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Title: Pausanias' description of Greece, Vol. I
Author: Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
Language: English
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GREECE, VOL. I ***
_BOHN’S CLASSICAL LIBRARY._
PAUSANIAS’ DESCRIPTION OF
GREECE.
PAUSANIAS’
DESCRIPTION OF GREECE,
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
WITH NOTES AND INDEX
BY ARTHUR RICHARD SHILLETO, M.A.,
_Sometime Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge_.
VOLUME I.
“Pausanias est un homme qui ne manque ni de bon sens ni de
bonne foi, mais qui croit ou au moins voudrait croire à ses dieux.”
--CHAMPAGNY.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS,
YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1886.
CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE.
PREFACE.
Of Pausanias personally we know very little, but that he lived during
the Reign of the Antonines, and travelled all round Greece, and wrote
his famous _Tour round Greece_, or _Description of Greece_, in 10
Books, describing what he had seen and heard. His chief merit is his
showing to us the state of the works of art still remaining in his day
in the Greek cities, which have since been swept away by the various
invasions that have devastated that once happy land. “When Pausanias
travelled through Greece, during the age of the Antonines, about 1690
years ago, he found every city teeming with life and refinement; every
Temple a Museum of Art; and every spot hallowed by some tradition which
contributed to its preservation. The ruthless destruction of these
works of art, in subsequent ages, has reduced them to a small number;
and the Traveller now pauses, with a melancholy interest, to reflect
upon the objects described by Pausanias, but which no longer exist.”[1]
Pausanias’ _Description of Greece_ is also full of various
information on many topics. It is for example a mine of Mythology. For
its various matter it has been happily compared to a “County History.”
There is often a quiet vein of humour in Pausanias, who seems to have
been almost equally a believer in Providence and in Homer.
I have translated from _Schubart’s_ Text in the _Teubner_ Series,
(1875), but have taken the liberty always, where the text seemed
hopeless, to adopt a reading that seemed preferable from any other
source. I have constantly had before me the valuable edition of
_Siebelis_, (Lipsiæ, 1827), to whom I am much indebted, especially for
his Illustrations, still veracity obliges me to state that occasionally
he too gives one reason to remember the famous lines of a well-known
Rector of Welwyn in the Eighteenth Century.
“_The_ commentators each dark passage shun,
And hold their farthing candle to the Sun.”
In the _Index_ it is hardly necessary to state that I owe much to
_Schubart_.
CAMBRIDGE,
_May, 1886_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] George Scharf, Esq., F.S.A. 1859. _Wordsworth’s Greece_, p. 1.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
BOOK I. ATTICA 1
II. CORINTH 90
III. LACONIA 168
IV. MESSENIA 228
V. ELIS 302
VI. ELIS. Part ii. 360
INDEX 414
PAUSANIAS.
BOOK I.--ATTICA.
CHAPTER I.
On the mainland of Greece, facing the islands called the Cyclades and
the Ægean sea, the promontory of Sunium stands out on Attic soil:
and there is a harbour for any one coasting along the headland, and
a temple of Athene of Sunium on the summit of the height. And as one
sails on is Laurium, where the Athenians formerly had silver mines, and
a desert island of no great size called after Patroclus; for he had
built a wall in it and laid a palisade, when he sailed as admiral in
the Egyptian triremes, which Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, sent to punish
the Athenians, Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, in person making a raid
into their territory with a land force and ravaging it, and the fleet
simultaneously hemming them in by sea. Now the Piræus was a township
in ancient times, but was not a port until Themistocles ruled the
Athenians; but their port was Phalerum, (for here the sea is nearest to
Athens), and they say that it was from thence that Menestheus sailed
with the ships to Troy, and before him Theseus to exact vengeance
from Minos for the death of Androgeos. But when Themistocles was in
power, because the Piræus appeared to him to be more convenient as a
harbour, and it was certainly better to have three harbours than one
as at Phalerum, he made this the port. And even up to my time there
were stations for ships, and at the largest of the three harbours the
tomb of Themistocles; for they say that the Athenians repented of their
conduct to him, and that his relatives exhumed his remains and brought
them home from Magnesia. Certain it is that the sons of Themistocles
returned from exile, and hung up a painting of Themistocles in the
Parthenon. Now of all the things in the Piræus best worth seeing is the
temple of Athene and Zeus; both their statues are of gold, and Zeus has
a sceptre and Victory, while Athene is armed with a spear. Here, too,
is a painting by Arcesilaus of Leosthenes and his sons, that famous
hero who at the head of the Athenians and all the Greeks defeated the
Macedonians in battle in Bœotia, and again beyond Thermopylæ, and drove
them into Lamia over against Mount Œta and shut them up there. And it
is in the long portico, where those near the sea have their market,
(for there is another market for those more inland), and in the back
of the portico near the sea are statues of Zeus and Demos, the design
of Leochares. And near the sea is a temple erected to Aphrodite by
Conon, after his victory over the Lacedæmonian fleet off Cnidus in the
peninsula of Caria. For Aphrodite is the tutelary saint of the men of
Cnidus, and they have several temples of the goddess; the most ancient
celebrates her as Doritis, the next in date as Acræa, and latest of
all that which everybody else calls Athene of Cnidus, but the Cnidians
themselves call it Athene of the Fair Voyage.
The Athenians have also another harbour at Munychia, and a temple
of Artemis of Munychia, and another at Phalerum, as has been stated
by me before, and near it a temple of Demeter. Here too is a temple
of Sciradian Athene, and of Zeus at a little distance, and altars of
gods called unknown, and of heroes, and of the children of Theseus and
Phalerus; for this Phalerus, the Athenians say, sailed with Jason to
Colchis. There is also an altar of Androgeos the son of Minos, though
it is only called altar of a hero, but those who take pains to know
more accurately than others their country’s antiquities are well aware
that it is the altar of Androgeos. And twenty stades[2] further is
the promontory Colias; when the fleet of the Persians was destroyed
the tide dashed the wrecks against it. There is here also a statue of
Aphrodite of Colias and the goddesses who are called Genetyllides.
I am of opinion that the Phocian goddesses in Ionia, that they call
by the name of Gennaides, are the same as these at Colias called
Genetyllides. And there is on the road to Athens from Phalerum a temple
of Hera without doors or roof; they say that Mardonius, the son of
Gobryas, burnt it. But the statue there now is (as they say) the work
of Alcamenes; this, indeed, the Persian cannot have touched.
CHAPTER II.
As one enters into the city there is a monument of Antiope the Amazon.
Pindar says that this Antiope was carried off by Pirithous and Theseus,
but the account by Hegias of Trœzen is as follows: that Hercules
besieging Themiscyra near the river Thermodon could not take it; but
that Antiope being enamoured of Theseus, (who was besieging the place
with Hercules), handed the place over to him. This is the account
Hegias has given. But the Athenians say that, when the Amazons came,
Antiope was shot by Molpadia with an arrow, and that Molpadia was slain
by Theseus. There is a monument also to Molpadia among the Athenians.
And as one ascends from the Piræus there are remains of the walls
which Conon re-erected after the sea-fight off Cnidus; for those which
Themistocles had built after the defeat of the Persians had been pulled
down during the rule of The Thirty Tyrants, as they were called. And
along the way the most notable tombs are those of Menander the son of
Diopeithes, and a cenotaph of Euripides without the body. For Euripides
was buried in Macedonia, having gone to the court of King Archelaus;
and the manner of his death, for it has been told by many, let it be as
they say. Poets even in those days lived with kings and earlier still,
for when Polycrates was tyrant at Samos Anacreon lived at his court,
and Æschylus and Simonides journeyed to Syracuse to the court of Hiero;
and to Dionysius, who was afterwards tyrant in Sicily, went Philoxenus;
and to Antigonus, king of the Macedonians, went Antagoras of Rhodes and
Aratus of Soli. On the other hand Hesiod and Homer either did not get
the chance of living at kings’ courts, or of their own accord didn’t
value it, the former because he lived in the country and shrank from
travelling, and the latter, having gone on his travels to very distant
parts, depreciated pecuniary assistance from the powerful in comparison
with the glory he had amongst most men, for from him too we have the
description of Demodocus’ being at the court of Alcinous, and that
Agamemnon left a poet with his wife. There is also a tomb not far from
the gates, with the statue of a soldier standing near a horse; who the
soldier is I don’t know, but Praxiteles modelled both the horse and the
soldier.
As one enters into the city there is a building for the getting
ready of processions, which they conduct some annually, some at
various intervals. And near is the temple of Demeter, and the statues
in it are her and her daughter and Iacchus with a torch; and it is
written on the wall in Attic letters that they are the production of
Praxiteles. And not far from this temple is Poseidon on horseback, in
the act of hurling his spear at the giant Polybotes, in respect to
whom there is a story among the Coans as to the promontory of Chelone;
but the inscription of our days assigns the statue to another and not
to Poseidon. And there are porticoes from the gates to the Ceramicus,
and in front of them brazen statues of women and men who have obtained
some celebrity. And one of the porticoes has not only shrines of the
gods, but also what is called the gymnasium of Hermes; and there is in
it the house of Polytion, in which they say the most notable of the
Athenians imitated the Eleusinian mysteries. But in my time it was
consecrated to Dionysus. And this Dionysus they call Melpomenos for
the same reason that they call Apollo Musagetes. Here are statues of
Pæonian Athene and Zeus and Mnemosyne and the Muses, and Apollo (the
votive offering and work of Eubulides), and Acratus a satellite of
Dionysus: his face alone is worked in the wall. And next to the shrine
of Dionysus is a room with statues of earthenware, Amphictyon the king
of the Athenians feasting Dionysus and all the other gods. Here too is
Pegasus Eleutherensis, who introduced Dionysus to the Athenians; and
he was assisted by the oracle at Delphi, which foretold that the god
would come and settle there in the days of Icarius. And this is the
way Amphictyon got the kingdom. They say that Actæus was first king of
what is now Attica; and on his death Cecrops succeeded to the kingdom
having married Actæus’ daughter, and he had three daughters, Erse, and
Aglaurus, and Pandrosus, and one son, Erysichthon. He never reigned
over the Athenians, for he chanced to die in his father’s lifetime, and
the kingdom of Cecrops fell to Cranaus, the foremost of the Athenians
in power and influence. And they say that Cranaus had among other
daughters Atthis; from her they named the country Attica, which was
before called Actæa. And Amphictyon rose up in insurrection against
Cranaus, although he was married to his daughter, and deposed him from
the kingdom; but was himself afterwards ejected by Erichthonius and
his fellow conspirators. And they say that Erichthonius had no mortal
father, but that his parents were Hephæstus and Mother Earth.
CHAPTER III.
Now the place Ceramicus gets its name from the hero Ceramus, he too
reputed to be the son of Dionysus and Ariadne; and the first portico on
the right is called the royal portico, for there the king sits during
his yearly office which is called kingdom. On the roof of this portico
are statues of earthenware, Theseus hurling Sciron into the sea, and
Aurora carrying off Cephalus, who, being most handsome, was, they say,
carried off by enamoured Aurora, and his son was Phaethon. And he made
him sacristan of the temple. All this has been told by others, and by
Hesiod in his poem about women. And near the portico are statues of
Conon and his son Timotheus, and Evagoras, the king of the Cyprians,
who got the Phœnician triremes given to Conon by King Artaxerxes;
and he acted as an Athenian and one who had ancestral connection
with Salamis, for his pedigree went up to Teucer and the daughter of
Cinyras. Here too are statues of Zeus, surnamed Eleutherius, and the
Emperor Adrian, a benefactor to all the people he ruled over, and
especially to the city of the Athenians. And the portico built behind
has paintings of the so-called twelve gods. And Democracy and Demos and
Theseus are painted on the wall beyond. The painting represents Theseus
restoring to the Athenians political equality. The popular belief has
prevailed almost universally that Theseus played into the hands of
the people, and that from his time they remained under a democratical
government, till Pisistratus rose up and became tyrant. There are
other untrue traditions current among the mass of mankind, who have no
research and take for gospel all they heard as children in the choruses
and tragedies. One such tradition is that Theseus himself was king,
and that after the death of Menestheus his descendants continued kings
even to the fourth generation. But if I had a fancy for genealogies,
I should certainly have enumerated all the kings from Melanthus to
Cleidicus the son of Æsimidas as well as these.
Here too is painted the action of the Athenians at Mantinea, who were
sent to aid the Lacedæmonians. Xenophon and others have written the
history of the entire war, the occupation of Cadmeia, and the slaughter
of the Lacedæmonians at Leuctra, and how the Bœotians made a raid into
the Peloponnese, and of the help that came to the Lacedæmonians from
the Athenians. And in the picture is the cavalry charge, the most
noted officers in which were on the Athenian side Gryllus, the son of
Xenophon, and in the Bœotian cavalry Epaminondas the Theban. These
paintings were painted for the Athenians by Euphranor, and in the
temple hard by he represented Apollo under the name Patrous. And in
front of the temple Leochares represented another Apollo, and Calamis
the Apollo who is called Averter of Evil. And they say the god got this
name by stopping from his oracle at Delphi the noisome pestilence, that
smote them at the same time as the Peloponnesian war. There is also a
temple to the Mother of the Gods wrought by Phidias, and next to it a
council chamber for those who are called The Five Hundred, who are
appointed annually. And in the council chamber are erected statues to
Zeus the Counsellor, and to Apollo (the artistic design of Pisias),
and to Demos (the work of Lyson). And the legislators were painted by
the Caunian Protogenes, but Olbiades painted Callippus, who led the
Athenians to Thermopylæ to prevent the invasion of the Galati into
Greece.
CHAPTER IV.
Now these Galati inhabit the remotest parts of Europe, near a mighty
sea, not navigable where they live: it has tides and breakers and
sea monsters quite unlike those in any other sea: and through their
territory flows the river Eridanus, by whose banks people think the
daughters of the sun lament the fate of their brother Phaethon. And
it is only of late that the name Galati has prevailed among them:
for originally they were called Celts both by themselves and by all
other nations. And an army gathered together by them marched towards
the Ionian Sea, and dispossessed all the nations of Illyria and all
that dwelt between them and the Macedonians, and even the Macedonians
themselves, and overran Thessaly. And when they got near to Thermopylæ,
most of the Greeks did not interfere with their onward march,
remembering how badly handled they had formerly been by Alexander
and Philip, and how subsequently Antipater and Cassander had nearly
ruined Greece; so that, on account of their weakness, they did not
consider it disgraceful individually that a general defence should be
abandoned. But the Athenians, although they had suffered more than
any other of the Greeks during the long Macedonian war, and had had
great losses in battles, yet resolved to go forth to Thermopylæ with
those of the Greeks who volunteered, having chosen this Callippus as
their General. And having occupied the narrowest pass they endeavoured
to bar the passage of the barbarians into Greece. But the Celts
having discovered the same defile by which Ephialtes the Trachinian
had formerly conducted the Persians, and having routed those of the
Phocians who were posted there in battle array, crossed Mount Œta
unbeknown to the Greeks. Then it was that the Athenians displayed
themselves to the Greeks as most worthy, by their brave defence
against the barbarians, being taken both in front and flank. But those
suffered most that were in their ships, inasmuch as the Lamiac Gulf was
full of mud near Thermopylæ; the explanation is, as it seems to me,
that here warm springs have their outlet into the sea. Here therefore
they suffered much. For, having taken on board their comrades, they
were obliged to sail over mud in vessels heavy with men and armour.
Thus did the Athenians endeavour to save the Greeks in the manner I
have described. But the Galati having got inside Pylæ, and not caring
to take the other fortified towns, were most anxious to plunder the
treasures of the god at Delphi. And the people of Delphi, and those
of the Phocians who dwelt in the cities round Parnassus, drew up in
battle array against them. A contingency of the Ætolians also arrived:
and you must know that at that era the Ætolians were eminent for manly
vigour. And when the armies engaged not only did lightnings dismay the
Galati, and fragments of rock coming down on them from Parnassus, but
three mighty warriors pressed them hard, two, they say, came from the
Hyperboreans, Hyperochus and Amadocus, and the third was Pyrrhus, the
son of Achilles. And in consequence of this aid the Delphians offer
sacrifice to Pyrrhus, though before they held his tomb in dishonour as
that of an enemy. But the greater part of the Galati having crossed
into Asia Minor in their ships, ravaged its maritime parts. And some
time afterwards the inhabitants of Pergamum, which in old times was
called Teuthrania, drove the Galati from the sea into the region now
called Galatia. They lived in the region east of the river Sangarius,
having captured Ancyra, a city of the Phrygians which Midas the son of
Gordias had formerly built. And the anchor which Midas found was still,
even in my time, in the temple of Zeus, and the well shown which was
called Midas’ well: which Midas, they say, poured wine into that he
might capture Silenus. As well as Ancyra they captured Pessinus near
the mountain Agdistis, where they say Atte was buried. And the people
of Pergamum have spoils of the Galati, and there is a painting of their
action with the Galati. And the region which the people of Pergamum
inhabit was in old times, they say, sacred to the Cabiri. And they
claim to be Arcadians who crossed over with Telephus into Asia Minor.
Of their other wars, if they fought any, the fame has not universally
spread: but three most notable exploits have been performed by them,
their gaining dominion over the southern part of Asia Minor, and their
expulsion of the Galati from thence, and their venture under Telephus
against the forces of Agamemnon, when the Greeks, unable to find Ilium,
ravaged the Mysian plain, thinking it was Trojan territory. But I
return to where I made my digression from.
CHAPTER V.
Near the council chamber of The Five Hundred is the room called the
Rotunda, and here the Prytanes sacrifice, and there are some silver
statues not very large. And higher up are some statues of the heroes,
from whom the tribes of the Athenians in later times got their names.
And who made the tribes ten instead of four, and changed their names
from the old ones, has been told by Herodotus. And of the heroes who
gave their names to the tribes, (_Eponymus_ is the name they give
them), are Hippothoon, the son of Poseidon by Alope the daughter
of Cercyon, and Antiochus, one of the sons of Hercules by Meda the
daughter of Phylas, and the third Ajax, the son of Telamon; and of the
Athenians Leo, who is said to have devoted all his daughters for the
public weal at the bidding of the oracle. Erechtheus also is among
the Eponymi, who conquered the Eleusinians in battle, and slew their
commander Immaradus, the son of Eumolpus; also Ægius, and Œneus the
illegitimate son of Pandion, and of the sons of Theseus Acamas. And
what Cecrops and Pandion they hold in honour, (for I saw their statues
too among the Eponymi), I do not know, for there were two of each; the
first Cecrops, that was king, married the daughter of Actæus, and the
other, who settled at Eubœa, was the son of Erechtheus, the grandson
of Pandion and the great grandson of Erichthonius, and the two Pandion
kings were the son of Erichthonius and the son of Cecrops the younger.
The latter was deposed from his kingdom by the Metionidæ, and when he
fled to Megara, the daughter of whose king he had married, his sons
were banished with him. And it is said that Pandion died there of
illness, and his tomb is near the sea in Megara, on the rock that is
called the rock of Athene the Diver. But his sons returned from exile
at Megara, and expelled the Metionidæ, and Ægeus, being the eldest, had
the sovereignty over the Athenians. Pandion also reared daughters, but
not with good fortune, nor had they any sons to avenge him. And yet for
the love of power he had made affinity with the king of Thrace. But
man has no power to escape what is willed by the Deity. They say that
Tereus (though married to Procne) dishonoured Philomela, not acting
according to the law of the Greeks: and, having still further murdered
the damsel, he compelled the women to punish him. There is also another
statue erected to Pandion in the Acropolis, well worth seeing. These
are the ancient Eponymi of the Athenians. And after these they have
as Eponymi Attalus the Mysian, and Ptolemy the Egyptian, and, in my
time, the Emperor Adrian, who worshipped the gods more religiously than
anyone, and who contributed most to the individual happiness of his
subjects. And he never willingly undertook any war, only he punished
the revolt of the Hebrews who live beyond the Syrians. And as to the
temples of the gods, part of which he originally built, and part of
which he adorned with votive offerings and decorations, or of the gifts
which he gave to the Greek cities and to those of the barbarians who
asked for them, all these good deeds of his are written up at Athens,
in the temple common to all the gods.
CHAPTER VI.
As to the actions of Attalus and Ptolemy, not only are they become more
ancient from the progress of time, so that the fame of them no longer
remains, but also those who lived with those kings in former days
neglected to register their exploits. I thought it well therefore to
record whatever works they did, and how it was that the government of
Egypt and of the Mysi, and of the neighbouring nations, fell to their
fathers. Ptolemy, the Macedonians think, was really the son of Philip
the son of Amyntas, (but putatively the son of Lagus), for his mother,
they say, was pregnant when she was given to Lagus to wife by Philip.
And they say that Ptolemy not only distinguished himself brilliantly
in Asia Minor, but, when danger befel Alexander at Oxydracæ, he of
all his companions was foremost to bring him aid. And upon the death
of Alexander, he it was who mainly resisted those who wished to give
all the dominions of Alexander to Aridæus the son of Philip, and he
again was responsible for the different nationalities being divided
into kingdoms. And he himself crossed into Egypt and slew Cleomenes,
whom Alexander had made satrap of Egypt, thinking him friendly to
Perdiccas and therefore not loyal to himself, and persuaded those of
the Macedonians who were appointed to carry the dead body of Alexander
to Ægæ to hand it over to him, and buried him at Memphis with the
customary Macedonian rites; but, feeling sure that Perdiccas would go
to war with him, he filled Egypt with garrisons. And Perdiccas, to
give a specious colour to his expedition, led about with him Aridæus
the son of Philip, and the lad Alexander, the son of Alexander by
Roxana the daughter of Oxyartes, but really was plotting to take away
the kingdom of Egypt from Ptolemy. But having been thrust out of
Egypt, and consequently losing his former prestige as a general, and
having incurred odium among the Macedonians on other grounds, he was
assassinated by his bodyguard. The death of Perdiccas roused Ptolemy
to immediate action: simultaneously he seized Syria and Phœnicia,
welcomed Seleucus the son of Antiochus, a fugitive who had been driven
into exile by Antigonus, and made preparations to take the field in
person against Antigonus. And Cassander the son of Antipater, and
Lysimachus king of Thrace, he persuaded to join him in the war, saying
that the exile of Seleucus and the aggrandisement of Antigonus was a
common danger to all of them. Now Antigonus for a time went on with
his preparations, but by no means courted war. But when he heard that
Ptolemy had gone to Libya to put down a revolt of the people of Cyrene,
forthwith he took Syria and Phœnicia by a _coup-de-main_, and, handing
them over to his son Demetrius, a boy in years a man in intellect,
returned to the Hellespont. But before getting there, on hearing
that Demetrius had been beaten in battle by Ptolemy, he led his army
back again. But Demetrius, so far from yielding ground altogether to
Ptolemy, planned an ambush and cut to pieces a few of the Egyptians.
And now, upon Antigonus’ coming up, Ptolemy did not wait for him, but
retired into Egypt. And when the winter was over Demetrius sailed to
Cyprus and beat Menelaus, Ptolemy’s satrap, in a naval engagement, and
then Ptolemy himself, as he tried to force his way through. And he
fled into Egypt and was blockaded both by land and sea by Antigonus
and Demetrius. But Ptolemy, although in great straits, yet preserved
his kingdom by stationing himself with his army at Pelusium on the
_qui vive_, and by keeping the enemy from the river with his fleet.
And Antigonus had no further hope that he could take Egypt in the
present state of affairs, so he despatched Demetrius to the Rhodians
with a large army and ships, hoping that, if he could get possession
of Rhodes, he could use it as his base against the Egyptians. But not
only did the Rhodians exhibit great daring and ingenuity against their
besiegers, but also Ptolemy himself to the utmost of his power assisted
them in the war. And Antigonus, though unsuccessful with Rhodes and
Egypt, ventured not long afterwards to fight against Lysimachus and
Cassander and the army of Seleucus, and lost the greater part of his
forces, and himself died mainly from being worn out by the length of
the war against Eumenes. And of the kings that put down the power of
Antigonus I think the most unscrupulous was Cassander, who, having
preserved his rule over the Macedonians only owing to Antigonus, went
and fought against a man that had been his benefactor. And after the
death of Antigonus, Ptolemy again took Syria and Cyprus, and restored
Pyrrhus to Thesprotian Epirus. And when Cyrene revolted, Magas the son
of Berenice, who was at this time the wife of Ptolemy, took it in the
fifth year after the revolt. Now if this Ptolemy was really the son
of Philip the son of Amyntas, it will be clear that he inherited this
madness for women from his father, who, though married to Eurydice,
the daughter of Antipater, and having children by her, yet fell in love
with Berenice, (whom Antipater had sent into Egypt as a companion to
Eurydice), and so enamoured was he of her that he had children by her,
and when his end was near willed to reign over Egypt Ptolemy, (from
whom the Athenians name one tribe), his son by Berenice and not by
Eurydice.
CHAPTER VII.
This Ptolemy being enamoured of Arsinoe, his sister on both sides,
married her, doing what was by no means usual among the Macedonians,
but not uncommon among his Egyptian subjects. And next he slew his
brother Argæus plotting against him, as was said. And he brought the
corpse of Alexander from Memphis. And he slew also another brother,
the son of Eurydice, observing that he was trying to make the Cyprians
revolt. And Magas the uterine brother of Ptolemy, (being the son of
Berenice and one Philip, a Macedonian but one of the common people and
otherwise unknown), who had been chosen by his mother to be governor
of Cyrene, at this time persuaded the people of Cyrene to revolt from
Ptolemy and marched with an army for Egypt. And Ptolemy, having guarded
the approaches, awaited the arrival of the men of Cyrene; but Magas
having had news brought him on the road that the Marmaridæ had revolted
from him, (now the Marmaridæ are a tribe of Libyan Nomads), endeavoured
to get back to Cyrene at once. And Ptolemy, intending to follow him,
was prevented by the following reason. Among some of his defensive
operations against Magas, he had invited in some foreign mercenaries,
and among others some 4,000 Galati; but finding that they were plotting
to make themselves masters of Egypt, he sent them down to the Nile to a
desert island. And here they perished, partly by one another’s sword,
partly by famine. And Magas being the husband of Apame, the daughter
of Antiochus the son of Seleucus, persuaded Antiochus to violate the
conditions which his father Seleucus had made with Ptolemy, and to
lead an army into Egypt. But as he was preparing to do so, Ptolemy
sent into all parts of Antichus’ dominions guerilla troops to ravage
the country where the defenders were weak, and more formidable bodies
he checked with his army, so that Antiochus had no longer the chance
to invade Egypt. I have previously described how this Ptolemy sent a
fleet to aid the Athenians against Antigonus and the Macedonians; but,
indeed, the Athenians derived no great benefit from it. Now his sons
were not by Arsinoe his sister, but by the daughter of Lysimachus,
for although he was married to his sister and lived with her, she
pre-deceased him and was childless, and the district Arsinoites is
named after her.
CHAPTER VIII.
Our subject now demands that we should relate the doings of Attalus,
for he is also one of the Athenian Eponymi. A Macedonian by name
Docimus, one of Antigonus’ generals, who afterwards gave himself and
his fortune into the hands of Lysimachus, had a Paphlagonian eunuch
called Philetærus. Now all the circumstances of Philetærus’ revolt from
Lysimachus, and how he invited in Seleucus, shall be narrated by me
in my account of Lysimachus. But this Attalus was the son of Attalus,
and nephew of Philetærus, and got the kingdom from Eumenes his cousin
handing it over to him. And this is the greatest of his exploits, that
he compelled the Galati to leave the coast and go inland to Galatia,
the country which they now inhabit.
And next to the statues of the Eponymi are images of the gods,
Amphiaraus and Peace with Wealth as a boy in her arms. Here, too, are
statues in bronze of Lycurgus the son of Lycophron, and of Callias who
negotiated peace, as most of the Athenians say, between the Greeks
and Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes. Here, too, is Demosthenes, whom the
Athenians drove into exile to Calauria, the island near Trœzen, and
after having recalled him drove him into exile a second time after
the defeat at Lamia. And when Demosthenes went into exile the second
time, he crossed over again to Calauria, where he died by taking
poison. And he was the only exile who was not handed over to Antipater
and the Macedonians by Archias. Now this Archias, who was a native
of Thurii, acted very inhumanly. All who had opposed the Macedonians
before the disaster which befel the Greeks in Thessaly, Archias handed
over to Antipater for punishment. Now this was the end of Demosthenes’
excessive affection for the Athenians. And it seems to me deserving of
record, that a man who had been cruelly exiled for his policy, and had
yet believed in the democracy, came to a bad end.
And near the statue of Demosthenes is the temple of Ares, where are
two images of Aphrodite, and one of Ares designed by Alcamenes, and one
of Athene designed by a Parian by name Locrus. Here too is an image of
Enyo by the sons of Praxiteles. And round the temple are statues of
Hercules, and Theseus, and Apollo with his long hair in a fillet: and
statues of Calades, who was a legislator of the Athenians according
to tradition, and of Pindar, who amongst other honour obtained this
statue from the Athenians because he praised them in an Ode. And at no
great distance are statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton, the murderers
of Hipparchus: the motive and manner of this murder has been told by
others. And of these statues some are by Critias, but the oldest ones
by Antenor. And although Xerxes when he captured Athens, (the Athenians
having left the city), took them off as booty, Antiochus sent them back
afterwards to the Athenians.
And in the theatre, which they call Odeum, there are statues, in the
entrance, of the Egyptian kings. Their names are all Ptolemy alike,
but each has another distinguishing name also. Thus they call one
Philometor, and another Philadelphus, and the son of Lagus Soter, a
name the Rhodians gave him. Philadelphus is the one whom I have before
made mention of as one of the Eponymi. And near him is also a statue of
his sister Arsinoe.
CHAPTER IX.
Now the Ptolemy called Philometor is the eighth in descent from
Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and he got his name in irony; for none of
these kings that we know of was so hated by their mother as he was;
for though he was the eldest of her sons she would not allow them to
call him to the kingdom, but got him banished to Cyprus by his father
previously. Now of this dislike of Cleopatra to her son they allege
other motives, but especially this one, that she thought Alexander, the
younger of her sons, would be more obsequious to her. And therefore she
urged the Egyptians to choose Alexander for their king. And when the
people opposed her in this, she sent Alexander to Cyprus, nominally
as general, but really because she wished through him to make herself
more formidable to Philometor. And at last having mutilated those of
the eunuchs whom she thought most friendly, she brought them before the
populace, and pretended that she was plotted against by Philometor,
and that the eunuchs had been treated in that shameful manner by
him. And the Alexandrians were eager to kill Philometor, but, as he
got on shipboard and escaped them, they made Alexander king on his
return from Cyprus. But Cleopatra was punished eventually for her
getting Philometor banished by being slain by Alexander, whom she had
got appointed king over the Egyptians. And the crime being detected,
and Alexander fleeing from fear of the citizens, Philometor quietly
returned from exile and a second time held Egypt, and warred against
the Thebans who had revolted. And having reduced them in the third
year after the revolt, he punished them so severely that there was no
vestige left them of their ancient prosperity, which had reached such
a pitch that they excelled in wealth the wealthiest of the Greeks,
even the treasures of the temple at Delphi and the Orchomenians. And
Philometor not long after meeting the common fate, the Athenians
who had been well treated by him in many respects that I need not
enumerate, erected a brazen statue both of him and Berenice, his only
legitimate child. And next to the Egyptian kings are statues of Philip
and his son Alexander. They performed greater exploits than to be mere
appendages to an account of something else. To the other Egyptian kings
gifts were given as being of real merit and benefactors, but to Philip
and Alexander more, from the flattery of the community towards them,
for they also honoured Lysimachus by a statue, not so much out of good
will as thinking him useful under existing circumstances.
Now this Lysimachus was by birth a Macedonian and the armour-bearer
of Alexander, whom Alexander once in anger shut up in a building with a
lion and found him victorious over the beast. In all other respects he
continued to admire him, and held him in honour as among the foremost
of the Macedonians. And after Alexander’s death Lysimachus ruled over
those Thracians who were contiguous to the Macedonians, over whom
Alexander had ruled, and still earlier Philip. And these would be no
very great portion of Thrace. Now no nations are more populous than
all the Thracians, except the Celts, if one compares one race with
another; and that is why none of the Romans ever subdued all Thrace at
an earlier period. But all Thrace is now subject to the Romans, and
as much of the Celtic land as they think useless from the excessive
cold and inferiority of the soil has been purposely overlooked by
them, but the valuable parts they stick to. Now Lysimachus at this
period fought with the Odrysæ first of all his neighbours, and next
went on an expedition against Dromichetes and the Getæ. And fighting
with men not inexperienced in war, and in number far superior, he
himself getting into the greatest danger, fled for his life; and his
son Agathocles, now first accompanying his father on campaign, was
captured by the Getæ. And Lysimachus after this, being unfortunate in
battles and being greatly concerned at the capture of his son, made a
peace with Dromichetes, abandoning to Getes his possessions across the
Ister, and giving him his daughter in marriage, more of necessity than
choice. But some say that it was not Agathocles who was captured, but
Lysimachus himself, and that he was ransomed by Agathocles negotiating
with Getes on his account. And when he returned he brought with him
for Agathocles a wife in Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy Lagus
and Eurydice. And he crossed over into Asia Minor in his fleet, and
destroyed the rule of Antigonus. And he built the present city of the
Ephesians near the sea, bringing into it as settlers Lebedians and
Colophonians, after destroying their cities, so that Phœnix, the Iambic
writer, laments the capture of Colophon. Hermesianax, the Elegiac
writer, could not have lived, it seems to me, up to this date; for else
he would surely have written an elegy over the capture of Colophon.
Lysimachus also waged war against Pyrrhus the son of Æacides. And
watching for his departure from Epirus, as indeed he was wandering
most of his time, he ravaged all the rest of Epirus, and even meddled
with the tombs of the kings. I can scarce believe it, but Hieronymus
of Cardia has recorded that Lysimachus took up the tombs of the dead
and strewed the bones about. But this Hieronymus has the reputation
even on other grounds of having written with hostility against all the
kings except Antigonus, and of not having been altogether just even to
him. And in this account of the tombs in Epirus he clearly must have
invented the calumny, that a Macedonian would interfere with the tombs
of the dead. And besides it appears that Lysimachus did not know that
the people of Epirus were not only the ancestors of Pyrrhus but also of
Alexander; for Alexander was not only a native of Epirus, but on his
mother’s side one of the Æacidæ. And the subsequent alliance between
Pyrrhus and Lysimachus proves that if they did fight together there was
no irreconcilable animosity between them. But perhaps Hieronymus had
other causes of complaint against Lysimachus besides the chief one that
he destroyed the city of Cardia, and built instead of it Lysimachia on
the Isthmus of the Thracian Chersonese.
CHAPTER X.
Now as long as Aridæus, and after him Cassander and his sons, ruled,
there was friendship between Lysimachus and the Macedonians; but when
the kingdom came to Demetrius the son of Antigonus, then at once
Lysimachus thought war would be waged against him by Demetrius, and
preferred to take the initiative himself, knowing that it was a family
tradition with Demetrius to wish to be grasping something, and at
the same time observing that he had come to Macedonia on being sent
for by Alexander the son of Cassander, and on his arrival had killed
Alexander and taken in his stead the kingdom of the Macedonians. For
these reasons he fought with Demetrius at Amphipolis and was within an
ace of being ejected from Thrace, but through the help of Pyrrhus he
retained Thrace and afterwards ruled the Nestians and Macedonians also.
But the greater part of Macedonia Pyrrhus kept for himself, coming with
a force from Epirus and being useful to Lysimachus at that time. But
when Demetrius crossed over into Asia Minor and fought with Seleucus,
as long as the fortunes of Demetrius lasted the alliance between
Pyrrhus and Lysimachus remained unbroken; but when Demetrius got into
the power of Seleucus the friendship was dissolved, and Lysimachus
fought with Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, and with Pyrrhus himself,
and was easily victorious and got Macedonia and compelled Pyrrhus to
return to Epirus. Now many misfortunes are wont to come on men through
love. For Lysimachus being already advanced in age, and being reputed
fortunate in respect to his offspring, and although his son Agathocles
had children by Lysandra, yet married Arsinoe Lysandra’s sister. And
it is said that this Arsinoe, fearing for her children that after
the death of Lysimachus they would be in the hands of Agathocles,
for these reasons conspired against Agathocles. And some writers
have alleged that Arsinoe was violently in love with Agathocles,
but being disappointed in this plotted his death. And they say that
afterwards Lysimachus came to know of the awful doings of his wife,
when it was too late to be of any service to him, being entirely
deprived of his friends. For when Lysimachus permitted Arsinoe to put
Agathocles to death, Lysandra fled to Seleucus, taking with her her
sons and brothers, and in consequence of what had happened they fled
for refuge to Ptolemy. And these fugitives to the court of Seleucus
were accompanied by Alexander also, the son of Lysimachus by his wife
Odrysiades. And they, having got to Babylon, besought Seleucus to go
to war with Lysimachus; and Philetærus at the same time, who had had
all the money of Lysimachus entrusted to him, indignant at the death
of Agathocles and thinking the conduct of Arsinoe suspicious, occupied
Pergamum beyond the river Caicus, and sent an envoy and offered himself
and his money to Seleucus. And Lysimachus, learning all this, crossed
into Asia Minor forthwith, and himself began the war, and encountering
Seleucus was badly beaten and himself killed. And Alexander, who
was his son by his wife Odrysiades, after much entreaty to Lysandra
recovered his corpse, and subsequently conveyed it to the Chersonese
and buried it there, where even now his tomb is to be seen, between the
village Cardia and Pactye. Such was the fate of Lysimachus.
CHAPTER XI.
The Athenians also have a statue of Pyrrhus. This Pyrrhus was only
related to Alexander by ancestry. For Pyrrhus was the son of Æacides
the son of Arybbas, whereas Alexander was the son of Olympias the
daughter of Neoptolemus. Now, Neoptolemus and Arybbas had the same
father, Alcetas the son of Tharypus. And from Tharypus to Pyrrhus,
the son of Achilles, are fifteen generations. For he first, after the
capture of Ilium, neglected, returning home to Thessaly, and removed to
Epirus and dwelt there in accordance with the oracles of Helenus. And
he had no son by Hermione, but by Andromache he had Molossus and Pielus
and the youngest Pergamus. And Helenus also had a son Cestrinus by
Andromache, whom he married after the death of Pyrrhus at Delphi. And
when Helenus died having handed over the kingdom to Molossus the son
of Pyrrhus, Cestrinus with the Epirotes who volunteered to go with him
occupied the region across the river Thyamis, and Pergamus, crossing
into Asia Minor, killed Arius the king of Teuthrania in single combat
for the sovereignty of the country, and gave the city his own name,
which it now has. There is also to this day a temple of Andromache, who
accompanied him, in the city. But Pielus remained at home in Epirus,
and it was to him and not to Molossus that Pyrrhus the son of Æacides
and his fathers traced up their ancestry. Now up to the days of Alcetas
the son of Tharypus Epirus was under one king; but the sons of Alcetas
after some quarrelling changed the government to an equal share for
each, and remained loyal to that agreement; and afterwards Alexander
the son of Neoptolemus died in Lucania, and Olympias returned to
Epirus from fear of Antipater, and Æacides, the son of Arybbas, in all
respects remained loyal to Olympias, and even joined her in fighting
against Aridæus and the Macedonians, though the people of Epirus were
unwilling to enter into it. But as Olympias, when she conquered, had
acted infamously in connection with the death of Aridæus, and far more
so to the Macedonians, and consequently was thought afterwards to
have only met with her deserts from Cassander, the Epirotes would not
receive Æacides for a time owing to their hostility against Olympias;
and when he obtained pardon from them some time after Cassander again
prevented his return to Epirus. And a battle being fought between
Philip (the brother of Cassander) and Æacides at Œnidæ, Æacides was
wounded and died no long time after. And the people of Epirus made
Alcetas king, the son of Arybbas and elder brother of Æacides, a man
on previous occasions of ungovernable temper, and for that very reason
banished by his father. And now on his arrival he immediately so madly
raged against the people of Epirus, that they rose up against him by
night and killed him and his sons. And when they had killed him they
brought back from exile Pyrrhus the son of Æacides. And immediately
on his arrival Cassander marched against him, as being young and not
firmly established in the sovereignty. But Pyrrhus, on the invasion of
the Macedonians, went to Egypt to Ptolemy the son of Lagus; and Ptolemy
gave him as wife the uterine sister of his own children, and restored
him with a force of Egyptians. And Pyrrhus, on becoming king, attacked
the Corcyræans first of the Greeks, seeing that the island of Corcyra
lay opposite to his own territory, and not wishing it to be a base
for operations against him. And after the capture of Corcyra all the
defeats he met with fighting against Lysimachus, and how after he had
driven Demetrius out of Macedonia he ruled there until he in turn was
ejected by Lysimachus,--all these, the most important events at that
time in Pyrrhus’ life, have been already narrated by me in connection
with Lysimachus. And we know of no Greek before Pyrrhus that warred
with the Romans. For there is no record of any engagement between
Æneas and Diomede and the Argives with him; and the Athenians, who
were very ambitious and desired to reduce all Italy, were prevented by
the disaster at Syracuse from attacking the Romans; and Alexander the
son of Neoptolemus, of the same race as Pyrrhus but older in age, was
prevented by his death in Lucania from coming to blows with the Romans.
CHAPTER XII.
So Pyrrhus is the first that crossed the Ionian Sea from Greece
to fight against the Romans. And he crossed at the invitation of
the people of Tarentum, who had had earlier than this a war of
long standing with the Romans: and being unable to resist them by
themselves, (and they had already done services to Pyrrhus, for they
had aided him with their fleet when he was warring against Corcyra),
their envoys won Pyrrhus over, giving him to understand that it would
be for the happiness of all Greece, and that it would not be honourable
for him to leave them in the lurch, inasmuch as they were friends and
on the present occasion suppliants. And as the envoys urged these
things, the remembrance of the capture of Ilium came to Pyrrhus,
and he hoped the same would happen to him: for he, a descendant of
Achilles, would be warring against colonies of Trojans. And as the
idea pleased him, (and he was not the man to loiter at anything he
had a mind for), he forthwith equipped men-of-war and transports and
got ready cavalry and infantry to take with him. Now, there are some
books written by men not remarkable for historical power still extant,
called COMMENTARIES OF EVENTS. As often as I read them I am inclined to
marvel, not only at the daring of Pyrrhus which he displayed in action,
but also at the forethought which he always exhibited. On this occasion
he crossed over into Italy in his ships unbeknown to the Romans, and
his arrival was unknown to them until, (an attack being made by them
upon the people of Tarentum), he first showed himself at the head of
his army, and, attacking them contrary to their expectation, threw
them into confusion as was only likely. And, knowing full well that
he was not a match for the Romans in fighting, he contrived to let
loose elephants upon them. Now Alexander was the first European who
had elephants, after the conquest of Porus and India: and on his death
other European kings had them, and Antigonus a very large quantity of
them: and the elephants of Pyrrhus were captured by him in the battle
with Demetrius. And now on their appearance a panic seized the Romans,
who thought they were something superhuman. For the use of ivory indeed
all nations have clearly known from the earliest times; but the animals
themselves, until the Macedonians crossed into Asia, no nations had
seen at all except the Indians and Libyans and the adjacent nations.
And Homer proves this, who has represented the beds and houses of the
wealthier of the kings as decked with ivory, but has made no mention
whatever of the elephant. And if he had seen or heard of them he would,
I think, have recorded them rather than the battle of the Pygmies
and cranes. Pyrrhus was also invited into Sicily by an embassy of
Syracusans. For the Carthaginians used to cross over and take the Greek
cities in Sicily, and Syracuse the only one left they were blockading
and besieging. And Pyrrhus, hearing this from the envoys, left Tarentum
and the Italians that dwelt on the headland, and crossed over into
Sicily and compelled the Carthaginians to raise the siege. And, having
overweening self-confidence, he was elated to fight on sea against
the Carthaginians, (who were the greatest maritime nation of all the
barbarians of that day, having been originally Tyrians and Phœnicians),
with the natives of Epirus only, who even after the capture of Ilium
were most of them unacquainted with the sea, and knew not the use of
salt. As that line of Homer, in the “Odyssey,” bears me out:
“Men who know not the sea, nor eat food seasoned with salt.”[3]
CHAPTER XIII.
Then Pyrrhus, after his defeat, sailed for Tarentum with the remnant of
his fleet. There his fortunes suffered great reverses, and he contrived
his flight in the following manner, (for he knew that the Romans would
not let him go scot-free). On his return from Sicily he first sent
letters everywhere to Asia Minor and Antigonus, asking for soldiers
from some of the kings and for money from others, and for both from
Antigonus. And when the messengers returned and their letters were
given to him, he called together a council of the chief men of Epirus
and Tarentum, and read none of the letters which he had with him but
merely said that aid would come. And quickly a report spread among the
Romans, that the Macedonians and other tribes of Asia Minor were going
to come over to the help of Pyrrhus. So the Romans when they heard
this remained quiet, and Pyrrhus under the shelter of the next night
crossed over to the mountains which they call Ceraunia. And after this
reverse in Italy he remained quiet with his forces for some time, and
then proclaimed war against Antigonus, bringing other charges against
him but mainly because he had failed to bring reinforcements to Italy.
And having beaten Antigonus’ own troops, and the foreign contingent
with him of the Galati, he pursued them to the maritime cities, and
became master of Upper Macedonia and Thessaly. And the greatness of
the battle and the magnitude of Pyrrhus’ victory are shown by the arms
of the Galati hung up in the temple of Athene Itonia between Pheræ and
Larissa, and the inscription on them is as follows:
“Molossian Pyrrhus hung up these shields of the brave Galati to
Itonian Athene, when he had destroyed all the host of Antigonus. No
great wonder. The Æacidæ are warriors now as formerly.”
The shields of the Galati he put here, but those of the Macedonians
he hung up to Zeus of the Macedonians at Dodona. And the following is
the inscription on them:
“These formerly ravaged the wealthy Asian territory,
These also brought slavery to the Greeks;
But now hang up on the pillars in the house of Zeus
The spoils snatched from boasting Macedonia.”
But Pyrrhus was prevented from overthrowing the Macedonians entirely,
though he came within an ace of it, and was only too ready always to
seize whatever was at his feet, by Cleonymus. Now this Cleonymus, who
had persuaded Pyrrhus to leave Macedonia and come to the Peloponnese,
although a Lacedæmonian led a hostile force into the territory of the
Lacedæmonians, for the reason which I shall give after his pedigree.
Pausanias that led the Greeks at Platæa had a son Pleistoanax, and he a
son Pausanias, and he a son Cleombrotus, who fought against Epaminondas
and the Thebans, and was killed at Leuctra. And Cleombrotus had two
sons Agesipolis and Cleomenes, and the former dying childless Cleomenes
had the kingdom. And he had two sons, the elder Acrotatus and the
younger Cleonymus. And Acrotatus dying first and after him Cleomenes,
there was a dispute who should be king between Acrotatus’ son, Areus,
and Cleonymus. And Cleonymus, determined to get the kingdom whether
or no, called in Pyrrhus into the country. And the Lacedæmonians
before Leuctra had met with no reverse, so that they would not admit
they could be conquered by a land army: for in the case of Leonidas
they said his followers were not sufficient to completely destroy the
Persians, and as for the exploit of Demosthenes and the Athenians at
the island of Sphacteria, they said that was a fluke of war and not
a genuine victory. But after their first reverse in Bœotia, they had
a second severe one with Antipater and the Macedonians: and thirdly
the war with Demetrius came on the land as an unexpected evil. And
when fourthly Pyrrhus invaded them, when they saw the enemy’s army,
they drew up in battle array together with their allies from Argos and
Messene. And Pyrrhus conquered and was within an ace of taking Sparta
at the first assault; but after having ravaged their territory and got
much booty he rested for awhile. And the Spartans prepared for a siege,
Sparta even before in the war with Demetrius having been fortified by
deep trenches and strong palisades, and in the weakest parts by special
works. And during this time and the long Laconian war Antigonus having
fortified the towns of the Macedonians pressed into the Peloponnese,
perceiving that Pyrrhus, if he should subdue Sparta and most of the
Peloponnese, would not go into Epirus, but into Macedonia again and to
the war sure to come there. And when Antigonus was intending to move
his army from Argos into Spartan territory, Pyrrhus himself had arrived
at Argos. And, being victorious, he followed the fugitives and entered
the city with them, and, as was likely, his army dispersed into all
quarters of the city. And as they were fighting in the temples and
houses and alleys and in all parts of the city promiscuously, Pyrrhus
was left all alone and got wounded in the head. They say Pyrrhus was
killed by a tile thrown by a woman: but the Argives say it was not a
woman that slew him, but Demeter in the form of a woman. This is the
account which the Argives themselves give of the death of Pyrrhus;
this is also what Lyceas, the expounder of his country’s usages, has
written in his verses. And on the spot where Pyrrhus died was erected
a temple to Demeter in accordance with the oracle of the god: and in
it was Pyrrhus buried. I am astonished that of all those who were
called Æacidæ their end happened in the same supernatural manner, since
Homer says Achilles was slain by Alexander the son of Priam and by
Apollo; and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, was ordered to be slain by
the Pythian oracle at Delphi; and this son of Æacides met his fate as
has been recorded by the Argives and sung by Lyceas. And yet this is
different to the account given by Hieronymus of Cardia: for one that
lives with a king must needs write history like a courtier. And if
Philistus, hoping for a return to Syracuse, was justified in concealing
the most flagitious acts of Dionysius, then Hieronymus, I ween, had
good excuse for writing to please Antigonus. Such was the end of the
glory of Epirus.
CHAPTER XIV.
And as one enters the Odeum at Athens, there is a Dionysus and other
things worth seeing. And near is a spring called the Nine Springs
constructed so by Pisistratus: for there are wells all over the city
but this is the only spring. And two temples have been built over the
spring, one to Demeter and the other to Proserpine; in one of them
is a statue to Triptolemus, about whom I will record the traditions,
omitting what is said about Deiope. Now the Argives are those of the
Greeks who chiefly dispute with the Athenians their rival claims to
antiquity, and assert that they have received gifts from the gods,
just as among the barbarians the Egyptians have similar disputes with
the Phrygians. The story goes then that when Demeter came to Argos
Pelasgus received her into his house, and that Chrysanthis, knowing of
the rape of Proserpine, informed her of it: and afterwards Trochilus
the initiating priest fled they say from Argos in consequence of the
hatred of Agenor, and came to Attica, and there married a wife from
Eleusis, and had children by her, Eubules and Triptolemus. This is
the account of the Argives. But the Athenians and neighbouring tribes
know that Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, was the first who sowed
corn in the fields. And it is sung by Musæus, (if indeed the lines
are by Musæus), that Triptolemus was the son of Ocean and Earth, and
it is sung by Orpheus, (if these lines again are by Orpheus, which I
doubt), that Dysaules was the father of Eubules and Triptolemus, and
that Demeter taught them how to sow corn because they had given her
information about the rape of her daughter. But the Athenian Chœrilus,
in the play called “Alope,” says that Cercyon and Triptolemus were
brothers, that their mother was a daughter of Amphictyon, and that the
father of Triptolemus was Rharus, and the father of Cercyon Poseidon.
And as I was intending to go further into the account, and narrate all
things appertaining to the temple at Athens called the Eleusinium, a
vision in the night checked me: but what it is lawful for me to write
for everybody, to this I will turn. In front of this temple, where
is also a statue of Triptolemus, there is a brazen bull being led to
sacrifice, and Epimenides the Gnossian is pourtrayed in a sitting
posture, who is recorded to have gone into a field and entered into a
cave and slept there, and woke not from that sleep till forty years
had rolled by, and afterwards wrote epic poems and visited Athens and
other cities. And Thales, who stopped the plague at Lacedæmon, was no
relation of his, nor of the same city as Epimenides: for the latter was
a Gnossian, whereas Thales is declared to have been a Gortynian by the
Colyphonian Polymnastus, who wrote a poem on him for the Lacedæmonians.
And a little further is the temple of Euclea, (_Fair Fame_), a votive
offering for the victory over the Persians at Marathon. And I think the
Athenians prided themselves not a little on this victory: Æschylus,
at any rate, on his death-bed, remembered none of his other exploits,
though he was so remarkable as a Dramatist and had fought both at
Artemisium and Salamis: and he wrote in the Poem he then composed his
own name and the name of his city, and that he had as witnesses of his
prowess the grove at Marathon and the Persians who landed there.
And beyond the Ceramicus and the portico called _The Royal Portico_
is a temple of Hephæstus, and that a statue of Athene was placed in
it I was not at all surprised at when I remembered the story about
Erichthonius. But seeing that the statue of Athene had grey eyes, I
found that this was a legend of the Libyans, who record that she was
the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian Marsh, and that therefore
her eyes were grey as those of Poseidon. And near is a temple of
Celestial Aphrodite, who was first worshipped by the Assyrians, and
after them by the Paphians of Cyprus, and by the Phœnicians who dwell
at Ascalon in Palestine. And from the Phœnicians the people of Cythera
learned her worship. And among the Athenians her worship was instituted
by Ægeus, thinking that he had no children, (for he had none then), and
that his sisters were unfortunate, owing to the wrath of the Celestial
One. And her statue is still among us of Parian stone, the design of
Phidias. And the Athenians have a township of the Athmoneans, who say
that Porphyrion, who reigned even before Actæus, erected among them a
temple to the Celestial Aphrodite. But the traditions of townships and
the dwellers in cities are widely different.
CHAPTER XV.
And as one goes into the portico, which they call _The Painted
Chamber_ from the paintings, there is a brazen statue of Hermes of the
Market-Place, and a gate near, and by it is a trophy of the Athenians
who overcame Plistarchus in a cavalry engagement, who, being the
brother of Cassander, had brought his cavalry and a foreign force
against them. Now, this portico has first the Athenians drawn up in
battle array, at Œnoe in Argive territory, against the Lacedæmonians:
and it is painted not in the height of the action, nor when the time
had come for the display of reckless valour in the heady fight, but
at the commencement of the engagement, and when they were just coming
to blows. And in the middle of the walls are painted the Athenians
and Theseus fighting with the Amazons. Now these are the only women
as it seems from whom reverses in war did not take away a relish for
danger; for after the capture of Themiscyra by Hercules, and later on
after the destruction of the army which they sent against Athens, they
yet went to Ilium and fought with the Athenians and other Greeks. And
next to the Amazons you may see painted the Greeks at the capture of
Ilium, and the kings gathered together on account of Ajax’s violence to
Cassandra: and the painting has Ajax himself, and Cassandra among the
other captive women. And at the end of the painting are the Greeks that
fought at Marathon, of the Bœotians the Platæans, and all the Attic
contingent are marching against the barbarians. And in this part of
the painting the valour is equal on both sides, but in the middle of
the battle the barbarians are fleeing and pushing one another into the
marsh. And at the end of this painting are the Phœnician ships, and the
Greeks slaying the barbarians who are trying to get on board. Here too
is a painting of the hero Marathon from whom the plain is named, and
Theseus in the guise of putting out to sea, and Athene and Hercules:
for by the people of Marathon first, as they themselves allege, was
Hercules considered a god. And of the combatants there stand out most
plainly in the painting Callimachus, who was chosen by the Athenians
as Polemarch, and Miltiades, one of the generals, and the hero who
was called Echetlus, of whom I shall make mention hereafter. Here
also are fixed up brazen shields, and these have an inscription that
they are from the Scionæans and their allies, and others smeared over
with pitch, that neither time nor rust should hurt them, are said to
have belonged to the Lacedæmonians who were captured in the island of
Sphacteria.
CHAPTER XVI.
And before the portico are brazen statues of Solon, the Athenian
legislator, and a little further Seleucus, to whom came beforehand
clear indications of his future prosperity. For when he started from
Macedonia with Alexander, as he was sacrificing to Zeus at Pella,
the wood laid on the altar moved to the statue of the god of its own
accord, and burst into a blaze without fire. And on the death of
Alexander Seleucus, fearing the arrival of Antigonus at Babylon, fled
to Ptolemy the son of Lagus, but returned some time after to Babylon,
and on his return defeated the army of Antigonus and slew Antigonus
himself, and afterwards captured Demetrius, the son of Antigonus,
who came against him with an army. And as all these things succeeded
with him, and not long after the power of Lysimachus collapsed, he
handed over all his power in Asia Minor to his son Antiochus, and
himself hurried into Macedonia, and took with him an army of Greeks
and barbarians. But Ptolemy the brother of Lysandra, who had fled to
Seleucus from Lysimachus, and who was generally speaking a very bold
and daring fellow and on that account called Lightning, when the army
of Seleucus reached Lysimachia privately slew Seleucus, and, allowing
the other kings to take Seleucus’ money, became king of Macedonia,
until venturing first of all the kings we know to fight against the
Galati, he was killed by the barbarians, and Antigonus the son of
Demetrius recovered the kingdom. And Seleucus, I am persuaded, was
an especially upright king, pious and religious. I infer this partly
because he restored to the Milesians at Branchidæ the brazen Apollo,
that had been carried away to Ecbatana in Persia by Xerxes; and partly
because, when he built Seleucia on the river Tigris and introduced
Babylonians to dwell there, he destroyed neither the wall of Babylon
nor the temple of Bel, but allowed the Chaldæans to dwell in its
vicinity.
CHAPTER XVII.
And the Athenians have in the market-place among other things not
universally notable an altar of _Mercy_, to whom, though most useful
of all the gods to the life of man and its vicissitudes, the Athenians
alone of all the Greeks assign honours. And not only is philanthropy
more regarded among them; but they also exhibit more piety to the gods
than others. For they have also an altar to _Shame_, and _Rumour_, and
_Energy_. And it is clear that those people who have a larger share
of piety than others have also a larger share of good fortune. And in
the gymnasium of the market-place, which is not far off and is called
after Ptolemy because he established it, are Hermæ in stone worth
seeing, and a brazen statue of Ptolemy; and the Libyan Juba is here,
and Chrysippus of Soli. And near the gymnasium is a temple of Theseus,
where are paintings of the Athenians fighting against the Amazons. And
this war has also been represented on the shield of Athene, and on the
base of Olympian Zeus. And in the temple of Theseus is also painted
the fight between the Centaurs and Lapithæ. Theseus is represented as
just having slain a Centaur, but with all the rest in the picture the
fight seems to be on equal terms. But the painting on the third wall is
not clear to those who do not know the story, partly as the painting
has faded from age, partly because Micon has not pourtrayed the whole
story. When Minos took Theseus and the rest of the band of boys to
Crete, he was enamoured of Peribœa, and when Theseus was very opposed
to this, he in his rage among other sarcasms that he hurled against
him said that he was not the son of Poseidon, for if he threw the ring
which he chanced to be wearing into the sea he could not get it again,
Minos is said at once to have thrown the ring into the sea when he had
said this. And they say that Theseus jumped into the sea and came up
with the ring and a golden crown, the gift of Amphitrite. And as to the
death of Theseus many varying accounts have been given. For they say
that he was once bound by Pluto until he was liberated by Hercules.
But the most credible account I have heard is that Theseus having
invaded Thesprotia, intending to carry off the wife of the king of the
country, lost the greater part of his army, and himself and Pirithous
were taken prisoners, (for Pirithous also came on the expedition
marriage-hunting), and confined by the king of Thesprotia at Cichyrus.
Now among other things worth seeing in Thesprotia are the temple
of Zeus at Dodona, and a beech-tree sacred to the god. And near
Cichyrus there is a marsh called Acherusia and the river Acheron, and
there too flows Cocytus with most unpleasant stream. And I fancy that
Homer, having seen these, ventured to introduce them in his account
of the rivers of Hades, and to borrow his names from these rivers in
Thesprotia. However that may be, Theseus being detained there, the sons
of Tyndarus led an expedition to Aphidna, and captured it, and restored
Menestheus to the kingdom. And Menestheus paid no attention to the sons
of Theseus, who had gone to Eubœa for shelter to Elephenor; but as to
Theseus himself, thinking he would be a dangerous adversary if ever
he returned from Thesprotia, he coaxed the people so that if Theseus
ever returned he would be sent back again. Accordingly Theseus was
sent to Crete to Deucalion, and being carried out of his way by storms
to the island Scyrus, the Scyrians gave him a brilliant reception,
both for the splendour of his race and the renown of his exploits;
and it was owing to this that Lycomedes planned his death. And the
shrine of Theseus at Athens was after the time that the Persians were
at Marathon, for it was Miltiades’ son, Cimon, that drove out the
inhabitants of Scyrus to revenge the hero’s death, and that conveyed
his bones to Athens.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Now the temple of the Dioscuri is ancient; they are designed standing,
and their sons seated on horseback. Here too is a painting by
Polygnotus of the marriage of the daughters of Leucippus, and by Micon
of the Argonauts who sailed with Jason to Colchi: in this painting
Acastus and his horses stand out remarkably well. And above the temple
of the Dioscuri is the grove of Aglaurus, to whom and to her sisters
Erse and Pandrosus they say Athene gave Erichthonius, after putting
him in a chest and forbidding them to pry into the contents. Pandrosus
they say obeyed, but the other two opened the chest, and went mad when
they saw Erichthonius, and threw themselves down the Acropolis at the
very steepest place. It was on that very spot that the Persians landed,
and slew those Athenians who thought they understood the oracle better
than Themistocles, and fortified the Acropolis with wooden palisades.
And next is the Prytaneum, where the laws of Solon are written up,
and where are images of the goddesses Peace and Vesta, and among
other statues one to Autolycus the pancratiast; for Miltiades and
Themistocles have been removed for a Roman and a Thracian! As one goes
thence to the lower parts of the city is the temple of Serapis, whose
worship the Athenians introduced to please Ptolemy. Of the Egyptian
temples to Serapis the most famous is that at Alexandria, but the
oldest is that at Memphis, into which strangers may not enter, nor
even priests except during the ritual in connection with Apis. And not
far from the temple of Serapis is the place where they say Pirithous
and Theseus agreed to go to Lacedæmon, and afterwards to Thesprotia.
And next is a temple erected to Ilithyia, who they say came from the
Hyperborean regions to assist Leto in her travail-throes, and of whom
other nations learnt from the people of Delos, who sacrifice to her and
sing at her altar the Hymn of Olen. But the Cretans consider her to
have been born at Amnisus in Gnossian territory, and to have been the
daughter of Hera. And among the Athenians alone her statues are draped
to the bottom of her feet. Two of her statues the women said were
Cretan and votive offerings of Phædra, while the oldest was brought by
Erysichthon from Delos.
And before going into the temple of Olympian Zeus--which Adrian the
Roman Emperor built, and in which he placed that remarkable statue of
Olympian Zeus (larger than any works of art except the Colossuses at
Rhodes and Rome); it is in ivory and gold, and elegant if you consider
the size--are two statues of Adrian in Thasian stone, and two in
Egyptian stone: and brazen statues in front of the pillars of what the
Athenians call their colonial cities. The whole circuit of the temple
is about four stades, and is full of statues; for from each city is
a statue of the Emperor Adrian, and the Athenians outdid them by the
very fine colossal statue of the Emperor which they erected at the
back of the temple. And in the temple precincts is an ancient statue
of Zeus in brass and a shrine of Cronos and Rhea, and a grove to Earth
by the title of Olympian. Here there is about a cubit’s subsidence of
soil, and they say that after Deucalion’s flood the water came in and
escaped there, and they knead every year a cake of barley meal with
honey and throw it into the cavity. And there is on a pillar a statue
of Isocrates, who left behind him 3 notable examples, his industry (for
though he lived to the age of 98 he never left off taking pupils),
his wisdom (for all his life he kept aloof from politics and public
business), and his love of liberty (for after the news of the battle
of Chæronea he pined away and died of voluntary starvation). And there
are some Persians in stone holding up a brazen tripod, both themselves
and the tripod fine works of art. And they say that Deucalion built
the old temple of Olympian Zeus, bringing as evidence that Deucalion
lived at Athens his tomb not far from this very temple. Adrian erected
also at Athens a temple of Hera and Pan-Hellenian Zeus, and a temple
for all the gods in common. But the most remarkable things are 100
pillars wrought in Phrygian stone, and the walls in the porticoes
corresponding. And there is a room here with a roof of gold and
alabaster stone, adorned also with statues and paintings: and books are
stored up in it. And there is a gymnasium called the Adrian gymnasium:
and here too are 100 pillars of stone from Libyan quarries.
CHAPTER XIX.
And next to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of Pythian
Apollo, as also a temple of Delphian Apollo. And they say that, when
this temple was completed except the roof, Theseus came to the city
incognito. And having a long garment down to his feet and his hair
being elegantly plaited, when he came near this temple, those who were
building the roof asked him jeeringly why a maiden ripe for marriage
was wandering about alone. And his only answer was, it is said,
unyoking the oxen from the waggon which stood by, and throwing it in
the air higher than the roof they were building. And with respect to
the place that they call _The Gardens_, and the temple of Aphrodite,
there is no account given by the Athenians, nor in respect to the
statue of Aphrodite which stands next the temple, and is square like
the Hermæ, and the inscription declares that Celestial Aphrodite is
the oldest of those that are called _Fates_. The statue of Aphrodite
in _The Gardens_ is the work of Alcamenes, and is among the few things
at Athens best worth seeing. There is also a temple of Hercules
called Cynosarges: (_i.e._, _of the white dog_); the history of the
white dog may be learnt by those who have read the oracle. And there
are altars to Hercules and Hebe, (the daughter of Zeus), who, they
think, was married to Hercules. There is also an altar of Alcmene and
Iolaus, who was associated with Hercules in most of his Labours. And
the Lyceum gets its name from Lycus the son of Pandion, but is now
as of old considered a temple of Apollo, for Apollo was here called
Lyceus originally. And it is also said that the natives of Termilæ,
where Lycus went when he fled from Ægeus, are called Lycians from the
same Lycus. And behind the Lyceum is the tomb of Nisus who was king of
Megara and slain by Minos, and the Athenians brought his corpse here
and buried it. About this Nisus there is a story that he had purple
hair, and that the oracle said he would die if it was shorn off. And
when the Cretans came into the land, they took all the other cities of
Megaris by storm, but had to blockade Nisæa, into which Nisus had fled
for refuge. And here they say the daughter of Nisus, who was enamoured
of Minos, cut off her father’s locks. This is the story. Now the rivers
of Attica are the Ilissus and the Eridanus that flows into it, having
the same name as the Celtic Eridanus. The Ilissus is the river where
they say Orithyia was playing when carried off by the North Wind, who
married her, and because of his affinity with the Athenians aided them
and destroyed many of the barbarians’ ships. And the Athenians think
the Ilissus sacred to several gods, and there is an altar also on its
banks to the Muses. The place is also shewn where the Peloponnesians
slew Codrus, the son of Melanthus, the king of Athens. After you cross
the Ilissus is a place called Agræ, and a temple of Artemis Agrotera,
(_The Huntress_), for here they say Artemis first hunted on her arrival
from Delos: accordingly her statue has a bow. And what is hardly
credible to hear, but wonderful to see, is a stadium of white marble;
one can easily conjecture its size in the following manner. Above the
Ilissus is a hill, and this stadium extends from the river to the hill
in a crescent-shaped form. It was built by Herodes an Athenian, and
most of the Pentelican quarry was used in its construction.
CHAPTER XX.
Now there is a way from the Prytaneum called _The Tripods_, so called
from some large temples of the gods there and some brazen tripods in
them, which contain many works of art especially worthy of mention. For
there is a Satyr on which Praxiteles is said to have prided himself
very much: and when Phryne once asked which was the finest of his
works, they say that he offered to give it her like a lover, but would
not say which he thought his finest work. A servant of Phryne at this
moment ran up, and said that most of Praxiteles’ works were destroyed
by a sudden fire that had seized the building where they were, but
that they were not all burnt. Praxiteles at once rushed out of doors,
and said he had nothing to show for all his labour, if the flames had
consumed his Satyr and Cupid. Phryne then bade him stay and be of good
cheer, for he had suffered no such loss, but it was only her artifice
to make him confess which were his finest works. She then selected the
Cupid. And in the neighbouring temple is a boy Satyr handing a cup to
Dionysus. And there is a painting by Thymilus of Cupid standing near
Dionysus. But the most ancient temple of Dionysus is at the theatre.
And inside the sacred precincts are two shrines of Dionysus and two
statues of him, one by Eleuthereus, and one by Alcamenes in ivory and
gold. There is a painting also of Dionysus taking Hephæstus to Heaven.
And this is the story the Greeks tell. Hera exposed Hephæstus on his
birth, and he nursing up his grievance against her sent her as a gift a
golden seat with invisible bonds, so that when she sat in it she was a
prisoner, and Hephæstus would not obey any of the gods, and Dionysus,
whose relations with Hephæstus were always good, made him drunk and
took him to Heaven. There are paintings also of Pentheus and Lycurgus
paying the penalty for their insults to Dionysus, and of Ariadne
asleep, Theseus putting out to sea, and Dionysus coming to carry her
off. And there is near the temple of Dionysus and the theatre a work
of art, said to have been designed in imitation of Xerxes’ tent. It
is a copy, for the original one was burnt by Sulla the Roman general
when he took Athens. And this is how the war came about. Mithridates
was king of the barbarians in the neighbourhood of the Euxine Sea.
Now his pretext for fighting against the Romans, and how he crossed
into Asia, and the cities he reduced by war or won over by diplomacy,
let those who wish to know the whole history of Mithridates concern
themselves about all this: I shall merely relate the circumstances
attending the capture of Athens. There was an Athenian called Aristion,
whom Mithridates employed as ambassador to the Greek States: he
persuaded the Athenians to prefer the friendship of Mithridates to
that of the Romans. However he persuaded only the democracy and the
fiercer spirits, for as to the more respectable Athenians they of
their own accord joined the Romans. And in the battle that ensued the
Romans were easily victorious, and pursued Aristion and the fleeing
Athenians to the city, and Archelaus and the barbarians to the Piræus.
Now Archelaus was the general of Mithridates, whom before this the
Magnesians who inhabit Sipylus wounded, as he was ravaging their
territory, and killed many of the barbarians. So Athens was blockaded,
and Taxilus another general of Mithridates happened to be investing
Elatea in the Phocian district, but when tidings of this came to him he
withdrew his forces into Attica. And the Roman general learning this
left part of his army to continue the siege of Athens, but himself went
with the greater part of his force to encounter Taxilus in Bœotia. And
the third day after news came to both the Roman camps, to Sulla that
the walls at Athens had been carried, and to the force besieging Athens
that Taxilus had been defeated at Chæronea. And when Sulla returned
to Attica, he shut up in the Ceramicus all his Athenian adversaries,
and ordered them to be decimated by lot. And Sulla’s rage against the
Athenians not a whit relaxing, some of them secretly went to Delphi:
and when they enquired if it was absolutely fated that Athens should be
destroyed, the Pythian priestess gave them an oracular response about
the bladder.[4] And Sulla after this had the same complaint with which
I learn Pherecydes the Syrian was visited. And the conduct of Sulla
to most of the Athenians was more savage than one would have expected
from a Roman: but I do not consider this the cause of his malady, but
the wrath of Zeus the God of Suppliants, because when Aristion fled for
refuge to the temple of Athene he tore him away and put him to death.
Athens being thus injured by the war with the Romans flourished again
when Adrian was Emperor.
CHAPTER XXI.
Now the Athenians have statues in the theatre of their tragic and
comic dramatists, mostly mediocrities, for except Menander there is no
Comedian of first-rate powers, and Euripides and Sophocles are the
great lights of Tragedy. And the story goes that after the death of
Sophocles the Lacedæmonians made an incursion into Attica, and their
leader saw in a dream Dionysus standing by him, and bidding him honour
the new Siren with all the honours paid to the dead: and the dream
seemed manifestly to refer to Sophocles and his plays. And even now
the Athenians are wont to compare the persuasiveness of his poetry and
discourses to a Siren’s song. And the statue of Æschylus was I think
completed long after his death, and subsequently to the painting which
exhibits the action at Marathon. And Æschylus used to tell the story
that when he was quite a lad, he slept in a field watching the grapes,
and Dionysus appeared to him and bade him write tragedy: and when
it was day, he wished to obey the god, and found it most easy work.
This was his own account. And on the South Wall, which looks from the
Acropolis to the theatre, is the golden head of Medusa the Gorgon,
with her ægis. And at the top of the theatre there is a crevice in
the rocks up to the Acropolis: and there is a tripod also here. On it
are pourtrayed Apollo and Artemis carrying off the sons of Niobe. I
myself saw this Niobe when I ascended the mountain Sipylus: the rock
and ravine at near view convey neither the idea of a woman, nor a woman
mourning, but at a distance you may fancy to yourself that you see a
woman all tears and with dejected mien.
As you go from the theatre to the Acropolis is the tomb of Calus.
This Calus, his sister’s son and art-pupil, Dædalus murdered and fled
to Crete: and afterwards escaped into Sicily to Cocalus. And the temple
of Æsculapius, in regard to the statues of the god and his sons and
also the paintings, is well worth seeing. And there is in it a spring,
in which they say Halirrhothius the son of Poseidon was drowned by
Ares for having seduced his daughter, and this was the first case of
trial for murder. Here too among other things is a Sarmatic coat of
mail: anyone looking at it will say that the Sarmatians come not a whit
behind the Greeks in the arts. For they have neither iron that they
can dig nor do they import it, for they have less idea of barter than
any of the barbarians in those parts. This deficiency they meet by the
following invention. On their spears they have bone points instead
of iron, and bows and arrows of cornel wood, and bone points to their
arrows: and they throw lassoes at the enemy they meet in battle, and
gallop away and upset them when they are entangled in these lassoes.
And they make their coats of mail in the following manner. Everyone
rears a great many mares, being as they are a nomadic tribe, the land
not being divided into private allotments, and indeed growing nothing
but forest timber. These mares they use not only for war, and sacrifice
to the gods of the country, but also for food. And after getting
together a collection of hoofs they clean them and cut them in two, and
make of them something like dragons’ scales. And whoever has not seen
a dragon has at any rate seen a pine nut still green: anyone therefore
comparing the state of the hoof to the incisions apparent on pine nuts
would get a good idea of what I mean. These they perforate, and having
sewn them together with ligaments of horses and oxen make them into
coats of mail no less handsome and strong than Greek coats of mail: for
indeed whether they are struck point-blank or shot at they are proof.
But linen coats of mail are not equally useful for combatants, for they
admit the keen thrust of steel, but are some protection to hunters, for
the teeth of lions and panthers break off against them. And you may see
linen coats of mail hung up in other temples and in the Gryneum, where
is a most beautiful grove of Apollo, where the trees both cultivated
and wild please equally both nose and eye.
CHAPTER XXII.
Next to the temple of Æsculapius as you go to the Acropolis is the
temple of Themis. And before it is the sepulchre of Hippolytus. His
death they say came to him in consequence of the curses of his father.
But the story of the guilty love of Phædra, and the bold forwardness
of her nurse, is well known even to any barbarians who know Greek.
There is also a tomb of Hippolytus among the Træzenians, and their
legend is as follows. When Theseus intended to marry Phædra, not
wishing if he had children by her that Hippolytus should either be
their subject or king, he sent him to Pittheus, to be brought up at
Træzen and to be king there. And some time after Pallas and his sons
revolted against Theseus, and he having slain them went to Træzen to
be purified of the murder, and there Phædra first saw Hippolytus, and
became desperately enamoured of him, and (being unsuccessful in her
suit) contrived his death. And the people of Træzen have a myrtle whose
leaves are perforated throughout, and they say it did not grow like
that originally, but was the work of Phædra which she performed in her
love-sickness with her hairpin. And Theseus established the worship
of the Pandemian Aphrodite and of Persuasion, when he combined the
Athenians into one city from several townships. Their old statues did
not exist in my time: but those in my time were by no mean artists.
There is also a temple to Earth, the Rearer of Children, and to
Demeter as Chloe. The meaning of these names may be learnt from the
priests by enquirers. To the Acropolis there is only one approach: it
allows of no other, being everywhere precipitous and walled off. The
vestibules have a roof of white marble, and even now are remarkable
both for their beauty and size. As to the statues of the horsemen I
cannot say with precision, whether they are the sons of Xenophon, or
merely put there for decoration. On the right of the vestibules is
the shrine of Wingless Victory. From it the sea is visible, and there
Ægeus drowned himself as they say. For the ship which took his sons
to Crete had black sails, but Theseus told his father, (for he knew
there was some peril in attacking the Minotaur), that he would have
white sails, if he should sail back a conqueror. But he forgot this
promise in his loss of Ariadne. And Ægeus seeing the ship with black
sails, thinking his son was dead, threw himself in and was drowned.
And the Athenians have a hero-chapel to his memory. And on the left
of the vestibules is a building with paintings: and among those that
time has not destroyed are Diomede and Odysseus, the one taking away
Philoctetes’ bow in Lemnos, the other taking the Palladium from Ilium.
Among other paintings here is Ægisthus being slain by Orestes, and
Pylades slaying the sons of Nauplius that came to Ægisthus’ aid. And
Polyxena about to have her throat cut near the tomb of Achilles. Homer
did well not to mention this savage act. He also appears to me to have
done well, in his account of the capture of Scyrus by Achilles, to have
said not a word about what others relate, of Achilles having lived
at Scyrus among the maidens, which Polygnotus has painted; who has
also painted Odysseus suddenly making his appearance as Nausicaa and
her maids were bathing in the river, just as Homer has described it.
And among other paintings is Alcibiades, and there are traces in the
painting of the victory of his horses at Nemea. There too is Perseus
sailing to Seriphus, carrying to Polydectes the head of Medusa. But I
am not willing to tell the story of Medusa under ‘Attica.’ And, among
other paintings, to pass over the lad carrying the waterpots, and the
wrestler painted by Timænetus, is one of Musæus. I have read verses in
which it is recorded that Musæus could fly as a gift of Boreas, but
it seems to me that Onomacritus wrote the lines, and there is nothing
certainly of Musæus’ composition except the Hymn to Demeter written
for the Lycomidæ. And at the entrance to the Acropolis is a Hermes,
whom they call Propylæus, and the Graces, which they say were the
work of Socrates the son of Sophroniscus, whom the Pythian priestess
testified to have been the wisest of men, a thing which was not said to
Anacharsis, though he went to Delphi on purpose.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Now the Greeks among other things say that they had the seven wise
men. And among these they include the Lesbian tyrant and Periander the
son of Cypselus: and yet Pisistratus and his son Hippias were far more
humane and wise than Periander, both in war and in all that appertained
to citizen life, until Hippias because of the death of Hipparchus acted
with great cruelty, especially to a woman called Leæna, (_Lioness_).
For after the death of Hipparchus, (I speak now of what has never
before been recorded in history, but yet is generally believed by
the Athenians), Hippias tortured her to death, knowing that she had
been Aristogiton’s mistress, and thinking that she could not have been
ignorant of the plot against Hipparchus. In return for this, when
the Pisistratidæ had been deposed from the kingdom, a brazen lioness
was erected by the Athenians to her memory, and near her a statue of
Aphrodite, which they say was a votive offering of Callias, designed by
Calamis.
And next is a brazen statue of Diitrephes pierced with arrows. This
Diitrephes, among other things which the Athenians record, led back the
Thracian mercenaries who came too late, for Demosthenes had already
sailed for Syracuse. And when he got to the Euripus near Chalcis,
and opposite Mycalessus in Bœotia, he landed and took Mycalessus:
and the Thracians slew not only the fighting men, but also the women
and children. And this proves what I say, that all the cities of the
Bœotians, whom the Thebans had dispossessed, were inhabited in my time
by those who had fled at their capture. Therefore if the barbarians
had not landed and slain all the Mycalessians, those that were left
would afterwards have repeopled the city. A very wonderful fact about
this statue of Diitrephes is that it was pierced with arrows, seeing
that it was not customary for any Greeks but the Cretans to shoot with
the bow. For we know that the Opuntian Locrians were so armed as early
as the Persian war, for Homer described them as coming to Ilium with
bows and slings. But the use of bows did not long remain even with
the Malienses: and I think that they did not use them before the days
of Philoctetes, and soon afterwards ceased to use them. And next to
Diitrephes, (I shall not mention the more obscure images), are some
statues of goddesses, as Hygiea, (_Health_), who they say was the
daughter of Æsculapius, and Athene by the same name of Hygiea. And
there is a small stone such as a little man can sit on, on which they
say Silenus rested, when Dionysus came to the land. Silenus is the name
they give to all old Satyrs. About the Satyrs I have conversed with
many, wishing to know all about them. And Euphemus a Carian told me
that sailing once on a time to Italy he was driven out of his course
by the winds, and carried to a distant sea, where people no longer
sail. And he said that here were many desert islands, some inhabited
by wild men: and at these islands the sailors did not like to land, as
they had landed there before and had experience of the natives, but
they were obliged on that occasion. These islands he said were called
by the sailors Satyr-islands, the dwellers in them were red-haired,
and had tails at their loins not much smaller than horses. When they
perceived the sailors they ran down to the ship, spoke not a word, but
began to handle the women on board. At last the sailors in dire alarm
landed a barbarian woman on the island: and the Satyrs treated her in
such a way as we will not venture to describe.
I noticed other statues in the Acropolis, as the boy in brass with
a laver in his hand by Lycius the son of Myron, and Perseus having
slain Medusa by Myron. And there is a temple of Brauronian Artemis,
the statue the design of Praxiteles, but the goddess gets her name
from Brauron. And the ancient statue is at Brauron, called Tauric
Artemis. And a brazen model of the Wooden Horse is here, and that this
construction of Epeus was a design to break down the walls, every
one knows who does not consider the Phrygians plainly fatuous. And
tradition says of that Horse that it had inside it the bravest of the
Greeks, and this model in brass corresponds in every particular, and
Menestheus and Teucer are peeping out of it, as well as the sons of
Theseus. And of the statues next the Horse, Critias executed that of
Epicharinus training to run in heavy armour. And Œnobius did a kindness
to Thucydides the son of Olorus. For he passed a decree that Thucydides
should be recalled from exile to Athens, and as he was treacherously
murdered on his return, he has a tomb not far from the Melitian gates.
As to Hermolycus the Pancratiast, and Phormio the son of Asopichus,
as others have written about them I pass them by: only I have this
little bit more to say about Phormio. He being one of the noblest of
the Athenians, and illustrious from the renown of his ancestors, was
heavily in debt. He went therefore to the Pæanian township, and had
his maintenance there until the Athenians chose him as Admiral. He
however declined on the score that he owed money, and that he would
have no influence with the sailors till he had paid it. Accordingly the
Athenians paid his debts, for they would have him as Admiral.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Here too is Athene pourtrayed striking Marsyas the Silenus, because he
would take up her flutes, when the goddess wished them thrown away.
Besides those which I have mentioned is the legendary fight between
Theseus and the Minotaur, a man or a beast according to different
accounts. Certainly many more wonderful monsters than this have been
born of woman even in our times. Here too is Phrixus the son of
Athamas, who was carried to Colchi by the ram. He has just sacrificed
the ram to some god, (if one might conjecture to the god who is called
Laphystius among the Orchomenians), and having cut off the thighs
according to the Greek custom, he is looking at them burning on the
altar. And next, among other statues, is one of Hercules throttling
snakes according to the tradition. And there is Athene springing out
of the head of Zeus. And there also is a bull, the votive offering of
the council of the Areopagus. Why they offered it is not known, but
one might make many guesses if one liked. I have said before that the
Athenians more than any other Greeks have a zeal for religion. For they
first called Athene the worker, they first worshipped the mutilated
Hermæ, and in their temple along with these they have a God of the
Zealous. And whoever prefers modern works of real art to the antique,
may look at the following. There is a man with a helmet on, the work
of Cleœtas, and his nails are modelled in silver. Here is also a
statue of Earth supplicating to Zeus for rain, either wanting showers
for the Athenians, or a drought impending on all Greece. Here too is
Timotheus, the son of Conon, and Conon himself. Here too are cruel
Procne and her son Itys, by Alcamenes. Here too is Athene represented
showing the olive tree, and Poseidon showing water. And there is a
statue by Leochares of Zeus the Guardian of the city, in recording
whose customary rites I do not record the reasons assigned for them.
They put barley on the altar of this Zeus Guardian of the city, and do
not watch it: and the ox kept and fattened up for the sacrifice eats
the corn when it approaches the altar. And they call one of the priests
Ox-killer, and he after throwing the axe at the ox runs away, for that
is the usage: and (as if they did not know who had done the deed) they
bring the axe into court as defendant. They perform the rites in the
way indicated.
And as regards the temple which they call the Parthenon, as you
enter it everything pourtrayed on the gables relates to the birth of
Athene, and behind is depicted the contest between Poseidon and Athene
for the soil of Attica. And this work of art is in ivory and gold. In
the middle of her helmet is an image of the Sphinx--about whom I shall
give an account when I come to Bœotia--and on each side of the helmet
are griffins worked. These griffins, says Aristæus the Proconnesian in
his poems, fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the
gold of the soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians were
all one-eyed men from their birth, and the griffins were beasts like
lions, with wings and mouth like an eagle. Let so much suffice for
these griffins. But the statue of Athene is full length, with a tunic
reaching to her feet, and on her breast is the head of Medusa worked
in ivory, and in one hand she has a Victory four cubits high, in the
other hand a spear, and at her feet a shield, and near the spear a
dragon which perhaps is Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is
a representation of the birth of Pandora, the first woman according to
Hesiod and other poets, for before her there was no race of women. Here
too I remember to have seen the only statue here of the Emperor Adrian,
and at the entrance one of Iphicrates the celebrated Athenian general.
And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by Phidias: and
they call it Apollo _Averter of Locusts_, because when the locusts
destroyed the land the god said he would drive them out of the country.
And they know that he did so, but they don’t say how. I myself know
of locusts having been thrice destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in
the same way, for some were driven away by a violent wind that fell on
them, and others by a strong blight that came on them after showers,
and others were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under
my own notice.
CHAPTER XXV.
