Legend adds that the two
gods exchanged the two places. They still say this, and quote an oracle:--
Delos and Calaurea alike thou lovest to dwell in,
Pytho, too, the holy, and Taenarum swept by the high winds.1
At any rate, there is a holy sanctuary of Poseidon here, and it is served by a
maiden priestess until she reaches an age fit for marriage.[2.33.3] Within the enclosure
is also the tomb of Demosthenes. His fate, and that of Homer before him, have, in my
opinion, showed most plainly how spiteful the deity is; for Homer, after losing his sight,
was, in addition to this great affliction, cursed with a second--a poverty which drove him
in beggary to every land; while to Demosthenes it befell to experience exile in his old
age and to meet with such a violent end. Now, although concerning him, not only others,
but Demosthenes himself, have again and again declared that assuredly he took no part of
the money that Harpalus brought from Asia, [2.33.4] yet I must relate the circumstances of
the statement made subsequently. Shortly after Harpalus ran away from Athens and crossed
with a squadron to Crete, he was put to death by the servants who were attending him,
though some assert that he was assassinated by Pausanias, a Macedonian. The steward of his
money fled to Rhodes, and was arrested by a Macedonian, Philoxenus, who also had demanded
Harpalus from the Athenians. Having this slave in his power, he proceeded to examine him,
until he learned everything about such as had allowed themselves to accept a bribe from
Harpalus. On obtaining this information he sent a dispatch to Athens,[2.33.5] in which he
gave a list of such as had taken a bribe from Harpalus, both their names and the sums each
had received. Demosthenes, however, he never mentioned at all, although Alexander held him
in bitter hatred, and he himself had a private quarrel with him.So Demosthenes is honored
in many parts of Greece, and especially by the dwellers in Calaurea.
2,33,1,n1. Apparently here derived from the Greek word for deceit.
2,33,2,n1. Unknown
[2.34.1] Stretching out far into the sea from Troezenia is a peninsula, on the coast of
which has been founded a little town called Methana. Here there is a sanctuary of Isis,
and on the market-place is an image of Hermes, and also one of Heracles. Some thirty
stades distant from the town are hot baths. They say that it was when Antigonus, son of
Demetrius, was king of Macedon that the water first appeared, and that what appeared at
once was not water, but fire that gushed in great volume from the ground, and when this
died down the water flowed; indeed, even at the present day it wells up hot and
exceedingly salt. A bather here finds no cold water at hand, and if he dives into the sea
his swim is full of danger. For wild creatures live in it, and it swarms with sharks.
[2.34.2] I will also relate what astonished me most in Methana. The wind called Lips,1
striking the budding vines from the Saronic Gulf, blights their buds. So while the wind is
still rushing on, two men cut in two a cock whose feathers are all white, and run round
the vines in opposite directions, each carrying half of the cock. When they meet at their
starting place, they bury the pieces there.[2.34.3] Such are the means they have devised
against the Lips. The islets, nine in number, lying off the land are called the Isles of
Pelops, and they say that when it rains one of them is not touched. If this be the case I
do not know, though the people around Methana said that it was true, and I have seen
before now men trying to keep off hail by sacrifices and spells.
[2.34.4] Methana, then, is a peninsula of the Peloponnesus. Within it, bordering on the
land of Troezen, is Hermione. The founder of the old city, the Hermionians say, was
Hermion, the son of Europs. Now Europs, whose father was certainly Phoroneus, Herophanes
of Troezen said was an illegitimate child. For surely the kingdom of Argos would never
have devolved upon Argus, Niobe's son, the grandchild of Phoroneus, in the presence of a
legitimate son.[2.34.5] But even supposing that Europs was a legitimate child who died
before Phoroneus, I am quite sure that his son was not likely to stand a fair chance
against Niobe's child, whose father was supposed to be Zeus. Subsequently the Dorians from
Argos settled, among other places, at Hermion, but I do not think there was war between
the two peoples, or it would have been spoken of by the Argives.