There are also in the Acropolis at Athens statues of Pericles the
son of Xanthippus and Xanthippus himself, who fought against the
Persians at Mycale. The statue of Pericles stands by itself, but
near that of Xanthippus is Anacreon of Teos, the first after Lesbian
Sappho who wrote erotic poetry mainly: his appearance is that of a
man singing in liquor. And near are statues by Dinomenes of Io the
daughter of Inachus, and Callisto the daughter of Lycaon, both of
whom had precisely similar fates, the love of Zeus and the hatred of
Hera, Io being changed into a cow, and Callisto into a she-bear. And
on the southern wall Attalus has pourtrayed the legendary battle of
the giants, who formerly inhabited Thrace and the isthmus of Pallene,
and the contest between the Amazons and the Athenians, and the action
at Marathon against the Persians, and the slaughter of the Galati in
Mysia, each painting two cubits in size. There too is Olympiodorus,
illustrious for the greatness of his exploits, notably at that period
when he infused spirit in men who had been continually baffled, and on
that account had not a single hope for the future. For the disaster at
Chæronea was a beginning of sorrows for all the Greeks, and made slaves
alike of those who were absent from it, and of those who fought at it
against the Macedonians. Most of the Greek cities Philip captured,
and though he made a treaty with the Athenians nominally, he really
hurt them most, robbing them of their islands, and putting down their
naval supremacy. And for some time they were quiet, during the reign
of Philip and afterwards of Alexander, but when Alexander was dead and
the Macedonians chose Aridæus as his successor, though the whole power
fell to Antipater, then the Athenians thought it no longer endurable
that Greece should be for all time under Macedonia, but themselves
took up arms and urged others to do the same. And the cities of the
Peloponnesians which joined them were Argos, Epidaurus, Sicyon, Trœzen,
Elis, Phlius, Messene, and outside the Peloponnese the Locrians, the
Phocians, the Thessalians, the Carystians, and those Acarnanians
who ranked with the Ætolians. But the Bœotians who inhabited the
Theban territory which had been stripped of Thebans, fearing that the
Athenians would eject them from Thebes, not only refused to join the
confederate cities but did all they could to further the interests of
the Macedonians. Now the confederate cities were led each by their own
general, but the Athenian Leosthenes was chosen generalissimo, partly
from his city’s renown, partly from his own reputation for experience
in war. He had besides done good service to all the Greeks. For when
Alexander wished to settle in Persia all of those who had served for
pay with Darius and the satraps, Leosthenes was beforehand with him
and conveyed them back to Europe in his ships. And now too, after
having displayed more brilliant exploits than they expected, he infused
dejection in all men by his death, and that was the chief reason of
their failure. For a Macedonian garrison occupied first Munychia,
and afterwards the Piræus and the long walls. And after the death of
Antipater Olympias crossed over from Epirus and ruled for some time,
after putting Aridæus to death, but not long after she was besieged
by Cassander, and betrayed by the multitude. And when Cassander was
king, (I shall only concern myself with Athenian matters), he captured
Fort Panactus in Attica and Salamis, and got Demetrius the son of
Phanostratus, (who had his father’s repute for wisdom), appointed king
over the Athenians. He was however, deposed by Demetrius the son of
Antigonus, a young man well disposed to the Greeks: but Cassander, (who
had a deadly hatred against the Athenians), won over Lachares, who
had up to this time been the leader of the democracy, and persuaded
him to plot to be king: and of all the kings we know of he was most
savage to men and most reckless to the gods. But Demetrius the son
of Antigonus, though he had not been on the best of terms with the
Athenian democracy, yet was successful in putting down the power of
Lachares. And when the town was taken Lachares fled into Bœotia. But as
he had taken the golden shields from the Acropolis, and had stripped
the statue of Athene of all the ornaments that were removable, he was
supposed to be very rich, and was killed for his money’s sake by the
people of Corone. And Demetrius the son of Antigonus, having freed
the Athenians from the yoke of Lachares, did not immediately after
the flight of Lachares give up to them the Piræus, but after being
victorious in war with them put a garrison in the town, and fortified
what is called the Museum. Now the Museum is within the old town walls,
on a hill opposite the Acropolis, where they say that Musæus sang, and
died of old age, and was buried. And on the same place afterwards a
tomb was erected to a Syrian. This hill Demetrius fortified.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Some time after a few remembered the fame of their ancestors, and
when they considered what a change had come over the glory of Athens,
they elected Olympiodorus as their general. And he led against the
Macedonians old men and lads alike, hoping that by zeal rather than
strength their fortunes in war would be retrieved. And when the
Macedonians came out against him he conquered them in battle, and when
they fled to the Museum he took it. So Athens was delivered from the
Macedonians. And of the Athenians that distinguished themselves so as
to deserve special mention, Leocritus the son of Protarchus is said to
have displayed most bravery in action. For he was the first to scale
the wall and leap into the Museum: and as he fell in the fight, among
other honours conferred on him by the Athenians, they dedicated his
shield to Zeus Eleutherius, writing on it his name and his valour. And
this is the greatest feat of Olympiodorus, though he also recovered
the Piræus and Munychia: and when the Macedonians invaded Eleusis he
collected a band of Eleusinians and defeated them. And before this,
when Cassander intended to make a raid into Attica, he sailed to Ætolia
and persuaded the Ætolians to give their help, and this alliance was
the chief reason why they escaped war with Cassander. And Olympiodorus
has honours at Athens in the Acropolis and Prytaneum, and a painting
at Eleusis. And the Phocians who dwell at Elatea have erected a brazen
statue to him at Delphi, because he also helped them when they revolted
from Cassander.
And next the statue of Olympiodorus is a brazen image of Artemis
called Leucophryene, and it was erected to her by the sons of
Themistocles: for the Magnesians, over whom Themistocles ruled, having
received that post from the king, worship Artemis Leucophryene. But I
must get on with my subject, as I have all Greece to deal with. Endœus
was an Athenian by race, and the pupil of Dædalus, and accompanied
Dædalus to Crete, when he fled there on account of his murder of Calus.
The statue of Athene sitting is by him, with the inscription that
Callias dedicated it and Endœus designed it.
There is also a building called the Erechtheum: and in the vestibule
is an altar of Supreme Zeus, where they offer no living sacrifice,
but cakes without the usual libation of wine. And as you enter there
are three altars, one to Poseidon, (on which they also sacrifice to
Erechtheus according to the oracle,) one to the hero Butes, and the
third to Hephæstus. And on the walls are paintings of the family of
Butes. The building is a double one, and inside there is sea water in
a well. And this is no great marvel, for even those who live in inland
parts have such wells, as notably the Aphrodisienses in Caria. But this
well is represented as having a roar as of the sea when the South wind
blows. And in the rock is the figure of a trident. And this is said to
have been Poseidon’s proof in regard to the territory Athene disputed
with him.
Sacred to Athene is all the rest of Athens, and similarly all Attica:
for although they worship different gods in different townships, none
the less do they honour Athene generally. And the most sacred of all
is the statue of Athene in what is now called the Acropolis, but was
then called the Polis (_city_), which was universally worshipped many
years before the various townships formed one city: and the rumour
about it is that it fell from heaven. As to this I shall not give an
opinion, whether it was so or not. And Callimachus made a golden lamp
for the goddess. And when they fill this lamp with oil it lasts for a
whole year, although it burns continually night and day. And the wick
is of a particular kind of cotton flax, the only kind imperishable by
fire. And above the lamp is a palmtree of brass reaching to the roof
and carrying off the smoke. And Callimachus the maker of this lamp,
although he comes behind the first artificers, yet was remarkable for
ingenuity, and was the first who perforated stone, and got the name of
_Art-critic_, whether his own appellation or given him by others.
CHAPTER XXVII.
In the temple of Athene Polias is a Hermes of wood, (said to be a
votive offering of Cecrops,) almost hidden by myrtle leaves. And of
the antique votive offerings worthy of record, is a folding chair
the work of Dædalus, and spoils taken from the Persians, as a coat
of mail of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at Platæa, and a
scimetar said to have belonged to Mardonius. Masistius we know was
killed by the Athenian cavalry: but as Mardonius fought against the
Lacedæmonians and was killed by a Spartan, they could not have got
it at first hand, nor is it likely that the Lacedæmonians would have
allowed the Athenians to carry off such a trophy. And about the olive
they have nothing else to tell but that the goddess used it as a proof
of her right to the country when it was contested by Poseidon. And
they record also that this olive was burnt when the Persians set fire
to Athens, but though burnt it grew the same day two cubits. And next
to the temple of Athene is the temple of Pandrosus; who was the only
one of the three sisters who didn’t peep into the forbidden chest.
Now the things I most marvelled at are not universally known. I will
therefore write of them as they occur to me. Two maidens live not far
from the temple of Athene Polias, and the Athenians call them the
_carriers of the holy things_: for a certain time they live with the
goddess, but when her festival comes they act in the following way by
night. Putting upon their heads what the priestess of Athene gives them
to carry, (neither she nor they know what these things are,) these
maidens descend, by a natural underground passage, from an enclosure
in the city sacred to Aphrodite of the Gardens. In the sanctuary below
they deposit what they carry, and bring back something else closely
wrapped up. And these maidens they henceforth dismiss, and other two
they elect instead of them for the Acropolis. And near the temple of
Athene is an old woman, about a cubit in size, well-modelled, with an
inscription saying that she is the handmaid Lysimache, and there are
large brazen statues of two men standing apart as for a fight: the one
they call Erechtheus and the other Eumolpus. And yet all that know
Athenian Antiquities are aware that it was Eumolpus’ son, Immaradus,
that was slain by Erechtheus. And at the base are statues of Tolmides’
prophet, and Tolmides himself, who was the Athenian Admiral, and did
great damage especially to the maritime region of the Peloponnesians,
and burnt the dockyards of the Lacedæmonians at Gythium, and took Bœæ
in the neighbouring country, and the island of Cytherus, and made a
descent on Sicyonia, and, when the Sicyonians fought against him as
he was ravaging their land, routed them and pursued them up to the
city. And afterwards when he returned to Athens, he conducted colonies
of the Athenians to Eubœa and Naxos, and attacked the Bœotians with
a land force: and, having laid waste most of the country, and taken
Chæronea after a siege, when he got to Haliartia was himself killed in
battle and his whole army defeated. Such I learnt were the fortunes
of Tolmides. And there are old statues of Athene: they are entire but
rather grimy, and too weak to bear a knock, for fire passed upon them
when Xerxes found the city bare of fighting men, as they had all gone
to man the fleet. There is also a representation of a boar-hunt, (about
which I know nothing for certain unless it is the Calydonian boar,) and
of the fight between Cycnus and Hercules. This Cycnus they say killed
among others the Thracian Lycus in a prize fight: but was himself
slain by Hercules near the river Peneus.
Of the legends that they tell at Trœzen about Theseus one is that
Hercules, visiting Pittheus at Trœzen, threw down during dinner his
lion’s skin, and that several Trœzenian lads came into the room with
Theseus, who was seven years of age at most. They say that all the
other boys when they saw the lion’s skin fled helter skelter, but
Theseus not being afraid kept his ground, and plucked an axe from one
of the servants, and began to attack it fiercely, thinking the skin
was a live lion. This is the first Trœzenian legend about him. And
the next is that Ægeus put his boots and sword under a stone as means
of identifying his son, and then sailed away to Athens, and Theseus
when he was eighteen lifted the stone and removed what Ægeus had left
there. And this legend is worked in bronze, all but the stone, in the
Acropolis. They have also delineated another exploit of Theseus. This
is the legend. A bull was ravaging the Cretan territory both elsewhere
and by the river Tethris. In ancient times it appears wild beasts
were more formidable to men, as the Nemean and Parnasian lions, and
dragons in many parts of Greece, and boars at Calydon and Erymanthus
and Crommyon in Corinth, of whom it was said that some sprang out of
the ground, and others were sacred to the gods, and others sent for
the punishment of human beings. And this bull the Cretans say Poseidon
sent into their land, because Minos, who was master of the Grecian sea,
held Poseidon in no greater honour than any other god. And they say
that this bull crossed over from Crete to the Peloponnese, and that one
of the twelve Labours of Hercules was to fetch it to Eurystheus. And
when it was afterwards let go on the Argive plain, it fled through the
Isthmus of Corinth, and into Attica to the township of Marathon, and
killed several people whom it met, and among them Androgeos the son
of Minos. And Minos sailed to Athens, (for he could not be persuaded
that the Athenians had had no hand in the death of Androgeos,) and did
great damage, until it was covenanted to send annually seven maidens
and seven boys to Crete to the Minotaur, who was fabled to live in the
Labyrinth at Gnossus. As to the bull that had got to Marathon, it is
said to have been driven by Theseus into the Acropolis, and sacrificed
to Athene. And the township of Marathon has a representation of it.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Why they erected a brazen statue to Cylon, although he plotted for the
sovereignty, I cannot clearly tell. But I conjecture the reason was
that he was very handsome in person and not unknown to fame, as he
had won the victory at Olympia in the double course, and it was his
good fortune to wed the daughter of Theagenes the king of Megara. And
besides those I have mentioned there are two works of art especially
famous, made out of Athenian spoil, a brazen statue of Athene, the
work of Phidias, made out of spoil taken from the Persians who landed
at Marathon: (the battle of the Lapithæ with the Centaurs, and all the
other things represented on her shield, are said to have been carved by
Mys, but Parrhasius is said to have drawn for Mys the outline of these
and of his other works.) The spearpoint of this Athene, and the plume
of her helmet, are visible from Sunium as you sail in. And there is a
brazen chariot made out of spoil of the Bœotians and Chalcidians in
Eubœa. And there are two other votive offerings, a statue of Pericles
the son of Xanthippus, and, (one of the finest works of Phidias,)
a statue of Athene, called the Lemnian Athene because an offering
from the people of Lemnos. The walls of the Acropolis, (except what
Cimon the son of Miltiades built,) are said to have been drawn out by
Pelasgians who formerly lived under the Acropolis. Their names were
Agrolas and Hyperbius. When I made enquiries who they were, all that I
could learn of them was that they were originally Sicilians, who had
emigrated to Acarnania.
As you descend, not into the lower part of the city but only below
the Propylæa, there is a well of water, and near it a temple of Apollo
in a cave. Here they think Apollo had an amour with Creusa the daughter
of Erechtheus. And as to Pan, they say that Philippides, (who was sent
as a messenger to Lacedæmon when the Persians landed), reported that
the Lacedæmonians were deferring their march: for it was their custom
not to go out on a campaign till the moon was at its full. But he
said that he had met with Pan near the Parthenian forest, and he had
said that he was friendly to the Athenians, and would come and help
them at Marathon. Pan has been honoured therefore for this message.
Here is also the Areopagus, so called because Ares was first tried
here. I have before stated how and why he slew Halirrhothius. And they
say that subsequently Orestes was tried here for the murder of his
mother. And there is an altar of Athene Area, which Orestes erected
when he escaped punishment. And the two white stones, on which both
defendants and plaintiffs stand in this court, are respectively called
_Rigour-of-the-law_ and _Impudence_.
And not far off is the temple of the Goddesses whom the Athenians
call _The Venerable Ones_, but Hesiod in his Theogony calls them the
Erinnyes. And Æschylus first represented them with snakes twined in
their hair: but in the statues here, either of these or of any other
infernal gods, there is nothing horrible. Here are statues of Pluto
and Hermes and Earth. Here all that have been acquitted before the
Areopagus offer their sacrifices, besides foreigners and citizens
occasionally. Within the precincts is also the tomb of Œdipus. After
many enquiries I found that his bones had been brought there from
Thebes: for I could not credit Sophocles’ account about the death of
Œdipus, since Homer records that Mecisteus went to Thebes after the
death of Œdipus and was a competitor in the funeral games held in his
honour there.[5]
The Athenians have other Courts of Law, but not so famous as the
Areopagus. One they call Parabystum and another Trigonum, [that is
_Crush_ and _Triangle_,] the former being in a low part of the city
and crowds of litigants in very trumpery cases frequenting it, the
other gets its name from its shape. And the Courts called _Froggy_ and
_Scarlet_ preserve their names to this day from their colours. But
the largest Court, which has also the greatest number of litigants,
is called Heliæa. Murder-cases are taken in the Court they call
the Palladium, where are also tried cases of manslaughter. And that
Demophon was the first person tried here no one disputes: but why he
was tried is debated. They say that Diomede, sailing home after the
capture of Ilium, put into Phalerum one dark night, and the Argives
landed as on hostile soil, not knowing in the dark that it was Attica.
Thereupon they say Demophon rushed up, being ignorant that the men in
the ships were Argives, and slew several of them, and went off with the
Palladium which he took from them, and an Athenian not recognized in
the melée was knocked down and trodden underfoot by Demophon’s horse.
For this affair Demophon had to stand his trial, prosecuted some say by
the relations of this Athenian, others say by the Argives generally.
And the Delphinium is the Court for those who plead that they have
committed justifiable homicide, which was the plea of Theseus when he
was acquitted for killing Pallas and his sons who rose up against him.
And before the acquittal of Theseus every manslayer had to flee for his
life, or if he stayed to suffer the same death as he had inflicted. And
in the Court called the Prytaneum they try iron and other inanimate
things. I imagine the custom originated when Erechtheus was king of
Athens, for then first did Ox-killer kill an ox at the temple of Zeus
Guardian of the City: and he left the axe there and fled the country,
and the axe was forthwith acquitted after trial, and is tried annually
even nowadays. Other inanimate things are said to have spontaneously
committed justifiable homicide: the best and most famous illustration
of which is afforded by the scimetar of Cambyses.[6] And there is at
the Piræus near the sea a Court called Phreattys: here fugitives, if
(after they have once escaped) a second charge is brought against them,
make their defence on shipboard to their hearers on land. Teucer first
(the story goes) thus made his defence before Telamon that he had had
no hand in the death of Ajax. Let this suffice for these matters, that
all who care may know everything about the Athenian law-courts.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Near the Areopagus is shewn the ship that is made for the procession
at the Panathenæa. And this perhaps has been outdone. But the ship at
Delos is the finest I have ever heard of, having nine banks of rowers
from the decks.
And the Athenians in the townships, and on the roads outside the
city, have temples of the gods, and tombs of men and heroes. And not
far distant is the Academy, once belonging to a private man, now a
gymnasium. And as you go down to it are the precincts of Artemis, and
statues of her as _Best_ and _Beautifullest_: I suppose these titles
have the same reference as the lines of Sappho, another account about
them I know but shall pass over. And there is a small temple, to
which they carry every year on appointed days the statue of Dionysus
Eleuthereusis. So many temples to the gods are there here. There are
also tombs, first of Thrasybulus the son of Lycus, in all respects one
of the most famous of the Athenians either since his day or before
him. Most of his exploits I shall pass by, but one thing will be
enough to prove my statement. Starting from Thebes with only sixty
men he put down the _Thirty Tyrants_, and persuaded the Athenians who
were in factions to be reconciled to one another and live on friendly
terms. His is the first tomb, and near it are the tombs of Pericles
and Chabrias and Phormio. And all the Athenians have monuments here
that died in battle either on land or sea, except those that fought
at Marathon. For those have tombs on the spot for their valour. But
the others lie on the road to the Academy, and slabs are on their
tombs recording the name and township of each. First come those whom
the Edoni unexpectedly fell upon and slew in Thrace, when they had
made themselves masters of all the country up to Drabescus: and it
is said also that hailstones fell on them. And among generals are
Leagrus, who had the greatest amount of power committed to him, and
Sophanes of Decelea, who slew the Argive Eurybates, (who was helping
the Æginetans), the victor in five contests at Nemea. And this is the
third army the Athenians sent out of Greece. For all the Greeks by
mutual consent fought against Priam and the Trojans: but the Athenians
alone sent an army into Sardinia with Iolaus, and again to Ionia, and
the third time to Thrace. And before the monument is a pillar with
a representation of two cavalry officers fighting, whose names are
Melanopus and Macartatus, who met their death contending against the
Lacedæmonians and Bœotians, at the border of the Eleonian and Tanagræan
territory. And there is the tomb of the Thessalian cavalry who
remembered their ancient friendship to Athens, when the Peloponnesians
under Archidamas first invaded Attica: they are near the Cretan
archers. And again there are tombs of the Athenians, as of Clisthenes,
(who made the regulations for the tribes which are observed even
now,) and the cavalry who were slain on that day of danger, when the
Thessalians brought aid. Here too are the Cleonæi, who came with the
Argives into Attica: why they came I shall tell when I come to Argos.
Here too is the tomb of the Athenians who fought with the Æginetans
before the Persian War. And that was I ween a just decree of the people
that, if the Athenians gave a public burial to the slaves, their names
should be written on a pillar. And this proves that they behaved well
to their masters in the wars. And there are also monuments of other
valiant men, who fell fighting in various places: the most illustrious
of those that fought at Olynthus, and Melesander (who sailed in his
ships up the Mæander in Upper Caria), and those who fell in the war
with Cassander, and those Argives who were formerly the allies of the
Athenians. This alliance came about (they say) in the following manner.
There was an earthquake at Lacedæmon, and the Helots revolted and went
to Ithome: and when they revolted the Lacedæmonians sent for aid to
the Athenians and others: and they despatched to them picked men under
Cimon the son of Miltiades. These the Lacedæmonians sent back moved by
suspicion. And the Athenians thought such an outrage insufferable, and,
on their return home again, made an offensive and defensive alliance
with the Argives, who had always been the enemies of the Lacedæmonians.
And afterwards, when a battle between the Athenians and Bœotians and
Lacedæmonians was on the eve of taking place at Tanagra, the Argives
came to the aid of the Athenians. And when the Argives were having the
better of it, night came on and took away the certainty of victory,
and the next day the Lacedæmonians won the victory, the Thessalians
having betrayed the Athenians. I ought also to mention Apollodorus the
leader of the mercenaries, who was an Athenian, but had been sent by
Arsites, the satrap of Phrygia near the Hellespont, and had relieved
Perinthia, when Philip attacked it with an army. He is buried here,
with Eubulus the son of Spintharus, and other men who although they
deserved it did not meet with good fortune; some fell conspiring
against the tyrant Lachares, and others counselled the seizure of the
Piræus when the Macedonians guarded it, but before they could carry
out their plan they were informed against by their fellow-conspirators
and put to death. Here too are the tombs of those who fell at Corinth:
and it was palpably shewn here (and afterwards at Leuctra) by the
Deity, that those whom the Greeks call brave were nothing without
good fortune, since the Lacedæmonians who had formerly conquered the
Corinthians and Athenians, and moreover the Argives and Bœotians, were
afterwards so completely routed at Leuctra by the Bœotians alone. And
next to the tombs of those that fell at Corinth, some elegiac lines
testify that the pillar was erected not only to them, but also to
those that died at Eubœa and Chios, as also to some whom it declares
were slain in the remote parts of the continent of Asia Minor, and in
Sicily. And all the Generals are inscribed on it except Nicias, and the
Platæan soldiers and citizens together. Nicias was passed over for the
following reason: I give the same account as Philistus, who said that
Demosthenes made conditions of surrender for everybody but himself,
and when he was taken attempted suicide, whereas Nicias surrendered
voluntarily. And so his name was not written on the pillar, as he was
shewn to be a willing captive and not a man fit for war. On another
pillar are the names of those who fought in Thrace, and at Megara,
and when Alcibiades persuaded the Mantinæans and Eleans to revolt
from the Lacedæmonians, and those who conquered the Syracusans before
Demosthenes came to Sicily. Those also are buried here who fought the
naval engagement at the Hellespont, and those who fought against the
Macedonians at Chæronea, and those who served with Cleon at Amphipolis,
and those who fell at Delium in the territory of the Tanagræans, and
those whom Leosthenes led to Thessaly, and those who sailed to Cyprus
with Cimon, and those, thirteen only, who with Olympiodorus drove out
the Macedonian garrison. And the Athenians say that, when the Romans
were fighting against one of their neighbours, they sent a small force
to their aid, and certainly afterwards there were five Attic triremes
present at the sea-fight between the Romans and Carthaginians. These
also have their tomb here. The exploits of Tolmides and his men, and
the manner of their death, I have already described: but let any one
to whom their memory is dear know that they too lie buried on this
road. They too lie here who on the same day won under Cimon a glorious
victory both by land and sea. Here too lie Conon and Timotheus,
father and son, second only to Miltiades and Cimon in their brilliant
feats. Here too lie Zeno the son of Mnaseas, and Chrysippus of Soli,
and Nicias the son of Nicomedes, (the best painter of animals in his
day,) and Harmodius and Aristogiton who murdered Hipparchus the son of
Pisistratus, and the orators Ephialtes, (who did his best to discredit
the legislation of the Areopagus,) and Lycurgus the son of Lycophron.
This Lycurgus put into the public treasury 6,500 talents more than
Pericles the son of Xanthippus got together, and furnished elaborate
apparatus for the processions of Athene, and golden Victories, and
dresses for 100 maidens, and for war arms and darts, and 400 triremes
for naval engagements. And as for buildings he finished the theatre
though others began it, and during his term of office built docks at
the Piræus, and a gymnasium at the Lyceum. All his silver and gold work
Lachares plundered when he was in power: but the buildings remain to
this day.
CHAPTER XXX.
Before the entrance into the Academy is an altar of Eros, with the
inscription that Charmus was the first of the Athenians to offer
votive offerings to Eros. And they say that the altar in the city
called the altar of Anteros is the offering of the resident aliens,
for Meles an Athenian, tired of Timagoras, a resident alien who was
enamoured of him, bade him go to the highest part of the rock and
throw himself down. And Timagoras careless of his life, and wishing
in all things to gratify the stripling’s commands, threw himself down
accordingly. But Meles, when he saw that Timagoras was dead, was so
stricken with remorse, that he threw himself down from the same rock,
and so perished. And in consequence it was ordained that the resident
aliens should worship as a god Anteros, the avenger of Timagoras. And
in the Academy is an altar of Prometheus, and they run from it to the
city with lighted torches. The game is to keep the torch alight as
they run. And if the torch goes out there is no longer victory to the
first, but the second wins instead. And if his is out, then the third.
And so on. And if the torches of all go out, then there is no one who
can win the game. There is also an altar of the Muses, and another of
Hermes, and in the interior one of Athene, and another of Hercules.
And there is an olive-tree, which is said to have been the second that
ever was. And not far from the Academy is the tomb of Plato, to whom
the Deity foretold that he would be most excellent in Philosophy, and
foretold it in the following way. Socrates, the night before Plato was
going to be his pupil, dreamed that a swan flew into his bosom. Now
the swan is a bird that has a fame for music, for they say that Cycnus
[_Swan_], king of the Ligyans across the Eridanus in Celtic territory,
was fond of music, and when he died was at Apollo’s desire changed into
a bird. I daresay a musical man reigned over the Ligyans, but I can
hardly believe that a man became a bird. Here too is seen the tower of
Timon, who was the only person who thought one can be happy in no way
except by shunning one’s kind. There is also shewn here a place called
Colonus, sacred to Poseidon the creator of horses, the first place in
Attica which they say Œdipus came to: this is however different from
the account of Homer, still it is the account they give. There is also
an altar of Poseidon God of Horses and of Athene Goddess of Horses, and
a hero-chapel of Pirithous and Theseus and Œdipus and Adrastus. But
Poseidon’s grove and temple were burnt by Antigonus, when he invaded
Attica and ravaged it with his army.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Now the small townships of Attica, founded by haphazard, have the
following records. The Alimusii have a temple to Law-giving Demeter and
her daughter Proserpine; and in Zoster [_Belt_] by the sea is an altar
to Athene and Apollo and Artemis and Leto. They say that Leto did not
give birth to her children here, but loosed her belt as if she were
going to, and that was why the place got that name. The Prospaltii also
have a temple to Proserpine and Demeter, and the Anagyrasians have a
temple to the Mother of the Gods. And at Cephalæ Castor and Pollux are
held in highest honour: for they call them the Great Gods.
And the people of Prasiæ have a temple of Apollo: here came (they
say) the firstfruits of the Hyperboreans, handed over by them to the
Arimaspians, and by the Arimaspians to the Issedones, and brought
thence by the Scythians to Sinope, and thence carried by the Greeks to
Prasiæ, and by the Athenians to Delos: these firstfruits are hidden
in an ear of wheat, and may be looked at by nobody. At Prasiæ there
is also a monument to Erysichthon, who died on his passage home, as
he sailed back from Delos after his mission there. That Cranaus the
king of the Athenians was expelled by Amphictyon, though he was his
kinsman, I have before narrated: and they say that when he fled with
his adherents to the Lamprian township he was killed and buried there:
and his tomb is there to this day. And Ion the son of Xuthus, (for he
too dwelt in Attica, and commanded the Athenians in the war against
the Eleusinians,) has a tomb in the place called Potami.
So far tradition goes. And the Phlyenses have altars to
Dionysus-giving Apollo and Lightgiving Artemis, and to Dionysus
Crowned with flowers, and to the Nymphs of the River Ismenus, and to
Earth whom they call the Great Goddess: and another temple has altars
to Fruitbearing Demeter, and Zeus the Protector of Property, and
Tithronian Athene, and Proserpine the Firstborn, and to the goddesses
called _The Venerable Ones_, (_i.e._ the Eumenides.) And at Myrrhinus
there is a statue to Colænian Artemis. And the Athmonenses worship
Amarynthian Artemis. And when I enquired of the Interpreters and
Experts as to these Goddesses, I could obtain no accurate information,
but I conjecture as follows. Amarynthus is in Eubœa, and there too they
worship the Amarynthian Artemis. And the Athenians at her feast bestow
as much honour on her as the Eubœans. In this way I think she got her
name among the Athmonenses, and Colænian Artemis at Myrrhinus from
Colænus. I have written already elsewhere that it is the opinion of
many in the townships that there were kings at Athens before Cecrops.
Now Colænus is the name of a king who ruled at Athens before Cecrops,
according to the tradition of the people of Myrrhinus. And there is a
township at Acharnæ: the Acharnians worship among other gods Apollo of
the Streets and Hercules. And there is an altar to Athene Hygiea: they
also worship Athene by the name of _Horse-lover_, and Dionysus by that
of _Songster_, and _Ivy-God_, for they say ivy grew here first.
CHAPTER XXXII.
And the mountains of Attica are Pentelicus, famous for its
stonequarries, and Parnes, which affords good hunting of wild boars
and bears, and Hymettus, which is the best place for bees next to the
territory of the Alazones. For among the Alazones the bees are so tame
that they live with the people, and go freely about for their food
anywhere, and are not confined in hives: and they make honey anywhere,
and it is so firm and compact that you cannot separate it from the
comb. And on the mountains of Attica also are statues of the gods.
At Pentelicus there is a statue of Athene, and at Hymettus one of
Zeus of Hymettus: there are altars also to Rainy Zeus, and Apollo the
Fore-seer. And at Parnes there is a brazen statue of Parnesian Zeus,
and an altar to Semalean Zeus. There is also another altar at Parnes,
and they sacrifice on it sometimes to Zeus the Rainy, sometimes to Zeus
the Averter of Ill. There is also the small mountain called Anchesmus,
and on it the statue of Anchesmian Zeus.
Before I turn to the description of the islands, I will enter
again into the history of the townships. The township of Marathon
is about equidistant from Athens and Carystus in Eubœa. It was this
part of Attica that the Persians landed at, and were defeated, and
lost some of their ships as they were putting out to sea in retreat.
And in the plain is the tomb of the Athenians, and on it are pillars
with the names of the dead according to their tribes. And another
for the Platæans of Bœotia and their slaves: for this was the first
engagement in which slaves fought. And there is apart a monument to
Miltiades the son of Cimon, whose death occurred afterwards, when he
failed to capture Paros, and was on that account put on his trial by
the Athenians. Here every night one may hear horses neighing and men
fighting: those who come on purpose to see the sight suffer for their
curiosity, but if they are there as spectators accidentally the wrath
of the gods harms them not. And the people of Marathon highly honour
those that fell in the battle, calling them heroes, as also they
pay honours to Marathon (from whom the township gets its name), and
Hercules, whom they say they first of all the Greeks worshipped as a
god. And it chanced, as they say, in the battle that a man of rustic
appearance and dress appeared, who slew many of the Persians with a
ploughshare, and vanished after the fight: and when the Athenians made
enquiry of the oracle, the god gave no other answer, but bade them
honour the hero Echetlæus. And a trophy of white stone was erected
there. And the Athenians say that they buried the Persians, (it being
a matter of decency to bury in the ground a man’s corpse,) but I could
find no tomb. For there was no mound nor any other visible trace of
burial. So they must have carried them to some hole and thrown them
in pell mell. And there is at Marathon a fountain called Macaria, and
this is the tradition about it. When Hercules fled from Eurystheus
at Tiryns, he went to his friend Ceyx the king of Trachis. And when
Hercules left mankind Eurystheus asked for his children, and Ceyx sent
them to Athens, pleading his own weakness, and suggesting that Theseus
might be able to protect them. And coming to Athens as suppliants,
they brought about the first war between the Peloponnesians and the
Athenians, as Theseus would not give them up to Eurystheus, though he
begged hard for them. And they say that an oracle told the Athenians
that one of the children of Hercules must voluntarily die, or else they
would not get the victory. Hereupon Macaria, the daughter of Deianira
and Hercules, sacrificed herself that the Athenians might conquer in
the war, and the fountain gets its name from her. And there is at
Marathon a lake for the most part muddy: into it the fugitive Persians
fell not knowing the way, and most of the slaughter happened they say
here. And above the lake are the mangers of the horses of Artaphernes
in stone, and among the rocks vestiges of a tent. And a river flows
from the lake, affording pleasant water to the herds that come to the
lake, but at its outlet into the sea it is salt and full of sea fish.
And at a little distance from the plain is a mountain of Pan, and a
cave well worth seeing. The entrance to it is narrow, but when you get
well in there are rooms and baths, and what is called Pan’s herd of
goats, rocks very like goats in shape.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
And not far from Marathon is Brauron, where they say Iphigenia, the
daughter of Agamemnon, landed in her flight from the Tauri, bringing
with her the statue of Artemis, and, having left it here, went on
to Athens and afterwards to Argos. Here is indeed an ancient statue
of Artemis. But those who have the Tauric statue of the goddess in
my opinion, I shall show in another part of my work. And about
sixty stades from Marathon is Rhamnus, as you go along the shore to
Oropus. And there are buildings near the sea for men, and a little
way from the sea on the cliff is a temple of Nemesis, who is the most
implacable of all the gods to haughty men. And it seems that those
Persians who landed at Marathon met with vengeance from this goddess:
for despising the difficulty of capturing Athens, they brought Parian
marble to make a trophy of, as if they had already conquered. This
marble Phidias made into a statue of Nemesis, and on the goddess’
head is a crown with some figures of stags, and some small statues of
Victory: in one hand she has a branch of an apple tree, in the other
a bowl, on which some Ethiopians are carved. As to these Ethiopians I
could not myself conjecture what they referred to, nor could I accept
the account of those who thought they knew, who say that they were
carved on the bowl because of the river Oceanus: for the Ethiopians
dwelt by it, and Oceanus was Nemesis’ father. For indeed Oceanus is
not a river but a sea, the remotest sea sailed on by men, and on
its shore live the Spaniards and Celts, and in it is the island of
Britain. But the remotest Ethiopians live beyond Syene by the Red Sea,
and are fisheaters, from which circumstance the gulf near which they
live is called Fish-eater. But the most upright ones[7] inhabit the
city Meroe, and what is called the Ethiopian plain: these shew the
Table of the Sun, but have no sea or river except the Nile. And there
are other Ethiopians (who live near the Mauri), that extend to the
territory of the Nasamones. For the Nasamones, whom Herodotus calls
the Atlantes, but geographers call Lixitæ, are the remotest of the
Libyans who live near Mount Atlas. They sow nothing, and live on wild
vines. And neither these Ethiopians nor the Nasamones have any river.
For the water near Mount Atlas, though it flows in three directions,
makes no river, for the sand sucks it all in. So the Ethiopians live
by no river or ocean. And the water from Mount Atlas is muddy, and at
its source there are crocodiles two cubits long, and when men approach
they dive down into the water. And many have the idea that this water
coming up again out of the sand makes the river Nile in Egypt. Now
Mount Atlas is so high that its peaks are said to touch the sky, and
it is inaccessible from the water and trees which are everywhere. The
neighbourhood of the Nasamones has been explored, but we know of no one
who has sailed by the parts near the sea. But let this account suffice.
Neither this statue of Nemesis nor any other of the old statues of
her are delineated with wings, not even the most holy statues at
Smyrna: but in later times people, wishing to shew this goddess as
especially following upon Love, gave Nemesis wings as well as Love. I
shall describe what is at the base of the statue, only clearing up the
following matter. They say Nemesis was the mother of Helen, but Leda
suckled her and brought her up: but her father the Greeks generally
think was Zeus and not Tyndareus. Phidias having heard this represented
on the base of the statue Helen being carried by Leda to Nemesis, and
Tyndareus and his sons, and a man called Hippeus with a horse standing
by. There too are Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Pyrrhus the son of
Achilles, the first husband of Hermione, the daughter of Helen. Orestes
was passed over for the murder of his mother, though Hermione remained
with him all her life and bore him a son. And next come Epochus, and
another young man. I have heard nothing else of them than that they are
the brothers of Œnoe, who gave her name to the township.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The land about Oropus between Attica and Tanagra, which originally
belonged to Bœotia, is now Athenian. The Athenians fought for it
continually, but got no firm hold of it till Philip gave it them after
the capture of Thebes. The city is near the sea and has played no great
part in history: about 12 stades from it is the temple of Amphiaraus.
And it is said that, when Amphiaraus fled from Thebes, the earth opened
and swallowed up him and his chariot: but it did not they say happen
here but at a place called Harma (_Chariot_), on the way from Thebes to
Chalcis. And the Oropians first made Amphiaraus a god, and since all
the Greeks have so accounted him. I can mention others who were once
men, who have honours paid to them as gods, and cities dedicated to
them, as Eleus in the Chersonese to Protesilaus, and Lebadea in Bœotia
to Trophonius: so Amphiaraus has a temple at Oropus, and a statue in
white stone. And the altar has five divisions: one belongs to Hercules
and Zeus and Pæonian Apollo, and another is dedicated to heroes and
heroes’ wives. And the third belongs to Vesta and Hermes and Amphiaraus
and the sons of Amphilochus: but Alcmæon, owing to the murder of
Eriphyle, has no honour with Amphiaraus, nor with Amphilochus. And
the fourth division of the altar belongs to Aphrodite and Panacea,
and also to Jason and Hygiea and Pæonian Athene. And the fifth has
been set apart for the Nymphs and Pan, and the rivers Achelous and
Cephisus. And Amphilochus has also an altar at Athens, and at Mallus
in Cilicia an oracle most veracious even in my day. And the Oropians
have a fountain near the temple, which they call Amphiaraus’, but they
neither sacrifice at it, nor use it for lustrations or washing their
hands. But when any disease has been cured by means of the oracle, then
it is customary to throw into the fountain some gold or silver coin:
and here they say Amphiaraus became a god. And the Gnossian Iophon,
one of the interpreters of Antiquities, has preserved some oracular
responses of Amphiaraus in Hexameters, given he says to the Argives
who were despatched to Thebes. These lines had irresistible attraction
for the general public. Now besides those who are said of old to have
been inspired by Apollo, there was no oracle-giving seer, but there
were people good at explaining dreams, and inspecting the flights of
birds and the entrails of victims. Amphiaraus was I think especially
excellent in divination by dreams: and it is certain when he became
a god that he instituted divination by dreams. And whoever comes to
consult Amphiaraus has first (such is the custom) to purify himself,
that is to sacrifice to the god. They sacrifice then to all the other
gods whose names are on the altar. And after all these preliminary
rites, they sacrifice a ram, and wrapping themselves up in its skin go
to sleep, and expect divine direction through a dream.
CHAPTER XXXV.
And the Athenians have various islands not far from Attica, one called
after Patroclus, about which I have already given an account, and
another a little beyond Sunium, as you sail leaving Attica on the left:
here they say Helen landed after the capture of Ilium, so the Island
is called Helena. And Salamis lies over against Eleusis and extends
towards Megaris. The name Salamis was they say originally given to
this island from Salamis the mother of Asopus, and afterwards the
Æginetans under Telamon inhabited the island: and Philæus, the son
of Eurysaces and grandson of Ajax, became an Athenian and handed it
over to Athens. And many years afterwards the Athenians expelled the
people of Salamis, condemning them for having been slack of duty in
the war with Cassander, and for having surrendered their city to the
Macedonians more from choice than compulsion: and Ascetades (who had
been chosen as Governor of Salamis) they condemned to death, and swore
that for all time they would remember this treason of the people of
Salamis. And there are yet ruins of the market, and a temple of Ajax,
and his statue in ebony. And divine honours are to this day paid by
the Athenians to Ajax and Eurysaces: the latter has also an altar at
Athens. And a stone is shown at Salamis not far from the harbour: on
which they say Telamon sate and gazed at the vessel in which his sons
were sailing away to Aulis, to join the general expedition of the
Greeks against Ilium. And the natives of Salamis say that after the
death of Ajax a flower first appeared on their island: white and red,
smaller than the lily especially in its petals, with the same letters
on it as the hyacinth.[8] And I have heard the tradition of the Æolians
(who afterwards inhabited Ilium) as to the controversy about the
arms of Achilles, and they say that after the shipwreck of Odysseus
these arms were washed ashore by the sea near the tomb of Ajax. And
some particulars as to his great size were given me by a Mysian. He
told me that the sea washed his tomb which was on the seashore, and
made entrance to it easy, and he bade me conjecture the huge size of
his body by the following detail. His kneepans, (which the doctors
call _mills_,) were the size of the quoits used by any lad practising
for the Pentathlum. I do not wonder at the size of those who are
called Cabares, who, remotest of the Celts, live in a region thinly
peopled from the extreme cold, for their corpses are not a bit bigger
than Egyptian ones. I will now relate some remarkable cases of dead
bodies. Among the Magnesians at Lethæus one of the citizens, called
Protophanes, was victor on the same day at Olympia in the pancratium
and in the wrestling: some robbers broke into his tomb, thinking to
find something valuable there, and after them came others to see his
corpse: his ribs were not separated as is usual, but he was all bone
from his shoulders to the lowest ribs, which are called by the doctors
_false ribs_. And the Milesians have in front of their city the island
Lade, which breaks off into two little islands, one of which is called
Asterius. And they say that Asterius was buried here, and that he
was the son of Anax, and Anax was the son of Earth: his corpse is
two cubits, no less. The following circumstance also appears to me
wonderful. In Upper Lydia there is a small town called the Gates of
Temenus. Some bones were discovered here, when a piece of cliff broke
off in a storm, in shape like those of a man, but on account of their
size no one would have thought them a man’s. And forthwith a rumour
spread among the populace that it was the dead body of Geryon the son
of Chrysaor, and that a man’s seat fashioned in stone on the hillside
was his seat. And they called the mountain torrent Oceanus, and said
that people ploughing often turned up horns of oxen, for the story goes
that Geryon bred most excellent oxen. But when I opposed their theory,
and proved to them that Geryon lived at Gades, and that he has no known
tomb but a tree of various forms, hereupon the Lydian Antiquarians told
the real truth, that it was the dead body of Hyllus, and that Hyllus
was the son of Earth, and gave his name to the river Hyllus. They said
also that Hercules on account of his former intercourse with Omphale
called his son Hyllus after the same river.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
At Salamis, to return to my subject, there is a temple of Artemis, and
a trophy erected for the victory which Themistocles the son of Neocles
won for the Greeks. There is also a temple to Cychreus. For when the
Athenians were fighting the naval engagement with the Persians it is
said that a dragon was seen in the Athenian fleet, and the oracle
informed the Athenians that it was the hero Cychreus. And there is an
island facing Salamis called Psyttalea, on which they say as many as
400 Persians landed: who after the defeat of Xerxes’ fleet were they
say slain by the Greeks who passed over into Psyttalea. There is not
one statue in the island which is a work of art, but there are some
rude images of Pan made anyhow.
And as you go to Eleusis from Athens, by the way which the Athenians
call the Sacred Way, is the tomb of Anthemocritus, to whom the
Megarians acted most unscrupulously, inasmuch as they killed him though
he came as a herald, to announce to them that henceforth they were not
to cultivate the sacred land. And for this act of theirs the wrath of
the two goddesses[9] still abides, since they are the only Greeks that
the Emperor Adrian was not able to aggrandise. And next to the column
of Anthemocritus is the tomb of Molottus, who was chosen as General of
the Athenians when they crossed over into Eubœa to the aid of Plutarch.
And near this is a village called Scirus for the following reason.
When the people of Eleusis were at war with Erechtheus, a prophet
came from Dodona Scirus by name, who also built at Phalerum the old
temple of Sciradian Athene. And as he fell in battle the Eleusinians
buried him near a mountain torrent, and both the village and torrent
get their name from the hero. And near is the tomb of Cephisodorus,
who was the leader of the people, and especially opposed Philip the
son of Demetrius, the king of the Macedonians. And Cephisodorus got
as allies for the Athenians the Mysian king Attalus, and the Egyptian
king Ptolemy, and independent nations as the Ætolians, and islanders as
the Rhodians and Cretans. And as the succours from Egypt and Mysia and
Crete came for the most part too late, and as the Rhodians (fighting
by sea only) could do little harm to heavy-armed soldiers like the
Macedonians, Cephisodorus sailed for Italy with some of the Athenians,
and begged the Romans to aid them. And they sent them a force and a
general, who so reduced Philip and the Macedonians that eventually
Perseus, the son of Philip, lost his kingdom, and was carried to Italy
as a captive. This Philip was the son of Demetrius: who was the first
of the family who was king of Macedonia, after slaying Alexander the
son of Cassander, as I have before related.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
And next to the tomb of Cephisodorus are buried Heliodorus the
Aliensian, (you may see a painting of him in the large temple of
Athene): and Themistocles the son of Poliarchus, the great grandson of
the Themistocles that fought the great sea-fight against Xerxes and the
Medes. All his other descendants except Acestius I shall pass by. But
she the daughter of Xenocles, the son of Sophocles, the son of Leo,
had the good fortune to have all her ancestors torchbearers even up to
her great grandfather Leo, and in her life she saw first her brother
Sophocles a torchbearer, and after him her husband Themistocles, and
after his death her son Theophrastus. Such was the good fortune she is
said to have had.
And as you go a little further is the grove of the hero Lacius, who
gives his name to a township. There too is the tomb of Nicocles of
Tarentum, who won the greatest fame of all harpers. There is also an
altar to Zephyrus, and a temple of Demeter and Proserpine: Athene and
Poseidon have joint honours with them. Here they say Phytalus received
Demeter into his house, and the goddess gave him in return a fig tree.
My account is confirmed by the inscription on Phytalus’ tomb.
“Here Phytalus king-hero once received
Holy Demeter, when she first vouchsafed
The fruit that mortals call the fig: since when
The race of Phytalus has deathless fame.”
And before crossing over the river Cephisus, is the tomb of
Theodorus, one of the best tragic actors of his day. And there are two
statues near the river, Mnesimaches, and his son cutting off his hair
as a votive offering to the Cephisus. That it was an ancient custom for
all the Greeks to cut off locks of their hair to rivers one would infer
from the verses of Homer, who describes Peleus as vowing to cut off
his hair to the river Spercheus if his son Achilles returned safe from
Troy.[10]
On the other side of the Cephisus is an ancient altar to Milichian
(_i.e._ _mild_) Zeus, where Theseus got purified after slaying the
progeny of Phytalus. He had slain other robbers, and Sinis, who was his
relation by Pittheus his maternal grandfather. And there are the tombs
here of Theodectes the son of Phaselites, and of Mnesitheus. This last
they say was a noted doctor, and dedicated several statues, and among
them one of Iacchus. And by the roadside is a small temple called the
temple of Cyamites (_Bean-man_): but I have no certain information,
whether he first sowed beans, or whether they gave the name to some
hero, because it was not lawful to ascribe the invention of beans to
Demeter. And whoever has seen the Eleusinian mysteries, or has read the
Orphic poems, knows what I mean. And of the tombs that are finest for
size and beauty are two especially, one of a Rhodian who had migrated
to Athens, the other of Pythionice, made by Harpalus a Macedonian, who
had fled from Alexander and sailed to Europe from Asia, and coming
to Athens was arrested by the Athenians, but escaped by bribing
the friends of Alexander and others, and before this had married
Pythionice, whose extraction I don’t know, but she was a courtesan both
at Athens and Corinth. He was so enamoured of her that, when she died,
he raised this monument to her, the finest of all the ancient works of
art in Greece.
And there is a temple in which are statues of Demeter and Proserpine
and Athene and Apollo: but originally the temple was built to Apollo
alone. For they say that Cephalus the son of Deioneus went with
Amphitryon to the Teleboæ, and was the first dweller in the island
which is now called from him Cephallenia: and that he fled from Athens,
and lived for some time at Thebes, because he had murdered his wife
Procris. And in the tenth generation afterwards Chalcinus and Dætus
his descendants sailed to Delphi, and begged of the god permission to
return to Athens: and he ordered them first to sacrifice to Apollo on
the spot where they should see a trireme on land moving. And when they
got to the mountain called Pœcilus a dragon appeared eagerly running
into its hole: and here they sacrificed to Apollo, and afterwards on
their arrival at Athens the Athenians made them citizens. Next to this
is a temple of Aphrodite, and before it a handsome wall of white stone.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Now the channels called Rheti are like rivers only in their flow, for
their water is sea water. And one might suppose that they flow from
the Euripus near Chalcis underground, falling into a sea with a lower
level. These Rheti are said to be sacred to Proserpine and Demeter,
and their priests only may catch the fish in them. And they were,
as I hear, in old times the boundaries between the territory of the
Eleusinians and Athenians. And the first inhabitant on the other side
of the Rheti was Crocon, and that district is called to this day the
kingdom of Crocon. This Crocon the Athenians say married Sæsara the
daughter of Celeus. This at least is the tradition of the occupants
of the township of Scambonidæ. Crocon’s tomb indeed I could not find,
but Eumolpus’ tomb the Athenians and Eubœans both show. This Eumolpus
they say came from Thrace, and was the son of Poseidon and Chione: and
Chione was they say the daughter of Boreas and Orithyia. Homer has
not indeed given us his pedigree, but he calls him in his poem a noble
man. And in the battle between the people of Eleusis and the Athenians
Erechtheus the king of Athens was slain, and also Immaradus the son of
Eumolpus: and peace was concluded on these conditions, that the people
of Eleusis should be in all other respects Athenians, but should have
the private management of their Mysteries. And the rites of the two
goddesses, Demeter and Proserpine, were performed by the daughters of
Celeus. Pamphus and Homer alike call them by the names Diogenea, and
Pammerope, and Sæsara. But on the death of Eumolpus Ceryx the youngest
son was the only one left, who (the heralds say) was not the son of
Eumolpus at all, but the son of Hermes by Aglaurus the daughter of
Cecrops.
There is also a hero-chapel to Hippothoon, from whom a tribe gets its
name, and near it one to Zarex, who is said to have learnt music of
Apollo. But my own idea is that Zarex was a stranger, a Lacedæmonian
who had come into Attica, and that the city Zarex in Laconia by the
sea was called after him. But if the hero Zarex was a native of
Attica, I know nothing about him. And the river Cephisus flows near
the Eleusinian territory with greater speed than before: and here
is a place called Erineus, where Pluto they say descended, when he
carried off Proserpine. On the banks of this river Theseus slew the
robber Polypemon, who was surnamed Procrustes. And the Eleusinians
have a temple to Triptolemus, and to Propylæan Artemis, and to Father
Poseidon, and a well called Callichorus, where the Eleusinian women
first danced and sang songs to the goddess. And the Rharian plain
was the first sown and the first that produced crops according to
tradition, and this is the reason why it is the custom to use barley
from it to make cakes for the sacrifices. Here is shown Triptolemus’
threshing-floor and altar. But what is inside the sacred wall I am
forbidden by a dream to divulge, for those who are uninitiated, as
they are forbidden sight of them, so also clearly may not hear of the
mysteries. And the hero Eleusis, from whom the city gets its name, was
according to some the son of Hermes and Daira the daughter of Oceanus,
others make him the son of Ogygus. For the ancients, when they had no
data for their pedigrees, invented fictitious ones, and especially in
the pedigrees of heroes.
And as you turn from Eleusis to Bœotia the boundary of Attica is
the Platæan district. That was the old boundary between the Athenians
and the people of Eleutheræ. But when the people of Eleutheræ became
Athenians then Mount Cithæron in Bœotia became the boundary. And the
people of Eleutheræ became Athenians not by compulsion, but from hatred
to the Thebans and a liking for the Athenian form of government. In
this plain too is a temple of Dionysus, and a statue of the god was
removed thence to Athens long ago: the one at Eleutheræ now is an
imitation of it. And at some distance is a small grotto, and near it a
spring of cold water. And it is said that Antiope gave birth to twins
and left them in this grotto, and a shepherd finding them near the
spring gave them their first bath in it, having stript them of their
swaddling clothes. And there was still in my day remains of a wall and
buildings at Eleutheræ. This makes it clear that it was a town built a
little above the plain towards Mount Cithæron.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
And another road leads from Eleusis to Megara: as you go along this
road is a well called the Well of Flowers. Pamphus records that it
was at this well that Demeter sat in the guise of an old woman after
the rape of Proserpine: and that she was taken thence as an old woman
of the country by the daughters of Celeus to their mother, and that
Metanira entrusted her with the education of her son. And not far
from the well is the temple of Metanira, and next to it the tombs of
those that fell at Thebes. For Creon, who was at that time the ruler
at Thebes (being Regent for Laodamas the son of Eteocles), would not
allow their relations to bury the dead: and Adrastus having supplicated
Theseus, and a battle having been fought between the Athenians and
Bœotians, when Theseus was the victor, he conveyed the dead bodies
to Eleusis and there buried them. But the Thebans say that they
surrendered the dead bodies of their own free will, and did not fight
on this question. And next to the tombs of the Argives is the monument
of Alope, who they say was the mother of Hippothoon by Poseidon,
and was in consequence put to death by her father Cercyon. Now this
Cercyon is said in other respects to have been harsh to strangers, and
especially to those who would not contend with him in wrestling: and
this place was called even in my day Cercyon’s wrestling ground, at a
little distance from the tomb of Alope. And Cercyon is said to have
killed all that wrestled with him but Theseus. But Theseus wrestled
against him cunningly throw for throw and beat him: for he was the
first who elevated wrestling into a science, and afterwards established
training schools for wrestling: for before the time of Theseus only
size and strength were made use of in wrestling.
Such in my opinion are the most noteworthy among Athenian traditions
or sights. And in my account I have selected out of a mass of material
that only which was important enough to be considered history.
Next to Eleusis is the district called Megaris: it too belonged
originally to the Athenians, having been bequeathed to Pandion by (its)
king Pylas. Proofs of what I assert are the tomb of Pandion in that
district, and the fact that Nisus, though he conceded the kingdom of
Attica to Ægeus the head of the family, yet himself was selected to
be king of Megara and the whole district up to Corinth: and even now
the Megarians have a dockyard called Nisæa after him. And afterwards,
when Codrus was king, the Peloponnesians marched against Athens: and
not having any brilliant success there they went home again, but took
Megara from the Athenians, and gave it to the Corinthians and others
of their allies that wished to dwell in it. Thus the Megarians changed
their customs and dialect and became Dorians. And they say the city
got its name in the days of Car, the son of Phoroneus, who was king in
this district: in his day they say first temples were built to Demeter
among them, and the inhabitants called them Halls.[11] This is at
any rate the tradition of the Megarians. But the Bœotians say that
Megareus the son of Poseidon lived at Onchestus, and went with an army
of Bœotians to aid Nisus in his war against Minos, and that he fell in
the battle, and got buried there, and the city which had been formerly
called Nisa, got its name Megara from him. And years afterwards, in the
12th generation from Car, the son of Phoroneus, the Megarians say Lelex
came from Egypt and became king, and during his reign the Megarians
were called Leleges. And he had a son Cleson, and a grandson Pylas,
and a great-grandson Sciron, who married the daughter of Pandion, and
afterwards, (Sciron having a controversy with Nisus the son of Pandion
about the sovereignty), Æacus was arbitrator, and gave his decision
that the kingdom was to belong to Nisus and his descendants, but the
command of the army was to devolve upon Sciron. And Megareus the son of
Poseidon, having married Iphinoe the daughter of Nisus, succeeded Nisus
they say in the kingdom. But of the Cretan war, and the capture of the
city in the days of King Nisus, they pretend to know nothing.
CHAPTER XL.
There is in the city a conduit erected by Theagenes, of whom I
mentioned before that he married his daughter to Cylon an Athenian.
This Theagenes when he was king erected this conduit, well worth seeing
for its size and beauty and the number of its pillars. And the water
that flows into is called after the Sithnidian Nymphs, who, according
to the Megarian tradition, are natives, and one of them bare a son
to Zeus, whose name was Megarus, and who escaped Deucalion’s flood
by getting to the top of Mount Gerania (_Cranemountain_), which was
not the original name of the mountain, but was so called because he
followed in his swimming the flight of some cranes by their cry. And
not far from this conduit is an ancient temple, and there are some
statues in it of Roman Emperors, and an image of Artemis in brass
by the name of Saviour. The story goes that some men in the army of
Mardonius who had overrun Megaris wished to return to Thebes to join
Mardonius, but by the contrivance of Artemis wandered about all night,
and lost their way, and got into the mountainous part of the country,
and, endeavouring to ascertain if the enemy’s army was about, shot some
arrows, and the rock shot at returned a groan, and they shot again and
again furiously. And at last their arrows were expended in shooting
at their supposed foes. And when day dawned, and the Megarians really
did attack them, (well armed against men badly armed and now _minus_
ammunition), they slew most of them. And this is why they put up an
image to Artemis the Saviour. Here too are images of the so-called 12
gods, the production of Praxiteles. He also made an Artemis of the
Strongylii. And next, as you enter the sacred enclosure of Zeus called
the Olympieum, there is a temple well worth seeing: the statue of Zeus
is not finished in consequence of the war between the Peloponnesians
and the Athenians, in which the Athenians every year by land and by
sea injured the Megarians both publicly and privately, ravaging their
territory, and bringing them individually to the greatest poverty.
And the head of this statue of Zeus is of ivory and gold, but the
other parts are of clay and earthenware: and they say it was made by
Theocosmus a native, assisted by Phidias. And above the head of Zeus
are the Seasons and the Fates: it is plain to all that Fate is his
servant, and that he orders the Seasons as is meet. In the back part of
the temple there are some wooden figures only half finished: Theocosmus
intended to finish them when he had adorned the statue of Zeus with
ivory and gold. And in the temple there is the brazen ram of a trireme,
which was they say taken at Salamis, in the sea fight against the
Athenians. The Athenians do not deny that there was for some time a
defection on the part of Salamis to the Megarians, but Solon they say
by his elegiac verses stirred the Athenians up, and they fought for
it, and eventually retook it. But the Megarians say that some of their
exiles, called Doryclei, mixed themselves among the inhabitants and
betrayed Salamis to the Athenians. And next to the enclosure of Zeus,
as you ascend the Acropolis still called the Carian from Car the son
of Phoroneus, is the temple of Nyctelian Dionysus, and the temple of
Aphrodite the Procuress, and the Oracle of Night, and a roofless
temple of dusty Zeus. And statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea, both the
work of Bryaxis. Here too is the sacred Hall of Demeter: which they say
was erected by Car when he was king.
CHAPTER XLI.
As you descend from the Acropolis in a Northerly direction, you come
to the sepulchre of Alcmene near the Olympieum. She died they say at
Megara on her journey from Argos to Thebes, and the sons of Hercules
had a dispute, some wishing to take her dead body to Argos, others to
Thebes: for the sons of Hercules by Megara were buried at Thebes, as
also Amphitryon’s sons. But Apollo at Delphi gave the oracular response
that it would be better for them to bury Alcmena at Megara. From this
place the interpreter of national Antiquities took me to a place called
Rhun (_Flow_), so called because some water flowed here from the hills
above the city, but Theagenes when he was king diverted the water
into another direction, and erected here an altar to Achelous. And at
no great distance is the monument of Hyllus the son of Hercules, who
fought in single combat with the Arcadian Echemus, the son of Aeropus.
Who this Echemus was that slew Hyllus I shall shew in another place,
but Hyllus is buried at Megara. The expedition to the Peloponnese, when
Orestes was king, might rightly be called an expedition of the sons
of Hercules. And not far from the monument of Hyllus is the temple of
Isis, and near it the temple of Apollo and Artemis. This last they say
was built by Alcathous, after he had slain the lion that was called
the lion of Mount Cithæron. This lion had they say devoured several
Megarians and among them the king’s son Euippus: whose elder brother
Timalcus had been killed by Theseus still earlier, when he went
with Castor and Pollux to the siege of Aphidna. Megareus therefore
promised his daughter in marriage, and the succession to the kingdom,
to whoever should kill the lion of Mount Cithæron. So Alcathous (the
son of Pelops) attacked the beast and slew him, and, when he became
king built this temple, dedicating it to Huntress Artemis and Hunter
Apollo. This at any rate is the local tradition. But though I don’t
want to contradict the Megarians, I cannot find myself in agreement
with them entirely, for though I quite admit that the lion of Mount
Cithæron was killed by Alcathous, yet who ever recorded that Timalcus
the son of Megareus went to Aphidna with Castor and Pollux? And how (if
he had gone there) could he have been thought to have been killed by
Theseus, seeing that Alcman in his Ode to Castor and Pollux, recording
how they took Athens, and carried away captive the mother of Theseus,
yet says that Theseus was away? Pindar also gives a very similar
account, and says that Theseus wished to be connected by marriage with
Castor and Pollux, till he went away to help Pirithous in his ambitious
attempt to wed Proserpine. But whoever drew up the genealogy plainly
knew the simplicity of the Megarians, since Theseus was the descendant
of Pelops. But indeed the Megarians purposely hide the real state of
things, not wishing to own that their city was captured when Nisus was
king, and that Megareus who succeeded to the kingdom was the son in law
of Nisus, and that Alcathous was the son in law of Megareus. But it is
certain that it was not till after the death of Nisus, and a revolution
at Megara, that Alcathous came there from Elis. And this is my proof.
He built up the wall anew, when the whole of the old wall had been
demolished by the Cretans. Let this suffice for Alcathous and the lion,
whether he slew the lion on Mount Cithæron or somewhere else, before he
erected the temple to Huntress Artemis and Hunter Apollo.
As you descend from this temple is the hero-chapel of Pandion, who,
as I have already shewn, was buried at what is called the rock of
Athene the Diver. He has also divine honours paid to him at Megara.
And near the hero-chapel of Pandion is the monument of Hippolyta. This
is the Megarian tradition about her. When the Amazons, on account of
Antiope, made an expedition against the Athenians, they were beaten
by Theseus, and most of them (it so happened) fell in battle, but
Hippolyta (the sister of Antiope), who was at that time leader of the
Amazons, fled to Megara with the remnant of them, and there, having
been unsuccessful with her army, and dejected at the present state
of things, and still more despondent about getting safe home again to
Themiscyra, died of grief and was buried. And the device on her tomb
is an Amazon’s shield. And not far distant is the tomb of Tereus, who
married Procne the daughter of Pandion. Tereus was king (according to
the Megarian tradition) of Pagæ in Megaris, but in my opinion (and
there are still extant proofs of what I state) he was king of Daulis
N.W. of Chæronea: for most of what is now called Hellas was inhabited
in old time by barbarians. And his subjects would no longer obey
Tereus after his vile conduct to Philomela, and after the murder of
Itys by Procne and Philomela. And he committed suicide at Megara, and
they forthwith piled up a tomb for him, and offer sacrifices to him
annually, using pebbles in the sacrifice instead of barley. And they
say the hoopoe was first seen here. And Procne and Philomela went to
Athens, and lamenting what they had suffered and done melted away in
tears: and the tradition that they were changed into a nightingale
and swallow is, I fancy, simply that these birds have a sorrowful and
melancholy note.
CHAPTER XLII.
There is also another citadel at Megara that gets its name from
Alcathous. As one goes up to it, there is on the right hand a monument
of Megareus, who started from Onchestus to aid the Megarians in the
Cretan War. There is also shown an altar of the gods called Prodromi:
and they say that Alcathous first sacrificed to them when he was
commencing to build his wall. And near this altar is a stone, on which
they say Apollo put his harp down, while he assisted Alcathous in
building the wall. And the following fact proves that the Megarians
were numbered among the Athenians: Peribœa the daughter of Alcathous
was certainly sent by him to Crete with Theseus in connection with the
tribute. And Apollo, as the Megarians say, assisted him in building the
wall, and laid his harp down on the stone: and if one chances to hit
it with a pebble, it sounds like a harp being played. This inspired
great wonder in me, but not so much as the Colossus in Egypt. At
Thebes in Egypt, when you cross the Nile, at a place called the Pipes
(_Syringes_), there is a seated statue that has a musical sound, most
people call it Memnon: for he they say went from Ethiopia to Egypt and
even to Susa. But the Thebans say it was a statue not of Memnon, but
Phamenophes a Theban, and I have heard people say it was Sesostris.
This statue Cambyses cut in two: and now the head to the middle of
the body lies on the ground, but the lower part remains in a sitting
posture, and every morning at sunrise resounds with melody, and the
sound it most resembles is that of a harp or lyre with a chord broken.
And the Megarians have a council chamber, which was once as they say
the tomb of Timalcus, who, as I said a little time back, was killed
by Theseus. And on the hill where the citadel stands is a temple of
Athene, and a brazen statue of the goddess, except the hands and the
toes, which as well as the face are of ivory. And there is another
temple here of Athene called Victory, and another of her as Aiantis.
As regards the latter, all mention of it is passed over by the
interpreters of curiosities at Megara, but I will write my own ideas.
Telamon the son of Æacus married Peribœa the daughter of Alcathous. I
imagine then that Aias, having succeeded to the kingdom of Alcathous,
made this statue of Athene Aiantis.
The old temple of Apollo was made of brick: but afterwards the
Emperor Adrian built it of white stone. The statues called Apollo
Pythius and Apollo Decataphorus are very like Egyptian statues, but the
one they call Archegetes is like Æginetan handiwork. And all alike are
made of ebony. I heard a Cyprian, a cunning herbalist, say that the
ebony has neither leaves nor fruit, and that it is never seen exposed
to the sun, but its roots are underground, and the Ethiopians dig them
up, and there are men among them who know how to find it. There is
also a temple of Law-giving Demeter. And as you go down from thence
is the tomb of Callipolis the son of Alcathous. Alcathous had also an
elder son called Ischepolis, whom his father sent to assist Meleager in
Ætolia against the Calydonian boar. And when he was killed Callipolis
heard the news first in this place: and he ran to the citadel, where
his father was sacrificing to Apollo, and threw down the wood from the
altar. And Alcathous, not having yet heard the news about Ischepolis,
was vexed with Callipolis for his irreverence, and in his wrath killed
him instantaneously by striking him on the head with one of the pieces
of wood he had thrown down from the altar.
On the road to the Prytaneum there is a hero-chapel of Ino, and
a cornice of stone round it. Some olive-trees also grow there. The
Megarians are the only Greeks that say that the dead body of Ino was
cast on the shore of Megaris, and that Cleso and Tauropolis, the
daughters of Cleso and granddaughters of Lelex, found it and buried
it. And they say that Ino was called by them first Leucothea, and they
sacrifice to her every year.
CHAPTER XLIII.
They also lay claim to the possession of a mortuary-chapel of
Iphigenia, for she too they say died at Megara. But I have heard a
different account of Iphigenia from the Arcadians, and I know that
Hesiod in his Catalogue of Women describes Iphigenia as not dying, but
being changed into Hecate by the will of Artemis. And Herodotus[12]
wrote not dissimilarly to this, that the Tauric people in Scythia after
shipwreck sacrifice to a virgin, who is they say Iphigenia the daughter
of Agamemnon. Adrastus also has divine honours among the Megarians:
he too they say died among them (when he was leading the army back
after the capture of Thebes), of old age and sorrow for the death of
Ægialeus. And Agamemnon erected an altar to Artemis at Megara, when he
went to Calchas, a native of the place, to persuade him to join the
expedition to Ilium. And in the Prytaneum they say Euippus the son of
Megareus was buried, and also Ischepolis the son of Alcathous. And
there is a rock near the Prytaneum called _The Calling Rock_, because
Demeter (if there is any truth in the tale), when she wandered about
seeking her daughter, called out for her here. And the Megarian women
still perform a kind of mimic representation of this. And the Megarians
have tombs in the city: one they erected for those who fell fighting
against the Medes, the other, called Æsymnian, is a monument to heroes.
For when Hyperion, the last king of Megara, the son of Agamemnon, was
killed by Sandion on account of his greed and haughtiness, they chose
no longer to be under kingly government, but to have chief magistrates
annually chosen, so as to be under one another’s authority by turn.
Then it was that Æsymnus, second to none of the Megarians in fame and
influence, went to Apollo at Delphi, and asked how they were to have
prosperity. And the god among other things told them they would fare
well if they deliberated on affairs with the majority. Thinking these
words had reference to the dead, they built here a council chamber,
that the tomb of the heroes might be inside their council chamber. As
you go from thence to the hero-chapel of Alcathous, which the Megarians
now use as a Record Office, there are two tombs, one they say of
Pyrgo, the wife of Alcathous before he married Euæchma the daughter of
Megareus, the other of Iphinoe the daughter of Alcathous, who they say
died unmarried. At her tomb it is the custom of maidens before marriage
to pour libations, and sacrifice some of their long hair, as the
maidens of Delos used to do to Hecaerge and Opis. And near the entrance
to the temple of Dionysus are the tombs of Astycratea and Manto, the
daughters of Polyidus, (the son of Cœranus, the son of Abas, the son of
Melampus,) who went to Megara, and purged Alcathous for the murder of
his son Callipolis. And Polyidus also built the temple of Dionysus, and
erected a statue of the god veiled in my day except the face: that is
visible. And a Satyr is near Dionysus, the work of Praxiteles in Parian
marble. And this they call Tutelary Dionysus, and another they call
Dionysus Dasyllius (_the Vine-ripener_), and this statue they say was
erected by Euchenor the son of Cœranus the son of Polyidus. And next to
the temple of Dionysus is the shrine of Aphrodite, and a statue of the
goddess in ivory, under the title Praxis (_Action_). This is the oldest
statue in the shrine. And _Persuasion_ and another goddess whom they
call _Consolation_ are by Praxiteles: and by Scopas _Love_ and _Desire_
and _Yearning_, each statue expressing the particular shade of meaning
marked by the words. And near the shrine of Aphrodite is the temple
of Chance: this too is by Praxiteles. And in the neighbouring temple
Lysippus has made the Muses and a brazen Zeus.
The Megarians also have the tomb of Corœbus: the verses about him I
shall relate here though they are also Argive intelligence. In the days
when Crotopus was king in Argos, his daughter Psamathe they say had
a child by Apollo, and being greatly afraid of her father knowing it
exposed the child. And some sheep dogs of Crotopus lit upon the child
and killed it, and Apollo sent upon the city _Punishment_, a monster
who took children away from their mothers (they say), till Corœbus
killed it to ingratiate himself with the Argives. And after killing it,
as a second plague came on them and vexed them sore, Corœbus of his own
accord went to Delphi, and offered to submit to the punishment of the
god for killing _Punishment_. The Pythian priestess forbade Corœbus
to return to Argos, but told him to carry a tripod from the temple,
and wherever the tripod should fall, there he was to build a temple to
Apollo and himself dwell. And the tripod slipt out of his hand and fell
(without his contrivance) on the mountain Gerania, and there he built
the village Tripodisci. And his tomb is in the market-place at Megara:
and there are some elegiac verses on it that relate to Psamathe and
Corœbus himself, and a representation on the tomb of Corœbus killing
Punishment. These statues are the oldest Greek ones in stone that I
have myself seen.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Next Corœbus is buried Orsippus, who, though the athletes according to
olden custom had girdles round their loins, ran naked at Olympia in
the race and won the prize. And they say that he afterwards as general
cut off a slice of his neighbours’ territory. But I think at Olympia
he dropped his girdle on purpose, knowing that it is easier for a
man to run naked than with a girdle on. And as you descend from the
market-place by the way called Straight, there is on the right hand a
temple of Protecting Apollo: you can find it by turning a little out
of the way. And there is in it a statue of Apollo well worth seeing,
and an Artemis and Leto, and other statues, and Leto and her sons by
Praxiteles. And there is in the ancient gymnasium, near the gates
called Nymphades, a stone in shape like a small pyramid. This they
call Apollo Carinus, and there is here a temple to Ilithyia also.
Such are the notable things the city contains. And as you descend to
the dockyard, which is still called Nisæa, is a temple of Demeter the
Wool-bearer. Several explanations are given of this title, among them
that those who first reared sheep in this country gave her that name.
And one would conjecture that the roof had fallen from the temple by
the lapse of time. There is here also a citadel called Nisæa. And as
you descend from it there is near the sea a monument of Lelex the
king, who is said to have come from Egypt, and to have been the son of
Poseidon by Libye the daughter of Epaphus. There is an island too near
Nisæa of no great size called Minoa. Here the navy of the Cretans was
moored in the war with Nisus. And the mountainous part of Megaris is on
the borders of Bœotia, and contains two towns, Pagæ and Ægosthena. As
you go to Pagæ, if you turn a little off from the regular road, there
is shewn the rock which has arrows fixed in it everywhere, into which
the Medes once shot in the night. At Pagæ too well worth seeing is a
brazen statue of Artemis under the title of _Saviour_, in size and
shape like the statues of the goddess at Megara. There is also here
a hero-chapel of Ægialeus the son of Adrastus. He, when the Argives
marched against Thebes the second time, was killed in the first battle
at Glisas, and his relations carried him to Pagæ in Megaris, and buried
him there, and the hero-chapel is still called after his name. And at
Ægosthena is a temple of Melampus the son of Amythaon, and a man of
no great size is carved on a pillar. And they sacrifice to Melampus
and have a festival to him every year. But they say that he has no
prophetic powers either in dreams or in any other way. And I also heard
at Erenea a village of Megaris, that Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus,
excessively grieving at the death of Actæon, and the circumstances
of it which tradition records, and the general misfortunes of her
father’s house, migrated there from Thebes: and her tomb is in that
village.
And as you go from Megara to Corinth there are several tombs, and
among them that of the Samian flute-player Telephanes. And they say
that this tomb was erected by Cleopatra, the daughter of Philip the
son of Amyntas. And there is a monument of Car the son of Phoroneus,
originally only a mound of earth, but afterwards in consequence of the
oracle it was beautified with a shell-like stone. And the Megarians
are the only Greeks who possess this peculiar kind of stone, and many
things in their city are made of it. It is very white, and softer than
other stone, and seashells are everywhere in it. Such is this kind of
stone. And the road, called the Scironian road after Sciron, is so
called because Sciron, when he was commander in chief of the Megarians,
first made it a road for travellers according to tradition. And the
Emperor Adrian made it so wide and convenient that two chariots could
drive abreast.
Now there are traditions about the rocks which project in the narrow
part of the road; with regard to the Molurian rock, that Ino threw
herself into the sea from it with Melicerta, the younger of her sons:
for Learchus the oldest was killed by his father. Athamas also is
said to have acted in the same way when mad, and to have exhibited
ungovernable rage to Ino and her children, thinking that the famine
which befell the Orchomenians, which also apparently caused the
death of Phrixus, was not the visitation of God, but a stepmother’s
contrivance against them all. So she to escape him threw herself and
her boy Melicerta into the sea from the Molurian rock. And the boy,
being carried it is said by a dolphin to the Isthmus of Corinth, had
various honours paid to him under the name of Palæmon, and the Isthmian
games were celebrated in his honour. This Molurian rock they consider
sacred to Leucothea and Palæmon, but the rocks next to it they consider
accursed, because Sciron lived near them, who threw into the sea all
strangers that chanced to come there. And a tortoise used to swim about
near these rocks, so as to devour those that were thrown in: these sea
tortoises are like land tortoises, except in size and the shape of
their feet which are like those of seals. But the whirligig of time
which brought on Sciron punishment for all this, for he himself was
thrown by Theseus into the same sea. And on the top of the mountain is
a temple to Zeus called the Remover. They say that Zeus was so called
because when a great drought once happened to the Greeks, and Æacus in
obedience to the oracle prayed to Pan-Hellenian Zeus at Ægina, he took
it away and removed it. Here are also statues of Aphrodite and Apollo
and Pan. And as you go on a little further is the tomb of Eurystheus.
They say that he fled here from Attica after the battle with the
Heraclidæ, and was killed by Iolaus. As you descend this road is a
temple of Latoan Apollo, and near to it the boundaries between Megaris
and Corinth, where they say Hyllus the son of Hercules had a single
combat with the Arcadian Echemus.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] A stade was about one-eighth of a Roman mile.
[3] Odyssey, xi., 122, 123.
[4] See Plutarch’s “Life of Theseus.”
[5] Iliad, xxiii., 677-680.
[6] See Herod., iii., 64.
[7] Perhaps a reminiscence of Hom. Il. i. 423.
[8] See Verg. Ecl. 3. 106. Theocr. x. 28. And especially Ovid,
Metamorph. x. 210-219.
[9] Demeter and Proserpine.
[10] Iliad xxiii. 144-148.
[11] The Greek is _Megara_. Hence the paronomasia.
[12] Herod. iv. 99, and 103.
BOOK II.--CORINTH.
CHAPTER I.
The Corinthian territory, a part of Argolis, gets its name from
Corinthus, and that he was the son of Zeus I know of none who seriously
assert but most Corinthians, for Eumelus the son of Amphilytus of the
race called Bacchidæ, who is also said to have been a poet, says in
his History of Corinth (if indeed he is the author of it), that Ephyre
the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land, and that afterwards
Marathon the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of the Sun,
fled from the lawless insolence of his father, and took a colony into
the maritime parts of Attica, and when Epopeus was dead returned to the
Peloponnese, and after dividing the kingdom among his sons went back
into Attica, and from his son Sicyon Asopia got the name of Sicyonia,
and Ephyrea got called Corinth from his son Corinthus.
Now Corinth is inhabited by none of the ancient Corinthians, but by
colonists who were sent there by the Romans. And this is owing to the
Achæan confederacy. For the Corinthians joined it, and took their part
in the war with the Romans which Critolaus, who had been appointed
commander in chief of the Achæans, brought about, having persuaded
the Achæans and most of the Greeks outside the Peloponnese to revolt
against Rome. And the Romans, after conquering all the other Greeks in
battle, took away from them their arms, and razed the fortifications of
all the fortified cities: but they destroyed Corinth under Mummius the
General of the Roman army, and they say it was rebuilt by Julius Cæsar,
who instituted the present form of government at Rome, (the Imperial).
Carthage also was rebuilt in his term of power.
Now the place called Crommyon in the Corinthian territory is so
called from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say was the haunt of
the Phæan boar, and the scene of Theseus’ legendary exploits against
Pityocamptes, (the _Pinebender_). As you go forward the famous pine was
to be seen even in my time near the seashore; and there was an altar to
Melicerta there, for it was here they say that he was conveyed by the
dolphin: and Sisyphus, finding him lying dead on the shore, buried him
at the Isthmus, and established the Isthmian games in honour of him.
Now it is at the head of the Isthmus that the robber Sinis took two
pine-trees and bent them down to the ground: and whoever he conquered
in battle he tied to these pine-trees, and let the pines go up into
the air again: and each of these pines dragged the poor fellow tied to
it, and (neither yielding but pulling with equal vigour) the victim
tied to them was torn asunder. In this way Sinis himself was killed
by Theseus. For Theseus cleared all the road from Trœzen to Athens
of evildoers, having killed those whom I mentioned before, and, at
Epidaurus the Holy, Periphetes the putative son of Hephæstus, whose
weapon in fighting was a brazen club. The Isthmus of Corinth extends
in one direction to the sea near Cenchreæ, and in the other to the
sea near Lechæum. This Isthmus makes the Peloponnese a Peninsula. And
whoever attempted to make the Peloponnese an island died before the
completion of a canal across the Isthmus. And where they began to dig
is now plainly visible, but they didn’t make much progress because
of the rock. The Peloponnese remains therefore what it was by nature
main land. And when Alexander, the son of Philip, wished to make a
canal through Mimas, the work was all but completed. But the oracle
at Delphi forbade the navvies to complete the work. So difficult is
it for man to oppose the divine ordinances. And the Corinthians are
not alone in their boasting about their country, but it seems to me
that the Athenians even earlier used tall talk in regard to Attica.
The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a controversy with the Sun about
their land, and that Briareus was the Arbitrator, awarding the Isthmus
and all in that direction to Poseidon, and giving the height above
the city to the Sun. From this time they say the Isthmus belongs to
Poseidon.
The great sights at Corinth are the Theatre, and the Stadium of
white stone. And as you approach the temple of the god, there are
statues of the Athletes who have been conquerors in the Isthmian games
on one side, and on the other pine-trees planted in a row, mostly in
a straight line. And at the temple, which is not very large, there
stand some Tritons in brass. And there are statues in the porch two of
Poseidon, and one of Amphitrite, and a brazen Sea. And inside Herod an
Athenian placed in our time 4 horses all gold except the hoofs, which
are of ivory. And two golden Tritons are near the horses, ivory below
the waist. And Amphitrite and Poseidon are standing in a chariot, and
their son Palæmon is seated bolt upright on the dolphin’s back: and
these are made of ivory and gold. And on the middle of the base, on
which the chariot rests, is the Sea supporting the child Aphrodite
rising from it, and on each side are the so-called Nereids, who have I
know altars in other parts of Greece, and some have temples dedicated
to them as Shepherdesses, in places where Achilles is also honoured.
And at Doto among the Gabali there is a holy temple, where the peplus
is still kept, which the Greeks say Eriphyle took for her son Alcmæon.
And on the base of Poseidon’s statue are in bas relief the sons of
Tyndareus, because they are the patron saints of ships and sailors.
And the other statues are Calm and Sea, and a horse like a sea-monster
below the waist, and Ino and Bellerophon and Pegasus.
CHAPTER II.
And inside the precincts there is on the left hand a temple of Palæmon,
and some statues in it of Poseidon and Leucothea and Palæmon himself.
And there is also a crypt, approached by an underground passage,
where they say Palæmon is buried: whatever Corinthian or foreigner
commits perjury here has no chance of escaping punishment. There is
also an ancient temple called the altar of the Cyclopes, to whom they
sacrifice upon it. But the tombs of Sisyphus and Neleus, (for they say
that Neleus came to Corinth, and died there of some disease, and was
buried near the Isthmus), no one could find from the account in the
poems of Eumelus. As to Neleus they say that his tomb was not even
shewn to Nestor by Sisyphus: for it was to be unknown to all alike.
But that Sisyphus was buried at the Isthmus, and indeed the very site
of his tomb, a few Corinthians who were his contemporaries know. And
the Isthmian games did not fall into disuse when Corinth was taken by
Mummius, but as long as the city lay desolate, these games took place
at Sicyon, and when the city was rebuilt the old honour came back to
Corinth.
The Corinthian seaports got their names from Leches and Cenchrias,
who were reputed to be the sons of Poseidon by Pirene the daughter of
Achelous: though in Hesiod’s poem _the great Eœæ_ Pirene is said to be
the daughter of Œbalus. And there is at Lechæum a temple and brazen
statue of Poseidon, and as you go to Cenchreæ from the Isthmus a temple
of Artemis, and old wooden statue of the goddess. And at Cenchreæ there
is a shrine of Aphrodite and her statue in stone, and next it, on the
breakwater near the sea, a brazen statue of Poseidon. And on the other
side of the harbour are temples of Æsculapius and Isis. And opposite
Cenchreæ is the bath of Helen: where much salt water flows into the sea
from the rock, like water just with the chill off.
As you go up the hill to Corinth there are several tombs along the
wayside, and at the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks
nickname the Cynic. And in front of the city is a grove of cypress
trees called Craneum. Here is a temple of Bellerophon, and a shrine
of Melænian Aphrodite, and the tomb of Lais, with a lioness carved
on it with a ram in its front paws. And there is another monument of
Lais said to exist in Thessaly: for she went to Thessaly when she
was enamoured of Hippostratus. She is said to have come originally
from Hyccara in Sicily, and to have been taken prisoner as a child by
Nicias and the Athenians, and to have been sold at Corinth, and to have
outstripped in beauty all the courtesans there, and so admired was she
by the Corinthians that even now they claim her as a Corinthian.
The notable things in the city are partly the remains of antiquity
still to be seen there, partly works of art more recent, when Corinth
was at the height of all her glory. In the market-place, for most of
the temples are there, is Ephesian Artemis, and there are two wooden
statues of Dionysus gilt except the faces, which are painted with
red paint, one they call Lysian Dionysus, and the other Dionysus the
Reveller. The tradition about these statues I will record. Pentheus
they say, when he outraged Dionysus, among other acts of reckless
daring actually at last went to Mount Cithæron to spy the women, and
climbed up into a tree to see what they were doing: and when they
detected him, they forthwith dragged him down, and tore him limb from
limb. And afterwards, so they say at Corinth, the Pythian Priestess
told them to discover that tree and pay it divine honours. And that is
why these statues are made of that very wood. There is also a Temple
of Fortune: her statue is in a standing posture, in Parian marble. And
near it is a temple to all the gods. And near it is a conduit, and a
brazen Poseidon on it, and a dolphin under Poseidon’s feet passing the
water. And there is a brazen statue of Apollo called the Clarian, and
a statue of Aphrodite by Hermogenes of Cythera. And both the statues
of Hermes are of brass and in a standing posture, and one of them has
a shrine built for it. And there are three statues of Zeus in the open
air, one has no special title, the second is called Zeus of the Nether
World, and the third Zeus of Highest Heaven.
CHAPTER III.
And in the middle of the market-place is a statue of Athene in brass:
on the base are sculptured effigies of the Muses. And above the
market-place is a temple of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who was
Emperor of the Romans after Cæsar, the founder of modern Corinth.
And as you go from the market-place towards Lechæum there are
vestibules, on which are golden chariots, one with Phaethon in it (the
son of the Sun), and the other with the Sun himself in it. And at a
little distance from the vestibules on the right as you enter is a
brazen statue of Hercules. And next to it is the approach to the well
of Pirene. They say that Pirene became a well from a woman through the
tears she shed, bewailing the death of her son Cenchrias at the hands
of Artemis. And the well is beautified with white stone, and there are
cells like caves to match, from which the water trickles into that part
of the well which is in the open air, and it has a sweet taste, and
they say that Corinthian brass when hissing hot is dipped into this
water. There is also a statue of Apollo near Pirene, and some precincts
of the god. There is also a painting of Odysseus taking vengeance on
the suitors.
And as you go straight on for Lechæum, you will see a brazen Hermes
in a sitting posture, and by it a ram, for Hermes more than any of the
gods is thought to watch over and increase flocks, as indeed Homer
has represented him in the Iliad “The son of Phorbas rich in flocks
and herds, whom Hermes loved most of the Trojans, and increased his
substance.”[13] But the tradition about Hermes and the ram in the rites
of the Great Mother (though I know it) I purposely pass over. And next
to the statue of Hermes are Poseidon and Leucothea, and Palæmon on
the dolphin’s back. And there are several baths in various parts of
Corinth, some erected at the public expense, and others by the Emperor
Adrian. And the most famous of them is near the statue of Poseidon.
It was erected by Eurycles a Spartan, who beautified it with various
stones, amongst others by the stone they dig at Croceæ in Laconia.
On the left of the entrance is a statue of Poseidon, and next to him
one of Artemis hunting. And many conduits have been built in various
parts of the city, as there is abundance of water, as well as the water
which the Emperor Adrian brought from Stymphelus: the handsomest is the
conduit by the statue of Artemis, and on it is a figure of Bellerophon,
and the water flows by the hoof of Pegasus.
As you go from the market-place towards Sicyon, there is visible on
the right of the road a temple and brazen statue of Apollo, and at a
little distance a well called the well of Glauce: for she threw herself
into it, thinking the water would be an antidote against the poison of
Medea. Above this well is what is called the Odeum. And near it is the
tomb of the sons of Medea, whose names were Mermerus and Pheres, who
are said to have been stoned by the Corinthians because of the gifts
which they took Glauce. But because their death was violent and unjust,
the children of the Corinthians wasted away in consequence, until at
the oracular response of the god yearly sacrifices were ordained for
them, and a statue of Panic erected. This statue still remains to our
day, the figure of a woman represented as feeling the greatest terror.
But since the capture of Corinth by the Romans and the decay of the
old Corinthians, the sacrifices are no longer continued by the new
settlers, nor do their children continue to shear their hair, or wear
black raiment. And Medea when she went to Athens, lived with Ægeus, but
some time after (being detected plotting against Theseus) she had to
fly from Athens also, and going to the country which was then called
Aria, gave her name to its inhabitants, so that they were called Medes
from her. And the son whom she carried off with her when she fled to
the Arians was they say her son by Ægeus, and his name was Medus. But
Hellanicus calls him Polyxenus, and says Jason was his father. And
there are poems among the Greeks called Naupactian: in which Jason
is represented as having migrated from Iolcus to Corcyra after the
death of Pelias, and Mermerus (the elder of his sons) is said to have
been torn to pieces by a lioness, as he was hunting on the mainland
opposite: but about Pheres nothing is recorded. And Cinæthon the
Lacedæmonian, who also wrote Genealogical Poems, said that Jason had
by Medea a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis: but of any children more
he too has made no mention. But Eumœlus’ account is that the Sun gave
Asopia to Aloeus, and Ephyræa to Æetes: and Æetes went to Colchis, and
left the kingdom to Bunus the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and after
Bunus’ death, Epopeus reigned over the Ephyræans. And when in after
days Corinthus the son of Marathon died childless, the Corinthians
sent for Medea from Iolcus to hand over the kingdom to her: and it was
through her that Jason became king of Corinth, and Medea had children,
by Jason, but whenever each was born she took it to the temple of
Hera and hid it there, for she thought that by hiding them they would
be immortal: but eventually she learned that she was wrong in this
expectation, and, being at the same time detected by Jason, he would
not forgive her though she pleaded hard for forgiveness, but sailed
away to Iolcus. Eventually Medea herself went away too, and handed over
the kingdom to Sisyphus. This is the account I have read.
CHAPTER IV.
And not far from the tomb of Mermerus and Pheres is the temple of
Athene the _Bridler_: who they say helped Bellerophon more than any of
the gods in various ways, and gave him Pegasus, after having broken
it in and bridled it herself. Her statue is of wood, but the head and
hands and toes are of white stone. That Bellerophon was not absolute
king at Corinth, but limited in his power by Prœtus and the Argives I
am positive, as every one will be who has read Homer carefully. And
when Bellerophon migrated into Lycia, the Corinthians seem just the
same to have obeyed those who were in power at Argos or Mycenæ. And
they had no separate commander-in-chief of their own in the expedition
against Troy, but took part in the expedition only as a contingent with
the men of Mycenæ; and Agamemnon’s other troops. And Sisyphus had as
sons not only Glaucus the father of Bellerophon, but also Ornytion,
and Thersander, and Almus. And Phocus was the son of Ornytion, though
nominally the son of Poseidon. And he colonized Tithorea in what is
now called Phocis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion, remained
at Corinth. And Demophon was the son of Thoas, Propodas the son of
Demophon, Doridas and Hyanthidas the sons of Propodas. During the joint
reign of Doridas and Hyanthidas the Dorians led an expedition against
Corinth, under the command of Aletes the son of Hippotas, (the son
of Phylas, the son of Antiochus, the son of Hercules). Doridas and
Hyanthidas handed over the kingdom to Aletes, and were permitted to
remain at Corinth, but the Corinthian people were expelled, after being
beaten in battle by the Dorians. And Aletes himself and his descendants
reigned for five generations, down to Bacchis the son of Prumnis,
and his descendants the Bacchidæ reigned five more generations, down
to Telestes the son of Aristodemus. And Telestes was slain by Arieus
and Perantas out of hatred, and there were no longer any kings, but
Presidents elected annually from the Bacchidæ, till Cypselus the son
of Eetion drove out the Bacchidæ, and made himself king. He was the
descendant of Melas the son of Antasus. And when Melas joined the
Dorian expedition against Corinth from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, Aletes
at first according to the oracle told him to go to other Greeks, but
afterwards disregarded the oracle and took him as associate. Such is
the result of my researches about the kings of the Corinthians.
Now the temple of Athene the _Bridler_ is near the theatre, and not
far off is a wooden statue of a naked Hercules, which they say is the
work of Dædalus. All the works of Dædalus are somewhat odd to look at,
but there is a wonderful inspiration about them. And above the theatre
is a temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in the Roman diction, in Greek
it would be Zeus Coryphæus. And not far from this theatre is an old
gymnasium, and a well called Lerna. And there are pillars round it, and
seats to refresh those who come in in summertime. In this gymnasium
there are shrines of the gods, one of Zeus, one of Æsculapius: and
statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea (_Health_) in white stone, and one of
Zeus in brass. As you ascend to Acro-Corinthus, (it is the top of the
hill above the city, Briareus gave it to the Sun, after litigation, and
the Sun, as the Corinthians say, let Aphrodite have it), there are two
temples of Isis, one they call the Pelagian and the other the Egyptian,
and two of Serapis, one under the name of Canobus. And next them are
altars to the Sun, and a temple of Necessity and Force, into which it
is not customary to enter. Above this is a temple of the Mother of
the Gods, and a stone pillar and seat. The temples of the Fates and
Demeter and Proserpine have statues rather dim with age. Here too is a
temple of Bunæan Hera, which Bunus the son of Hermes erected. Hence the
goddess got the title Bunæan.
CHAPTER V.
On the ascent to Acro-Corinthus there is also a temple of Aphrodite:
and statues of her in full armour, and the Sun, and Cupid with a bow.
And the fountain behind the temple is they say the gift of Asopus to
Sisyphus: for he, though he knew that Zeus had carried off Ægina the
daughter of Asopus, refused to tell him unless he would give him this
water on Acro-Corinthus. And Asopus giving this water he vouchsafed
the required information, and for his information pays the penalty
in Hades, if indeed this is credible. But I have heard people say
that this fountain is Pirene, and that the water in the city flows
down from it. This river Asopus has its rise in the neighbourhood of
Phlius, flows through the Sicyonian district, and has its outlet in the
Corinthian Gulf. And the people of Phlius say that Asopus’ daughters
were Corcyra and Ægina and Thebe: and that from Corcyra and Ægina the
islands Scheria and Œnone got their present names, and that Thebe gave
its name to Thebes the city of Cadmus. But the Thebans do not admit
this, for they say that Thebe was the daughter of the Bœotian Asopus,
and not the Asopus that has its rise at Phlius. The Phliasians and
Sicyonians say further about this river that it is foreign and not
indigenous, for Mæander they say flowing down from Celænæ through
Phrygia and Caria, and falling into the sea at Miletus, travelled to
the Peloponnese and made the river Asopus. And I remember to have
heard something of the same kind from the people of Delos of the
river Inopus, which they say came to them from the Nile. And moreover
there is a tradition that the same Nile is the river Euphrates, which
was lost in a lake and re-emerged as the Nile in the remote part of
Ethiopia. This is what I heard about the Asopus. As you turn towards
the mountains from Acro-Corinthus is the Teneatic gate, and a temple
of Ilithyia. Now Tenea is about 60 stades from Corinth. And the people
of Tenea say that they are Trojans, and were carried away captive by
the Greeks from Tenedos, and located here by Agamemnon: and accordingly
Apollo is the god they hold in highest honour.
And as you go from Corinth along the coast in the direction of Sicyon
there is a temple, which was burnt down, not far from the city on the
left hand of the way. There have been several wars in the neighbourhood
of Corinth, and fire has consumed, as one would indeed expect, both
houses and temples outside the city walls: this was they say a temple
of Apollo, and burnt down by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles. I have also
heard another account, that the Corinthians erected this temple to
Olympian Zeus, and that it was some accidental fire that burnt it down.
And the people of Sicyon, who are near neighbours to the Corinthians,
say of their region that Ægialeus the Autochthon first dwelt there, and
that what is now called Ægialus in the Peloponnese was called after him
its king, and that he was founder of Ægialea a city in the plain: and
that the site of the temple of Apollo was the citadel. And they say
that the son of Ægialeus was Europs, and the son of Europs Telchis,
and the son of Telchis Apis. Now this Apis had grown to such magnitude
before Pelops came to Olympia, that all the land inside the Isthmus
was called after him Apian. And the son of Apis was Thelxion, and the
son of Thelxion was Ægyrus, and his son was Thurimachus, and the son
of Thurimachus was Leucippus, and Leucippus had no male children, and
only one daughter Chalcinia, who they say bore a child to Poseidon, who
was called Peratus, and was brought up by Leucippus, and on his death
succeeded to the kingdom as his heir. And the history of Plemnæus the
son of Peratus seems to me most marvellous. All his children died that
his wife bare to him directly they were born and had uttered the first
cry, till Demeter took compassion on him, and coming to Ægialea as a
stranger to Plemnæus reared his child Orthopolis. And Orthopolis had a
daughter Chrysorthe: she had a child, supposed to be Apollo’s, called
Coronus. And Coronus had Corax and a younger son Lamedon.
CHAPTER VI.
And Corax dying childless, about this time Epopeus came from Thessaly
and obtained the kingdom. In his reign first (they say) did a hostile
army ever come into their country, as they had heretofore in all
time lived in peace. And the origin of the war was this. Antiope
the daughter of Nycteus had a great reputation for beauty among the
Greeks, and there was a rumour about her that she was the daughter of
Asopus, the river that forms the boundary between Thebes and Platæa,
and not the daughter of Nycteus. I know not whether Epopeus asked her
in marriage, or carried her off with more audacious designs from the
beginning. But the Thebans came with an army, and Nycteus was wounded,
and Epopeus too (though he won the victory). Nycteus though very bad
they took back to Thebes, and, when he was on the point of death, he
gave orders that Lycus his brother should be ruler of the Thebans for
the present: for Nycteus himself was Regent for Labdacus, (the son
of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus), who was still a child, and now he
left the Regency to Lycus. He also begged Lycus to go with a larger
force to Ægialea and punish Epopeus, and even to illtreat Antiope if
he could get hold of her. And Epopeus at first offered sacrifices for
his victory and built a temple to Athene, and when it was finished
prayed that the goddess would shew by some sign if it was to her mind,
and after the prayer they say oil trickled in front of the temple.
But afterwards Epopeus chanced to die of his wound which had been
originally neglected, so Lycus had no longer any need of war, for
Lamedon (the son of Coronus) the king after Epopeus gave Antiope up.
And she, as she was being conducted to Thebes, gave birth to a child
on the road near Eleutheræ. And it is in reference to this event that
Asius the son of Amphiptolemus has written the lines, “Antiope, the
daughter of the deep-eddying river Asopus, bare Zethus and divine
Amphion, being pregnant both by Zeus, and Epopeus shepherd of his
people.”
But Homer[14] has given them a finer pedigree, and says that they
first built Thebes, distinguishing as it seems to me the lower city
from the city built by Cadmus. And King Lamedon married a wife from
Athens, Pheno the daughter of Clytius: and afterwards, when there was
war between him and Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achæus, he
invited Sicyon from Attica to help him, and gave him his daughter
Zeuxippe in marriage, and when he became king the region got called
after him Sicyonia, and the town Sicyon instead of Ægialea. And the
Sicyonians say that Sicyon was not the son of Marathon the son of
Epopeus, but the son of Metion the son of Erechtheus. And Asius agrees
with them. But Hesiod has represented Sicyon as the son of Erechtheus,
and Ibycus says he was the son of Pelops. However Sicyon had a daughter
Chthonophyle, who is said to have had a son Polybus by Hermes: and
afterwards Phlias the son of Dionysus married her, and she had a son
Androdamas. And Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus, the son
of Bias, the king of the Argives: and when Adrastus fled from Argos he
went to Polybus at Sicyon, and after Polybus’ death he obtained the
chief power at Sicyon. But when Adrastus was restored to Argos, then
Ianiscus the descendant of Clytius, the father in law of Lamedon, came
from Attica and became king, and on his death Phæstus, who was reputed
to be one of the sons of Hercules. And Phæstus having migrated to
Crete in accordance with an oracle, Zeuxippus, the son of Apollo and
the nymph Syllis, is said to have become king. And after the death of
Zeuxippus Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and its king Hippolytus,
the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phæstus. And Hippolytus fearing the
invading army agreed to be subject to Agamemnon and Mycenæ. And this
Hippolytus had a son Lacestades. And Phalces, the son of Temenus,
having seized Sicyon by night in conjunction with the Dorians, did no
harm to Lacestades (as being himself also a descendant of Hercules),
but shared the royal power with him.
CHAPTER VII.
And the Sicyonians became Dorians after this, and a part of Argolis.
And their city, built by Ægialeus in the plain, Demetrius the son of
Antigonus razed to the ground, and built the present city on the site
of what was in former times the citadel. And the reason of the low
fortunes of the Sicyonians one could not find out by investigation, but
one would have to be content with what is said by Homer about Zeus,[15]
“Who hath brought down the pride of many cities.”
And when they were in a far from favourable condition an earthquake
came on them, and made the city almost bare of men, and robbed them of
many works of art. This earthquake also injured the cities of Caria and
Lycia, and the island of Rhodes suffered especially, insomuch that the
oracle of the Sibyl about Rhodes was fulfilled.
And as you go from Corinth towards Sicyon you come to the tomb of
Messenian Lycus, whoever this Lycus was. For I find no Messenian Lycus
that practised in the pentathlum, or carried off the prize at Olympia.
This tomb is a mound of earth, and the Sicyonians mostly bury in the
following manner. The body they deposit in the ground, and over it a
stone slab with pillars on the top, on which are figures, generally
like the eagles in the temples. But they write no epitaph, but simply
the name of the deceased, not even his parentage, and bid the dead
farewell. And next to the tomb of Lycus, when you have crossed over the
Asopus, is on the right hand the temple of Olympian Zeus, and a little
further on, on the left side of the road, is the tomb of Eupolis the
Athenian Comedian. Further on in the direction of the city is the tomb
of Xenodice, who died in childbirth: it is unlike the tombs in this
part of the country, and has a painting, which is very fine. A little
further is the tomb of the Sicyonians, who died at Pellene, and Dyme in
Achaia, and at Megalopolis and Sellasia, whose exploits I shall relate
fully later on. And they have near the gate a well in a cave, which
oozes through the roof of the cave, so it is called the Dripping Well.
And in the present citadel there is a temple to Fortune Dwelling on
the Heights, and next it one to the Dioscuri. Both these and the statue
of Fortune are of wood. And in the theatre built under the citadel the
person represented on the stage-curtain is, they say, Aratus the son
of Clinias. And next to the theatre is a temple of Dionysus: the god
is fashioned in gold and ivory, and near him some Bacchantes in white
stone. These women they say are sacred to Dionysus, and full of Bacchic
fury. And the Sicyonians have other statues in a secret place, which
one night in every year they bring to the temple of Dionysus from the
place called Ornament Room, and they bring them with lighted torches
and national Hymns. The leader of the procession is called Baccheus,
this functionary was appointed by Androdamas the son of Phlias, and
the next in the procession is called Lysius, whom the Theban Phanes
brought from Thebes at the bidding of the Pythian Priestess. And Phanes
came to Sicyon, when Aristomachus the son of Cleodæus, mistaking the
oracle, lost thereby his return to the Peloponnese. And as you go from
the temple of Dionysus to the market-place there is a shrine of Artemis
Limnæa on the right hand. And that the roof has fallen in is clear to
the spectator. But as to the statue of the goddess--for there is none
now--the people of Sicyon do not say whether it was carried away to
some other place, or how it was destroyed (if destroyed).
And as you enter the market-place is a temple of Persuasion, also
without a statue. Persuasion is worshipped by them on the following
ground. Apollo and Artemis after slaying Pytho went to Ægialea to
purify themselves. But being seized with some panic fear in the place
which they now call Fear, they turned aside to Crete to Carmanor, and
a pestilence came upon the people at Ægialea, and they were ordered by
the seers to propitiate Apollo and Artemis. And they sent 7 lads and
7 maidens to the river Sythas to supplicate Apollo and Artemis, and
persuaded by them these deities went to what was then the citadel, and
the place they first reached was the temple of Persuasion. A Pageant
of all this goes on to this day. On the Festival of Apollo the lads
go to the river Sythas, and, after bringing Apollo and Artemis to the
temple of Persuasion, take them back again to the temple of Apollo. And
that temple is in the middle of the present market-place, and they say
it was originally built by Prœtus, because his daughters got cured of
madness here. They say also that Meleager hung up in this temple the
spear with which he killed the Calydonian boar: here too (they say) are
deposited the flutes of Marsyas: for after his awful death the river
Marsyas carried them to Mæander, and they turned up again at the Asopus
and were landed at Sicyon, and given to Apollo by a shepherd who found
them. Of these votive offerings there is no vestige: for they were
burnt with the temple. And the temple and statue were re-erected in my
time by Pythocles.
CHAPTER VIII.
The sacred enclosure near the temple of Persuasion, consecrated to
the Roman emperors, was formerly the house of Cleon the king. For
Clisthenes the son of Aristonymus, the son of Myro, was king of the
Sicyonians in the lower part of the city, but Cleon in what is now the
city (_i.e._ the upper part). In front of this house is a hero-chapel
to Aratus, who did the greatest exploits of all the Greeks in his
time: and this is what he did. After the death of Cleon there came
on those in authority such unbridled lust for power, that Euthydemus
and Timoclidas usurped the chief power. These the people afterwards
drove out, and put in their place Clinias the father of Aratus: and
not many years afterwards Abantidas got the chief power, (after the
death of Clinias), and either exiled Aratus, or Aratus retired of his
own free will. However the men of the country killed Abantidas, and
Pascas his father succeeded him, and Nicocles killed him, and reigned
in his room. Against him came Aratus with some Sicyonian refugees and
mercenaries from Argos, and slipping by some of the garrison in the
darkness (for he made his attack by night), and forcing others back,
got inside the walls: and (for by now it was day) leading his men to
the tyrant’s house, he made a fierce attack on it. And he took it by
storm with no great difficulty, and Nicocles slipt out at a back door
and fled. And Aratus granted the Sicyonians isonomy, reconciling them
to the refugees, and giving back to the refugees all their houses and
goods that had been sold, but not without full compensation to former
purchasers. And because all the Greeks were greatly afraid of the
Macedonians and Antigonus (the Regent for Philip the son of Demetrius),
he forced the Sicyonians, though they were Dorians, into the Achæan
league. And forthwith he was chosen commander in chief by the Achæans,
and he led them against the Locrians that live at Amphissa, and into
the territory of the hostile Ætolians, and ravaged it. And although
Antigonus held Corinth with a Macedonian garrison, he dismayed them by
the suddenness of his attack, and in a battle defeated and killed many
of them, and among others Persæus the head of the garrison, who had
been a disciple of Zeno (the son of Mnaseas) in philosophy. And when
Aratus had set Corinth free, then the Epidaurians and the Trœzenians
who occupy the coast of Argolis, and the Megarians beyond the Isthmus,
joined the Achæan league, and Ptolemy also formed an alliance with
them. But the Lacedæmonians and Agis (the son of Eudamidas) their king
were beforehand with them, and took Pellene by a _coup de main_, but
when Aratus and his army came up they were beaten in the engagement,
and evacuated Pellene, and returned home again on certain conditions.
And Aratus, as things had prospered so well in the Peloponnese, thought
it monstrous that the Piræus and Munychia, and moreover Salamis and
Sunium, should be allowed to continue in Macedonian hands, and, as he
did not expect to be able to take them by storm, he persuaded Diogenes,
who was Governor of these Forts, to surrender them for 150 talents, and
of this money he himself contributed one sixth part for the Athenians.
He also persuaded Aristomachus, who was king at Argos, to give a
democratical form of government to the Argives, and to join the Achæan
league. And he took Mantinea from the Lacedæmonians. But indeed all
things do not answer according to a man’s wish, since even Aratus was
obliged eventually to become the ally of the Macedonians and Antigonus.
This is how it happened.
CHAPTER IX.
Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, and grandson of Cleonymus, when he
succeeded to the kingdom in Sparta, imitated Pausanias in desiring to
be an autocrat, and not to obey the established laws. And as he was
more impetuous than Pausanias, and brave as a lion, he quickly moulded
everything to his will by his sagacity and boldness, and took off by
poison Eurydamidas, the king of the other royal branch, while quite
a lad, and vested the power of the Ephors in his brother Epiclidas,
and having put down the power of the Senate, he established instead
of them The Great Council of Patronomi (as they were called). And
being very ambitious of greater fortunes, and even the supremacy over
Greece, he attacked the Achæans first, hoping to have them as allies if
he conquered them, and not wishing to give them the chance to hinder
his actions. And he attacked them and beat them at Dyme above Patræ,
Aratus being in this action the Achæan general, and this defeat it was
that compelled Aratus to invite the aid of Antigonus, being afraid
for the Achæans, and even for the safety of Sicyon. And Cleomenes
having violated his conditions with Antigonus, (having openly acted
against the terms of the treaty in other respects, and especially by
turning out the inhabitants of Megalopolis,) Antigonus crossed into
the Peloponnese, and in concert with the Achæans attacked Cleomenes at
Sellasia. And the Achæans were victorious, and Sellasia was enslaved,
and Lacedæmon captured. Antigonus and the Achæans then gave back to
the Lacedæmonians their old Polity: and of Leonidas’s sons, Epiclidas
was killed in battle, and Cleomenes, (who fled to Egypt and received
the greatest honours from Ptolemy), was cast into prison subsequently
for inciting the Egyptians to revolt. And he escaped out of prison,
and caused some trouble at Alexandria: but at last he was taken and
committed suicide. And the Lacedæmonians, glad to get rid of Cleomenes,
chose to submit to kingly government no longer, but from thenceforth
until now had the republican form of government. And Antigonus
continued friendly to Aratus, as he had done him many good and splendid
services. But when Philip took the government into his own hands,
because Aratus did not praise his frequent exhibition of temper to his
subjects, and sometimes even checked him in his outbursts, he murdered
him, giving him poison when he didn’t expect it. And from Ægium, for
here fate took him, they took his body to Sicyon and buried him, and
the hero-chapel Arateum is still called after him. And Philip acted in
just the same way to Euryclides and Micon, who were Athenians: for them
too, (being orators and not unpersuasive with the people), he took off
by poison. But poison was it seems destined to bring disaster to Philip
himself: for his son Demetrius was poisoned by Perseus, his youngest
brother, and so caused his father’s death by sorrow. And I have gone
out of my way to give this account, remembering the divine saying of
Hesiod, that he who plots mischief for another brings it first on his
own pate.[16]
And next to the hero-chapel of Aratus is an altar to Poseidon
Isthmius, and rude statues of Milichian Zeus and Tutelary Artemis.
Milichian Zeus is in the shape of Pyramid, Artemis in that of a Pillar.
Here too has been built a Council Chamber, and a Porch called the
Clisthenic from its builder Clisthenes, who built it out of spoil which
he took in the war against Cirrha, as an ally of the Amphictyones.
And in the part of the market-place which is in the open air there is
a Zeus in brass, the work of Lysippus, and near it a golden Artemis.
And next is the temple of Lycian (_Wolf-god_) Apollo, in a very
dilapidated condition. When wolves used to devour the flocks so that
there was no profit in keeping sheep, Apollo pointed out a certain
place where some dry wood lay, and ordered the bark of this wood and
flesh to be laid together before the wolves. And this bark killed the
wolves immediately they tasted it. This wood is kept stored up in the
temple of the Wolf-god: but what tree it is of none of the Sicyonian
antiquaries know. And next are some brazen statues, said to be the
daughters of Prœtus, but the inscription has other women’s names. There
is also a Hercules in brass, by Sicyonian Lysippus. And near it is a
statue of Hermes of the Market.
CHAPTER X.
Not far from the market-place in the gymnasium is a Hercules in stone,
the work of Scopas. There is also elsewhere a temple of Hercules: the
precincts of which they call Pædize, and the temple is in the middle of
the precincts, and in it is an old wooden statue of Hercules by Laphaes
of Phlius. And the sacrifices they are wont to conduct as follows.
They say that Phæstus, when he went to Sicyon, found that the people
there offered victims to Hercules as a hero, whereas he thought they
ought to sacrifice to him as to a god. And now the Sicyonians sacrifice
lambs and burn their thighs on the altar, and part of the meat they
eat and part they offer as to a hero. And the first of the days of the
Feast which they keep to Hercules they call _Names_, and the second
_Hercules’ Day_.
A road leads from here to the temple of Æsculapius. In the precincts
there is on the left hand a double building: in the outer room is a
statue of _Sleep_, and there is nothing of it remaining but the head.
And the inner room is dedicated to Carnean Apollo, and none but the
priests may enter it. In the Porch is the huge bone of a sea-monster,
and next it the statue of _Dream_, and _Sleep_, called _the Bountiful_,
lulling a lion to rest. And as you go up to the temple of Æsculapius,
on one side is a statue of Pan seated, on the other one of Artemis
erect. At the entrance is the god himself (Æsculapius) beardless, in
gold and ivory, the work of Calamis: he has his sceptre in one hand,
and in the other the fruit of the pine-tree. And they say that the god
was brought to them from Epidaurus by a pair of mules, and that he was
like a dragon, and that he was brought by Nicagora a native of Sicyon,
the mother of Agasicles, and the wife of Echetimus. There are also some
small statues fastened to the ceiling. The woman seated on the dragon
is they say Aristodama the mother of Aratus, and they consider Aratus
the son of Æsculapius. Such are the notable things to be seen in these
precincts.
And there are other precincts there sacred to Aphrodite: and in them
first is the statue of Antiope. For they say her sons were born at
Sicyon, and this is the connection with Antiope. Next is the temple
of Aphrodite. None may enter into it but a maiden Sacristan, who must
never marry, and another maiden who performs the annual rites. This
maiden they call bath-carrier. All others alike must only look at the
goddess from the porch and worship her there. Her figure seated is the
design of Canachus a native of Sicyon, (who also designed the Didymæan
Apollo for the Milesians, and the Ismenian Apollo for the Thebans). It
is in gold and ivory. The goddess wears on her head a cap, and in one
hand holds a poppy, in the other an apple. And they offer in sacrifice
to her the thighs of any victims but wild boars, all other parts they
burn with juniper wood, and when they burn the thighs they burn up
together with them the leaves of pæderos; which is a plant that grows
in the precincts of the goddess’ temple in the open air, and grows in
no other land, nor in any other part of Sicyonia. And its leaves are
smaller than the leaves of the beech, but larger than those of the holm
oak, and their shape is that of the oak-leaf, partly black, partly
white like the silvery white of the poplar tree.
And as you go hence to the gymnasium, on the right is the temple of
Pheræan Artemis: the wooden statue of the goddess was they say brought
from Pheræ. Clinias built this gymnasium, and they educate boys there
still. There is an Artemis also in white stone, carved only down to the
waist, and a Hercules in his lower parts like the square Hermæ.
CHAPTER XI.
And as you turn from thence to the gate called The Holy Gate, not far
from the gate is a shrine of Athene, which Epopeus formerly erected,
in size and beauty surpassing those of its time. But time has obscured
its fame. The god struck it with lightning: and now there remains only
the altar, for the lightning did not light on it. And in front of
the altar is the tomb of Epopeus, and near his tomb are the Gods the
Averters of Evil, to whom they sacrifice (as the Greeks generally) to
avert evil. And they say that Epopeus built the neighbouring temple to
Artemis and Apollo, and Adrastus the one next to Hera: but no statues
remain in either temple. Adrastus also built behind the temple of
Hera two altars, one to Pan, and one to the Sun God in white stone.
And as you descend to the plain is a temple of Demeter, and they say
Plemnæus built it in gratitude to the goddess for rearing his son. And
at a little distance from the temple of Hera, which Adrastus built, is
the temple of Carnean Apollo. There are only the pillars of it left,
you will find neither walls nor roof nor anything else there--nor in
the temple of Hera the _Guide_: which was built by Phalces the son
of Temenus, who said that Hera was his guide on the way to Sicyon.
And as you go from Sicyon on the straight road to Phlius, about ten
stades, and then turn off to the left, is the grove called Pyræa, and
in it a temple of Demeter Prostasia, and Proserpine. Here the men have
a festival to themselves, and give up what is called the _Nymphon_
to the women to celebrate their festival in, and there are statues
of Dionysus and Demeter and Proserpine (showing only their faces) in
the _Nymphon_. And the road to Titane is sixty stades, and because of
its narrowness it is impassable by a carriage and pair: and 20 stades
further you cross the Asopus, and see on the left a grove of holm-oaks,
and a temple of the Goddesses whom the Athenians call the Venerable,
but the Sicyonians the Eumenides. And every year they keep a feast to
them on one day, sacrificing ewes big with young, and they are wont
to pour libations of honey and milk, and to use flowers as chaplets.
They go through the same rites on the altar of the Fates in the open
air, in the grove. And as you turn back again to the road, and cross
the Asopus again, you come to a mountain-top, where the natives say
Titan first dwelt, who was the brother of the Sun, and gave the name
Titane to this place. This Titan seems to me to have been wonderfully
clever in watching the seasons of the year, as when the Sun fructified
and ripened seeds and fruit, and this was why he was considered the
Sun’s brother. And afterwards Alexanor, the son of Machaon, the son of
Æsculapius, came to Sicyon, and built a temple of Æsculapius at Titane.
A few people dwell there, but for the most part only the suppliants of
the god, and there are within the precincts some old cypress trees. But
it is not possible to learn of what wood or metal Æsculapius’ statue is
made, nor do they know who made it, though some say Alexanor himself.
The only parts of the statue that are visible are the face and fingers
and toes, for a white woollen tunic and cloak are thrown round it. And
there is a statue of Hygiea somewhat similar. You can not see it either
easily, so hidden is it by the hair of the women which they shear to
the goddess, and by the folds of a Babylonish garment. And whichever of
these any one wishes to propitiate, he is instructed to worship Hygiea.
Alexanor and Euamerion have also statues, to the former they offer
sacrifices after sunset as to a hero, but to the latter they sacrifice
as to a god. And (if my conjecture is correct) this Euamerion is called
Telesphorus (according to some oracle) by the people of Pergamum, but
by the people of Epidaurus Acesis. There is also a wooden statue of
Coronis, but not anywhere in the temple: but when bull or lamb or pig
are sacrificed to the goddess, then they take Coronis to the temple of
Athene and honour her there. Nor are they contented merely with cutting
off the thighs of the victims, but they burn all the victims whole
on the ground except birds, and these they burn on the altar. On the
gable ends are figures of Hercules, and several Victories. And in the
porch are statues of Dionysus and Hecate and Aphrodite and The Mother
of the Gods and Fortune: these are all in wood, and one of Gortynian
Æsculapius in stone. And people are afraid to approach the sacred
dragons: but if their food is put at the entrance they give no further
trouble. There is also within the precincts a statue of Granianus, a
native of Sicyon, in brass. He won two victories at Olympia in the
pentathlum, and a third in the stadium, and two in the double course,
which he ran both in armour and out of armour.
CHAPTER XII.
And at Titane there is also a temple of Athene, into which they carry
the statue of Coronis. And in it is an old wooden statue of Athene.
This too is said to have been struck by lightning. As you descend from
the hill, for the temple is built on the hill, is the altar of the
winds, on which the priest sacrifices to them one night in every year.
And he performs mysterious rites at four pits, to tame their violence,
chanting, so they say, the incantations of Medea.
And as you go from Titane to Sicyon, and descend towards the sea,
there is on the left a temple of Hera, with neither statue nor roof.
They say Prœtus the son of Abas built it. And as you go down to what
is called the harbour of the Sicyonians, and turn to Aristonautæ, the
port of the people of Pellene, there is, a little above the road, on
the left a temple of Poseidon. And as you go on along the high road
you come to the river Helisson, and next the river Sythas, both rivers
flowing into the sea.
Next to Sicyonia is Phliasia. Its chief town Phlius is 40 stades at
most distant from Titane, and the road to it from Sicyon is straight.
That the Phliasians have no connection with the Arcadians is plain
from the catalogue of the Arcadians in Homer’s Iliad, for they are
not included among them. And that they were Argives originally, and
became Dorians after the return of the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese,
will appear in the course of my narrative. As I know there are many
different traditions about among the Phliasians, I shall give those
which are most generally accepted among them. The first person who
lived in this land was they say Aras an Autochthon, and he built a
city on that hill which is still in our time called the Arantine hill,
(not very far from another hill, on which the Phliasians have their
citadel and a temple of Hebe.) Here he built his city, and from him
both land and city got called of old Arantia. It was in his reign that
Asopus (said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon) found the water of
the river which they still call Asopus from the name of the person who
found it.[17] And the sepulchre of Aras is in a place called Celeæ,
where they say also Dysaules, an Eleusinian, is buried. And Aras had a
son Aoris and a daughter Aræthyrea, who the Phliasians say were cunning
hunters and brave in war. And, Aræthyrea dying first, Aoris changed the
name of the city into Aræthyrea. Homer has made mention of it (when
recording those who went with Agamemnon to Ilium) in the line
“They lived at Orneæ and lovely Aræthyrea.”[18]
And I think the tombs of the sons of Aras are on the Arantine hill. And
at their tombs are some remarkable pillars, and before the rites which
they celebrate to Ceres they look at these tombs, and call Aras and his
sons to the libations. As to Phlias, the third who gave his name to
the land, I cannot at all accept the Argive tradition that he was the
son of Cisus the son of Temenus, for I know that he was called the son
of Dionysus, and was said to have been one of those who sailed in the
Argo. And the lines of the Rhodian poet bear me out, “Phlias also came
with the men of Aræthyrea, where he dwelt, wealthy through his sire
Dionysus, near the springs of Asopus.” And Aræthyrea was the mother of
Phlias and not Chthonophyle, for Chthonophyle was his wife and he had
Andromedas by her.
CHAPTER XIII.
By the return of the Heraclidæ all the Peloponnese was disturbed
except Arcadia, for many of the cities had to take Dorian settlers,
and frequent changes of inhabitants took place. The following were
the changes at Phlius. Rhegnidas a Dorian (the son of Phalces the son
of Temenus) marched against it from Argos and Sicyon. And some of the
Phliasians were content with his demands, that they should remain in
their own land, that he should be their king, and that the Dorians and
he should have lands assigned to them. But Hippasus and his party stood
out for a vigorous defence, and not for yielding up to the Dorians
their numerous advantages without a fight. But as the people preferred
the opposite view, Hippasus and those who agreed with him fled to
Samos. And the great grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, surnamed
the Wise: who was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphron, the son of
Hippasus. This is the account the Phliasians give of their own history,
and in most particulars the Sicyonians bear them out.
The most notable public sights are as follows. There is in the
citadel at Phlius a cypress grove, and a temple hoary from old
antiquity. The deity to whom the temple belongs is said by the most
ancient of the Phliasians to have been Ganymeda, but by later ones
Hebe: of whom Homer has made mention in the single combat between
Menelaus and Paris, saying that she was the cupbearer of the gods, and
again in the descent of Odysseus to Hades he has said that she was
the wife of Hercules. But Olen in his Hymn to Hera says that she was
reared by the Seasons, and was mother of Ares and Hebe. And among the
Phliasians this goddess has various honours and especially in regard to
slaves; for they give them entire immunity if they come as suppliants
here, and when prisoners are loosed of their fetters they hang them up
on the trees in the grove. And they keep a yearly feast which they
call _Ivy-cuttings_. But they have no statue in any secret crypt, nor
do they display one openly: and they have a sacred reason for acting
so, for on the left as you go out there is a temple of Hera with a
statue in Parian marble. And in the citadel there are some precincts
sacred to Demeter, and in them a temple and statue of Demeter and
Persephone, and also a brazen statue of Artemis, which seemed to me
ancient. And as you go down from the citadel there is on the right
a temple and beardless statue of Æsculapius. Under this temple is a
theatre. And not far from it is a temple of Demeter, and some old
statues of the goddess in a sitting posture.
And in the market-place there is a brazen she-goat, mostly gilt.
It got honours among the Phliasians for the following reason. The
constellation which they call the She-Goat does continuous harm to
vines at its rise. And that no serious detriment might result from it,
they paid various honours to this brazen goat, and decked its statue
with gold. Here too is a monument of Aristias the son of Pratinas. The
Satyrs carved by Aristias and Pratinas are reckoned the best carving
next to that of Æschylus. In the back part of the market-place is a
house called by the Phliasians the seer’s house. Into it Amphiaraus
went (so they say) and lay all night in sleep before giving his
oracular responses: and according to their account he for some time
lived there privately and not as a seer. And since his time the
building has been shut up entirely. And not far off is what is called
_Omphalus_, the centre of all the Peloponnese, if indeed their account
is correct. Next you come to an ancient temple of Dionysus, and another
of Apollo, and another of Isis. The statue of Dionysus may be seen by
anybody, as also that of Apollo: but that of Isis may only be seen
by the priests. The following is also a tradition of the Phliasians,
that Hercules, when he returned safe from Libya with the apples of the
Hesperides, went to Phlius for some reason or other, and when he was
living there was visited by Œneus, who was a connexion by marriage.
On his arrival from Ætolia either he feasted Hercules, or Hercules
feasted him. However this may be, Hercules struck the lad Cyathus, the
cupbearer of Œneus, on the head with one of his fingers, not being
pleased with the drink he offered him: and as this lad died immediately
from the blow, the Phliasians erected a chapel to his memory. It was
built near the temple of Apollo, and has a stone statue of Cyathus in
the act of handing the cup to Hercules.
CHAPTER XIV.
Now Celeæ is about five stades from Phlius, and they sacrifice to
Demeter there every fourth year and not annually. Nor is the presiding
priest appointed for life, but a different one is chosen on each
occasion, who may marry if he chooses. In this respect they differ from
the Eleusinian mysteries, though generally speaking, as the Phliasians
themselves admit, their mysteries are an imitation of those. They
say that Dysaules the brother of Celeus came to their country and
established these rites, when he was driven from Eleusis by Ion the son
of Xuthus, who had been chosen commander in chief by the Athenians in
the war against the people of Eleusis. This statement of the Phliasians
I cannot assent to, that an Eleusinian should have been conquered in
battle and gone into exile, when before the war was fought out the
matter was submitted to arbitration, and Eumolpus remained at Eleusis.
But it is quite possible that Dysaules may have gone to Celeæ for some
other reason, and not that which the Phliasians allege. Nor indeed
had he, as it seems to me, any other relation with the Eleusinian
chiefs than as brother of Celeus, for else Homer would not have passed
him over in his Hymn to Demeter: where in his list of those who were
taught the mysteries by the goddess he ignores Dysaules. These are
his lines. “She shewed Triptolemus, and Diocles tamer of horses, and
powerful Eumolpus, and Celeus leader of the people, the due performance
of her rights and mysteries.”[19] However, according to the Phliasian
tradition, this Dysaules established the mysteries here, and also gave
the name Celeæ to the place. There is also here as I have said the
tomb of Dysaules, but subsequent to the date of the tomb of Aras: for
according to the Phliasian account Dysaules came after the days when
Aras was king. For they say Aras was a contemporary of Prometheus the
son of Iapetus, and lived three generations earlier than Pelasgus the
son of Arcas, and those who were called the Autochthons at Athens. And
they say the chariot of Pelops is attached to the roof of the temple
called the Anactorum. Such are the most important traditions of the
Phliasians.
CHAPTER XV.
On the road from Corinth to Argos you come to the small town of Cleonæ.
Some say Cleone was the daughter of Pelops, others that she was one of
the daughters of Asopus, the river that flows by Sicyon: however the
town got its name from her. There is a temple of Athene there, and a
statue of the goddess by Scyllis and Dipœnus, pupils of Dædalus. But
some say that Dædalus took a wife from Gortyns, and that Dipœnus and
Scyllis were his sons by her. At Cleonæ beside this temple is the tomb
of Eurytus and Cteatus, who had gone from Elis to be spectators of the
Isthmian games, and whom Hercules shot with arrows there, charging them
with having fought against him in the battle with Augeas.
From Cleonæ there are two roads to Argos, one convenient for rapid
walkers and the shorter route, the other called Tretus (_Bored_), more
convenient for a carriage, though it too is narrow and has mountains on
both sides. Among these mountains is still shown the lair of the Nemean
lion, for Nemea is only about 15 stades distant.
At Nemea is a temple well worth seeing of Nemean Zeus, only the roof
has tumbled in, and there is no longer any statue there: but there is
a cypress grove near the temple, where they say that Opheltes, placed
on the grass there by his nurse, was devoured by a dragon. The Argives
also sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, and select the priest of Nemean
Zeus, and have a contest in running for men in armour at the winter
meeting at Nemea. Here too is the tomb of Opheltes, and round it a
wall of stones, and altars within the precincts: and there is a piled
up mound of earth as a monument to Lycurgus the father of Opheltes.
And the fountain they call Adrastea, whether for some other reason or
because Adrastus discovered it. And they say the name Nemea was given
to the place by Nemea the daughter of Asopus. And above Nemea is the
Mountain Apesas, where they say Perseus sacrificed first to Apesantian
Zeus. And as you go up to Argos by the road called Tretus you will see
on the left hand the ruins of Mycenæ. All Greeks know that Perseus
founded Mycenæ, and I shall relate the circumstances of the founding,
and why the Argives afterwards dispossessed the old inhabitants. For
in what is now called Argolis they mention no older town, and they say
that Inachus the king gave his name to the river, and sacrificed to
Hera. They also say that Phoroneus was the first mortal in this land,
and that Inachus his father was not a man but a river: and that he
and Cephisus and Asterion were the arbitrators between Poseidon and
Hera in their dispute about the land: and when they judged that it was
Hera’s, then Poseidon took away all their water. And this is the reason
why neither Inachus nor any other of these rivers mentioned have any
water except after rain. And in summer their streams are dry except at
Lerna. And Phoroneus the son of Inachus first gathered men together in
communities, who before lived scattered and solitary: so the city in
which they were first gathered together was called Phoronicum.
CHAPTER XVI.
And Argos his daughter’s son, who reigned after Phoroneus, gave Argos
his own name. And to Argos were born Pirasus and Phorbas, and to
Phorbas Triopas, and to Triopas Iasus and Agenor. Io the daughter of
Iasus went to Egypt, either as Herodotus tells the story or as the
Greeks tell the story, and Crotopus the son of Agenor had the rule
after Iasus, and the son of Crotopus was Sthenelas. And Danaus sailed
from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelas, and expelled from the
kingdom the descendants of Agenor. All the world knows the history, how
his daughters acted to their cousins, and how after his death Lynceus
had the kingdom. And his grandsons, the sons of Abas, divided the
kingdom, Acrisius remained at Argos, and Prœtus had Heræum and Midea
and Tiryns and all the maritime parts of Argolis: and there are to
this day remains of Prœtus’ palace at Tiryns. And some time afterwards
Acrisius, hearing that Perseus was alive and a mighty man of valour,
retired to Larissa by the river Peneus. And Perseus, as he wished
excessively to see his mother’s father and greet him with kind words
and deeds, went to him to Larissa. And being in the prime of life,
and rejoicing in the invention of the game of quoits, he displayed
his prowess to all, and by fatality Acrisius was unintentionally
killed by the throw of his quoit. Thus was the prophecy of the god
fulfilled to Acrisius, nor did his contrivances against his daughter
and her son turn away his fate. But when Perseus returned to Argos,
for he was ashamed of the infamy of this murder of his grandfather,
he persuaded Megapenthes the son of Prœtus to exchange kingdoms with
him, and founded Mycenæ, where the scabbard of his sword fell off,
for he thought this an indication that he should build a city there.
Another tradition is that when thirsty he took up a fungus from the
ground, and when some water flowed from it he drank it and was pleased,
and called the name of the place Mycenæ [which means both _scabbard_
and _fungus_.] Homer indeed in the Odyssey[20] has recorded the lady
Mycene in the following line,
“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”
and the poem called the Great EϾ, by Hesiod, represents her as the
daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor: and from her some say the
city got its name. But the tradition of Acusilaus which they also add,
that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton the son of Phoroneus,
I could not accept, far less would the Lacedæmonians. For they have
at Amyclæ the image of a woman called Sparta, and if they heard that
Sparton was the son of Phoroneus they would marvel at once.
Now the Argives destroyed Mycenæ in jealousy. For though they took no
part against the Medes, the people of Mycenæ sent to Thermopylæ 80 men,
who shared in the glory of the famous 300. This public spirit brought
about their destruction, by provoking the Argives to jealousy. But
there are still some remains of the precincts and the gate, and there
are some lions on it: which were they say executed by the Cyclopes, who
built the wall at Tiryns for Prœtus. And among the ruins at Mycenæ is a
fountain called Perseus’, and some underground buildings belonging to
Atreus and his sons, where their treasures were. And there is the tomb
of Atreus, and of those whom Ægisthus slew at a banquet on their return
from Ilium with Agamemnon. As to Cassandra’s tomb the Lacedæmonians
of Amyclæ claim that they have it. And there is the tomb of Agamemnon
there, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint-tomb of
Teledamus and Pelops, who were twins of Cassandra, and were butchered
by Ægisthus (while still babes) after their parents. There is also the
tomb of Electra, who married Pylades, and Orestes gave her away. And
Hellanicus has recorded that Medon and Strophius were the issue of the
marriage. And Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were buried a little outside
the walls, for they were thought unworthy to lie within the city, and
mingle their ashes with Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him.
CHAPTER XVII.
About fifteen stades from Mycenæ on the left is a temple of Hera. By
the road flows the river Eleutherius. And the priestesses use it for
lustrations and for private sacrifices. And this temple is on the
more level part of Eubœa, for Eubœa is a mountain, and they say the
daughters of the river god Asterion were Eubœa and Prosymna and Acræa,
and that they were nurses of Hera. And Acræa gave her name to all the
mountain opposite the temple of Hera, and Eubœa to the mountain near
the temple, and Prosymna to the ground below the temple. And this
Asterion flows above the temple of Hera and falls into a ravine and so
disappears. And the flower called Asterion grows on its banks: they
carry this flower to Hera and plait her crowns of its leaves. The
architect of the temple was they say Eupolemus the Argive: and all the
carved work above the pillars relates partly to the birth of Zeus and
the gods and the battle with the Giants, and partly to the Trojan war
and the capture of Ilium. And there are some statues in the porch, of
the priestesses of Hera, and of Orestes and other heroes. For they
say the one bearing the inscription that it is the Emperor Augustus
is really Orestes. In the Ante-chapel are some old statues of The
Graces, and on the right hand the bed of Hera, and a votive offering,
the spear which Menelaus took from Euphorbus at Ilium. And there is a
huge statue of Hera seated on a throne, in gold and ivory, the design
of Polycletus. And she has a crown on her head composed of Graces and
Seasons, and in one hand she has the fruit of the pomegranate, and in
the other her sceptre. As to the pomegranate let me pass that over,
for I am forbid to speak of it. But as to the cuckoo which sits on
the sceptre, they say that Zeus, when he was enamoured of Hera while
still a maid, changed himself into that bird, and that Hera chased the
supposed cuckoo in sport. This tradition and similar ones about the
gods I do not record because I believe them, but I record them just
the same. And near Hera is a statue of Hebe said to be by Naucydes,
this too in ivory and gold. And near it on a pillar is an old statue
of Hera. But the oldest statue of Hera was made of wild pear tree,
and was placed at Tiryns by Pirasus the son of Argus, and the Argives
when they took Tiryns conveyed it to the temple of Hera, and I myself
have seen it, a statue not very large seated. And the votive offerings
worthy of record are a silver altar, with the legendary marriage of
Hebe and Hercules carved upon it, and a peacock of gold and precious
stones, an offering of the Emperor Adrian: he made this present because
the peacock is sacred to Hera. There is also a golden crown and purple
robe, the offerings of Nero. And there are above this temple the
foundations of an older one and whatever the flames have spared. That
temple was burnt by Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, falling asleep,
and her lamp first setting fire to the decorations. And Chryseis went
to Tegea and supplicated Alean Athene: and the Argives, although such
a misfortune had befallen them, did not remove the effigy of Chryseis,
but it is there to this day in front of the burnt temple.
CHAPTER XVIII.
And as you go from Mycenæ to Argos there is on the left hand a
hero-chapel of Perseus near the road. He has honours here from the
people in the neighbourhood, but the greatest honours are paid him
at Seriphus, and he has also a temple among the Athenians, and in
it an altar to Dictys and Clymene, who are called the Saviours of
Perseus. And as you advance on the road to Argos a little way from this
hero-chapel is the tomb of Thyestes on the right hand: and on it is
a ram in stone, for Thyestes stole the golden sheep, when he seduced
his brother’s wife. And Atreus could not be satisfied with the law
of Tit for Tat, but slaughtered the children of Thyestes and served
them up to him at table. But afterwards I cannot pronounce decidedly
whether Ægisthus began the injury, or whether it began with the murder
of Tantalus the son of Thyestes by Agamemnon: for they say he married
Clytæmnestra as her first husband having received her from Tyndareus.
And I do not wish to accuse them of wickedness incarnate. But if
the crime of Pelops and the ghost of Myrtilus haunted the family so
ruthlessly, it reminds one of the answer of the Pythian Priestess to
Glaucus the son of Epicydes the Spartan, when he purposed perjury, that
punishment would come on his descendants.
As you go on a little to the left from the _Rams_, for so they call
the tomb of Thyestes, is a place called Mysia, and a temple of Mysian
Demeter, so called from a man called Mysius, who was as the Argives
say a host of Demeter. It has no roof. And in it is a shrine of baked
brick, and images of Proserpine and Pluto and Demeter. And a little
further is the river Inachus, and on the other side of the river is an
altar of the Sun. And you will go thence to the gate called from the
neighbouring temple, the temple of Ilithyia.
The Argives are the only Greeks I know of who were divided into three
kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, the son of Argos, the son of
Megapenthes, a madness came on the women, they went from their homes
and wandered up and down the country, till Melampus the son of Amythaon
cured them of that complaint, on condition that he and his brother
Bias should share alike with Anaxagoras. And five kings of Bias’ race
reigned for four generations to Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus, being
all descended from Neleus on the mother’s side, and from Melampus six
generations and six kings to Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus. But
the native race, the descendants of Anaxagoras, reigned longer. For
Iphis, the son of Alector, the son of Anaxagoras, left the kingdom to
Sthenelus the son of his brother Capaneus: and Amphilochus after the
capture of Ilium having migrated to what is now called Amphilochi,
and Cyanippus dying childless, Cylarabes the son of Sthenelus had the
kingdom alone. And he too had no children, and so Orestes the son
of Agamemnon got Argos, as he was a near neighbour, and besides his
hereditary sway had added to his dominions much Arcadian territory, and
as he had also got the kingdom in Sparta, and had ever ready help in
the alliance of the Phocians. And he was king of the Lacedæmonians at
their own request. For they thought the sons of Tyndareus’ daughters
better entitled to the kingdom than Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the
sons of Menelaus by a bondmaid. And when Orestes died Tisamenus,
the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the
kingdom. And Penthilus, Orestes’ bastard son by Erigone the daughter
of Ægisthus, is mentioned by Cinæthon in his Verses. It was in the
reign of this Tisamenus that the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese,
_viz._ Temenus and Cresphontes the sons of Aristomachus, and, as
Aristodemus had died earlier, his sons came too. And they laid claim
to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds, for
Tisamenus was a descendant of Pelops, but the Heraclidæ derived from
Perseus. And they represented that Tyndareus had been turned out by
Hippocoon, and they said that Hercules had slain Hippocoon and his
sons, and had given the country back to Tyndareus. Similarly they said
about Messenia, that it was given to Nestor as a charge by Hercules
when he took Pylos. They turned out therefore Tisamenus from Lacedæmon
and Argos, and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, _viz._ Alcmæon
the son of Sillus the son of Thrasymedes, and Pisistratus the son of
Pisistratus, and the sons of Pæon the son of Antilochus, and besides
them Melanthus the son of Andropompus, the son of Borus, the son of
Penthilus, the son of Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went to
what is now called Achaia with his army: and all the other sons of
Neleus but Pisistratus, (for I don’t know to what people he betook
himself), went to Athens, and the Pæonidæ and the Alcmæonidæ were
called after them. Melanthus also had the kingdom, after driving out
Thymœtes, the son of Oxyntas, who was the last of the descendants of
Theseus that reigned at Athens.
CHAPTER XIX.
As to Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus there is nothing pressing
to narrate about them. But Temenus openly made use of Deiphontes (the
son of Antimachus, the son of Thrasyanor, the son of Ctesippus, the
son of Hercules) as general for his battles instead of his sons, and
made him his associate in all things, and gave him as wife his daughter
Hyrnetho whom he loved more than all his children, and was suspected of
intending to make her and Deiphontes his heirs in the kingdom. And for
these reasons he was slain by his sons, and Cisus the eldest of them
became king. But the Argives, who had from the most ancient times loved
equality and home rule, reduced the kingly power so low, that Medon,
the son of Cisus, and his descendants were left the royal title only.
And Meltas the son of Lacedas, the 10th descendant of Medon, the people
sentenced to deprivation of his kingdom altogether.
Of the temples in the city of the Argives the most notable is that
of Lycian (_Wolf-God_) Apollo. The statue in our day was the work of
an Athenian, Attalus, but originally the temple and wooden statue was
the offering of Danaus. I think all statues were wooden in those days,
and especially Egyptian ones. Now Danaus built a temple to Apollo
the Wolf-God for the following reason. When he came to Argos, he and
Gelanor the son of Sthenelas were rival competitors for the kingdom.
And many ingratiating words having been spoken by both of them to the
people, and Gelanor’s speech seeming rather the best, the people, they
say, put off the decision to the next day. And at break of day a wolf
attacked a herd of cattle that were feeding near the walls, and had a
fierce encounter with the bull, the leader of the herd. And it occurred
to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull, Danaus like the wolf,
for just as this animal does not live with human beings so Danaus had
not up to that time lived with them. And as the wolf mastered the bull,
so Danaus got the kingdom. And he thinking that Apollo had sent that
wolf against the herd, built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God. In it
is the throne of Danaus, and an image of Biton, the man who carried
a bull on his shoulders (as Lyceas has represented), for, when the
Argives were sacrificing to Zeus at Nemea, Biton took up a bull by
sheer strength and carried it to the altar. And they light the fire
close to this image, and they call it the fire of Phoroneus: for they
do not admit that Prometheus gave fire to men, but they attribute
the invention of fire to Phoroneus. Here also are wooden statues of
Aphrodite and Hermes, the latter the work of Epeus, and the former
the offering of Hypermnestra. For she, the only one of his daughters
who disobeyed his cruel order, was brought to trial by Danaus, partly
because he thought his own safety compromised by that of Lynceus, and
partly because her not joining with her sisters in their atrocious
deed augmented the disgrace of the contriver of the deed. And, being
acquitted by the Argives, she erected as a votive offering in this
temple a statue of Victorious Aphrodite. And there is inside the temple
a statue of Ladas, who excelled all his contemporaries in fleetness of
foot, and one of Hermes making a lyre out of a tortoise. And there is
in front of the temple an amphitheatre with a representation of the
fight between the bull and the wolf, and a maiden throwing a stone at
the bull. They think this maiden represents Artemis. Danaus had all
this constructed, and some pillars near, and wooden statues of Zeus and
Artemis.
Here also are the tombs of Linus the son of Apollo, and of Psamathe
the daughter of Crotopus, and this is that Linus they say who wrote
poetry. I pass him by now as more meet to be discussed in another
place, and as regards Psamathe I have already given a full account of
her in what I have written about Megara. Next is a statue of Apollo the
Guardian of the Streets, and the altar of Rainy Zeus, where those who
conspired the return of Polynices to Thebes swore that they would die
if unsuccessful in taking Thebes. As to the sepulchre of Prometheus,
the Argives seem to me to give a less credible account than the
Opuntians, but they stick to their account all the same.
CHAPTER XX.
And passing by the effigy of Creux the boxer, and the trophy erected
over the Corinthians, you come to the statue of Milichian Zeus seated,
the work of Polycletus in white stone. I ascertained that the following
was the reason why it was made. When the Lacedæmonians began the war
with the Argives, they continued hostilities till Philip the son of
Amyntas compelled them to remain within their original boundaries. For
during all previous time the Lacedæmonians never interfered outside
the Peloponnese, but were always cutting a slice off Argolis, or the
Argives, if the Lacedæmonians were engaged in war, would at such a
time make a swoop on their borders. And when their mutual animosity
was at its height, the Argives resolved to keep a standing army of
1000 picked men, and their captain was Bryas the Argive, who in other
respects was insolent to the people, and outraged a maiden, who was
being led in procession to her bridegroom’s house, tearing her away
from her escort. But during the night catching him asleep she blinded
Bryas: and being arrested at daybreak implored protection from the
people. As they would not abandon her to the vengeance of the thousand,
there ensued a fight, and the people were victorious, and in the heat
of victory left not one of the 1000 alive. But afterwards they made
expiation for this shedding of kinsmen’s blood, and erected a statue
to Milichian Zeus. And near are statues in stone of Cleobis and Bito,
who themselves drew the car with their mother in it to the temple of
Hera.[21] And opposite these is the temple of Nemean Zeus, and in it a
brazen statue of the god erect, the design of Lysippus. And next to it,
as you go forward, on the right hand, is the tomb of Phoroneus: to whom
they still offer victims. And opposite the temple of Nemean Zeus is a
temple of Fortune of most ancient date, since Palamedes the inventor of
dice made a votive offering of his dice to this temple. And the tomb
near they call that of the Mænad Chorea, who they say with the other
women accompanied Dionysus to Argos, and Perseus being victorious in
the battle slew most of the women: the others they buried all together,
but for her they had a tomb separately, as she excelled the others in
merit. And at a little distance is a temple of the Seasons. And as
you go on there are some full-length statues of Polynices, the son
of Œdipus, and all the chief warriors that died with him in battle
fighting against Thebes. These men Æschylus has described as only
seven in number, though more must have come from Argos and Messene
and Arcadia. And near these seven, (for the Argives also follow the
description of Æschylus), are the statues of those that took Thebes,
Ægialeus the son of Adrastus, and Promachus the son of Parthenopæus the
son of Talaus, and Polydorus the son of Hippomedon, and Thersander,
and Alcmæon and Amphilochus the sons of Amphiaraus, and Diomede and
Sthenelus: also Euryalus the son of Mecisteus, and Adrastus and Timeas,
the sons of Polynices. And not far from these statues is exhibited the
sepulchre of Danaus, and a cenotaph of the Argives whom fate seized in
Ilium or on the journey home. And there is here also a temple of Zeus
Soter, at a little distance from which is a building where the Argive
women bewail Adonis. And on the right hand of the entrance a temple has
been built to the river Cephisus: the water of this river they say was
not altogether dried up by Poseidon, but flowed under ground on the
site of the temple. And near the temple of the Cephisus is a head of
the Medusa in stone: this also they say is the work of the Cyclopes.
And the place behind they call to this day _Judgement Hall_, because
they say that Hypermnestra was put upon her trial there by Danaus. And
not far distant is a theatre: and in it among other things well worth
seeing is Perilaus the Argive, the son of Alcenor, slaying Othryades
the Spartan. Perilaus before this had had the good luck to carry off
the prize for wrestling in the Nemean games. And beyond the theatre
is a temple of Aphrodite, in front of which is a statue of Telesilla
the poetess on a pillar: at her feet lie her volumes of poetry, and
she herself is looking at a helmet, which she holds in her hand and
is about to put on her head. This Telesilla was otherwise remarkable
among women, besides being honoured for her poetic gifts. For when upon
the Argives fell disaster untold at the hands of Cleomenes (the son
of Anaxandrides) and the Lacedæmonians, and most of them perished in
the battle, and when all that fled for refuge to the grove at Argos
perished also, at first coming out for quarter, but when they found
that the promised quarter was not granted, setting themselves and the
grove on fire together, then Cleomenes led the Lacedæmonians to an
Argos stript of men. Then it was that Telesilla manned the walls with
all the slaves who through youth or age were reckoned unfit to carry
arms, and herself getting together all the arms which were left in
the houses or the temples, and mustering all the women in the prime
of life, armed them, and drew them up in battle array where she knew
the enemy would approach. And when the Lacedæmonians came up, and the
women so far from being dismayed at their war cry received their attack
stoutly, then the Lacedæmonians considering that if they killed all
the women their victory would be discreditable, and if they themselves
were beaten their reverse would be disgraceful, yielded to the women.
Now the Pythian Priestess had foretold this, and Herodotus, whether
understanding the oracle or not, had recorded it as follows.[22] “But
when the female conquering the male shall drive him out and win fame
for the Argives, then shall the god make many of the Argive women
wretched.” These words of the oracle describe the action of the women.
CHAPTER XXI.
And as you descend from thence and turn to the market-place you see the
tomb of Cerdo, the wife of Phoroneus, and the temple of Æsculapius.
And the temple of Artemis, under the name Persuasion, was erected also
by Hypermnestra, when she was victorious over her father in the trial
about Lynceus. There is also a brazen statue of Æneas, and a place
called Delta, but why it is called Delta I purposely pass over, for I
didn’t like the explanation. And in front of it is a temple of Zeus
Promoter of Flight, and near it is the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the
mother of Amphiaraus, and the sepulchre of Hypermnestra the daughter
of Danaus, who lies in the same grave with Lynceus. And opposite them
is the tomb of Talaus the son of Bias, about whom and his descendants
I have spoken already. And there is a temple of Athene under the name
of _Trumpet_, which they say Hegeleus built. This Hegeleus they say was
the son of Tyrsenus, who was the son of Hercules and a Lydian woman,
and Tyrsenus was the first who invented the trumpet, and Hegeleus his
son taught the Dorians who followed Temenus the use of it, and that
was why he called Athene _Trumpet_. And before the temple of Athene is
they say the tomb of Epimenides: for the Lacedæmonians when they fought
against the Gnossians took Epimenides alive, but killed him afterwards
because he did not prophesy auspiciously for them, and they say they
brought his remains, and buried them, here. And the building of white
stone, nearly in the middle of the market-place, is not a trophy over
Pyrrhus the king of Epirus, as the Argives say, but a memorial that his
body was burnt here, inasmuch as elephants and all other things which
he used in battle are represented here. This was the building for his
funeral pyre: but his bones lie in the temple of Demeter, where in my
account of Attica I have shown that he died. And at the entrance of
this temple of Demeter you may see his brazen shield hanging over the
door.
And not far from the building in the market-place of the Argives
is a mound of earth. They say the head of the Gorgon Medusa lies
under it. To omit fable, it has been recorded of her that she was the
daughter of Phorcus, and that after the death of her father she ruled
over the people that live near the Tritonian marsh, and used to go out
hunting and led the Libyans in battle, and moreover resisted with her
army the power of Perseus, though picked men followed him from the
Peloponnese, but she was treacherously slain by night, and Perseus,
marvelling at her beauty even after death, cut her head off and brought
it home to display to the Greeks. But Procles the Carthaginian, the
son of Eucrates, has another account more plausible than this one. The
desert of Libya produces monsters scarce credible to those that hear
of them, and there both wild men and wild women are born: and Procles
said he had seen one of those wild men that had been taken to Rome. He
conjectured therefore that Medusa was a woman who had wandered from
them, and gone to the Tritonian marsh, and illtreated the inhabitants
till Perseus slew her: and Athene he thought assisted Perseus in the
work, because the men in the neighbourhood of the Tritonian marsh were
sacred to her. And in Argos close to this monument of the Gorgon is the
tomb of the Gorgon-slayer Perseus. Why she was called Gorgon is plain
to the hearer at once.[23] They say she was the first woman who ever
married a second husband, for she married one Œbalus, when her husband
Perieres the son of Æolus was dead, with whom she had lived from her
virginity. Previously it was customary for women to remain widows if
their husband died. And before this tomb is a trophy erected in stone
to the Argive Laphaes, whom, according to the Argive tradition, the
people rose up against and expelled when he was king, and when he
fled to Sparta the Lacedæmonians endeavoured to restore him, but the
Argives being victorious in the battle slew Laphaes and most of the
Lacedæmonians. And not far from this trophy is the temple of Leto, and
a statue of her by Praxiteles. And the figure near the goddess is the
maiden they call Chloris, who they say was the daughter of Niobe, and
was originally called Melibœa. And when the children of Amphion and
Niobe were slain by Apollo and Artemis, she alone and Amyclas were
saved alive, as they supplicated Leto. But fear turned Melibœa so
pale that she remained so all the rest of her life, insomuch that her
name was changed from Melibœa into Chloris (_pale_). This Chloris and
Amyclas the Argives say built the original temple of Leto. But I myself
am of opinion, (for I lean more than most people to the authority of
Homer,) that none of the children of Niobe survived. The following line
bears me out.
“Two arrows only slew the whole family.”[24]
Homer therefore describes the whole family of Amphion as cut off.
CHAPTER XXII.
Now the temple of Flowery Hera is on the right hand of the temple of
Leto, and in front of it is the tomb of the women who fell in the
fight between the Argives and Perseus, and had marched with Dionysus
from the islands in the Ægean, and who were called _Marines_ from
that circumstance. And right opposite the sepulchre of those women
is the temple of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian because Pelasgus the
son of Triopas built it, and at no great distance from the temple
is Pelasgus’ tomb. And beyond the tomb is a brazen shrine not very
large, which contains old statues of Artemis and Zeus and Athene.
Lyceas in his verses has represented it as a votive offering to Zeus
the Contriver, and said that the Argives who went on the expedition
to Ilium swore here that they would not give over fighting, till they
should either capture Ilium or be killed fighting there. But others
have said that the remains of Tantalus are in that brazen shrine. I
will not dispute that the Tantalus who was the son of Thyestes or
Broteus, (for both traditions are current), who married Clytæmnestra
before Agamemnon, was buried here. But the Tantalus who was said to
be son of Zeus or Pluto was buried at Sipylus in a very handsome tomb
which I have myself seen. And moreover there was no necessity for him
to flee from Sipylus, as happened afterwards to Pelops when Ilus the
Phrygian came against him with an army. But let the enquiry proceed no
further. As for the rites which take place at the neighbouring trench,
they say they were instituted by Nicostratus, a man of those parts. To
this day they place in the trench lighted torches to Proserpine the
daughter of Demeter. There too is a temple of Poseidon under the name
of the _Flood-god_--for Poseidon flooded most of the region, because
Inachus and the other arbitrators decided that the land was Hera’s and
not his. But Hera afterwards got Poseidon to draw the water off: and
the Argives, at the place where the stream retired, built a temple
to Poseidon the _Flood-god_. And as you go a little further is the
tomb of Argos, who was reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe the
daughter of Phoroneus: and next is the temple of the Dioscuri. And
there are statues of them and their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous, and
with them their mothers Hilaira and Phœbe, in black ebony wood, by
Dipœnus and Scyllis. Even the horses are mostly made of ebony, though
partly of ivory. And near this temple of the Dioscuri is a temple of
Ilithyia, the offering of Helen, when Theseus went with Pirithous to
Thesprotia, and Aphidna was captured by the Dioscuri, and Helen was
taken to Lacedæmon. For they say she was pregnant by Theseus, and
bare a child in Argos and built this temple to Ilithyia, and gave the
child to Clytæmnestra, who was now the wife of Agamemnon, and the
child afterwards became the wife of Menelaus. Euphorion the Chalcidian
and Alexander the Pleuronian have mentioned it in their poems, and
still earlier Stesichorus of Himera, and they say like the Argives
that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus by Helen. And beyond the
temple of Ilithyia is the temple of Hecate, and the statue is the work
of Scopas. It is of stone and right opposite are two brazen statues
of Hecate, one by Polycletus, and the other by his brother Naucydes
the son of Mothon. And as you go straight for the gymnasium, which
is called Cylarabis after Cylarabus, the son of Sthenelus, you come
to the tomb of Licymnius the son of Electryon. Homer says he was
slain by Tleptolemus the son of Hercules, who had to fly from Argos
in consequence of this murder. And, as you turn off a little towards
Cylarabis and the gate in this direction, is the sepulchre of Sacadas,
who was the first who played the Hymn to Apollo at Delphi on the flute:
and it seems the anger of Apollo against flute-players (which he had
in consequence of the contest with Marsyas the Silenus) was appeased
by this Sacadas. In this gymnasium of Cylarabus is a bust of Athene
Capanea, and they show the tomb of Sthenelus, and of Cylarabus himself.
And not far from this gymnasium is a monument to the Argives who sailed
with the Athenians to reduce Syracuse and Sicily.
CHAPTER XXIII.
As you go thence on the road called the Hollow Way, there is on the
right hand a temple of Dionysus: the statue of the god they say came
from Eubœa. For when the Greeks returning from Ilium were shipwrecked
at Caphareus, those of the Argives who contrived to escape to shore
were in evil plight from cold and hunger. But when they prayed that one
of the gods would save them in their present emergency, immediately as
they went forward they saw a cave of Dionysus, and a statue of the god
in the cave, and some wild goats that had taken refuge from the cold
were huddled together in it. These the Argives killed, and eat their
flesh, and used their skins for clothing. And when the winter was over,
they repaired their vessels and sailed homewards, and took with them
the wooden statue from the cave, and worship it to this day. And very
near the temple of Dionysus you will see the house of Adrastus, and at
some distance from it the temple of Amphiaraus, and beyond that the
tomb of Eriphyle. And next these is the shrine of Æsculapius, and close
to it the temple of Bato, who was of the family of Amphiaraus and one
of the Melampodidæ, and was Amphiaraus’ charioteer when he went out
to battle: and when the rout from Thebes came about, the earth opened
and swallowed up Amphiaraus and the chariot and Bato all together.
And as you return from the Hollow Way you come to the reputed tomb
of Hyrnetho. If it is a cenotaph and merely in memory of her, their
account is probable enough, but if they say that the body of Hyrnetho
lies there I cannot believe them, but let him believe them who knows
nothing about Epidaurus. The most famous of the temples of Æsculapius
at Argos has a statue still to be seen, Æsculapius seated, in white
stone, and next to him a statue of Hygiea. There are also seated
near them those who designed these statues, Xenophilus and Strato.
That temple was originally built by Sphyrus, the son of Machaon, and
the brother of the Alexanor who has honours among the Sicyonians at
Titane. And the statue of Pheræan Artemis, (for the Argives worship
Pheræan Artemis as well as the Athenians and Sicyonians,) was they say
brought from Pheræ in Thessaly. But I cannot agree with the Argives
who say that they have at Argos the tombs of Deianira the daughter of
Œneus, and of Helenus the son of Priam, and that they have the statue
of Athene that was carried away from Ilium, and whose loss caused its
fall. The Palladium, for that is its name, was certainly carried by
Æneas to Italy. As to Deianira, we know she died at Trachis and not
at Argos, and her tomb is near that of Hercules on Mount Œta. And as
to Helenus the son of Priam, I have already shown that he went with
Pyrrhus the son of Achilles to Epirus, and married Andromache, and
was Regent for the sons of Pyrrhus, and that Cestrine in Epirus took
its name from his son Cestrinus. Not that the Argive antiquarians are
ignorant that all their traditions are not true, still they utter
them: for it is not easy to get the mass of mankind to change their
preconceived opinions. There are other things at Argos worth seeing,
as the underground building, (in which is the brazen chamber which
Acrisius formerly got constructed for the safe custody of his daughter,
Perilaus deposed and succeeded him,) and the tomb of Crotopus, and
the temple of Cretan Dionysus. For they say that Dionysus, after he
had warred with Perseus and got friendly again with him, was highly
honoured by the Argives in various respects, and was given as a special
honour this enclosure. And afterwards it was called the temple of
Cretan Dionysus, because they buried Ariadne here. And Lyceas says that
when the temple was restored an earthenware cinerary urn was found that
contained the ashes of Ariadne: which he said several Argives had seen.
And near this temple of Dionysus is the temple of Celestial Aphrodite.
CHAPTER XXIV.
And the citadel they call Larissa from the daughter of Pelasgus, and
from two cities of that name in Thessaly, one on the coast, and one by
the river Peneus. And as you go up to the citadel there is a temple of
Hera Dwelling on the Heights, there is also a temple of Apollo, which
Pythæus, who first came from Delphi, is said to have erected. The
statue is of brass erect, and is called Apollo of the Ridgeway, for the
place is called Ridge. Oracular responses, for there is an oracle there
even to our day, are given in the following manner. The prophetess is
debarred from marriage: and when a lamb is sacrificed every month,
she tastes of the blood and becomes possessed by the god. And next to
the temple of Apollo of the Ridgeway is the temple of Athene called
_Sharp-eyed_, the votive offering of Diomede, because when he was
fighting at Ilium the goddess upon one occasion took a mist from his
eyes.[25] And close by is the race-course where they hold the games to
Nemean Zeus and to Hera. On the left of the road to the citadel is a
monument to the sons of Ægyptus. Their heads are here apart from their
bodies, for the bodies are at Lerna where the murder of the young men
was perpetrated, and when they were dead their wives cut their heads
off, to show their father their desperate deed. And on the summit of
Larissa is the temple of Larissæan Zeus, which has no roof to it: and
the statue, which is made of wood, stands no longer on its base. And
there is a temple of Athene well worth seeing. There are several votive
offerings there, and a wooden statue of Zeus, with the usual two eyes,
and a third in the forehead. This Zeus they say was the tutelary god of
Priam the son of Laomedon, and was placed in his hall in the open air,
and when Ilium was taken by the Greeks, it was to his altar that Priam
fled for refuge. And when they divided the spoil Sthenelus the son of
Capaneus got it, and placed it here. One might conjecture that the god
has three eyes for the following reason. That he reigns in heaven is
the universal tradition of all mankind. And that he reigns also under
the earth the line of Homer proves, speaking of him as
“Zeus the lord of the under world, and dread Proserpine.”[26]
And Æschylus the son of Euphorion calls him also Zeus of the sea. The
sculptor therefore whoever he was represented him with three eyes to
denote that the god rules in these three departments of the universe.
Among the roads from Argos to various parts of the Peloponnese,
is one to Tegea a town in Arcadia. On the right of this road is the
mountain Lycone, full of cypress trees. And on the top of the mountain
is a temple to Orthian Artemis, and there are statues of Apollo and
Leto and Artemis in white stone; said to be by Polycletus. And as you
go down from the mountain there is on the left of the road a temple of
Artemis. And at a little distance on the right is the mountain called
Chaon. And underneath it trees are planted, and manifestly here the
Erasinus has its rise: for a while it flows from Stymphalus in Arcadia,
as the Rheti flow from Euripus to Eleusis and so to the sea. And where
the river Erasinus gushes out on the mountain-side they sacrifice to
Dionysus and Pan, and keep the feast of Dionysus called _Medley_. And
as you return to the Tegean road, you come to Cenchreæ on the right of
what is called Trochus. Why it was called Cenchreæ they do not tell us,
except the name came from Cenchreus the son of Pirene. There is here a
general tomb of the Argives who conquered the Lacedæmonians in battle
near Hysiæ. I ascertained that this battle was fought when Pisistratus
was ruler at Athens, and in the 4th year of the Olympiad in which
Eurybotus the Athenian won the prize in the course. And as you descend
to the plain are the ruins of the town Hysiæ in Argolis, and here they
say the reverse happened to the Lacedæmonians.
CHAPTER XXV.
The road to Mantinea from Argos is not the same as the road to Tegea,
but you start from the gates near the ridge. And on this road there
is a temple with a double entrance, one facing west, another east.
At the east end is a wooden statue of Aphrodite, at the west one of
Ares. These statues are they say votive offerings of Polynices and the
Argives who were associated with him in his expedition. And as you go
on from thence after crossing the winter torrent called Ravine you come
to Œnoe, which gets its name (so the Argives say) from Œneus, who was
king in Ætolia, and expelled they say from his kingdom by the sons of
Agrius, and went to Argos to Diomede. And he helped him somewhat by
leading an army into Calydonia, but he couldn’t he said stay there:
but recommended him if he liked to accompany him to Argos. And when he
went there, he treated him in all respects well, as one would expect a
person to treat his grandfather, and when he died he buried him here.
The place got called Œnoe by the Argives after him. And above Œnoe is
the Mountain Artemisium, and a temple of Artemis on the top of the
mountain. And on this mountain are the sources of the Inachus: for it
has its rise here, though it flows underground for some way. There is
nothing else to see here.
And another road from the gates near the Ridge goes to Lyrceia. This
is the place to which Lynceus alone of all the 50 brothers is said to
have escaped, and when he got there safe, he held up a lighted torch
there. For it was no doubt agreed between Hypermnestra and him that he
should do so as a signal, if he should escape from Danaus and get to
a place of safety. And she also they say kindled another at Larissa,
manifestly to show that she too was in no danger. And in memory of
this the Argives every year have a torch procession. And in those
days the place was called Lynceia, but afterwards, because Lyrcus an
illegitimate son of Abas lived there, it got the name Lyrceia from him.
There is nothing very notable among the ruins but the effigy of Lyrcus
on a pillar. From Lyrceia to Argos is about 60 stades, and it is about
the same distance from Lyrceia to Orneæ. Homer has made no mention of
Lyrceia in his catalogue, as the city was already depopulated at the
time of the expedition to Ilium: but Orneæ, which was still inhabited,
Homer[27] has recorded before Phlius and Sicyon, according to its
geographical situation in Argolis. And it got its name from Orneus the
son of Erechtheus: and this Orneus had a son Peteos, and he had a son
Menestheus, who aided Agamemnon with a force from Athens to put down
the dominion of Priam. From Orneus then the city got its name, and the
Argives afterwards dispossessed the people of Orneæ; and when they were
dispossessed they were naturalized among the Argives. And there is at
Orneæ a temple of Artemis, and a wooden statue of the goddess in an
erect posture, and another temple to all the gods in common. And beyond
Orneæ are Sicyonia and Phliasia.
And as you go from Argos to the district of Epidaurus there is a
building on the right hand like a pyramid, with some Argolic shields
worked on it as a design. Here Prœtus fought with Acrisius for the
supremacy, and their contest was they say drawn, and they had a peace
afterwards, as neither of them could conquer the other. And they say
that they engaged first with shields, and then they and the army
on both sides in full armour. And those who fell on both sides, as
they were fellow citizens and kinsmen, had one tomb and monument in
common. And as you go on from thence and turn to the right you come
to the ruins of Tiryns. And the Argives dispossessed the inhabitants
of Tiryns, wishing to take them in as settlers to aggrandize Argos.
And they say the hero Tiryns, from whom the city got its name, was the
son of Argus the son of Zeus. And the walls of the city, which are the
only ruins left, are the work of the Cyclopes made of rude stones, each
stone of so gigantic a size that the smallest of them could hardly
be moved by a pair of mules. And in ancient times small stones were
inserted so as to dovetail in with the large stones. And as you go down
to the sea, are the chambers of the daughters of Prœtus. And when you
return to the high road you will come to Midea on the left. They say
that Electryon the father of Alcmena was king of Midea. But now nothing
is left of Midea but the site. And on the direct road to Epidaurus is
the village Lessa, and there is a temple of Athene in it, and a wooden
statue very similar to that in the citadel at Larissa. And above Lessa
is the Mountain Arachnæum, which in old times in the days of Inachus
had the name of Sapyselaton. And there are altars on it to Zeus and
Hera. They sacrifice to these gods here when there is a deficiency of
rain.
CHAPTER XXVI.
And near Lessa is Epidaurus in Argolis, and before you get to the town
itself, you will come to the temple of Æsculapius. I do not know who
dwelt in this place before Epidaurus came to it: nor could I learn from
any of the people of the neighbourhood anything about his descendants.
But the last king they say before the Dorians came to the Peloponnese
was Pityreus, the descendant of Ion the son of Xuthus. He they say gave
up the land without fighting for it to Deiphontes and the Argives: and
retired to Athens with his subjects and dwelt there, and Deiphontes
and the Argives who espoused his cause occupied Epidauria. For there
was a split among the Argives at the death of Temenus, Deiphontes and
Hyrnetho being hostile to the sons of Temenus, and the army with them
favouring Deiphontes and Hyrnetho more than Cisus and his brothers.
Epidaurus, from whom the country got its name, was, as the people
of Elis say, the son of Pelops: but according to the opinion of the
Argives, and the poem of Hesiod called The Great EϾ, the father of
Epidaurus was Argus the son of Zeus. But the Epidaurians make Epidaurus
the son of Apollo. And the district was generally held sacred to
Æsculapius for the following reason. The Epidaurians say that Phlegyas
came to the Peloponnese on the pretext of seeing the country, but
really to spy out the population, and see if the number of fighting
men was large. For Phlegyas was the greatest warrior of that day, and,
whoever he attacked, used to carry off their corn and fruit and booty
of all kinds. But when he came to the Peloponnese his daughter followed
him, who though her father knew it not was with child by Apollo. And
when she bore her child on Epidaurian soil, she exposed it on the
mountain called in our day Titthion, but which was then called Myrgion.
And as he was exposed there one of the she-goats feeding on the
mountain gave him milk, and the watch-dog of the flock guarded him. And
Aresthanas, for that was the name of the goat-herd, when he found the
number of the goats not tallying and that the dog was also absent from
the flock, went in search everywhere, and when he saw the child desired
to take him away, but when he got near saw lightning shining from the
child, and thinking there was something divine in all this, as indeed
there was, he turned away. And it was forthwith noised abroad about the
lad both by land and sea that he could heal sicknesses, and raise the
dead. There is also another tradition told of him, that Coronis, when
pregnant with Æsculapius, lay with Ischys the son of Elatus, and that
she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness
to Apollo, and when the funeral pyre was already lighted Hermes is
said to have plucked the child from the flame. And a third tradition
is as it seems to me the least likely of all, which makes Æsculapius
the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when Apollophanes
the Arcadian went to Delphi and enquired of the god, whether Æsculapius
was the son of Arsinoe and a citizen at Messene, Apollo answered from
his oracle, “O Æsculapius, that art born a great joy to all mortals,
whom lovely Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas, bare to me the child of
love, at rocky Epidaurus.” This oracular response shows plainly that
Æsculapius was not the son of Arsinoe, but that Hesiod, or somebody
that interpolated Hesiod, inserted that legend to please the people
of Messene. And this too bears me out that Æsculapius was born at
Epidaurus, that his worship is derived from thence. For the Athenians
call the day on which they worship Æsculapius _Epidauria_, and they
say the god is worshipped by them from Epidaurus; and also Archias the
son of Aristæchmus, being healed in Epidauria of a convulsion that
seized him when he was hunting near Pindasus, introduced the worship
of the god at Pergamum. And from the people of Pergamum it passed in
our time to the people of Smyrna. And at Balagræ amongst the Cyrenæans
the Epidaurian Æsculapius is called _Doctor_. And from the Cyrenæans
Æsculapius got worshipped in Labene among the Cretans. And there
is this difference between the Cyrenæan and Epidaurian customs of
worshipping Æsculapius, that the former sacrifice goats, which is not
customary with the latter. And I find that Æsculapius was considered as
a god from the beginning, and not merely as he got fame as time went
on, from other proofs, and the testimony of Homer in what Agamemnon
says about Machaon,
“Talthybius, call here as quickly as possible Machaon the mortal,
the son of Æsculapius,”
as if he said the man the son of the god.[28]
CHAPTER XXVII.
The sacred grove of Æsculapius is walled in on all sides: nor do any
deaths or births take place in the precincts of the god, just as is the
case at the island Delos. And the sacrifices, whether any native of
Epidaurus or stranger be the sacrificer, they consume in the precincts.
The same I know happens at Titane. And the statue of Æsculapius is in
size half that of Olympian Zeus at Athens, and is made of ivory and
gold: and the inscription shows that it was by the Parian Thrasymede
the son of Arignotus. The god sits on a seat holding a staff in one
hand, and the other hand he has on a dragon’s head, and a dog is seated
at his feet. And on the seat are represented the actions of Argive
heroes, as Bellerophon killing the Chimæra, and Perseus with the head
of Medusa. And beyond the temple is a sleeping-place for suppliants.
And a round building has been built near well worth seeing, of white
stone, called the Rotunda. And in it there is a painting by Pausias of
Cupid throwing away his bow and arrows and taking up a lyre instead.
There is also here a painting of Drunkenness, also by Pausias, drinking
out of a glass bowl. You may see in the painting the glass bowl and in
it a woman’s face reflected. And six pillars to this day stand in the
precincts, but in old time there were more. On these are recorded the
names of men and women healed by Æsculapius, and the complaint from
which each suffered, and how they were cured, written in Doric. And
apart from the rest is an ancient pillar, which states that Hippolytus
offered 20 horses to the god. And the people of Aricia have a tradition
corresponding to the inscription on this pillar, that, when Hippolytus
died in consequence of the imprecations of Theseus, Æsculapius restored
him to life again: and when he came to life again, he refused to pardon
his father, and disregarding his entreaties went into Italy to the
people of Aricia, and there became king and built a temple to Artemis,
where in my time the prize for victory in single combat was to become
the priest of the goddess. But the contest was not for freemen, but for
slaves who had run away from their masters. And the Epidaurians have a
theatre in their temple, especially well worth seeing in my opinion:
for the Roman theatres beat all in the world in magnificence, and for
size the Arcadian theatre at Megalopolis carries the day: but for
beauty of proportion what architect could compete with Polycletus? And
Polycletus it was that designed this theatre and round building. And
within the grove there is a temple of Artemis, and a statue of Epione,
and a temple of Aphrodite and Themis, and a stadium, as generally among
the Greeks, consisting of a mound of earth, and a fountain well worth
seeing for its roof and other decoration. And Antonine the Senator
constructed in our days a bath of Æsculapius, and a temple of the gods
they call the _Bountiful Gods_. He built also a temple for Hygiea and
for Æsculapius and for Apollo under the title of Egyptian gods. He
restored also Cotys’ porch for the roof had fallen in and it had all
come to ruin as it had been built of unbaked brick. And the Epidaurians
who lived near the temple were especially unfortunate, for their women
might not bear children under a roof but only in the open air. But
Antonine set this right and erected a building where it was lawful
both to die and bear children. And there are two mountains above the
grove, one called Titthion and the other Cynortion, and on the latter
a temple to Maleatian Apollo. The building is ancient, but everything
else in connection with the temple, as the reservoir _e.g._ in which
rainwater is stored up, was put there by Antonine for the benefit of
the Epidaurians.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Now all kinds of dragons, and especially those which incline to tawny
in colour, are considered sacred to Æsculapius, and are tame, and the
Epidaurian country alone breeds them. I find similar phenomena in other
countries. Thus Libya alone breeds land crocodiles no smaller than two
cubits, and from India alone come parrots and other birds. For the
great snakes in size as big as 30 cubits, which are produced in India
and in Libya, the Epidaurians say are not dragons but another species
altogether. And as you ascend the mountain called Coryphon there is
an olive tree called Twisted, its having been so moulded by Hercules’
hand is the origin of the name. I can hardly believe that he meant this
for a boundary for the Asinæi in Argolis, for as the country on both
sides lies waste one could find no clear boundary here. And on the top
of the mountain Coryphon is the temple of Artemis, which Telesilla has
mentioned in a poem. And as you go down to the city of the Epidaurians
is a place, called Hyrnethium, full of wild olives that grow there. I
shall record the Epidaurian tradition and the probable truth. Cisus and
the other sons of Temenus knew that they would greatly vex Deiphontes,
if they could by any means get Hyrnetho from him. Cerynes and Phalces
therefore went alone to Epidaurus: for Argæeus the youngest did not
approve of their plot. And they leaving their travelling carriage near
the walls sent a messenger to their sister, wishing they said to have
a conversation with her. And when she complied with their invitation,
the young men at once brought various charges against Deiphontes, and
begged her earnestly to return to Argos, making various promises, and
that they would give her in marriage to a man in every respect better
than Deiphontes, to the ruler of a larger population and a more fertile
country. And Hyrnetho vexed at their words gave them back as good as
they brought, and said that Deiphontes was acceptable to her as a
husband, and that to be Temenus’ son in law was not to be despised,
but they ought to be called rather Temenus’ murderers than his sons.
And they made no reply to her, but took hold of her, put her into the
travelling carriage, and drove off. And an Epidaurian took the news to
Deiphontes that Cerynes and Phalces had gone off with Hyrnetho against
her will. And he came to the rescue with all speed, and the Epidaurians
when they heard what the matter was came to the rescue with him. And
Deiphontes when he came up with Cerynes shot at him and killed him
with an arrow, but as Phalces was close to Hyrnetho he did not dare
to shoot at him, lest he should miss him and kill her, but he closed
with him and endeavoured to get her away. But Phalces resisting and
pulling Hyrnetho too violently killed her, for she was pregnant. And
he perceiving what he had done to his sister, drove the travelling
carriage at full speed, hastening to be off before the Epidaurians
could come up: and Deiphontes with his sons (for he had had by Hyrnetho
Antimenes and Xanthippus and Argeus, and one daughter Orsobia, who
afterwards married Pamphylus the son of Ægimius), took the dead body of
Hyrnetho and conveyed it to the place which is now called Hyrnethium.
And they built a chapel to her memory and paid her other honours, and
with regard to the olive trees that grow in her grove, or any other
trees there, it is an established custom that no one should break
pieces of them off and carry them away, nor use them for any purpose,
but leave them intact as sacred to Hyrnetho. And not far from the city
is the sepulchre of Melissa, who was the wife of Periander the son of
Cypselus, and the sepulchre of Proclees the father of Melissa. And he
was king at Epidaurus, as his son in law Periander was at Corinth.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Epidaurus has the following things most worthy of record. There is
a temple of Æsculapius, and statues of Æsculapius and Epione, who
they say was his wife. These are in the open air, and are of Parian
marble. And there are temples of Dionysus and Artemis, the latter as
a Huntress. There is a temple also built to Aphrodite: and near the
harbour on the cliff jutting out into the sea is they say one of Hera.