[2.34.6] There is a road from Troezen to Hermion by way of the rock which aforetime was
called the altar of Zeus Sthenius (Strong) but afterwards Theseus1 took up the
tokens, and people now call it the Rock of Theseus. As you go, then, along a mountain road
by way of this rock, you reach a temple of Apollo surnamed Platanistius (God of the
Plane-tree Grove), and a place called Eilei, where are sanctuaries of Demeter and of her
daughter Core (Maid). Seawards, on the borders of Hermionis, is a sanctuary of Demeter
surnamed Thermasia (Warmth).[2.34.7] Just about eighty stades away is a headland
Scyllaeum, which is named alter the daughter of Nisus. For when, owing to her treachery,1
Minos had taken Nisaea and Megara, he said that now he would not have her to wife, and
ordered his Cretans to throw her from the ship. She was drowned, and the waves cast up her
body on this headland. They do not show a grave of her, but say that the sea birds were
allowed to tear the corpse to pieces.[2.34.8] As you sail from Scyllaeum in the direction
of the city, you reach another headland, called Bucephala (Ox-head), and, after the
headland, islands, the first of which is Haliussa (Salt Island). This provides a harbor
where there is good anchorage. After it comes Pityussa (Pine Island), and the third they
call Aristerae. On sailing past these you come to another headland, Colyergia, jutting out
from the mainland, and after it to an island, called Tricrana (Three Heads), and a
mountain, projecting into the sea from the Peloponnesus, called Buporthmus (Oxford). On
Buporthmus has been built a sanctuary of Demeter and her daughter, as well as one of
Athena, surnamed Promachorma (Champion of the Anchorage).[2.34.9] Before Buporthmus lies
an island called Aperopia, not far from which is another island, Hydrea. After it the
mainland is skirted by a crescent-shaped beach and after the beach there is a spit of land
up to a sanctuary of Poseidon, beginning at the sea on the east and extending westwards. 1
It possesses harbors, and is some seven stades in length, and not more than three stades
in breadth where it is broadest.[2.34.10] Here the Hermionians had their former city. They
still have sanctuaries here: one of Poseidon at the east end of the spit, and a temple of
Athena further inland by the side of the latter are the foundations of a race-course, in
which legend says the sons of Tyndareus contended. There is also another sanctuary of
Athena, of no great size, the roof of which has fallen in. There is a temple to Helius
(Sun), another to the Graces, and a third to Serapis and Isis. There are also circuits of
large unhewn stones, within which they perform mystic ritual to Demeter.
[2.34.11] Such are the possessions of the Hermionians in these parts. The modern city
is just about four stades distant from the headland, upon which is the sanctuary of
Poseidon, and it lies on a site which is level at first, gently rising up a slope, which
presently merges into Pron, for so they name this mountain. A wall stands all round
Hermione, a city which I found afforded much to write about, and among the things which I
thought I myself must certainly mention are a temple of Aphrodite, surnamed both Pontia
(of the Deep Sea) and Limenia (of the Harbor), and a white-marble image of huge size, and
worth seeing for its artistic excellence.[2.34.12] There is also another temple of
Aphrodite. Among the honors paid her by the Hermionians is this custom: maidens, and
widows about to remarry, all sacrifice to her before wedding. Sanctuaries have also been
built of Demeter Thermasia (Warmth), one at the border towards Troezenia, as I have stated
above, while there is another in Hermione itself.
2,34,2,n1. A S.W. wind.
2,34,6,n1. See Paus. 1.27.8, and Paus. 2.32.7.
2,34,7,n1. See Paus. 1.19.
2,34,9,n1. i.e. the spit runs eastward into the sea from the west.
[2.35.1] Near the latter is a temple of Dionysus of the Black Goatskin. In his honor
every year they hold a competition in music, and they offer prizes for swimming-races and
boat-races. There is also a sanctuary of Artemis surnamed Iphigenia, and a bronze Poseidon
with one foot upon a dolphin. Passing by this into the sanctuary of Hestia, we see no
image, but only an altar, and they sacrifice to Hestia upon it.[2.35.2] Of Apollo there
are three temples and three images. One has no surname; the second they call Pythaeus, and
the third Horius (of the Borders). The name Pythaeus they have learned from the Argives,
for Telesilla1 tells us that they were the first Greeks to whose country came
Pythaeus, who was a son of Apollo. I cannot say for certain why they call the third
Horius, but I conjecture that they won a victory, either in war or by arbitration, in a
dispute concerning the borders (horoi) of their land, and for this reason paid honors to
Apollo Horius.[2.35.3] The sanctuary of Fortune is said by the Hermionians to be the
newest in their city; a colossus of Parian marble stands there. Of their wells, one is
very old; nobody can see the water flowing into it, but it would never run dry, even if
everybody descended and drew water from it. Another well they made in our own day, and the
name of the place from which the water flows into it is Leimon (Meadow).