And the Athene in the citadel, a wooden statue well worth seeing, they
call Cissæan Athene.
The Æginetans inhabit the island opposite Epidauria. And they say
there were no inhabitants there originally, but Zeus having taken Ægina
the daughter of Asopus there to that desert island, it was called Ægina
after her instead of its old name Œnone, and when Æacus was grown up
he asked of Zeus for settlers, and then they say that Zeus produced
men from the soil. And they can tell of no king reigning there but
Æacus, for we know of none of the sons of Æacus continuing there, for
Peleus and Telamon had to flee for the murder of Phocus, and the sons
of Phocus again dwelt near Parnassus in what is now called Phocis. And
the name Phocis was given to the district when Phocus of the family of
Ornytion first came to it. In the days of this Phocus the country near
Tithorea and Parnassus was called Phocis: but in the days of Æacus the
name Phocis included everybody from Minyæ near Orchomenus to Scarphea
in Locris. And Peleus’ sons were kings in Epirus, and of Telamon’s
sons the family of Ajax was rather obscure (as he lived in a retired
way privately), except Miltiades, who led the Athenians at Marathon,
and his son Cimon, both of whom were exceedingly illustrious. And
the descendants of Teucer were kings of Cyprus down to Evagoras. And
according to the poet Asius Phocus’ sons were Panopeus and Crisus: and
the son of Panopeus was Epeus, who according to Homer was the contriver
of the wooden horse, and the grandson of Crisus was Pylades, the son
of Strophius, the son of Crisus by Anaxibia the daughter of Agamemnon.
Such is the pedigree of the so-called Æacidæ, but they branched off
from the beginning into other directions. And in after time a part of
the Argives that had occupied Epidaurus with Deiphontes crossed over to
Ægina, and, mixing among the old settlers at Ægina, introduced into the
island the Doric language and manners. And the Æginetans became a great
power, so that they were even a greater naval power than the Athenians,
and in the Persian War furnished the greatest number of vessels next
to the Athenians, but their prosperity did not last, for they were
turned out of Ægina by the Athenians, and went and dwelt at Thyrea
in Argolis, which the Lacedæmonians gave them. They recovered Ægina
indeed, when the Athenian triremes were captured at the Hellespont, but
never regained their former wealth and power. Of all the Greek islands
Ægina is the most difficult of access. For there are rocks under the
sea all round it, and sunken reefs. And they say that Æacus contrived
this on purpose from fear of pirates, and that he might not be exposed
to enemies. And near the chief harbour is a temple of Aphrodite, and
in the most conspicuous part of the city what is called the Hall of
Æacus, a square court of white stone: at the entrance of which are
statues of the envoys who were sent by the Greeks to Æacus. All give
the same account of this as the Æginetans. A drought for some time
afflicted Greece, and there was no rain either beyond the Isthmus or in
the Peloponnese, until they sent messengers to Delphi, to enquire the
cause, and at the same time to beg to be rid of the evil. The Pythian
Priestess told them to propitiate Zeus, and that, if he was to listen
to them, Æacus must be the suppliant. Accordingly they sent envoys
from every city to beg Æacus to do so. And he offered sacrifices and
prayers to Pan-Hellenian Zeus and caused rain to come on the earth:
and the Æginetans made these effigies of all the envoys that had come
to him. And within the precincts are some olive trees planted a long
time ago, and an altar not much higher than the ground, which it is
secretly whispered is a memorial of Æacus. And near the Hall of Æacus
is the tomb of Phocus, a mound of earth with a base in the shape of a
circle, and on it is a rough stone: and when Telamon and Peleus invited
Phocus to the contest of the pentathlum, and it was Peleus’ turn to
throw the stone, which served them for a quoit, he purposely threw it
at Phocus and hit him. And in this they gratified their mother, for
they were the sons of Endeis the daughter of Sciron, and Phocus was the
son of her sister Thetis, if the Greeks speak the truth. And Pylades
appears to me for this reason, and not merely in friendship to Orestes,
to have contrived the death of Neoptolemus. But when Phocus was struck
by the quoit and fell down dead, then the sons of Endeis got on board
ship and fled. And Telamon later on sent a messenger, and endeavoured
to clear himself of having contrived the death of Phocus. But Æacus
would not let him land on the island, but bade him if he liked pile up
a mole in the sea and make his defence there. Accordingly he sailed to
the harbour called Secret, and by night produced a mole, which remains
to this day. And being pronounced guilty of the death of Phocus he
sailed back again to Salamis. And not far from this harbour Secret is
a theatre well worth seeing, in size and workmanship very similar to
the one at Epidaurus. And behind it is built one side of a stadium,
upholding the theatre and serving as a prop for it.
CHAPTER XXX.
And near one another are temples of Apollo, and Artemis, and Dionysus.
The wooden statue of Apollo is naked and of native art, but Artemis
and Dionysus are draped, and Dionysus is represented with a beard. But
the temple of Æsculapius is on the other side and not here, and the
statue of stone, seated. And of all the gods the people of Ægina honour
Hecate most, and celebrate her rites annually, saying that Orpheus the
Thracian introduced those rites. And within the precincts is a temple,
containing a wooden statue of Hecate by Myron, with only one head and
one body. Alcamenes as it seems to me was the first who made the statue
of Hecate with three heads and three bodies which the Athenians call
Hecate Epipurgidia: it stands near the temple of Wingless Victory.
And in Ægina as you go to the mountain of Pan-Hellenian Zeus is the
temple of Aphæa, about whom Pindar wrote an ode for the Æginetans. And
the Cretans say, (for her worship is indigenous among them too), that
Eubulus was the son of that Carmanor who purged Apollo of the murder
of Python, and that Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus by Carme the
daughter of Eubulus: and that she rejoiced in races and hunting, and
was a very great friend of Artemis. And fleeing from Minos, who was
enamoured of her, she threw herself into some nets set for catching
fish. Artemis made her a goddess, and she is worshipped not only by
the Cretans but also by the Æginetans, who say that Britomartis was
seen in their island. And she is called Aphæa in Ægina, but Dictynna
in Crete. And the mountain Pan-Hellenium has nothing of note but the
temple of Zeus, which they say Æacus erected. As to what concerns
Auxesia and Lamia, how there was no rain at Epidaurus, and how after
receiving olive trees from Athens they made wooden statues according to
the bidding of the oracle, and how the Epidaurians did not pay to the
Athenians their charge for the Æginetans having these statues, and how
the Athenians who crossed over to Ægina to exact payment perished, all
this has been told accurately and circumstantially by Herodotus. I do
not therefore care to write again what has been so well told before,
but this much I may say that I have seen the statues and sacrificed to
them as they are accustomed to sacrifice at Eleusis.
Let so much suffice for Ægina, and Æacus and his exploits. And
next to Epidauria come the people of Trœzen, who are proud of their
country if any people are. And they say that Orus was a native of
their country. To me however the name Orus seems decidedly Egyptian
and not at all Greek. However they say he was their king, and that the
country was called Oræa after him, and Althepus the son of Poseidon
by Leis the daughter of Orus, succeeding to Orus, called the country
Althepia. When he was king they say that Athene and Poseidon had a
dispute about the country, and resolved to hold it in common, for so
Zeus ordered them to do. And so they worship Athene under the names
Polias and Sthenias, and Poseidon under the name of king. And so their
ancient coins have on them a trident and the head of Athene. And next
to Althepus Saron was king, who they say built the temple to Saronian
Artemis near the sea where it was muddy on the surface, insomuch that
it was called the Phœbæan marsh. And it chanced that Saron, who was
very fond of hunting, was pursuing a stag and followed it to the sea
as it fled. And it swam further and further from the land, and Saron
continued to follow it up, till in his impetuosity he got out to open
sea, and, as he was by now tired, and the waves were too much for him,
he was drowned. And his dead body was cast on shore on the Phœbæan
marsh, and they buried him in the grove of Artemis, and they call the
sea here after him the Saronian marsh instead of the Phœbæan. The
names of the kings that followed him they do not know till Hyperes and
Anthas, who they say were the sons of Poseidon by Alcyone the daughter
of Atlas, and built the cities in that country called Hyperea and
Anthea. And Aetius the son of Anthas, succeeding his father and uncle
in the kingdom, called one of these two cities Poseidonias. And when
Trœzen and Pittheus joined Aetius, there were three kings instead of
one, and the sons of Pelops were the stronger. And this proves it.
After the death of Trœzen Pittheus joined together Hyperea and Anthea,
and combined the inhabitants into one city, which he called Trœzen from
the name of his brother. And many years afterwards the descendants
of Aetius, the son of Anthas, were sent on a colony from Trœzen, and
colonized Halicarnassus in Caria, and Myndus. And the sons of Trœzen,
Anaphlystus and Sphettus, migrated to Attica, and gave their names to
two townships. And as regards Theseus the son of Pittheus’ daughter I
do not write to people who know all the history. But I must narrate
thus much. When the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese the people
of Trœzen received as colonists the Dorians from Argos, having been
formerly subject to the Argives. And Homer in his catalogue says that
they were under the rule of Diomede. Diomede at least and Euryalus the
son of Mecisteus, who were Regents for Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus,
led the Argives to Troy. But Sthenelus, as I have shown before, was of
more illustrious birth, being of the family of the Anaxagoridæ, and
the kingdom of the Argives was more his by right. Such are all the
historical details about Trœzen, except a list of the cities which
are said to have been colonized from Trœzen. I will now describe the
contents of the temples and other notable things in Trœzen.
CHAPTER XXXI.
In the market-place is a temple, and statues, of Artemis the Saviour.
And it is said that Theseus built it and called her Saviour, when he
returned from Crete after having killed Asterion the son of Minos. This
seems to me to have been the most notable of all his exploits, not
so much because Asterion excelled in bravery all who were killed by
Theseus, but because he escaped the hidden snares of the labyrinth, and
all this makes it clear that Theseus and his companions were saved by
providence. In this temple are altars of the gods said to rule in the
lower world: and they say that Semele was brought here from Hades by
Dionysus, and that Hercules brought Cerberus here from Hades. But I do
not think that Semele died at all, as she was the wife of Zeus: and as
to Cerberus I shall elsewhere tell what I think.
And behind the temple there is a monument of Pittheus, and three
seats are on it of white stone: and Pittheus and two others with
him are said to be giving sentence on these seats. And at no great
distance is a temple of the Muses, built they say by Ardalus, the son
of Hephæstus: who they think discovered the use of the flute, and so
they call the Muses Ardalian after him. Here they say Pittheus taught
the art of language, and I have myself read a book written by Pittheus,
that was given me by an Epidaurian. And not far from, the temple of
the Muses is an ancient altar, erected as they say also by Ardalus. And
they sacrifice on it to the Muses and Sleep, saying that Sleep is the
god most friendly to the Muses. And near the theatre is a temple of
Lycean Artemis, which Hippolytus built. Why the goddess was so called I
could not find from the antiquarians, but it seems to me it was either
because Hippolytus drove out the wolves that ravaged Trœzen and the
neighbourhood, or that it was a title of Artemis among the Amazons, of
whom his mother was one. Or there may be some other explanation which I
do not know. And the stone in front of the temple called the holy stone
was they say the stone on which formerly the 9 men of Trœzen cleared
Orestes of the murder of his mother. And not far from the temple of
Lycean Artemis are altars at no great distance from one another.
The first of them is one of Dionysus, called Saviour in accordance
with some oracle, and the second is called Themidon, Pittheus dedicated
it they say. And they very likely built an altar to the Sun the
Liberator when they escaped the slavery of Xerxes and the Persians. And
they say Pittheus built the temple of Thearian Apollo, which is the
oldest of all I know. There is indeed an old temple of Athene among
the Phocians in Ionia, which Harpagus the Persian burnt, old also is
the temple of Pythian Apollo among the Samians, but far later are both
than this one at Trœzen. And the statue of the god is still to be seen,
the votive offering of Auliscus, and the design of Hermon of Trœzen,
who also made wooden statues of the Dioscuri. And there are also in
the porch in the market-place stone statues of the women and children
whom the Athenians committed to the charge of the people of Trœzen,
when they resolved to leave Athens, and not to encounter the attack of
the Mede with a land force. And they are said to have put here statues
not of all those women, for they are not many here, but only of those
who were especially remarkable for merit. And there is a building in
front of the temple of Apollo, called the tent of Orestes. For before
he was cleared of his mother’s blood, none of the people of Trœzen
would receive him in their houses: but they put him here and gradually
cleared him and fed him here, till the expiatory rites were completed.
And to this day the descendants of those that cleared him feast here on
appointed days. And the expiations having been buried not far from this
tent, they say a laurel sprang up from them, which is still to be seen
in front of the tent. And they say that Orestes among other purgations
used water from Hippocrene. For the people of Trœzen have a well called
Hippocrene, and the tradition about it is the same as the Bœotian
tradition. For they too say that water sprang up from the ground when
Pegasus touched the ground with his hoof, and that Bellerophon came to
Trœzen to ask for Æthra as his wife from Pittheus, but it so chanced
that before the marriage came off he fled from Corinth.
And there is here a statue of Hermes called Polygius, and they say
Hercules offered his club to it, and the club was of wild olive, and,
(believe it who will,) sprouted in the earth and grew, and is now a
tree, for Hercules they say discovered the wild olive in the Saronian
marsh and cut a club of it. There is also a temple of Zeus Soter, built
they say by King Aetius the son of Anthas. And they call their river
Chrysorrhoe (_golden stream_), for when there was a drought in the land
and no rain for nine years, and all other water they say dried up, this
Chrysorrhoe continued to flow as usual.
CHAPTER XXXII.
And Hippolytus the son of Theseus has precincts and a temple in them
and ancient statue. Diomede they say erected all these, and was the
first to sacrifice to Hippolytus: and the people of Trœzen have
a priest of Hippolytus who serves for life, and they have yearly
sacrifices, and the following custom. Every maiden cuts off a lock of
her hair before marriage, and takes it and offers it at this temple.
And they don’t represent Hippolytus as having died through being torn
in pieces by his horses, nor do they point out his tomb if they know
it: but they try to make out that Hippolytus is called in heaven
the Charioteer, and has this honour from the gods. And within his
precincts is the temple of Apollo Epibaterius, the votive offering of
Diomede when he escaped the storm which fell on the Greeks as they were
returning from Ilium: they say also that Diomede first established
the Pythian games in honour of Apollo. And as to Lamia and Auxesia
(for they also have their share of honour) the people of Trœzen do
not give the same account as the Epidaurians and Æginetans, but say
that they were virgins who came from Crete, and in a general commotion
in the city were stoned by one of the rival factions, and they have
a festival to them called Stonethrowing. And in another part of the
precincts is what is called Hippolytus’ race-course, and overlooking
it a temple of Peeping Aphrodite: where, when Hippolytus was training,
Phædra would gaze at him in her love. Here too grows the myrtle with
the leaves pricked, as I described before: for when Phædra was in
despair and found no relief for her love-pains, she wreaked her agony
on the leaves of the myrtle. And Phædra’s tomb is here, not very far
from the monument of Hippolytus, or that myrtle tree. And there is a
statue of Æsculapius by Timotheus, but the people of Trœzen say it is
not Æsculapius but Hippolytus. I saw also the house of Hippolytus, and
in front of it is what is called the Well of Hercules, the water (as
the people of Trœzen say) which Hercules discovered. And in the citadel
there is a temple of Athene Sthenias, the wooden statue of the goddess
is by Callon of Ægina; who was the pupil of Tectæus and Angelion, who
designed the statue of Apollo at Delos; and they were pupils of Dipœnus
and Scyllis. And as you go down from thence you come to the temple of
Pan the Deliverer, for he shewed dreams to the chief people of the
Trœzenians which brought about deliverance from the plague, which
pressed so hard on the Athenians. And in the environs of Trœzen you
will see a temple of Isis, and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height:
the temple the Halicarnassians built for Trœzen their mother city; but
the statue of Isis was a votive offering of the people of Trœzen.
As you go along the mountains to Hermione you see the source of
the river Hyllicus, which was originally called Taurius, and a rock
called Theseus’ rock, which used in former times to be called the altar
of Sthenian Zeus, but had its name changed to Theseus’ rock because
Theseus found under it the shoes and sword of Ægeus. And near this rock
is the temple of Bridal Aphrodite, which was built by Theseus when
he married Helen. And outside the walls is a temple of Fruit-giving
Poseidon: for they say that Poseidon in wrath threatened to make their
land fruitless, by casting brine on the seeds and roots of their
plants, till mollified by their sacrifices and prayers he sent brine on
their land no longer. And above the temple of Poseidon is Law-giving
Demeter, which was built they say by Althepus. And as you descend to
the harbour near what is called Celenderis, is the place which they
call Natal-place, because they say Theseus was born there. And in front
of this place is a temple of Ares on the spot where Theseus conquered
the Amazons in battle: they must have been some of that band who fought
in Attica with Theseus and the Athenians. And as you go towards the
Psiphæan sea there is a wild olive tree called twisted _Rhachus_. The
people of Trœzen give that name to every kind of olive that bears no
fruit, whether its general name is κοτινός, or φυλίας, or ἔλαιος. And
they call it twisted because, the reins catching in it, the chariot
of Hippolytus got overturned. And at no great distance from this is
the temple of Saronian Artemis, about which I have already given an
account. But this much more shall be stated, that they keep an annual
feast called Saronia to Artemis.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Of the islands near Trœzen one is so close to the mainland, that you
can wade over to it at low water. It was called Sphæria in former days,
and _Sacred_ for the following reason. It contains the tomb of Sphærus,
who they say was the charioteer of Pelops. He had a dream from Athene,
that Æthra crossed over into the island with offerings for the dead,
and when she crossed over there ’tis said that Poseidon had an intrigue
with her. Accordingly Æthra built a temple here to _Injurious Athene_,
and called the island _Sacred_ instead of Sphæria: she also imposed
the custom on the maidens of Trœzen that they should before marriage
dedicate their maiden-girdle to _Injurious Athene_. And they say the
island Calaurea was in ancient days sacred to Apollo, when Delphi
belonged to Poseidon, it is also said that they exchanged these places
with one another. And they produce in support of their statement the
following oracle,
“It is all one whether you dwell at Delos or Calaurea
At sacred Pytho or the wind-swept Tænarus.”
There is also at Calaurea a sacred temple to Poseidon, and the
priestess is a maiden till the period for marriage. And within the
precincts is the tomb of Demosthenes. Fortune seems to have shown
especial malignity to Demosthenes as earlier to Homer, since Homer was
not only blind but overwhelmed by such poverty that he was a strolling
beggar on every soil, and Demosthenes in his old age had to taste the
bitterness of exile, and came to a violent end. Much has been said
about Demosthenes by others and by himself, by which it is clear that
he had no share in the money which Harpalus brought from Asia, but
what was said afterwards I will relate. Harpalus, after having fled
from Athens and crossed over with the fleet to Crete, was murdered
not long afterwards by some of his attendant slaves: but some say
he was treacherously murdered by the Macedonian Pausanias. And the
dispenser of the money fled to Rhodes, and was arrested by Philoxenus
the Macedonian, who had also demanded the extradition of Harpalus
from the Athenians. And getting this lad he cross-questioned him,
until he obtained full intelligence of those who had had any money
from Harpalus: and when he ascertained their names he sent letters to
Athens. Although in those letters he enumerated the names of those who
had had any money from Harpalus, and the precise sum which each of
them had, he made no mention whatever of Demosthenes, though he was
most bitterly hated by Alexander, and although Philoxenus himself was
privately his enemy. Demosthenes had honours paid to him in other parts
of Greece also as well as by the inhabitants of Calaurea.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
In the Trœzenian district there is an isthmus jutting out some way into
the sea, and on it has been built a small town near the sea called
Methana. And there is a temple of Isis there, and a statue in the
market-place of Hermes, and another of Hercules. And at the distance of
about 30 stades from this small town are some warm baths. And they say
that water first appeared there when Antigonus, the son of Demetrius,
was King of the Macedonians, and water did not first appear, but fire
bubbled up from the ground, and when this burnt itself out then water
began to flow, which bubbles up even to this day warm and very salt.
And if one bathes here the water is not cold near the shore, but if
you go well out to sea swimming is dangerous, for there are many kinds
of sea-monsters and especially sea dogs. But the most wonderful thing
at Methana I will now record. The South West Wind when the vines are
growing blows upon them from the Saronic Gulf, and scorches them up.
And when the wind is still sweeping down on them, two men take a cock
with white feathers only, and tear it in half, and run round the vines
in different directions, each with half the cock, and when they come
back to the place where they started, they bury it there. This is their
invention and contrivance against the South West Wind. The little
islands, which lie just off the coast, 9 in number, they call the
islands of Pelops, and they say when it rains rain never comes on one
of them. Whether this is so I do not know, but the people about Methana
say so, and I have heard of people trying to avert hail by sacrifices
and incantations. Methana then is an Isthmus in the Peloponnese: and
inside the Trœzenian Isthmus is the neighbouring town of Hermione. And
the people of Hermione say that the founder of the old city was one
Hermion the son of Europs. And this Europs, who was certainly the son
of Phoroneus, was said by Herophanes of Trœzen to be illegitimate, on
the ground that the kingdom of Argos would not have come to Argus the
daughter’s son of Phoroneus, had Phoroneus had a legitimate son. But,
even if Europs was legitimate and died before Phoroneus, I know very
well that a son of his would not have been considered equal to Niobe’s
son, who was reckoned to be the son of Zeus. And afterwards Dorians
from Argos colonized Hermione, but amicably I think, for had there been
a war it would have been mentioned by the Argives.
And there is a road to Hermione from Trœzen along the rock which was
formerly called the altar of Zeus Sthenius, but after Theseus removed
the shoes and sword of Ægeus, it was called Theseus’ rock. As you go
by this rock on the mountain side, you come to the temple of Apollo
called _The God of the Plane-Trees_, and the hamlet is called Ilei,
and in it are temples of Demeter and her daughter Proserpine. And near
the sea, on the border of the territory of Hermione, is a temple of
Demeter under the title Thermasia. And at the distance of about eighty
stades is the promontory called Scyllæum from Scylla, the daughter
of Nisus. For after Minos took Nisæa and Megara through her treason,
he refused to marry her though he had promised, and even ordered the
Cretans to throw her overboard, and the tide washed her dead body on
to this promontory. And they exhibit no tomb of her, for they say that
her body was neglected, and carried away by sea birds bit by bit. And
as you sail from Scyllæum in the direction of the city is another
promontory called Bucephala, and next to it 3 islands, of which the
first is Haliusa, which affords a convenient harbour for ships to ride
at anchor, and next is Pityusa, and the third they call Aristeræ. And
as you coast along by these islands, there is another promontory called
Colyergia jutting out from the mainland, and next it an island called
Tricrana, and a mountain Buporthmus jutting out into the sea from the
Peloponnese. And at Buporthmus is a temple of Demeter and Proserpine,
and also one of Athene under the title Promachorma. And in front of
Buporthmus lies an island called Aperopia. And at no great distance
from Aperopia is another island called Hydrea. And the shore on the
mainland opposite these islands extends in a crescent shape, and is
rocky from the easterly direction close to the sea as far as the temple
of Poseidon, but slopes at the westerly end of the bay, where it has
its harbours. The length of this rocky headland is about seven stades,
and the breadth in the broadest part about three stades or a little
more. Here was the old town of Hermione. And even now there are several
temples there, one of Poseidon at the commencement of the headland,
and as you go from the sea to the heights a temple of Athene, and near
it some remains of a race-course, where they say the sons of Tyndareus
used to practise. There is also another small temple of Athene, but
the roof has fallen in. And there is a temple to the Sun, and another
to the Graces, and another to Serapis and Isis. And there is a circle
of huge unhewn stones, and inside this circle they perform the sacred
rites of Demeter. Such are the objects to be seen at the old town of
Hermione. But the new town is at about four stades’ distance from the
promontory on which there is the temple of Poseidon, and it lies on a
gentle slope as you ascend the hill called Pron, for that is its name.
There is a wall all round Hermione. And it has various objects of
interest, but what I select as most worthy of record are the temple of
Marine Aphrodite and Aphrodite of the Harbour, and a statue of white
stone of huge size, and a work of art. And there is another temple of
Aphrodite, which has other honours from the people of Hermione and
this special one, that maidens or widows intending to marry must all
sacrifice here before their marriage. And Thermasian Demeter has two
temples, one on the borders of Trœzen as I have before said, and one in
new Hermione.
CHAPTER XXXV.
And next is a temple of Dionysus Melanægis, in whose honour they have a
musical contest every year, and give prizes for diving and rowing. And
there is a temple of Artemis under the name of Iphigenia, and a statue
of Poseidon in bronze with one foot on a dolphin. And as you proceed
to the temple of Vesta, you find no statue, but an altar on which they
sacrifice to Vesta. And there are three temples and three statues of
Apollo: one has no title, the second is called Pythæan Apollo, and
the third Apollo of the Borders. The name Pythæan they borrowed from
the Argives: for Telesilla says that to their country first of all
the Greeks came Pythæus the son of Apollo. But why they call the god
Apollo of the Borders I cannot precisely tell, but I conjecture that
having obtained victory either by war or litigation in reference to the
borders, they honoured for this Apollo of the Borders. And the temple
of Fortune is they say the latest one that the people of Hermione have,
the statue is colossal in Parian marble. And they have two wells, one
an old one into which the water flows by a hidden channel, but it would
never grow dry, not even if all the population were to come and drink
of it: and another dug in our day, and the name of the place from which
the water flows into it is Meadow. But the temple most worthy of notice
is that of Demeter on the Pron. This temple the people of Hermione say
was built by Clymenus, the son of Phoroneus, and by Chthonia the sister
of Clymenus. And the Argives say, when Demeter came to Argolis, that
Atheras and Mysius offered the goddess hospitality, but Colontas would
neither receive her into his house, nor pay her any other attention:
and in this he acted very much against the wish of his daughter
Chthonia. And Colontas they say for this conduct was burnt house and
all, but Chthonia was conveyed to Hermione by Demeter, and built the
temple there to Demeter. And Demeter is called Chthonia there, and the
annual festival held in her honour in the season of summer is called
Chthonia too. And they keep the festival in this wise. The priests of
the gods and all the town authorities for the year lead the procession,
and the women and men follow. It is customary for boys too to honour
the goddess by a procession, in which they take part clothed in white,
and with garlands on their heads plaited of the flower which they call
here _cosmosandalum_, but which seems to me from size and colour to
resemble the hyacinth, it has also on its petals the same mournful
letters. And the procession is followed by some people who lead a full
grown heifer from the herd, tightly bound with ropes and curvetting
wildly. Some drag this heifer to the temple and unfasten the ropes so
as to let it inside, while others keep the doors open till they see
the heifer inside, and then shut them. And four old women are waiting
inside, and they finish the heifer. For whoever can get the chance
cuts its throat with a sickle. And afterwards the doors are opened,
and those who have this duty drive up a second, third, and even fourth
heifer. The women finish them all off in the same way, and then this
fresh wonder is added to the sacrifice: on whichever side the first
heifer falls all must fall. This is the way in which the sacrifice is
performed by the people of Hermione. And in front of the temple there
are a few statues of women who have been priestesses of Demeter, and as
you enter in there are seats on which the old women sit, waiting for
each heifer to be driven in, and there are some statues not very old
of Athene and Demeter. But the special object of their worship neither
have I seen nor any man, whether stranger or native of Hermione. These
old women only know what it is.
There is also another temple: and there are statues all round it.
This temple is opposite the temple of Chthonia, and is called the
temple of Clymenus, to whom they sacrifice here. I don’t think Clymenus
is the name of an Argive that came to Hermione, but the title of a god
who according to the tradition was a king in the infernal regions. Hard
by is another temple and statue of Ares. On the right of the temple of
Chthonia is a porch, called by the natives Echo, as a man’s slightest
whisper is repeated thrice. And behind the temple of Chthonia are
some places which the people of Hermione call, one Clymenus’ place,
and another Pluto’s place, and a third the Acherusian marsh. They
are all fenced in with a wall of stone: and in Clymenus’ place there
is a hole in the ground, through which Hercules brought up Cerberus
according to the tradition of the people of Hermione. And near the gate
from which the road leads straight to Mases, is a temple of Ilithyia
within the walls. They propitiate the goddess Ilithyia in various ways
every day with sacrifices and incense, and to her are most of the
votive offerings given, but her statue no one may look at except her
priestesses.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
About seven stades on the high road to Mases, as you turn to the left,
is the road to Halice. Halice in our days is deserted, but it was
formerly inhabited, and is mentioned on the pillars of the Epidaurians,
which record the cures wrought by Æsculapius. I know of nothing else
worthy of record, either of the place or its population. And the
road that leads to it passes between Pron and another mountain that
in old times was called Thornax. But because of the legendary change
of Zeus into the cuckoo they say its name was changed to Coccygium
(_Cuckoo-mountain_). And there are temples on the tops of both these
mountains, one of Zeus on the top of Coccygium, and one of Hera on the
top of Pron. That at Coccygium is at the end of the mountain, and it
has neither doors nor roof, nor any statue in it, and it was said to be
Apollo’s temple. And near it is a road to Mases as you take the turn to
the right. And Mases was a town in old times, as Homer has mentioned
it in his catalogue of the Argives, and the people of Hermione use
it as their port now. And from Mases there is a road on the right to
the promontory called Struthus, and it is about 250 stades from this
promontory along the mountain passes to what is called Philanorium and
to Bolei. Bolei consists of layers of unhewn stones. And another place
which they call Didymi is 20 stades from Bolei. At Didymi there is a
temple of Apollo, and another of Poseidon, and another of Demeter: and
their statues are erect, in white stone.
As you go from thence you come to the district of the Argives
formerly called Asinæa from its chief town Asine, the ruins of which
are near the sea. And when the Lacedæmonians under their king Nicander,
the son of Charillus, the son of Polydectes, the son of Eunomus, the
son of Prytanis, the son of Eurypon, invaded Argolis with an army, the
people of Asine joined them, and ravaged with them the territory of
the Argives. But when the Lacedæmonian force went home again, then the
Argives and their king Eratus marched against Asine. And for some time
the people of Asine defended their walls, and slew several of the most
valiant of the Argives and among them Lysistratus, but when their walls
were carried, then they put their wives and children on shipboard and
left the town, and the Argives razed it to the ground, and added it to
their territory, but they left the temple of Apollo standing, and it is
now to be seen, and they buried Lysistratus near it.
Now the sea at Lerna[29] is about 40 stades from Argos. And as you
go down to Lerna you first come to the river Erasinus, which flows
into the Phrixus, and the Phrixus into the sea between Temenium and
Lerna. And as you turn from the Erasinus about 8 stades to the left
there is a temple of the Dioscuri called the Kings: and their statues
are of wood just like those in the city. And as you turn to the right
you cross the Erasinus, and come to the river Chimarrus. And near it
is a circle of stones, and here (so the story goes) Pluto, after the
Rape of Proserpine the daughter of Demeter, descended to his supposed
underground realms. Now Lerna is, as I have previously said, by the
sea, and they have rites here to Demeter of Lerna. And there is a
sacred grove beginning at the mountain which they call Pontinus. And
this mountain Pontinus does not let the rain flow off, but absorbs it.
Though the river Pontinus does indeed flow from it. And on the top of
the mountain is the temple of Saitian Athene, only ruins now, and the
foundations of the house of Hippomedon, who accompanied Polynices the
son of Œdipus in his attempt against Thebes.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
And the grove of plane-trees beginning at this mountain extends most of
the way to the sea, bounded on one side by the river Pontinus, and on
the other by the river Amymone, which gets its name from the daughter
of Danaus. And inside the grove are statues of Demeter Prosymne and
Dionysus, and the statue of Demeter is seated and not a large one.
These are of stone: but in another temple there is a wooden one of
Dionysus the Saviour seated; and a stone statue of Aphrodite near the
sea, which they say was a votive offering of the daughters of Danaus,
and Danaus himself erected the temple of Athene near the Pontinus.
And they say that Philhammon was the founder of the rites at Lerna.
The traditions about these mysteries are manifestly not very ancient.
And what I have heard was written on a heart made of orichalcum; this
Arriphon could not have got from Philhammon, for Arriphon was a native
of Triconium in Ætolia, and held in most repute of all the Lycians in
our time, and a clever fellow at finding out what nobody before knew,
and who no doubt found this out for himself. The verses and all the
prose mixed up with the verses were in Doric: but before the return of
the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese the Argives used the same dialect as
the Athenians. And in the days of Philhammon I do not believe that even
the name of Dorians was known throughout all Greece. This proves my
case.
And near the source of the Amymone grows a plane-tree, under which
they say the hydra was reared. I believe that this beast was larger in
size than other water-snakes, and that its poison was so venomous that
Hercules dipped the points of his arrows in its gall, but I cannot help
thinking it had only one head and not more. But Pisander of Camirus,
that the beast might appear more formidable and so add lustre to his
poem, described it as having many heads. I have seen also the well of
Amphiaraus and the Alcyonian marsh, by which the Argives say Dionysus
descended to Hades to fetch up Semele, for Polymnus shewed him the
descent. There is indeed no end to the depth of the Alcyonian marsh,
nor do I know of any man who by any device ever got to the bottom of
it, since even Nero, though he got and fastened together ropes many
stades long, and put a piece of lead and other apparatus for sounding
at the end, never could arrive at an accurate knowledge of its depth. I
have also heard that though the water of the marsh, as you would infer
from looking at it, is calm and quiet, if anyone ventures to swim in
it, it is sure to drag him down and suck him underneath to the bottom.
The circuit of the lake is not large, only about a third of a stade,
and on its banks are grass and reeds. But the nightly rites which take
place near it annually I am not permitted to write for public reading.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
And as you go from Lerna to Temenium--now Temenium belongs to the
Argives, and gets its name from Temenus the son of Aristomachus: for
he occupied and fortified the place, when he fought with the Dorians
against Tisamenus and the Achæans from this base--the river Phrixus
has its outlet into the sea, and there is a temple of Poseidon at
Temenium and another of Aphrodite, and there is a monument of Temenus
which is honoured by the Dorians at Argos. And about 50 stades I should
say from Temenium is Nauplia, deserted in our day, it was founded by
Nauplius who is reputed to have been the son of Poseidon and Amymone.
And there are still some remains of walls at Nauplia, and a temple
of Poseidon and a harbour, and a well called Canathus: in which the
Argives say Hera bathes every year and becomes a virgin again. This is
a tradition in connection with the secret rites which they perform to
Hera. And the traditions of the people of Nauplia about the ass, that
by gnawing twigs off the vine it makes the produce more abundant, (and
consequently they have an ass carved on the rock as having taught the
art of pruning vines), I pass over deeming them unworthy of mention.
There is also another road going from Lerna by the seaside to a place
which they call Genesium: and near the sea close to Genesium there is
a small temple of Poseidon. And close to this is another place called
Landing-place: for according to tradition this was the first place in
Argolis where Danaus and his sons landed. And as you go on from thence
is a place called Anigræa, on a road narrow and difficult of access.
It is on the left hand and extends to the sea, and is a good soil for
trees especially olive trees. And as you go up to the mainland there
is a place called Thyrea, where 300 picked men of the Argives fought
with 300 picked men of the Lacedæmonians for the possession of the
land. And as they were all killed except one Spartan and two Argives,
the tombs of those that fell in the action were piled up here, but
the Lacedæmonians afterwards got a firm footing at the place, as they
fought in full force with the Argives, and enjoyed it themselves for
a time, and afterwards gave it to the Æginetans who had been driven
out of Ægina by the Athenians. And in my day the Argives inhabited
the district of Thyrea, and they say that they recovered it justly by
conquest. Next to that burial-ground you come to Athene, where those
Æginetans dwelt, and another village Neris, and a third Eua, the
largest of the three villages, and Polemocrates has a temple in it.
He was the son of Machaon, and brother of Alexanor, and he heals the
people here, and has divine honours from the inhabitants. And beyond
these villages extends Mount Parnon, which is the boundary between the
Lacedæmonians and Argives and people of Tegea. And some stone Hermæ
stand as border stones to mark the boundaries, and the place gets its
name from them. And there is a river called Tanaus, the only river
which flows from Mount Parnon. It flows through Argive territory into
the Thyreatic gulf.
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Iliad xvi. 490, 491, cf. also Hes. Th. 444.
[14] Odyss., xi. 261-65.
[15] Iliad, ii. 117.
[16] Hesiod. _Works and Days._ 265. Cf. also Ovid, A.A. i. 655, 656.
[17] “Inventus forsan eodem modo est quo Eurotas, iii. i.” _Siebelis_.
[18] Iliad, ii. 571.
[19] Hymn to Demeter, 474-476.
[20] ii. 120.
[21] See the story told by Addison, _Spectator_, No. 483.
[22] Hdt. vi. 77.
[23] The word _Gorgon_ means _grim_, terrible.
[24] Il. xxiv. 609.
[25] See Il. v. 127, 128.
[26] Il. ix. 457.
[27] Iliad, ii. 571.
[28] Iliad, iv. 193, 194. Is Pausanias nodding here?
[29] _Qu._ “Now Lerna by the sea” (ἡ κατὰ Θάλασσαν Λέρνα). Cf. a little
below.
BOOK III.--LACONIA.
CHAPTER I.
Next to the Hermæ comes Laconia on the West. And according to the
Lacedæmonian tradition Lelex the _autochthon_ first reigned in this
land, and the people over whom he ruled were called after him Leleges.
And Lelex’ sons were Myles and a younger son Polycaon. Where Polycaon
went to and why I shall relate elsewhere. But on the death of Myles his
son Eurotas succeeded him in the kingdom. He diverted to the sea by a
canal all the stagnant water that filled the plain, and as it flowed
to the sea in mighty volume and became a noble river, he called it the
Eurotas. As he had no male children he left the kingdom to Lacedæmon,
whose mother was Taygete, (who gave her name to the mountain Taygetus),
and reputed father Zeus. And Lacedæmon married Sparta the daughter of
Eurotas, and when he succeeded to the kingdom he first gave the country
and inhabitants his own name, and then built and gave his wife’s name
to the city Sparta, which is so called even to our day. And Amyclas
his son, wishing also himself to leave a memorial behind him, built
the little town Amyclæ in Laconia. And of his sons Hyacinthus, the
youngest and most handsome, died in his father’s lifetime, and there
is a monument of him at Amyclæ close to the statue of Apollo. And on
the death of Amyclas the succession devolved upon Argalus his eldest
son, and after the death of Argalus upon Cynortas. And Cynortas had
a son called Œbalus. He married Gorgophone the daughter of Perseus
from Argos, and had a son Tyndareus, with whom Hippocoon contended for
the kingdom, claiming it on the ground of seniority. And Icarius and
his party espousing Hippocoon’s cause, he far exceeded Tyndareus in
power, and compelled him to retire from fear to Pellene, according to
the Lacedæmonian account. But the account of the Messenians is that
Tyndareus fled to Aphareus in Messenia, and that Aphareus was the son
of Perieres and the uterine brother of Tyndareus: and they say he dwelt
at Thalamæ in Messenia, and had sons born to him there. And some time
afterwards he was restored by Hercules and recovered his kingdom. And
his sons reigned after him, as well as his son-in-law Menelaus the
son of Atreus, and Orestes the husband of Hermione the daughter of
Menelaus. But when the Heraclidæ returned in the reign of Tisamenus
the son of Orestes, one party in Messene and Argos made Temenus king,
and another section Cresphontes. And in Lacedæmon as Aristodemus had
twins there were two royal houses, and they say this was in accordance
with the oracle at Delphi. And they say that Aristodemus died at
Delphi before the Dorians returned to the Peloponnese. Some indeed,
magnifying their own history, say that Aristodemus was shot with
arrows by Apollo, because he had not gone to the oracle, but consulted
Hercules whom he chanced to meet first, as to how the Dorians should
return to the Peloponnese. But the truer account is that the sons of
Pylades and Electra, who were cousins of Tisamenus the son of Orestes,
murdered Aristodemus. The names of his two sons were Procles and
Eurysthenes, who though they were twins were in most respects very
unlike one another. But though they hated one another very cordially,
yet they jointly combined with Theras, the son of Autesion, their
Argive mother’s brother, and their Regent, in establishing a colony
at the island which was then called Calliste, Theras hoping that the
descendants of Membliarus would abandon the kingdom of their own free
will, as in fact they did, reckoning that Theras’ pedigree went up to
Cadmus, whereas they were only descendants of Membliarus, a private
individual whom Cadmus left in the island as leader of the colonists.
And Theras gave his own name to the island instead of Calliste, and the
people of Thera even now yearly offer victims to him as their founder.
And Procles and Eurysthenes vied with one another in their zeal for
carrying out the wishes of Theras, but in all other respects were at
variance together. Not that, even if they had been one in heart and
mind, I could have put all their descendants into one common pedigree,
as cousin with cousin, and cousins’ children, with cousins’ children,
and so on, that to the latest posterity they should arithmetically
dovetail in with one another. I shall therefore pursue the history of
each family separately, and not mix up the two together in one account.
CHAPTER II.
Eurysthenes, the eldest of the sons of Aristodemus, had a son Agis they
say: (and from him they call the descendants of Eurysthenes Agidæ).
During his reign, when Patreus the son of Preugenes founded the city in
Achaia called to this day Patræ after him, the Lacedæmonians took part
in that colony. They cooperated also with Grais, the son of Echelas,
the son of Penthilus, the son of Orestes, who was sailing with a fleet
to make a colony somewhere or other. And he indeed was destined to
occupy the country between Ionia and Mysia, which is in our day called
Æolis: his grandfather Penthilus had already occupied Lesbos, the
island opposite this mainland. And during the reign of Echestratus the
son of Agis at Sparta the Lacedæmonians expelled all the Cynurians that
were in their prime, alleging as their excuse that robbers from Cynuria
ravaged Argolis, and the Argives were their kinsmen, and that the
Cynurians themselves made open incursions into Argolis. If tradition
speaks true the Cynurians were originally Argives, and they say their
founder was Cynurus the son of Perseus. And not many years afterwards
Labotas the son of Echestratus was king at Sparta. This Labotas, as we
are told by Herodotus in his account of Crœsus, had during his minority
the famous legislator Lycurgus as his Regent, only Herodotus calls him
Leobotes instead of Labotas. In his days first did the Lacedæmonians
make war against the Argives, and they alleged as their reasons for
declaring war that the Argives when they invaded Cynuria took a slice
of Lacedæmonian territory, and tried to stir up their neighbouring
subjects to revolt. In this war they say nothing very notable was done
on either side: and those of this family who succeeded one another as
kings, _viz._ Doryssus the son of Labotas and Agesilaus the son of
Doryssus, both died at no great interval after one another. And it was
when Agesilaus was king that Lycurgus legislated for the Lacedæmonians,
and some say that he derived his laws from Crete, others that he was
instructed by the Oracle at Delphi. And the Cretans say that their laws
come from Minos, who received divine assistance in codifying them. And
it seems to me that Homer has hinted as much in the following lines
about the legislation of Minos, “There too is Gnossus, the great city
where Minos reigned nine years, the bosom-friend of great Zeus.”[30]
But of Lycurgus I shall have more to say hereafter. And the son of
Agesilaus was Archelaus. In his reign the Lacedæmonians conquered in
war and enslaved one of the neighbouring cities called Ægys, suspecting
that the people of it had an understanding with the Arcadians. And
Charillus, the king of the other family, assisted Archelaus against
Ægys, and his own separate doings as leader of the Lacedæmonians I
shall relate later on when I come to the so-called Eurypontidæ. And
the son of Archelaus was Teleclus. In his reign the Lacedæmonians took
in war the neighbouring cities of Amyclæ and Pharis and Geranthræ,
which were then in the possession of the Achæans, and razed them to
the ground. The inhabitants however of Pharis and Geranthræ, being
terrified at the approach of the Dorians, agreed to evacuate the
Peloponnese upon conditions: but the people of Amyclæ they could
not drive out at first assault, but only after a long siege and the
greatest exhibition of valour. And the Dorians themselves shewed this
by erecting a trophy after the conquest of Amyclæ, as thinking that
conquest no small feather in their cap. And not long after all this
Teleclus was killed by the Messenians in the temple of Artemis in the
town of Limnæ, on the borders between Laconia and Messenia. And after
the death of Teleclus Alcamenes his son succeeded him, and during his
reign the Lacedæmonians sent to Crete Charmidas the son of Euthys,
one of the most famous men in Sparta, who put down the insurrection
at Crete, and persuaded the Cretans to abandon the cities which were
inland and in other respects weak, and to inhabit instead those which
were conveniently situated on the coast. The Lacedæmonians also
depopulated Helos, a city by the sea in the possession of the Achæans,
and defeated the Argives who came to the help of the people of Helos.
CHAPTER III.
And after the death of Alcamenes Polydorus his son succeeded to the
kingdom, and the Lacedæmonians sent a colony into Italy to Croton,
and to the Locrians at the promontory Zephyrium: and the war that
was called the war with Messene was at its height when Polydorus was
king. The Lacedæmonians and Messenians give different reasons for
this war. Their different accounts, and the progress of the war, will
be set forth by me in their turn: but thus much will I record at
present that Theopompus the son of Nicander had the greatest hand in
the first war with the Messenians, being the king of the other house.
And after the end of the war, when Messenia was already conquered by
the Lacedæmonians, and Polydorus was in good repute at Sparta, and
popular with the Lacedæmonians and especially with the populace, for he
exhibited no violence either in word or deed to anyone, and in legal
cases tempered justice with mercy, when in short he had a brilliant
fame throughout all Greece, he was murdered by Polemarchus a man of no
mean family in Lacedæmon, but hotheaded, as indeed he shewed by this
murder. And after his death Polydorus received many notable honours
from the Lacedæmonians. Polemarchus also had a monument at Sparta,
whether being judged to have been a good man previously, or that his
relatives buried him privately. During the reign of Eurycrates the son
of Polydorus the Messenians patiently endured the Lacedæmonian yoke,
nor was any revolution attempted by the Argive people, but in the days
of Anaxander the son of Eurycrates--for fate was already driving the
Messenians out of all the Peloponnese--the Messenians revolted from
the Lacedæmonians, and fought against them for some time, but were
eventually conquered, and evacuated the Peloponnese upon conditions of
war. And the remnant of them became slaves on Lacedæmonian soil, except
those who inhabited the maritime towns. All the circumstances of this
war and revolt of the Messenians I have no need to recount in detail in
the present part of my history. And Anaxander had a son Eurycrates, and
this second Eurycrates a son Leo. During their reigns the Lacedæmonians
met with the greatest reverses in fighting against the people of
Tegea. And in the reign of Anaxandrides the son of Leo they overcame
the people of Tegea, and in the following way. A Lacedæmonian by name
Lichas came to Tegea at a time when Lacedæmon and Tegea were at peace
together. And on Lichas’ arrival they made a search for the bones of
Orestes, and the Spartans sought for them in accordance with an oracle.
And Lichas discovered that they were lying in the shop of a blacksmith,
and he discovered it in this way: all that he saw in the blacksmith’s
shop he compared with the oracle at Delphi, thus he compared the
blacksmith’s bellows to the winds, because they produce a strong wind,
the hammer was the blow, that which resists the blow was the anvil, and
that which was a source of woe to man he naturally referred to iron,
for people already began to use iron in battle, for the god would have
spoken of brass as a source of woe to man in the days of the heroes.
And just as this oracle was given to the Lacedæmonians about the bones
of Orestes, so afterwards the Athenians were similarly instructed by
the oracle to bring Theseus’ bones to Athens from Scyrus, for otherwise
Scyrus could not be taken. And Cimon the son of Miltiades discovered
the bones of Theseus, he too by ingenuity, and not long after he took
Scyrus. That in the days of the heroes all arms alike were brass is
borne witness to by Homer in the lines which refer to the axe of
Pisander and the arrow of Meriones. And I have further confirmation
of what I assert in the spear of Achilles which is stored up in the
temple of Athene at Phaselis, and the sword of Memnon in the temple of
Æsculapius at Nicomedia, the former has its tip and handle of brass,
and, the latter is of brass throughout. This we know to be the case.
And Anaxandrides the son of Leo was the only Lacedæmonian that had two
wives together and two households. For his first wife, excellent in
other respects, had no children, and when the ephors bade him divorce
her, he would not consent to this altogether, but only so far as to
take a second wife as well. And the second wife bare a son Cleomenes,
and the first wife, though so long barren, after the birth of Cleomenes
bare Dorieus, and Leonidas, and Cleombrotus. And after the death of
Anaxandrides, the Lacedæmonians though they thought Dorieus the better
man both in council and war, reluctantly rejected him, and gave the
kingdom to Cleomenes according to their law of primogeniture.
CHAPTER IV.
And Dorieus, as he would not remain at Lacedæmon subject to Cleomenes,
was sent to form a colony. And Cleomenes commenced his reign by an
inroad into Argolis, gathering together an army of Lacedæmonians and
allies. And when the Argives came out to meet him armed for battle, he
conquered them, and when they were routed about 5,000 of them fled into
a neighbouring grove, which was sacred to Argus the son of Niobe. And
Cleomenes, who often had a touch of the mad, ordered the Helots to set
this grove on fire, and the grove was entirely consumed, and all these
fugitives in it. He also marched his army against Athens, and at first,
by freeing the Athenians from the yoke of the sons of Pisistratus,
got for himself good fame among the Lacedæmonians and all the Greeks,
but afterwards in his favour to an Athenian called Isagoras, tried
to get for him the dominion over the Athenians. But failing in this
expectation, and the Athenians fighting stoutly for their freedom,
he ravaged various parts of their territory, and they say laid waste
a place called Orgas, sacred to the gods at Eleusis. He also went to
Ægina, and arrested the leading men there for their support to the
Medes, as they had persuaded the citizens to supply King Darius the
son of Hystaspes with earth and water. And while Cleomenes was staying
at Ægina, Demaratus the king of the other family was calumniating him
to the multitude at Lacedæmon. And Cleomenes on his return from Ægina
contrived to get Demaratus ejected from the kingdom, and bribed the
priestess at Delphi to utter as oracular responses to the Lacedæmonians
about Demaratus whatever he told her, and also instigated Leotychides,
one of the royal house and same family as Demaratus, to be a rival
claimant for the kingdom. And Leotychides caught at some words, which
Aristo formerly had foolishly thrown out against Demaratus at his
birth, saying that he was not his son. And when the Lacedæmonians took
this question about Demaratus, as they took all their questions, to the
oracle at Delphi, the priestess gave them as replies whatever Cleomenes
had told her. Demaratus therefore was deposed from his kingdom by the
hatred of Cleomenes and not on just grounds. And Cleomenes after this
died in a fit of madness, for he seized his sword, and stabbed himself,
and hacked his body about all over. The Argives say he came to this bad
end as a judgment for his conduct to the 5,000 fugitives in the grove,
the Athenians say it was because he ravaged Orgas, and the Delphians
because he bribed the priestess at Delphi to tell falsehoods about
Demaratus. Now there are other cases of vengeance coming from heroes
and gods as on Cleomenes, for Protesilaus who is honoured at Eleus, a
hero not a whit more illustrious than Argus, privately punished the
Persian Artayctes, and the Megarians who had dared to till the holy
land could never get pardon from the gods of Eleusis. Nor do I know
of anyone that ever dared to tamper with the oracle but Cleomenes
alone. And as Cleomenes had no male children the kingdom devolved
upon Leonidas the son of Anaxandrides, the brother of Dorieus on both
sides. It was in his reign that Xerxes led his army into Greece, and
Leonidas with his 300 Lacedæmonians met him at Thermopylæ. There have
been many wars between the Greeks and barbarians, but those can easily
be counted wherein the valour of one man mainly contributed to glorious
victory, as the valour of Achilles in the war against Ilium, and that
of Miltiades in the action at Marathon. But indeed in my opinion the
heroism of Leonidas excelled all the great deeds of former times. For
Xerxes, the most sagacious and renowned of all the kings that ruled
over the Medes and Persians, would have been prevented, at the narrow
pass of Thermopylæ, by the handful of men that Leonidas had with him,
from seeing Greece at all, and from afterwards burning Athens, had it
not been for a certain Trachinian who led round by a pass on Mount
Œta the army of Hydarnes so as to fall on the Greek flank, and, when
Leonidas was conquered in this way, the barbarians passed into Greece
over his dead body. And Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus was not king
after Leonidas, but was Regent for Plistarchus Leonidas’ son during his
minority, and he led the Lacedæmonians to Platæa and afterwards passed
over to the Hellespont with a fleet. I especially admire the conduct
of Pausanias to the Coan lady, who was the daughter of a man of no
mean note among the Coans, _viz._ of Hegetorides the son of Antagoras,
and against her will the concubine of Pharandates the son of Teaspis,
a Persian: and when Mardonius fell in the battle at Platæa, and the
barbarians were annihilated, Pausanias sent this lady home to Cos, with
the ornaments and all other apparel that the Persian had given her.
Moreover he would not suffer the dead body of Mardonius to be outraged,
though the Æginetan Lampon urged it.
CHAPTER V.
Plistarchus the son of Leonidas died soon after succeeding to the
kingdom, and Plistoanax the son of Pausanias, the hero of Platæa,
succeeded him. And Plistoanax was succeeded by his son Pausanias. This
is that Pausanias who led an army into Attica, ostensibly against
Thrasybulus and the Athenians, but really to establish the dominion
of the Thirty Tyrants who had been set over Athens by Lysander. And
he conquered in an engagement the Athenians who guarded the Piræus,
but directly after the battle he took his army off home again, not to
bring upon Sparta the most shameful disgrace of establishing the power
of unholy men. And when he returned from Athens with nothing to show
for his battle, his enemies brought him to trial. Now a king of the
Lacedæmonians is tried by a court composed of twenty-eight Seniors,
and the Ephors, and the King of the other family. Fourteen of the
Seniors and Agis, the King of the other family, condemned Pausanias,
the rest of the Court acquitted him. And no long time after the
Lacedæmonians gathering together an army against Thebes, the reason
for which war we shall relate in our account about Agesilaus, Lysander
marched into Phocis, and, having mustered the Phocians in full force,
lost no time in advancing into Bœotia, and making an attack upon the
fortified town Haliartus, which would not revolt from Thebes. Some
Thebans however and Athenians had secretly entered the town, and they
making a sally and drawing up in battle array, Lysander and several
of the Lacedæmonians fell. And Pausanias, who had been collecting
forces from Tegea and the rest of Arcadia, came too late to take part
in the fight, and when he got to Bœotia and heard of the death of
Lysander and the defeat of his army, he nevertheless marched his army
to Thebes, intending to renew the fight there. But when he got there
he found the Thebans drawn up in battle array against him, and it was
also reported that Thrasybulus was coming up with an Athenian force;
accordingly, fearing to be taken between two fires, he made a treaty
with the Thebans, and buried those who had fallen in the sally from
Haliartus. This conduct of his did not please the Lacedæmonians, but
I praise his determination for the following reason. Well knowing
that reverses always found the Lacedæmonians surrounded by a swarm of
enemies, what happened after Thermopylæ and in the island of Sphacteria
made him afraid of causing a third disaster. But as the citizens
accused him of slowness in getting to Bœotia he did not care to stand
a second trial, but the people of Tegea received him as a suppliant
at the temple of Alean Athene. This temple was from time immemorial
venerated throughout the Peloponnese, and afforded safety to all
suppliants, as was shewn by the Lacedæmonians to Pausanias, and earlier
still to Leotychides, and by the Argives to Chrysis, who all took
sanctuary here, and were not demanded up. And after the voluntary exile
of Pausanias, his sons Agesipolis and Cleombrotus being quite young,
Aristodemus the next of kin was appointed Regent: and the success of
the Lacedæmonians at Corinth was owing to his generalship. And when
Agesipolis came of age and took over the kingdom, his first war was
against the Argives. And as he was leading his army from Tegea into
Argolis, the Argives sent an envoy to negotiate peace with him on the
old conditions established among all Dorians. But he not only declined
these proposals, but advanced with his army and ravaged Argolis. And
there was an earthquake, but not even then would Agesipolis draw off
his forces, though these tokens of Poseidon’s displeasure frightened
the Lacedæmonians especially, [and also the Athenians.] And Agesipolis
was now encamped under the walls of Argos, and the earthquakes ceased
not, and some of the soldiers died struck by lightning, and others were
dismayed by the thunder. So at last he returned from Argolis sorely
against his will, and led an expedition against the Olynthians, and
having been successful in battle, and taken most of the other cities in
Chalcidice, and hoping to take Olynthus also, he was carried off by a
sudden disease and died.
CHAPTER VI.
And Agesipolis having died childless, the succession devolved upon
Cleombrotus, under whom the Lacedæmonians fought against the Bœotians
at Leuctra, and Cleombrotus, exposing himself too freely, fell at the
commencement of the action. Somehow or other the Deity seems to like to
remove the General first in great reverses, as from the Athenians he
removed Hippocrates (the son of Ariphron) their General at Delium, and
later on Leosthenes their General in Thessaly.
The elder son of Cleombrotus, Agesipolis, did nothing worthy of
record, and Cleomenes the younger succeeded after his brother’s death.
And he had two sons, of whom the eldest Acrotatus died before his
father, and when later on the younger Cleomenes died, there was a
dispute who should be king between Cleonymus the son of Cleomenes and
Areus the son of Acrotatus. The Senate decided that to Areus the son
of Acrotatus and not to Cleonymus belonged the hereditary office.
And Cleonymus got mightily enraged at being ejected from the kingdom,
though the Ephors endeavoured to induce him by various honours, and
by making him commander-in-chief of the army, not to be an enemy to
his country. But in spite of this he eventually injured his country in
various ways, and even went so far as to invite in Pyrrhus the grandson
of Æacus.
And during the reign of Areus the son of Acrotatus, Antigonus the
son of Demetrius made an expedition against Athens both by land and
sea. And an Egyptian fleet under Patroclus came to the aid of the
Athenians, and the Lacedæmonians came out in full force with Areus the
king at their head. And Antigonus having closely invested Athens, and
barring the Athenian allies from every approach to the city, Patroclus
sent messengers and begged the Lacedæmonians and Areus to begin the
battle against Antigonus, and when they began he said he would fall on
the rear of the Macedonians, for it was not reasonable that his force
should attack the Macedonians first, being Egyptians and sailors. Then
the Lacedæmonians were eager to bear the brunt of the battle, being
animated by their friendship to the Athenians, and the desire to do
something that posterity would not willingly forget. But Areus, as
their provisions had been consumed, led his army home again. For he
thought it sheer madness not to husband their resources, but lavish
them all on strangers. And Athens holding out for a very long time,
Antigonus made peace on conditions that he might have a garrison at the
Museum. And some time after Antigonus himself withdrew the garrison
there. And Areus had a son Acrotatus, and he had a son Areus, who
was only 8 when he fell sick and died. And as now Leonidas was the
only male left of the family of Eurysthenes, though quite an old man,
the Lacedæmonians made him king. And it so chanced that Lysander, a
descendant of Lysander the son of Aristocritus, especially disliked
Leonidas. He associated with himself Cleombrotus, the son in law of
Leonidas, and having won him over brought against Leonidas various
charges, and the oath he had sworn to Cleonymus his father while quite
a boy that he would destroy Sparta. So Leonidas was deposed from the
kingdom, and Cleombrotus reigned in his room. And if Leonidas had given
way to temper, and (like Demaratus the son of Aristo) had gone and
joined the king of Macedonia or the king of Egypt, he would have got
no advantage from the subsequent repentance of the Spartans. But as it
was when the citizens exiled him he went to Arcadia, and from thence
not many years afterwards the Lacedæmonians recalled him, and made him
king the second time. And all that Cleomenes the son of Leonidas did,
and all his boldness and bravery, and how the Spartan kings came to an
end with him, I have previously recorded in connection with Aratus of
Sicyon. Nor did I omit the details of Cleomenes’ death in Egypt.
CHAPTER VII.
Of the family of Eurysthenes then, called the Agiadæ, Cleomenes the son
of Leonidas was the last king at Sparta: but as to the other branch
this is what I have heard. Procles the son of Aristodemus had a son
called Sous, whose son Eurypon attained such glory that the family were
called Eurypontidæ from him, though till his time they were called
Proclidæ. And Eurypon had a son Prytanis, and it was in his days that
animosity broke out between the Lacedæmonians and Argives, and even
earlier than this quarrel they fought with the Cynurians, but during
the succeeding generations, when Eunomus the son of Prytanis and
Polydectes the son of Eunomus were kings, Sparta continued at peace.
But Charillus the son of Polydectes ravaged the Argive territory, and
made a raid into Argolis, and under his leadership the Spartans went
out to Tegea, when the Lacedæmonians hoped to take Tegea and slice the
district off from Arcadia, following a beguiling oracle. And after the
death of Charillus Nicander his son succeeded to the kingdom, and it
was in his reign that the Messenians killed Teleclus the king of the
other family in the temple of Artemis Limnas. And Nicander invaded
Argolis with an army, and ravaged most of the country. And the Asinæans
having taken part with the Lacedæmonians in this expedition, not
long afterwards paid the penalty to the Argives in the destruction of
their country and their own exile. And Theopompus the son of Nicander,
who was king after his father, I shall make mention of when I come
to the history of Messenia. During his reign came on the contest for
Thyrea between the Lacedæmonians and Argives. Theopompus himself took
no part in this, partly from old age, but still more from sorrow at
the death of his son Archidamus. Not that Archidamus died childless,
for he left a son Zeuxidamus, who was succeeded in the kingdom by his
son Anaxidamus. It was in his reign that the Messenians evacuated
the Peloponnese, having been a second time conquered in war by the
Spartans. And Anaxidamus had a son Archidamus, and he had a son
Agesicles: and both of them had the good fortune to spend all their
life in peace and without wars. And Aristo the son of Agesicles having
married a girl who they say was the most shameless of all the girls in
Lacedæmon, but in appearance the most beautiful girl next to Helen,
had by her a son Demaratus seven months after marriage. And as he was
sitting with the ephors in council a servant came and told him of the
birth of his son. And Aristo, forgetting the lines in the Iliad[31]
about the birth of Eurystheus, or perhaps not knowing them, said it
couldn’t be his child from the time. He was sorry afterwards for these
words which he had spoken. And when Demaratus was king and in other
respects in good repute at Sparta, and had cooperated with Cleomenes in
freeing the Athenians from the Pisistratidæ, this thoughtless word of
Aristo, and the hatred of Cleomenes deprived him of the kingdom. And he
went to Persia to king Darius, and they say his descendants continued
for a long time in Asia. And Leotychides, who became king in his
place, shared with the Athenians and their General Xanthippus, the son
of Ariphron, in the action at Mycale, and also marched into Thessaly
against the Aleuadæ. And though he might have reduced all Thessaly,
as he was victorious in every battle, he allowed the Aleuadæ to buy
him off. And being impeached at Lacedæmon he went voluntarily into
exile to escape trial, and became a suppliant at Tegea at the temple of
Alean Athene there, and as his son Zeuxidamus had previously died of
some illness, his grandson Archidamus succeeded him, on his departure
to Tegea. This Archidamus injured the Athenian territory excessively,
invading Attica every year, and whenever he invaded it he went through
all the country ravaging it, and also captured after a siege the town
of Platæa which was friendly to the Athenians. Not that Platæa had
ever stirred up strife between the Peloponnesians and Athenians, but
as far as in its power lay had made them both keep the peace. But
Sthenelaidas, one of the Ephors, a man of great power at Lacedæmon, was
mainly the cause of the war at that time. And this war shook Greece,
which was previously in a flourishing condition, to its foundation, and
afterwards Philip the son of Amyntas reduced it completely, when it was
already rotten and altogether unsound.
CHAPTER VIII.
And on the death of Archidamus, Agis the elder of his sons being of
age succeeded, and not Agesilaus. And Archidamus had also a daughter
called Cynisca, who was most ambitious in regard to the races at
Olympia, and was the first woman who trained horses, and the first
woman who won the prize at Olympia, though after her several women,
especially Lacedæmonian ones, won the prize at Olympia, though none
came up to her fame in these contests. But the Spartans seem to me
to admire least of all men the glory that proceeds from poetry, for
except an epigram on Cynisca composed by some one or other, and
still earlier one on Pausanias, composed by Simonides, inscribed on
the tripod erected at Delphi, there is no record made by any poet
on any of the Lacedæmonian kings. And in the reign of Agis, the son
of Archidamus, the Lacedæmonians brought other charges against the
people of Elis, but were especially annoyed at their being shut out
of the contest at Olympia, and the privileges of the temple there.
They therefore sent an envoy with an ultimatum to the people of Elis,
bidding them allow the people of Lepreum, and all other resident
aliens who were subject to them, to live according to their own laws.
And the people of Elis making reply that, when they saw the subject
cities of Sparta free, they would immediately set their own free, the
Lacedæmonians under King Agis at once invaded Elis. On that occasion
the army retired in consequence of an earthquake, when they had
advanced as far as Olympia and the River Alpheus, but next year Agis
wasted the country and carried off much booty. And Xenias a man of
Elis, who was privately friendly to Agis and publicly a champion of the
Lacedæmonians, conspired against the populace with the men who were
wealthy, but before Agis and the army could come up and cooperate with
them Thrasydæus, who was at this time the leader of the populace at
Elis, conquered Xenias and his faction in battle and drove them from
the city. And when Agis led his army home again, he left Lysistratus
the Spartan with a portion of his force, and the refugees from Elis,
to cooperate with the men of Lepreum in ravaging the district. And in
the third year of the war the Lacedæmonians and Agis made preparations
to invade Elis: but the people of Elis and Thrasydæus, who had been
reduced by the war to the greatest extremity, made a convention to give
liberty to their subject cities, and to raze the fortifications of
their town, and to allow the Lacedæmonians to sacrifice to the god at
Olympia and to contend in the games. After this Agis kept continually
attacking Attica, and fortified Decelea as a constant menace to the
Athenians: and after the Athenian fleet was destroyed at Ægos-potamoi,
Lysander the son of Aristocritus and Agis violated the solemn oaths
which the Lacedæmonians and Athenians had mutually sworn to observe,
and at their own responsibility, and not at the bidding of the Spartan
community, made an agreement with their allies to cut off Athens root
and branch. These were the most notable exploits of Agis in war. And
the hastiness of speech of Aristo about the legitimacy of his son
Demaratus Agis also imitated in regard to his son Leotychides, for
some evil genius put it into his head in the hearing of the Ephors to
say that he did not think he was his son. He repented however of his
speech afterwards, for when he was carried home sick from Arcadia and
had got to Heræa, he solemnly declared before a multitude of witnesses
that he did verily believe that Leotychides was his son, and conjured
them with entreaties and tears to report what he had said to the
Lacedæmonians. But after his death Agesilaus drove Leotychides from the
kingdom, reminding the Lacedæmonians of Agis’ former speech, though
the Arcadians came from Heræa, and bare witness what they had heard
about Leotychides from Agis on his death-bed. And the variance between
Agesilaus and Leotychides was heightened by the oracle at Delphi, which
ran as follows:--
“Sparta, beware, although thou art so great,
Of having king o’er thee lame of one leg.
For unexpected woes shall then prevail,
And mortal-slaying wave of troublous war.”
Leotychides said that this oracle referred to Agesilaus, for he
limped on one leg, but Agesilaus said it referred to Leotychides’ not
being the legitimate son of Agis. And the Lacedæmonians did not avail
themselves of their privilege to refer the question to Delphi: but
Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, seems to have prevailed upon the
people to unanimously choose Agesilaus.
CHAPTER IX.
So Agesilaus the son of Archidamus was king, and the Lacedæmonians
resolved to cross over into Asia with their fleet to capture Artaxerxes
the son of Darius: for they had learnt from several people in
authority, and especially from Lysander, that it was not Artaxerxes
that had helped them in the war against the Athenians, but Cyrus who
had supplied them with money for their ships. And Agesilaus, after
being instructed to convey the expedition to Asia as commander of the
land forces, sent round the Peloponnese to all the Greeks except at
Argos and outside the Isthmus urging them to join him as allies. The
Corinthians for their part, although they had been most eager to take
part in the expedition to Asia, yet, when their temple of Olympian Zeus
was suddenly consumed by fire, took it as an evil omen, and remained
at home sorely against their will. And the Athenians urged, as pretext
for refusing their aid, the strain of the Peloponnesian war and the
city’s need of recovery from the plague: but their having learnt from
envoys that Conon the son of Timotheus had gone to the great king,
was their main motive. And Aristomenidas was sent as ambassador to
Thebes, the father of Agesilaus’ mother, who was intimate with the
Thebans, and had been one of the judges who, at the capture of Platæa,
had condemned the garrison to be put to the sword. The Thebans however
cried off like the Athenians, declining their aid. And Agesilaus,
when his own army and that of the allied forces was mustered and his
fleet ready to sail, went to Aulis to sacrifice to Artemis, because it
was there that Agamemnon had propitiated the goddess when he led the
expedition to Troy. And Agesilaus considered himself king of a more
flourishing state than Agamemnon, and that like him he was leading all
Greece, but the success would be more glorious, the happiness greater,
to conquer the great King Artaxerxes, and to be master of Persia,
than to overthrow the kingdom of Priam. But as he was sacrificing
some Thebans attacked him, and threw the thigh-bones of the victims
that were burning off the altar, and drove him out of the temple. And
Agesilaus was grieved at the non-completion of the sacrifice, but none
the less he crossed over to Asia Minor and marched for Sardis. Now
Lydia was at this period the greatest province in Lower Asia Minor,
and Sardis was the principal city for wealth and luxury, and it was
the chief residence of the satrap by the sea, as Susa was the chief
residence of the great king. And fighting a battle with Tissaphernes,
the satrap of Ionia, in the plain near the river Hermus, Agesilaus
defeated the Persian cavalry and infantry, though Tissaphernes’ army
was the largest since the expedition of Xerxes against Athens, and
earlier still the expedition of Darius against the Scythians. And the
Lacedæmonians, delighted at the success of Agesilaus by land, readily
made him leader of the fleet also. And he put Pisander his wife’s
brother, a very stout soldier by land, in command of the triremes. But
some god must have grudged his bringing things to a happy conclusion.
For when Artaxerxes heard of the victorious progress of Agesilaus,
and how he kept pushing on with his army, not content with what he
had already gained, he condemned Tissaphernes to death, although he
had in former times done him signal service, and gave his satrapy
to Tithraustes, a longheaded fellow and very able man, who greatly
disliked the Lacedæmonians. Directly he arrived at Sardis, he forthwith
devised means to compel the Lacedæmonians to recall their army from
Asia Minor. So he sent Timocrates a native of Rhodes into Greece with
money, bidding him stir up war against the Lacedæmonians in Greece.
And those who received Timocrates’ money were it is said Cylon and
Sodamas among the Argives, and at Thebes Androclides and Ismenias and
Amphithemis: and the Athenians Cephalus and Epicrates had a share, and
the Corinthians with Argive proclivities as Polyanthes and Timolaus.
But the war was openly commenced by the Locrians of Amphissa. For the
Locrians had some land which was debated between them and the Phocians,
from this land the Phocians, at the instigation of the Thebans and
Ismenias, cut the ripe corn and drove off cattle. The Phocians also
invaded Locris in full force, and ravaged the territory. Then the
Locrians invited in the Thebans as their allies, and laid Phocis
waste. And the Phocians went to Lacedæmon and inveighed against the
Thebans, and recounted all that they had suffered at their hands. And
the Lacedæmonians determined to declare war against the Thebans, and
among other charges which they brought against them was their insult at
Aulis to the sacrifice of Agesilaus. And the Athenians, having heard of
the intention of the Lacedæmonians, sent to Sparta, begging them not
to war against Thebes, but to submit their differences to arbitration.
And the Lacedæmonians angrily dismissed the embassy. And what happened
subsequently, _viz._ the expedition of the Lacedæmonians and the death
of Lysander, has been told by me in reference to Pausanias. And what
is known to history as the Corinthian war began with this march into
Bœotia of the Lacedæmonians, and grew into a big war, and compelled
Agesilaus to bring his army home from Asia Minor. And when he had
crossed over in his ships from Abydos to Sestos, and marched into
Thessaly through Thrace, the Thessalians attempted to bar his way to
ingratiate themselves with the Thebans, partly also in consequence
of their long standing friendship with Athens. And Agesilaus having
routed their cavalry marched through Thessaly, and then through Bœotia,
having conquered the Thebans and their allies at Coronea. And when the
Bœotians were routed, some of them fled to the temple of Athene Itonia:
and though Agesilaus was wounded in the battle, he did not for all that
violate their sanctuary.
CHAPTER X.
And not long afterwards those Corinthians who had been exiled for their
Lacedæmonian proclivities established the Isthmian games. But those who
were at this time in Corinth remained there from fear of Agesilaus,
but when he broke up his camp and returned to Sparta, then they also
joined the Argives at the Isthmian games. And Agesilaus came again to
Corinth with an army: and, as the festival of Hyacinthus was coming on,
he sent home the natives of Amyclæ, to go and perform the customary
rites to Apollo and Hyacinthus. This detachment were attacked on the
road and cut to pieces by the Athenians under Iphicrates. Agesilaus
also marched into Ætolia to help the Ætolians who were hard pressed by
the Acarnanians, and compelled the Acarnanians to bring the war to an
end, when they had all but taken Calydon and the other fortified towns
in Ætolia. And some time afterwards he sailed to Egypt, to the aid of
the Egyptians who had revolted from the great king: and many memorable
exploits did he in Egypt. And he died on the passage home, for he was
now quite an old man. And the Lacedæmonians, when they got his dead
body, buried it with greater honours than they had shewn to any of
their kings.
And during the reign of Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, the
Phocians seized the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Offers of mercenary
aid came privately to the Thebans to fight against the Phocians, and
publicly from the Lacedæmonians and Athenians, the latter remembering
the old kindnesses they had received from the Phocians, and the
Lacedæmonians under pretext of friendship, but really as I think in
hostility to the Thebans. And Theopompus, the son of Damasistratus,
said that Archidamus also had a share of the money at Delphi, and that
also Dinichas, his wife, had received a bribe from the authorities of
the Phocians, and that all this made Archidamus more willing to bring
the Phocians aid. I do not praise receiving sacred money, and assisting
men who made havoc of the most famous of oracles. But this much I can
praise. The Phocians intended to kill all the young men at Delphi, and
to sell the women and children into slavery, and to raze the city to
its foundations: all this Archidamus successfully deprecated. And he
afterwards crossed over into Italy, to assist the people of Tarentum in
a war with their barbarian neighbours: and he was slain there by the
barbarians, and his dead body failed to find a tomb through the wrath
of Apollo. And Agis, the elder son of this Archidamus, met his death
fighting against the Macedonians and Antipater. During the reign of
Eudamidas the younger one the Lacedæmonians enjoyed peace. All about
his son Agis, and his grandson Eurydamidas, I have already related in
my account of Sicyonia.
Next to the Hermæ[32] is a place full of oak trees, and the name of
it Scotitas (_dark place_) was not derived from the thickness of the
foliage, but from Zeus surnamed Scotitas, whose temple is about 10
stades as you turn off the road to the left. And when you have returned
to the road, and gone forward a little, and turned again to the left,
there is a statue and trophy of Hercules: Hercules erected the trophy
it is said after killing Hippocoon and his sons. And a third turn from
the high road to the right leads to Caryæ and the temple of Artemis.
For Caryæ is sacred to Artemis and the Nymphs, and there is a statue of
Artemis of Caryæ in the open air, and here the Lacedæmonian maidens
have a festival every year, and hold their national dances. And as you
return to the high road and go straight on you come to the ruins of
Sellasia, which place (as I have mentioned before) the Achæans reduced
to slavery, when they had conquered in battle the Lacedæmonians and
their king Cleomenes the son of Leonidas. And at Thornax, which you
next come to, is a statue of Pythæan Apollo, very similar to the one
at Amyclæ, which I shall describe when I come to Amyclæ. But the one
at Amyclæ is more famous than the Lacedæmonian one, for the gold which
Crœsus the Lydian sent to Pythæan Apollo was used to adorn it.
CHAPTER XI.
On going forward from Thornax, you come to the city which was
originally called Sparta, but afterwards Lacedæmon, which was once
the name of the whole district. And according to my rule which I laid
down in my account about Attica, not to give everything in detail
but to select what was most worthy of account, so I shall deal in my
account of Sparta: for I determined from the outset to pick out the
most remarkable of the particulars which tradition hands down. From
this determination I shall on no occasion deviate. At Sparta there is
a handsome market-place, and a council chamber for the Senate, and
public buildings in the market-place for the Ephors and guardians of
the laws, and for those who are called the Bidiæi. The Senate is the
most powerful governing body in Sparta, but all these others take
part in the government: and the ephors and the Bidiæi are each five
in number, and are appointed to preside over the games of the young
men in the Platanistas and elsewhere, and the Ephors manage all other
important matters, and furnish one of their number as the Eponymus,
who like the magistrates of the same name at Athens presides over the
rest. But the most notable thing in the market-place is what they call
the Persian Portico, built of the spoils taken from the Medes: and in
time they have brought it to its present size and magnificence. And
there are on the pillars statues in white stone of Mardonius, the son
of Gobryas, and other Persians. There is also a statue of Artemisia,
the daughter of Lygdamis, who was Queen of Halicarnassus: and who they
say of her own accord joined Xerxes in the expedition against Greece,
and displayed great valour in the sea fight at Salamis. And there are
two temples in the market-place, one to Cæsar, who was the first of the
Romans that aimed at Autocracy, and established the present régime, and
the other to Augustus his _adopted_ son, who confirmed the Autocratic
rule, and advanced further in consideration and power even than Cæsar
had done. His name Augustus has the same signification as the Greek
Sebastus. At the altar of Augustus they exhibit a brazen statue of
Agias, who they say foretold Lysander that he would capture all the
Athenian fleet at Ægos-potamoi but ten triremes: they got off safe to
Cyprus, but the Lacedæmonians took all the rest and their crews. This
Agias was the son of Agelochus, the son of Tisamenus. This last was a
native of Elis of the family of the Iamidæ, who was told by the oracle
that he should win the prize in 5 most notable contests. So he trained
for the pentathlum at Olympia, and came off the ground unvictorious
in that, though he won the prize in two out of the five, for he beat
Hieronymus of Andros in running and leaping. But having been beaten by
him in wrestling, and losing the victory, he interpreted the oracle to
mean that he would win five victories in war. And the Lacedæmonians,
who were not ignorant of what the Pythian priestess had foretold
Tisamenus, persuaded him to leave Elis, and carry out the oracle for
the benefit of the Spartans. And Tisamenus had his five victories,
first at Platæa against the Persians, and secondly at Tegea in a battle
between the Lacedæmonians and the people of Tegea and the Argives. And
next at Dipæa against all the Arcadians but the Mantinæans: (Dipæa is a
small town of the Arcadians near Mænalia.) And the fourth victory was
at Ithome against the Helots that had revolted in the Isthmus. However
all the Helots did not revolt, but only the Messenian portion who had
separated themselves from the original Helots. But I shall enter into
all this more fully hereafter. After this victory the Lacedæmonians,
listening to Tisamenus and the oracle at Delphi, allowed the rebels
to go away on conditions. And the fifth victory was at Tanagra in a
battle against the Argives and Athenians. Such is the account I heard
about Tisamenus. And the Spartans have in their market-place statues
of Pythæan Apollo, and Artemis, and Leto. And this place is called
Dance-ground because during the Festival of Gymnopædia,[33] (and there
is no feast more popular among the Lacedæmonians,) the boys have dances
here in honour of Apollo. And at no great distance are temples of
Earth, and Market Zeus, and Market Athene, and Poseidon whom they call
Asphalius, and Apollo again, and Hera. There is also a huge statue
of a man to represent the People of Sparta. And the Destinies have
a temple at Sparta, near to which is the tomb of Orestes the son of
Agamemnon: for they say his bones were brought from Tegea and buried
here in accordance with the oracle. And near the tomb of Orestes is
an effigy of Polydorus the son of Alcamenes, whom of all their kings
they so extolled that the government seal all their public documents
with Polydorus’ image. There is also a Market Hermes carrying a little
Dionysus, and some antiquities called Ephorea, and among them memorials
of Epimenides the Cretan, and of Aphareus the son of Perieres. And I
think the Lacedæmonian account of Epimenides truer than the Argive one.
Here also are statues of the Destinies, and some other statues. There
is also a Hospitable Zeus and a Hospitable Athene.
CHAPTER XII.
As you go from the market-place on the road which they call
Apheta (_starting-place_), you come to what is called Booneta,
(_Ox-purchased_). I must first explain the name of the road. They say
that Icarius proposed a race for the suitors of Penelope, and that
Odysseus won the prize is clear, and they started they say at the road
called Apheta. And I think Icarius imitated Danaus in proposing this
contest. For this was Danaus’ plan in regard to his daughters; as no
one would marry any of them because of their atrocious crime, Danaus
made it known that he would marry his daughters to any one who should
select them for their beauty without requiring wedding-presents, but
when only a few came to apply he established a race, and the winner
might take his pick of the girls, and the second the next, and so on to
the last in the race: and the girls still remaining had to wait for a
second batch of suitors and a second race. And what the Lacedæmonians
call Booneta on this road, was formerly the house of king Polydorus:
and after Polydorus’ death they bought it of his widow for some oxen.
For as yet there was no coinage either in silver or gold, but in
primitive fashion they gave in barter oxen and slaves, and silver or
gold in the lump. And mariners to India tell us the Indians give in
exchange for Greek commodities various wares, but do not understand
the use of money, and that though they have plenty of gold and silver.
And opposite the public Hall of the Bidiæi is the temple of Athene,
and Odysseus is said to have put there the statue of the goddess, and
called it Celeuthea, when he outran the suitors of Penelope. And he
built three temples of Celeuthea at some distance from one another.
And along the road called Apheta there are hero-chapels of Iops, who
is supposed to have been a contemporary of Lelex or Myles, and of
Amphiaraus the son of Œcles, (and this last they think the sons of
Tyndareus erected as Amphiaraus was their uncle), and also one of Lelex
himself. And not far from these is the shrine of Tænarian Apollo,
for that is his title, and at no great distance a statue of Athene,
which they say was a votive offering of those who migrated to Italy
and Tarentum. And the place which is called Hellenium is so called
because those of the Hellenes (_Greeks_), who strove to prevent Xerxes’
passing into Europe, deliberated in this place how they should resist
him. But another tradition says that it was here that those who went
to Ilium to oblige Menelaus deliberated on the best plan for sailing
to Troy, and exacting punishment of Paris for the rape of Helen. And
near Hellenium they exhibit the tomb of Talthybius: as do also the
people of Ægæ in Achaia in their market-place, who also claim the tomb
of Talthybius as being with them. And the wrath of this Talthybius for
the murder of the envoys, who were sent by King Darius to Greece to ask
for earth and water, was publicly manifested to the Lacedæmonians, but
on the Athenians was visited privately, and mainly on the house of one
man, Miltiades the son of Cimon, for he was the person responsible for
getting the envoys that came to Attica put to death by the Athenians.
And the Lacedæmonians have an altar of Apollo Acritas, and a temple
of Earth called Gaseptum, and above it is Apollo Maleates. And at the
end of the road Apheta, and very near the walls, is the temple of
Dictynna, and the royal tombs of the Eurypontidæ. And near Hellenium
is the temple of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus, and the sister
of the wives of Polydeuces and Castor. And at what is called Garrison
there is a temple of Artemis, and as you go on a little further there
is a monument erected to the prophets from Elis who are called Iamidæ.
And there is a temple of Maro and Alpheus, who, of the Lacedæmonians
that fought at Thermopylæ, seem to have been reckoned most valiant
next to Leonidas. And the temple of Victory-giving Zeus was erected by
the Dorians, after a victory over the people of Amyclæ and the other
Achæans, who at this time occupied Laconia. And the temple of the great
Mother is honoured especially. And next to it are hero-chapels of
Theseus, and the Arcadian Aulon, and the son of Tlesimenes: some say
that Tlesimenes was the brother, others the son, of Parthenopæus the
son of Melanion.
And there is another outlet from the market-place, where is built the
place called Scias, where even now they hold meetings. This Scias was
they say built by the Samian Theodorus, who was the first discoverer
of fusing, and making statues, in iron. Here the Lacedæmonians hung
up the harp of Milesian Timotheus, censuring him for adding four
chords in harpistry to the old Seven. And near Scias there is a round
building (in which are statues of Olympian Zeus and Olympian Aphrodite)
constructed they say by Epimenides, of whom they give a different
account to that of the Argives, since they say that the Argives never
fought with the Gnossians.
CHAPTER XIII.
Not far from Scias is the tomb of Cynortas the son of Amyclas, and the
monument of Castor, and a temple to him over it. Castor and Pollux were
not they say reckoned gods till the fortieth year after the battle
between Idas and Lynceus, whose tombs are exhibited at Scias, though a
more probable tradition states that they were buried in Messenia. But
the misfortunes of the Messenians, and the long time they were away
from the Peloponnese, have made many of their old traditions unknown
to posterity, and since they do not themselves know them for certain,
any one who chooses can doubt. Right opposite the temple of Olympian
Aphrodite the Lacedæmonians have a temple of Saviour Proserpine,
erected some say by the Thracian Orpheus, others say by Abaris who
came from the Hyperboreans. And Carneus, whom they surname Œcetes, had
honours in Sparta even before the return of the Heraclidæ, and a statue
was erected to him in the house of Crius, the son of Theocles the
prophet. As the daughter of this Crius was drawing water, some Dorian
spies met her and had a conversation with her, and went to Crius, and
learnt of him the way to capture Sparta. And the worship of Carnean
Apollo was established among all the Dorians by Carnus, an Acarnanian
by race and the prophet of Apollo: and when he was slain by Hippotes
the son of Phylas the heavy wrath of Apollo fell upon the camp of the
Dorians, and Hippotes had to flee for this murder, and the Dorians
determined to propitiate the Acarnanian prophet by sacred rites. But
indeed it is not this Carnean Œcetes, but the son of the prophet Crius
that was honoured while the Achæans still held Sparta. It has indeed
been written by Praxilla in her verses that Carneus was the son of
Europa, and that Apollo and Leto brought him up. But there is another
tradition recorded of him, that the Greeks cut down on Trojan Ida some
cornel trees that grew in the grove of Apollo to make the Wooden Horse:
and when they learnt of the anger of the god against them for this
sacrilege, they propitiated him with sacrifices and called him Carnean
Apollo from these cornel trees, transposing the letter ρ according to
ancient custom.[34]
And not far from Carnean Apollo is the statue of Aphetæus: where
they say the suitors of Penelope started for their race. And there is
a place which has porticoes forming a square, where nicknacks in old
times used to be sold: at this place is an altar of Ambulian Zeus and
Ambulian Athene, and also of Ambulian Castor and Pollux. And right
opposite is what is called Colona (_Hill_), and a temple of Zeus of
Colona, and near it the grove of the hero, who they say showed Dionysus
the way to Sparta. And the women called Dionysiades and Leucippides
sacrifice to this hero before they sacrifice to the god himself. But
the other eleven women, whom they also call Dionysiades, have a race
specially appointed for them: this custom came from Delphi. And not far
from the temple of Dionysus is that of Zeus Euanemus, and on the right
of this is the hero chapel of Pleuron. On the mother’s side the sons
of Tyndareus were descended from Pleuron, for Areus says in his poems
that Thestius, the father of Leda, was the son of Agenor and grandson
of Pleuron. And not far from this hero chapel is a hill, and on the
hill is a temple of Argive Hera, erected they say by Eurydice the
daughter of Lacedæmon, and the wife of Acrisius the son of Abas. And
the temple of Hyperchirian Hera was built according to the oracle, when
the Eurotas overflowed a considerable part of the country. And the old
wooden statue they call that of Aphrodite Hera, and when a daughter is
married it is customary for mothers to sacrifice to that goddess. And
on the road to the right of this hill is an effigy of Etœmocles. He and
his father Hipposthenes won prizes for wrestling at Olympia, the father
on eleven occasions, the son on twelve.
CHAPTER XIV.
As you go westwards from the market-place is the cenotaph of Brasidas
the son of Tellis, and at no great distance a theatre in white stone
well worth seeing. And opposite the theatre are the tombs of Pausanias
the General at Platæa, and of Leonidas: and every year they have
speeches over them, and a contest in which none but Spartans may
compete. The remains of Leonidas were 40 years after his death removed
from Thermopylæ by Pausanias, and there is a pillar with the names and
pedigree of those who fought against the Medes at Thermopylæ. And there
is in Sparta a place called Theomelida, where are the tombs of the
kings descended from Agis, and at no great distance is what is called
the Lounge of the Crotani; who belong to the Pitanatæ. And not far from
this Lounge is the temple of Æsculapius, called the temple among the
tombs of the descendants of Agis. And as you go on you come to the tomb
of Tænarus, from whom they say the promontory Tænarum gets its name.
And there are temples of Hippocurian Poseidon and Æginetan Artemis.
And as you retrace your steps to the Lounge is the temple of Artemis
Issora, they also call her Limnæa, though she is not called Artemis
but Britomartis by the Cretans, but about her I shall speak when I
come to Ægina. And very near the tombs of the descendants of Agis you
will see a pillar, and inscribed on it are the victories which Chionis
a Lacedæmonian carried off in the course, and others which he won at
Olympia. For there he had seven victories, four in the course, and
three in the double course. The shield race at the end of the sports
was not then instituted. Chionis also took part they say with Theræan
Battus in founding Cyrene, and in ejecting the neighbouring Libyans.
And they allege the following as the reason why the temple of Thetis
was built. When they were fighting against the Messenians who had
revolted, and their king Anaxander invaded Messenia and took captive
some women, and among them Cleo the priestess of Thetis, Anaxander’s
wife Leandris begged Cleo of her husband, and she found Cleo in
possession of a wooden statue of Thetis, and joined her in building a
temple to the goddess: and Leandris built this according to the pattern
which she saw in a dream: and the old wooden statue of Thetis they
keep in a private place. And the Lacedæmonians say they were taught
to worship Demeter Chthonia by Orpheus, but I am of opinion that the
temple at Hermion taught them this worship of Demeter Chthonia. The
Spartans have also a very recent temple of Serapis, and another of
Olympian Zeus.
And the Lacedæmonians give the name Dromus to the place where it is
customary still for the young men to practise in running. As you go to
this Dromus from the tomb of the descendants of Agis you see on the
left hand the sepulchre of Eumedes, who was the son of Hippocoon, and
an old statue of Hercules, to whom the Spartan youths called _Sphærei_
sacrifice. This name is given to the lads who are just growing to
manhood.[35] There are also gymnasiums in Dromus, one the offering of
the Spartan Eurycles. And outside Dromus, and opposite the statue of
Hercules, is a house which now belongs to a private person, but was of
old the house of Menelaus. And as you go on from Dromus you come to the
temples of Castor and Pollux, and the Graces, and Ilithyia, and Carnean
Apollo, and Sovereign Artemis. And on the right of Dromus is a temple
of Æsculapius surnamed Agnitas (_Willowy_), because the god’s statue
is made of willow, of the same kind as that called rhamnus: and at no
great distance is a trophy, which they say Polydeuces put up after his
victory over Lynceus. And this confirms in my opinion the probability
that the sons of Aphareus were not buried at Sparta. Near the beginning
of Dromus are Castor and Pollux of the _Startingpoint_, and as you go
a little way further is the hero-chapel of Alco, who they say was the
son of Hippocoon. And next to the hero-chapel of Alco is the temple
of Poseidon whom they surname Domatites. And there is a place called
Platanistas from the plane-trees which grow high and continuous round
it. And this place, where it is customary for the young men to have
their fights, is surrounded by water as an island is by the sea, and
you enter it by bridges. On one side of these bridges is a statue of
Hercules, and on the other one of Lycurgus, who not only legislated
for the state generally but even for the fights of the youths. And the
youths have the following customs also. They sacrifice before their
fights in the temple of Phœbus, which is outside the city and not very
far from Therapne. Here each division of the young men sacrifice a
puppy dog to Enyalius,[36] deeming the most valiant of domesticated
animals a suitable victim to the most valiant of the gods. And I know
no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppy dogs except the
Colophonians, who sacrifice a black puppy to Enodius. The sacrifices
both of the Colophonians and also of these young men at Lacedæmon take
place by night. And after their sacrifice the young men pit together
tame boars to fight, whichever boar gets the victory, the party to
which it belongs are generally victorious at Platanistas. This is what
they do in the temple of Phœbus: and on the next day a little before
noon they cross the bridges to Platanistas. And the approach for each
division is appointed by lot the night before. And they fight with
hands and feet, and bite and tear one another’s eyes out. So they
fight, and violently attack one another full tilt, and push one another
into the water.
CHAPTER XV.
Near Platanistas there is a hero-chapel of Cynisca, the daughter of
Archidamus king of Sparta: she was the first woman who trained horses,
and the first woman who won the chariot-race at Olympia. And behind
the portico near Platanistas are several other hero-chapels, one of
Alcimus, and another of Enaræphorus, and at no great distance one of
Dorceus, and above this one of Sebrus. These they say were sons of
Hippocoon. And from Dorceus they call the fountain near the hero-chapel
Dorcea, and from Sebrus they call the place Sebrium. And on the right
of Sebrium is the sepulchre of Alcman, the sweetness of whose poems
was not injured by the Lacedæmonian dialect, though it is the least
euphonious. And there are temples of Helen and Hercules, hers near
the tomb of Alcman, and his very near the walls with a statue in it
of Hercules armed: Hercules was so represented in the statue they say
because of his fight against Hippocoon and his sons. The animosity of
Hercules against the family of Hippocoon originated they say in that,
after killing Iphitus, when he came to Sparta to clear himself, they
refused to clear him. The following matter also contributed to the
beginning of strife. Œonus a lad, and nephew of Hercules, for he was
the son of Alcmena’s brother, accompanied Hercules to Sparta, and as
he was going round and looking at the city, when he was opposite the
house of Hippocoon, a watch dog jumped out on him, and Œonus chanced
to throw a stone and hit the dog. Then the sons of Hippocoon ran out,
and struck Œonus with clubs till they had killed him. At this Hercules
was furious against Hippocoon and his sons, and immediately (so angry
was he) attacked them. For the moment he retired as he was wounded, but
afterwards he brought others with him to Sparta to avenge himself on
Hippocoon and his sons for the murder of Œonus. And the sepulchre of
Œonus was erected near the temple of Hercules. And as you go eastwards
from Dromus there is a path on the right hand to the temple of Athene
under the title of Exactor of due punishment. For when Hercules took
on Hippocoon and his sons adequate vengeance for what they had done,
he built this temple to Athene under the title of Exactor of due
punishment, for the old race of men called revenge punishment.[37]
And there is another temple of Athene as you go on another road from
Dromus, erected they say by Theras the son of Autesion, the son of
Tisamenus, the son of Thersander, when he sent a colony to the island
which is now called Thera after him, but was of old called Calliste.
And hard by is the temple of Hipposthenes who carried off most of the
wrestling prizes, and whom they worship according to the oracle, as
if they were awarding honours to Poseidon. And right opposite this
temple is Enyalius in fetters, an old statue. And the opinion of the
Lacedæmonians about this statue and about that of the Athenians called
Wingless Victory is the same, _viz._ that Enyalius will never depart
from the Lacedæmonians as being fettered, just as Victory will always
remain with the Athenians because she has no wings to fly away. Athens
and Lacedæmon have erected these statues on similar principles and with
a similar belief. And at Sparta there is a Lounge called _the Painted
Lounge_, and various hero-chapels near it, as of Cadmus the son of
Agenor, and his descendants, Œolycus the son of Theras, and Ægeus the
son of Œolycus. And they say these hero-chapels were built by Mæsis,
Læas, and Europas, who are said to have been the sons of Hyræsus and
grandsons of Ægeus. And they built also a hero-chapel to Amphilochus,
because their ancestor Tisamenus was the son of Demonassa, the sister
of Amphilochus. And the Lacedæmonians are the only Greeks with whom it
is customary to call Hera Goateater and to sacrifice goats to her. And
Hercules they say built a temple and sacrificed goats to her first,
because when he was fighting against Hippocoon and his sons he met
with no obstacle from Hera, though he thought the goddess opposed him
on all other occasions. And they say he sacrificed goats to her as
being in difficulty about getting any other victims. And not far from
the theatre is the temple of Tutelary Poseidon and hero-chapels of
Cleodæus the son of Hyllus, and of Œbalus. And the most notable of the
Spartan temples of Æsculapius is at Booneta, on the left of which is
the hero-chapel of Teleclus, of whom I shall give an account when I
come to Messenia. And when you have gone forward a little further there
is a hill not very high, and on it an old temple and wooden statue of
Aphrodite in full armour. This is the only temple I know which has
an upper story built above it, and in this upper story is a shrine
of Aphrodite under the title of The Shapely, the goddess is seated
with a veil on and fetters on her feet. They say Tyndareus added the
fetters, symbolising by those bonds the bonds of love, that unite men
so powerfully to women. For as to the other tradition, that Tyndareus
punished the goddess by fetters, because he thought his daughters’
disgrace had come from the goddess, this I don’t at all accept: for
it would have been altogether childish to make a small figure of
cedar-wood and call it Aphrodite, and then think in punishing it one
was punishing the goddess!
CHAPTER XVI.
And hard by is the temple of Hilaira and Phœbe, who the writer of the
Cyprian poems says were the daughters of Apollo. And their priestesses
are maidens, called also Leucippides as well as the goddesses. One of
their statues was touched up by a priestess of the goddesses, who with
an art not unknown in our days put a new face on the old statue, but
a dream prevented her treating the other statue in the same way. Here
is hung up an egg, fastened to the roof by fillets; they say it is the
egg which Leda is said to have laid. And every year the women weave a
coat for Apollo at Amyclæ, and they call the place where they weave it
_Coat_. Near the temple is a house which they say the sons of Tyndareus
originally lived in, but afterwards Phormio a Spartan got possession
of it. To him Castor and Pollux came as strangers, they said they had
come from Cyrene and desired to lodge at his house, and asked for a
chamber, (with which they were greatly pleased), as long as they should
remain at Sparta. But he bade them go to some other house where they
might like to dwell, he could not give them that chamber, for it was
the apartment of his daughter a maiden. And the next day maiden and
her attendants had all vanished, but statues of Castor and Pollux were
found in the chamber, and a table with some assa-fœtida on it. Such at
least is the tradition.
And as you go to the gates from the place called _Coat_ there is a
hero-chapel of Chilo, who was accounted one of the seven wise men, and
of an Athenian hero who accompanied Dorieus, the son of Anaxandrides,
on the expedition to colonize Sicily. And they put in at Eryx thinking
that district belonged to the descendants of Hercules, and not to
barbarians who really held it. For there is a tradition that Eryx
and Hercules wrestled on the following conditions, that if Hercules
conquered the land of Eryx should be his, but if Eryx conquered the
oxen of Geryon, (which Hercules was then driving,) should be his, for
these oxen had swum across to Sicily from the promontory at Scylla,[38]
and Hercules had crossed over after them to find them, and Eryx should
have them if he came off victor. But the good will of the gods did not
speed Dorieus the son of Anaxandrides as it had done Hercules, for
Hercules killed Eryx, but the people of Segeste nearly annihilated
Dorieus and his army. And the Lacedæmonians have built a temple to
their legislator Lycurgus as to a god. And behind this temple is the
tomb of Eucosmus, the son of Lycurgus, near the altar of Lathria and
Anaxandra, who were twins, (and the sons of Aristodemus who married
them were also twins), and the daughters of Thersander the son of
Agamedidas, the king of the Cleestonæans, and the great grandson of
Ctesippus the son of Hercules. And right opposite the temple are the
tombs of Theopompus the son of Nicander, and Eurybiades, who fought
against the Medes in the Lacedæmonian gallies at Artemisium and
Salamis. And hard-by is what is called the hero-chapel of Astrabacus.
And the place called Limnæum is the temple of Orthian Artemis. The
wooden statue of the goddess is they say the very one which Orestes
and Iphigenia formerly stole from the Tauric Chersonese. And the
Lacedæmonians say it was brought to their country when Orestes was
king there. And their account seems to me more probable than the
account of the Athenians. For why should Iphigenia have left the
statue at Brauron? And when the Athenians were preparing to leave the
place, would they not have put it on board ship? And so great still is
the fame of Tauric Artemis, that the Cappadocians who live near the
Euxine claim that the statue was theirs, and the Lydians who have a
temple of Anaitian Artemis make the same claim. But it appears it was
neglected by the Athenians and became a prey to the Medes: for it was
carried from Brauron to Susa, and afterwards the Syrians of Laodicea
received it from Seleucus and still have it. And the following facts
plainly prove to me that the Orthian Artemis at Lacedæmon is the same
wooden statue which was taken from the barbarians: that Astrabacus
and Alopecus, (the sons of Irbus, the son of Amphisthenes, the son of
Amphicles, the son of Agis), when they found the statue immediately
went mad; and also that the Limnatæ among the Spartans, and the people
of Cynosura, Mesoa, and Pitane, who were sacrificing to Artemis, had
a quarrel and even went so far as to kill one another, and after many
were killed at the altar a pestilence destroyed the rest. And after
that an oracle bade them sprinkle human blood over the altar. And
instead of a person drawn by lot being sacrificed, Lycurgus changed it
to flogging the young men there, and so the altar got sprinkled with
human blood. And the priestess stands by during the operation, holding
the wooden statue, which is generally light from its smallness, but
if the scourgers spare any young man at all in his flogging either
on account of his beauty or rank, then this wooden statue in the
priestess’ hand becomes heavy and no longer easy to hold, and she makes
complaint of the scourgers and says it is so heavy owing to them. So
innate is it with this statue, in consequence of the sacrifices at
the Tauric Chersonese, to delight in human blood. And they not only
call the goddess Orthia, but also _Bound-with-willow-twigs_, because
the statue was found in a willow bush, and the willows so tenaciously
twined round it that they kept it in an upright posture.
CHAPTER XVII.
And not far from that of Orthian Artemis is the temple of Ilithyia:
this temple they say was built, and Ilithyia accounted a goddess,
in obedience to the oracle at Delphi. And the Lacedæmonians have no
citadel rising to a notable height, as the Cadmea at Thebes, or Larissa
among the Argives: but as there are several hills in the city the
highest of these is called the citadel. Here is erected a temple of
Athene called Poliuchus and Chalciœcus. And this temple began to be
built they say by Tyndareus: and after his death his sons wished to
finish the building, and they had an opportunity in the spoils from
Aphidna. But as they too died before the conclusion of the work, the
Lacedæmonians many years afterwards completed the temple, and made a
statue of Athene in brass. And the artificer was Gitiadas a native
of Sparta, who also composed Doric poems and a hymn to the goddess.
Many too of the Labours of Hercules are delineated in brass, and many
of his successes on his own account, and several of the actions of
Castor and Pollux, and their carrying off the daughters of Leucippus,
and Hephæstus freeing his mother from her bonds. I have given an
explanation of all these before, and the legends about them, in my
account of Attica. There too are the Nymphs giving Perseus, as he is
starting for Libya and Medusa, the invisible cap, and the sandals with
which he could fly through the air. There too are representations of
the birth of Athene, and of Amphitrite, and Poseidon, which are the
largest and as it seems to me finest works of art.
There is also another temple there of Athene the Worker. At the South
Porch there is also a temple of Zeus called the Arranger, and the tomb
of Tyndareus in front of it. And the West Porch has two Eagles and two
Victories to correspond, the votive offering of Lysander, and a record
of his two famous exploits, the one near Ephesus when he defeated
Antiochus, the pilot of Alcibiades, and the Athenian gallies, and
the other at Ægos-potamoi where he crushed the Athenian navy. And at
the left of Athene Chalciœcus they have built a temple of the Muses,
because the Lacedæmonians do not go out to battle to the sound of the
trumpet, but to the music of flutes and lyre and harp. And behind
Athene Chalciœcus is the temple of Martial Aphrodite. Her wooden
statues are as old as any among the Greeks.
And on the right of Athene Chalciœcus is a statue of Supreme Zeus,
the most ancient of all brass statues, for it is not carved in one
piece, but forged piece by piece and deftly welded together, and studs
keep it together from falling to pieces. The artificer was they say
Clearchus a man of Rhegium, who some say was the pupil of Dipœnus and
Scyllis, others say of Dædalus. And at what is called the _Scenoma_
there is a figure of a woman, the Lacedæmonians say it is Euryleonis,
who won the prize at Olympia with a pair of horses.
And near the altar of Athene Chalciœcus are erected two figures of
Pausanias the General at Platæa. His fate I shall not relate to people
who know it, for what I have written before is quite sufficient. I
shall merely therefore state what I heard from a man of Byzantium, that
Pausanias was detected plotting, and was the only one of those that
took sanctuary with Athene Chalciœcus that did not get indemnity, and
that for no other reason than that he could not clear himself of the
guilt of murder. For when he was at the Hellespont in command of the
allied fleet, he got enamoured of a Byzantian maiden called Cleonice,
and at nightfall a detachment of his men brought her to him. And
Pausanias had fallen asleep, and when this maiden came into the room
she knocked down inadvertently the light that was burning, and the
noise woke him. And Pausanias, whose conscience smote him for having
betrayed Greece, and who was therefore always in a state of nervous
alarm and panic, was beside himself and stabbed the maiden with a
scimetar. This guilt Pausanias could not clear himself from, though
he endeavoured in every way to propitiate Zeus the Acquitter, and
even went to Phigalia in Arcadia to the necromancers, but he paid to
Cleonice and the deity the fit penalty. And the Lacedæmonians at the
bidding of the oracle made brazen statues for the god Epidotes, and
otherwise honoured him, because he it was who in the case of Pausanias
turned aside the wrath of Zeus the god of Suppliants.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Near the two figures of Pausanias is a statue of Youth-prolonging
Aphrodite, made at the bidding of an oracle, and statues of Sleep and
Death. People have reckoned them to be brothers according to Homer’s
lines in the Iliad.[39] And on the way to Alpium as it is called you
come to the temple of Athene the Eye-preserver, erected they say by
Lycurgus who had one of his eyes knocked out by Alcander, because he
did not find Lycurgus’ legislation agreeable. And he took refuge at
this place, and the Lacedæmonians prevented his losing his remaining
eye, so he built a temple to Athene the Eye-preserver. And as you go
on from thence you come to the temple of Ammon. The Lacedæmonians seem
from time immemorial to have used his oracle in Libya most of all
the Greeks. And it is said that, when Lysander was besieging Aphytis
in Pallene, Ammon appeared to him by night, and told him it would be
better for him and Lacedæmon to raise the siege. And accordingly he
did so, and induced the Lacedæmonians to honour the god even more
than before. And the people of Aphytis honour Ammon as much as the
Ammonians themselves in Libya. And the following is the tradition about
Cnagian Artemis. Cnageus they say was a native of Sparta, and went on
the expedition against Aphidna with Castor and Pollux, and was taken
prisoner in the battle and sold into slavery in Crete, and was slave at
the temple of Artemis in Crete, and in course of time ran off with the
priestess who also took with her the image of the goddess. This is why
they call her Cnagian Artemis. But I cannot help thinking this Cnageus
must have gone to Crete in some other way, and not as the Lacedæmonians
say, for I do not think a battle was fought at Aphidna, as Theseus
was detained in Thesprotia, and the Athenians were not unanimous for
him, but inclined rather to Menestheus. Not but that, if a contest
took place, one might readily believe that prisoners were taken by the
conquerors, especially as it was a decisive victory, for Aphidna was
captured. Let this suffice for the subject.
On the road from Sparta to Amyclæ you come to the river Tiasa. Tiasa
was they think the daughter of Eurotas, and near the river is a temple
of the Graces Phaenna and Clete, whom Alcman has celebrated. And they
think that Lacedæmon erected this temple to the Graces and gave them
these names. The things worth seeing at Amyclæ are the statue of
Ænetus on a pillar (he won all the prizes in the pentathlum, and died
they say directly after being crowned for his victory at Olympia,) and
some brazen tripods, three[40] of which are older they say than the
Messenian War. Under the first of these is a statue of Aphrodite, under
the second one of Artemis, both the design and work of Gitiadas. And
the third is by Callon of Ægina, and under it is a statue of Proserpine
the daughter of Demeter. And the Parian Aristander has represented a
woman with a lyre to signify Sparta no doubt, and Polycletus the Argive
has represented Aphrodite called the Aphrodite near Amyclæan Apollo.
These 3 tripods are bigger than any of the rest, and were dedicated in
consequence of the victory at Ægos-potamoi. And Bathycles the Magnesian,
who made the throne of Amyclæan Apollo, also carved some of the Graces
on the throne and a statue of Artemis Leucophryene. Who he learnt his
art from, or in whose reign he made this throne I pass by, but I have
seen it and will describe it. Before and behind it are two Graces and
two Seasons, on the left is the Hydra and Typhos, and on the right the
Tritons. But to narrate every detail of this work of art would tire my
readers, to make therefore a short summary, since most are well known,
Poseidon and Zeus are carrying off Taygetes, the daughter of Atlas,
and her sister Alcyone. There also is Atlas delineated, and the combat
between Hercules and Cycnus, and the fight of the Centaurs with Pholus.
There too is the Minotaur represented by Bathycles (I know not why) as
fettered and led alive by Theseus. And there is a dance of Phæacians
on the throne, and Demodocus is singing. There too is Perseus’ victory
over Medusa. And not to mention the contest of Hercules with the giant
Thurius, and of Tyndareus with Eurytus, there is the rape of the
daughters of Leucippus. And there is Hermes carrying to heaven Dionysus
as a boy, and Athene taking Hercules to dwell among the gods. And
there is Peleus handing over Achilles for his education to Chiron, who
is said to have been his tutor. And there is Cephalus carried off by
Aurora for his beauty. And there are the gods bringing their gifts at
the wedding of Harmony. There too is the single combat between Achilles
and Memnon, and Hercules slaying Diomede, King of Thrace, and Nessus
by the river Evenus, and Hermes bringing up the goddesses to Paris
for the trial of beauty, and Adrastus and Tydeus stopping the fight
between Amphiarus and Lycurgus the son of Pronax. And Hera is gazing at
Io already changed into a heifer, and Athene is running away from the
pursuit of Hephæstus. There too is Hercules fighting with the hydra,
and bringing up Cerberus from Hades. There too are Anaxis and Mnasinous
each of them on horseback, and Megapenthes, the son of Menelaus, and
Nicostratus both on one horse. And there is Bellerophon killing the
Chimæra in Lycia, and Hercules driving off the cattle of Geryon. And on
each side of the upper portions of the throne are Castor and Pollux on
horseback: under their horses are some Sphinxes and some wild beasts
running above, on Castor’s side a leopard, but near Pollux a lioness.
And at the very top of the throne is a company of the Magnesians who
assisted Bathycles in this work of art. And if you go under the throne
to see its interior parts where the Tritons are, there is the boar
of Calydon, and Hercules slaying the sons of Actor, and Calais and
Zetes driving away the Harpies from Phineus, and Pirithous and Theseus
carrying off Helen, and Hercules throttling the Nemean lion. And there
are Apollo and Artemis transfixing Tityus. And there is the contest of
Hercules with the Centaur Oreus, and of Theseus with the Minotaur, and
the wrestling of Hercules with Achelous, and Hera bound by Hephæstus as
the story goes, and the games established by Acastus in memory of his
father, and what we read in the Odyssey about Menelaus and the Egyptian
Proteus. Lastly there is Admetus yoking to his chariot a boar and a
lion, and the Trojans making their offerings at the grave of Hector.
CHAPTER XIX.
As to the seat for the god on this throne, it is not one continuous
surface but has several partitions with intervals between them. The
largest partition is in the middle, where there is a statue about 30
cubits high I conjecture, for no one has taken its measure. And this is
not by Bathycles but an ancient and inartistic production, for except
the face toes and hands it resembles a brazen pillar. There is a helmet
on its head, and a lance and bow in its hands. And the base of the
statue is like an altar, and they say Hyacinthus is buried there, and
at the festival of Hyacinthus, before they sacrifice to Apollo, they
make offerings to Hyacinthus on this altar through a brazen door which
is on the left of the altar. And carved upon this altar are effigies
of Biris and Amphitrite and Poseidon, and Zeus and Hermes talking
together, and near them Dionysus and Semele, and near Semele Ino. On
this altar too are effigies of Demeter and Proserpine and Pluto, the
Destinies and the Seasons, Aphrodite and Athene and Artemis; and they
are carrying to heaven Hyacinthus and his sister Polybœa who they say
died a virgin. Hyacinthus has a small beard, and Nicias the son of
Nicomedes has represented him as very handsome, hinting at the love
of Apollo for him. There is also a representation of Hercules being
taken to heaven by Athene and the other gods; as also effigies of the
daughters of Thestius and the Muses and the Seasons. As to the Zephyr,
and the story of Hyacinth having been accidentally slain by Apollo, and
the legends about the flower Hyacinth, the traditions may possibly be
baseless, but let them stand.
Amyclæ was destroyed by the Dorians, and is now only a village,
which contains a temple and statue of Alexandra well worth seeing, (by
Alexandra the people of Amyclæ mean Cassandra the daughter of Priam).
There is here also an effigy of Clytæmnestra, and a statue of
Agamemnon, and his supposed tomb. And Amyclæan Apollo and Dionysus are
the chief gods worshipped here, the latter they call very properly in
my opinion Psilax (_Winged_). Psila is the Dorian word for wings, and
wine elevates men and lightens their judgment just as wings elevate
birds. And such is all that is memorable about Amyclæ.
Another road from Sparta leads to Therapne. And on the way is a
wooden statue of Athene Alea. And before you cross the Eurotas a little
above the bank stands the temple of Wealthy Zeus. And when you have
crossed the Eurotas, you come to the temple of Cotylean Æsculapius
built by Hercules, who called Æsculapius Cotylean because in the
first conflict with Hippocoon and his sons he received a wound on his
_cotyle_ or hip. And of all the temples built on this road, the most
ancient is one of Ares, on the left of the road, and the statue of the
god was they say brought by Castor and Pollux from Colchi. And Theritas
gets its name they say from Thero, who was the nurse of Ares. And
perhaps they got the name Theritas from the Colchians, for the Greeks
know nothing of a nurse of Ares called Thero. But I cannot but think
that the name Theritas was given to Ares not on account of his nurse,
but because in an engagement with the enemy one must be mild no longer,
but be like the description of Achilles in Homer, “as a lion he knows
savageness.”[41]
Therapne got its name from Therapne, the daughter of Lelex, and it
has a temple of Menelaus, and they say that Menelaus and Helen were
buried here. But the Rhodians have a different account to that of the
Lacedæmonians, and say that Helen after the death of Menelaus, while
Orestes was still on his travels, was driven away by Nicostratus and
Megapenthes and went to Rhodes, as she was a connection of Polyxo the
wife of Tlepolemus, for Polyxo was of Argive descent, and being the
wife of Tlepolemus fled with him to Rhodes, and there became Queen,
being left with one fatherless child. This Polyxo they say desired
to avenge on Helen the death of Tlepolemus, and when she got her in
her power sent to her as she was bathing some attendants dressed like
the Furies, and they laid hold of Helen and hung her on a tree, and
for this reason the Rhodians have a temple to Helen Hung on the Tree.
And I will record the tradition of the people of Croton about Helen,
which is the same as that of the people of Himera. There is in the
Euxine sea, near the mouth of the Ister, an island sacred to Achilles
called Leuce. It is 20 stades in extent, entirely thick forest and full
of beasts domesticated and wild, and contains a temple and statue of
Achilles. They say Leonymus of Croton was the first that ever sailed
to it. For when there was a war between the people of Croton and the
Locrians in Italy, and the Locrians invited in Ajax the son of Oileus
to aid them because of their kinsmanship to the Opuntians, Leonymus the
general of the Crotonians attacked that part of the enemy’s army where
he was told that Ajax was stationed, and got wounded in the breast,
and, as he suffered very much from his wound, went to Delphi. And the
Pythian Priestess sent him to the island Leuce, and told him that Ajax
would appear there and heal his wound. And in process of time getting
well he returned from Leuce, and said that he had seen Achilles, and
Ajax the son of Oileus, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and that Patroclus
and Antilochus were in the company, and that Helen was married to
Achilles and had told him to sail to Himera, and tell Stesichorus
that the loss of his eyesight was a punishment to him from her. In
consequence of this Stesichorus composed his palinode.
CHAPTER XX.
At Therapne too I saw the fountain Messeis. Some of the Lacedæmonians
say that the fountain called in our day Polydeucea, and not this one
at Therapne, was called by the ancients Messeis. But the fountain
Polydeucea, and the temple of Polydeuces, are on the right of the road
to Therapne. And not far from Therapne is a temple of Phœbus, and in
it a shrine of Castor and Polydeuces, and the youths sacrifice here
to Enyalius. And at no great distance is a temple of Poseidon under
the name of the Earth-holder. And as you go on thence on the road to
Taygetus you come to a place they call Alesiæ (_i.e._ _Mill-town_),
for they say that Myles the son of Lelex was the first that discovered
the use of mills, and first ground here. At Alesiæ there is a
hero-chapel to Lacedæmon the son of Taygete. And as you go on from
thence and cross the river Phellias, on the road from Amyclæ to the sea
you come to Pharis, formerly a populous town in Laconia, and leaving
the river Phellias on the right is the way to Mount Taygetus. And there
is in the plain a shrine of Messapian Zeus. He got this title they say
from one of his priests. As you go thence towards Mount Taygetus there
is a place called Bryseæ, where was formerly a town, and there is still
a temple of Dionysus and his statue in the open air. But the statue in
the temple only women may look upon: and women only conduct the ritual
in connection with the sacrifices. The highest point of Mount Taygetus
is Taletum above Bryseæ. This they say is sacred to the Sun, and they
sacrifice there to the Sun horses and other victims, as do also the
Persians. And not far from Taletum is the forest called Evoras, which
supports several wild beasts and especially wild goats. In fact Mount
Taygetus throughout affords excellent goat-hunting and boar-hunting,
and superfine deer-hunting and bear-hunting. And between Taletum and
Evoras is a place they call Theras, where they say Leto came from
the heights of Taygetus. And there is a temple to Demeter under the
name Eleusinia. Here the Lacedæmonians say Hercules was hidden by
Æsculapius, while he was being cured of his wound. And there is in
it a wooden statue of Orpheus, the work as they say of the Pelasgi.
And I know that Orphic rites take place here also. Near the sea is a
town called Helus, which Homer has mentioned in his catalogue of the
Lacedæmonians,
‘Those who dwelt at Amyclæ and Helus the city by the sea.’[42]
It was founded by Heleus the youngest son of Perseus, and the Dorians
in after days reduced it by siege. Its inhabitants were the first
slaves of the Lacedæmonian commonalty, and were the first called Helots
from the place of their birth. Afterwards Helot was the general name
the Dorians gave their slaves, even when they were Messenians, just
as all the Greeks are called Hellenes from Hellas in Thessaly. From
Helus they bring on stated days the wooden statue of Proserpine, the
daughter of Demeter, to Eleusinium. And 15 stades from Eleusinium is
the place called Lapithæum from a native called Lapithus. It is on
Mount Taygetus, and not far from it is Dereum, where is a statue of
Derean Artemis in the open air, and near it a fountain which they call
Anonus. And next to Dereum, about 20 stades further on is Harplea,
which extends as far as the plain.
On the road from Sparta to Arcadia there is a statue of Athene called
Parea in the open air, and near it a temple of Achilles, which it is
customary to keep shut. But those of the youths who intend to contend
at Platanistas are wont to sacrifice there to Achilles before the
contest. And the Spartans say this temple was built for them by Prax,
who was the great grandson of Pergamus, the son of Neoptolemus. And
as you go on you come to the tomb called _The Horse_, for Tyndareus
sacrificed a horse here and put an oath to all the suitors of Helen,
making them stand by the horse’s entrails. And the oath was to aid
Helen, and whoever should be chosen for her husband, if they were
wronged. And after putting this oath to them he buried the remains of
the horse here. And at no great distance there are seven pillars set
there after some ancient custom, I suppose, to represent the seven
planets. And on the road there is a grove of Carnean Apollo called
Stemmatius, and a temple of Mysian Artemis. And the statue of Modesty,
about 30 stades’ distance from Sparta, is the votive offering of
Icarius, said to have been made on the following occasion. When Icarius
gave Penelope in marriage to Odysseus, he endeavoured to persuade
Odysseus to live at Lacedæmon, but failing in that he begged his
daughter to remain with him, and when she set out for Ithaca followed
the chariot, and besought her earnestly to return. And Odysseus for a
time refused his consent to this, but at last gave Penelope permission
either to accompany him of her own volition, or to go back to Lacedæmon
with her father. And she they say made no answer, but, as she veiled
her face at this proposal, Icarius perceived that she wished to go off
with Odysseus, and let her go, and dedicated a statue of Modesty in
the very place in the road where they say Penelope had got to when she
veiled herself.
CHAPTER XXI.
And 20 stades further you will come to the Eurotas which flows very
near the road, and to the tomb of Ladas, who surpassed all his
contemporaries in swiftness of foot. At Olympia he received the prize
for the long race, but I think he was tired out after his victory, for
he died on this spot and was buried above the public road. Another
Ladas, who also was a victor at Olympia but not in the long race, was
they say an Achæan from Ægium, according to the archives of Elis about
the victors at Olympia. And if you go on you come to the village called
Characoma, and next to it is Pellana, formerly a town, where they
say Tyndareus lived, when he fled from Sparta from Hippocoon and his
sons. And the notable things I have myself seen there are the temple
of Æsculapius and the fountain Pellanis, into which they say a maiden
fell when she was drawing water, and after she had disappeared her veil
was found in another fountain called Lancea. And about 100 stades from
Pellana is a place called Belemina: best off for water of all Laconia,
for not only does the river Eurotas flow through it, but it has also
fountains in abundance.
As you go down to the sea in the direction of Gythium, you come to
the Lacedæmonian village called Croceæ. The stonequarries here are not
one continuous piece of rock, but stones are dug out of them like river
stones, rather difficult to carve, but when they are carved admirably
adapted to adorn the temples of the gods, and add very greatly to the
beauty of fishponds and ornamental waters. And in front of the village
are statues of the gods, as Zeus of Croceæ in stone, and at the quarry
Castor and Pollux in brass. And next to Croceæ, as you turn to the
right from the high road to Gythium, you will come to the small town
called Ægiæ. They say Homer mentions it under the name Augeæ. Here is a
marsh which is called Poseidon’s marsh, and the god has a temple and
statue near it. The natives are afraid however to catch the fish, for
they say that whoever fishes there becomes a fish and ceases to be a
man.
Gythium is about 30 stades from Ægiæ, and is near the sea, and is
inhabited by the Eleutherolacones, whom the Emperor Augustus liberated
from the yoke of slavery imposed on them by the Lacedæmonians of
Sparta. All the Peloponnese except the Isthmus of Corinth is surrounded
by water: and the maritime parts of Laconia furnish shell fish from
which purple dye is obtained, next in excellence to the Tyrian purple.
And the Eleutherolacones have 18 cities, first Gythium as you descend
from Ægiæ to the sea, and next Teuthrone, and Las, and Pyrrhichus,
and near Tænarum Cænepolis, and Œtylus, and Leuctra, and Thalamæ, and
Alagonia, and Gerenia: and opposite Gythium Asopus near the sea, and
Acriæ, and Bœæ, and Zarax, and Epidaurus called Limera, and Brasiæ,
and Geronthræ, and Marius. These are all that remain of what were once
24 cities of the Eleutherolacones. And the other six, which I shall
also give an account of, are tributary to Sparta and not independent
as those we have just spoken of. And the people of Gythium assign no
mortal as their founder, but say that Hercules and Apollo, when their
contest for the tripod was over, jointly built their town. In the
market-place they have statues of Apollo and Hercules, and near them
Dionysus. And in a different part of the town is Carnean Apollo, and a
temple of Ammon, and a brazen statue of Æsculapius; his shrine has no
roof to it, and there is a fountain of the god, and a temple sacred to
Demeter, and a statue of Poseidon the Earth-holder. And the person that
the people of Gythium call the old man, who they say lives in the sea,
is I discovered Nereus, and this name Homer gave him in the Iliad in
the speech of Thetis, ‘Ye now enter Ocean’s spacious bosom, to visit
the old man of the sea and the homes of our sire.’[43] And the gates
here are called Castorides, and in the citadel there is a temple and
statue of Athene.
CHAPTER XXII.
And about 3 stades from Gythium is the White Stone, where they say
Orestes sat to cure himself of his madness. In the Doric tongue the
stone was called Zeus Cappotas. And opposite Gythium lies the island
Cranae, where according to Homer Paris first carried off Helen. Facing
this island on the mainland is the temple of Aphrodite Migonitis, and
the whole place is called Migonium. The temple they say was built by
Paris. And Menelaus, returning home safe 8 years after the capture
of Ilium, placed near the temple of Aphrodite Migonitis statues of
Thetis and Praxidice. There is a mountain too above Migonium sacred to
Dionysus, which they call Larysium: and here at the commencement of
spring they have a feast to Dionysus, alleging among other reasons for
the festival that they found here a ripe cluster of grapes.
On the left of Gythium about 30 stades’ distance you will see on
the mainland the walls of Trinasus, which seems to me to have been
a fort and not a town. And I think it got its name from the three
small islands which lie here near the mainland. And about 80 stades
from Trinasus you come to the ruins of Helus, and 30 stades further
to Acriæ a city on the sea, where is a handsome temple of the Mother
of the Gods, and her statue in stone. And the inhabitants of Acriæ
say that this is the oldest of all the temples of this goddess in the
Peloponnese: though the Magnesians who live north of Sipylus have on a
rock called Coddinus the most ancient statue of the Mother of the Gods;
and the Magnesians say it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalus.
Acriæ once produced a victor at Olympia in Nicocles, who carried off at
two Olympiads five victories in the chariot race. His tomb is between
the gymnasium and the walls near the harbour. It is about 120 stades
from Acriæ to Geronthræ. Geronthræ was inhabited before the Heraclidæ
came to the Peloponnese, and the inhabitants were driven out by the
Dorians of Lacedæmon, who, when they had driven out the Achæans from
Geronthræ, put in colonists of their own. But Geronthræ now belongs
to the Eleutherolacones. On the road from Acriæ to Geronthræ there
is a village called Palæa, and at Geronthræ there is a temple and
grove of Ares, whose festival they celebrate annually, when women are
forbidden to enter the grove. And near the market-place are fountains
of drinkable water. And in the citadel there is a temple of Apollo,
and the head of his image in ivory: all the rest of the image was
destroyed by fire when the old temple was burnt. Another town belonging
to the Eleutherolacones is Marius, 100 stades from Geronthræ. There is
an old temple there common to all the gods, and round it a grove with
fountains, there are also fountains in the temple of Artemis. Marius
indeed has plenty of water if any place. And above Marius is a village
called Glyptia in the interior of the country. And there is another
village called Selinus about 20 stades from Geronthræ.
So much for the interior of Laconia from Acriæ. And the town Asopus
on the sea is about 60 stades from Acriæ. In it is a temple of the
Roman Emperors, and inland from Asopus about 12 stades is a temple of
Æsculapius, they call the god Philolaus there. And the bones that are
honoured in the gymnasium are exceedingly large, but not too big for
a mortal. And there is a temple of Athene called Cyparissia in the
citadel: and at the foot of the citadel there some ruins of a town
called the town of the Paracyparissian Achæans. There is also in this
district a temple of Æsculapius about 50 stades from Asopus, and they
call the place in which this temple is Hyperteleatum. And there is a
promontory jutting out into the sea about 200 stades from Asopus, which
they call _Ass’ jawbone_. This promontory has a temple of Athene,
without either statue or roof, said to have been built by Agamemnon.
There is also a monument of Cinadus, who was the pilot of Menelaus’
ship. And next to this promontory is what is called the Bay of BϾ,
and the city Bœæ is at the head of the bay. It was built by Bœus, one
of the sons of Hercules who is said to have peopled it from the three
towns Etis, Aphrodisias, and Sida. Two of these ancient towns are
reputed to have been built by Æneas, when he was fleeing to Italy and
driven into this bay by storms, his daughter Etias gave her name to
Etis, and the third town was they say called after Sida the daughter
of Danaus. Those who were driven out of these towns enquired where
they should dwell: and the oracle told them that Artemis would shew
them where to dwell. On their starting their journey a hare sprung in
view, this hare they made their guide: and as it hid in a myrtle tree
they built their city on the site of the myrtle tree, and they still
venerate the myrtle tree, and call Artemis their Saviour. There is also
a temple of Apollo in the market-place of BϾ, and in another part of
the city temples of Æsculapius and Serapis and Isis. The ruins of the
three towns are not more than 7 stades from BϾ, and on the road you
see a stone statue of Hermes on the left, and among the ruins can trace
temples of Æsculapius and Hygiea.
CHAPTER XXIII.
And Cythera lies opposite BϾ, and to the promontory of
Platanistus--the point where the island is nearest to the
mainland--from the promontory on the mainland called _Ass’ jaw-bone_
is about 4 stades’ sail. And at Cythera there is a station for ships
called Scandea, and Scandea is about 10 stades from the town of Cythera
as you go along the cliffs. And the temple of Celestial Aphrodite is
the most holy and most ancient of all the temples the Greeks have of
Aphrodite, and the statue is an old wooden one, the goddess is in
complete armour.
As you sail from BϾ to the promontory of Malea there is a harbour
called Nymphæum, and a statue of Poseidon erect, and a cave very near
the sea, and in it a spring of fresh water, and many people live in
the neighbourhood. And as you double the promontory of Malea, and sail
about 100 stades, you come to a place called Epidelium on the borders
of BϾ, where is a temple of Apollo. It is called Epidelium because
the wooden statue of Apollo there now was formerly at Delos. For
Delos being formerly an emporium for the Greeks, and being thought
likely to give security to commerce because of the god, Menophanes a
General of Mithridates, either of his own insolence or obeying the
orders of Mithridates, (for to a man looking only to lucre divine
things come after gain), seeing that Delos had no fortifications and
that the inhabitants were unarmed, sailed to it and slew all the
resident aliens, and the Delians also, and robbed the merchants of much
money, and carried off all the votive offerings, and also enslaved
the women and children, and razed Delos to the ground. And during
the sack and plunder one of the barbarians in very wantonness threw
this wooden statue into the sea, and the waves landed it here at the
place called Epidelium in the district of BϾ. But the fierce wrath
of the god failed not to pursue Menophanes and Mithridates himself,
for Menophanes, when he put to sea again after laying Delos waste, was
lain in wait for by the merchants who had escaped, and his vessel sunk,
and Mithridates subsequently was compelled by the god to be his own
executioner when his power was entirely destroyed, and he driven hither
and thither by the Romans. And some say that he found a violent death
as a favour at the hands of one of his mercenaries. Such was the end of
these men for their impiety.
And adjacent to the district of BϾ is Epidaurus Limera, about
200 stades from Epidelium. And they say that it was colonized and
inhabited not by the Lacedæmonians but by some Epidaurians that lived
in Argolis, who, sailing to Cos to see Æsculapius on public business
put in at Laconia here, and according to visions they had continued
here. And they say that the dragon which they had brought with them
from Epidaurus escaped from the ship and dived into a hole not far from
the sea, and according to their visions and the wonderful behaviour of
their dragon they determined to dwell there. And at the point where the
dragon dived into a hole they erected altars to Æsculapius, and some
olive trees grow in the vicinity. About two stades further there is
on the right hand some water called the water of Ino, in size only a
small lake, but it goes very deep into the ground. Into this water on
the festival of Ino they throw barley cakes. If the water absorbs them
it is thought a lucky sign for the person who throws them in, but if
they float on the surface it is judged a bad sign. The craters at Ætna
have the same prophetic power. For they throw into them gold and silver
vessels, and offerings of all kinds. And if the fire absorbs them they
rejoice at it as a good sign, but if it rejects them they regard it as
a sure sign of misfortune for the person who has thrown them in. And
on the road from BϾ to Epidaurus Limera there is a temple of Artemis
called by the Epidaurians Limnas. The town is at no great distance from
the sea, and is built on an eminence: and the sights worth seeing here
are the temple of Aphrodite, and a statue of Æsculapius in stone erect,
and a temple of Athene in the citadel, and in front of the harbour
a temple of Zeus Soter. And into the sea near the town juts out the
promontory Minoa. And the bay is very similar to all the others in
Laconia made by the encroaches of the sea. And the seashore has pebbles
beautiful in shape and of all kinds of colours.
CHAPTER XXIV.
About 100 stades from Epidaurus Limera is Zarax, in other respects
convenient as a harbour, but especially ravaged of all the towns of
the Eleutherolacones, for Cleonymus, the son of Cleomenes, the son of
Agesipolis, razed to the ground this alone of the Laconian towns. But
I have elsewhere spoken of Cleonymus. And at Zarax there is nothing
remarkable but a temple of Apollo at the end of the harbour, and a
statue of the god with a lyre.
And as you go along the coast from Zarax about 6 stades, and then
turn and strike into the interior of the country for about 10 stades,
you come to the ruins of Cyphanta, where is a temple of Æsculapius
called Stethæum, and the statue of the god is of stone. And there is
a spring of cold water bubbling out from the rock. They say Atalanta
was parched with thirst hunting here, and struck the rock with her
lance and the water gushed forth. And Brasiæ near the sea is the last
place which belongs to the Eleutherolacones here, and it is about
200 stades’ sail from Cyphanta. And the natives here have traditions
different to all the other Greeks, for they say that Semele bare a son
to Zeus, and that she and her son Dionysus were spirited away by Cadmus
and put into a chest, and this chest was they say carried by the waves
to Brasiæ, and they say they buried magnificently Semele who was no
longer alive, and reared Dionysus. And in consequence of this the name
of their city, which had been hitherto called Oreatæ was changed to
_Brasiæ_, because of this landing from the chest. To this day in fact
most people speak of things cast ashore by the waves as _brashed_[44]
ashore. The people of Brasiæ say further that Ino came to their land
on her travels, and when she came there wished to be the nurse of
Dionysus. And they show the cave where she reared Dionysus, and they
call the plain Dionysus’ garden. And there are temples of Æsculapius
and Achilles there, and they have an annual feast to Achilles. And
there is a small promontory at Brasiæ, which slopes gently to the sea,
and there are some brazen statues on it not more than a foot high with
hats on their heads, I know not whether they are meant for Castor and
Pollux or the Corybantes, however there are three figures, and there
is also a statue of Athene. And on the right of Gythium is Las, ten
stades from the sea, and forty from Gythium. And the town is now built
on the ground between the three mountains called respectively Ilium and
Asia and Cnacadium, but it was originally on the crest of Asia: and
there are still ruins of the old town, and before the walls a statue
of Hercules, and a trophy over the Macedonians, who were a portion of
Philip’s army when he invaded Laconia, but wandered from the rest of
the army, and ravaged the maritime parts of the country. And there is
among the ruins a temple of Athene under the title of Asia, erected
they say by Castor and Pollux on their safe return from Colchi, where
they had seen a temple of Athene Asia. I know that they took part in
the expedition with Jason, and that the Colchians honour Athene Asia
I have heard from the people of Las. And there is a fountain near the
new town called from the colour of its water Galaco (_milky_), and
near the fountain is a gymnasium, and an ancient statue of Hermes. And
on Mount Ilium there is a temple of Dionysus, and on the top of the
hill one of Æsculapius, and on Cnacadium Carnean Apollo. And if you
go forward about 30 stades from Carnean Apollo there are at a place
called Hypsi, on the borders of Sparta, temples of Æsculapius and of
Daphnean Artemis. And on a promontory near the sea is the temple of
Artemis Dictynna, whose feast they keep annually. And on the left of
this promontory the river Smenus discharges itself into the sea. The
water is fresh to drink, and rises on Mount Taygetus, and is not more
than five stades distant from Hypsi. And in the place called Araïnum is
the tomb of Las, and over his tomb a statue. This Las they say was the
founder of the town, and was killed by Achilles, who they say came to
their town to ask Helen in marriage of Tyndareus. But to speak truth it
was Patroclus that killed Las: for it was he that wooed Helen. For that
Achilles is not represented as one of Helen’s suitors in the Catalogue
of Women, would indeed be no proof that he did not ask for Helen’s
hand: but Homer has stated very early in the Iliad[45] that Achilles
went to Troy to gratify the sons of Atreus, and not bound by any oath
to Tyndareus, and has represented Antilochus in the Games saying
that he was younger than Odysseus,[46] and has described Odysseus as
discoursing about what he had seen in Hades and other things, and
how he wished to see Theseus and Pirithous, who were older men than
himself, and we know that Theseus ran away with Helen. So it is hardly
permissible at all to think that Achilles could have been a suitor of
Helen.
CHAPTER XXV.
Not far from the tomb of Las the river called Scyras falls into the
sea; it had no name for a long time and was called Scyras because
Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, put in there with his fleet, when he
sailed from Scyrus to marry Hermione. And when you have crossed the
river there is an ancient temple at some distance from an altar of
Zeus. And at forty stades’ distance from the river is Pyrrhichus in
the heart of the country. Some say the town was so called from Pyrrhus
the son of Achilles, others say Pyrrhichus was the god of the Curetes.
There are some even that say Silenus came from Malea and dwelt here.
That Silenus was brought up at Malea is plain from these lines of
Pindar,[47]
‘The mighty, the dance-loving Silenus,
Reared by the Malea-born husband of Nais.’
That Pyrrhichus was his name has not been told us by Pindar,
but is a tradition of those that live at Malea. And there is at
Pyrrhichus a conduit in the market-place, which they think they owe
to Silenus: and if the conduit were to fail them they would be short
of water. And the temples at Pyrrhichus are two, one of Artemis the
Putter-of-an-end-to-War, because here the Amazons were stopped from any
further warfare, and one of Apollo Amazonius. Both have wooden statues,
and tradition says they were votive offerings of the women that came
from Thermodon.
As you go towards the sea from Pyrrhichus you come to Teuthrone,
which they say was built by Teuthras an Athenian. And of all the gods
they pay most honour to Issorian Artemis, and they have a fountain
called Naia. And a hundred and fifty stades from Teuthrone is the
promontory of Tænarum jutting out into the sea, and the harbours
Achilleus and Psamathus. And on the promontory there is a temple like a
cave, and before it a statue of Poseidon. And some of the Greeks have
represented that it was here that Hercules brought up Cerberus from
the lower world, though there is no underground road leading up to the
cave, nor could one easily believe that the gods have any underground
dwelling, where departed souls congregate. But Hecatæus the Milesian
has a probable legend, that a dreadful serpent called Cerberus was
reared at Tænarum, and that whoever was bitten by it was sure to die,
so venomous was its bite, and this serpent was dragged by Hercules to
Eurystheus. Homer, who first spoke of the dog being dragged from Hades
by Hercules, gave him no name, nor complete description as he did of
the Chimæra.[48] But others afterwards called the dog Cerberus, and
said he was like a dog in all respects except that he had 3 heads,
though Homer said no more that he was the domestic animal called the
dog than if he had called a real serpent the dog of Hades. There are
several works of art at Tænarum, and among others the harper Arion
in brass riding on the dolphin’s back. As to Arion and the dolphin
Herodotus[49] has given the tradition as he heard it in his history
about Lydia. I have myself seen at Poroselene a dolphin so full of
gratitude to a boy, by whom he had been healed of wounds received from
some fishermen, that he was obedient to his call, and carried him on
his back over the sea whenever he wished. There is also a fountain at
Tænarum, which now presents nothing marvellous, but in former times
they say gave to those who looked into it the sight of harbours and
ships. This peculiarity of the water was stopped for all time by a
woman’s washing her dirty linen in it.
About 40 stades’ sail from the promontory of Tænarum is a place
called Cænepolis, which was also formerly called Tænarum. And in it
is a chapel of Demeter, and a temple of Aphrodite near the sea, and a
stone statue of the goddess erect. And 30 stades thence is Thyrides
the topmost peak of Tænarum, and the ruins of the town of Hippola, and
among them the temple of Athene of Hippola, and at a little distance
the town and harbour of Messa. It is about 150 stades from this harbour
to Œtylus. And the hero from whom Œtylus got its name was originally
from Argos, being the son of Amphianax, the son of Antimachus. The most
notable things to see in Œtylus are the temple of Serapis, and a wooden
statue in the market-place of Carnean Apollo.
CHAPTER XXVI.
From Œtylus to Thalamæ the distance by road is about 80 stades, and by
the roadside is a temple and oracle of Ino. They get their oracular
responses asleep, for whatever they want to know the goddess shews them
in dreams. And there are two brazen statues in the open air part of the
temple, one of Pasiphae, and one of the Sun. What the statue in the
temple is made of is not easy to see from the quantity of the garlands,
but they say that it too is of brass. And fresh water flows from a
sacred fount, called the water of the Moon. Pasiphae indeed is not the
indigenous goddess of the people of Thalamæ.
And about twenty stades from Thalamæ is a place called Pephnos, by
the sea. There is a little island in front of it not greater than a big
rock, which is also called Pephnos, and the people of Thalamæ say that
it was the birthplace of Castor and Pollux. Alcman also gives us the
same account I know in one of his poems. But they do not say that they
were brought up at Pephnos, for Hermes took them to Pellana. And in
this island there are brazen statues of Castor and Pollux about a foot
high in the open air. These the sea cannot move from their position,
though in winter time it dashes violently over the rock. This is indeed
wonderful, and the ants there are whiter in colour than ants generally.
The Messenians say that the island originally belonged to them, so that
they claim Castor and Pollux as theirs rather than as deities of the
Lacedæmonians.
About twenty stades from Pephnos is Leuctra. Why it was so called I
do not know: but if it was from Leucippus the son of Perieres, as the
Messenians say, this will be why they honour Æsculapius here most of
all the gods, as the son of Arsinoe the daughter of Leucippus. And
there is a statue of Æsculapius in stone, and one of Ino in another
part of the town. There is also a temple and statue of Cassandra the
daughter of Priam, who is called Alexandra by the people of Leuctra:
and there are some wooden statues of Carnean Apollo, who is worshipped
in the same way as by the Lacedæmonians at Sparta. And in the citadel
there is a temple and statue of Athene. And there is a temple and grove
of Eros, and in winter-time water flows through the grove: but the
leaves that fall from the trees in autumn could never be carried away
by the water even if it were very plentiful. But what I know happened
in my time at a part of Leuctra near the sea, I will now relate. The
wind fanned a fire in the wood so that it burnt down most of the trees:
and when the spot became bare, there was a statue of Ithomatan Zeus
discovered which had been erected there. The Messenians say that this
is a proof that Leuctra was originally part of Messenia. But Ithomatan
Zeus might have received honours from the Lacedæmonians as well, if
they originally lived at Leuctra.
And Cardamyle, which Homer[50] has mentioned in the promises of
gifts made by Agamemnon, is subject to Sparta, as the Emperor Augustus
detached it from Messenia. It is eight stades from the sea, and sixty
from Leuctra. And not far from the seashore is a grove sacred to the
daughters of Nereus, for the story goes that they climbed up to this
place from the sea to see Pyrrhus the son of Achilles, when he went off
to Sparta to marry Hermione. In this small town there is a temple of
Athene and Carnean Apollo, whom they worship according to the Dorian
fashion.
And the city called, by Homer[51] Enope, the inhabitants of which
are Messenians though they join the Council of the Eleutherolacones,
is called in our time Gerenia. Some say Nestor was brought up in this
city, others that he fled here when Pylos was taken by Hercules.
Gerenia contains the tomb and temple of Machaon the son of Æsculapius:
from whom men may have possibly learnt the healing of diseases. The
sacred place they call Rhodon, and the statue of Machaon is erect
in brass. And on its head is a garland, which the Messenians call
_ciphos_[52] in their country’s tongue. The writer of the epic poem
called the Little Iliad says that Machaon was killed by Eurypylus
the son of Telephus. That is why (as I myself know) in the rites in
the temple of Æsculapius at Pergamum, they begin with the Hymns of
Telephus, but make no reference in their singing to Eurypylus, nor
will they name him at all in the temple, because they know he was the
murderer of Machaon. And the tradition is that Nestor recovered the
bones of Machaon. And Podalirius, when the Greeks were returning after
the sack of Ilium, was carried they say out of his way to Syrnum a
place in the Continent of Caria, and getting there safe built a town
there.
In the Gerenian district is the mountain Calathium, and on it is a
temple of Clæa and a grotto near the temple, with a narrow entrance:
within there are several objects worth seeing. And from Gerenia to
Alagonia in the interior is about 30 stades, but that town I have
already mentioned amongst the Eleutherolacones. And the sights best
worth seeing there are the temples of Dionysus and Artemis.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] _Odyssey_, xix. 178, 179.
[31] Iliad, xix. 117.
[32] Mentioned ii, 38; iii, i. Pausanias now returns to topography.
[33] _Gymnopædia_, as its name denotes, was a yearly festival at which
boys danced naked and went through gymnastic exercises.
[34] The cornel tree is in Greek κράνεια. Transposition of the ρ will
give κάρνειος as the title of the god. This will explain text.
[35] It means boxers, or football players.
[36] A name for Ares the god of war, the Latin Mars.
[37] So Bacon calls revenge ‘a kind of wild justice.’ _Essay_ iv.
[38] Reading the emendation of _Sylburgius_ κατὰ τὸ Σκύλλαιον τὴν ἄκραν.
[39] Iliad, xiv. 231.
[40] Reading τρεῖς with Facius.
[41] Iliad, xxiv. 41. Pausanias derives from Θήρ or Θηρίον.
[42] Iliad, ii. 584.
[43] Iliad, xviii. 140, 141.
[44] We coin a word to keep the Paronomasia.
[45] Iliad, i. 158-160.
[46] Is this a slip of Pausanias for _Menelaus_? See Iliad, xxiii. 587,
588.
[47] Only found as a fragment now.
[48] In Odyssey, xi. 623, he is simply called κύνα, in Iliad, viii.
368, κύνα στυγερoῦ Ἀΐδαο. And κύων has various senses.
[49] Herodotus, i. 23, 24.
[50] Iliad, ix. 292.
[51] Iliad, ix. 292.
[52] Our _coif_.
BOOK IV.--MESSENIA.
CHAPTER I.
The border of Messenia towards Laconia, as fixed by Augustus, is at
Gerenia, and in our time is called the Chœrian dell. This country,
originally without inhabitants, is described to have been inhabited
by the first colonists in the following manner. After the death of
Lelex, who reigned in what is now called Laconia, but was then called
Lelegia after him, Myles who was the elder of his sons succeeded him,
and Polycaon the younger was only a private person till he married
the Argive Messene, the daughter of Triopas, the son of Phorbas. But
Messene, being full of pride owing to her father, who was foremost of
all the Greeks in merit and power, did not think it tolerable that
her husband should be a private person. So they gathered together
an army from Argos and Lacedæmon and invaded this country, and the
whole district was called Messene from her. And several other cities
were built, as well as the place where the royal headquarters were
established, _viz._ Andania. Before the battle which the Thebans fought
with the Lacedæmonians at Leuctra, and the building of Messene in our
day close to Ithome, I know of no city that was previously called
Messene. My inference is very much confirmed by Homer. For in the
catalogue of those who went to Ilium, when enumerating Pylos and Arene
and other cities, he mentions no Messene. And in the Odyssey he shews
that by this time the Messenians were a race and not a city,
‘For the Messenians took cattle from Ithaca,’[53]
and clearer still in speaking of the bow of Iphitus,
‘They two in Messene met one another,
In the house of Ortilochus.’[54]
By the house of Ortilochus in Messene he meant the town of Pheræ, as he
has shewn in the visit of Pisistratus to Menelaus,
‘They went to Pheræ to the house of Diocles,
The son of Ortilochus.’[55]
However the first rulers of this country were Polycaon (the son
of Lelex) and his wife Messene. Caucon, the son of Celænus, the son
of Phlyus, introduced here from Eleusis the mysteries of the Great
Goddesses. Phlyus was according to the Athenian tradition the son of
Mother Earth. And this tradition of theirs is confirmed by the Hymn of
Musæus made for the Lycomidæ in honour of Demeter. And the rites of
the Great Goddesses were held in greater honour many years afterwards,
owing to Lycus the son of Pandion, than in Caucon’s days. And they
still call the place where he purged the initiated the oak coppice of
Lycus. That there is an oak-coppice in this land called Lycus’ is also
borne out by Rhianus the Cretan,
‘By rocky Elæum and beyond the oak-coppice of Lycus.’
And that this Lycus was the son of Pandion is plain by the inscription
on the statue of Methapus. This Methapus reformed some of the rites. He
was an Athenian by race, an organizer of all sorts of mystic rites. He
it was who established also among the Thebans the rites of the Cabiri.
And he erected near the enclosure of the Lycomidæ a statue with an
inscription which confirms my account. “I have purified the home and
paths of Hermes and the firstborn daughter of Demeter, where they say
Messene established games to the Great Goddesses, owing to the son
of Caucon, the illustrious descendant of Phlyus. But I wonder that
Lycus the son of Pandion should establish the sacred rites of Atthis
in venerable Andania.” This inscription shews that Caucon who came to
Messene was the descendant of Phlyus, and confirms all the other facts
about Lycus, and that the mysteries in ancient times were celebrated
at Andania. And it seems also common sense that Messene would not
establish the mysteries in any other place than where she and Polycaon
lived.
CHAPTER II.
And being very anxious to know accurately who the sons of Polycaon
were by Messene, I perused the poem called _the Great EϾ_ and the
Naupactian poems, and also all the genealogical information of Cinæthon
and Asius. And yet I did not discover anything in them except that
_the Great Eœæ_ say that Polycaon the son of Butes married Euæchme,
the daughter of Hyllus the son of Hercules, but they make no mention
of either Messene or her husband. But in after time, when none of the
descendants of Polycaon survived, they continued five generations and
no more, they introduced as King Perieres the son of Æolus. To his
court came as the Messenians say Melaneus, a skilful archer and for
that reason thought to be the son of Apollo, and Perieres assigned
to him Carnasium to dwell in, which was formerly called Œchalia from
the wife of Melaneus. But the Thessalians and Eubœans--for there are
almost always disputed accounts of most Grecian events--give different
accounts. The former say that Eurytium a place deserted in our days
was a city in old times and called Œchalia: but Creophylus in his
Heraclea has written what corresponds with the account of the Eubœans.
And Hecatæus the Milesian writes that Œchalia is in Scium a part of
Eretria. But the Messenians seem to me to give the most probable
account, especially about the bones of Eurytus, which I shall touch
upon later. And Perieres had by Gorgophone the daughter of Perseus
Aphareus and Leucippus who, on his death, succeeded their father as
kings of the Messenians, but Aphareus had most power. During his reign
he built the city Arene which got its name from the daughter of Œbalus,
his wife and uterine sister. For Gorgophone was married to Œbalus, as
I have already mentioned, in my account of Argolis, and also in my
account of Laconia. Aphareus then built the city Arene in Messenia, and
received into his house his cousin Neleus, the son of Cretheus, the
son of Æolus (who was surnamed Poseidon), when he fled from Pelias at
Iolcus, and gave him the maritime parts of the land, among which were
several other cities besides Pylos, where Neleus dwelt, and made it his
seat of government. And Lycus the son of Pandion came also to Arene,
when he also fled from Athens from his brother Ægeus. And he taught the
mysteries of the Great Goddesses to Aphareus and his sons and his wife
Arene. And he introduced them into Andania, for Caucon there initiated
Messene. And the elder and more manly of Aphareus’ children was Idas,
and the younger was Lynceus, of whom Pindar said, believe it who will,
that he had such keen eyesight that he could see through the trunk of
a tree. We do not know of Lynceus having had a son, but Ides had by
Marpessa a daughter Cleopatra, who married Meleager. And the writer
of the Cyprian Poems says that the wife of Protesilaus, (who when the
Greeks got to the Troad was the first who ventured to land), was by
name Polydora, and he also says that she was the daughter of Meleager
the son of Œneus. If this be correct then all these three women,
beginning with Marpessa, committed suicide after the death of their
husbands.
CHAPTER III.
But when between the sons of Aphareus and Castor and Pollux (their
uncles) a quarrel arose about cattle, and Lynceus was slain by Pollux,
while Idas died smitten with lightning, the house of Aphareus was
entirely deprived of male offspring, and upon Nestor the son of Neleus
devolved the kingdom of the Messenians, over all whom Idas reigned over
and others besides, except those who followed the sons of Æsculapius.
For they say that the sons of Æsculapius that went on the expedition
to Ilium were Messenians: for Æsculapius was the son of Arsinoe the
daughter of Leucippus, and not the son of Coronis. And they call a
deserted place in Messenia Tricca, it is mentioned by Homer in the
passage where Nestor is consoling Machaon, who was wounded with an
arrow. He would not have exhibited such kindness except to a neighbour
and king of the same tribe. They confirm also greatly this account
about the children of Æsculapius by showing at Gerenia the monument of
Machaon, and at Pharæ the temple of the sons of Machaon.
And after the end of the war against Ilium, and the death of Nestor
after his return home, the expedition of the Dorians and return of
the Heraclidæ two generations afterwards drove out the descendants of
Neleus from Messenia. And this was as it were the climax of the doings
of Temenus which I have already described. But I will narrate this much
more. When the Dorians assigned Argos to Temenus, Cresphontes asked
of them Messenia, on the ground that he was older than Aristodemus,
who had just died. But Theras the son of Autesion vehemently opposed
Cresphontes; he was of Theban ancestry and fifth descendant of
Polynices the son of Œdipus, and at this time Guardian of Aristodemus’
sons, as he was their uncle on the mother’s side, for Aristodemus
had married the daughter of Autesion, whose name was Argia. But
Cresphontes, for he was determined to have Messenia, begged of Temenus
to decide the question by lots. And Temenus put into a water-pot which
had water in it the lots of Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus
separately, so that he whose lot came up first should have Messenia.
Temenus prepared both the lots, the lot of the sons of Aristodemus
he made of clay dried in the sun, and Cresphontes’ lot of clay that
had been baked in the furnace: and the lot of the sons of Aristodemus
melted, and stuck to the bottom of the water-pot, so that Cresphontes
(for his lot came out) got possession in this way of Messenia. And
the old Messenians were not turned out by the Dorians, but agreed to
Cresphontes being their king, and to the partition of the land among
the Dorians. And they were brought over to this compliance by suspicion
of their former kings, because they were Minyæ who had originally
sprung from Iolcus. And the wife of Cresphontes was Merope the daughter
of Cypselus (who was at that time king of the Arcadians), by whom
he had several children and the name of the youngest was Æpytus. And
his palace, where he himself and his sons meant to live, he built at
Stenyclerus: for in ancient times Perieres and the other kings lived
at Andania, and after Aphareus had built Arene he and his sons lived
there, and in the reign of Nestor and his descendants the Court lived
at Pylos, but Cresphontes changed the royal residence to Stenyclerus.
And, as he chiefly ingratiated himself with the people, the wealthy
classes rose up in insurrection against him and killed him and all his
sons except Æpytus, who being quite a boy was brought up by Cypselus,
and alone survived of all the house, and when he grew to man’s estate
the Arcadians restored him to Messene. And the other kings of the
Dorians, the sons of Aristodemus, and Isthmius the son of Temenus,
joined in bringing him back. And when Æpytus became king he punished
his father’s murderers, and all those who had instigated the crime:
and bringing over to his side by his attentions those who were in high
position among the Messenians, and the populace by gifts, he arrived at
such a pitch of honour that his descendants were called Æpytidæ instead
of Heraclidæ.
And Glaucus the son of Æpytus, who succeeded his father, in all
other respects imitated his father both in public and private, but far
exceeded him in piety. For when the sacred enclosure of Zeus on the
summit of Ithome did not receive honours among the Dorians, through the
neglect of Polycaon and Messene, Glaucus restored his worship: and was
the first to sacrifice to Machaon the son of Æsculapius at Gerenia, and
awarded such gifts to Messene the daughter of Triopas as are usually
bestowed on heroes. And Isthmius Glaucus’ son also built a temple to
Gorgasus and Nicomachus at Pharæ. And the son of Isthmius was Dotadas,
who, though Messenia had several other havens, constructed one at
Mothone. And Sybotas the son of Dotadas decreed that annually the king
should sacrifice by the river Pamisus, and offer victims to Eurytus the
son of Melaneus in Œchalia, before the rites of the Great Goddesses
that are still celebrated in Andania.
CHAPTER IV.
And in the reign of Phintas, the son of Sybotas, the Messenians first
sent to Apollo at Delos sacrifices and a choir of men. And their
processional Hymn to the god was composed by Eumelus, and these are
considered the only genuine lines of Eumelus. It was during the reign
of this Phintas that a disagreement for the first time came about
between the Lacedæmonians and the Messenians. The cause is doubtful,
but is traditionally as follows. On the borders of Messenia is a
temple of Artemis Limnas, in which the Messenians and Lacedæmonians
were the only Dorians that had a share. The Lacedæmonians say that
some maidens of theirs who were present at the feast were violated by
some Messenians, and that their king Teleclus, (the son of Archelaus,
the son of Agesilaus, the son of Doryssus, the son of Labotas, the
son of Echestratus, the son of Agis,) was slain in endeavouring to
prevent this outrage. They also say that the maidens who were violated
put themselves to death from shame. But the Messenian account is that
Teleclus plotted against their persons of quality that came to the
temple, on account of the excellence of the Messenian soil, and picked
out some beardless Spartans, and, dressing them in female attire and
ornaments like maidens, introduced them armed with daggers among some
of the Messenians who were resting: but the other Messenians came
up to the rescue, and killed the beardless young men and Teleclus
himself. And the Lacedæmonians--for their king had not contrived all
this without the common consent--knowing that they had begun the wrong,
did not demand vengeance for the murder of Teleclus. These are the
different accounts the two nations give, let everyone accept the view
he prefers.
And a generation afterwards, when Alcamenes the son of Teleclus was
king at Lacedæmon, and the king of the other family was Theopompus, the
son of Nicander, the son of Charillus, the son of Polydectes, the son
of Eunomus, the son of Prytanis, the son of Eurypon, and Antiochus and
Androcles the sons of Phintas were kings of the Messenians, strife
arose between the Lacedæmonians and Messenians, and the Lacedæmonians
began hostilities, availing themselves, as they were full of animosity
and very warlike, of an adequate and even specious pretext. But had
their disposition been more peaceable it would have been settled by
arbitration. This is what happened. Polychares a Messenian in other
respects not obscure was a victor at Olympia in the games, when the
people of Elis were celebrating their 4th Olympiad and competed only
in the race in which Polychares was victor. This man had much cattle
and, because he had not sufficient land to pasture them upon, he handed
them over to Euæphnus a Spartan to feed on his land, on condition that
he should have a share in the produce of the cattle. Now Euæphnus was
a person who preferred unrighteous gains to acting with integrity,
and was generally speaking a wheedling fellow, so he sold the oxen
of Polychares to merchants who sailed to Laconia, and went himself
to Polychares and reported to him that some pirates had landed on
the spot, and violently robbed him both of cattle and herdsmen. And
while he was deceiving Polychares one of the herdsmen fled from the
merchants, and coming back to Polychares found Euæphnus with him, and
accused him to his master. And being detected and having no defence,
he earnestly begged for pardon from Polychares and his son: on the
score that, among the elements in human nature whereby we become
unjust almost by compulsion, the love of gain is the most powerful.
And he stated the sum which he had received for the cattle, and asked
Polychares’ son to go with him and carry it back to his father. And
when they went on their journey and got to Laconia, Euæphnus dared a
deed more unholy than the former, he slew the son of Polychares. And
when Polychares knew of this last misfortune, he went to Lacedæmon to
the kings and Ephors, and went wailing through the multitude, reckoning
up what he had suffered at the hands of Euæphnus, whom he had treated
as a friend, and trusted more than all the Lacedæmonians. And when he
got no redress, though he went continually to the authorities, then he
went off his head, and giving way to his anger, and being perfectly
reckless of the consequences, endeavoured to kill every Lacedæmonian he
met.
CHAPTER V.
The Lacedæmonian account is that they went to war because Polychares
was not given up to them, and because of the murder of Teleclus, and
because they were suspected earlier still of having had a hand in the
villany of Cresphontes about the lots. But the Messenians contradict
what I have already said about Teleclus, and point to the fact that
Æpytus the son of Cresphontes was restored by the sons of Aristodemus,
which they would never have done had they been at variance with
Cresphontes. And they say that they did not give up Polychares to
the Lacedæmonians for punishment, because neither would they give up
Euæphnus, but they were willing that sentence should be given by the
Argives (who were the kinsmen of both) at Amphictyonia, or that the
case should be submitted to the Court at Athens called the Areopagus,
because that court seemed from ancient times appointed for murder
cases. They also say that the Lacedæmonians did not go to war on this
account, but in consequence of their ambition plotted against their
land and did various things, alleging at one time the condition of
Arcadia, at another the state of Argos, for they were never satisfied
with slicing off from time to time the territory of both of those
people. And they were the first to become friends of the barbarian
Crœsus who sent them gifts, at the time when he reduced to slavery
all the Greeks in Asia Minor, and all the Dorians that dwelt in the
mainland of Caria. And they declare that, when the Phocian leaders
plundered the temple at Delphi, the kings at Sparta and other noblemen
privately, and the Ephors and senators publicly, had a hand in it.
And above all, to shew that the Lacedæmonians would stick at nothing
for lucre, they twitted them with their alliance with Apollodorus the
tyrant of Cassandrea. Why indeed the Messenians consider this such a
bitter taunt, I cannot now discuss: for except that the courage of
the Messenians and the length of time they fought differed from the
tyranny of Apollodorus, they suffered nearly as much as the people of
Cassandrea. These are the causes which each nation assign for the war.
And now an embassy of Lacedæmonians came to demand the extradition of
Polychares. The kings of the Messenians however answered the embassy
that after deliberation with the people they would send an answer
to Sparta, and accordingly after the departure of the embassy they
convened the citizens to a general assembly. And different opinions
were bandied about; Androcles thought they ought to give up Polychares
as having acted impiously and most savagely, Antiochus took the
opposite view, and maintained that it would be most distressing if
Polychares should suffer before the eyes of Euæphnus, and enumerated
the harrowing details of what his punishment would be. And eventually
the rival parties of Androcles and Antiochus proceeded to such lengths
that they took up arms. However their strife was not long continued,
for the party of Antiochus, being far superior in numbers, slew
Androcles and the most illustrious of his partizans. And Antiochus
being now the only king sent letters to Sparta, to say that he would
submit the matter to the arbitration of the courts I have mentioned.
But the Lacedæmonians are said to have given no answer to the bearers
of these letters. And not many months afterwards Antiochus died, and
Euphaes his son succeeded him. And the Lacedæmonians not only sent
no herald to proclaim war with the Messenians, nor openly renounced
friendship with them, but made their preparations as secretly as
possible, and previously bound themselves by oath that neither for
length of war (if it should not be decided speedily), nor for reverses
(if they should meet with even great ones), would they leave off till
they had won Messenia by the fortune of war. After taking this oath
they made a night-attack on Amphea, having appointed Alcamenes the son
of Teleclus as their General. Amphea is a small town in Messenia but
near Laconia, situated on a high hill, and well supplied with water.
And in other respects Amphea seemed a very convenient base for their
war. So they captured the town, the gates being open and no garrison
there, and killed all the Messenians that they took in the town, some
even in their beds, and others as they found them sitting as suppliants
at the temples and altars of the gods, and only a few escaped. This was
the first attack the Lacedæmonians made upon Messenia, in the second
year of the ninth Olympiad, in which Xenodocus the Messenian was victor
in the race. And at Athens there were not as yet yearly magistrates
appointed by lot: for the descendants of Melanthus, who were called
Medontidæ, had at first much of their power taken away by the people,
and instead of a kingdom their power became limited, and afterwards
their authority was definitely restricted to ten years. At the time of
the capture of Amphea Æsimides, the son of Æschylus, was in the fifth
year of his government over the Athenians.
CHAPTER VI.
But before I write the history of this war, and the actions and
sufferings entailed by it upon both parties by Providence, I wish
to relate in their order the exploits of Aristomenes the Messenian
hero. For this war between the Lacedæmonians and their allies and
the Messenians and their mercenaries did not get its name from the
attacking force, as the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, but was called
the Messenian war from the disasters which befell the Messenians, just
as the war at Ilium got called Trojan and not Grecian, so it was in
this war, which Rhianus of Bene and Myron of Priene have celebrated,
the former in poetry, the latter in prose. Neither of them however
have narrated fully the events of the war from beginning to end, but
Myron has described the capture of Amphea and its consequences up
to the death of Aristodemus, and Rhianus has not touched at all the
commencement of the war, but only what eventually happened to the
Messenians in consequence of their quarrel with the Lacedæmonians,
and he has not described even the whole of this, but only what took
place after the battle which they fought at what was called _the great
trench_; and the hero Aristomenes on whose account only I mentioned
Rhianus and Myron, and who was the first and foremost in bringing
the name of Messene to honour, this hero (I say) has been introduced
by Myron into his history, and by Rhianus into his poem, in which
Aristomenes is as much lauded as Achilles by Homer in the Iliad. As
these two have given such different accounts, I am obliged to accept
one of them and not both together. Rhianus appears to me to speak more
probably about the age of Aristomenes. But Myron, as one can learn
in other particulars and not least in the history of this Messenian
war, does not with sufficient accuracy test the truth or at least
probability of what he relates. For he states that Aristomenes slew
Theopompus, the king of the Lacedæmonians, a little before the death
of Aristodemus, whereas we know that Theopompus did not die in battle
or in any other way before the end of the war. And in fact Theopompus
concluded the war, as the elegiac lines of Tyrtæus bear me out,
‘To our king Theopompus god-beloved,
Through whom we took Messene spacious town.’
Aristomenes therefore in my opinion was in the second Messenian war,
and I shall relate in detail all about him when I come to that part of
my subject.
Now the Messenians, when they heard all that had happened at Amphea
from those who escaped from its capture, convened delegates from all
their towns at Stenyclerus. And when the people were gathered together
in the assembly, several of those in authority, and last of all the
king, exhorted them not to be dejected at the fall of Amphea as if all
the war were decided thereby, and not to fear the preparations of the
Lacedæmonians as more formidable than their own, for although they had
had longer experience in war, yet the Messenians would find necessity
a great spur to brave men, and would meet with greater favour from the
gods as defending their country, and not commencing hostilities.
CHAPTER VII.
With these words Euphaes dismissed the assembly, and from that time
forward kept all the Messenians under arms, compelling those that did
not know to learn the art of war, and making those that did practise
more frequently than before. And the Lacedæmonians made incursions into
Messenia, but did not injure the country inasmuch as they considered
it their own, neither did they cut down trees nor pull down houses;
but they drove off whatever cattle they found, and carried off the
corn and all fruit. They likewise made attacks on some of the towns
but took none, inasmuch as they were strongly fortified and carefully
guarded, and after much loss they desisted from the attempt, and ceased
attacking them. And the Messenians plundered the maritime parts of
Laconia, and all the farms in the neighbourhood of Mount Taygetus. And
in the 4th year after the capture of Amphea Euphaes, full of zeal from
the ardour of the Messenians who were boiling over with rage at the
Lacedæmonians, and at the same time thinking their training complete,
ordered a march, and bade the slaves follow with wood and all other
things necessary for entrenching a camp. And the Lacedæmonians heard
from the garrison at Amphea that the Messenians were on the march,
and they too marched out to battle. And at a place in Messenia very
convenient for a battle, with a deep ravine in front of it, Euphaes
drew up the Messenians in battle array, having appointed Cleonnis to
the chief command: the cavalry and light-armed troops, which were
both less than 500, were under Pytharatus and Antander. And when the
two armies engaged the ravine prevented the heavy-armed troops from
encountering, though they advanced against one another eagerly and
impetuously in their mutual hatred, but the cavalry and the light-armed
troops engaged above the ravine, and they were equally matched in
numbers and skill, and consequently the battle was evenly poised. But
while these were engaged, Euphaes ordered the slaves first to fortify
the rear of the army and then the flanks with stockades. And when night
overtook them and the battle was stayed, then they fortified also the
front of the camp opposite the ravine, so that next day the tactical
skill and foresight of Euphaes dawned upon the Lacedæmonians, and they
found that they could not fight against the Messenians if they would
not come out of their entrenchments, and they despaired of besieging
them as they had no siege train.
And so they returned home: and a year afterwards, when the old man
reviled them and taunted them with cowardice and disregard of their
oath, they openly made preparations for a second campaign against
the Messenians. And they were led by both their kings, Theopompus the
son of Nicander, and Polydorus the son of Alcamenes, for Alcamenes
was now dead. And the Messenians made counter-preparations, and
when the Spartans marched to battle moved out to meet them. And the
Lacedæmonians were led by Polydorus on the left wing, and Theopompus on
the right, and in the centre by Euryleon, a Lacedæmonian for the nonce
but originally a Theban descended from Cadmus, the fifth descendant
from Ægeus, the son of Œolycus, the son of Theras, the son of Autesion.
And opposite the right wing of the Lacedæmonians were the Messenians
under Antander and Euphaes, and on the wing opposite Polydorus under
Pytharatus, and in the centre under Cleonnis. And as they were just
going to engage, the kings came up and exhorted their men. To the
Lacedæmonians Theopompus made a short harangue according to the custom
of his country, reminding them of their oath against the Messenians,
and how noble an ambition it was to shew themselves more capable of
brilliant exploits than their fathers who subjugated their neighbours,
and to acquire a richer territory. Euphaes spoke at greater length than
the Lacedæmonian king, but not more so than the occasion warranted.
For he shewed that the contest was not only for land or possessions,
but they knew clearly he said what misery would come upon them if
they were conquered: their wives and children would be led off into
captivity, the lightest punishment for their young men would be death,
perhaps not unaccompanied by outrage, their temples would be plundered,
their country destroyed by fire. He was not he said merely making
suppositions, what those who were taken at Amphea had suffered was
proof positive of all that he said. Rather than bear such ills it would
be preferable to die nobly, and it would be much easier (when they were
yet unconquered and as bold as the enemy) to vanquish their adversaries
by their courage, than to retrieve their ruined fortunes if they were
faint-hearted now. Such was the speech of Euphaes.
CHAPTER VIII.
And directly the leaders on either side gave the signal for battle,
the Messenians came on at the double, and exposed themselves freely
as men dealing death in their rage at every blow, and everyone was
anxious to begin the fight. And the Lacedæmonians rushed out to meet
them with equal ardour, but took care not to break their line. And when
they got to close quarters, they threatened one another, rattling their
arms, and looking fiercely at one another, and proceeded to abuse, the
Lacedæmonians saying that the Messenians were already their slaves, and
that they were not a whit freer than the Helots, and the Messenians
replying that they were impious in what they were attempting, _viz._
in attacking kinsmen for the sake of gain, and were profane to the
national gods of the Dorians and especially to Hercules. And by this
time they followed up words with blows, and rushed on one another pell
mell (with greatest vigour the Lacedæmonians), man attacking man. From
their long experience and practice in war the Lacedæmonians had the
advantage, and also from their numbers, (for the neighbouring nations
who were subject to them they had with them in their army, and the
Asinæi and Dryopes, who a generation earlier had been driven by the
Argives from their own land and had come to Lacedæmon as suppliants,
were now compelled to swell their army), and against the light-armed
troops of the Messenians they had Cretan archers, mercenaries. And the
Messenians were animated equally by despair and contempt of death, and
all their sufferings they looked on as necessary rather than dreadful
to those who loved their country’s honour, and the more vigorously they
fought the harder they thought would things go for the Lacedæmonians.
And some of them advancing in front of their lines exhibited brilliant
bravery, and others badly wounded and scarce alive were animated by
desperation. And they cheered one another on, those who were alive
and yet unwounded encouraging the wounded to receive with joy their
fate, and sell their lives as dearly as possible: and the wounded,
(when they perceived their strength failing, and that they would
soon yield up their breath), urging on the unwounded to shew as much
courage as themselves had shewn, and not to let their death be useless
to their country. But the Lacedæmonians at first made no harangues to
their men, and were not as ready as the Messenians to display heroic
courage: but being accustomed to war from boys their formation in line
was deeper, and they expected that the Messenians could not hold out
as long as they could, nor stand the strain of their heavy armour,
nor their wounds. Such were the peculiar features of each army in
respect to both the behaviour and feelings of the combatants: what
was common to both was that no quarter was asked for, perhaps this
was despaired of from their fierce hatred, and they felt the greatest
self-indignation that they had not sold their lives dearer: and those
that killed their man abstained both from boasting and reproaches,
being uncertain which party would win. And most unexpectedly fell
those who were endeavouring to plunder some of the dead bodies, for
either by disclosing some naked part of their body they got pierced
with darts, not on their guard in their thirst for plunder, or they
were killed by some of those whom they were attempting to rob who were
still alive. The kings also fought right valiantly, and Theopompus
rushed with ungovernable rage against Euphaes, intending to kill him.
And Euphaes seeing him rushing on said to Antander that Theopompus was
displaying as much bravery as his ancestor Polynices: for Polynices
led an army from Argos against his own country, and he and his brother
mutually slew one another: and Theopompus (he added) wished to load
the family of the Heraclidæ with the same guilt as that of the family
of Laius and Œdipus: he would not however go with joy from the battle.
With these words he himself went forward to meet Theopompus. Hereupon
the battle, which had rather flagged, took up fresh vigour again, and
their bodies were renewed as it were, and the fearlessness of death on
both sides was increased, so that one might have thought the battle had
only just commenced. And eventually Euphaes’ division, nearly mad with
desperate valour and stoutheartedness, for the King’s bodyguard were
all picked men, broke the enemy’s line, routed Theopompus, and put the
Lacedæmonians in that part of the field to flight. But the other wing
of the Messenians was hard pressed, for Pytharatus their General was
dead, and without a leader they became disordered and dejected. But
neither did Polydorus pursue the fleeing Messenians, nor Euphaes the
fleeing Lacedæmonians. For Euphaes and his staff thought it better to
come to the aid of their vanquished friends: nor did they engage with
Polydorus and his troops: for by this time it was already dark, and the
Lacedæmonians were prevented from following the fugitives not least by
their ignorance of the country. It was also their country’s custom not
to pursue an enemy too hotly, being more anxious not to break their
line than to annihilate the enemy. And in the centre on both sides, the
Lacedæmonians under Euryleon, and the Messenians under Cleonnis, the
fight was pretty equal, till the approach of night put an end to the
contest.
This battle was fought on both sides mainly by the heavy armed
infantry. Some cavalry there was indeed, but they had no great
influence on the fortunes of the day, for the Peloponnesians of
that day were not good horsemen. And the light armed troops of the
Messenians and the Cretans on the Lacedæmonian side did not come to
the encounter at all: for they were posted in ancient fashion among
the infantry. And on the following day neither party were minded to
renew the battle nor to erect a trophy of victory, but as the day wore
on they sent out heralds to treat of the burying of their dead, and
as this was agreed to on both sides, they began to bury their dead
immediately.
CHAPTER IX.
But the Messenians after the battle began to find their affairs in a
deplorable condition: for they were nearly ruined by their outlay in
money expended in keeping garrisons in the towns, and their slaves
deserted to the Lacedæmonians. Also a pestilence fell upon them, which
troubled them greatly being like the plague, though it did not prevail
universally throughout their country. And after deliberation about
their present condition they determined to abandon their towns in the
interior of the country, and dwell in the mountain district of Ithome.