[2.35.4] The object most worthy of mention is a sanctuary of Demeter on Pron. This
sanctuary is said by the Hermionians to have been founded by Clymenus, son of Phoroneus,
and Chthonia, sister of Clymenus. But the Argive account is that when Demeter came to
Argolis, while Atheras and Mysius afforded hospitality to the goddess, Colontas neither
received her into his home nor paid her any other mark of respect. His daughter Chthoia
disapproved of this conduct. They say that Colontas was punished by being burnt up along
with his house, while Chthonia was brought to Hermion by Demeter, and made the sanctuary
for the Hermionians.[2.35.5] At any rate, the goddess herself is called Chthonia, and
Chthonia is the name of the festival they hold in the summer of every year. The manner of
it is this. The procession is headed by the priests of the gods and by all those who hold
the annual magistracies; these are followed by both men and women. It is now a custom that
some who are still children should honor the goddess in the procession. These are dressed
in white, and wear wreaths upon their heads. Their wreaths are woven of the flower called
by the natives cosmosandalon, which, from its size and color, seems to me to be an iris;
it even has inscribed upon it the same letters of mourning.1 [2.35.6] Those who
form the procession are followed by men leading from the herd a full-grown cow, fastened
with ropes, and still untamed and frisky. Having driven the cow to the temple, some loose
her from the ropes that she may rush into the sanctuary, others, who hitherto have been
holding the doors open, when they see the cow within the temple, close the doors. [2.35.7]
Four old women, left behind inside, are they who dispatch the cow. Whichever gets the
chance cuts the throat of the cow with a sickle. Afterwards the doors are opened, and
those who are appointed drive up a second cow, and a third after that, and yet a fourth.
All are dispatched in the same way by the old women, and the sacrifice has yet another
strange feature. On whichever of her sides the first cow falls, all the others must fall
on the same.[2.35.8] Such is the manner in which the sacrifice is performed by the
Hermionians. Before the temple stand a few statues of the women who have served Demeter as
her priestess, and on passing inside you see seats on which the old women wait for the
cows to be driven in one by one, and images, of no great age, of Athena and Demeter. But
the thing itself that they worship more than all else, I never saw, nor yet has any other
man, whether stranger or Hermionian. The old women may keep their knowledge of its nature
to themselves.
[2.35.9] There is also another temple, all round which stand statues. This temple is
right opposite that of Chthonia, and is called that of Clymenus, and they sacrifice to
Clymenus here. I do not believe that Clymenus was an Argive who came to Hermion
"Clymenus" is the surname of the god, whoever legend says is king in the
underworld.[2.35.10] Beside this temple is another; it is of Ares, and has an image of the
god, while to the right of the sanctuary of Chthonia is a portico, called by the natives
the Portico of Echo. It is such that if a man speaks it reverberates at least three times.
Behind the temple of Chthonia are three places which the Hermionians call that of
Clymenus, that of Pluto, and the Acherusian Lake. All are surrounded by fences of stones,
while in the place of Clymenus there is also a chasm in the earth. Through this, according
to the legend of the Hermionians, Heracles brought up the Hound of Hell.[2.35.11] At the
gate through which there is a straight road leading to Mases, there is a sanctuary of
Eileithyia within the wall. Every day, both with sacrifices and with incense, they
magnificently propitiate the goddess, and, moreover, there is a vast number of votive
gifts offered to Eileithyia. But the image no one may see, except, perhaps, the
priestesses.
2,35,2,n1. See Paus. 2.27.8.
2,35,5,n1. The letters AI, an exclamation of woe supposed to be inscribed on the
flower.