And there was a small town at Ithome which Homer has mentioned in his
catalogue,
‘And rocky Ithome.’[56]
To this town they repaired, extending its ancient limits so as to
make it a sufficient defence for all of them. And the place was in
other respects a strong position: for Ithome is as high as any of the
mountains within the Isthmus, and in this respect most difficult of
access. They thought they would also send an envoy to Delphi, and they
selected for this mission Tisis the son of Alcis, who in general merit
and in divination was considered inferior to nobody. This Tisis on his
return from Delphi was laid in wait for by the Lacedæmonians who were
in garrison at Amphea: but he would not be taken alive, so valiantly
did he defend himself against those that had lain in ambush, in spite
of the wounds he received from them, till a voice was heard without
any appearance of the speaker, “Let the bearer of the oracle go.” And
Tisis, directly he got safe to Ithome, and had delivered his oracle
to the king, fell down dead of his wounds. And Euphaes collected the
Messenians together and recited the oracle. “Sacrifice a pure virgin
(selected by lot out of the family of the Æpytidæ) by night to the gods
below. But if you cannot find one of the Æpytidæ, then sacrifice anyone
else who offers himself as a willing victim.” This being the utterance
of the god, forthwith all the maidens of the family of the Æpytidæ drew
lots. And when the lot fell upon the daughter of Lyciscus, Epebolus
the seer said it would not do to sacrifice her; for she was not really
the daughter of Lyciscus, but a girl that the wife of Lyciscus being
barren had palmed off as hers. While he was making this revelation,
Lyciscus took off the girl and fled to Sparta. And the Messenians being
very dejected at finding out the flight of Lyciscus, Aristodemus, a
man of the family of the Æpytidæ, and in other respects and in war
more illustrious than Lyciscus, offered to sacrifice his own daughter.
But the affairs of mankind, and not least their desires, are secretly
directed by Fate, just as the bottom of a river has pebbles, so that
Aristodemus on this occasion, endeavouring to save Messene, was
prevented by the following circumstance. A Messenian, whose name is not
known, happened to be deeply in love with the daughter of Aristodemus,
and was on the eve of marrying her. He at first disputed the right of
Aristodemus to the maiden as he had betrothed her to him, and argued
that he being her betrothed alone had right to her. And afterwards,
when he found this argument unavailing, he invented a shameful story,
that he had had an amour with her and that she was pregnant by him.
And at last he wrought up Aristodemus to such a pitch, that driven
to madness in his anger he killed his daughter, and afterwards cut
her up and found she was not pregnant. And Epebolus who was present
bade somebody else give his daughter as a victim, for the daughter of
Aristodemus (he said) could be no more use to them now she was dead:
for her father had indeed killed her, but not sacrificed her to the
gods as the Pythian oracle ordered. When the seer had said this the
mass of the Messenians rushed forward to kill the girl’s lover, as he
had caused Aristodemus to commit a useless crime, and had rendered
doubtful the safety of the community. But this man was a very great
friend of Euphaes. Euphaes accordingly persuaded the Messenians that
the oracle was fulfilled by the death of the girl, and that what
Aristodemus had done was sufficient. And when he had said this all the
Æpytidæ agreed with him: for each was anxious to have his fears removed
about having to sacrifice his own daughter. So they hearkened to the
advice of the king and broke up the assembly, and afterwards turned
their attention to the sacrifices and festival of the gods.
CHAPTER X.
But the Lacedæmonians on hearing the oracle of the Messenians were
very dejected, both they and their kings, and henceforth shrank from
resuming the war. But in the sixth year after the flight of Lyciscus
from Ithome the Lacedæmonians (as their sacrifices were auspicious)
led an army to Ithome. But the Cretans chanced to be absent, and the
allies of the Messenians were also behindhand. For the Spartans were
an object of suspicion to other Peloponnesians and especially to the
Arcadians and Argives. The Argives indeed were going to come to help
the Messenians secretly without the knowledge of the Lacedæmonians,
privately rather than from public decree. But the Arcadian expedition
was publicly announced, though they were behindhand too. But the
Messenians were induced by confidence in the oracle to hazard war even
without allies. In most respects the battle was no different from the
former one, for daylight on this occasion too failed the combatants:
it is not however mentioned that either wing or division were broken,
for they say the troops did not remain in the order in which they were
placed at first, but the bravest men came from the wings in both armies
into the centre, and there was the strain of battle. For Euphaes was
more ardent in fight than one would have expected from a king, and
recklessly rushing upon Theopompus and his staff, received many mortal
wounds. As he fainted away and fell to the ground, and could scarce
breathe, the Lacedæmonians strove with might and main to drag him to
their army. But their previous goodwill to Euphaes, and their future
disgrace if they abandoned him, roused the Messenians, and it appeared
better to them to give up their lives for their king rather than
purchase safety by abandoning him. Accordingly the peril of Euphaes
prolonged the battle, and added to the bravery exhibited on both
sides, and afterwards he revived, and saw that his men were fighting
as valiantly as the foe, and not many days afterwards he died, having
been king of the Messenians for 13 years, and having been at war with
the Lacedæmonians during all his reign. And as he had no children he
left the choice of his successor to the people, and Cleonnis and Damis
were rival competitors with Aristodemus, being considered superior to
him both in other respects and in war. And Antander had been killed in
the battle jeoparding his life for Euphaes. And the opinions of the
seers, Epebolus and Ophioneus, were both similar, that the kingdom of
Æpytus and his descendants should not be conferred upon a man polluted
with the murder of a daughter. Nevertheless Aristodemus was elected
and became king. And Ophioneus the Messenian seer was blind from his
birth, and had the following mode of divination. By enquiring into a
person’s private and public fortune in the past he informed them what
it would be in the future. This was his divination, and Aristodemus
having become king through the people was desirous to gratify them in
all that was reasonable, and of those in authority he held Cleonnis and
Damis in special honour. He also paid great attention to the allies,
and sent gifts to the most influential Arcadians both at Argos and
Sicyon. And in the war which was carried on in the reign of Aristodemus
they pillaged from time to time, and in the summertime made incursions
into one another’s country. There were counter-incursions into Laconia
on the part of the Arcadians with the Messenians. But the Argives
did not think it well openly to proclaim their hostility against the
Lacedæmonians, but made their preparations so as to strike in when the
fray begun.
CHAPTER XI.
In the fifth year of the reign of Aristodemus, when both nations
were about to take the field again after open proclamation of war,
both very much weakened by the length and expenses of the war, then
allies came to both, to the Lacedæmonians the Corinthians alone of
all the Peloponnesians, and to the Messenians the Arcadians in full
force, and picked men from Argos and Sicyon. The Lacedæmonians placed
the Corinthians and Helots and the provincials in the centre, and
themselves with their kings took up their position on the wings, in
deeper and fuller formation than was ever before adopted. And the
dispositions of Aristodemus and his staff for the battle were as
follows. For all the Arcadians or Messenians that were strong in body
and stout of heart, but had not good weapons, he picked out the best
arms, and when the action became hot, posted them among the Argives
and Sicyonians: and extended his line so as not to be taken in flank
by the enemy. And he took care that his men were so placed that they
had the mountain Ithome in their rear. And he appointed Cleonnis to
the command here, and himself and Damis stayed with the light-armed
troops, and a few slingers and archers: most in this part of the army
were well adapted physically for attack and retreat, and lightly armed.
Each had a breastplate or shield, but such as were deficient in this
respect had goatskins and sheepskins, or the skins of wild beasts, the
Arcadian mountaineers in particular had the skins of wolves and bears.
And each had several javelins, and some had lances. And these lay in
ambush in Ithome where they could be best concealed from sight. And the
heavy armed troops of the Messenians and the allies stood the first
onset of the Lacedæmonians, and afterwards were in all respects full of
bravery. They were outnumbered by the enemy, but being picked men they
fought against an armed mob and not against men of equal discipline
to themselves, consequently they held out much longer through their
bravery and skill. Moreover the light-armed troops of the Messenians,
when the signal was given, rushed against the Lacedæmonians and hemmed
them in, and hurled their javelins at their flanks, and the bolder of
them rushed in and fought hand to hand. And the Lacedæmonians, though
they saw before them a second danger and so hopeless a one in the same
place, yet were not in despair, but turned upon the light-armed troops
and tried to repel them, but as because of the lightness of their
armour they easily ran away, the Lacedæmonians were both perplexed
and irritated. Somehow or other men are apt to be especially vexed
at what happens contrary to their expectation. And so here those of
the Spartans who were already wounded, and those who were nearest to
the light-armed troops, as their comrades lay dead, rushed out of
their ranks wherever they saw the light-armed troops pressing on,
and in their heat pursued rather too far as the enemy retired. Then
the light-armed troops of the Messenians, as they had done at first,
struck them, and hurled their javelins at them as they stood their
ground, and when they pursued made a feint to flee, and attacked them
as they tried to rejoin their men. And this they did in various parts
of the field, and at different points in the enemy’s lines. And the
heavy-armed of the Messenians and the allies at this juncture pressed
more boldly right at the foe. And eventually the Lacedæmonians, spent
with the length of the battle and their wounds, and at the same time
harassed beyond measure by the light-armed troops, broke their ranks.
And in the rout the light-armed troops harassed them all the more.
Of the Lacedæmonians who were cut to pieces in the battle, I could
not ascertain the number, but I believe it was very large. And the
return home to some was easy, but to the Corinthians it was sure to be
dangerous, for, whether they returned through Argolis or by Sicyon,
they had equally to pass through hostile country.
CHAPTER XII.
The Lacedæmonians were troubled at this reverse that had befallen them,
and at the many excellent warriors they had lost in the battle. And
they despaired of success in the war, so they sent envoys to Delphi.
And this was the oracle the Pythian Priestess gave. ‘Phœbus bids you
not only apply yourselves to warlike deeds, but as it was by cunning
that the people got the Messenian land, by the selfsame cunning as it
was got shall it be taken.’ The kings and Ephors, though they were very
anxious to do so, could not find out a good plan till they imitated
the wiliness of Odysseus at Ilium. They sent 100 men to Ithome to
spy out the enemies’ designs, who were to pretend to be deserters.
And to keep up the cheat these men were publicly condemned at Sparta
as deserters. But on their arrival Aristodemus sent them home again
at once, saying, “The injuries done to the Lacedæmonians are recent,
their craft ancient.” The Lacedæmonians having failed in this manœuvre
next attempted to tamper with the allies of the Messenians. But as the
Arcadians rejected their overtures, for to them the envoys went first,
they did not proceed to Argos. And Aristodemus hearing of all these
intrigues on the part of the Lacedæmonians sent himself messengers to
consult the oracle at Delphi. And this was the answer of the Pythian
priestess. “The glory in the war the god gives you, but take care that
the treacherous hostile ambush be not too much for you through Spartan
wiles; for if Ares is to have their well-wrought armour, and the
garlands of their dances are to belong to sorrowing owners, then must
they avoid the appearance of two hidden things. Nor shall the sacred
light of day behold the end of all this till fate shall come to the
things that change their nature.” Aristodemus however and the seers
could not understand what was meant: but a few years afterwards the
god threw light on it and fulfilled it. Remarkable things too happened
at this time to the Messenians. As Lyciscus lived as a resident alien
at Sparta his daughter, whom he had taken with him in his flight from
Messene, chanced to die. And as he often went to visit his daughter’s
grave, some Arcadian cavalry lay in wait for him and carried him off.
And he was taken to Ithome, and being brought before the assembly
he made his defence; he had not left his country he said intending
treason, but in consequence of believing the assertion of the seer that
she was not his genuine daughter. In this line of defence he was not
believed to be speaking the truth till a woman, who was at that time
the priestess of Hera, came into the theatre. And she confessed that
the child was hers, and that she had given it to the wife of Lyciscus
to palm off as her own. And now (she continued) by revealing my secret
I shall depose myself from my priesthood. This she said because it
was a custom in Messene that, if any of the children of a priest or
priestess died, the priesthood should pass to somebody else. Thinking
therefore that the woman was speaking the truth, they chose for the
goddess a priestess in her place, and said that Lyciscus had acted in a
pardonable way.
And after that they resolved, for it was the 20th year of the war,
to send again to Delphi to enquire about their chance of victory.
And to their enquiry the Pythian Priestess returned this answer. “To
those who shall first set up 100 tripods at the altar of Zeus of Ithome
the god will give the Messenian land with fame in war. This is the
will of Zeus. But guile moves you on, and behind is vengeance, and
you cannot deceive the god. Act as fate shall determine. Ruin takes
people by turns.” When they heard this they thought the oracle was
in their favour, and promised them victory in the war; for as they
were in possession of the temple of Zeus within the walls of Ithome,
they thought the Lacedæmonians could not be beforehand with them in
erecting tripods. And so they intended making wooden tripods, for
they had not means enough to make tripods of brass. But somebody from
Delphi reported the oracle at Sparta. And the Spartans had a public
consultation about it, but could hit upon no plan, but Œbalus, a man
of no great repute but evidently possessed of good judgment, made 100
tripods of clay roughly, and took them with him and nets as if he were
a hunter. And being unknown even to most of the Lacedæmonians he easily
escaped the detection of the Messenians. For joining himself with some
countrymen he went with them into Ithome, and directly night came on
he offered these clay tripods to the god, and returned to Sparta and
told the Lacedæmonians what he had done. And the Messenians when they
saw what had happened were terribly upset, and guessed (as indeed was
the case) that it was a trick of the Lacedæmonians: however Aristodemus
consoled them with arguments suited to the present conjuncture, and
placed their wooden tripods which were already made at the altar at
Ithome. It happened also that Ophioneus, the seer who was blind from
birth, greatly to the surprise of all men recovered his sight: for he
had a sharp headache and recovered his sight after it.
CHAPTER XIII.
And thenceforward--for fate already turned the scales towards the
capture of Ithome--the god gave them various predictions of their
coming destiny. For the statue of Artemis, which was of brass as well
as the armour, dropped its shield; and as Aristodemus was about to
sacrifice the victims to Zeus at Ithome, the rams of their own accord
violently dashed their heads against the altar, and were killed by
the blow. And a third phenomenon happened. Some dogs assembled in the
same place and howled all night, and eventually went off in a body to
the camp of the Lacedæmonians. This troubled Aristodemus, as also the
following vision of the night. He dreamed that he was going out to
battle fully armed, and saw lying on a table the victims’ entrails,
and his daughter appeared to him in a black dress with her breast and
belly ripped up, and he thought she threw away what was on the table,
and took away his armour, and instead of it put upon him a golden crown
and white robe. And as Aristodemus was dispirited, for he thought
the dream announced to him the end of his life, (for the Messenians
buried their notable men in white raiment with crowns on their heads),
somebody brought him word that Ophioneus had suddenly become blind
again as before. Then he understood the hidden sense of the oracle,
that by the pair who appeared after being hidden, and returned again as
fate necessitated, the Pythian Priestess meant the eyes of Ophioneus.
Thereupon Aristodemus laying to heart his domestic misfortunes, that
he had been the murderer of his daughter to no purpose, and seeing
no future hope of safety for his country, cut his throat at his
daughter’s grave, being such an one as would in all human calculation
have saved his country had not fortune brought to nothing his plans
and actions. And he died after a reign of six years and a few months.
And to the Messenians their affairs now seemed desperate, so that they
were very near sending a supplicatory embassy to the Lacedæmonians,
though pride restrained them from actually doing so, so much did they
feel the blow of Aristodemus’ death. And when they gathered together
in their assembly they did not choose another king, but appointed
Damis dictator. And he, having selected Cleonnis and Phyleus as his
coadjutors, made preparations for the campaign according to his best
ability under the circumstances: for he was pressed hard by the siege,
and not least by famine and the fear that famine inspired that they
could not hold out from want of supplies. There was no deficiency of
bravery or venturesomeness on the part of the Messenians: all their
generals and notables were killed. For about five months they held out,
and towards the close of the year evacuated Ithome, having been at war
for full twenty years, as the lines of Tyrtæus testify: “They in the
twentieth year left the rich pastures, and fled from the high hills of
Ithome.” This war came to an end in the first year of the fourteenth
Olympiad, in which Dasmon the Corinthian was victor in the stadium, the
Medontidæ at Athens being still in possession of their ten year office,
and at the completion of the fourth year of office of Hippomenes.
CHAPTER XIV.
And the Messenians who had friends at Sicyon and at Argos and amongst
the Arcadians retired to those places, and those of the family of the
priests who performed the mysteries to the Great Goddesses went to
Eleusis. And the multitude dispersed to their several nationalities.
And the Lacedæmonians first razed Ithome to the ground, and afterwards
attacked and captured the other cities. And out of the spoils they set
up to Apollo of Amyclæ some brazen tripods: under the first tripod is
a statue of Aphrodite, and under the second one of Artemis, and under
the third one of Proserpine the daughter of Demeter. These they erected
there. And of the Messenian land they gave to the Asinæi, who had been
ejected by the Argives, the territory by the sea that they still have:
and to the descendants of Androcles, (for Androcles had a daughter and
she had sons, and after the death of Androcles they fled to Sparta),
they gave what is called Hyamea. And the following conditions were
imposed on the Messenians by the Lacedæmonians. First of all they bound
them by oath not to revolt or to attempt any revolutionary movement.
And next they appointed no stated tribute, but they were to bring to
Sparta from the land half its produce. With respect too to the burials
of kings and other people in authority, provision was made that the men
and women in Messenia should wear black raiment, and a punishment was
ordained for those who violated this rule. And as to their exactions
from the Messenians they have been described by Tyrtæus: “As asses
worn out by long continued toil, carrying to their masters from
bitter necessity half of all the fruit the country yields.” And that
necessity was laid on them of mourning for their masters’ deaths he
has manifested in the following lines, “They and their wives together
wailing for their masters, when baneful death seized on any one.”
The Messenians in these circumstances, and with no hope of any kinder
treatment from the Lacedæmonians, and thinking death in battle or a
wholesale migration from the Peloponnese preferable to their present
condition, resolved upon a general rising. And they were mainly
induced to this by the young men, who had had no experience of war,
and were ambitious, and preferred death in a free country to happiness
in all other conditions with slavery. These youths were reared in
various parts of Messenia, but the bravest and most numerous were
in the neighbourhood of Andania, and among them Aristomenes, who is
still honoured among the Messenians as a hero: and the circumstances
attending his birth they think rather remarkable. For they say that a
demon or god in the form of a dragon had an intrigue with Nicotelea his
mother. I have heard the Macedonians say similar things about Olympias,
and the Sicyonians about Aristodama. But the difference is that the
Messenians do not claim that Aristomenes was the son of Hercules or
Zeus, as the Macedonians say that Alexander was the son of Ammon, and
as the people of Sicyon say that Aratus was the son of Æsculapius, but
most of the Greeks say that Pyrrhus was the father of Aristomenes,
though I know that the Messenians call Aristomenes the son of Nicomedes
at the libations. He then, being in fall vigour of age and boldness,
and other influential persons tried to bring about a general rising.
And this was not at first done openly, but they sent secretly to Argos
and the Arcadians, to see if they would assist them as energetically as
they had done in the former war, _bonâ fide_ and not half-heartedly.
CHAPTER XV.
And when they had made all their preparations for war, and their allies
were even more zealous than they had expected, for the hostility
between the Arcadians and Argives and the Lacedæmonians had blazed out
fiercely, then in the thirty-ninth year after the capture of Ithome
they rose in insurrection, in the fourth year of the 23rd Olympiad, in
which the Hyperesian Icarus was victor in the stadium. And at Athens
there were now annual archons, and the archon this year was Tlesias.
Who were kings at Lacedæmon at this time has not been recorded by
Tyrtæus, but Rhianus in his poem has said that Leotychides was king
during this war. I cannot agree with him in this: as to Tyrtæus, though
he has not mentioned expressly the time, yet one may suppose he has
hinted it in the following passage,--in the elegiac lines he wrote
about the former war. “Nineteen years unceasingly they fought for
their country, ever with stout heart, those warriors the fathers of
our fathers.” Manifestly then it was in the third generation after the
former war that the Messenians commenced this war, and the period is
marked by the fact that the kings then at Sparta were Anaxander the son
of Eurycrates the son of Polydorus, and of the other family Anaxidamus
the son of Zeuxidamus, the son of Archidamus, the son of Theopompus. I
go as far as the fourth descendant of Theopompus, because Archidamus
the son of Theopompus died in his father’s lifetime, and the kingdom
devolved upon Zeuxidamus his grandson. And Leotychides clearly was king
after Demaratus the son of Aristo, and Aristo was seventh descendant
from Theopompus.
And now in the first year after their insurrection the Messenians
engaged with the Lacedæmonians at a place in their country called
Deræ, and neither side had allies. And the battle was an undecided
one, but they say Aristomenes exhibited in it preterhuman bravery, so
that they elected him king after the battle, for he was of the family
of the Æpytidæ, and though he was for refusing they also appointed
him commander in chief. He was inclined to let them disown no one who
had done valiantly in war: and for himself thought it right first
and foremost (as the war with the Lacedæmonians was only just begun)
to thoroughly frighten them by some bold stroke, and so to awe them
more for the future. Accordingly he went by night to Lacedæmon and
hung up a shield at the temple of Athene Chalciœcus, and on it was
the inscription, “Aristomenes offers this to the goddess from Spartan
spoils.”
The Lacedæmonians also had an oracular answer from Delphi, that an
Athenian would give them good advice. They sent therefore envoys to
the Athenians to report the oracle, and to ask for the man who was to
give them this good advice. And the Athenians neither wishing that
the Lacedæmonians should get the best part of the Peloponnese without
great danger, nor to disobey the god, took counsel accordingly, and
sent to Sparta one Tyrtæus a schoolmaster, who was thought to have very
little intelligence and was lame in one foot. And he on his arrival
there recited his elegiac verses and his anapæsts privately to the
authorities, and publicly to all whom he could collect together. And
a year after the battle of Deræ, when both nations had now allies,
they prepared for battle in a village called _Boar’s Memorial_. The
Messenians had the men of Elis and Arcadia as their allies in the
action, and had moreover help from Argos and Sicyon. There were also
present all the Messenians that had fled voluntarily, both those from
Eleusis who were the hereditary priests of the mysteries of the Great
Goddesses, and the descendants of Androcles: for these too hastened
to their assistance. And to the help of the Lacedæmonians came the
Corinthians, and some of the people of Lepreum from hatred to the men
of Elis. The Asinæi were neutral. _Boar’s Memorial_ is near Stenyclerus
in Messenia, and was so called because they say Hercules had a mutual
covenant there with the sons of Neleus over a boar’s entrails.
CHAPTER XVI.
And when the seers in both armies had commenced by sacrifice, the
Lacedæmonian seer being Hecas, the descendant and namesake of that
Hecas who had come to Sparta with the sons of Aristodemus, and the
Messenian seer being Theoclus, a descendant of Eumantis (a native
of Elis and one of the Iamidæ whom Cresphontes had introduced into
Messene), both armies were with more confidence stirred up to battle.
And there was ardour exhibited by several according to their age and
prowess, but notably by Anaxander, the king of the Lacedæmonians, and
the Spartans in his division: and in the Messenian army Phintas and
Androcles, the descendants of Androcles, and the men who were posted
with them, strove to show their valour. And Tyrtæus and the priests of
the Great Goddesses took no part in the action but that of cheering
on the rears of their respective armies. And this was the disposition
of Aristomenes. Eighty picked men of the Messenians about the same
age as himself were in close attendance upon him, and each of them
thought himself highly flattered to be posted near Aristomenes: and
they were very keen at detecting in a glance one another’s ideas and
especially their leader’s plans in the very germ. They and Aristomenes
had the brunt of the battle, being posted opposite to Anaxander and
the bravest of the Lacedæmonians. And receiving wounds fearlessly, and
rushing on with the greatest recklessness, in time they routed by their
boldness Anaxander’s division. As these fled Aristomenes commanded
another Messenian regiment to pursue them: and himself rushed into the
thick of the fight, and routed the men there, and then again turned to
some other part of the field. And having driven these also from their
positions he hurried on, charging those that were left, until he had
thoroughly beaten all the Lacedæmonian force, allies and all. And as
they felt some shame in fleeing, and yet could not stand these frequent
charges, he dashed in amongst them with more formidable fury than one
could have expected from one man. But near a wild pear tree that grew
in the plain Theoclus tried to prevent his passing: for he said Castor
and Pollux were seated on the pear tree. And Aristomenes giving way to
passion, and not hearing all the words of the seer, when he got to the
pear tree dropped his shield, and this loss of Aristomenes gave the
Lacedæmonians breathing time to stop from their flight: for he lost
some time trying to find his shield.
And when the Lacedæmonians were dispirited at this blow, and were
minded to finish the war, Tyrtæus put heart into them by reciting his
verses, and got some Helots enrolled into the regiments in place of the
dead men. And when Aristomenes returned to Andania, the women welcomed
him with ribands and pelted him with flowers, and sang for him a song
not forgotten even in our days, “To the mid plain and high mountain
at Stenyclerus did Aristomenes pursue the Lacedæmonians.” And he
afterwards recovered his shield by going to Delphi, and, as the Pythian
Priestess ordered him, by descending to the sacred shrine of Trophonius
at Lebadea. And afterwards he took the shield, and hung it up as a
votive offering at Lebadea, and I have myself seen it hanging up there.
Its design is an eagle with its wings extended at the upper part of the
shield. And now Aristomenes on his return from Bœotia, having recovered
his shield at the shrine of Trophonius, immediately went in for further
action. And, having gathered together a levy of Messenians besides
his own bodyguard of picked men, he marched at nightfall to a city of
Laconia, whose old name was Pharis as in Homer’s catalogue, but it was
called Pharæ by the Spartans and other neighbouring people. Marching
there he cut to pieces those who attempted to defend themselves, and
after carrying off much booty returned to Messene. And the Lacedæmonian
hoplites under Anaxander their king attacking him on the road, he
routed them also, and was fain to pursue Anaxander. But being wounded
in his hinder quarters with a javelin he stayed the pursuit, without
losing the plunder he had got. And after waiting sufficient time for
his wound to be healed, he intended to enter Sparta by night, when he
was prevented by the apparition of Helen and Castor and Pollux, and lay
in ambush at nightfall for some maidens who were dancing to Artemis at
Caryæ, and arrested all who were remarkable for the wealth and position
of their fathers, and brought them by night to a village in Messenia
and went to rest, having committed the custody of them to some men of
his regiment. Thereupon the young men in drink I suppose, and otherwise
unable to control their passions by reason, endeavoured to violate
the maidens, and when Aristomenes forbade them to act in a manner
not customary for Greeks, they took no notice of him, so that he was
obliged to kill the most unruly of them. And the maidens he had taken
captive he let go for a good ransom with their honour safe.
CHAPTER XVII.
And there is a place in Laconia called Ægila, where is a temple of
Demeter. There Aristomenes and his soldiers, knowing that the women
were keeping festival to Demeter, wished to seize them: but as these
women inspired by the goddess made a bold defence, most of the
Messenians received wounds with the swords which they used to sacrifice
the victims with, and the sharp pointed spits on which they stuck their
meat to roast it. And Aristomenes they struck with their torches and
took him alive. However he escaped the same night to Messenia. They say
that Archidamea the priestess of Demeter had the guilt of letting him
escape. But she did not let him go for money, but was an old sweetheart
of his, and made out that Aristomenes had escaped by burning[57] his
bonds.
And in the third year of the war, when an engagement was about
to take place at what was called _The Great Trench_, and when the
Arcadians had come from all their cities to help the Messenians,
the Lacedæmonians bribed Aristocrates, the son of Icetas, a native
of Trapezus, king and general of the Arcadians at this period. The
Lacedæmonians are the first we know of that bribed an enemy, and
the first that made renown in arms a thing to be purchased by money.
For before the Lacedæmonians violated honour in their war with the
Messenians, in regard to this treason of Aristocrates the Arcadian,
their fighting men were distinguished for bravery, and good fortune
from the deity. Afterwards too at Ægos-potamoi, when they opposed the
fleet of the Athenians, they certainly bribed Adimantus and other
Athenian Admirals. But in process of time upon the Lacedæmonians came
what is called the Retribution of Neoptolemus. For Neoptolemus the
son of Achilles, having slain Priam at the altar of _Household Zeus_,
was himself also slain at Delphi at the temple of Apollo, and--in
consequence of that--suffering what one had inflicted on another got
called the Retribution of Neoptolemus. For when the Lacedæmonians
were at the zenith of their power, and had destroyed the fleet of the
Athenians, and Agesilaus had reduced most of Asia Minor, then it was
not possible to strip the Mede of all his power, because the barbarian
circumvented them by sending money to Corinth and Argos and Athens
and Thebes, and what was called the Corinthian war was brought about
by this money, so that Agesilaus was compelled to leave Asia Minor.
And so the deity made to recoil upon themselves the wiliness that
the Lacedæmonians had displayed to the Messenians. And Aristocrates
when he had received money from Lacedæmon, at first hid his plans
from the Arcadians, but when they were on the eve of an engagement,
then he threw them into consternation, by telling them they were in
difficulty and straits and had no means of retreat if they should be
beaten. He also said the sacrifices were not auspicious. He ordered
everyone therefore to run away when he gave the signal. And when the
Lacedæmonians began the engagement and the Messenians were opposite
to them, thereupon at the commencement of the battle Aristocrates
led off the Arcadians, and thus the Messenian centre and left wing
was left exposed. For the Arcadians had occupied both these parts of
the field, as the people of Elis were not present at the battle, nor
the people of Argos and Sicyon. And Aristocrates put the finishing
touch to his treason by fleeing through the Messenian lines. And they
were quite bewildered at the unexpected state of affairs, and were
disturbed by the passage of the Arcadians through their lines, so that
most of them nearly forgot what they were about: for instead of the
Lacedæmonians pressing on against the Arcadians they saw them fleeing,
and some begged them to stand their ground, others reviled them as
traitors and covenant-breakers. And for the Lacedæmonians to surround
the Messenians who were now left alone was easy enough, and with the
greatest ease they won a victory that was a foregone conclusion. And
though Aristomenes and his division bravely stood their ground against
the multitude of the Lacedæmonians that pressed against them, and
endeavoured to keep them in check, yet they were too few to avail
much. And such a quantity of Messenians were cut to pieces, that they,
who had expected to be masters of the Lacedæmonians, now instead of
having slaves had hardly any hope of safety. And of their leaders fell
Androcles and Phintas and others, and Phanas, (who fought especially
bravely, and had been victor at Olympia in the double course). And
Aristomenes after the battle collected the Messenian fugitives, and
persuaded them to leave Andania and any other towns in the heart of the
country, and to take up their residence on the mountain Eira. And when
they assembled there they were besieged by the Lacedæmonians who wished
to take them. However they resisted and held out for eleven years after
the disaster at _The Great Trench_. That that was the time the blockade
lasted is plain from the verses of Rhianus about the Lacedæmonians.
“Along the ridges of the mountain white
Twenty-two summers and winters did they fight.”
The word used for _summers_ in the line just above is a word properly
meaning the grass when it is ripe, or a little before hay harvest.
CHAPTER XVIII.
And the Messenians when they were hemmed in at Eira, and debarred the
rest of their country, except what was occupied by the people of Pylos
near the sea, and the people of Mothone, plundered Laconia and their
own country, which they now regarded as enemy’s country. And several
joined them in these raids, as chance brought it about, and Aristomenes
got together some picked men in number about 300. They harried and
carried off from the Lacedæmonians whatever they could, corn and flocks
and wine, but furniture and human beings they ransomed for money. So
that the Lacedæmonians made a decree, inasmuch as they were farming
for the benefit of the people of Eira rather than their own, not to
cultivate Messenia and the neighbouring parts of Laconia till after
the war. And from that time there was scarcity in Sparta, and with the
scarcity came riots, for those who got their money by farming could
not bear to see their lands lie fallow, but their vexation was checked
by the verses of Tyrtæus. And Aristomenes with his picked men made a
sally when the night was considerably advanced, and stole a march upon
the enemy by getting to Amyclæ before daybreak, and seized the fort and
plundered Amyclæ, and was off again before help could come from Sparta.
And he afterwards overran the whole country, till making an attack
on more than half the Lacedæmonian army under both their kings, he
received several wounds as he defended himself valiantly, and as he was
struck on the head by a stone his eyes got dizzy, and the Lacedæmonians
rushing at him all together took him alive. Fifty of his men also
were captured. These were all condemned by the Lacedæmonians to be
thrown into their underground cavern called Ceadas; where they throw
in their greatest malefactors. The other Messenians who were thrown in
were killed instantaneously: but Aristomenes had some good genius who
both now and on all occasions looked after him. Those who exaggerate
everything about him say that, when he was thrown into Ceadas, an eagle
flew under him and supported him with its wings, so that he reached
the bottom safely without a wound or scratch. The god on this occasion
must have also shown him some outlet. For when he got to the bottom of
the cavern, he sat down and muffling his head in his cloak expected
death which he felt certain. But on the third day after he heard a
noise, and unveiled his face, and when his eyes got accustomed to the
darkness, saw a fox preying on the dead carcases. And reflecting that
it must have an outlet somewhere, he waited till the fox came near and
when it came near seized hold of it, and in one of his hands, when the
fox turned on him, held his cloak that it might bite that and not him.
As it ran he ran with it, and was dragged by it along a very difficult
path. At last he saw a little hole, just big enough for a fox to pass
through, and light glimmered through it. And the fox, directly it was
liberated by Aristomenes, betook itself to its hole. And Aristomenes,
as the hole was too small to let him through, enlarged it with his
hands and got home safe to Eira, having had most remarkable good
fortune in respect to his capture, (for his spirit and bravery were
such that no one could have expected to take him alive), and stranger
still and most plainly not without divine assistance was this getting
out safe from Ceadas.
CHAPTER XIX.
And it was almost immediately reported to the Lacedæmonians by
deserters that Aristomenes had got home safe: but being considered as
incredible as if anyone were to say that a dead man had come to life
again, it was only believed in consequence of the following transaction
on the part of Aristomenes. The Corinthians sent a force to help the
Lacedæmonians to take Eira. Aristomenes, learning from his scouts
that they were marching rather carelessly, and that their camps were
negligently made up, attacked them by night, and as they were asleep
slew most of them, and among others their leaders Hypermenides, and
Achladæus, and Lysistratus, and Sidectus. He plundered also the tent of
the generals, and the Lacedæmonians soon saw that it was Aristomenes
and no other Messenian that had done all this. He sacrificed also to
Zeus of Ithome the sacrifice which they call Hecatomphonia. It was of
very remote antiquity, and any Messenian who had killed 100 enemies
had a right to offer it. And Aristomenes first offered this sacrifice
when he fought the battle at _Boar’s Memorial_, and the slaughter of
these Corinthians by night gave him the right to offer this sacrifice
a second time. They say also that he offered the sacrifice a third
time as the result of various raids. But the Lacedæmonians, as the
festival of Hyacinthus was now coming on, made a truce of 40 days with
the inhabitants of Eira, and returned home and kept the festival, and
some Cretan bowmen, who had been sent for as mercenaries from Lyctus
and other towns, made incursions into various parts of Messenia. And as
Aristomenes was at some distance from Eira, feeling perfect security
as it was truce time, seven of these bowmen lay in wait for him, and
took him prisoner, and bound him with the bands of their quivers. And
it was evening. And two of them went to Sparta, and announced the
capture of Aristomenes to the Lacedæmonians: and the remaining five
retired to a farm in Messenia, where a fatherless maiden lived with
her mother. The night before this maiden had had a dream. Some wolves
(she dreamed) brought a lion to the farm bound and without claws,
and she freed the lion from its bonds and got it claws, and then the
wolves were torn in pieces by it. And now when the Cretans brought in
Aristomenes, the maiden remembered her dream of the previous night,
and asked her mother who he was: and when she learnt who he was she
took courage, and looked earnestly at him, and understood the meaning
of the dream. She therefore poured out wine freely for the Cretans,
till drink overpowered them, and then withdrew the sword of the one who
was fastest asleep. Then she cut the bonds of Aristomenes, and he took
the sword and killed all 5. And Gorgus the son of Aristomenes took the
maiden to wife. And thus Aristomenes requited to the damsel her saving
of his life, and Gorgus was only 18 when he married her.
CHAPTER XX.
But in the 11th year of the siege it was fated that Eira should fall,
and that the Messenians should be dispersed, and the god accomplished
what had been oracularly foretold to Aristomenes and Theoclus. For
when they went to Delphi after the disaster at _the Great Trench_, and
enquired as to their safety, the Pythian Priestess replied as follows,
“When he-goat drinks of Neda’s winding stream,
I cease to guard Messene. Her end is near.”
Now the Neda rises in Mount Lycæus: and the river flows through Arcadia
and into Messenia again, and divides the maritime parts of Messenia
and Elis. And now they were afraid of their he-goats drinking of the
Neda: but the god had quite a different meaning which I will unfold.
The wild fig tree, which some of the Greeks call Olynthe, is called
by the Messenians Tragus (that is _He-Goat_). At this time there was
a wild fig tree on the banks of the river Neda which did not grow
upright, but bent into the stream and touched the water with its
topmost boughs. And the seer Theoclus having noticed it conjectured
that by the he-goat drinking of the Neda the Pythian Priestess meant
this wild fig, and that therefore the fate of Messene was imminent.
And he preserved silence on the matter to everyone else, but he took
Aristomenes to this fig tree, and pointed out to him that their period
of safety had passed. And Aristomenes was convinced by him that it was
as he said, and that that there was no room for delay, and he adopted
the following contrivance under the present conjuncture. The Messenians
had some sacred records, which if lost would ruin Messene and keep
her under for ever, but which if preserved would, according to the
oracular utterances of Lycus the son of Pandion, give the Messenians
a chance one day to recover their country, and Aristomenes knowing
these oracular utterances conveyed away by night these _arcana_:
and going to the most unfrequented part of Mount Ithome buried them
there, and prayed to Zeus of Ithome and to the gods who had hitherto
befriended the Messenians to be witnesses of this deposit, and not to
allow the Lacedæmonians to rob them of their only hope of returning
home again one day. And after this trouble came to the Messenians, as
earlier still it did to the Trojans, from adultery. They occupied the
mountainous district all round Eira as far as the Neda, and some lived
outside the gates. And no other deserter came to them from Laconia, but
a herdsman, a slave of Emperamus who was a man of some note at Sparta.
This herdsman lived not far from the Neda. There he saw the wife of one
of the Messenians who lived outside the walls coming to draw water: and
he got enamoured of her, and ventured to talk with her, and overcame
her chastity by gifts. And from that time forward this herdsman watched
when her husband went upon garrison duty. Now the Messenians had to go
on guard by turns in the citadel: it was here that they were chiefly
afraid of the enemy getting into the place. And whenever the husband
mounted guard, this herdsman used to go and visit his wife. And on one
occasion he and others had to mount guard at night, and it chanced
to be a very wet night. And the Messenians left their guard. For the
quantity of rain pouring down almost forced them in, as they had no
battlements or turrets in their improvised fortifications, and at the
same time they did not expect that the Lacedæmonians would attack them
in a night so wild and dark. And Aristomenes had been wounded a few
days previously in rescuing a Cephallenian merchant and his goods,
(he was a friend of his and used to introduce into Eira all necessary
supplies, but had been captured by the Lacedæmonians and some Apteræan
bowmen under Euryalus a Spartan), and therefore could not as usual
go his nightly rounds. This was the chief reason why the citadel was
abandoned by the guard. And as each of them went off from his post so
did the husband of the woman who had this intrigue with the herdsman.
And she at this time had the herdsman at her house, but perceiving the
return of her husband quickly concealed him, and welcomed her husband
rather more than usual, and asked him the reason of his return. And he,
ignorant that she was unfaithful to him and had her paramour there,
told her the truth, and said that, on account of the violence of
the rain, and other circumstances which he mentioned, they had left
their posts. And the herdsman overheard, and immediately, when he
understood the condition of affairs, deserted the Messenians for the
Lacedæmonians. The Lacedæmonian kings were at this time absent from
the camp: but Emperamus the master of the herdsman was commander in
chief of the forces that were besieging Eira. The herdsman then went
to his master, and first begged pardon for his absence from home,
and next showed him how they could capture Eira, mentioning all the
circumstances which he had heard from the Messenian.
CHAPTER XXI.
What the herdsman said seemed trustworthy, and he led Emperamus and
the Spartan force. Their march was difficult owing to the darkness and
steady downpour. Still they advanced with alacrity, and, as soon as
they got to the citadel of Eira, fixed scaling ladders and got over the
walls with all dispatch. And the Messenians had several indications
of their coming trouble, especially the unusual barking of the dogs,
who barked fiercely and continuously. Perceiving then that the final
struggle had come upon them, they had no time for arming themselves
properly, but each seized what weapon he could find to defend their
last possession out of all Messenia, their last inch of fatherland!
The first who noticed that the enemy had got inside the walls, and
who rushed up to the fray, were Gorgus the son of Aristomenes, and
Aristomenes himself, and Theoclus the seer and Manticlus his son,
and with them Euergetidas a man held in especial honour at Messene,
who had improved his fortunes by his marriage with Agnagora, the
sister of Aristomenes. And all the others at this time, though they
perceived that they were in a trap, yet had a little hope in spite of
the outlook: but Aristomenes and the seer knew that it was all up with
the Messenians, remembering the Pythian Priestess’ oracle about the
he-goat, but they concealed none the less the true state of affairs,
and were silent about it to everybody. And they went all round the
town energetically and exhorted every Messenian they met to play the
man, and called from their houses those that yet remained in them.
During the night nothing very notable was done on either side, for the
attacking party were hindered by their ignorance of the ground and
the boldness of Aristomenes, and the Messenians were rather backward
in taking the word from their generals, and if anyone lit a torch or
struck a light, the rain immediately put it out. And when day broke
and they could see one another clearly, then Aristomenes and Theoclus
endeavoured to nerve the Messenians to desperate courage, by giving
them the necessary directions, and reminding them of the heroism of the
people of Smyrna, who, though they were only Ionians, by their boldness
and vigour drove out of their city Gyges, the son of Dascylus, and the
Lydians who were in possession of it. And the Messenians hearing this
were animated with the courage of despair, and forming what ranks they
could rushed against the Lacedæmonians. And even the women eagerly
hurled tiles, and whatever each could lay hold of, at the enemy: but
they were partly prevented doing this from the slipperiness of the
roofs through the frequent rain: but they seized arms and thus kindled
still more the courage of the men, when they saw that even the women
preferred perishing with their country to being led off as slaves to
Lacedæmon, insomuch that had it been possible they would have given
destiny the go-by. And the downpour of rain continued all day, and
there was thunder and lightning, and they could hardly see for the
lightning that flashed in their faces. And all this inspired courage in
the Lacedæmonians, who thought that the god was visibly helping them,
and as the lightning was on their right the seer Hecas announced that
the omen was auspicious. He also devised the following stratagem. The
Lacedæmonians were far the most numerous, but inasmuch as the battle
was on a limited area and not fought tactically, but various bodies
of men fought haphazard in various parts of the city, it happened
that the rearmen of each division were useless. He therefore ordered
them to retire to the camp and get some food and sleep, and come back
again before evening to relieve their companions, who had borne the
burthen and heat of the day. And thus by fighting and resting by turns
they held out the longer, but the Messenians were getting entirely
worn out, for it was now the third night that they had been fighting
day and night continuously. And when the next morning came, and they
were suffering from sleeplessness and constant rain and cold all
combined, hunger and thirst assailed them too. Their women especially
were ready to faint by reason of being unused to war, and by the long
continuance of their efforts. Then the seer Theoclus came up and spoke
to Aristomenes. “Why do you continue in vain this struggle? It is
decreed that Messene must perish, long ago did the Pythian Priestess
foretell this imminent ruin, and lately did the wild fig tree teach the
same lesson. To me the god assigns an end with my country: but you may
save the Messenians and yourself.” When he had spoken thus to him, he
rushed against the foe, and said to the Lacedæmonians in a loud voice,
“You shall not for long joy in your conquest of Messene.” After that
he fiercely attacked those who were opposite to him and slew them, and
was himself wounded, and breathed out his last having first glutted
his soul with slaughter. And Aristomenes called all the Messenians
back from the fight, except those who were fighting with remarkable
bravery, whom he allowed to remain fighting. And the rest he ordered
to follow where he should lead, with the women and children in their
lines. To the command of this portion of the army he appointed Gorgus
and Manticlus: and himself took up a position in the front rank, and by
the motion of his head and the waving of his spear plainly showed that
he was asking for a passage through, and already meditated retreat.
Emperamus and the Spartans on the spot were right glad to let the
Messenians through their lines, and not to irritate too much men who
were mad in rage and desperate to the last degree. And Hecas the seer
also bade them act so.
CHAPTER XXII.
Directly the Arcadians heard of the capture of Eira, they at once
begged Aristocrates to lead them to save the Messenians or perish with
them. But he having been bribed by the Lacedæmonians refused to lead
them, and said that he knew none of the Messenians were alive for them
to assist. But when the Arcadians received more certain intelligence
that some survived who had been compelled to leave Eira, they set out
to meet them at Mount Lycæus, having got ready both food and raiment,
and sent certain influential persons to comfort the Messenians and
guide them on their march. And when they got safe to Mount Lycæus the
Arcadians welcomed them, and treated them kindly in other respects,
and invited them to dwell in their cities, and said they would give
them a share of the land. But Aristomenes in his grief for the capture
of Eira and his hatred to the Lacedæmonians contrived the following
plan. He selected from the whole body 500 Messenians, who he knew were
prodigal of their lives, and selected them in the hearing of the other
Arcadians and Aristocrates, not knowing that he was a traitor--for he
thought Aristocrates had fled through cowardice and want of manliness
rather than in treason--and he asked the 500 in his presence, whether
they would die with him to avenge their country. And when they said
they would he revealed his whole plan, that the following evening
he intended to lead them to Sparta. For at this time most of the
Lacedæmonians were at Eira, and others were busy in plundering the
property of the Messenians. “And if we should capture Sparta and keep
it,” continued Aristomenes, “we shall be able to exchange it for
Messene: and if we fail we shall die together, having done deeds that
posterity will not forget.” After he had made this speech, about 300
of the Arcadians wished to join him in his desperate undertaking.
And for the moment they delayed their departure, as the victims were
not auspicious. On the following day however they knew that their
secret had been revealed to the Lacedæmonians, and that they had been
betrayed by Aristocrates for the second time. For Aristocrates had
at once disclosed by letter the design of Aristomenes, and given the
letter to his most trusty slave, and sent it to Anaxander at Sparta.
And on his return this slave was intercepted by some Arcadians who had
previously been hostile to Aristocrates, and were now rather suspicious
about him. And having intercepted this slave they brought him before
the Arcadians, and showed the people the answer of Anaxander from
Lacedæmon. It was to the effect that, just as Aristocrates’ flight at
an opportune moment from _the Great Trench_ had not been unrewarded
by the Lacedæmonians, so he should not be without further reward for
his present information. And when this was reported to them all, the
Arcadians began to stone Aristocrates, and urged the Messenians to do
the same. But they looked at Aristomenes. And he looked on the ground
and wept. So the Arcadians stoned Aristocrates to death, and cast him
unburied out of their borders, and put up a pillar in the temple of
Lycæan Zeus with the following inscription. “Time is sure to bring
justice at last to an unjust king, and time with Zeus’ cooperation has
easily found out Messene’s traitor. It is difficult for a perjured man
to escape the god. Hail, royal Zeus, and save Arcadia.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
And all the Messenians that were captured at Eira, or in any other
part of Messenia, were incorporated by the Lacedæmonians among the
Helots: and the people of Pylos and Mothone and all the maritime towns
removed in ships, after the capture of Eira, to Cyllene the arsenal
of Elis. And from there they sent to the Messenians in Arcadia,
wishing them to join them in an expedition to seek some city to dwell
in, and bade them make Aristomenes the founder of the colony. But he
said that for his part as long as he lived he would fight against the
Lacedæmonians, and that he knew very well that Sparta would always have
trouble through him: but he gave them Gorgus and Manticlus as their
leaders. Euergetidas also retired to Mount Lycæus with the rest of
the Messenians: and from thence, when he saw that Aristomenes’ plan
about the capture of Sparta had fallen through, having got together
about 50 of the Messenians he made a raid against the Lacedæmonians at
Eira, and falling in with them still plundering he turned their chant
of victory into a dirge. And fate seized him there, and Aristomenes
ordered the leaders of the Messenians, and whoever wished, to take part
in the colony to go to Cyllene. And all took part in it, except those
that were prevented by old age, or were destitute of means for dwelling
abroad. And these remained where they were among the Arcadians.
Eira was taken, and the second war between the Lacedæmonians and
the Messenians finished, in the Archonship over the Athenians of
Autosthenes, in the first year of the 28th Olympiad, in which Chionis
the Laconian was victor.
And when the Messenians had got together at Cyllene, they resolved
to winter there for that winter, and the people of Elis provided them
with supplies and money: but directly Spring came they deliberated
where they should go. And the view of Gorgus was that they should
occupy Zacynthus beyond Cephallenia, and become islanders instead
of dwelling on the mainland, and should sail in their ships to the
maritime parts of Laconia and ravage their territory. Manticlus on
the other hand exhorted them to forget Messene and their animosity
to the Lacedæmonians, and sail to Sardinia and occupy that large and
fertile island. Meantime Anaxilas sent a message to the Messenians
inviting them to Italy. He was King at Rhegium, and fourth in descent
from Alcidamidas, who had migrated from Messene to Rhegium, after the
death of King Aristodemus and the capture of Ithome. This Anaxilas then
invited the Messenians, and when they went to Rhegium he told them
that the people of Zancle were at variance with him, and that they had
a fertile country and a city in the rich part of Sicily, all which he
said he would give them, and help them in conquering the country. And
as they eagerly accepted his offer, Anaxilas conveyed them over into
Sicily. Now Zancle was a place which had originally been occupied by
pirates, and, as the land there was then unoccupied, they built a fort
near the harbour, and made Zancle their headquarters for expeditions
both by land and sea: and their leaders were Cratæmenes the Samian
and Perieres from Chalcis. And eventually Perieres and Cratæmenes
resolved to invite in other colonists from Greece. But now Anaxilas
conquered the people of Zancle who put out to sea in their fleet, and
the Messenians conquered them on land. And being blockaded by land by
the Messenians and simultaneously by sea by the people of Rhegium, when
their fort was taken, they fled for refuge to the altars of the gods
and to the temples. Anaxilas however urged on the Messenians to slay
the suppliants, though they prayed hard for quarter, and to enslave the
rest together with their women and children. But Gorgus and Manticlus
begged that Anaxilas would not compel them, who had been shamefully
treated by their fellow-countrymen, to act with equal cruelty to
Greeks. And after that they took the people of Zancle from the altars,
and having mutually given and received pledges dwelt together as one
people. But the name of the town they changed from Zancle to Messene.
All this took place in the 29th Olympiad, in which Chionis the Laconian
was victor the second time, and Miltiades was Archon at Athens. And
Manticlus built a temple of Hercules for the new colony, and a statue
of the god was placed outside the fort called Hercules Manticlus, just
as Belus at Babylon got its name from an Egyptian called Belus, and
Ammon in Libya from the name of the shepherd who built the temple. This
was the end of the wandering of the Messenian exiles.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Meantime Aristomenes, when he refused the leadership of those who
were going on the new colony, married his sister Agnagora to Tharyx
of Phigalia, and his two eldest daughters to Damothoidas of Lepreum
and Theopompus of Heræum. And he himself went to Delphi and consulted
the oracle. What answer was returned is not recorded. But Damagetus a
native of Rhodes, the King of Ialysus, had also at this time come to
consult the oracle as to where he should marry a wife from, and the
Pythian Priestess replied that he was to marry the daughter of the
noblest of the Greeks. And Aristomenes had a third daughter, and he
married her, thinking her father far the noblest Greek of his time.
And Aristomenes went to Rhodes with his daughter, and from thence he
intended to go to Sardis to Ardys the son of Gyges, and to Ecbatana the
royal residence of the Medes to the Court of King Phraortes, but before
he could carry out this intention he chanced to die of some illness,
so that the fates did not permit him to wreak his vengeance on the
Lacedæmonians. And Damagetus and the people of Rhodes built a splendid
monument to him, and paid honours to his memory. The traditions about
those who are called the Diagoridæ in Rhodes, (who were descended
from Diagoras, the son of Damagetus, the son of Dorieus, the son of
Damagetus by the daughter of Aristomenes), I have omitted, that I might
not appear to have introduced irrelevant matter.
And the Lacedæmonians, when they had made themselves masters of
Messenia, shared it out among themselves all but the territory of the
Asinæi, and Mothone they gave to the people of Nauplia who had recently
been ejected by the Argives.
And the Messenians who were captured at Eira, and compulsorily
incorporated among the Helots, revolted again from the Lacedæmonians
in the 79th Olympiad, in which the Corinthian Xenophon was victor, and
Archimedes Archon at Athens. And they seized the following opportunity.
Some of the Lacedæmonians, on a charge for which they were condemned to
death, fled to Tænarum as suppliants; and there the Ephors took them
from the altar and slew them. And the wrath of Poseidon came upon those
Spartans who had violated his rights of sanctuary, and he adjudged the
town to be utterly razed to the ground. And it was after this calamity
that the Helots who were Messenians revolted and went to Mount Ithome.
And the Lacedæmonians sent for several allies to help to subdue them,
and among others for Cimon (the son of Miltiades) their friend, of whom
they also begged some Athenian troops. But when these Athenian troops
came they suspected them as likely to introduce revolutionary ideas
among their own men, so in their suspicion they soon sent them home
again from Ithome. But when the Athenians observed that suspicion on
the part of the Lacedæmonians they were indignant and became friendly
to the Argives, and, when those of the Messenians who were besieged at
Ithome were allowed to surrender upon conditions, gave Naupactus to
them, (having taken it from the Locrians in Ætolia called Ozolæ). And
the Messenians were allowed to surrender partly because of the strength
of the place, partly because the Pythian Priestess prophesied to the
Lacedæmonians that there would be vengeance from Zeus of Ithome if they
violated his right of sanctuary. So they were allowed to evacuate the
Peloponnese upon conditions for these reasons.
CHAPTER XXV.
And when they got Naupactus, they were not content with the town and
region that they had got through the Athenians, but a strong desire
came upon them to get a place for themselves by their own valour. And
as they knew that the Œniadæ, who had a rich soil in Acarnania, had
been for all time at variance with the Athenians, they marched against
them. And being not superior in point of numbers, but far superior in
respect to bravery, they won a victory over them, and shut them up
in their fort and blockaded them. And the Messenians employed every
human invention for taking cities, they tried to get over the walls by
scaling ladders, and undermined the fort, and bringing up such engines
as they could get at short notice kept battering away at the walls. And
those in the town, fearing that if the town was taken they would be
undone, and their wives and children sold into slavery, preferred to
surrender upon conditions. And for about a year the Messenians occupied
the town and enjoyed the produce of the country, but the year after the
Acarnanians gathering a force together from all their towns planned a
march upon Naupactus. But they changed their minds about this when they
saw that their march would be through the country of the Ætolians, who
were always hostile to them, and at the same time they expected the
Naupactians had a navy, as indeed they had, and as they were masters
of the sea it would not be possible to subdue them with a land army.
So they changed their plan with alacrity, and marched against the
Messenians at Œniadæ. And they began to lay siege to the town: for
they did not suppose that so few men would come to such a pitch of
recklessness as to sally out and fight against them. And the Messenians
had got together a store of corn and other provisions, expecting a
long siege: but they thought before the blockade commenced they would
have one good fight in the open, and as they were Messenians, who had
only been inferior to the Lacedæmonians in luck not in courage, they
would not be frightened at this mob that had come from Acarnania.
And the Athenians remembered the action at Marathon, how thirty
myriads of Medes were slain by less than 10,000. So they determined
to fight the Acarnanians, and the battle was fought as follows. The
Acarnanians inasmuch as they were far more numerous easily surrounded
the Messenians, except where the gates at the back of the Messenians
checked them, and the men on the walls stoutly defended their comrades.
Here they could not be surrounded. But both their flanks were sore
pressed by the Acarnanians, and they shot at them from all sides. And
the Messenians being a compact body, wherever they made a general
attack on the Acarnanians, threw the enemy’s ranks into confusion, and
killed and wounded many, yet could not bring about a complete rout.
For wherever the Acarnanians observed that their lines were pierced by
the Messenians, there they brought up large detachments of men, and
beat the Messenians back by sheer force of numbers. And whenever the
Messenians were unsuccessful in an attack, and tried in some other
place to break the Acarnanian line, the same result would follow. At
whatever point they attacked they produced confusion and something like
a rout, but the Acarnanians came swarming up, and so the Messenians had
very unwillingly to retire. And the struggle being very evenly poised
till night came on, and the attacking force of the Acarnanians being
augmented the following evening from several towns, a regular blockade
of the Messenians commenced. And they had no fear that the town would
be taken by storm, either by the Acarnanians getting over the walls,
or by their being compelled to desert their garrison duty. But by the
8th month all their supplies were consumed. To the Acarnanians they
jeeringly cried out that their provisions would last even a ten years’
siege: but about the time of first sleep they quietly slipped out of
Œniadæ, and being compelled to fight their way through directly the
Acarnanians got to know of this flitting, lost about 300 but killed
a still greater number of the enemy, and most of them succeeded in
cutting their way through, and by the assistance of the Ætolians who
were friendly to them got safe to Naupactus.
CHAPTER XXVI.
And from this time forward their hostility to the Lacedæmonians
increased, as they notably shewed in the war between the Peloponnesians
and Athenians. For they made Naupactus a base against the Peloponnese,
and when the Spartans were cut off at Sphacteria some Messenian bowmen
from Naupactus assisted the Athenians. But after the reverse of the
Athenians at Ægos-potamoi, the Lacedæmonians being masters of the sea
drove the Messenians from Naupactus, and some went into Sicily to their
kinsmen at Zancle and Rhegium, but most to Libya to the Euesperitæ,
who being hard pressed in war by some of the neighbouring barbarians
invited in the Greeks as colonists. To them went most of the Messenians
under Comon, who had been their General at Sphacteria.
And a year before the Theban victory at Leuctra, the god foretold
to the Messenians their return to the Peloponnese. For the priest of
Hercules (they say) in Messene at the Sicilian Strait saw in a dream
Hercules Manticlus invited in a friendly way by Zeus to Ithome. And
among the Euesperitæ Comon dreamt that he had dealings with his dead
mother, and that subsequently his mother came to life again. And he
hoped as the Athenians were now powerful at sea that they would be
restored to Naupactus: and the dream seemed to indicate that Messene
would revive. And no long time after came to the Lacedæmonians at
Leuctra the disaster that had long been fated: for the concluding words
of the oracle given to Aristodemus the king of the Messenians were,
“Do as fate bids: woe comes to all in turn.”
As at that time it was fated for him and the Messenians to be
unfortunate, so in after time was it fated for Lacedæmon when her
day had come. And now the Thebans after the victory of Leuctra sent
messengers to Italy and Sicily and to the Euesperitæ, to recall the
Messenians from their wanderings to the Peloponnese. And they gathered
together quicker than anyone would have thought, from yearning
affection to their fatherland, and from their abiding hate to the
Lacedæmonians. And Epaminondas was in doubt what city he should build
as a base against the Lacedæmonians, or where he should find a site,
for the Messenians would not dwell again at Andania and Œchalia,
because they had been so unlucky when they lived there before. As
he was in this doubt they say an old man, very like a priest of
the mysteries, appeared to him in a vision of the night, and said
to him, “My gift to you is universal conquest in war: and when you
shall leave this earth I will make your name, O Theban, immortal and
ever glorious. But do you in return restore to the Messenians their
country and cities, for the wrath of Castor and Pollux towards them
is now appeased.” These were his words to Epaminondas, who revealed
the dream to Epiteles the son of Æschines, whom the Argives chose as
their General and the restorer of Messene. This man was bidden in a
dream, in the place where he should find at Ithome an ivy and myrtle
tree growing, to dig between them and recover an old woman who was
ill and confined there in a brass coffin and already near to death’s
door. And Epiteles when day broke went to the appointed place, and dug
up a cinerary urn of brass, and took it at once to Epaminondas and
narrated his dream, and he told him to remove the lid and see what was
in it. And he after sacrifice and prayer to the person who had sent him
this dream opened the urn, and found some tin beaten very thin, and
rolled up like a book. On it were written the mysteries of the Great
Goddesses, and it was in fact what Aristomenes had buried. And they say
the person who appeared to Epiteles and Epaminondas in their dreams
was Caucon, who formerly came from Athens to Andania to Messene the
daughter of Triopas.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The wrath of Castor and Pollux against the Messenians began before
the battle at Stenyclerus, and I conjecture it to have originated in
the following way. Panormus and Gonippus, two lads of Andania in the
bloom of youth, were great friends, and used jointly to make incursions
and raids into Laconia. And as the Lacedæmonians in camp were keeping
the festival of Castor and Pollux, and after the banquet were full of
wine and merrymaking, Gonippus and Panormus, clad in white tunics and
purple cloaks, well mounted, with hats on their heads and spears in
their hands, presented themselves to the Lacedæmonians. And when they
saw them they bowed down before them and worshipped them, thinking they
were Castor and Pollux who had come to the sacrifice. But these young
men mixed up with them and rode through them and stabbed many with
their lances, and, after many of them had fallen, rode back to Andania,
having thus outraged the festival of Castor and Pollux. This is what
I think made the Twin Brethren hate the Messenians. But now, as was
hinted to Epaminondas in his dream, the Twin Brethren had no objection
to the return of the Messenians. And Epaminondas was very greatly
encouraged also to the restoration of Messene by the oracles of Bacis,
who had been driven mad by the Nymphs and had given various prophetic
utterances to several of the Greeks, and amongst others this one about
the return of the Messenians:
“And then shall Sparta lose her glorious flower,
Messene built again be for all time.”
I find also that Bacis foretold the manner in which Eira would be
taken: this is one of his prophetic lines,
“Those from conquered Messene with its splashing fountains.”
And as the records of the Mysteries had been recovered, the priests
entered them in books. And Epaminondas, as the place where the
Messenians now have their capital seemed most convenient to settle
in, bade the seers examine if the gods were favourable to the spot.
And on their replying that the omens were favourable, he at once made
preparations for building the town, ordering a large supply of stone,
and sending for builders who should artistically lay out streets and
build houses and temples and lines of walls. And when all was in
readiness the Arcadians furnished victims, and Epaminondas and the
Thebans sacrificed to Dionysus and Apollo Ismenius in the accustomed
manner, and the Argives to Argive Hera and Nemean Zeus, and the
Messenians to Zeus of Ithome and Castor and Pollux, and the priests of
the Mysteries to the Great Goddesses and Caucon. And with one consent
they invoked the heroes to come and dwell with them, especially Messene
the daughter of Triopas, and Eurytus and Aphareus and his sons, and
of the Heraclidæ Cresphontes and Æpytus. But most unanimous of all
was the cry for Aristomenes. And that day they devoted to sacrifices
and prayers, and on the following days they raised the circuit of
the walls, and began to build their houses and temples inside the
walls. And they carried on this work only to the music of Bœotian
and Argive flutes, and the tunes of Sacadas and Pronomus now first
came into competition. And they called the capital Messene, and they
restored others of their towns. But the people of Nauplia were not
turned out of Mothone, the Asinæi also were allowed to remain where
they were, the latter out of gratitude because they had refused to
join the Lacedæmonians against them. And the people of Nauplia, when
the Messenians returned to the Peloponnese, had brought them as gifts
whatever they had, and had continually prayed to the deity for their
return, and had also made many requests to the Messenians for their own
safety.
Thus the Messenians returned to the Peloponnese, and were restored
to their country, 287 years after the capture of Eira, when Dyscinetus
was Archon at Athens, and in the third year of the 102nd Olympiad, in
which Damon of Thurii won the second prize. It was indeed no short
time that the Platæans were exiles from their country, or the Delians
when (expelled from Delos by the Athenians) they dwelt at Adramyttium.
The Minyæ from Orchomenus also, having been driven out by the Thebans
from Orchomenus after the battle of Leuctra, were restored to Bœotia by
Philip the son of Amyntas, as the Platæans also. And although Alexander
stript Thebes of Thebans, yet not many years afterwards Cassander
the son of Antipater rebuilt it. The exile from Platæa seems to have
been the longest of those which I have recorded, however it was not
longer than two generations. But the Messenians were wanderers from
the Peloponnese for nearly 300 years, during which time it is evident
that they abandoned none of their national customs, nor did they change
their Doric dialect, but even to our day they preserve it purer than
any other of the Peloponnesians.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
On their return no apprehension was felt by them at first about the
Lacedæmonians: for they, being afraid of the Thebans, did not interfere
with the rebuilding of Messene, nor the gathering of the Arcadians
into one town. But when the Phocian War, otherwise called the Holy
War, withdrew the Thebans from the Peloponnese, then the Lacedæmonians
pricked up their courage, and could no longer keep their hands off the
Messenians. And the Messenians bore the brunt of the war alone, except
the assistance they got from the Argives and Arcadians; they also
begged for help from the Athenians,--but they replied that they could
not join them in an incursion into Laconia, but if the Lacedæmonians
were the aggressors and carried the war into Messenia, then they
promised that they would not fail them. And eventually the Messenians
got the help of Philip, the son of Amyntas, and the Macedonians, and
this they say prevented them from participation in the struggle of the
Greeks at Chæronea. Not that they would ever have been inclined to take
up arms against the Greeks. But after the death of Alexander, when the
Greeks commenced a second war against the Macedonians, the Messenians
took their part in this, as I have before shewn in my account of
Attica. But they did not join the Greeks in fighting against the
Galati, as Cleonymus and the Lacedæmonians would not make a treaty with
them.
And not long afterwards the Messenians occupied Elis, partly by
cunning partly by audacity. The people of Elis in ancient times were
the most orderly of all the Peloponnesians, but when Philip the son
of Amyntas did all that harm to Greece that we have mentioned, and
corrupted by bribes the most influential of the people of Elis, then
for the first time in their history the people of Elis took up arms and
became factious. And after they had taken the first plunge, they were
likely with less reluctance to go into future civil strife, inasmuch as
through the Lacedæmonians their policy had been shifted, and they had
drifted into civil war. And the Lacedæmonians hearing of the factions
at Elis made preparations to assist those who were for their party. And
while they were drilling and mobilizing their forces, about 1000 picked
men of the Messenians secretly approached Elis, with Lacedæmonian
colours on their shields. And when the men in Elis who were friendly
to the Spartans saw their shields, they concluded they had come to
help them and admitted them within the walls. But when the Messenians
got in, in the way I have described, they expelled from the town the
Lacedæmonian party, and entrusted the town to their own friends. Their
stratagem was Homeric, and the Messenians seem to have imitated Homer
for the nonce, for Homer has represented in the Iliad Patroclus wearing
the armour of Achilles, and how the Trojans, thinking that Achilles
was leading the attack, were thrown into confusion in their van. Other
stratagems of war are found in Homer, as when he describes two Greek
spies coming to the Trojans by night instead of one, and afterwards a
supposed deserter coming to Troy really to spy out the weak points.
Moreover he represents those Trojans who were either too young or
too old to fight as manning the walls, while those of a suitable age
took the field against the Greeks. And those of the Greeks that were
wounded gave their armour to other fighting men, that their services
too might not be altogether lost. Thus Homer’s ideas have been
generally useful to mankind.
CHAPTER XXIX.
And no long time after this action at Elis the Macedonians under
Demetrius, the son of Philip the son of Demetrius, attacked Messene.
Most of the audacity displayed by Perseus against Philip and his son
Demetrius I have already described in my account about Sicyon: and the
capture of Messene took place as follows. Philip was in need of money,
and, as he must have it by hook or by crook, sent Demetrius with a
fleet to the Peloponnese. And Demetrius chanced to put in at one of
the least frequented harbours of Argolis: and without losing time he
led his army by the shortest cuts through the country to Messene. And
having posted in the van all his light-armed troops, as he was well
acquainted with the road to Ithome, he got stealthily into the town
a little before dawn, and took up his position between the town and
the citadel. And when day broke and those in the town perceived their
imminent peril, their first thought was that the Lacedæmonians had got
into the town, so they rushed against them with the greatest alacrity
owing to their ancient animosity. But when both from their arms and
language they discovered that they were Macedonians under Demetrius
the son of Philip, a panic came over them, when they considered the
military renown of the Macedonians, and the good fortune which they had
invariably had. However the magnitude of the impending danger suggested
to them an almost supernatural bravery, and at the same time the hope
to see better days supported them: for they could not but think their
return to the Peloponnese after so long an exile was not against the
will of the Deity. The Messenians therefore in the town rushed against
the Macedonians with impetuosity, and the garrison in the citadel
galled them from their higher position. The Macedonians from their
courage and tactical skill fought at first like lions: but at last
spent with their long march, and not only pressed hard by men, but
pelted with tiles and stones by the women, fled in disorder. And most
of them perished miserably, being pushed down the rocks, for Ithome was
very precipitous here, but a few threw away their arms and got off safe.
What prevented the Messenians from joining at first the Achæan League
was as follows. They had of their own accord gone to the aid of the
Lacedæmonians when they were attacked by Pyrrhus the son of Æacus, and
for this good service there were already friendlier relations between
themselves and Sparta. They did not therefore wish to revive the old
feud by going to the Achæan League, as the Achæans were most openly
hostile to the Lacedæmonians. And what has not escaped my notice, and
cannot have escaped the notice of the Messenians is that, even had
there been no Achæan League, the Achæans would have been hostile to
the Lacedæmonians, for among the Achæans the Argives and Arcadians
were no small element. In process of time however the Messenians
joined the Achæan League. And not long afterwards Cleomenes, the son
of Leonidas and grandson of Cleonymus, took Megalopolis the chief
town of the Arcadians in truce time. In the capture of the town about
a third of the inhabitants were captured or slain, but Philopœmen
the son of Craugis and those who escaped with him (and they say that
rather more than two thirds of the people of Megalopolis got away) were
kindly received by the Messenians, partly on account of the ancient
friendliness which the Arcadians had first exhibited in the days of
Aristomenes, and partly in consequence of the part they had taken
in the rebuilding of Messene. The Messenians even went so far as to
assign to the Arcadians equal rights to themselves. Such vicissitudes
and changes are there in all human affairs, that the deity put it into
the power of the Messenians to preserve in turn the Arcadians, and
(what was still less to be expected) one day to capture Sparta. For
when they fought against Cleomenes at Sellasia they joined Aratus and
the Achæans in taking Sparta. And when the Lacedæmonians had got rid
of Cleomenes, there rose up against them the tyrant Machanidas: and
after his death Nabis sprang up as tyrant over them. And, as he not
only plundered men but also sacrilegiously robbed the holy places, in
no long time he amassed considerable sums of money, and got together
with this money an army. And when he occupied Messene Philopœmen and
the people of Megalopolis made a sally by night, and the Spartan tyrant
departed on conditions. And the Achæans after this, in consequence of
some difference with the Messenians, marched out against them in full
force, and ravaged their territory. And again about harvest time they
collected a force for the purpose of attacking Messenia, but Dinocrates
a prominent man among the people, who had been recently elected ruler
of the Messenians, forced Lycortas and the army with him to retire
without effecting their object, and having occupied the byroads between
Messenia and Arcadia he protected[58] the Messenians in their town
and in all the neighbouring districts. And when Philopœmen with a few
cavalry came a little later than the army of Lycortas, not having
been able to gather any tidings about them, the Messenians having the
advantage of ground beat them in battle, and took Philopœmen alive. And
the manner of his capture and his death I shall relate hereafter in my
account of Arcadia. Suffice it here to state that those Messenians who
were guilty of the death of Philopœmen were punished, and Messene again
joined the Achæan League.
Hitherto I have had to deal with the many sufferings of the
Messenians, and to describe how the Deity, having scattered them to
the ends of the earth, and to places most remote from the Peloponnese,
restored them to their own country a long time afterwards. And now let
us turn to a description of the country and its towns.
CHAPTER XXX.
There is in our days in Messenia, about 20 stades from the Chœrian
dell, a town by the sea called Abia. They say in old times it was
called Ire, and that it was one of the seven towns, which Homer
represents Agamemnon as promising to Achilles. And when Hyllus and
the Dorians were conquered in battle by the Achæans, then they say
Abia, the nurse of Glenus the son of Hercules, went to Ire, and there
lived, and built a temple of Hercules, and for that reason Cresphontes
afterwards assigned her several honours, and changed the name of
the town to her name Abia. There were notable temples there both to
Hercules and Æsculapius.
And Pharæ is distant from Abia about 80 stades, and the water by the
road is salt. The Emperor Augustus ordered the Messenians at Pharæ to
be ranked under Laconia. The founder of the city was they say Pharis,
the son of Hermes by Phylodamea the daughter of Danaus. And Pharis they
say had no male children, but only a daughter Telegone. The direct
line of genealogy has been given by Homer in the Iliad, who says that
the twins Crethon and Ortilochus were the sons of Diocles, and that
Diocles himself was the son of Ortilochus, the son of Alpheus. But
he has said nothing about Telegone, who according to the Messenian
tradition was the wife of Alpheus and mother of Ortilochus. I have
also heard at Pharæ that Diocles had a daughter Anticlea as well as
his twin sons, and that she bare Nicomachus and Gorgasus to Machaon
the son of Æsculapius: they lived at Pharæ, and after the death of
Diocles succeeded to the kingdom. And a constant tradition about them
has prevailed even to this day, that they have the power of healing
illnesses and people maimed in body. And because of this the people
sacrifice to them and offer votive offerings. At Pharæ there is also a
temple and ancient statue of Fortune. The first person that I know of
that has mentioned Fortune is Homer. He has mentioned her in his Hymn
to Demeter, when enumerating the other daughters of Oceanus, how they
played with Demeter’s daughter Proserpine, and among them Fortune, also
a daughter of Oceanus. These are the lines.[59] “We all were in the
pleasant meadow, Leucippe, Phæno, Electra, and Ianthe, Melobosis, and
Fortune, and Ocyroe of the beautiful eyes.” But he has said nothing
further about her, how she is the greatest goddess in human affairs
and has the greatest influence, as in the Iliad he represented Athene
and Enyo as supreme in war, and Artemis as dreaded in childbirth, and
Aphrodite as the goddess of marriages. He has not symbolized Fortune in
this way. But Bupalus, a man of wonderful ability in building temples
and making models of animals, is the first person we know of that made
a statue of Fortune. His was for the people of Smyrna. Fortune has a
globe on her head, and in one of her hands what is called by the Greeks
the horn of Amalthea. Thus did he typify the actions of this goddess.
Pindar also subsequently wrote various lines about Fortune, and named
her City-Preserver.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Not far from Pharæ is the grove of Carnean Apollo, and a fountain of
water in it, and Pharæ is about six stades from the sea. As you go
from thence into the interior of Messenia about 80 stades you come to
the town of Thuria,--which they say Homer called Anthea in his verses.
And Augustus gave Thuria to the Spartans. For when the future Emperor
of Rome was at war with Mark Antony, several Greeks and especially
Messenians fought for Antony because the Lacedæmonians espoused the
side of Augustus. Accordingly Augustus punished the Messenians and
others who had opposed him, some more some less. And the people of
Thuria left their ancient city which was built on a height, and went
and dwelt in the plain. Not that they altogether abandoned the upper
city, for there are ruins of their walls and a temple there called the
temple of the Syrian goddess. And a river called Aris flows by their
town in the plain.
And there is in the interior a village called Calamæ and a place
called Limnæ: in the latter place is a temple of Artemis of Limnæ,
where they say Teleclus the king of Sparta was killed. And as you go
from Thuria in the direction of Arcadia are the sources of the river
Pamisus, in which small boys by being dipped are cured of diseases. And
as you go to the left from these sources of the river and go forward
about 40 stades, you come to the city of the Messenians under Mount
Ithome: which is encircled not only by Mount Ithome but also in the
direction of the Pamisus by Mount Eva. The mountain they say was called
Eva from the Bacchic cry Evœ, which Dionysus and his attendant women
first uttered here. And round Messene is a circular wall entirely
constructed of stone, and towers and battlements are built on it. As to
the walls of the Babylonians, or those called Memnon’s in Susa amongst
the Persians, I have neither seen them nor heard anything of them
from eye witnesses: but I can confidently affirm that the wall round
Messene is stronger than those at Ambrosus in Phocis or at Byzantium
or at Rhodes. And in the market-place at Messene there is a statue of
Zeus Soter, and a conduit called Arsinoe, which got its name from the
daughter of Leucippus, and water flows underground to feed it from a
well called Clepsydra. And the gods who have temples are Poseidon and
Aphrodite. And the most notable thing is a statue of the Mother of the
Gods in Parian marble by Damophon, who most artistically rivetted the
Zeus at Olympia when the ivory got loose. And honours were bestowed
upon him by the people of Elis. He too designed the statue that the
people of Messene call Laphria: whom they are accustomed to worship for
the following reason. Among the Calydonians, who worship Artemis most
of all the gods, her title is Laphria. And the Messenians who received
Naupactus from the Athenians, and lived consequently very near to
Ætolia, borrowed the worship of Artemis Laphria from the Calydonians.
The statue I shall describe elsewhere. The title Laphria is only
given to Artemis by the Messenians and the people of Patræ in Achaia.
Ephesian Artemis is the title which all cities recognize, and by which
men privately worship her as greatest of the gods; partly from the fame
of the Amazons, who are said to have established the worship of her
image, partly because she had a temple at Ephesus from time immemorial.
And three other things contributed to her glory also, the size of the
temple which exceeds all other human structures, the celebrity of the
city of Ephesus, and the splendour of the goddess’ shrine.
At Messene there is also a temple and stone statue of Ilithyia. And
hard by is a hall of the Curetes, where they sacrifice all kinds of
living things alike. Beginning with bulls and goats, they even go as
far as to cast birds into the flames. There is also a temple sacred
to Demeter, and statues of Castor and Pollux represented as carrying
off the daughters of Leucippus. I have already shown in a previous
part of my work that the Messenians assert that Castor and Pollux are
indigenous with them and not with the Lacedæmonians. And they have many
statues well worth seeing in the temple of Æsculapius. For besides the
statues of the god and his sons, and besides those of Apollo and the
Muses and Hercules, there are statues of Thebes and Epaminondas the
son of Cleommis, and of Fortune and of Lightbringing Artemis. Those in
stone are the work of Damophon, the only Messenian statuary that I know
of that has produced any remarkable statues. The effigy of Epaminondas
in iron is by another hand. There is also at Messene a temple of
Triopas and her statue in gold and Parian marble: and the paintings at
the back of the temple are Aphareus and his sons, the kings of Messene
before the expedition of the Dorians to the Peloponnese, and after the
return of the Heraclidæ Cresphontes, the leader of the Dorians, and of
those that dwelt at Pylos Nestor and Thrasymedes and Antilochus, who
were preferred to the sons of Nestor partly because they were older,
partly because they had taken part in the Trojan expedition. There are
paintings also of Leucippus the brother of Aphareus, and of Hilaira,
Phœbe, and Arsinoe. There are paintings also of Æsculapius, (the son
of Arsinoe according to the tradition of the Messenians,) and Machaon
and Podalirius, for they also had a share in the expedition to Ilium.
These paintings were executed by Omphalion, the pupil of Nicias the son
of Nicomedes: some say that he was also the slave of Nicias and his
favourite.
CHAPTER XXXII.
The temple at Messene called the Sacrificial Chamber has statues of
the gods generally worshipped among the Greeks, and also an effigy of
Epaminondas in brass. There are also some ancient tripods, such as
Homer describes as not having experienced fire.[60] And the statues in
the gymnasium are the work of Egyptians, and are Hermes Hercules and
Theseus, who are wont to be held in honour at gymnasiums and palæstras
by all Greeks and by many barbarians. I also noticed a statue of
Æthidas who was a contemporary of mine but older, and as he was very
wealthy the Messenians paid him honours as a hero. None of the people
of Messene deny that Æthidas was wealthy, but some say it is not that
Æthidas who has a statue on the pillar, but a namesake and ancestor.
And this earlier Æthidas was they say the General of the Messenians,
when Demetrius the son of Philip and his army stole into the town by
night when they little expected it.
There is here also the tomb of Aristomenes, and not a mere cenotaph,
if their account is correct. But when I inquired how and from what
place they brought home Aristomenes’ remains, they replied that they
sent for them from Rhodes, obeying the direction of the God at Delphi.
They also informed me of the sacrifices at this tomb. The bull they
intend to sacrifice they bring to the tomb, and fasten it to a pillar
near the tomb. And it being wild and unused to bonds is reluctant to
remain there. And if by its struggles and mad bounds the pillar is
moved, it is an auspicious omen to the people of Messene, but if it
is not moved it is an omen of misfortune. And they amuse themselves
with the fancy that Aristomenes though no longer alive was present at
the fight at Leuctra, and they say he fought for the Thebans, and was
the main cause of the Lacedæmonian defeat. I know that the Chaldæan
and Indian astrologers were the first who taught that the soul of man
is immortal, and several Greeks credited their assertion, and notably
Plato the son of Aristo. And whoever are willing to believe this cannot
deny the fact that the hatred of Aristomenes to the Lacedæmonians was
eternal. And what I heard in Thebes lent probability to the tradition
at Messene, though it does not altogether agree with their account.
The Thebans say that on the eve of the battle at Leuctra they sent to
several oracles, and among others to that of Trophonius at Lebadea. The
answers are extant which were received from Ismenian and Ptoan Apollo,
as also from Abæ and Delphi. But the response of Trophonius was in
4 hexameter verses. “Before contending with the foe erect a trophy,
decking out the shield, which the ardent Aristomenes of Messene placed
in my temple. I will assuredly destroy the host of hostile warriors.”
And on the arrival of this oracular response they say that Epaminondas
prevailed with Xenocrates to send for the shield of Aristomenes, and he
decked it out as a trophy in a place where it would be visible to the
Lacedæmonians. And some of them recognized the shield as they had seen
it in time of peace at Lebadea, and all knew of it by report. And after
the Thebans won their victory, they offered Aristomenes’ shield again
to Trophonius as a votive offering. There is also a brazen statue of
Aristomenes in the race-course at Messene. And not far from the theatre
is the temple of Serapis and Isis.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
And as you go towards the hill of Ithome, where the Messenians have
their citadel, is the spring called Clepsydra. However willing one
may be it is a matter of no small difficulty to enumerate all the
people who put in the claim that Zeus was born and bred among them.
The people of Messene have this tradition among others. They say that
Zeus was reared among them, and that Ithome and Neda were his nurses,
and that Neda gave her name to the river, and Ithome hers to the
mountain. And these Nymphs they say, when Zeus was stolen away by the
Curetes from fear of Cronos, washed him here at Clepsydra, and the
spring got its name from the theft of the Curetes: and every day they
take water from this spring to the temple of Zeus of Ithome. And the
statue of Zeus is the work of Ageladas, and was made originally for
the Messenians that dwelt at Naupactus. And a priest chosen annually
keeps the statue in his house. And they have an annual feast at Ithome,
and originally they had a musical contest, as one may infer from other
sources, but especially from the lines of Eumelus, which are part of
his Processional Hymn at Delos, “Welcome to Zeus of Ithome was the pure
muse with free sandals.” I think from these verses that Eumelus knew
that they had a musical contest at the Feast of Zeus of Ithome.
At the gates in the direction of Megalopolis in Arcadia there is a
statue of Hermes of Athenian design: the busts of Hermes among the
Athenians are square, and others have borrowed this design from them.
And if you go about 30 stades down from these gates you come to the
river Balyra. It was so called they say because Thamyris threw his lyre
away there in his blindness, Thamyris the son of Philammon and the
nymph Argiope. Argiope they say lived at Parnassus for a while, but
when she became pregnant removed to Odrysæ, because Philammon would not
marry her. And this is the reason why they call Thamyris Odrysian and
Thracian. And the rivers Leucasia and Amphitus are tributaries of the
Balyra.
After you have crossed these you come to the plain called the plain
of Stenyclerus; this Stenyclerus was a hero. And right opposite the
plain is what was called of old Œchalia, but in our day the Carnasian
grove, mostly of cypress trees. And the gods who have statues are
Carnean Apollo and Hermes carrying a ram. And the daughter of
Demeter is here called the Virgin, and near her statue water wells
from a spring. But the rites of the Great Goddesses, who have their
Mysteries at the Carnasian grove, I must not reveal: but they are in
my opinion second only in sanctity to the Eleusinian Mysteries. I
am also prevented by a dream from revealing to the public all about
the cinerary urn of brass found by the Argive General, in which
the remains of Eurytus the son of Melaneus are kept. And the river
Charadrus flows along the Carnasian grove, and as you go on about 8
stades to the left you come to the ruins of Andania. That the town was
so named from a woman called Andania is admitted by the antiquarians: I
know however nothing about her parents, or who she married. And on the
road from Andania to Cyparissiæ you come to a place called Polichne,
where the rivers Electra and Cœus flow. Perhaps the names of these
rivers refer to Electra the daughter of Atlas and to Cœus the father of
Leto, or Electra and Cœus are possibly some local heroes.
And after crossing the Electra you come to the well called Achaia,
and the ruins of the city Dorium. And it is here at Dorium that Homer
has described Thamyris as having been stricken blind, because he said
he could excel the Muses in singing.[61] But Prodicus the Phocæan,
(if the poem called the Minyad is indeed his), says that punishments
were reserved for Thamyris in Hades because of his boastful language
to the Muses. But I am of opinion that Thamyris lost his eyesight
through disease: as indeed happened to Homer subsequently. But Homer
went on composing all his life, for he did not yield to his misfortune,
whereas Thamyris wooed the Muse no longer, completely overcome by his
ever-present trouble.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
From Messene to the mouth of the Pamisus is about 80 stades, and the
Pamisus flows clear and limpid through arable land, and is navigable
some 10 stades inland. And some sea fish swim up it especially at the
season of spring, as they do also up the rivers Rhenus and Mæander: but
mostly do they swim up the river Achelous, which has its outlet near
the islands called the Echinades. And the fish that swim up the Pamisus
are finer in appearance, because the water is clear, and not full of
mud like the other rivers I have mentioned. And mullets, being fishes
that love mud, are fond of muddy rivers. Now the Greek rivers do not
seem to produce beasts dangerous to man’s life, like the Indus, and
the Nile in Egypt, and the Rhenus, the Ister, the Euphrates, and the
Phasis. For they produce beasts that devour man, in appearance like the
Glanides at Hermus and Mæander, except that they have a darker skin and
more strength. In these respects the Glanides are deficient. And the
Indus and Nile both furnish crocodiles, and the Nile hippopotamuses
also, which are as destructive to man as the crocodile. But the Greek
rivers are not formidable for wild beasts, for even in the river Aous,
that flows through the Thesprotian mainland, the dogs are not river
dogs but sea dogs that swim up from the sea.
On the right of the Pamisus is Corone, a town near the sea, and under
the mountain Mathia. And on the road to it is a place near the sea,
which they think is the temple of Ino: for they say that the goddess
landed here from the sea, and was worshipped by the name of Leucothea
instead of Ino. And at no great distance the river Bias discharges
itself into the sea, which river took its name they say from Bias the
son of Amythaon. About 20 stades from the road is the well Plataniston,
the water flows from a plane-tree, broad and hollow inside, and like a
small cave, and fresh water flows from thence to Corone. The name of
the town was of old Æpea, but after the Messenians were restored to the
Peloponnese by the Thebans, they say that Epimelides, who was sent to
rebuild it, called it Coronea, after Coronea in Bœotia where he came
from, but the Messenians mispronounced the name Corone from the first,
and in process of time their mistake became prevalent. There is also
another tradition that when they were digging the foundations of their
walls they found a brass crow.[62] The gods here who have temples are
Artemis called the Rearer of children, and Dionysus, and Æsculapius.
The statues of Æsculapius and Dionysus are of stone, and there is a
brazen statue of Zeus Soter in the market-place. There is also a brazen
statue of Athene in the citadel in the open air, with a crow in her
hand. I also saw the tomb of Epimelides. Why they call the harbour the
harbour of the Achæans I do not know.
As you go on about 80 stades from Corone you come to a temple of
Apollo, near the sea, which is held in high honour: according to the
Messenian tradition it is the most ancient of all Apollo’s temples,
and the god heals diseases. They call the god Corydus.[63] His statue
here is of wood, but there is a brazen statue the work of Argeotas, a
votive offering they say of the Argonauts. And near the town of Corone
is Colonides. Its inhabitants say they were not Messenians but were
brought by Colænus from Attica, who according to an oracle followed the
crested lark there. And in process of time they picked up the Dorian
dialect and customs. And the town of Colonides is on a height not far
from the sea.
And the people of Asine were originally neighbours of the Lycoritæ,
and dwelt near Mount Parnassus. They were then called Dryopes from
their founder, which name they retained when they came to the
Peloponnese. But in the third generation afterwards, when Phylas
was king, the Dryopes were beaten in battle by Hercules, and were
taken to Delphi and offered to Apollo. And being brought back to the
Peloponnese by the oracle which the god gave Hercules, they first
occupied Asine near Hermion, and, having been expelled thence by the
Argives, they dwelt in Messenia by permission of the Lacedæmonians,
and when in process of time the Messenians were restored they were not
turned out by them from Asine. And the account the people of Asine
themselves give is as follows. They admit they were conquered in battle
by Hercules, and that their town on Mount Parnassus was captured,
but they deny that they were led captive to Apollo, but when their
walls were taken by Hercules, they left their town they say and fled
for refuge to the heights of Parnassus; and afterwards crossing over
in ships to the Peloponnese became suppliants of Eurystheus, and he
being a bitter enemy of Hercules gave them Asine in Argolis to dwell
in. And the Asinæi are the only descendants of the Dryopes that still
plume themselves on that name, very unlike the Eubœans that live at
Styra. For they too are Dryopes by origin, who did not participate in
the contest with Hercules but dwelt at some distance from the town.
But they despise the name Dryopes, just as the inhabitants of Delphi
object to be called Phocians. Whereas the Asinæi rejoice in the name
of Dryopes, and have evidently made the holiest of their temples an
imitation of those they formerly erected at Mount Parnassus. They have
not only a temple of Apollo, but a temple and ancient statue of Dryops,
whose mysteries they celebrate annually, and say that he was the son of
Apollo. And Asine lies by the sea just as the old Asine in Argolis did,
and the distance from Colonides is about 40 stades, and at about the
same distance in the other direction is the Promontory of Acritas, just
in front of which is the deserted island of Theganussa. And not far
from Acritas is the harbour of Phœnicus and some islands called Œnussæ
opposite the harbour.
CHAPTER XXXV.
And Mothone, which before the expedition against Troy and even
subsequently to that war was called Pedasus, afterwards changed its
name to Mothone from the daughter of Œneus as the inhabitants say: for
Œneus the son of Porthaon after the capture of Ilium retired they say
with Diomede to the Peloponnese, and had by a concubine a daughter
Mothone. But in my opinion the Rock called Mothon gave its name to
Mothone, a rock which constitutes a natural harbour, for being much
of it sunken under the water it narrows the entrance for ships, and
at the same time is a kind of breakwater against the violence of the
waves. I have already described how the Lacedæmonians, in the days when
Damocratidas was king at Argos, gave Mothone to the people of Nauplia,
who had been expelled from their city for their Laconian proclivities;
and how even after the restoration of the Messenians they were not
interfered with. The people of Nauplia were I imagine in ancient times
Egyptians, and, having come to Argolis in their ships with Danaus,
they formed three generations afterwards a colony at Nauplia under
Nauplius the son of Amymone. And the Emperor Trajan granted the people
of Mothone a free constitution. But in older days they alone of all the
Messenians had the following serious misfortune. Thesprotia in Epirus
was in a ruinous condition from anarchy. For Deidamia the daughter of
Pyrrhus had no children, and on her death handed over the government
to the people. She was the daughter of Pyrrhus, the son of Ptolemy,
the son of Alexander, the son of Pyrrhus: of this last Pyrrhus the
son of Æacides I have given an account earlier in my description of
Attica. Procles the Carthaginian has given Alexander the son of Philip
more praise for his good fortune and the lustre of his exploits, but
for the disposition of an army and strategical tactics in the face of
an enemy he says Pyrrhus was the better man. And when the people of
Epirus became a democracy, they shewed a want of ballast in several
respects, and entirely disregarded their rulers: and the Illyrians
that dwelt north of Epirus by the Ionian sea became their masters by
sudden attack. For we know of no democracy but Athens that ever rose
to greatness. The Athenians indeed rose to their zenith by democracy:
but in native intelligence they were superior to the other Greeks, and
obeyed the laws more than democracies generally do.
And the Illyrians, when they had once tasted the sweets of conquest,
longed for more and still more, and equipped a fleet, and made piratic
excursions everywhere, and sailed to Mothone and anchored there as
with friendly intent, and sent a messenger into the town and asked
for some wine for their ships. And when a few men brought this wine,
they paid for it the price the people of Mothone asked for it, and
sold them in turn some of their cargoes. And on the following day more
came from the city and a brisker traffic ensued. And at last women and
men came down to the ships, and sold wine and received goods in turn
from the barbarians. Then the Illyrians in the height of their daring
captured many men and still more women, and clapped them on board, and
sailed away for the Ionian sea, having half stripped the town of its
population.
At Mothone is a temple of Athene _the Goddess of Winds_, Diomede they
say dedicated the statue of the goddess and gave her that title, for
violent winds and unseasonable used to blow over the place and do much
harm, but after Diomede prayed to Athene, no trouble from winds ever
came to them thenceforward. There is also a temple of Artemis here,
and some water mixed with pitch in a well, in appearance very like
Cyzicenian ointment. Water indeed can assume every colour and smell.
The bluest I have ever seen is at Thermopylæ, not all the water but
that which flows into the swimming-bath which the people of the place
call the women’s Pots. And reddish water very like blood is seen in
the land of the Hebrews near Joppa: the water is very near the sea,
and the tradition about the spring is that Perseus, after killing the
sea monster to whom the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, washed away
the blood there. And black water welling up from springs I have seen
at Astyra which is opposite Lesbos, the warm baths are in a village
called Atarneus, which was given to the Chians by the Medes as a reward
for giving up to them the suppliant Pactyas the Lydian. This water is
black: and not far from a town across the river Anio the Romans have
some white water: and when one bathes in it it is at first cold and
makes one shudder, but if one stays in it a little time it is hot as
fire. All these wonderful springs I have myself seen, and those of
lesser wonder I purposely pass over, for to find water salt and rough
to the palate is no great wonder. But there are two very remarkable
kinds of water: one at Caria in the plain called White, near a village
called Dascylus, warm and sweeter to drink than milk: and the other
Herodotus describes as a spring of bitter water discharging itself into
the river Hypanis. How then shall we refuse to credit that warm water
is found at Dicæarchia[64] among the Tyrrhenians, so hot that in a few
years it melts the lead through which it flows?
CHAPTER XXXVI.
From Mothone to the promontory of Coryphasium is about 100 stades, and
near it is Pylos, which was founded by Pylos, the son of Cleson, who
brought from Megaris the Leleges who then occupied Megaris. But he did
not enjoy it long, being turned out by Neleus and the Pelasgians of
Iolcus. And he went away to the neighbouring country and occupied Pylos
in Elis. And king Neleus advanced Pylos to such renown that Homer in
his Iliad calls it the city of Neleus.[65] There is a temple there of
Athene called Coryphasia, and a house called Nestor’s house, in which
is a painting of Nestor, and there is his tomb inside the city, and at
a little distance from Pylos is (they say) the tomb of Thrasymedes.
And there is a cave inside the city, which they say was the stall of
the oxen of Nestor and still earlier of Neleus. The breed of these
oxen would be Thessalian, of the herd of Iphiclus the father of
Protesilaus, for Neleus asked them as wedding presents from the wooers
of his daughter, and it was on their account that Melampus to gratify
his brother Bias went to Thessalia, and was bound by the herdsmen of
Iphiclus, but eventually by answering the questions which Iphiclus put
obtained these oxen as a reward. The men of that day were anxious to
amass wealth in the shape of herds of horses and oxen, for not only did
Neleus desire for his own the oxen of Iphiclus, but Eurystheus ordered
Hercules, in consequence of the fame of those oxen in Spain, to drive
off the herd that belonged to Geryon. And Eryx, who was at that time
king in Sicily, was manifestly so keenly in love with the oxen from
Erythea, that when he wrestled with Hercules he staked his kingdom
against them. And Homer in the Iliad has represented Iphidimas, the son
of Antenor, giving 100 oxen as the first wedding present to his father
in law.[66] All this confirms my theory that the men of those days
were especially fond of oxen. And the oxen of Neleus grazed I imagine
mostly over the borders, for the district of Pylos is mostly sandy,
and unable to afford sufficient pasture. My authority is Homer who,
whenever he mentions Nestor, always calls him the king of sandy Pylos.
Before the harbour is the island Sphacteria, situated very much as
Rhenea is in reference to the harbour of Delos. It seems the destiny
of both men and places to be for a while unknown and then to come to
renown. Such was the case with Caphareus, a promontory in Eubœa, by a
storm which came there upon the Greeks returning with Agamemnon from
Ilium. So too with Psyttalea off Salamis, where we know the Medes
perished in great numbers. So too the reverses of the Lacedæmonians
at Sphacteria made the place world-famed. And the Athenians erected
a brazen statue of Victory in their Acropolis as a record of their
success at Sphacteria.
And as you go in the direction of Cyparissiæ from Pylos there is a
spring under the city close to the sea. They say the water welled up
in consequence of Dionysus striking the ground with his thyrsus, and
so they call the spring Dionysus’ spring. There are also at Cyparissiæ
temples of Apollo and Cyparissian Athene. And at the place called Aulon
there is a temple of Æsculapius, and a statue of Aulonian Æsculapius.
From this place the river Neda, till it falls into the sea, is the
boundary between Messenia and Elis.
FOOTNOTES:
[53] Odyssey, xxi. 18.
[54] Odyssey, xxi. 15, 16.
[55] _Ibid._ iii. 488, 489.
[56] Iliad, ii. 729.
[57] This seems strange. Ingeniosissime διακόψας Corayus. Siebelis
defends the text. “Sacerdos, quo majus esset miraculum, videtur
dixisse, eum se advolvisse igni, eique admovisse vincula, usque dum
solverentur.”
[58] Reading ἤμυνεν.
[59] Hymn to Demeter, lines 417, 418, 420.
[60] See Hom. Il. ix. 122; xxiii. 267.
[61] Iliad, ii. 594-600.
[62] Crow in Greek is _Corone_. Hence the Paronomasia.
[63] That is, _crested lark_. The explanation of this title is given
somewhat lower down.
[64] _Puteoli_ is the Latin name.
[65] Iliad, xi. 682.
[66] Iliad, xi. 244.
BOOK V.--ELIS.
CHAPTER I.
Those Greeks, who say that the Peloponnese is divided into five
parts and no more, are obliged to admit that the people of Elis as
well as the Arcadians dwell in the division of the Arcadians, and
that the second division is Achaia, and that the Dorians have the
remaining three. The indigenous races that inhabit the Peloponnese are
Arcadians and Achæans. And the Achæans were driven out of their own
land by the Dorians, but did not however evacuate the Peloponnese, but
dispossessed the Ionians that lived in what was then called Ægialus,
but is now called after them Achaia. The Arcadians on the other hand
have always up to this day remained in Arcadia. But the other parts
of the Peloponnese are peopled by strangers. The latest importation
were the present Corinthians, who were introduced into the Peloponnese
some 217 years ago by the Roman Emperor. And the Dryopes came into the
Peloponnese from Mount Parnassus, the Dorians from Mount Œta.
We know that the people of Elis originally came from Calydon and
other parts of Ætolia. And the oldest information I have found about
them is as follows. The first king in this land was they say Aethlius,
the son of Zeus by Protogenea the daughter of Deucalion, and the father
of Endymion. The Moon was they say enamoured of this Endymion, and
had by him 50 daughters. But a more probable account is that Endymion
married Asterodia, others say Chromia the daughter of Itonus the son of
Amphictyon, others say Hyperippe the daughter of Arcas, and had three
sons, Pæon and Epeus and Ætolus, and one daughter Eurycyde. Endymion
also made his sons contend in running at Olympia for the kingdom, and
Epeus won, so the people over whom he ruled were first called Epeans.
And of his brothers Ætolus they say remained at home, but Pæon vexed
at his loss went as far away as possible, and the region beyond the
river Axius was called Pæonia after him. As to the death of Endymion
different accounts are given by the Heracleotæ at Miletus and by the
people of Elis, but the latter show the sepulchre of Endymion, while
the former say that he retired to Mount Latmus, where is his shrine.
And Epeus married Anaxiroe, the daughter of Coronus, by whom he had a
daughter Hyrmina, but no male offspring. And these were the events of
his reign. Œnomaus the son of Alxion, (or the son of Ares, as poets
have sung, which is the prevalent tradition), being ruler of the
country called Pisæa, was deposed from his rule by Pelops the Lydian,
who had crossed over from Asia Minor. And after his death Pelops
occupied Pisæa and Olympia, slicing off from the territory of Epeus
what bordered upon Pisæa. And Pelops (so the people of Elis say) was
the first in the Peloponnese to build a temple to Hermes and sacrifice
to him, thus turning away the wrath of the god for the murder of
Myrtilus.
And Ætolus, the king after Epeus, had to flee from the Peloponnese,
because the sons of Apis indicted him for the involuntary murder of
their father. For Apis the son of Jason, a native of Pallantium in
Arcadia, was killed by Ætolus’ driving over him in his chariot at the
funeral games in memory of Azan. So Ætolus the son of Endymion fled to
the mainland, to the neighbourhood of the river Achelous, which was
called Ætolia after him. And the kingdom of the Epeans was reigned over
by Eleus, the son of Eurycyde, the daughter of Endymion and (if we may
believe the tradition) Poseidon. And the people in his dominions now
changed their names from Epeans to Eleans.
And Eleus had a son called Augeas. And those who want to exalt him
change his father’s name, and say that he was the son of Helius (_the
Sun-god_). The oxen and goats of this Augeas were so numerous that
most of the country could not be cultivated for their dung. Hercules
therefore, whether for a part of Elis or some other reward, was
persuaded by him to clear the country of this dung. And he effected
this by turning the river Menius on to it. But Augeas, because the
work had been effected by ingenuity rather than toil, refused to give
Hercules his reward, and turned out of doors the eldest of his sons
Phyleus, because he told him he was not acting with justice to a
benefactor. He also made several preparations to defend himself against
Hercules, should he come into Elis with an army, and entered into an
alliance with Amarynceus and the sons of Actor. Now Amarynceus had an
especial acquaintance with military matters, and his father Pyttius
was a Thessalian by extraction, and had come from thence to Elis. And
to Amarynceus Augeas gave a share of his power at Elis; and Actor and
his sons also, who were natives of Elis, shared in the administration
of the kingdom. The father of Actor was Phorbas the son of Lapithus,
and his mother was Hyrmina, the daughter of Epeus, and Actor built and
called after her the town of Hyrmina in Elis.
CHAPTER II.
Now in the campaign against Augeas Hercules had no opportunity to win
laurels, for as the sons of Actor were in their prime for daring and
vigour of youth, the allied forces of Hercules were constantly routed
by them, until the Corinthians announced a truce during the Isthmian
games, and the sons of Actor went to see the games, and Hercules lay
in ambush for them and slew them at Cleonæ. And the perpetrator of the
deed being unknown, Moline the mother of the lads took the greatest
pains to discover their murderer. And when she discovered who it was,
then the people of Elis claimed compensation for the murder from the
Argives, for Hercules dwelt in Argolis at Tiryns. And as the Argives
refused to give up Hercules, they next begged hard of the Corinthians,
that all Argolis should be scratched from the Isthmian games. But
being unsuccessful in this also, they say Moline put a curse upon
the citizens if they went to the Isthmian games. And these curses of
Moline are observed up to this day, and all the athletes at Elis make
a practice of never going to the Isthmian contest. And there are two
different traditions about this. One of them states that Cypselus the
tyrant at Corinth offered a golden statue to Zeus at Olympia, but,
Cypselus dying before his name was inscribed on the votive offering,
the Corinthians asked the people of Elis to allow them to inscribe
publicly the name of Corinth on the votive offering, and the people of
Elis refusing they were angry with them, and forbade them to contend at
the Isthmian games. But how would the Corinthians have been admitted at
the contests at Olympia, if they had excluded the people of Elis from
the Isthmian games? But the other tradition states that Prolaus, a man
of much repute among the people of Elis, and Lysippe his wife had two
sons Philanthus and Lampus, and they went to the Isthmian games, the
one intending to compete in the pancratium among the boys, the other
in wrestling, and before the games came on they were strangled or
killed in some way by their rivals: and that was why Lysippe imposed
her curses on the people of Elis, if they would not of their own accord
cease to attend the Isthmian games. This tradition too is easily shewn
to be a silly one. For Timon a native of Elis had victories in the
pentathlum in all the other Greek contests, and there is an effigy of
him at Olympia, and some elegiac verses which enumerate the various
crowns that he carried off as victor, and the reason why he did not
participate in the Isthmian contest. This is one couplet. “Our hero was
prevented coming to the land of Sisyphus by the strife that arose in
consequence of the sad fate of the sons of Molione.”
CHAPTER III.
Let this suffice on the matter. To resume, Hercules afterwards captured
and sacked Elis, having got together an army of Argives Thebans and
Arcadians: and the people of Elis were assisted by the men of Pylos
in Elis and by the men of Pisa. And the men of Pylos were punished by
Hercules, and he intended marching against Pisa, but was stopped by the
following oracle from Delphi,
“Dear to the Father is Pisa, Pytho has entrusted it to me.”
This oracle was the salvation of Pisa. And to Phyleus Hercules gave
up Elis and other places, not so much willingly as standing in awe of
Phyleus, to whom he also granted the captives and forgave Augeas. And
the women of Elis, as their land was stripped of young men through
the war, are said to have prayed to Athene that they might conceive
directly they married, and their prayer was granted, and they erected
a temple to Athene under the title of Mother. And both the women and
men being excessively delighted with their union called the place where
they first met Bady (_sweet_), and also gave the same name in their
national dialect to the river flowing there.
And when Phyleus, after setting things in order in Elis, returned to
Dulichium, Augeas died being already advanced in age, and was succeeded
in the kingdom of Elis by his son Agasthenes, and by Amphimachus, and
Thalpius. For the sons of Actor married two sisters, the daughters
of Dexamenus who was king at Olenus, and the one had by Theronice
Amphimachus, and the other Eurytus had by Theræphone Thalpius. Not that
Amarynceus or Diores his son remained all their lives in a private
capacity. As we know from Homer in his catalogue of the men of Elis,
all their fleet was 40 sail, and half of them were under Amphimachus
and Thalpius, and of the remaining half ten were under Diores the son
of Amarynceus, and ten under Polyxenus the son of Agasthenes. And
Polyxenus coming back safe from Troy had a son Amphimachus, (he gave
his son this name I fancy from his friendship to Amphimachus the son
of Cteatus who perished at Ilium), and he had a son Eleus, and it was
when Eleus was king at Elis that the Dorian host mustered under the
sons of Aristomachus with a view to return to the Peloponnese. This
oracle came to the kings, that they must make a man with three eyes
leader of the return. And as they were in great doubt what the oracle
could mean, a muleteer chanced to pass by, whose mule was blind of one
eye. And Cresphontes conjecturing that the oracle referred to this
man, the Dorians invited him to be their leader. And he urged them to
return to the Peloponnese in ships, and not force their way through the
isthmus with a land force. This was his advice, and at the same time he
piloted the fleet from Naupactus to Molycrium, and they in return for
his services agreed to give him at his request the kingdom of Elis. And
the man’s name was Oxylus, he was the son of Hæmon, the son of Thoas,
who in conjunction with the sons of Atreus had overturned the kingdom
of Priam; and between Thoas and Ætolus the son of Endymion there are
six generations. And the Heraclidæ were in other respects kinsmen to
the kings in Ætolia, besides the fact that the sisters of Thoas were
mothers by Hercules of Andræmon and Hyllus. And Oxylus had to flee from
Ætolia in consequence of an accident, in throwing a quoit (they say)
he missed his aim and unintentionally killed his brother Thermius, or
according to some accounts Alcidocus the son of Scopius.
CHAPTER IV.
There is also another tradition about Oxylus, that he suspected the
sons of Aristomachus of an unwillingness to give him the kingdom of
Elis, as it was fertile and well cultivated everywhere, and this was
why he led the Dorians through Arcadia and not through Elis. And when
Oxylus hastened to take the kingdom of Elis without contention Dius
would not permit him, but challenged him not to a contention with all
their forces, but to a single combat between two soldiers one from each
side. And both agreed to this. And the men selected for this single
combat were Degmenus a bowman of Elis, and Pyræchmes on the Ætolian
side a famous slinger. And as Pyræchmes was victorious Oxylus got
the kingdom, and he allowed the ancient Epeans to remain there, but
introduced Ætolians as colonists with them, and gave them also a share
in the land. And to Dius he gave various honours, and observed the
rights of all the heroes according to old precedents, and introduced
sacrificial offerings to Augeas which have continued to our day. It
is said that he also persuaded the men in the villages, who were at
no great distance from the walls, to come into the city, and thus
increased the population of Elis and made it more powerful in other
respects. And an oracle came to him from Delphi to associate with him
as colonist a descendant of Pelops, and he made diligent search, and
discovered Agorius the son of Damasius, the son of Penthilus, the son
of Orestes, and invited him from Helice in Achaia and with him a few
Achæans. And they say Oxylus had a wife called Pieria, but they record
nothing further about her. And the sons of Oxylus were they say Ætolus
and Laias. And Ætolus dying in his father’s lifetime, his parents
buried him and erected a sepulchre to him by the gate, which leads to
Olympia and the temple of Zeus. And they buried him there in accordance
with the oracle, which said that his dead body was to be neither in nor
out of the city. And annually still the master of the gymnasium offers
victims to Ætolus.
Oxylus was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Laias. I could not
find that his sons reigned, so I purposely pass them over, for it has
not been my desire in this narrative to descend to private personages.
But some time afterwards Iphitus, who was of the same family as Oxylus,
and a contemporary of Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian legislator, revived
the contest at Olympia, and renewed the public gathering there, and
established a truce as long as the games lasted. Why the meetings at
Olympia had been discontinued I shall narrate when I come to Olympia.
And as Greece at this time was nearly ruined by civil wars and by
the pestilence, Iphitus bethought him to ask of the god at Delphi a
remission from these ills. And they say he was ordered by the Pythian
Priestess to join the people of Elis in restoring the Olympian games.
Iphitus also persuaded the people of Elis to sacrifice to Hercules, for
before this they had an idea that Hercules was hostile to them. And the
inscription at Olympia says that Iphitus was the son of Hæmon, but most
of the Greeks say he was the son of Praxonides and not of Hæmon. But
the ancient records of the people of Elis trace him up to a father of
the same name as himself _viz._ Iphitus.
The people of Elis took part in the Trojan war, and also in the
battles against the Persians when they invaded Greece. And to pass over
their frequent disputes with the people of Pisa and the Arcadians in
respect to the re-establishment of the games at Olympia, they joined
the Lacedæmonians not without reluctance in invading Attica, and not
long after they fought against the Lacedæmonians, having formed an
alliance with the Mantineans the Argives and the Athenians. And on the
occasion of Agis making an incursion into Elis, when Xenias played the
traitor, the people of Elis were victorious at Olympia, and routed
the Lacedæmonians, and drove them from the precincts of the temple:
and some time afterwards the war came to an end on the conditions
which I have mentioned before in my account of the Lacedæmonians.
And when Philip, the son of Amyntas, could not keep his hands off
Greece, the people of Elis, worn out with intestine factions, joined
the Macedonians, but not to the point of fighting against the Greeks
at Chæronea. But they participated in the attack of Philip upon the
Lacedæmonians by reason of their ancient hatred to them. But after the
death of Alexander they joined the Greeks in fighting against Antipater
and the Macedonians.
CHAPTER V.
And in process of time Aristotimus, the son of Damaretus, the son of
Etymon, obtained the sovereignty at Elis, partly through the assistance
of Antigonus the son of Demetrius, who was king of the Macedonians. But
when he had reigned only six months, Chilon and Hellanicus and Lampis
and Cylon rose up against him and deposed him; and Cylon slew him with
his own hand when he had fled as suppliant to the altar of Zeus Soter.
These are the chief wars the people of Elis took part in, just to
glance at them briefly in the present portion of my work.
Among the wonders of Elis are the flax, which grows here alone and
in no other part of Greece, and also the fact that, though over the
borders mares bear foals to he-asses, it is never so in Elis. And this
phenomenon is they say the result of a curse. The flax in Elis in
respect of thinness is not inferior to the flax of the Hebrews, but is
not as yellow.
And as you go from the district of Elis there is a place by the sea
called Samicum, and beyond it on the right is the district called
Triphylia, and the city Lepreus in it. The people of Lepreus think they
belong properly to Arcadia, but it is manifest they were from time
immemorial subject to Elis. For the victors at Olympia that came from
Lepreus were pronounced by the herald men of Elis. And Aristophanes has
described Lepreus as a city in Elis. One way to Lepreus from Samicum is
by leaving the river Aniger on the left, and a second is from Olympia,
and a third from Elis, and the longest of them is only a day’s journey.
The city got its name they say from Lepreus the son of Pyrgeus its
founder. There is a tradition that Lepreus had an eating contest with
Hercules, each killed an ox at the same time and cooked it for dinner,
and (as he had betted) he was quite a match for Hercules in eating.
But he had the hardihood afterwards to challenge Hercules to a contest
in arms. And they say he was killed in that contest and buried at
Phigalia, however his sepulchre there is not shewn. And I have heard
some who claim that their city was founded by Leprea the daughter
of Pyrgeus. Others say that the inhabitants of this region were the
first lepers, and that the city got its name from this misfortune of
its inhabitants. And the people of Lepreus say that in their city
they once had a temple of Leucæan Zeus, and the tomb of Lycurgus the
son of Aleus, and also the tomb of Caucon. The last had they say as a
design over it a man with a lyre. But in my time there is no remarkable
tomb there, nor any temple of the gods except one of Demeter: built
of unbaked brick, and containing no statue. And not far from the
city Lepreus is a spring called Arene: it got this name according to
tradition from the wife of Aphareus.
And as you return to Samicum, and go through it, the river Aniger
has its outlet to the sea. The flow of this river is often impeded by
violent winds: for they blow the sand from the shore into it and dam
up the flow of the river. Whenever then this sand becomes soaked with
water, (outside by the sea inside by the river), it becomes a very
dangerous place for carts and carriages and even for an active man to
ford. This river Aniger rises in the Arcadian mountain Lapithus, and
the water has an unpleasant smell from its source. Before receiving
its tributary the Acidas it is too fetid to have any fish whatever,
and after its confluence with the Acidas, though it has fish that
come into its waters from that tributary, they are no longer eatable,
which they are when caught in the Acidas. That the ancient name of the
river Acidas was Iardanus I should not myself have conjectured, but
I was so informed by an Ephesian. The unpleasant smell of the Aniger
comes I believe from the soil through which the river flows, as is
certainly the case with those rivers beyond Ionia, whose exhalations
are deadly to man. Some of the Greeks say that Chiron, others that
Pylenor the Centaur, was wounded by Hercules, and fled and washed his
sore in this river, and that it was from the Hydra’s poison (_in which
Hercules’ arrow had been dipped_) that the Aniger got its unpleasant
smell. Others refer this condition of the river to Melampus the son of
Amythaon, and to the fact that the purifications of the daughters of
Prœtus were thrown into it.
There is at Samicum a cave, not far from the river, called the cave
of the Nymphs of the Aniger. Whoever goes into it suffering from either
black or white leprosy, must first of all pray to these Nymphs and
promise sacrifice to them, and afterwards wipe clean the diseased parts
of his body. If he next swims across the river he leaves in the water
his foul disease, and comes out of the river sound and with his skin
uniformly clear.
CHAPTER VI.
On the high road, after crossing the Aniger in the direction of
Olympia, there is at no great distance on the right an eminence,
and on it a town called Samia above Samicum. This town[67] they say
was made into a sort of offensive fortress against the Arcadians by
Polysperchon, an Ætolian.
As to the ruins of Arene, none either of the Messenians or people of
Elis could give me a clear account. As their explanations are different
those who like to conjecture are at liberty to do so. The most
credible account seems to me that of those who think that the ancient
name of Samicum earlier than the time of the heroes was Arene. And
these quote the lines in the Iliad.
“There is a river Minyeïus,
That flows into the sea near to Arene.”
Iliad, xi 722, 723.
And these ruins of Arene are very near the Aniger. One might have
doubted about Samicum having been called Arene, only the Arcadians
admit that the ancient name of the river Aniger was Minyeïus. And one
would feel sure that the river Neda near the sea was the boundary
between Elis and Messenia at the time of the return of the Heraclidæ to
the Peloponnese.
And leaving the Aniger, and passing through a district generally
sandy and full of wild pine-trees, somewhat back to the left you will
see the ruins of Scillus. Scillus was one of the towns of Triphylia:
and in the war between the people of Elis and Pisa the people of
Scillus openly allied themselves to the people of Pisa, and in return
the men of Elis dispossessed them from Scillus. But the Lacedæmonians
afterwards sliced Scillus from Elis, and gave it to Xenophon (the son
of Gryllus), who was at that time exiled from Athens. He was banished
by the Athenians for joining Cyrus (who hated their democracy) against
the king of the Persians (who was their friend): for when Cyrus was at
Sardis he gave Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, and the Lacedæmonians
some money for their fleet. This is why Xenophon was banished, and he
lived at Scillus and built a temple and grove to Ephesian Artemis. And
Scillus affords good hunting of wild animals, as wild boars and deer.
And the river Selinus flows through the district. And the antiquarians
of Elis say that the people of Elis recovered Scillus, and that
Xenophon was tried in the Olympian council for receiving Scillus from
the Lacedæmonians, but was acquitted and allowed to continue there scot
free. And at some little distance from the temple they show a tomb, and
there is an effigy on the tomb in Pentelican marble, which the people
of the place say is Xenophon.
On the road to Olympia from Scillus, before crossing the Alpheus,
is a mountain lofty and precipitous which is called Typæum. From this
mountain it is the custom to hurl all women of Elis who are detected as
competitors in the Olympian contests, or who merely cross the Alpheus
on forbidden days. Not that any one ever yet was so detected except
Callipatira, whose name according to some traditions was Pherenice. She
after the death of her husband dressed herself up like an athlete, and
brought her son as a combatant to Olympia. And Pisirodus her son having
been victorious, Callipatira in leaping over the fence which parted
the athletes from the spectators, exposed her person, and though her
sex was detected they let her go without punishment out of respect to
her father and brothers and son, who had all been victors at Olympia,
but they passed a law that henceforth all athletes should come to the
contests naked.
CHAPTER VII.
And when you have got to Olympia immediately you see the river Alpheus,
a full and very pleasant river, and no less than seven notable rivers
are tributaries to it. For through Megalopolis the Helisson flows
into it, and the Brentheates from the district of Megalopolis, and
the Gortynius near Gortyna where is a temple of Æsculapius, and from
Melæneæ between the districts of Megalopolis and Heræa the Buphagus,
and the Ladon from the district of the Clitorians, and the river
Erymanthus from the mountain of the same name. All these flow into the
Alpheus from Arcadia, and the Cladeus from Elis also contributes its
stream. And the source of the Alpheus is in Arcadia and not in Elis.
And there are several traditions about the Alpheus, as that he was a
hunter and enamoured of Arethusa, and that she hunted with him. And as
Arethusa was unwilling to marry him, she crossed over they say to an
island near Syracuse, called Ortygia, and there became a spring: just
as Alpheus in consequence of his love was changed into a river. This
is the tradition about the Alpheus and the Ortygia. As to the river
going under the sea and coming up in another place, there is no reason
why I should discredit that, as I know that the god at Delphi admitted
it, seeing that when he sent Archias the Corinthian to establish a
colony at Syracuse, these were some of the words he used, “Ortygia
lies in the cloudy sea above Trinacria, where the mouth of the Alpheus
mixes and flows with the springs of the broad Arethusa.” From this
circumstance of their union, and not any love passages, I imagine the
traditions about the two rivers originated. And all the Greeks or
Egyptians, that have penetrated into Ethiopia beyond Syene, and as far
as the Ethiopian city of Meroe, say that the Nile enters into a marsh,
and flows through it as if it were earth, and eventually through lower
Ethiopia into Egypt to Pharos, where it has its outlet at the sea. And
in the land of the Hebrews I know that the river Jordan flows through
the lake of Tiberias, and into what is called the Dead Sea, by which
it is absorbed. The Dead Sea has properties unlike any other water:
living bodies can float in it without swimming, whereas dead bodies go
to the bottom. And it has no fish, for from their evident danger they
take refuge in water more congenial to them. And there is a river in
Ionia similar to the Alpheus, its source is in the mountain Mycale, and
it flows under the sea, and comes up again at Branchidæ at the harbour
called Panormus. All this is correctly stated.
In regard to the Olympian Games those who are in possession of the
most ancient archives of the people of Elis say that Cronos was the
first king of Heaven, and that he had a temple built to him at Olympia
by the mortals who then lived, who were called the golden age: and
that, when Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the charge of the boy to the
Idæan Dactyli, who were otherwise called the Curetes: who afterwards
came to Elis from Ida in Crete, and their names were Hercules, and
Epimedes, and Pæonæus, and Iasius, and Idas. And Hercules the eldest
of them challenged his brothers in play to run a race together, and
they would crown the victor with a branch of the wild olive: and there
was such abundance of wild olive trees that they strewed under them
the leaves while they were still green as beds to sleep on. And they
say that the wild olive was introduced to the Greeks by Hercules from
the country of the Hyperboreans, who dwelt north of the wind Boreas.
Olen the Lycian first mentioned in a hymn to Achæia, that she came to
Delos from these Hyperboreans, and when Melanopus of Cumæ composed an
ode to Opis and Hecaerges, he mentioned that they too came from the
Hyperboreans to Delos before Achæia. And Aristæus of Proconnesus, who
has also mentioned the Hyperboreans, may perhaps have heard more of
them from the Issedones, to whom in his poems he says they went. At
any rate to Idæan Hercules belongs the glory that he first instituted
and gave their name to the Olympian contests. He appointed them to be
held every fifth year because he and his brothers were five in number.
And some say that it was there that Zeus contended with Cronos about
the sovereignty of Heaven, others say he appointed these games after
his success over Cronos. Other gods are said to have been victorious,
as Apollo who outran Hermes, who challenged him to the contest,
and outboxed Ares. And this is the reason they say why the Pythian
flute-playing was introduced in the leaping contest at the pentathlum,
because the flute was sacred to Apollo, and Apollo was on several
occasions the victor at Olympia.
CHAPTER VIII.
And after this they say Clymenus the son of Cardys, (in the 50th year
after Deucalion’s flood), a descendant of Idæan Hercules, came from
Crete and established games at Olympia, and erected an altar to his
ancestor Hercules and to the other Curetes, giving Hercules the title
of Assistant. But Endymion the son of Aethlius deposed Clymenus from
the kingdom, and gave it to his sons as a prize for the best runner
of them at Olympia. And a generation after Endymion, Pelops made the
contest to Olympian Zeus more famous than any of his predecessors.
And when the sons of Pelops were scattered from Elis all over the
Peloponnese, Amythaon the son of Cretheus, uncle of Endymion on the
father’s side, (for they say Aethlius was the son of Æolus surnamed
Zeus), appointed games at Olympia, and after him Pelias and Neleus in
common. So also did Augeas and Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, after
the capture of Elis. And all that he crowned as victors were Iolaus,
who had borrowed the mares of Hercules for the race. It was an old
custom to be a competitor with borrowed horses. Homer at least in the
funeral games in honour of Patroclus has represented Menelaus as yoking
together Agamemnon’s horse Æthe with one of his own.[68] Iolaus was
also Hercules’ charioteer. He was the victor in the chariot race, and
Iasius an Arcadian in the riding race, and Castor was successful in
running, Pollux in boxing. It is also recorded of Hercules that he was
victorious in wrestling and in the pancratium.
And after the reign of Oxylus, who also established games, the
Olympian games were suspended till Iphitus. And when he renewed the
games as I have before stated, there was a general forgetfulness about
the ancient games, but in a short while they got remembered again,
and whenever they remembered any little feature of the games, they
added it to the programme. And this proves my statement. From the
time that the Olympian games were revived continuously, prizes were
first instituted for running, and Corœbus of Elis was the victor. His
statue is at Olympia, and his grave is on the borders of Elis. And
in the 14th Olympiad afterwards the double course was introduced:
when Hypenus a native of Pisa won the wild olive crown, and Acanthus
was second. And in the 18th Olympiad they remembered the pentathlum
and the wrestling, in the former Lampis was victor, in the latter
Eurybatus, both Lacedæmonians. And in the 23rd Olympiad they ordained
prizes for boxing, and Onomastus was victor from Smyrna (which was at
that day reckoned as Ionia). And in the 25th Olympiad they had a race
of full-grown horses, and the Theban Pagondas was proclaimed victor
in this race. And in the eighth Olympiad later they introduced the
pancratium and the riding race. The horse of Crannonian Crauxidas
got in first, and the competitors for the pancratium were beaten by
the Syracusan Lygdamis, who has his sepulchre at the stonequarries
of Syracuse. And I don’t know whether Lygdamis was really as big
as the Theban Hercules, but that is the tradition at Syracuse. And
the contest of the boys was not a revival of ancient usage, but the
people of Elis instituted it because the idea pleased them. So prizes
were instituted for running and wrestling among boys in the 307th
Olympiad, and Hipposthenes the Lacedæmonian won the wrestling prize,
and Polynices from Elis the running prize. And in the 41st Olympiad
afterwards they invited boxing boys, and the one who won the prize
from all the competitors was Philetas from Sybaris. And the race in
heavy armour was tried in the 65th Olympiad, as an exercise for war I
think: and of those who ran with their shields Damaretus of Heræum was
the victor. And the race of two full-grown horses called a pair was
established in the 93rd Olympiad, and Evagoras of Elis was the victor.
And in the 99th Olympiad they had a fancy to contend with chariots
drawn by colts, and the Lacedæmonian Sybariades had the prize for this
contest. And they afterwards established races of a pair of colts and
for riding a colt, and the victor in the former was Belistiche, a woman
who lived in Macedonia near the sea, and in the latter Tlepolemus the
Lycian in the 131st Olympiad, Belistiche’s victory was in the 3rd
Olympiad before. And in the 145th Olympiad prizes were instituted for a
pancratium-contest for boys, and Phædimus an Æolian from the Troad was
victor.
CHAPTER IX.
And some of the contests at Olympia were put an end to, the people
of Elis having resolved to discontinue them. For the pentathlum for
boys was established in the 38th Olympiad, but when the Lacedæmonian
Eutelidas had won the crown of wild olive, the people of Elis did not
care that their lads should train for the pentathlum. So it dropped.
And the chariot race and the trotting race, the former established
in the 70th Olympiad and the latter in the 71st Olympiad, were both
stopped by proclamation in the 84th Olympiad. When they were first
instituted Thersius the Thessalian won the prize in the former, and
Patæcus an Achæan from Dyme in the latter. In the trotting race the
riders used to jump off towards the end of the course and run with
the horses still holding the reins, as what are called professional
riders do to this day, only the latter employ stallions and have their
own colours. But the chariot race is not an ancient invention nor a
graceful exhibition, and the people of Elis (who have always disliked
the horse) yoke two mules together instead of horses.
The order of the games in our day is to sacrifice victims to the god,
and then to contend in the pentathlum and horse-race, according to the
programme established in the 77th Olympiad, for before this horses and
men contended on the same day. And at that period the pancratiasts did
not appear till night for they could not compete sooner, so much time
being taken up by the horse-races and pentathlum. And the Athenian
Callias was the victor of the pancratiasts. But for the future they
took care that neither the pentathlum nor horse-races should stand in
the way of the pancratium. And as regards the umpires of the games, the
original rules and those in vogue in our day are quite different, for
Iphitus was the only umpire, and after Iphitus the posterity of Oxylus,
but in the 50th Olympiad two men picked by lot out of all Elis were
entrusted with the stewardship of the contests, and this practice of
two umpires continued for a very long time. But in the 25th Olympiad
afterwards 9 general Umpires were appointed: three for the horse-race,
three to watch the pentathlum, and three to preside over the remaining
games. And in the 2nd Olympiad after this a tenth Umpire was appointed.
And in the 103rd Olympiad, as the people of Elis had 12 tribes, a
general Umpire was appointed by each. And when they were hard pressed
by the Arcadians in war, they lost a portion of their territory and all
the villages in this portion, and so they were only 8 tribes in number
in the 104th Olympiad, and had only 8 general Umpires accordingly.
And in the 108th Olympiad they returned to the number of 10 general
Umpires, and that has continued the number to our day.
CHAPTER X.
Many various wonders may one see, or hear of, in Greece: but the
Eleusinian mysteries and Olympian games seem to exhibit more than
anything else the divine purpose. And the sacred grove of Zeus they
have from old time called Altis, slightly changing the Greek word for
grove[69]: it is indeed called Altis also by Pindar, in the Ode he
composed for a victor at Olympia. And the temple and statue of Zeus
were built out of the spoils of Pisa, which the people of Elis razed
to the ground, after quelling the revolt of Pisa and some of the
neighbouring towns that revolted with Pisa. And that the statue of Zeus
was the work of Phidias is shown by the inscription written at the base
of it,
“Phidias the Athenian, the son of Charmides, made me.”
The temple is a Doric building, and outside it is a colonnade. And
the temple is built of stone of the district. Its height up to the
gable is 68 feet, its breadth 95 feet, and its length 230 feet. And its
architect was Libon a native of Elis. And the tiles on the roof are
not of baked earth, but Pentelican marble to imitate tiles. They say
such roofs are the invention of a man of Naxos called Byzes, who made
statues at Naxos with the inscription,
“Euergus of Naxos made me, the son of Byzes, and descended from Leto,
the first who made tiles of stone.”
This Byzes was a contemporary of Alyattes the Lydian and Astyages
(the son of Cyaxaras) the king of Persia. And there is a golden vase at
each end of the roof, and a golden Victory in the middle of the gable.
And underneath the Victory is a golden shield hung up as a votive
offering, with the Gorgon Medusa worked on it. The inscription on the
shield states who hung it up, and the reason why they did so. For this
is what it says.
“This temple’s golden shield is a votive offering from the
Lacedæmonians at Tanagra and their allies, a gift from the Argives the
Athenians and the Ionians, a tithe offering for success in war.”
The battle I mentioned in my account of Attica, when I described the
tombs at Athens. And in the same temple at Olympia, above the zone
that runs round the pillars on the outside, are 21 golden shields, the
offering of Mummius the Roman General, after he had beaten the Achæans
and taken Corinth, and expelled the Dorians from Corinth. And on the
gables in bas relief is the chariot race between Pelops and Œnomaus,
and both chariots in motion. And in the middle of the gable is a statue
of Zeus, and on the right hand of Zeus is Œnomaus with a helmet on his
head, and beside him his wife Sterope, one of the daughters of Atlas.
And Myrtilus, who was the charioteer of Œnomaus, is seated behind the
four horses. And next to him are two men whose names are not recorded,
but they are doubtless Œnomaus’ grooms, whose duty was to take care of
the horses. And at the end of the gable is a delineation of the river
Cladeus, next to the Alpheus held most in honour of all the rivers of
Elis. And on the left of the statue of Zeus are Pelops and Hippodamia
and the charioteer of Pelops and the horses, and two men who were
Pelops’ grooms. And where the gable tapers fine there is the Alpheus
delineated. And Pelop’s charioteer was according to the tradition of
the Trœzenians Sphærus, but the custodian at Olympia said that his name
was Cilla. The carvings on the gables in front are by Pæonius of Mende
in Thracia, those behind by Alcamenes, a contemporary of Phidias and
second only to him as statuary. And on the gables is a representation
of the fight between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs at the marriage
of Pirithous. Pirithous is in the centre, and on one side of him is
Eurytion trying to carry off Pirithous’ wife and Cæneus coming to the
rescue, and on the other side Theseus laying about among the Centaurs
with his battle-axe: and one Centaur is carrying off a maiden, another
a blooming boy. Alcamenes has engraved this story, I imagine, because
he learnt from the lines of Homer that Pirithous was the son of Zeus,
and knew that Theseus was fourth in descent from Pelops. There are
also in bas relief at Olympia most of the Labours of Hercules. Above
the doors of the temple is the hunting of the Erymanthian boar, and
Hercules taking the mares of Diomede the Thracian, and robbing the oxen
of Geryon in the island of Erythea, and supporting the load of Atlas,
and clearing the land of Elis of its dung. And above the chamber behind
the doors he is robbing the Amazon of her belt, and there is the stag,
and the Cretan Minotaur, and the Stymphalian birds, and the hydra, and
the Nemean lion. And as you enter the brazen doors on the right in
front of the pillar is Iphitus being crowned by his wife Ecechiria,
as the inscription in verse states. And there are pillars inside the
temple, and porticoes above, and an approach by them to the image of
Zeus. There is also a winding staircase to the roof.
CHAPTER XI.
The image of the god is in gold and ivory, seated on a throne. And a
crown is on his head imitating the foliage of the olive tree. In his
right hand he holds a Victory in ivory and gold, with a tiara and crown
on his head: and in his left hand a sceptre adorned with all manner of
precious stones, and the bird seated on the sceptre is an eagle. The
robes and sandals of the god are also of gold: and on his robes are
imitations of flowers, especially of lilies. And the throne is richly
adorned with gold and precious stones, and with ebony and ivory. And
there are imitations of animals painted on it, and models worked on it.
There are four Victories like dancers one at each foot of the throne,
and two also at the instep of each foot: and at each of the front feet
are Theban boys carried off by Sphinxes, and below the Sphinxes Apollo
and Artemis shooting down the children of Niobe. And between the feet
of the throne are four divisions formed by straight lines drawn from
each of the four feet. In the division nearest the entrance there are
seven models, the eighth has vanished no one knows where or how. And
they are imitations of ancient contests, for in the days of Phidias the
contests for boys were not yet established. And the figure with its
head muffled up in a scarf is they say Pantarces, who was a native
of Elis and the darling of Phidias. This Pantarces won the wrestling
prize for boys in the 86th Olympiad. And in the remaining divisions is
the band of Hercules fighting against the Amazons. The number on each
side is 29, and Theseus is on the side of Hercules. And the throne is
supported not only by the four feet, but also by 4 pillars between
the feet. But one cannot get under the throne, as one can at Amyclæ,
and pass inside, for at Olympia there are panels like walls that keep
one off. Of these panels the one opposite the doors of the temple is
painted sky blue only, but the others contain paintings by Panænus.
Among them is Atlas bearing up Earth and Heaven, and Hercules standing
by willing to relieve him of his load, and Theseus and Pirithous, and
Greece, and Salamis with the figurehead of a ship in her hand, and
the contest of Hercules with the Nemean lion, and Ajax’s unknightly
violation of Cassandra, and Hippodamia the daughter of Œnomaus with her
mother, and Prometheus still chained to the rock and Hercules gazing
at him. For the tradition is that Hercules slew the eagle that was
ever tormenting Prometheus on Mount Caucasus, and released Prometheus
from his chains. The last paintings are Penthesilea dying and Achilles
supporting her, and two Hesperides carrying the apples of which they
are fabled to have been the keepers. This Panænus was the brother of
Phidias, and at Athens in the Painted Stoa he has painted the action
at Marathon. At the top of the throne Phidias has represented above
the head of Zeus the three Graces and three Seasons. For these too, as
we learn from the poets, were daughters of Zeus. Homer in the Iliad
has represented the Seasons as having the care of Heaven, as a kind
of guards of a royal palace.[70] And the base under the feet of Zeus,
(what is called in Attic θρανίον), has golden lions engraved on it, and
the battle between Theseus and the Amazons, the first famous exploit
of the Athenians beyond their own borders. And on the platform that
supports the throne there are various ornaments round Zeus and gilt
carving, the Sun seated in his chariot, and Zeus and Hera, and near
is Grace. Hermes is close to her, and Vesta close to Hermes. And
next to Vesta is Eros receiving Aphrodite just rising from the sea,
who is being crowned by Persuasion. And Apollo and Artemis Athene and
Hercules are standing by, and at the end of the platform Amphitrite and
Poseidon, and Selene apparently urging on her horse. And some say it is
a mule and not a horse that the goddess is riding upon, and there is a
silly tale about this mule.
I know that the size of the Olympian Zeus both in height and breadth
has been stated, but I cannot bestow praise on the measurers, for their
recorded measurement comes far short of what anyone would infer looking
at the statue. They make the god also to have testified to the art of
Phidias. For they say when the statue was finished, Phidias prayed him
to signify if the work was to his mind, and immediately Zeus struck
with lightning that part of the pavement, where in our day there is a
brazen urn with a lid.
And all the pavement in front of the statue is not of white but
of black stone. And a border of Parian marble runs round this black
stone, as a preservative against spilled oil. For oil is good for
the statue at Olympia, as it prevents the ivory being harmed by the
dampness of the grove. But in the Acropolis at Athens, in regard to
the statue of Athene called the Maiden, it is not oil but water that
is advantageously employed to the ivory: for as the citadel is dry by
reason of its great height, the statue being made of ivory needs to be
sprinkled with water freely. And when I was at Epidaurus, and enquired
why they use neither water nor oil to the statue of Æsculapius, the
sacristans of the temple informed me that the statue of the god and its
throne are over a well.
CHAPTER XII.
Those who think that the parts of the elephant that project from the
mouth are teeth and not horns, should consider the case of Celtic elks
and Ethiopian bulls. For male elks have horns on their foreheads,
but the female elk has none whatever. And Ethiopian bulls have horns
growing in their nostrils. Who would therefore think it very wonderful
after these examples that a beast should have horns growing out of its
mouth? One may also get further light from the following particulars.
Horns in animals take a certain definite period to grow and grow more
than once: and this is the case with stags and antelopes as well as
elephants. But no animal after full growth has second sets of teeth.
If they are teeth therefore and not horns that project from elephants’
mouths, how could they grow a second time? Moreover teeth are not acted
upon by fire, but horns both of oxen and elephants can by the action of
fire be made straight from round, and can in fact be turned into any
shape. [But in hippopotamuses and boars the lower jaw has projecting
teeth: and we do not see horns growing out of their jaws.] Let anybody
be certain therefore that they are horns in the elephant that project
and grow out from the temples. I don’t make this assertion as mere
hearsay, for I have seen the skull of an elephant in the temple of
Artemis in Campania. The temple I refer to is about 30 stades from
Capua, which is the chief town of Campania. And the elephant is not
only different from other animals in the growth of its horns, but also
in its size and appearance. And the Greeks seem to me to have shewn
great munificence and an absence of parsimoniousness in respect to
their worship of the gods, seeing that they procured ivory both from
India and Ethiopia for their statues.
At Olympia also in the temple of Zeus is a woollen veil, adorned
with Assyrian tapestry and dyed with the Phœnician purple, the votive
offering of Antiochus, who also gave to the theatre at Athens a golden
ægis with the Gorgon’s head on it. This veil is not drawn up to the
roof as in the temple of Ephesian Artemis, but let down to the
pavement by ropes. And among the votive offerings in the temple or
ante-chapel is the throne of Arimnestus king of the Tyrrhenians, (who
was the first foreigner that offered a votive offering to Olympian
Zeus,) and the horses of Cynisca in brass, the memorials of her victory
at Olympia. These horses are rather smaller than life, and are on the
right as you enter the ante-chapel. And there is a tripod covered with
brass, on which before the table was made the crowns for the victors
were laid. And of the statues of the Emperors, Adrian’s in Parian
marble was a gift of all the cities that joined the Achæan league, and
Trajan’s a gift of all the Greeks. This last Emperor added the Getæ
beyond Thrace to the Roman Empire, and waged war against Osroes (the
descendant of Arsaces) and the Parthians. The most famous of all his
works are the Baths which are known as Trajan’s Baths, and a large
theatre perfectly round, and a building for horse-races two stades in
length, and the forum at Rome well worth seeing for various beauties
and especially its brazen roof. And there are two statues in the round
parts of the building, one of the Emperor Augustus in amber, the other
in ivory is said to be Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia: from whom the
largest town in Bithynia, that had been previously called Astacus, got
called Nicomedia. It was originally founded by Zypœtes, a Thracian
as one would infer from his name. And the amber of which they made
Augustus’ statue, the native amber which is found in the sands of the
Eridanus, is most rare and precious to man for many purposes. But the
other kind of amber is gold mixed with silver. And in the temple at
Olympia there are several of Nero’s votive offerings, 3 are crowns to
imitate the wild olive, the fourth is an imitation of oak. And there
are 25 brazen shields to be worn by the competitors in the race in
armour. And there are several pillars, and among them one which has the
covenant of the people of Elis and the Athenians Argives and Mantineans
for an alliance for 100 years.
CHAPTER XIII.
And within Altis there is a separate grove to Pelops: who of the heroes
at Olympia is as much held in the highest honour as Zeus is among the
gods. This grove is on the right of the temple of Zeus towards the
North, just at such a distance from the temple as to admit of statues
and votive offerings between, and it extends from the middle of the
temple to the back, and is surrounded by a stone wall, and has trees
planted in it, and statues. And the entrance to it is from the west.
And it is said to have been dedicated to Pelops by Hercules the son of
Amphitryon, who was fourth in descent from Pelops. And he is said to
have sacrificed in the trench to Pelops. And the magistrates for the
year sacrifice to him even now a black ram. The seer has no portion
of this sacrifice, the neck of the ram only is usually given to the
person called the wood-cutter. He is one of the temple servants, and
his function is to furnish wood for the sacrifices at a fixed price,
both to cities and to any private individual. And the wood is always
of the white poplar tree. And whatever stranger or native of Elis eats
the flesh of the victim sacrificed to Pelops may not enter the temple
of Zeus. Those who sacrifice to Telephus at Pergamum north of the river
Caicus are in a similar predicament: they may not enter the temple of
Æsculapius till they have had a bath. And the following tradition is
still told about Pelops. During the protracted siege of Ilium the seers
are said to have prophesied that they would never capture the town
till they procured the bows of Hercules and a bone of Pelops. So they
sent it is said for Philoctetes to the camp, and the shoulder-blade of
Pelops was brought from Pisa. And on the return home of the Greeks,
the ship that had the shoulder-blade of Pelops was wrecked near Eubœa.
And many years after the capture of Ilium Damarmenus, a fisherman
of Eretria, cast his net into the sea and fished up this bone, and
marvelling at the size of it hid it in the sand. And eventually he went
to Delphi, desiring to know who the bone belonged to, and what he
should do with it. And it chanced providentially that some persons of
Elis, seeking a cure for the pestilence, were at Delphi at this period.
And the Pythian Priestess told them to preserve the bones of Pelops,
and told Damarmenus to give what he had found to the people of Elis.
And when he had done so the people of Elis gave him several presents,
and made Damarmenus and his descendants custodians of this bone. But
this shoulder-blade of Pelops has not survived to our day, because in
my opinion it was buried too deep, partly also from time and the action
of the sea. And there are still traces even to our day of Pelops and
Tantalus having brought colonies to Greece, as the marsh called after
Tantalus, and his well-known grave. And the throne of Pelops is at
Sipylus on the top of the mountain above the temple of the Placianian
mother, and after you have crossed the river Hermus there is a statue
of Aphrodite at Temnus still in existence made of myrtle: and the
tradition is that it was a votive offering of Pelops to propitiate the
goddess, before begging her help towards marrying Hippodamia.
And the altar of Olympian Zeus is about equidistant from the grove
of Pelops and the temple of Hera, and is situated in front of both.
Some say it was erected by Idæan Hercules, others say by some heroes
of the district two generations after him. It was they say made of
the _débris_ of the thigh bones of the victims sacrificed to Zeus,
as the altar at Pergamum. The Samian Hera has also an altar made of
similar material, an altar not a whit more handsome than those which
in Attica they call extemporary altars. And the first base of the
altar of Olympia, called the pro-altar, has a circumference of 125
feet, and above the pro-altar is a circumference of 32 feet. And the
whole height of the altar is 22 feet. It is customary to sacrifice the
victims at the lower part, at the pro-altar: but the thigh-bones they
bring to the highest part of the altar and burn them there. And stone
steps lead up to the pro-altar on both sides, but up to the high altar
there are merely steps of _débris_. Maidens may ascend as far as the
pro-altar, and likewise women at the seasons when they are allowed to
be at Olympia, but men alone may ascend to the high altar. And private
individuals, and the people of Elis daily, offer sacrifices to Zeus
besides at the general Festival. And annually the seers observe the
19th day of the month Elaphius by carrying the _débris_ from the Town
Hall, and kneading it with the water of the River Alpheus, and thus
construct their altar. No other water is ever used for this purpose,
and that is why the Alpheus is considered more friendly to Olympian
Zeus than any other river. There is also at Didymi (a town of the
Milesians) an altar made by Hercules the Theban of victims’ blood. So
at least the Milesians say. But the blood of the victims has never
raised it to any great height even in these latter days.
CHAPTER XIV.
But the altar at Olympia has another wonder. Kites, which are by nature
especially birds of prey, never harm the sacrifices at Olympia. And if
on any chance occasion a kite touch the entrails or flesh of a victim,
it is not considered a good omen for the sacrificer. And they say when
Hercules, the son of Alcmena, was sacrificing at Olympia there was a
great plague of flies: when, either of his own idea or at another’s
suggestion, he sacrificed to Zeus the Averter of flies, and so they
were driven to the other side of the Alpheus. On similar grounds the
natives of Elis are said to sacrifice to Zeus the Averter of flies,
because he drove them from Olympia.
The wood of the white poplar tree is the only wood that the people of
Elis employ in the sacrifices of Zeus, giving that tree this especial
honour, I imagine, because Hercules introduced it from Thesprotia into
Greece. And I think there can be little doubt that Hercules himself,
when he sacrificed to Zeus at Olympia, burnt the thighs of the victims
on white poplar wood. Hercules found this tree growing near the Acheron
a river in Thesprotia, and that is why they say it is called Acherois
by Homer.[71] In all ages rivers have been celebrated for the growth
of various grasses and trees on their banks. Thus the Mæander is most
famous for tamarisks, and the Asopus in Bœotia for immense reeds, and
the Persea is found only on the banks of the Nile. Thus there is no
wonder that by the Acheron first grew the white poplar, and that the
wild olive grows near the Alpheus, and that the black poplar grows on
Celtic soil by the river Eridanus.
Let us now, as we have made mention of the greatest altar, enumerate
all the altars at Olympia. I will take them in the order the people
of Elis are accustomed to sacrifice at them. They first sacrifice
to Vesta, and next to Olympian Zeus in the altar inside the temple,
thirdly to Hermes, fourthly to Artemis, fifthly to Athene the Goddess
of Booty, sixthly to Athene Ergane. To this Athene the descendants of
Phidias, (called the cleansers because they received from the people of
Elis the honour of cleansing the statue of Zeus from anything clinging
to it), sacrifice before they commence polishing up the statue. And
there is also another altar of Athene near the temple, and near it a
square altar of Artemis tapering up gradually at the top. And next to
those we have mentioned they sacrifice to Alpheus and Artemis at one
altar: the reason for this I learnt from one of Pindar’s Odes, and I
have recorded it in my account of the Letrinæans.[72] And at no great
distance from this is another altar to Alpheus, and near it an altar to
Hephæstus, which some of the people of Elis say is the altar of Martial
Zeus, at which Œnomaus sacrificed when he proposed the horse-race for
the suitors of his daughter Hippodamia. Next is an altar of Hercules
under the title of Aider, and altars to Hercules’ brothers, Epimedes
and Idas and Pæonæus and Iasus. I know that the altar of Idas is called
the altar of Acesidas by some. And at the ruins of the house of Œnomaus
are two altars, one of Household Zeus, built apparently by Œnomaus, the
other built afterwards I think to Zeus of the Lightning, when lightning
had struck the house. With reference to the great altar, called the
altar of Olympian Zeus, I have already spoken a little above. And near
it is the altar to Unknown Gods, and next that of Zeus the Cleanser,
and Victory, and next that of Zeus Chthonius. There are also altars
of all the gods, and one of Olympian Hera also made of _débris_, the
votive offering they say of Clymenus. And next to it is a joint altar
to Apollo and Hermes, because the tradition in Elis is that Hermes was
the inventor of the lyre, and Apollo the inventor of the lute. And next
are altars of Harmony, and Athene, and the Mother of the Gods. And
there are two altars very near the entrance to the race-course, one
they say of Hermes the Athlete, and the other of Opportunity. Ion the
Chian has I know written an Hymn to Opportunity, in which he traces
his genealogy, and makes him the youngest son of Zeus. And near the
treasure of the Sicyonians is an altar of Hercules, either one of the
Curetes, or the son of Alcmena, for both traditions are current. And
at what is called Gæum there is an altar to Earth, this too made of
_débris_: and they say there was an oracle of Earth earlier still. And
at the place called Stomium there is an altar to Themis. And before
the altar of Zeus, the god of thunder and lightning, is a fence on
all sides, and this altar too is not far from the great altar formed
of _débris_. Let my reader remember that I have not enumerated these
altars according to the position of their site, but taken them in a
rambling order, according to the order in which the people of Elis
sacrifice at them. And in the grove of Pelops there is a joint altar
to Dionysus and the Graces, and next one to the Muses, and one to the
Nymphs.
CHAPTER XV.
Outside Altis there is a building called the workshop of Phidias, who
used to work here at his statues, and there is an altar here to all the
gods in common. As you turn back again to Altis you see straight before
you the Hall of Leonidas. It is outside the temple precincts, and of
the various approaches to Altis is the only one used for processions.
It was built by Leonidas, a native of Elis, and now the Roman governors
of Elis make it their headquarters. It is separated by an alley from
the approach used for processions: the people of Elis call alleys what
the Athenians call bylanes. And there is in Altis to the left of the
Hall of Leonidas, an altar of Aphrodite, and an altar of the Seasons
next to it. And in the rear of the temple there is a wild olive tree
growing on the right: it is called the olive beautiful for its crowns,
and the victors at Olympia receive crowns of it. Near this wild olive
tree is a temple of the Nymphs, these too they call beautiful for
their crowns. And inside Altis there is an altar of Artemis of the
Market-Place, and on the right of the Hall of Leonidas is an altar to
the goddesses called Mistresses. Of the goddess whom they call Mistress
the portion of my work about Arcadia will give complete information.
And next is an altar of Zeus of the Market-Place, and, in front of what
is called the Seat of Honour, altars of Pythian Apollo, and Dionysus.
This last they say was erected by private people not so long ago. And
as you go to where the horses start is an altar, with the inscription
The Decider of Fate. This is plainly a title of Zeus who fore-knows
all human events, both what the Fates send, and others. And near this
is an oblong altar of the Fates, and next one of Hermes, and next
two of Zeus Supreme. And at the middle of the place where the horses
start are altars in the open air to Poseidon the Patron of Horses, and
Hera the Patroness of Horses, and near the pillar an altar of Castor
and Pollux. And at the entrance, near what is called the Rostrum, is
an altar of Ares the Patron of Horses, and an altar of Athene the
Patroness of Horses. And as you enter the Rostrum there are altars of
Good Fortune, and of Pan, and of Aphrodite. And in the interior of the
Rostrum the Nymphs called Acmenæ have an altar. And as you return from
the Portico which the people of Elis call Agnaptus’ from the name of
the Architect, there is on the right an altar of Artemis. And as you
enter Altis again by the road used for processions there are altars
behind the chapel of Hera of the river Cladeus and of Artemis, and next
to them one of Apollo, and a fourth of Artemis Coccoca, and a fifth
of Apollo Thermius. Thermius I conjecture at Elis will be the same
word as Thesmius (_Law-loving_) in Attic. But why Artemis was called
Coccoca I could not ascertain. There is a building in front of what
they call the Priest’s dwelling, and in the corner of it is an altar
of Pan. And the Town Hall of the people of Elis is within Altis, near
the outlet beyond the gymnasium, where the athletes have their races
and wrestling-matches. And in front of the doors of the Town Hall is
an altar of Artemis of the Market-Place. And in the Town Hall itself
as you pass into a room where there is a hearth, there is an altar of
Pan on the right of the entrance. And the hearth itself is made of
_débris_, and there is a fire on it burning continually day and night.
From this hearth as I have already stated they remove the _débris_ to
the altar of Olympian Zeus, and the height of that altar is largely due
to contributions from this hearth.
And once in every month the people of Elis sacrifice at the altars
which I have mentioned. And they sacrifice in a certain primitive
fashion; for they burn frankincense on the altars and cakes kneaded
with honey. And they decorate the altars with olive branches, and pour
out libations of wine. But they do not offer libations of wine to the
Nymphs, or the Mistresses, or at the joint altar of all the gods.
And the sacrifices are conducted by the priest, who has office for
one month, and by the seers, the libation-offerers, the Interpreter
of Antiquities, the flute-player, and the wood-cutter. But the words
that they use in the Town Hall, and the Hymns which they sing, I am
not allowed to introduce into my account. And they pour libations not
only to Greek gods, but to the god of Libya, and to Hera of Ammon,
and to Parammon (a title of Hermes). It is manifest also that from
time immemorial they have consulted the oracle at Libya, and there are
altars in the temple of Ammon, votive offerings of the people of Elis:
and there are inscribed on them the questions of the people of Elis,
and the answers returned by the god, and the names of those who went
to Ammon from Elis. All this is in the temple of Ammon. The people of
Elis also pour libations to heroes, and the wives of heroes, who are
honoured in Elis or Ætolia. And the Hymns sung in the Town Hall are in
the Doric dialect, but by whom composed they do not tell us. The people
of Elis also have a banqueting-hall, (inside the Town-Hall, opposite
the room where the hearth is,) where they entertain the victors at
Olympia.
CHAPTER XVI.
Next ought I to describe the temple of Hera, and all that is worth
narrating in it. The people of Elis have a tradition that the people
of Scillus in Triphylia built it about 8 years after Oxylus became
king at Elis. Its architecture is Doric, there are pillars all round
it, one pillar in a chamber at the back of the temple is of oak. And
the length of the temple is 63 feet. The architect’s name is not
recorded. And every fifth year 16 matrons weave a shawl for Hera, and
the same number preside over her games. And the contest is a race for
maidens of various ages: in the first race are the youngest, and next
those slightly older, and last of all the eldest. And they all run
with their hair down their back, a short tunic below the knee, and
their right shoulder bare to the breast. They use in this contest the
regular race-course at Olympia, but make it a sixth part of a stade
shorter. And the victors receive crowns of olive, and part of the
heifer sacrificed to Hera: and paintings of them are made for Hera. And
the 16 matrons who preside over the games have as many handmaids. They
trace this contest of the maidens back to ancient times, saying that
Hippodamia in gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops selected
16 matrons, and in concert with them inaugurated these games to Hera.
And they record that Chloris (with the exception of one brother the
only surviving child of Amphion) was the victor. And what I learnt
about the children of Niobe I have narrated in my account about Argos.
About these 16 matrons they have also the following tradition. They
say that Damophon, the tyrant at Pisa, did many grievous injuries to
the people of Elis, and on his death, as the people of Pisa had not
publicly sanctioned his ill deeds, the people of Elis were willing to
annul their charges against them, so 16 of the principal cities in Elis
at that day selected each one matron of age and merit and good name
to arbitrate on any claims. And the cities from which they selected
matrons were Elis and 15 others, and thus their differences with the
people of Pisa were arranged. And afterwards the same 16 were told off
to make all the arrangements about the Hera Festival, and to weave the
shawl for Hera. These 16 matrons also have two dances, one they call
Physcoa’s dance, and the other’s Hippodamia’s. Physcoa the tradition
goes was from hollow Elis, and lived in the parish they call Orthia,
and was mother by Dionysus of a boy called Narcæus, who, when he grew
up, warred with the neighbouring tribes and came to great power, and
built a temple of Athene Narcæa: and Dionysus was they say first
worshipped by Narcæus and Physcoa. Physcoa had other honours besides
the dance called after her name. The number of matrons is still kept up
by the people of Elis, but they are somewhat differently chosen. For
as they are divided into 8 tribes they select two matrons from each.
And the functions of these 16 matrons and the Umpires of Elis are never
commenced till after the sacrifice of a pig and lustration with water.
And the lustration takes place at the fountain Piera, which is situated
in the plain between Olympia and Elis. All these things are as I have
described them.
CHAPTER XVII.
And in Hera’s temple there is a statue of Zeus, and also one of Hera
seated on a throne, and standing by is a person with a beard and helmet
on his head. And the workmanship is very simple. And next them the
Æginetan Smilis has delineated the Seasons sitting on thrones. And near
them is a statue of Themis as the mother of the Seasons, the design
of Doryclidas, a Lacedæmonian by race, and the pupil of Dipœnus and
Scyllis. And there are five Hesperides by Theocles, a Lacedæmonian
also, the son of Hegylus, who is also said to have been a pupil of
Scyllis and Dipœnus. And Athene with a helmet and spear and shield is
they say by the Lacedæmonian Medon, who was the brother of Doryclidas,
and learnt his art also from Scyllis and Dipœnus. And Proserpine and
Demeter sit, Apollo and Artemis stand, opposite one another. And
there are statues also of Leto and Fortune and Dionysus, and a winged
Victory, who designed them I cannot tell, but they appear to me very
antique. What I have enumerated are in ivory and gold: but in later
times there were other statues placed in the temple of Hera, as a stone
Hermes carrying Dionysus as a babe, by Praxiteles; and Aphrodite in
brass, by Cleon of Sicyon, whose master was Antiphanes, of the school
of Periclytus the pupil of the Argive Polycletus. And before Aphrodite
there is a little golden boy seated, by the Carthaginian Boethus, which
was brought here from what is called Philip’s house, as well as some
statues in gold and ivory, as Eurydice the wife of Philip, and Olympias.
* * The chest is of cedar and has figures on it, some in ivory, some
in gold, some carved on the cedar. In this chest Cypselus, the tyrant
of Corinth, was hid by his mother at his birth, as the Bacchidæ were
eager to find him. On account of his safety his descendants, called
the Cypselidæ, made the chest a votive offering at Olympia, and the
Corinthians of that day called chests _cypselæ_: that is the origin of
the name Cypselus given to the boy, so they say. And on the chest there
are inscriptions in large letters in an old handwriting: some of this
writing is straight, other parts are written in what the Greeks call
ox-fashion. That is, when one line is finished the next begins where
that left off and runs backward, and so on like the double course on
the race ground. There are also inscriptions on the chest that are very
puzzling and difficult to make out. And if you begin to examine the
chest all over, beginning at the lower part, you will see first Œnomaus
pursuing Pelops and Hippodamia. Each of them have a pair of horses
but those of Pelops have wings. And next is the house of Amphiaraus,
and some old woman is carrying Amphilochus the baby, and in front of
the house is Eriphyle with a necklace, and near her her daughters
Eurydice and Demonassa, and the little boy Alcmæon naked. Asius in his
poems has also represented Alcmena as the daughter of Amphiaraus and
Eriphyle. And Baton, the charioteer of Amphiaraus, has the reins in one
hand and a lance in the other. And one of Amphiarus’ feet is in the
chariot, and his sword is drawn, and he is turned towards Eriphyle,
and in his rage can scarce refrain from rushing at her. And next to
Amphiaraus’ house are the games in memory of Pelias, and the spectators
are looking on the contests. There is Hercules sitting on a seat, and
his wife behind him, but her name is not given, she is piping with
Phrygian and not Greek pipes. And there are Pisus the son of Perieres
and Asterion the son of Cometes driving a pair of horses, the latter is
said to have sailed in the Argo, and Pollux and Admetus, and Euphemus
the son of Poseidon (according to the tale of the poets), and the
companion of Jason on his voyage to Colchi, he also was victorious
in the pair-horse-race. And there are Admetus and Mopsus, the son of
Ampyx, both famous boxers. And in the midst is a man playing on the
flute, as in our day they are still wont to do in the leaping contest
in the pentathlum. And Jason and Peleus are wrestling, they are very
evenly matched. And there is Eurybotas throwing his quoit, a man famous
as a quoit-player whoever he was. And there are Melanion and Neotheus
and Phalareus and Argeus and Iphiclus ready for the race: and Acastus
is holding out the crown to the victor, who was Iphiclus, the father
of Protesilaus who fought at Ilium. There are also some tripods as
prizes for the winners, and there are the daughters of Pelias, of whom
the name of Alcestis only is inscribed. Iolaus too, who voluntarily
shared in Hercules’ Labours, is there, just having come in first in the
chariot-race. And this is the last of the games in memory of Pelias.
And there is Athene standing by Hercules who is shooting the hydra,
the monster that infested the river Amymone. And because Hercules was
well-known, from his great size as well as the nature of the contest,
his name is not written underneath. And there is Phineus the Thracian,
and the sons of Boreas driving away the Harpies from him.
CHAPTER XVIII.
On the second side of the chest, on the left, to take them in their
order, is a woman supporting with her right hand a white child
sleeping, and with her left a black child like the sleeping child,
but with both its feet twisted. The inscriptions shew, what one would
have inferred without any inscriptions, that they are Death and Sleep
with their nurse Night. And there is a comely woman dragging along an
ugly one, with one hand holding her fast, and with the other beating
her with a rod, this is Justice punishing Injustice. And there are two
women pounding with pestles into mortars, apparently compounding drugs,
but there is no inscription in reference to them. But about the man and
woman following him there are two hexameter lines as follows, “Idas is
leading away from the temple by no means against her will Marpessa of
the beautiful ancles, whom Apollo snatched away for himself.”
And there is a man clad in a tunic, with a cup in his right hand and
in his left a necklace, and Alcmena is seizing them. According to the
Greek tradition, Zeus assumed the appearance of Amphitryon, and so
made Alcmena welcome him as her husband. And there is Menelaus with
a breastplate and sword pursuing Helen to kill her, plainly during
the sack of Ilium. And there is Jason on the right hand of Medea, who
is sitting on a throne, and Aphrodite is standing by her. And the
inscription relative to them is,
“Jason is wooing Medea, Aphrodite is encouraging them.”
The Muses are also represented singing and Apollo leading off, and
the inscription is as follows,
“Here is the king, the son of Leto, far-darting Apollo,
And round him the Muses, a graceful band, whom he leads in
the songs.”
And Atlas is bearing up Heaven and Earth (according to the legend) on
his shoulders, and in his hands are the apples of the Hesperides. And
who the man is with a sword advancing to Atlas is nowhere written, but
it is evident to all that it is Hercules. This is all the inscription,
“Atlas here is bearing up Heaven, he will neglect the apples.”
There is also Ares in full armour leading off Aphrodite. The
inscription under him is Enyalius. There too is the maiden Thetis,
and Peleus is laying hold of her, and from Thetis’ hand a serpent is
about to dart at Peleus. And there are the sisters of Medusa with wings
pursuing the fleeing Perseus. His name only is given.
The third side of the chest is devoted to military views. Most of
the soldiers to be seen are infantry, but there are also some cavalry
in two-horse war-chariots. And some of the soldiers are you can see
engaging, while others are recognizing and greeting one another. The
antiquarians have two explanations of this, the one party say that it
is the Ætolians with Oxylus and the ancient people of Elis, and that
they are fraternizing and exhibiting friendliness to one another in
remembrance of their ancient consanguinity, the other party say that
it is the people of Pylos and the Arcadians fighting near the town of
Pheia and the river Iardanus. No one would have _prima facie_ expected
that the ancestor of Cypselus, being a Corinthian and in possession
of the chest, would have purposely passed over Corinthian history,
and artistically portrayed on the chest foreign and even immaterial
events. So the following is the view I am inclined to form. Cypselus
and his ancestors came originally from Gonussa beyond Sicyon, and were
descended from Melas the son of Antasus. And Aletes would not receive
Melas and his army into the city, as I have stated before in my account
of Corinth, thus disobeying the oracle at Delphi, until at last,
as Melas paid every attention to him, and whenever he was rejected
returned again with entreaty, Aletes admitted him but not with a good
grace. One would conjecture therefore that the forces of Melas are here
portrayed.
CHAPTER XIX.
And on the 4th side of the chest on the left Boreas is carrying off
Orithyia, and he has serpents’ tails instead of feet. And there is
the fight between Hercules and Geryon, who was three men in one. And
there is Theseus with a lyre, and near him Ariadne with a garland. And
Achilles and Memnon are fighting and their mothers are standing by.
And there is Melanion, and Atalanta by him with a fawn. And Strife,
looking most hateful, stands by the duel (after challenge) between Ajax
and Hector. A very similar Strife has been depicted in the temple of
Ephesian Artemis by the Samian Calliphon, who painted the battle at the
ships of the Greeks. There are also on the chest figures of Castor and
Pollux, one of them without a beard, and Helen between them. And Æthra,
the daughter of Pittheus, in a dark dress is prostrate on the ground
at the feet of Helen. And the inscription is an Hexameter line and one
word more.
“Castor and Pollux ran off with Helen, and dragged Æthra from Athens.”
These are the very words. And Iphidamas the son of Agenor is lying on
the ground, and Coon is fighting with Agamemnon over his dead body. And
Fear with the head of a lion is on Agamemnon’s shield. And this is the
inscription over the corpse of Iphidamas,
“This is Iphidamas, Coon bestrides him in the fight.”
And on Agamemnon’s shield,
“Here is what mortals call Fear, Agamemnon has got him.”
And Hermes is bringing to Paris, the son of Priam, the goddesses to
the choice of beauty, and the inscription here is,
“Here is Hermes showing to Paris the dainty sight of Hera and Athene
and Aphrodite in all their beauty.”
And Artemis--I know not why--has wings on her shoulders, and in her
right hand she has a leopard, in her left a lion. And there is Ajax
dragging Cassandra from the statue of Athene, and the inscription is,
“Locrian Ajax is dragging Cassandra from Athene.”
And there are the sons of Œdipus, Polynices has fallen on his knees,
and Eteocles is pressing him hard. And behind Polynices stands a
monster with teeth as sharp as a wild beast’s, and with crooked claws.
And the inscription says that it is Doom, and that Polynices was
carried off by Fate, and that Eteocles’ end was just. And there too is
bearded Dionysus lying down in a cave, clad in a long garment, with a
golden bowl in his hand: and there are clusters of vine round him, and
apples, and pomegranates.
The topmost side of the chest, for there are five in all, has no
inscription, but one can easily conjecture what the representations
are. In a cave there is a woman sleeping with a man upon a bed, and we
infer that they are Odysseus and Circe from the number of handmaids
in front of the cave, and from their tasks. For the women are four in
number, and they are engaged just as Homer has represented. And there
is a Centaur, not with all his feet horses’ feet, for his forefeet are
those of a man. And there are pair-horse chariots and women seated
on the chariots: and the horses have gold wings, and a man is giving
arms to one of the women. This is conjectured to refer to the death of
Patroclus. For it is the Nereids on the chariots, and Thetis who is
receiving arms from Hephæstus. For he who is giving the arms is lame,
and behind is a servant with smith’s tongs. And the tradition about
Chiron the Centaur is that, though he had left this world and been
received into heaven, he returned to earth to comfort Achilles. And
there are two maidens in a carriage drawn by mules, one is driving and
the other has a veil on her head, they are thought to be Nausicaa, the
daughter of Alcinous, and her attendant driving to the wash. And the
man shooting at the Centaurs and killing some of them is manifestly
Hercules, for this was one of his great feats.
Who it was that constructed this chest it is quite impossible to
conjecture: the inscriptions on it might have been composed by anybody,
but suspicion points to Eumelus the Corinthian, both on other grounds,
and because of the Processional Hymn which he composed in reference to
Delos.
CHAPTER XX.
There are also here besides the chest several votive offerings, as a
bed of no great size adorned with much ivory, and the quoit of Iphitus,
and the table on which the crowns for the victors are deposited. The
bed was they say a plaything of Hippodamia: and the quoit of Iphitus
has written on it the armistice between the people of Elis and the
Olympians not straight down it, but all round the quoit: and the table
is of ivory and gold, the design of Colotes, who was they say a native
of Heraclea. And those who take interest in artificers say that he
was a Parian and the pupil of Pasiteles, who was himself the pupil
of....[73] There too are statues of Hera, and Zeus, and the Mother
of the Gods, and Hermes, and Apollo, and Artemis. And behind is a
representation of the games. On one side is Æsculapius and Hygiea, one
of the daughters of Æsculapius, and Ares and Contest by him, and on
another is Pluto and Dionysus and Proserpine and some Nymphs, one of
them with a ball. And Pluto has his key, with which (they say) what is
called Hades is locked, and then no one can return from it.
An account which I received from Aristarchus, the Interpreter of
Antiquities at Olympia, I must not omit. He said that in his youth,
when the people of Elis restored the roof of the temple of Hera, the
body of a dead man in heavy armour, who had been badly wounded, was
found between the sham roof and the roof on which the tiles lay. This
man was a combatant in the battle fought inside Altis between the
Lacedæmonians and the people of Elis. For the people of Elis climbed
up to the temples of the gods, and all high buildings alike, for the
purpose of defence. This man therefore probably got up into that place,
in a fainting condition from his wounds, and, on his death, neither the
heat of summer nor the chills of winter would be likely to injure his
dead body, as he lay stowed away and covered up. And Aristarchus added,
that they carried the corpse outside Altis and buried it armour and
all.
And the pillar, which the people of Elis call the pillar of Œnomaus,
is as you go from the great altar to the temple of Zeus, and there are
4 pillars on the left and a roof over them. These pillars support a
wooden one worn out by age, and only held together by iron clamps. This
pillar was once according to tradition in the house of Œnomaus: and
when the god struck the house with lightning, the fire consumed all the
house but this one pillar. And a brazen tablet contains some Elegiac
lines referring to this.
“I am the only vestige, stranger, of a famous house, I once was a
pillar in Œnomaus’ house, but now near Zeus I am in iron clamps in
honour: the destructive fire has not consumed me.”
Another curious thing happened on the spot in my time. A senator of
Rome won the prize at Olympia, and wishing some record of his victory
to survive in the shape of a brazen statue with an inscription, dug for
a foundation, close to this pillar of Œnomaus, and the diggers found
fragments of arms and bridles and bits. These I myself saw dug up.
The temple, which is large in size and of Doric architecture, they
call to this day the Temple of the Mother, preserving its ancient name,
though there is no statue in it of the Mother of the Gods, but only
some statues of Roman Emperors. It is inside Altis, and there is a
round building called Philip’s House, on the top of which is a brazen
poppy as a clamp for the beams. This building is on the left hand as
you go to the Town Hall, and is built of baked brick, and there are
some pillars round it. It was built for Philip after the fatal defeat
of the Greeks at Chæronea. And there are statues there of Philip, and
Alexander, and Amyntas the father of Philip. They are by Leochares in
ivory and gold, like the statues of Olympias and Eurydice.
CHAPTER XXI.
And now I shall proceed to the account of the statues and votive
offerings, which I do not care to mix up together. In the Acropolis
at Athens all the statues and everything else equally are votive
offerings: but at Altis the votive offerings are in honour of the
deity, but the statues of the prizemen are merely a memorial of the
contests. Of them I shall speak hereafter: I shall now take the most
remarkable votive offerings in order.
As you go to the race-course from the Temple of the Mother there is
on the left at the end of the mountain Cronius a basement of stone,
near the mountain, and some steps to it. On this basement there are
some brazen statues of Zeus, made with the money from a fine imposed on
some athletes who had behaved shamefully at the games. These statues
are called in the national dialect _Zanes_. They were six in number at
first and were put up in the 98th Olympiad. For Eupolus the Thessalian
bribed his rivals in boxing to let him win the prize, Agenor from
Arcadia, and Prytanis from Cyzicus, and Phormio from Halicarnassus, who
was the champion in the preceding Olympiad. This was the first foul
play they say at the boxing matches, and Eupolus and those who had been
bribed by him were fined by the people of Elis. Two of the statues
are by Cleon of Sicyon, the modeller of the remaining four we do not
know. And all these statues, but the third and fourth, have elegiac
lines on them. The first says that not with money, but swiftness of
foot and bodily vigour, ought one to win prizes at Olympia. And the
second says that that statue is raised in honour to the deity, and from
piety on the part of the people of Elis, and to inspire fear in such
athletes as do not play fair. As to the fifth and sixth, the gist of
the inscription on one is a panegyric of the people of Elis, and not
least for their punishment of the cheating boxers, and on the other a
didactic precept to all the Greeks that nobody is to bribe to win the
prize at Olympia.
And subsequently to Eupolus they say that the Athenian Callippus,
when contending for the pentathlum, bribed his antagonists in the 112th
Olympiad. And when he and his antagonists were fined by the people
of Elis, the Athenians sent Hyperides to beg the people of Elis to
remit the fine. And when the people of Elis refused this favour, the
Athenians treated them with much hauteur, not paying the money and
keeping away from Olympia, till the god at Delphi told them he would
no longer give them any oracular responses, till they paid the fine
to the people of Elis. And when they paid, six more statues were made
for Zeus, with elegiac verses on them no less severe than those about
the fine of Eupolus. And the purport of these verses on the first
statue is that the statues are erected in accordance with the oracular
direction of the god, who honoured the decision the people of Elis had
come to about the competitors for the pentathlum. And the second and
third likewise praise the people of Elis for their conduct in the same
matter. And the fourth desires to point out that the contest at Olympia
is one of merit and not of money. And the inscriptions on the fifth
and sixth shew, one why the statues were made, and the other that the
oracle came to the Athenians from Delphi.
And next to those I have enumerated are two statues, made from a
fine imposed on some wrestlers, whose names are unknown both to me and
the Antiquarians of Elis. There are some inscriptions also on these
statues, the first is that the Rhodians paid a fine to Olympian Zeus
for the cheating of their wrestler. And the second is that the statue
was made out of fines imposed on those who wrestled for bribes. And
the Antiquarians of Elis say that the other statues in connection with
athletes were erected in the 178th Olympiad, when Eudelus was bribed
by the Rhodian Philostratus. I find a discrepancy between this account
and the public records of the people of Elis as respects the victors
at Olympia. For in these records they say that Straton of Alexandria
in the 178th Olympiad won on the same day the prize both in the
pancratium and in the wrestling. Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile
near Canopus, was built by Alexander, the son of Philip, on the site
of a former town of no great size called Rhacotis. In the generation
before Straton 3, and 3 after his day, are famous for having received
the crown of wild olive both for the pancratium and the wrestling. The
first was Caprus a native of Elis, and next of the Greeks beyond the
Ægean the Rhodian Aristomenes, and next Protophanes of the Magnetes at
Lethæus. And after Straton Marion, also from Alexandria, and Aristeas
from Stratonice (both the region and city were anciently called
Chrysaoris), and last Nicostratus from the Cilicians by the sea, though
he had little in common with the Cilicians but nominally. For, when he
was quite a child, he was kidnapped from Prymnessus a town in Phrygia
by robbers, who took him to Ægeæ and sold him to the highest bidder.
He was of no obscure family, and some time afterwards his purchaser
dreamed that a lion’s whelp lay under the truckle bed on which he used
to sleep. When Nicostratus grew to man’s estate he had several other
victories at Olympia in the pancratium and in wrestling.