[2.36.1] Proceeding about seven stades along the straight road to Mases, you reach, on
turning to the left, a road to Halice. At the present day Halice is deserted, but once it,
too, had inhabitants, and there is mention made of citizens of Halice on the Epidaurian
slabs on which are inscribed the cures of Asclepius. I know, however, no other authentic
document in which mention is made either of the city Halice or of its citizens. Well, to
this city also there is a road, which lies midway between Pron and another mountain,
called in old days Thornax; but they say that the name was changed because, according to
legend, it was here that the transformation of Zeus into a cuckoo took place. [2.36.2]
Even to the present day there are sanctuaries on the tops of the mountains: on Mount
Cuckoo one of Zeus, on Pron one of Hera. At the foot of Mount Cuckoo is a temple, but
there are no doors standing, and I found it without a roof or an image inside. The temple
was said to be Apollo's. by the side of it runs a road to Mases for those who have turned
aside from the straight road. Mases was in old days a city, even as Homer1
represents it in the catalogue of the Argives, but in my time the Hermionians were using
it as a seaport.[2.36.3] From Mases there is a road on the right to a headland called
Struthus (Sparrow Peak). From this headland by way of the summits of the mountains the
distance to the place called Philanorium and to the Boleoi is two hundred and fifty
stades. These Boleoi are heaps of unhewn stones. Another place, called Twins, is twenty
stades distant from here. There is here a sanctuary of Apollo, a sanctuary of Poseidon,
and in addition one of Demeter. The images are of white marble, and are upright.
[2.36.4] Next comes a district, belonging to the Argives, that once was called Asinaea,
and by the sea are ruins of Asine. When the Lacedaemonians and their king Nicander, son of
Charillus, son of Polydectes, son of Eunomus, son of Prytanis, son of Eurypon, invaded
Argolis with an army, the Asinaeans joined in the invasion, and with them ravaged the land
of the Argives. When the Lacedaemonian expedition departed home, the Argives under their
king Eratus attacked Asine.[2.36.5] For a time the Asinaeans defended themselves from
their wall, and killed among others Lysistratus, one of the most notable men of Argos. But
when the wall was lost, the citizens put their wives and children on board their vessels
and abandoned their own country; the Argives, while levelling Asine to the ground and
annexing its territory to their own, left the sanctuary of Apollo Pythaeus, which is still
visible, and by it they buried Lysistratus.
[2.36.6] Distant from Argos forty stades and no more is the sea at Lerna. On the way
down to Lerna the first thing on the road is the Erasinus, which empties itself into the
Phrixus, and the Phrixus into the sea between Temenium and Lerna. About eight stades to
the left from the Erasinus is a sanctuary of the Lords Dioscuri (Sons of Zeus). Their
wooden images have been made similar to those in the city.[2.36.7] On returning to the
straight road, you will cross the Erasinus and reach the river Cheimarrus
(Winter-torrent). Near it is a circuit of stones, and they say that Pluto, after carrying
off, according to the story, Core, the daughter of Demeter, descended here to his fabled
kingdom underground. Lerna is, I have already stated, by the sea, and here they celebrate
mysteries in honor of Lernaean Demeter.
[2.36.8] There is a sacred grove beginning on the mountain they call Pontinus. Now
Mount Pontinus does not let the rain-water flow away, but absorbs it into itself. From it
flows a river, also called Pontinus. Upon the top of the mountain is a sanctuary of Athena
Saitis, now merely a ruin; there are also the foundations of a house of Hippomedon, who
went to Thebes to redress the wrongs of Polyneices, son of Oedipus.
2,36,2,n1. Hom. Il. 2.562
[2.37.1] At this mountain begins the grove, which consists chiefly of plane trees, and
reaches down to the sea. Its boundaries are, on the one side the river Pantinus, on the
other side another river, called Amymane, after the daughter of Danaus. Within the grave
are images of Demeter Prosymne and of Dionysus. Of Demeter there is a seated image of no
great size.[2.37.2] Both are of stone, but in another temple is a seated wooden image of
Dionysus Saotes (Savior), while by the sea is a stone image of Aphrodite. They say that
the daughters of Danaus dedicated it, while Danaus himself made the sanctuary of Athena by
the Pontinus. The mysteries of the Lernaeans were established, they say, by Philammon. Now
the words which accompany the ritual are evidently of no antiquity[2.37.3] and the
inscription also, which I have heard is written on the heart made of orichalcum, was shown
not to be Philammon's by Arriphon, an Aetolian of Triconium by descent, who now enjoys a
reputation second to none among the Lycians; excellent at original research, he found the
clue to this problem in the following way: the verses, and the prose interspersed among
the verses, are all written in Doric. But before the return of the Heracleidae to the
Peloponnesus the Argives spoke the same dialect as the Athenians, and in Philammon's day I
do not suppose that even the name Dorians was familiar to all Greek ears.
[2.37.4] All this was proved in the demonstration. At the source of the Amymone grows a
plane tree, beneath which, they say, the hydra (water-snake) grew. I am ready to believe
that this beast was superior in size to other water-snakes, and that its poison had
something in it so deadly that Heracles treated the points of his arrows with its gall. It
had, however, in my opinion, one head, and not several. It was Peisander1 of
Camirus who, in order that the beast might appear more frightful and his poetry might be
more remarkable, represented the hydra with its many heads.[2.37.5] I saw also what is
called the Spring of Amphiaraus and the Alcyonian Lake, through which the Argives say
Dionysus went down to Hell to bring up Semele, adding that the descent here was shown him
by Palymnus. There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody
who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who
had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and
omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its
depth.[2.37.6] This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and
quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is
dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away. The circumference of the lake is not
great, being about one-third of a stade. Upon its banks grow grass and rushes. The
nocturnal rites performed every year in honor of Dionysus I must not divulge to the world
at large.
2,37,4,n1. Peisander wrote a poem on the labors of Heracles. His date is uncertain, but
perhaps he flourished about 645 B.C.
[2.38.1] Temenium is in Argive territory, and was named after Temenus, the son of
Aristomachus. For, having seized and strengthened the position, he waged therefrom with
the Dorians the war against Tisamenus and the Achaeans. On the way to Temenium from Lerna
the river Phrixus empties itself into the sea, and in Temenium is built a sanctuary of
Poseidon, as well as one of Aphrodite; there is also the tomb of Temenus, which is
worshipped by the Dorians in Argos.[2.38.2] Fifty stades, I conjecture, from Temenium is
Nauplia, which at the present day is uninhabited; its founder was Nauplius, reputed to be
a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Of the walls, too, ruins still remain and in Nauplia are a
sanctuary of Poseidon, harbors, and a spring called Canathus. Here, say the Argives, Hera
bathes every year and recovers her maidenhood. [2.38.3] This is one of the sayings told as
a holy secret at the mysteries which they celebrate in honor of Hera. The story told by
the people in Nauplia about the ass, how by nibbling down the shoots of a vine he caused a
more plenteous crop of grapes in the future, and how for this reason they have carved an
ass on a rock, because he taught the pruning of vines--all this I pass over as trivial.
[2.38.4] From Lerna there is also another road, which skirts the sea and leads to a
place called Genesium. By the sea is a small sanctuary of Poseidon Genesius. Next to this
is another place, called Apobathmi (Steps). The story is that this is the first place in
Argolis where Danaus landed with his daughters. From here we pass through what is called
Anigraea, along a narrow and difficult road, until we reach a tract on the left which
stretches down to the sea;[2.38.5] it is fertile in trees, especially the olive. As you go
up inland from this is a place where three hundred picked Argives fought for this land
with an equal number of specially chosen Lacedaemonian warriors1. All were
killed except one Spartan and two Argives, and here were raised the graves for the dead.
But the Lacedaemonians, having fought against the Argives with all their forces, won a
decisive victory; at first they themselves enjoyed the fruits of the land, but afterwards
they assigned it to the Aeginetans, when they were expelled from their island by the
Athenians2. In my time Thyreatis was inhabited by the Argives, who say that
they recovered it by the award of an arbitration36">[2.38.6] As you go
from these common graves you come to Athene, where Aeginetans once made their home,
another village Neris, and a third Eua, the largest of the villages, in which there is a
sanctuary of Polemocrates. This Polemocrates is one of the sons of Machaon, and the
brother of Alexanor; he cures the people of the district, and receives honors from the
neighbours.[2.38.7] Above the villages extends Mount Parnon, on which the Lacedaemonian
border meets the borders of the Argives and Tegeatae. On the borders stand stone figures
of Hermes, from which the name of the place is derived. A river called Tanaus, which is
the only one descending from Mount Parnon, flows through the Argive territory and empties
itself into the Gulf of Thyrea.
2,38,5,n1. 548 B.C.
2,38,5,n2. 431 B.C.
2,38,5,n3. 338 B.C.