And among others that were fined by the people of Elis afterwards was
a boxer from Alexandria in the 218th Olympiad. His name was Apollonius,
his surname Rhantes, for it is customary among the people of Alexandria
to have surnames. He was the first Egyptian condemned by the people of
Elis for neither giving nor receiving money, but for the impropriety
of coming too late, for which he was not allowed to take part in the
games. As to his excuse that he was detained by contrary winds in the
Cyclades, Heraclides, also an Alexandrian, proved it to be a falsehood:
and said he was really too late because he had been collecting money
from the games in Ionia. Accordingly Apollonius and all others not
present at the appointed time for the boxing matches were not allowed
by the people of Elis to take part in the games, but to Heraclides they
gave a crown without a contest. Thereupon Apollonius, who had on his
boxer’s cæstus, rushed at Heraclides, and attacked him fiercely, just
as he had received his crown of wild olive, and he fled for refuge
to the Umpires. This hotheadedness was severely punished. There are
also two statues made in our own times. For in the 226th Olympiad they
detected some boxers bribing to get the prize. The money of their fine
went to make two statues of Zeus, one on the left of the entrance to
the course, and the other on the right. Didas was the name of one of
these boxers, and the other, who gave the bribe, was Sarapammon, both
were from the same district, the latest one formed in Egypt, called
Arsinoites. It is wonderful indeed that from any quarter people should
have been found to despise the god at Olympia, and to receive or give
bribes in connection with the games, but still more wonderful that any
of the people of Elis should have ventured to act in that manner. But
it is said that Damonicus, a native of Elis, acted so in the 192nd
Olympiad. For when Polyctor (the son of Damonicus) and Sosander (the
son of Sosander) a native of Smyrna had descended to the arena for the
wrestling match, Damonicus, being very anxious that his son should have
the victory, bribed the younger Sosander. And when the circumstances
got known, the Umpires fined the parents, turning their vengeance on
them because they were really the guilty parties. Statues were made
with this money too: one in the gymnasium at Elis, the other in Altis,
in front of what is called the Painted Portico, because there were
in ancient times paintings on the walls. This Portico is called by
some the Portico of Echo, because in it a word is re-echoed 7 times,
sometimes even more frequently.
And they record that the pancratiast Serapion, a native of
Alexandria, in the 201st Olympiad was so afraid of those who were to
compete with him, that the day before the contest he absconded. He is
the only Egyptian, or indeed member of any nationality, that was ever
fined for cowardice in the games.
CHAPTER XXII.
Such are the statues made out of fines as far as I could ascertain.
There are also other statues of Zeus, some erected publicly, some
privately. There is also an altar in Altis near the entrance to the
course. On this altar the people of Elis do not sacrifice to any of the
gods, but the trumpeters and heralds stand here when they proclaim the
games. On the brazen base of this altar is a statue to Zeus, six cubits
in height, with a thunderbolt in each hand, the votive offering of the
people of Cynætha. And the young Zeus with a necklace round his neck is
the votive offering of Cleolas of Phlius.
And near what is called the Hippodamium there is a semicircular
basement of stone, and statues on it of Zeus and Thetis and Aurora
supplicating Zeus for their children. These are in the midst of the
basement. And at each extremity of the basement stand Achilles and
Memnon in the attitude of antagonists. Similarly opposite to one
another stand a Greek and barbarian, Odysseus opposite Helenus, for
these are selected as most remarkable for wisdom in either army, and
Paris is opposite Menelaus from their old hostility, and Æneas opposite
Diomede, and Deiphobus opposite Ajax the son of Telamon. These are all
by Lycius the son of Myron, and are votive offerings of the people of
Apollonia near the Ionian sea. And there are some elegiac lines in
ancient characters under the feet of Zeus.
“We are votive offerings from Apollonia, which long-haired Phœbus
built near the Ionian sea. Those who seized the borders of Abantis
offered this spoil from Thronium.”
Now the region called Abantis and the town in it called Thronium were
in Thesprotia near the mountains Ceraunia. For when the Greek ships
were dispersed on their return from Ilium, the Locrians from Thronium
near the river Boagrius and the Abantes from Eubœa in 8 ships put in to
shore near the mountains Ceraunia. And there they dwelt and built the
town of Thronium, and by common consent called all the district they
lived in Abantis, and were afterwards beaten in war and expelled by
their neighbours of Apollonia. And Apollonia was a colony from Corcyra,
and the Corinthians had a share in the spoil.
And as you go on a little further there is a Zeus looking east, with
an eagle in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. And he has a crown
on his head composed of lilies. This statue is the votive offering of
the people of Metapontum, and the design of the Æginetan Aristonous.
But who Aristonous learnt his craft from we do not know, nor the
period in which he flourished. The Phliasians also erected as votive
offerings statues of Zeus and Asopus’ daughters and Asopus himself.
And this is the arrangement of the statues. Nemea comes first of the
sisters, and next her is Zeus laying hold of Ægina. And next Ægina
is Harpina, who according to the tradition of the Phliasians and the
people of Elis had an amour with Ares, and bare to him Œnomaus, the
king of the district of Pisa. And next to her are Corcyra and Thebe,
and Asopus comes last. The tradition about Corcyra is that she had an
amour with Poseidon, and a similar legend about Thebe and Zeus is sung
by Pindar.
The men of Leontini erected a statue to Zeus privately and not
publicly. The height of it is 7 cubits, and Zeus has in his hands an
eagle and javelin according to the descriptions of the poets. And it
was erected by Hippagoras and Phrynon and Ænesidemus, not I think the
Ænesidemus who was tyrant at Leontini.
CHAPTER XXIII.
And as you pass on to the entrance to the council chamber there is a
statue of Zeus without an inscription, (and another as you turn to the
North). This is towards the East, and was erected by the Greeks who
fought at Platæa against Mardonius and the Medes. On the right of the
basement are inscribed the states that took part in the action, the
Lacedæmonians first, and next the Athenians, third the Corinthians,
fourth the Sicyonians, fifth the Æginetans, then the Megarians and
Epidaurians, of the Arcadians the men of Tegea and Orchomenus, and in
addition to these the inhabitants of Phlius Trœzen and Hermion, and
in Argolis the men of Tiryns, and of the Bœotians only the people of
Platæa, and of the Argives the inhabitants of Mycenæ, and the islanders
from Ceos and Melos, and the Ambraciotes from Thesprotia, and the
Tenii and people of Lepreum, the latter only from Triphylia, but the
Tenii not only from the Ægean and the Cyclades but also from Naxos and
Cythnus, and the men of Styra from Eubœa, and next to them the people
of Elis and Potidæa and Anactorium, and lastly the people of Chalcis
near the Euripus. Of these cities the following were unpeopled in my
day. Mycenæ and Tiryns were razed to the ground by the Argives after
the Persian war. And the Ambraciotes and men of Anactorium, who were
colonists from Corinth, were induced by the Roman Emperor Augustus to
form the colony of Nicopolis near Actium. And the people of Potidæa
were twice ejected from their country, by Philip, the son of Amyntas,
and earlier still by the Athenians, and though subsequently they were
restored by Cassander, yet the name of their city was changed to
Cassandrea in honour of their new founder. And the statue at Olympia,
that was a votive offering of the Greeks, was by Anaxagoras the
Æginetan, though those who have compiled a history of sculptors have
omitted to mention him.
There is also in front of this statue of Zeus a brazen pillar, on
which are inscribed the conditions of peace for 30 years between the
Lacedæmonians and the Athenians, which was made by the Athenians after
their second reduction of Eubœa, in the 3rd year of that Olympiad
in which Crison of Himera won the prize. And this was one of the
conditions specified, that the city of the Argives should have no
share in this peace between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, but that
privately the Athenians and Argives if they chose might be friendly to
one another. This is plainly stated in the conditions. And there is
another statue of Zeus near the chariot of Cleosthenes, (about which
I shall speak later), the votive offering of the Megarians, and the
design of the brothers Phylacus and Onæthus and their sons: I cannot
tell their period or country, or from whom they learned their craft.
And near the chariot of Gelon there is an old statue of Zeus with a
sceptre, the votive offering they say of the people of Hybla. There
are two Hyblas in Sicily, one called Gereatis, and the other to this
day called Hybla Major. Both are in the neighbourhood of Catana,
Hybla Major is quite deserted, but Gereatis is still inhabited, and
has a temple to the Hyblæan goddess who is worshipped in Sicily. And
I think it was from there that the statue of Zeus came to Olympia.
For Philistus the son of Archomenides records that they were the best
interpreters of portents and dreams, and the most noted for piety of
all the barbarians in Sicily. And near the votive offering of the
people of Hybla is a brazen pedestal and a Zeus upon it, eighteen feet
high I conjecture. And who offered it to the god, and whose design it
is, is stated in the following elegiac lines:
“The people of Cleitor erected this votive offering to the god, with
the tithe collected from many cities taken by storm by them. And the
artificers were the Laconian brothers Aristo and Telestas.”
I do not think these Laconians could have been men well known in
Greece, for else the people of Elis would have had something to say
about them, and still more the Lacedæmonians as they were their
citizens.
CHAPTER XXIV.
And near the altar of Zeus Laœtas and Poseidon Laœtas there is a Zeus
on a brazen basement, the gift of the Corinthian people, and the design
of Musus, whoever Musus was. And as you go from the council chamber
to the great temple there is on the left a statue of Zeus, crowned
with flowers, and in his right hand a thunderbolt. This was the design
of Ascarus a Theban, who was the pupil of the Sicyonian, * * and it
was a votive offering of the people of Thessaly. But if the people of
Thessaly offered it as a votive offering from spoil taken in a war with
the Phocians, it could not be what is called the Sacred War, for that
was fought before the Medes and the great king came to Greece. And not
far from this is a Zeus, which (as the inscription on it shews) was a
votive offering of Psophidius after success in war. And on the right of
the temple of great Zeus towards the east is a statue of Zeus 12 feet
high, the votive offering it is said of the Lacedæmonians, after they
had fought the second time with the Messenians who had revolted. And
there is an elegiac couplet inscribed on it.
“Receive Olympian Zeus, Cronus’ great son, this noble statue from the
Lacedæmonians with propitious mind.”
Of the Romans we know of none, either plebeian or patrician, earlier
than Mummius who put up a votive offering in any Greek temple, but he
out of the spoils of Achaia erected a brazen Zeus at Olympia. It stands
on the left of the votive offering of the Lacedæmonians, on the first
pillar of the temple. But the largest of the brazen statues of Zeus is
in Altis, and was a votive offering of the people of Elis after the war
with the Arcadians, it is 27 feet high. And near the temple of Pelops
there is a small statue of Zeus upon a not very lofty pillar, with
one of his hands extended. And opposite it are some votive offerings
in a row, statues of Zeus and Ganymede. The account of Homer is that
Ganymede was carried off by the gods to be cupbearer to Zeus, and that
Tros his father had some horses given him for his son. And this was a
votive offering of Gnathis the Thessalian, and the work of Aristocles
the pupil and son of Cleœtas. And there is another Zeus without a
beard, among the votive offerings of Micythus. Who this Micythus was,
whence he came, and why he offered these votive offerings at Olympia,
will be described by me hereafter. And if you go on a little from the
statue I have mentioned, there is straight before you another statue of
Zeus without a beard, the votive offering of the Elaitæ, who came down
from the plain of Caicus to the sea, and were the first settlers in
Æolis. Near this is another statue of Zeus, and the inscription on it
is that the people of the Chersonese in Cnidus erected it as a votive
offering after a triumph over their enemies. They erected also on one
side of Zeus Pelops, and on the other the river Alpheus. And most of
the city of the Cnidians is built on the continent of Caria, where
they performed most of their most memorable deeds, and the Chersonese
is an island lying near the continent, and connected with it by a
bridge: and the votive offerings to Olympian Zeus were dedicated by
the dwellers there, just as the Ephesians dwelling at Coressus could
say that their votive offering was a gift of the Ephesians generally.
There is also near the wall of Altis a statue of Zeus facing west
without an inscription: but tradition says it was erected by Mummius
from the spoils of his war with Achaia. But the statue of Zeus in
the Council Chamber is of all the statues of Zeus most calculated
to frighten wicked men, his Title is Zeus the God of Oaths, and he
has a thunderbolt in each hand. At this statue it is customary for
the athletes, their fathers and brothers, and also their trainers,
to swear over the entrails of a boar that they will not cheat at the
Olympian games. And the athletes make this further oath that they have
carefully trained for the space of 10 months. And the umpires also,
either of boys or the colts that compete in the races, swear to give
their decisions honestly and without bribes, and not to reveal the
reasons for their selection of the winners. What they do with the boar
afterwards I forgot to ask, but it was the custom among all the more
ancient sacrificers, that the victim over whom oaths were taken should
not be eaten by anybody: as Homer’s evidence very plainly shews, for
the boar on whose entrails Agamemnon swore solemnly that Briseis was a
maid as far as he was concerned, was thrown into the sea by the herald.
Witness the following lines:
“He spoke, and cut the crackling off the boar
With ruthless knife. And quick Talthybius
Whirled it away into the surging sea,
As food for fishes.”[74]
Such was the ancient use. And before the feet of Zeus the God of Oaths
there is a brazen tablet, on which some elegiac lines are inscribed,
that are meant to inspire fear in perjurers.
CHAPTER XXV.
Such are the statues of Zeus inside Altis, all of which I have
enumerated. For the statue near the great temple offered by a
Corinthian, is not an offering of the old Corinthians but of those who
rebuilt the city in Cæsar’s time, and is Alexander the son of Philip to
imitate Zeus. I shall also enumerate all the other statues which are
not representations of Zeus. And the effigies not erected in honour of
the deity, but in honour of men, I shall describe in my account of the
athletes.
The Messenians at the Sicilian Strait, who used to send to Rhegium,
according to old custom, a chorus of 35 boys and a choir-master and a
piper to the national feast, had on one occasion a terrible disaster,
none of those that were sent were saved, but the vessel that had the
boys on board perished boys and all in the depths of the sea. For the
sea at this strait is a most stormy one: for winds lash it to fury, and
two seas meet, the Sicilian and the Tyrrhenian: and even when the winds
are calm, there is a tremendous swell in the Strait from the strong ebb
and flow. And so many sea-monsters are there, that the air is tainted
with their scent, so that the shipwrecked mariner has no chance of
getting safe to shore. And if Odysseus had chanced to be wrecked here,
one can never believe that he could have swum off safe to Italy. But
a kind Providence in every conjuncture brings about some alleviation.
And the Messenians sorrowing at the loss of the boys, besides other
things to honour their memory, placed at Olympia brazen effigies of
them and their choir-master and piper. The old inscription shewed that
these effigies were votive offerings of the Messenians at the Sicilian
Strait: and subsequently Hippias, who was called by the Greeks the
Wise, wrote some elegiac lines on them. The effigies were by Callon of
Elis.
And there is near the Promontory Pachynus, that faces towards Libya
and the South, the town of Motye, peopled by Libyans and Phœnicians.
And the people of Agrigentum were at war with the people of Motye,
and out of the spoil and booty they took from them erected as votive
offerings at Olympia some boys in brass, extending their right hands
like people praying to the deity. They are on the wall at Altis. I
conjectured they were by Calamis, and tradition states the same.
The races that inhabit Sicily are the Sicani and the Siceli and
the Phrygians, some of whom crossed over from Italy, and others
came from the river Scamander and the Troad. And the Phœnicians and
Libyans sailed to the island with a joint fleet, as a colony of the
Carthaginians. Such are the barbarous races in Sicily. And of Greeks
the Dorians and Ionians dwell in it, and a few Phocians and Athenians.
And on the same wall are votive offerings from Agrigentum, two
statues of boyish Hercules naked. The Hercules shooting at the Nemean
lion is the votive offering of the Tarentine Hippotion, and the design
of the Mænalian Nicodamus. The other is the votive offering of the
Mendæan Anaxippus, and was brought here by the people of Elis: it used
to be at the end of the road leading from Elis to Olympia, called the
Sacred Road. There are also statues, from the Achæan race in common, of
those who, when Hector challenged a single Greek to single combat, drew
lots who it should be. They are near the great temple armed with spears
and shields. And right opposite on another basement is Nestor throwing
the lots into his helmet. And the number of those that drew lots for
the single combat with Hector are 8, for the 9th, which was Odysseus,
they say Nero carried to Rome, and of the 8 Agamemnon only has his name
inscribed, and it is written from right to left. And the one with the
device of a cock on the shield is Idomeneus, the descendant of Minos
and Pasiphae the daughter of the Sun. And the cock they say is sacred
to the Sun and heralds his approach. The inscription on the basement is,
“To Zeus the Achæans, descendants of the divine Pelops the son of
Tantalus, erected these votive offerings.”
And the name of the artificer is inscribed on the shield of Idomeneus,
“This and many besides are the work of the skilful Onatas, the son of
Micon of Ægina.”
And not far from the votive offering of the Achæans is Hercules
fighting with an Amazon on horseback for her belt. This is the votive
offering of Evagoras of Zancle, and the design of Aristocles of
Cydonia. Aristocles may be reckoned amongst the very ancient sculptors,
for though one cannot state his period exactly, it is manifest that he
lived before the change from the old name Zancle to its present one of
Messene.
The Thasians also (who were Phœnicians originally, and sailed from
Tyre and other parts of Phœnice to Europe with Thasus the son of
Agenor), made a votive offering of Hercules at Olympia, the base as
well as the statue of brass. The height of the statue is 10 cubits,
in the right hand he holds his club, and in the left his bow. And I
heard in Thasos that they worshipped the same Hercules as the Tyrians
worship, but afterwards, when they became naturalized as Greeks, they
worshipped Hercules the son of Amphitryon. And the votive offering of
the Thasians at Olympia has the following elegiac couplet attached to
it,
“Onatas the son of Micon made me, a dweller at Ægina.”
This Æginetan Onatas we should regard in the statuary art as second to
none since Dædalus and the Attic school.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Dorian Messenians also, who received Naupactus from the Athenians,
erected at Olympia a Victory on a pillar, the design of the Mendæan
Pæonius, and made from spoils taken from the enemy, I imagine, when
they fought with the Acarnanians and Œniadæ. But the Messenians
themselves say that this Victory was erected for their share with the
Athenians in the action at Sphacteria, and that they did not insert the
name of the enemy from fear of the Lacedæmonians, and they could have
had no fear of the Œniadæ and Acarnanians.
I found also many votive offerings of Micythus scattered about, and
three of them together, next to the statue of Iphitus of Elis and
Truce crowning him, _viz._ Amphitrite and Poseidon and Vesta, by the
Argive Glaucus. And near the left side of the great temple he placed
Proserpine the daughter of Demeter, and Aphrodite, and Ganymede, and
Artemis, and of the poets Homer and Hesiod, and of the gods again
Æsculapius and Hygiea. And among the votive offerings of Micythus is
Agon with the dumb bells. These dumb bells are fashioned as follows.
They are semicircular in shape though not a perfect semi-circle,
and are so constructed that the fingers can pass through, as they
do through the handles of a shield. And next the statue of Agon is
Dionysus, and the Thracian Orpheus, and the statue of Zeus which
I mentioned a little above. These are works of art of the Argive
Dionysius. Others besides they say were given by Micythus, but were
removed by Nero. And the Argives Dionysius and Glaucus had no master
in their craft that we know of, but the period when they flourished
is shewn by the fact that Micythus placed their works of art at
Olympia. For Herodotus informs us in his history that this Micythus
was the slave of Anaxilas the king at Rhegium, and was afterwards his
treasurer, and after his death went to Tegea. And the inscriptions
on these votive offerings make Micythus the son of Chœrus, and the
Greek colony of Rhegium, or Messene near the Strait, his native place.
But they do not mention his ever living at Tegea, and these votive
offerings at Olympia were the fulfilment of a vow for the recovery of
his son, who was wasting away in a consumption.
And near the larger votive offerings of Micythus, the work of the
Argive Glaucus, is a statue of Athene with a helmet on her head and her
Ægis. This was made by Nicodamus the Mænalian, and is a votive offering
of the people of Elis. And next to Athene is a statue of Victory,
an offering of the Mantineans, for what war is not specified in the
inscription. And it is said to be an imitation by Calamis of the wooden
statue at Athens of Wingless Victory. And near the smaller votive
offerings of Micythus made by Dionysius are the Labours of Hercules
with the Nemean lion, and the hydra, and Cerberus, and the Erymanthian
boar. They were brought to Olympia by the men of Heraclea, who overran
the territory of the neighbouring barbarians the Mariandyni. Heraclea
is a town near the Euxine, and was colonized by the Megarians. The
Bœotians of Tanagra also had a share in the colony.
CHAPTER XXVII.
And opposite those I have mentioned are other votive offerings in a
row, facing the South, and very near the enclosure sacred to Pelops.
Among them are the votive offerings of Mænalian Phormis, who crossed
over from Mænalus to Sicily to Gelon the son of Dinomenes, and in the
army of Gelon, and afterwards in the army of Gelon’s brother Hiero,
displayed great valour, and advanced to such a pitch of fortune that
he offered these votive offerings at Olympia, and also some others
to Apollo at Delphi. His offerings at Olympia are two horses and two
charioteers, a charioteer by each horse. The first horse and groom is
by Dionysius the Argive, the second by the Æginetan Simo. And the first
has the following inscription on the side, the first line not in metre,
“Phormis the Arcadian from Mænalus, now a Syracusan, offered me.”
This is the horse about which the people of Elis have a tradition
on the power of lust in horses. It is evident that several remarkable
properties of this horse come from the cunning of a magician. In size
and beauty it is inferior to many to be seen in Altis: it has also the
tail knocked off, which makes it more unsightly still. Nevertheless
stallions not only in spring but all the year round are madly in lust
after it. For they rush into Altis, breaking their reins or escaping
from their drivers, and endeavour to mount this horse, with far greater
impetuosity than they exhibit to the handsomest mare alive whom they
had been accustomed to mount. And though their hoofs slip on the
polished basement they do not cease to neigh fiercely, and try to mount
this horse with frantic energy, till by whips or sheer strength they
get pulled off. There is no other way of getting them away from this
brazen horse.[75] I have seen in Lydia a different kind of marvel to
this horse of Phormis, but equally the cunning work of a magician.
Among the Lydians called Persici there are temples at Hierocæsarea and
Hypæpa, and in each of these temples there is a chamber in which are
ashes on an altar, not like other ashes in appearance. And a magician
enters into this chamber, and, after placing dry wood upon the altar,
first of all places a tiara on his head, and then calls on the gods in
a foreign tongue not understood by the Greeks. And this he chants from
a book, and the wood gets lighted evidently without fire and a bright
blaze shines forth from it. Let this digression suffice.
And among these votive offerings is Phormis himself contending with
an enemy, and fighting with a second and even a third. And there is an
inscription stating that the soldier fighting is Mænalian Phormis, and
that it is a votive offering of the Syracusan Lycortas, who plainly
offered it out of affection to Phormis. The Greeks however call these
votive offerings of Lycortas the votive offerings of Phormis. And the
Hermes with a ram under his arm, and a helmet on his head, and a tunic
and cloak on, is not one of the votive offerings of Phormis, but was
offered to the god by the Arcadians of Pheneos. And the inscription
states that Onatas the Æginetan jointly designed it with Calliteles,
who must I think have been the pupil or son of Onatas. And not far
from the votive offering of the people of Pheneos is another statue of
Hermes with his herald’s wand, and the inscription on it states that it
was the votive offering of Glaucias of Rhegium, and the work of Callon
of Elis. And there are two brazen bulls, one the votive offering of
the people of Corcyra, the other of the Eretrienses, both by Philesius
of Eretria. Why the Corcyræans offered one bull at Olympia and another
at Delphi, I shall relate in my account of the Phocians. And about the
votive offering at Olympia I have heard the following circumstance.
A little boy sitting down under this bull had stooped down and was
playing, and suddenly lifting up his head dashed it against the brass,
and not many days afterwards died from the blow. The people of Elis
wanted to remove the bull from Altis as being blood guilty, but the god
at Delphi ordered the same expiatory sacrifices for the bull as the
Greeks ordain for involuntary homicide.
There is under the plane-trees at Altis in the middle of the grove a
brazen trophy, and an inscription on the shield of the trophy, stating
that the people of Elis offered it out of spoils of the Lacedæmonians.
This was the battle in which the man lost his life who was found in
his armour in my day, when the roof of the temple of Hera was being
repaired. The votive offering of the Mendæans in Thrace very nearly
deceived me to think that it was the effigy of a competitor for the
pentathlum. It is near Anauchidas of Elis, and has ancient dumb-bells.
And the following elegiac couplet is written on the thigh,
“To Zeus, the king of the Gods, the Mendæans put me here as
firstfruits, after taking Sipte by storm.”
It seems that Sipte is a Thracian fort and city, and the Mendæans are
a Greek race from Ionia, and live a little inland from the sea, at the
town of Ænus.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] Reading ταύτῃ τῇ Σαμία, (altered into Σαμικῷ ductu literarum).
[68] Il. xxiii. 295.
[69] ἄλσος.
[70] Iliad, viii. 393-395.
[71] Iliad, xiii. 389. xvi. 482.
[72] See Book vi. ch. 22.
[73] Hiatus hic deflendus.
[74] Iliad, xix. 266-268.
[75] On this curious story see Bayle on _Hippomanes_.
BOOK VI.--ELIS. PART II.
CHAPTER I.
Next to my account of the votive offerings comes naturally mention of
the horses that contended, and of the athletes, and of amateurs also.
There are not statues of all the conquerors at Olympia, for even some
who displayed great prowess in the contests, or elsewhere, have yet
not obtained statues. These my subject bids me to pass over, for it is
not a catalogue of all the athletes that were victors at Olympia, but
an account of the statues and other votive offerings. Neither shall I
mention all the statues, as I well know some who won the crown of wild
olive from unexpected good fortune rather than their own exertions.
I shall therefore merely mention those who had more renown or finer
statues than others.
On the right of the temple of Hera is a statue of the wrestler
Symmachus, the son of Æschylus, a native of Elis. And near him, from
Pheneos in Arcadia, is Neolaidas the son of Proxenus, who carried off
the prize for boxing among the boys, and next Archedamus the son of
Xenius, also a native of Elis, who beat all the boys in wrestling.
These statues were made by Alypus the Sicyonian, the pupil of Naucydes
the Argive. And the inscription on the statue of Cleogenes, the son
of Silenus, says that he was of the district, he won the prize with
a fast horse from his own stud. And next Cleogenes are Dinolochus,
the son of Pyrrhus, and Troilus, the son of Alcinous. They too were
natives of Elis, but their victories were not won in the same manner,
for Troilus owed his victory to his perfect pair of horses and team
of colts: partly also to his being umpire: and he was victor in the
102nd Olympiad. And from thenceforth there was a law among the people
of Elis that the umpires’ horses should not be admitted to the races.
His statue was by Lysippus. But the mother of Dinolochus dreamed that
she embraced her son after being crowned, and moved by this dream he
trained, and outran the other lads: and his statue is by Cleon of
Sicyon. As to Cynisca the wife of Archidamus, I have spoken previously
of her family and victories at Olympia, in my account of the kings of
the Lacedæmonians. And near the statue of Troilus is a basement of
stone, and a chariot and charioteer, and the effigy of Cynisca herself,
by Apelles. There are inscriptions also in reference to her. And next
her are some Lacedæmonians, who were victors in the horse-races.
Anaxander was the first victor proclaimed in the chariot-race. And the
inscription over him states that his grandfather was crowned earlier in
the pentathlum. He is represented as praying to the god. And Polycles,
surnamed Polychalcus, was victor in the chariot-race with 4 horses
abreast, and his effigy has in its right hand a riband. And by him
are two boys, one holding the wheel, the other asking for the riband.
And Polycles was victor with his horses, as the inscription over him
states, in the Pythian Isthmian and Nemean games.
CHAPTER II.
And the statue of the pancratiast next is by Lysippus. He carried off
the victory as pancratiast from the rest of the Acarnanians, and was
the first of his own countrymen. Xenarches was his name and he was the
son of Philandridas. And the Lacedæmonians, after the invasion of the
Medes, turned their attention more than any other Greeks to breeding
horses. For besides those that I have already mentioned, there are
statues of several other Spartan horse-breeders, next to the effigy
of the Acarnanian athlete, as Xenarches, and Lycinus, and Arcesilaus,
and Lichas his son. Xenarches also had further victories at Delphi and
Argos and Corinth. And Lycinus brought colts to Olympia, and as one
of them was rejected, he used his colts in the race of full-grown
horses and won the prize. And he set up two statues at Olympia, by the
Athenian Myro. And Arcesilaus and his son Lichas had two victories at
Olympia, and Lichas, as the Lacedæmonians were at that time excluded
from the games, entered himself for the chariot-race as a Theban,
and bound the victorious charioteer with a riband. For this the
Umpires scourged him. And it was on account of this Lichas that the
Lacedæmonians under Agis invaded Elis, when the fight took place at
Altis. And at the end of the war Lichas erected his statue here, but
the records of the people of Elis about the victors at Olympia say that
the Theban people, not Lichas, won the victory.
And near Lichas is the seer of Elis, Thrasybulus, the son of Æneas of
the family of the Iamidæ, who practised divination for the Mantineans
against the Lacedæmonians under Agis the son of King Eudamidas, I
shall enter into the circumstances more fully in my account about the
Arcadians. And on the effigy of Thrasybulus there is a spotted lizard
creeping on his right shoulder, and a dog lies near him cut in half
as a victim and shewing its liver. Divination by kids and lambs and
calves is clearly an old practice among mankind, the Cyprians seem also
to have added divination by swine. But no nations are accustomed to
practise divination by dogs. Therefore it was apparently a peculiarity
of Thrasybulus to introduce this kind of divination. And the seers
called the Iamidæ were descendants of Iamus, who, as Pindar tells us in
one of his Odes, was the son of Apollo, and learnt his divination from
him.
And close to the effigy of Thrasybulus is one of Timosthenes, a
native of Elis, who won the prize for boys in the course, and one of
the Milesian Antipater, the son of Clinopater, who beat all the boys
in boxing. And some Syracusans, who offered sacrifices at Olympia on
behalf of Dionysius, bribed the father of Antipater to let his son be
declared a Syracusan. But Antipater, despising the tyrant’s bribe,
declared himself a Milesian, and inscribed on his effigy that he was
a Milesian, and the first Ionian that had had his effigy at Olympia.
It was by Polycletus, and Timosthenes’ was by Eutychides of Sicyon, a
pupil of Lysippus. This Eutychides made a statue of Fortune for the
Syrians by the Orontes, which is greatly honoured by the people of that
district.
And in Altis near the effigy of Timosthenes are statues of Timon
and his son Æsypus, the lad on horseback. For he won the prize on his
racer, while Timon was proclaimed victor in the chariot race. These
statues were made by Dædalus of Sicyon, who also erected a trophy
for the people of Elis, after their victory over the Laconians at
Altis. And the inscription over the Samian boxer states that Myco
was his trainer, and that the Samians are the best of the Ionians
both as athletes and naval heroes, but gives no information about the
particular boxer.
And next is the statue of the Messenian Damiscus, who was victor
at Olympia when he was only 12. It is a very remarkable coincidence,
that, when the Messenians were exiles from the Peloponnese, their luck
at Olympia also failed. For except Leontiscus and Symmachus, who were
Sicilian Messenians from the Strait, no Messenian either from Sicily or
Naupactus was victor at Olympia, and the Sicilians say they were not
Messenians but old inhabitants of Zancle. However when the Messenians
returned to the Peloponnese, their luck also at Olympia returned. For
in the year after the restoration to Messene, when the people of Elis
celebrated the Olympian games, this Damiscus won the prize from all the
boys in the course, and afterwards won victories both at Nemea and at
the Isthmus in the pentathlum.
CHAPTER III.
Next to Damiscus is the statue of a man whose name is not recorded,
the votive offering of Ptolemy the son of Lagus. Ptolemy calls himself
a Macedonian in the inscription, though he was king of Egypt. There
is an inscription also over Chæreas of Sicyon a boy-boxer, stating
that his father was Chæremon, and that though young he was victor. The
inscription also states that the statue was by Asterion, the son of
Æschylus. And next to Chæreas there are statues of the Messenian boy
Sophius, and of Stomius a man of Elis, Sophius outran all the boys,
and Stomius won one victory in the pentathlum at Olympia, and three at
Nemea. And the inscription on Stomius records further that as leader
of the cavalry of the people of Elis he won a victory, and killed the
commander of the enemy, who had challenged him to single combat. And
the people of Elis say that he came from Sicyon and was ruler of the
Sicyonians, and that they themselves went on an expedition against
Sicyon in friendship to the Thebans together with a force from Bœotia.
It would appear therefore that an expedition against Sicyon must have
set out from Elis and Thebes after the reverse of the Lacedæmonians at
Leuctra.
Next is the statue of the boxer Labax, the son of Euphron, who was
a native of Lepreus in Elis, and also one of the wrestlers from Elis,
Aristodemus the son of Thrasis, who had two victories in the Pythian
games. And the effigy of Aristodemus is by Dædalus the Sicyonian,
who was the pupil and son of Patrocles. And the statue of Hippos of
Elis, who beat all the boys in boxing, was by Democritus of Sicyon,
who learnt his art from the Athenian Critias through 4 intermediate
teachers. For Critias was the tutor of the Corcyræan Ptolichus, and
Amphion was the pupil of Ptolichus, and Piso of Calauria was the pupil
of Amphion, and Democritus was the pupil of Piso. And Cratinus from
Ægira in Achaia was the most handsome of all his contemporaries, and
the greatest wrestler. And as none of the boys could stand before him
in wrestling he was appointed by the people of Elis as teacher of the
boys. And his statue was by the Sicyonian Cantharus, whose father was
Alexis, and teacher Eutychides.
And the effigy of Eupolemus of Elis was by the Sicyonian Dædalus, and
the inscription informs us about him that he was victor at Olympia over
men in the course, he also won two crowns at the Pythian games in the
pentathlum, and one crown at the Nemean games. It is further recorded
about Eupolemus that of the three umpires in the race two adjudged the
prize to him, and the third to the Ambraciote Leo, and that Leo at the
Council of Olympia subsequently got indemnity from both the umpires
who had adjudged the prize to Eupolemus.
And the statue of Œbotas was set up by the Achæans in the 80th
Olympiad in accordance with the oracle at Delphi. He had been victor
in the course in the sixth Olympiad. How then could he have fought
with the Greeks at Platæa? For it was not till the 75th Olympiad that
Mardonius and the Medes met with the reverse at Platæa. I am bound to
record the traditions of the Greeks, but I need not believe all of
them. All else that happened to Œbotas shall be told in my account of
Achaia.
And the statue of Antiochus was made by Nicodemus. Antiochus was a
native of Lepreus, and won the prize at Olympia for the pentathlum
for men once, and twice in the Pythian games, twice also at Nemea.
For the Isthmians were not frightened by the people of Lepreus as
they were by the people of Elis, for Hysmon of Elis, whose statue is
next to Antiochus, being an athlete, and having won the prize for the
pentathlum once at Olympia and once at Nemea, was plainly prevented,
like all other people of Elis, from trying his fortune at the Isthmian
games. It is also recorded of Hysmon that when he was a boy he had a
discharge, and that was why he trained for the pentathlum, that he
might become stronger in constitution, and free from disease. And
this training was destined to get for him many notable victories. His
statue is by Cleon, and he has in his hands some old-fashioned dumb
bells. And next to Hysmon is the statue of a wrestling boy from Heræa
in Arcadia, Nicostratus the son of Xenoclidas. It is by Pantias, who by
six intermediate links was a pupil of Aristocles the Sicyonian.
And Dicon the son of Callibrotus won five races in the Pythian games,
and three in the Isthmian, and four at Nemea, and at Olympia one for
boys, two for men. And he has as many statues as he won victories at
Olympia. He was a native of Caulonia, and so proclaimed as a boy,
though afterwards for money he proclaimed himself a Syracusan. Now
Caulonia is a colony of Achæans in Italy, its founder was Typhon of
Ægium. And when Pyrrhus the son of Æacus and the Tarentines were at
war with the Romans, and several cities in Italy were destroyed, some
by the Romans, some by the people of Epirus, Caulonia was laid waste,
after being captured by the Campanians, who were the chief allies of
the Romans.
Next to Dicon is a statue of Xenophon, the son of Menephylus, the
pancratiast from Ægium in Achaia, also one of Pyrilampes the Ephesian,
who obtained the victory in the long course. Xenophon’s statue is by
Olympus, Pyrilampes’ by a sculptor of the same name, not a Sicyonian,
but from Messene near Ithome.
The Samians also erected a statue at Olympia to the Spartan Lysander
the son of Aristocritus. And the first of the inscriptions is,
“In the conspicuous precincts of almighty Zeus I stand, the votive
offering of all the Samians.”
This informs us who erected the statue. And the second inscription is
a panegyric on Lysander,
“Immortal fame, Lysander, on your country and Aristocritus did you
confer by your splendid merit.”
Manifest is it therefore that the Samians and other Ionians,
according to the Ionian proverb, whitewashed two walls.[76] For when
Alcibiades had a strong Athenian fleet in the neighbourhood of Ionia,
most of the Ionians paid their court to him, and there is a brazen bust
of Alcibiades in the temple of Hera among the Samians. But when the
Athenian fleet was taken at Ægos-potamoi, then the Samians erected this
statue of Lysander at Olympia, and the Ephesians placed in the temple
of Artemis statues of Lysander himself, and Eteonicus, and Pharax, and
other Spartans of no great renown in Greece. And when fortune veered
round again, and Conon won the sea-fight off Cnidus and Mount Dorium,
then the Ionians changed sides again, and you may see a brazen statue
of Conon and Timotheus at Samos in the temple of Hera, and likewise at
Ephesus in the temple of Artemis. This has been the case in all ages,
for all men, like these Ionians, pay court to the strongest.
CHAPTER IV.
And next to Lysander is the effigy of an Ephesian boxer, whose name
was Athenæus, and who beat all the boys that contended with him, and
next him is the Sicyonian pancratiast Sostratus, whose surname was
_Acrochersites_, because he laid hold of his adversary’s fingers and
tried to break them, and would not let go till he saw that he was going
to give in. And he had 12 victories at Nemea and Isthmus both together,
and in the Pythian games two, at Olympia three. The 104th Olympiad, in
which this Sostratus was victor for the first time, the people of Elis
do not record, because the games in that Olympiad were not instituted
by them but by the Pisæans and Arcadians. And next to Sostratus is
the wrestler Leontiscus, a Sicilian from Messene by the Strait. And
he is said to have been crowned by the Amphictyonians, and twice by
the people of Elis, and his wrestling is said to have been somewhat
similar to that of Sostratus of Sicyon in the pancratium, for he was
not an adept at wrestling his antagonists down, but he used to beat
them by trying to break their fingers. And his statue was by Pythagoras
of Rhegium, an excellent sculptor if ever there was one. And he learnt
his art they say from Clearchus who was also a native of Rhegium, and a
pupil of Euchirus. This Euchirus was a Corinthian, and pupil of Syadra
and Charta, who were both Spartans.
And the boy with a fillet on his head must not be omitted by me, on
Phidias’ account and his fame as a statuary, for otherwise we don’t
know who it is a statue of. And there is a statue of Satyrus of Elis,
the son of Lysianax, of the family of the Iamidæ, who five times won
the prize for boxing at Nemea, and twice at Olympia, and twice at the
Pythian games. This statue is by the Athenian Silanion. And another
Athenian statuary Polycles, the pupil of the Athenian Stadieus,
has made a statue of the Ephesian pancratiast, Amyntas the son of
Hellanicus.
And Chilon the Achæan of Patræ had two victories at Olympia in
wrestling among men, and one at Delphi, and 4 at Isthmus, and 3 at
Nemea. And he had a public funeral from the Achæans, as he was killed
in war. The inscription at Olympia bears me out.
“I won the prize from men in wrestling twice in the Pythian and
Olympian games, three times at Nemea, four times at the Isthmus near
the sea, I Chilon of Patræ the son of Chilon, whom the Achæans gave a
public funeral to for his valour as he was killed in war.”
Such is what the inscription records. And if one conjectures from the
age of Lysippus, who made the effigy, one must infer that the war in
which Chilon fell was either at Chæronea when he fought in company with
all the Achæans, or that he alone boldly volunteered to fight at Lamia
in Thessaly against Antipater and the Macedonians.
And next to that of Chilon are two statues: one of Molpion, who
the inscription states was crowned by the people of Elis, and the
other, which has no inscription, is they say Aristotle of Stagira in
Thrace, and it was erected to him by some pupil or soldier, as he was
greatly honoured by Antipater and earlier still by Alexander. And
Sodamas from Assus in the Troas, near Mount Ida, was the first Æolian
that won the prize for boys in the course at Olympia. And next to
Sodamas is a statue of Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, king of the
Lacedæmonians. Before the reign of this Archidamus I cannot find that
the Lacedæmonians erected a statue of anyone beyond their own borders.
But they sent I think a statue of Archidamus to Olympia, not only on
other accounts but also because of his death, for he died fighting
against the barbarians, and was the only one of the Spartan kings that
lacked sepulture. I have narrated the particulars at full length in my
account of Sparta. And Euanthes of Cyzicus had prizes for boxing, one
at Olympia as a man, and at Nemea and the Isthmian games as a boy. And
next to Euanthes is a horse-trainer and a chariot, and a girl mounting
the chariot. The man’s name is Lampus, and his native town was the
most recent of the Macedonian towns, and got its name from its founder
Philip the son of Amyntas. And the effigy of Cyniscus, the boy boxer
from Mantinea, was by Polycletus. And Ergoteles the son of Philanor,
who carried off two victories at Olympia in the long course, and as
many at the Pythian Isthmian and Nemean games, was not originally a
native of Himera, as the inscription states, but is said to have been a
Cretan from Gnossus: and being banished from thence in some faction he
went to Himera, and obtained citizenship there, and had other honours.
This is the probable explanation of his being proclaimed in the games
as a native of Himera.
CHAPTER V.
The statue which stands on a lofty pedestal is by Lysippus. It is the
statue of Polydamas, the son of Nicias, the largest man of our times.
There may have been larger men, but only the heroes or some mortal race
of giants earlier than the heroes. Scotusa, which was the native place
of Polydamas, is not inhabited in our day, for Alexander the king of
the Pheræans took it in time of peace, for when the people of Scotusa
were all gathered together in the theatre, for they held their meetings
there at that period, he surrounded it with targeteers and archers and
shot them all, and slew all besides that were in their prime, and sold
the women and children, and with the proceeds kept up a mercenary army.
This disaster happened to the people of Scotusa when Phrasiclides was
Archon at Athens, in the 102nd Olympiad, in the second year of which
Damon of Thuria was victor for the second time. And those that escaped
of the people of Scotusa were few, and even they were reduced still
further and left the town, when Providence brought a second reverse
upon all the Greeks in the war with the Macedonians. In the pancratium
several had notable victories, but Polydamas beside his crowns for the
pancratium had further renown for the following remarkable exploits.
The mountainous part of Thrace, inside the river Nestus that flows
through the territory of the people of Abdera, rears several wild
beasts and among them lions, who on one occasion attacked the army of
Xerxes, and made havoc of the camels that carried the corn. These lions
also frequently prowled about the country in the neighbourhood of Mount
Olympus, one side of which mountain faces Macedonia, another Thessaly
and the river Peneus. Polydamas unarmed slew a large and stout lion
on Mount Olympus: moved to this exploit from a desire to emulate the
actions of Hercules, who as the tradition goes vanquished the Nemean
lion. Another memorable feat of Polydamas is on record. He approached
a herd of cattle, and seized the strongest and wildest bull by one of
its hind feet, and held on fast by its hoofs, and would not let it go
though it kicked and struggled, till at last the bull exerting all its
strength got away from him, and left its hoofs in his hands. It is
also recorded of him that he stopped a chariot which the driver was
urging on at full speed, by laying hold of it behind with one hand, and
thus stopped both horses and charioteer. And Darius, the illegitimate
son of Artaxerxes, (who with the help of the Persian commonalty had
deposed Sogdius, Artaxerxes’ legitimate son, and usurped his kingdom),
when he became king sent messengers, for he had heard of the exploits
of Polydamas, and by promising rewards attracted him to his court at
Susa. And there he slew in single combat three of the Persians called
Immortals who had challenged him. And some of the exploits which I have
mentioned are recorded on the base of his statue at Olympia, others
in the inscription. But eventually the prophetic utterance of Homer
about trusting too much in one’s strength proved true of Polydamas,
for he too was destined to perish through too great confidence in his
strength.[77] On one occasion with several boon companions he entered
a cave in summer time, and somehow or other by some malign fortune the
top of the cave cracked, and was evidently going to fall in in no long
time. And when they perceived the impending disaster all his companions
fled, but Polydamas determined to remain, and stretched out his hands
in the intention of holding up this mass of rock and not being buried
under it, but he was crushed to death.
CHAPTER VI.
And next to the statue of Polydamas are two Arcadian athletes, and one
Athenian one. The first is the Mantinean Protolaus, the son of Dialces,
who beat all the boys in boxing, by Pythagoras of Rhegium, the second
is Narycidas, the son of Damaretus, a wrestler from Phigalia, by the
Sicyonian Dædalus, and the third is Callias, the Athenian pancratiast,
by the Athenian painter Micon. And there is a statue, by Nicodamus
of Mænalus, of the pancratiast from Mænalus, Androsthenes the son of
Lochæus, who carried off two victories from men. And next to these
is the statue of Eucles the son of Callianax, a Rhodian by birth
and of the family of the Diagoridæ, (for Diagoras was his maternal
grandfather), who won the prize for boxing among men at Olympia. His
statue is by Naucydes. And Polycletus the Argive, a pupil of Naucydes,
(not the Polycletus who made the statue of Hera), has made the statue
of a boy-wrestler, the Theban Agenor. It was made at the expense of the
Phocians, to whom Theopompus the father of Agenor had been friendly.
And Nicodamus, the statuary from Mænalus, made a statue of Damoxenidas,
the man-boxer from Mænalus. There is also an effigy of Lastratidas
the boy of Elis, who won the crown for wrestling, and also a victory
at Nemea among boys and beardless youths. And Paraballon the father
of Lastratidas won the prize in the double course, and excited the
emulation of posterity, by writing up the names of the victors at
Olympia in the gymnasium at Olympia.
So far for these last mentioned: but I must not omit Euthymus the
boxer, or his victories and other feats. He was an Italian from Locri
near the promontory of Zephyrium, and his father’s name was Astycles.
But the natives of that country say that he was not the son of Astycles
but of the River Cæcinus, which is the boundary between the districts
of Locri and Rhegium, and has a peculiarity in respect to grasshoppers.
For the grasshoppers in Locri up to the river Cæcinus sing just as
other grasshoppers, but after you cross the Cæcinus they cease to sing
in the district of Rhegium. Euthymus then is said to be the son of this
River, and he won a boxing prize at Olympia in the 74th Olympiad, but
was not equally successful in the following Olympiad. For Theagenes
from Thasos, wishing to win in the same Olympiad prizes both for boxing
and the pancratium, outboxed Euthymus. Theagenes however could not
receive the wild olive crown for the pancratium, as in the contest
with Euthymus he was exhausted first. Moreover the umpires fined
Theagenes a talent as a fine to the god, and a talent for the injury
done to Euthymus, for they thought he insulted him in the boxing-match,
therefore they ordered him also to pay privately money to Euthymus. And
in the 76th Olympiad Theagenes paid his fine to the god, and in his
vexation would not again contend as a boxer: but Euthymus received the
crown for boxing both in that and the next Olympiad. And his statue is
by Pythagoras and is especially fine. And on his return to Italy he
fought against a Hero. The particulars are as follows. When Odysseus
was on his travels after the capture of Ilium they say he was driven
by the winds to several towns in Italy and Sicily, and among others to
Temesa; there they say one of his sailors in drink violated a maiden,
and for this outrage was stoned to death by the inhabitants. Thereupon
Odysseus not troubling himself about his death sailed off, but the
ghost of the man that had been stoned relentlessly continued to slay
indiscriminately the people of Temesa, pursuing all ages alike, till
the Pythian Priestess, when they intended to make a wholesale flitting
from Italy, forbade them to leave Temesa, and bade them propitiate the
Hero, by building him a temple in a grove set apart for that purpose,
and annually giving him as wife the handsomest girl in Temesa. As they
obeyed the orders of the oracle they had no further trouble with the
ghost. But Euthymus happened to arrive at Temesa at the time when this
annual offering to the ghost was being made, and inquired into the
matter, and had a strong desire to enter the temple and behold the
maiden. And when he saw her, he was first moved with pity and then
with love. And she swore that she would marry him if he saved her, and
Euthymus armed himself and awaited the approach of the ghost. In the
fight that ensued he was victor, and the Hero left the country, dived
into the sea and was never seen again, and the men of that region had
henceforth no more trouble from him, and the marriage of Euthymus was
celebrated with much pomp. I have also heard that Euthymus lived to
advanced old age, and did not die, but left mankind some other way.
I have also heard that Temesa is inhabited still, my informant was a
merchant that sails in those parts. I also have seen a painting, which
is an imitation of an older painting. In it is the young man Sybaris,
and the river Calabrus, and the well Lyca, and a hero-chapel, and
the town of Temesa. There too is the ghost whom Euthymus expelled,
dreadfully swarthy and most formidable in all his appearance, and
dressed in a wolfskin. And the letters in the painting give his name,
Lycas. So much for this legend.
CHAPTER VII.
And next to the statue of Euthymus is that of Pytharchus of Mantinea,
a runner in the course, and Charmides a boxer of Elis, both of whom
received prizes as boys. And when you have seen these you will come
to the statues of the Rhodian athletes, Diagoras and his family. They
are all together in the following order, Acusilaus with the prize for
boxing among men, and Dorieus, the youngest, who won three prizes in
succession at Olympia in the pancratium. Before Dorieus Damagetus, who
comes next, had won the prize against all comers in the pancratium.
Next to his 3 sons comes the statue of Diagoras, who won a victory
among men in boxing. And the statue of Diagoras is by the Megarian
Callicles, the son of that Theocosmus who made the statue of Zeus at
Megara. The sons also of Diagoras’ daughters practised as boxers and
won prizes at Olympia, among the men Eucles the son of Callianax and
Callipatira (the daughter of Diagoras), and among the boys Pisirodus,
whose mother dressed him up like a man and brought him to the Olympian
games, herself disguised as a trainer. This Pisirodus also has a
statue in Altis near his maternal grandfather. Diagoras they say
also came to Olympia with his sons Acusilaus and Damagetus. And the
young men being victorious at the festival bore their father on their
shoulders, who was pelted by the Greeks with flowers and congratulated
on his sons. On the female side Diagoras was a Messenian by extraction,
as he was descended from the daughter of Aristomenes. And Dorieus the
son of Diagoras, besides his victories at Olympia, had 8 victories
in the Isthmian games, and seven in the Nemean. It is said that he
also won in the Pythian games without a contest. And he and Pisirodus
were entered in the games as Thurians, because they were driven from
Rhodes by faction and migrated to Thurii. But Dorieus returned to
Rhodes subsequently. And of all men he manifestly was most devoted to
the Lacedæmonian interests, for he fought against the Athenians with
a fleet he had himself equipped, till he was captured by the Athenian
triremes and taken prisoner to Athens. And the Athenians before Dorieus
was brought before them were very angry against him and used threats,
but when they came to the popular Assembly and saw there so great and
renowned a man a captive, their intention about him changed and they
let him go, and did no harm to him, while they might have done so
with justice. The circumstances of the death of Dorieus are told by
Androtion in his history of Attica, _viz._ that the fleet of the great
king was at Caunus and Conon was the Admiral, and the people of Rhodes
were persuaded by Conon to revolt from the Lacedæmonians, and join the
alliance of the Athenians and the great king, and that Dorieus was at
the time absent from Rhodes in the interior of the Peloponnese, and was
arrested by the Lacedæmonians and taken to Sparta, and condemned by the
Lacedæmonians for treason and put to death. And if Androtion’s account
be correct, he seems to be desirous of proving the Lacedæmonians as
rash as the Athenians, for the Athenians are charged with acting rashly
with respect to Thrasyllus and those who fought under him at Arginusæ.
To such a pitch of glory then did Diagoras and his posterity attain.
Alcænetus, the son of Theantus of Lepreus, and his sons also had
victories at Olympia. Alcænetus himself won prizes for boxing among
the men as previously among the boys. And Hellanicus and Theantus, the
sons of Alcænetus, were proclaimed winners in the boxing match for
boys, Hellanicus in the 89th Olympiad, and Theantus in the following
Olympiad. All three have statues at Olympia. And next to the sons of
Alcænetus are statues of Gnatho, the Dipæan from the country about
Mænalus, and Lycinus of Elis: who also had prizes for boxing among the
boys at Olympia. That Gnatho, when he conquered, was exceptionally
young is stated in the inscription, his statue is by Callicles the
Megarian. And Dromeus from Stymphelus was as his name indicates a
runner in the long course, and had two victories at Olympia, two at
the Pythian games, three at the Isthmus, and five at Nemea. It is said
also that he introduced eating flesh during training: for athletes in
training before him used to eat only a particular kind of cheese. His
statue is by Pythagoras, and the next to it is that of Pythocles of
Elis, who won in the pentathlum, by Polycletus.
CHAPTER VIII.
Who made the statue of Socrates of Pellene, who won the race for boys,
is not recorded, but the statue of Amertus of Elis, who defeated in
wrestling all the men that came to the Pythian games, was by Phradmon
the Argive. And Euanoridas of Elis won victories in wrestling among the
boys both at Olympia and at Nemea: and he became an Umpire and made a
list of the victors at Olympia.
As to the boxer Damarchus, a Parrhasian from Arcadia, I cannot
credit, except the victory at Olympia, all the fictions about him
made by boastful people, such as that he changed from a man into a
wolf at the sacrifice of Zeus Lycæus, and that 10 years afterwards he
changed into a man again. Not that this is the tradition apparently
of the Arcadians about him. Else it would have been inserted in their
inscription at Olympia, which runs as follows.
“Damarchus the son of Dinnytas erected this statue, a Parrhasian from
Arcadia.”
This is all the inscription. But Eubotas of Cyrene, as he had learnt
beforehand from the oracle at Libya that he would gain the prize in
the race at Olympia, had his statue made first, and on the same day
was proclaimed victor and set up his statue. It is said also that he
won the chariot race in that Olympiad which the people of Elis do not
reckon because the Arcadians instituted the games.
And the statue of Timanthes of Cleonæ, who won the prize for men in
the pancratium, is by the Athenian Myro, and that of Baucis of Trœzen,
who beat all the men in wrestling, is by Naucydes. The following
was they say the end of Timanthes. When he ceased to be an athlete
he continued none the less to make trial of his strength, every day
bending a huge bow: and he went away from home for a time, and during
that period the use of the bow was suspended: and when on his return
he found himself no longer strong enough to bend his bow, he lighted
his funeral pyre and put himself alive on it. All actions of this kind
whether in the past or in the future seem to me rather madness than
bravery.
And next to Baucis are some statues of Arcadian athletes, as
Euthymenes of Mænalus, who won prizes among men for wrestling and still
earlier among boys, and Philip the son of Azan from Pellene, who beat
all the boys in boxing, and Critodamus from Clitor, who was himself
also proclaimed victor in the boys’ boxing match. That of Euthymenes
was by Alypus, that of Critodamus by Cleon, and that of Philip the son
of Azan by Myro. As to Promachus the pancratiast, the son of Dryon of
Pellene, I shall state more about him in my account of Achaia. And not
far from Promachus is the statue of Timasitheus of Delphi, (by Ageladas
the Argive), who won two victories in the pancratium at Olympia, and
three in the Pythian games. He also exhibited brilliant bravery in
war, and had constant good fortune till then. For his valour on that
occasion cost him his life. For when Isagoras the Athenian occupied the
Acropolis with the view of making himself master of Athens, Timasitheus
joined him, and was one of those who were captured, and put to death by
the Athenians for his share in the matter.
CHAPTER IX.
And the statue of Theognetus of Ægina, who was crowned for wrestling
among the boys, is by Ptolichus of Ægina, the pupil of his father
Synnoon, who was himself the pupil of Aristocles of Sicyon, the brother
of Canachus and as famous as a statuary. But why Theognetus carries
in his hand the fruit of the cultivated pine and pomegranate I cannot
conjecture, perhaps among some of the Æginetans there is some national
legend about him. And next to the statue of the man who the people of
Elis say was not registered with the rest, because he was proclaimed
victor in the trotting-race,[78] is the statue of Xenocles of Mænalus,
who beat all the boys in wrestling, and Alcetus the son of Alcinous,
who beat all the boys in boxing, an Arcadian from Clitor. His statue
is by Cleon, and Xenocles’ by Polycletus. And the statue of the Argive
Aristeus, who won the prize in the long course, is by the Chian
Pantias, a pupil of his father Sostratus: and next to him is the statue
of Chimon, the father of Aristeus, who won the prize for wrestling.
His statues are in my opinion the finest works of art of Naucydes,
one is at Olympia, and the other was carried from Argos to the temple
of Peace in Rome. It is also said that Chimon beat Taurosthenes of
Ægina in wrestling, and that in the following Olympiad Taurosthenes
beat all comers in wrestling, and the same day an apparition very like
Taurosthenes appeared at Ægina and announced his victory. And the
statue of Philles of Elis, who beat all the boys in wrestling, is by
the Spartan Cratinus. As to the chariot of Gelon, I cannot agree with
the opinion of those who have written before me, who say that it was a
votive offering of Gelon the tyrant of Syracuse. The inscription says
that it was a votive offering of Gelon of Gela, the son of Dinomenes,
who was a victor in the 73rd Olympiad. But Gelon the tyrant of Sicily
was master of Syracuse when Hybilides was Archon at Athens, in the
second year of the 72nd Olympiad, in which Tisicrates of Croton won
the race in the stadium. Manifestly therefore he would have been
entered for the race as a Syracusan, and not as a native of Gela. So
this Gelon would be some private person, having merely the same name as
the Tyrant. And Glaucias the Æginetan made both the chariot and statue
of Gelon.
In the Olympiad previous to this they say that Cleomedes of
Astypalæa, boxing with Iccus from Epidaurus, killed him, and was
condemned by the Umpires to be deprived of his prize, and went out
of his mind for grief, and returned to Astypalæa, and standing in a
school when there were about 60 scholars pulled away the pillar which
supported the roof, and when the roof fell in on the boys he was
pelted with stones by the citizens, and fled for refuge to the temple
of Athene: and getting into a chest which was lying in the temple,
and clapping down the lid, the people of Astypalæa had immense labour
to open the chest. At last they broke open the woodwork, and found
no Cleomedes either alive or dead, and sent messengers to Delphi to
inquire what had become of him. The Pythian Priestess they say returned
this answer,
“Last of the heroes is Cleomedes of Astypalæa, honour him with
sacrifices as no longer a mortal.”
From that time forward the people of Astypalæa pay honours to him as
a hero.
And next to the chariot of Gelon is the statue of Philo by the
Æginetan Glaucias. On this Philo Simonides, the son of Leoprepes, wrote
the very apt elegiac couplet:
“My country is Corcyra, my name Philo. I am the son of Glaucus, and
have won prizes for boxing in two Olympiads.”
There is also a statue of the Mantinean Agametor, who beat all the
boys in boxing.
CHAPTER X.
And next to those I have mentioned is Glaucus of Carystus, who they say
was originally from Anthedon in Bœotia, and traced his descent from
Glaucus the god of the sea. He was the son of Demylus, and they say
originally was a husbandman. And once when the ploughshare came off
his plough, he put it on again using his hand instead of a hammer. And
Demylus marvelled at his son’s strength, and in consequence sent him to
Olympia as a boxer. And there Glaucus, being unpractised in that kind
of contest, was badly handled by his antagonists, and, while boxing
with the last remaining of them, seemed likely to faint away from his
punishment. And they say his father cried out, _My boy, remember the
ploughshare_. Then he put in a terrible blow at his antagonist, and won
the prize. He is said also to have been twice crowned at the Pythian
games, and eight times in the Nemean and Isthmian games. The statue of
Glaucus was erected by his son, but was made by Glaucias the Æginetan.
And the statue is in the attitude of one boxing, for Glaucus was the
most clever of all his contemporaries in the noble Science. And after
his death the people of Carystus say that he was buried in the island
still called Glaucus’ island.
And Damaretus of Heræa, and the son and grandson of Damaretus, had
two victories each at Olympia, Damaretus in the 65th Olympiad, when
first the race in heavy armour was instituted, and also in the next
Olympiad. His statue has a shield like those in use in our day, and a
helmet on the head, and greaves on the feet. This race in heavy armour
was abandoned eventually by the people of Elis and all the Greeks. And
Theopompus, the son of Damaretus, and afterwards his grandson of the
same name won the prize in the pentathlum, and the grandson Theopompus
won prizes also for wrestling; who made his statue we do not know,
but the statues of his father and grandfather were according to the
inscription by the Argives Eutelidas and Chrysothemis. It does not
however state from whom they learnt their art. This is the inscription.
“The Argives Eutelidas and Chrysothemis made these statues, having
learnt their art from former generations.”
And Iccus the son of Nicolaidas the Tarentine won the prize at
Olympia in the pentathlum, and afterwards became the best trainer of
his day. And next to Iccus is the statue of Pantarces of Elis, who
beat all the boys in wrestling, and was beloved by Phidias. And next
to Pantarces is the chariot of Cleosthenes, a man of Epidamnus, by
Ageladas, behind the Zeus erected by the Greeks after the battle of
Platæa. He conquered in the 66th Olympiad, and he erected not only his
own statue but also that of his charioteer and horses. And the names
inscribed on the horses are Phœnix and Corax, and of those in the
traces, on the right Cnacias, and on the left Samos. And there is this
elegiac couplet on the chariot:
“Cleosthenes the Pontian from Epidamnus erected me, after winning the
prize with his horses in the noble contest of Zeus.”
And of all that reared horses among the Greeks this Cleosthenes was
the first that erected his statue at Olympia. For the votive offering
of Euagoras the Lacedæmonian is only his chariot, and not Euagoras in
it: and as to Miltiades the Athenian, what he erected at Olympia I
shall narrate elsewhere. And the Epidamnians have the same territory
as formerly, but the town in our days is not the old one, but one at a
little distance: and its name is now Dyrrhachium from its founder.
And there is a statue of Lycinus, the native of Heræa who won in the
race for boys, by Cleon, and of three who won victories among the boys
for boxing, Epicradius of Mantinea by Ptolichus of Ægina, and Tellon
the Oresthasian by what statuary is not on record, and Agiadas of Elis
by Serambus of Ægina.
CHAPTER XI.
Next to these are votive offerings of the people of Elis, as Philip
the son of Amyntas, and Alexander the son of Philip, and Seleucus, and
Antigonus; the statues of all but Antigonus are on horseback, he alone
is on foot.
And not far from these kings is a statue of Theagenes of Thasos, the
son of Timosthenes. But the Thasians say that he was not the son of
Timosthenes, who was a priest of Hercules at Thasos, but that Hercules
disguised as Timosthenes had an intrigue with the mother of Theagenes.
And when the lad was nine years of age, and was going home from school,
he fancied they say the brazen statue of one of the gods in the
market-place, and seized it and put it upon one of his shoulders and
took it home. And the citizens being angry with him for what he had
done, a man of repute and advanced age would not let them kill the lad,
but bade him restore the statue back to its place, and he did so. And
immediately the fame of the lad for strength spread abroad, and his
exploit was talked of all over Greece. The most notable of his exploits
at Olympia I have already recorded, and how he beat Euthymus in boxing,
and how he was fined by the people of Elis. At that time Dromeus of
Mantinea won the victory in the pancratium, for the first time on
record without a contest. But he was beaten by Theagenes the Olympiad
afterwards in the pancratium. And Theagenes had three victories in the
Pythian games for boxing, and 9 at Nemea and 10 at the Isthmus for the
pancratium and boxing together. And at Phthia in Thessaly he neglected
boxing and the pancratium, and endeavoured to become illustrious among
the Greeks in racing, and beat all comers in the long course. I cannot
but think he was desirous of emulating Achilles, and to win in the
race in the country of the swiftest of heroes. All the crowns he won
were as many as 1400. And when he died, one of his enemies went up to
his statue every night, and scourged the brass as if it were Theagenes
alive he was maltreating. But at last the statue fell on him and killed
him and so stopped his outrage, but after his death his sons indicted
the statue for murder: and the Thasians threw the statue into the
sea, obeying the code of Draco, who in legislating for the Athenians
banished even inanimate things if they killed anyone by falling upon
him. But in process of time, as the earth yielded no fruit to the
Thasians, they sent envoys to Delphi, and the god bade them restore
from exile those that had been banished. Some were accordingly recalled
from exile, but the dearth was not removed. They went therefore a
second time to Delphi, saying that, though they had done what the
oracle ordered, yet the wrath of the gods remained. Then the Pythian
Priestess answered.
“Your great Theagenes you have forgotten.”
And when they were quite in despair how to recover the statue of
Theagenes, some fishermen (they say) putting out to sea for the purpose
of catching fish caught the statue in their net and brought it to land.
And the Thasians restoring it to its original site sacrificed to it as
to a god. And I know that there are statues of Theagenes in various
parts of Greece and among the barbarians also, and that he is reckoned
to cure diseases, and has various honours from the people of Thasos.
His statue in Altis is by the Æginetan Glaucias.
CHAPTER XII.
And at no great distance is a brazen chariot and a man in it, and some
race-horses are on each side of it, and boys on the horses. They are
memorials of the victories in the Olympian contests of Hiero the son of
Dinomenes, the tyrant of Syracuse after his brother Gelon. They were
not however sent by Hiero, but Dinomenes the son of Hiero offered them
to the god. The chariot is by Onatas the Æginetan, and the horses on
both sides and the boys on them are by Calamis.
And next to the chariot of Hiero is Hiero the son of Hierocles, of
the same name as the son of Dinomenes, and also himself tyrant of
Syracuse. This Hiero after the death of Agathocles, the former tyrant
of Syracuse, rose to the same power in the second year of the 126th
Olympiad, in which Idæus of Cyrene won in the stadium. This Hiero had
friendly relations with Pyrrhus the son of Æacides and became his
kinsman by marriage, Gelon his son marrying Nereis Pyrrhus’ daughter.
And when the Romans fought with the Carthaginians for the possession
of Sicily the Carthaginians had more than half the island, and on the
commencement of the war Hiero resolved to throw in his lot with the
Carthaginians, but in no long time thinking the Roman power stronger
and likely to be more lasting he joined them. He was assassinated by
Dinomenes, a Syracusan who had an especial hatred to tyranny, and who
afterwards endeavoured to kill Hippocrates the brother of Epicydes, who
had just come to Syracuse from Erbessus and was endeavouring to talk
over the people. But he defended himself, and some of his guards came
up and cut Dinomenes to pieces. And the statues of Hiero in Olympia,
one on horseback and the other on foot, were erected by his sons, and
made by the Syracusan Mico the son of Niceratus.
And next to the statues of Hiero are Areus, the son of Acrotatus,
king of the Lacedæmonians, and Aratus the son of Clinias, and a second
one of Areus on horseback: that of Aratus is the votive offering of
the Corinthians, that of Areus of the men of Elis. Of both Aratus and
Areus I have given an account earlier in this work. Aratus was also
proclaimed victor at Olympia in the chariot-race. And Timon, the son of
Ægyptus, who entered horses at Olympia, a native of Elis, has a brazen
chariot, and on it a maiden who I think is Victory. And Callon the son
of Harmodius and Hippomachus the son of Moschion, both of Elis and
victors among boys in the boxing, have statues, Callon’s is by Daippus,
we do not know who designed Hippomachus’, but they say he wrestled down
three antagonists and received no blow or hurt. And the inscription on
the chariot states that Theochrestus of Cyrene, (who trained horses
according to the national custom of the Libyans), and his grandfather
also of the same name, had victories with their horses at Olympia, and
that the father of Theochrestus was victorious at the Isthmian games.
And that Agesarchus of Tritæa the son of Hæmostratus beat men in boxing
at the Olympian, Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian games is stated in an
elegiac couplet, which also states untruly, as I have discovered, that
the people of Tritæa are Arcadians. For of the towns that have attained
celebrity in Arcadia all about their founders is well known, and those
that were obscure from their origin, and lost their population through
their weakness, were absorbed into Megalopolis by a decree from the
commonalty of the Arcadians. Nor can we find any other Tritæa in Greece
but the one in Achaia. One would infer therefore that the people of
Tritæa were reckoned among the Arcadians, as now some of the Arcadians
are reckoned in Argolis. And the statue of Agesarchus is by the sons of
Polycles, of whom we shall make mention later on.
CHAPTER XIII.
And the statue of Astylus of Croton is by Pythagoras, he was victorious
at three Olympiads in succession in the stade and in the double course.
But because in the two latter Olympiads he entered himself as a
Syracusan, to ingratiate himself with Hiero the son of Dinomenes, the
people of Croton voted that his house should be turned into a public
prison, and removed his statue from the temple of Lacinian Hera.
There is also at Olympia a pillar which recounts the victories of the
Lacedæmonian Chionis. They are simple who think that Chionis erected
this statue himself, and not the Lacedæmonian public. For granted that
there is on the pillar no mention of a race in heavy armour, how could
Chionis know that the people of Elis would not one day institute one?
They are still more simple who think that the statue on the pillar is
by Chionis, seeing it is by the Athenian Myro.
Very similar fame to that of Chionis was won by the Lycian Hermogenes
Xanthius, who won the wild olive crown eight times in three Olympiads,
and was nicknamed _Horse_ by the Greeks. Polites too you would hold
in great admiration. He was from Ceramus in Caria, and manifested
great swiftness of foot at Olympia. For he won the longest race in the
shortest time on record, and on the same day he won the long race, and
the race in the stadium, and the double race. And on the second day,
when they only allow four chosen by lot to compete in the race and not
all comers, and the victors in each department only contend for these
prizes, Polites was victor again: for the person who is crowned for the
race in the stadium will go off with two victories. However the most
remarkable victories in the race were won by Leonidas of Rhodes, for in
four Olympiads he was in his prime, and 12 times conqueror through his
swiftness of foot. And not far from the pillar of Chionis at Olympia is
the statue of Scæus the Samian, the son of Duris, who beat all the boys
in boxing, his statue is by Hippias, and the inscription on it states,
that Scæus was victor when the Samian populace fled from their island,
and the statue was put up when they were restored. And next to the
tyrant is a statue of Diallus the son of Pollis, a native of Smyrna,
and the inscription states that he was the first Ionian that won the
prize in the pancratium for boys. And the statues of Thersilochus
of Corcyra, and Aristion of Epidaurus, the son of Theophiles, the
latter victor in boxing among men, the former among boys, are by the
Argive Polycletus. And the statue of Bycelus, who was the first of
the Sicyonians to conquer among boys in boxing, is by the Sicyonian
Canachus, who was a pupil of the Argive Polycletus. And next to Bycelus
is the hoplite Mnaseas of Cyrene, surnamed Libyan, by Pythagoras of
Rhegium. And the inscription on Agemachus of Cyzicus states that he
came to Argos from the mainland of Asia Minor. As to Naxos in Sicily,
which was colonized by some of the Chalcidians near the Euripus, there
are no ruins even of the town in our day, and that its name has come
down to posterity is mainly due to Tisander the son of Cleocritus.
For 4 times he beat all the men in boxing at Olympia, and had as many
victories in the Pythian games. There was not at that time any record
of the victors in the Corinthian games, nor did the Argives keep any
record of the victors in the Nemean games.
And the mare of the Corinthian Phidolas, which was called as the
Corinthians inform us _Aura_, though its rider fell off at the
beginning of the race, yet ran straight and turned at the goal, and
when it heard the sound of the trumpet ran on all the faster, and beat
all the other horses by the decision of the Umpires, and knew that
it had come in first, and stopped running. And the people of Elis
proclaimed Phidolas victor, and allowed him to set up a statue of this
mare. The sons of Phidolas also won victories on a race-horse, and a
statue of the horse was put on a pillar with the following inscription.
“Once in the Isthmian games, twice at Olympia, did Lycus the swift
courser win the race, and honour for the sons of Phidolas.”
However this inscription and the records in Elis of the victors at
Olympia do not tally, for in the 68th Olympiad only do those records
record any victory of the sons of Phidolas. Let anyone inquire into
this further who likes. And there are statues of Agathinus the son of
Thrasybulus, and Telemachus who was victorious with his horses, the
former was an offering of the Achæans of Pellene. The Athenian people
also set up a statue to Aristophon the son of Lycinus who beat all the
men in the pancratium at Olympia.
CHAPTER XIV.
And Pherias the Æginetan, whose statue is next the Athenian Aristophon,
was not allowed in the 78th Olympiad to enter the contest because
he appeared very young, and was not thought fit to compete in the
wrestling, but the following year he was allowed to wrestle among the
boys and won the prize. A different fortune to this of Pherias was that
of Nicasylus the Rhodian at Olympia. For being 18 he was not allowed
to contend with the boys by the people of Elis, but was entered as a
man and won the prize. He was proclaimed victor also at the Nemean and
Isthmian games. But he died in his 20th year, before he could return
home to Rhodes. But the feat of this Rhodian wrestler at Olympia was
outdone in my opinion by Artemidorus of Tralles. He was unsuccessful
at Olympia in his endeavour to win the pancratium among the boys, but
the reason of his failure was his excessive youth. For when the season
came for the contest which the Ionians have at Smyrna his strength had
become so great that he beat on the same day all his antagonists from
Olympia in the pancratium, and all the boys that they call unbearded,
and thirdly all the best of the men. And they say that he was cheered
on by the trainer in the contest with the boys, but that in the contest
with the men he was reviled by the pancratiast. And Artemidorus won
at Olympia the victory among men in the 212th Olympiad. And near the
statue of Nicasylus is a small brazen horse, the votive offering of
Crocon of Eretria when he won the victory with a race-horse, and near
this horse is an effigy of Telestas the Messenian, who beat all the
boys in boxing, by Silanion.
And the statue of Milo the son of Diotimus is by Dameas, both natives
of Croton. This Milo had six prizes for wrestling at Olympia, one of
them among boys, and at Pythia six among men and one among boys. And
he came to Olympia to wrestle for the 7th time. But he could not beat
in wrestling Timasitheus, a citizen and quite young, as Timasitheus
would not contend with him at close quarters in the arena at all. And
Milo is said to have carried his own statue to Altis. There are also
traditions about Milo in reference to a pomegranate and a quoit. He
held a pomegranate so fast that nobody could get it from him, and yet
he did not hurt it. And on one occasion standing on an oiled quoit he
excited laughter among those who jostled him and tried to push him off
it. And several other things he did in display. He tied a cord round
his forehead as if it were a fillet or a crown, and holding his breath
and filling the veins of his head with blood he would snap the cord
by the strength of his veins. It is recorded also that he would place
against his side his right arm from the elbow to the shoulder, and
stretch out the hand, and turn his thumb up while the fingers remained
together, and no one could with any exertion move the little finger
from its place. And they say he was killed by wild beasts. For he
chanced in the country near Croton on a withered tree, in which some
wedges were driven to separate the wood, and he took it into his head
to keep the wood apart with his hands. And the wedges slipt out and
he was imprisoned in the tree, and became a prey to the wolves, which
prowl about in great numbers in that neighbourhood. Such was the end of
Milo.
And Pyrrhus the son of Æacides having been king in Thesprotia in
Epirus, and having done many remarkable deeds, which I have described
in my account of Attica, Thrasybulus of Elis erected his statue in
Altis. And next to Pyrrhus is the statue of a little man with pipes in
his hand on a pillar. This man had a prize for his piping, the first
time such prizes were bestowed since the Argive Sacadas. Sacadas first
conquered in the games established by the Amphictyonians (when no prize
was given), and after that he won two prizes. And Pythocritus of Sicyon
won in six of the Pythian contests successively, being the only piper.
It is plain also at the contest at Olympia that he was piper six times
in the pentathlum. For all this he had a pillar at Olympia with the
inscription on it,
“This is the memorial of Pythocritus, (the son of Callinicus), the
piper.”
The Ætolians also erected a public statue to Cylon, who freed
the people of Elis from the tyranny of Aristotimus. And Gorgus the
Messenian, the son of Eucletus, who won the victory in the pentathlum
has a statue by the Bœotian Theron, and Damaretus, also a Messenian,
who beat all the boys in boxing has a statue by the Athenian Silanion.
And Anauchidas of Elis, the son of Philys, won a wrestling prize among
the boys and afterwards among the men. Who his statue is by we do not
know. And the statue of Anochus the Tarentine, the son of Adamatas,
who won the victory both in the stadium and in the double course, is
by Ageladas the Argive. And the boy seated on a horse and the man
standing by the horse are as the inscription says Xenombrotus of Cos
in Meropis, who was proclaimed victor in the horse-race, and Xenodicus
who was proclaimed victor in the boxing matches for boys, the latter is
by Pantias, and the former by Philotimus of Ægina. And the two statues
of Pythes, the son of Andromachus, an Abderite, were made by Lysippus,
but his soldiers had them made. Pythes seems to have been a leader of
mercenaries, or in some other way to have shewn himself a good soldier.
Here are also statues of those who won prizes in the course for boys,
as Meneptolemus from Apollonia on the Ionian gulf, and Philo from
Corcyra, and Hieronymus from Andros, who beat Tisamenus of Elis in the
pentathlum at Olympia, that Tisamenus who was afterwards a prophet for
the Greeks against Mardonius and the Medes at Platæa. And next to the
statue of Hieronymus is the statue of a boy-wrestler also from Andros,
Procles the son of Lycastidas. Stomius made the statue of Hieronymus,
and Somis that of Procles. And Æschines of Elis had two victories in
the pentathlum, and has two statues.
CHAPTER XV.
And Archippus of Mitylene, who beat all comers at boxing, had according
to the Mitylenæans this further fame, that he was crowned at the
Olympian Pythian Nemean and Isthmian games when he was only 20. And
the statue of Xenon, the son of Calliteles, of Lepreus in Triphylia,
who beat all the boys in the stadium, was made by the Messenian
Pyrilampes; we do not know who made the statue of Clinomachus of Elis,
who was proclaimed victor in the pentathlum. And the inscription of
the Achæans on Pantarches’ statue states that he was a native of Elis;
he made peace between the Achæans and people of Elis, and all the
prisoners who were captured on both sides were let go mainly through
him. He won his victory on a race-horse, and there is a record of his
victory at Olympia. And the statue of Olidas of Elis was set up by the
Ætolians. And Charinus of Elis has a statue for the double course and
for a victory in heavy armour, and near him is Ageles the Chian, who
beat all the boys in boxing, by Theomnestus of Sardis.
And the statue of Clitomachus the Theban was erected by Hermocrates
his father. His exploits were as follows. In the Isthmian games he beat
all comers in wrestling, and on one day won prizes from all competitors
in boxing and in the pancratium. And all his 3 victories in the
Pythian games were in the pancratium. And at Olympia he was proclaimed
second to Theagenes of Thasos in the pancratium and in boxing. And in
the 141st Olympiad he won the prize in the pancratium. And the next
Olympiad found him a competitor in the pancratium and in boxing, and
Caprus of Elis was on the same day anxious to compete in the pancratium
and in wrestling. And when Caprus had won the wrestling-prize,
Clitomachus hinted to the umpires that it was only fair to call for the
pancratium before he was battered about by boxing. What he said seemed
reasonable, and when the pancratium was called on he was beaten by
Caprus, though he exhibited afterwards in the boxing a stout heart and
untired body.
And the Ionians of Erythræ erected a statue to Epitherses the son of
Metrodorus, who won two victories in boxing at Olympia, and two at each
of the Pythian Nemean and Isthmian games, and the Syracusan public
erected two statues to Hiero, and his sons erected a third. As I stated
a little above this Hiero had the same name as the son of Dinomenes,
and was like him Tyrant of Syracuse. And the inhabitants of Pale, one
of the four tribes in Cephallenia, set up a statue to Timoptolis of
Elis the son of Lampis. These people of Pale were originally called
Dulichii. There is also a statue of Archidamus the son of Agesilaus,
and a man like a hunter. And the statues of Demetrius, who led an army
against Seleucus and was taken prisoner in the battle, and of Antigonus
the son of Demetrius, were let any one know votive offerings of the
Byzantians. And the Spartan Eutelidas had two victories for wrestling
among the boys in the 308th Olympiad, and a third in the pentathlum: at
that time the boys were called on first, and last in the pentathlum.
And there is an ancient statue of Eutelidas, the writing on the base is
obscure through lapse of time. And next to Eutelidas is another one of
Areus, the king of the Lacedæmonians, and next him Gorgus of Elis, who
is the only man up to my day who had four victories at Olympia in the
pentathlum, and one victory for the double course, and one for the race
in heavy armour.
And the person by whom some boys are standing is they say Ptolemy the
son of Lagus, and next him are two statues of Caprus of Elis, the son
of Pythagoras, who won on the same day for the first time on record
prizes for wrestling and the pancratium. I have already shown how
successful he was against Clitomachus in the pancratium, and he beat in
wrestling Pæanius of Elis, who had carried off the prize for wrestling
in former Olympiads, and had been crowned in the Pythian games on the
same day for boxing among boys, and for wrestling and boxing among men.
CHAPTER XVI.
Caprus won his victories not without great effort and mighty energy:
and Anauchidas and Pherenicus, who were natives of Elis, had statues at
Olympia, and won prizes for wrestling among the boys. And the Thespians
erected the statue of Plistænus, the son of Eurydamus, who was the
general of the Ætolians against the Galati. And Tydeus of Elis erected
statues to Antigonus, the father of Demetrius, and to Seleucus. And
the name of Seleucus was noised abroad among all men on other accounts
but chiefly for his capture of Demetrius. And Timon won victories in
the pentathlum in all the Greek games but the Isthmian (for like all
the other men of Elis he was shut out of competition in them), and
the inscription on his statue mentions this further particular about
him, that he took part in the expedition of the Ætolians against the
Thessalians, and out of friendship to the Ætolians was leader of the
garrison at Naupactus. And not far from the statue of Timon are statues
of Greece and Elis in juxtaposition: Greece with one hand crowning
Antigonus, the Regent for Philip the son of Demetrius, and with the
other Philip himself; and Elis crowning Demetrius, who marched against
Seleucus, and Ptolemy the son of Lagus.
And the inscription on his statue states that Aristides of Elis won
a victory in heavy armour at Olympia, and in the double course in the
Pythian games, and as a boy in the horse-race at Nemea. The length of
the horse-race is twice the double course. This race, which had fallen
into desuetude at the Nemean and Isthmian games, was restored by the
Emperor Adrian to the Argives at the winter games at Nemea.
And next to the statue of Aristides is Menalcas of Elis, who was
proclaimed victor at Olympia in the pentathlum, and Philonides the
son of Zotus, who was from the Cretan Chersonese, and the courier of
Alexander the son of Philip. And next is Brimias of Elis, who beat
all the men in boxing, and the statue of Leonidas from Naxos in the
Ægæan, the votive offering of the Psophidian Arcadians, and the statue
of Asamon who beat all the men in boxing, and that of Nicander, who
had two victories at Olympia in the double course, and six at Nemea
for racing generally. Asamon and Nicander were both natives of Elis,
and the statue of the latter was by Daippus, that of the former by
the Messenian Pyrilampes. There are statues also to Eualcidas of Elis
and Seleadas the Lacedæmonian, the former was victor among the boys
in boxing, the latter in wrestling among the men. Here too is the
small chariot of the Lacedæmonian Polypithes, and on the same pillar
Calliteles (the father of Polypithes) the wrestler, who won victories
by his wrestling, as Polypithes by his horses. And the statues of some
private individuals of Elis, as Lampus the son of Arniscus, and the
son of Aristarchus, were erected by the Psophidian Arcadians, either
because they were their Consuls, or were otherwise friendly to them.
And between them is Lysippus of Elis, who beat all boys who contended
with him in wrestling, his statue is by Andreas the Argive.
And the Lacedæmonian Dinosthenes won a victory over men at Olympia
in the course, and set up a pillar in Altis next to his statue: the
distance from this pillar by road to another pillar at Lacedæmon is 660
stades. And Theodorus, who was victor in the pentathlum, and Pyttalus,
the son of Lampis, who beat all the boys in boxing, and Nicolaidas, who
carried off the victory in the course and in the race in heavy armour,
were let any one know natives of Elis. As to Pyttalus they record
still further that, when there was a dispute between the Arcadians and
the men of Elis about their borders, he was made the arbitrator. His
statue is by the Olynthian Sthennis. And next is a statue of Ptolemy on
horseback, and by him the athlete of Elis Pæanius the son of Demetrius,
who won one prize for wrestling at Olympia, and two in the Pythian
games. There too is Clearetus of Elis, who won in the pentathlum, and
the chariot of the Athenian Glaucon (the son of Eteocles), who was
proclaimed victor in the chariot race with a full-grown horse.
CHAPTER XVII.
What I have just mentioned are the most notable things as you approach
Altis, but, if you go on the right from the monument of Leonidas to
the great altar, you will behold the following memorable objects.
There are statues of Democrates of Tenedos and Criannius of Elis, the
latter victor in the contest in heavy armour, the former in wrestling
among men. The statue of Democrates is by the Milesian Dionysicles,
that of Criannius by the Macedonian Lysus. And the Clazomenian
Herodotus, and the Coan Philinus, the son of Hegepolis, have statues
erected to them by their native cities, to Herodotus because he was
the first Clazomenian pronounced victor (his victory was among boys in
the course), and to Philinus because of his renown, for he had five
victories in running at Olympia, and four in the Pythian games, four
in the Nemean, and eleven in the Isthmian. And the statue of Ptolemy,
the son of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was the offering of Aristolaus a
Macedonian. There is also a statue of a boxer who was victorious over
boys, Butas the Milesian, the son of Polynices, and Callicrates from
Magnesia near the river Lethæus, who won two victories in the race
in heavy armour. His statue is by Lysippus. And there are statues of
Emaution and Alexibius, the former victor in the course for boys, the
latter in the pentathlum. Heræa in Arcadia was the native place of
Alexibius and his statue is by Acestor, where Emaution came from the
inscription does not state, it only declares he was an Arcadian. And
the Colophonians Hermesianax the son of Agoneus, and Icasius the son of
Lycinus by the daughter of Hermesianax, beat all the boys in wrestling,
and Hermesianax had his statue erected by the Colophonian community.
Next to these are natives of Elis that beat all the boys in boxing,
Chœrilus by the Olynthian Sthennis, and Theotimus by the Sicyonian
Dætondas. Theotimus was the son of Moschion, who joined Alexander
the son of Philip in his expedition against Darius and the Persians.
And next are two from Elis again, Archidamus who conquered in the
four-horse-race, and Eperastus (the son of Theogonus) who was victor
in the race in heavy armour. And Eperastus states that he was a seer,
and descended from the family of the Clytidæ, at the close of the
inscription on his statue.
“I boast to be a seer of the family of the holy-mouthed Clytidæ, of
the blood of the godlike descendants of Melampus.”
Mantius was the father of Œcles, and the son of Melampus the son of
Amythaon. And Clytius was the son of Alcmæon, the son of Amphiaraus
the son of Œcles. And Alcmæon was father of Clytius by the daughter of
Phegeus, and he changed his residence to Elis, objecting to live with
his mother’s brothers, because he knew that they had contrived the
murder of Alcmæon.
And there are some statues interspersed among some not very
remarkable votive offerings, as Alexinicus of Elis (by the Sicyonian
Cantharus), who won a wrestling prize among the boys, and Gorgias
of Leontini, whose statue was placed at Olympia by Eumolpus,
great-grandson of Deicrates who had married Gorgias’ sister. So
Eumolpus himself tells us. This Gorgias was the son of Carmantides, and
is said to have been the first to have practised Rhetoric, which had
been altogether neglected and nearly come into desuetude among men. And
they say Gorgias was famous for his eloquence at the public festival at
Olympia, and went with Tisias on an embassy to the Athenians. Tisias
too contributed something to oratory, and most plausibly did he plead
in the case of a Syracusan woman touching some money, but Gorgias
had still greater fame among the Athenians, and Jason the tyrant in
Thessaly put him above Polycrates, who had the highest renown in the
schools at Athens. And they say Gorgias lived 105 years. And the town
of Leontini, which was dispeopled by the Syracusans, was in my day
colonized again.
CHAPTER XVIII.
And there is the brazen chariot of Cratisthenes of Cyrene, and Victory
and Cratisthenes on the chariot. Plainly then he won his victory in the
chariot race. There is a tradition also that he was the son of Mnaseas
the runner, who was surnamed by the Greeks Libyan. And these votive
offerings to him at Olympia are by Pythagoras of Rhegium.
Here too I found the statue of Anaximenes, who wrote a History of
all Antiquities in Greece, and of the exploits of Philip the son of
Amyntas, and afterwards of Alexander. This honour in Olympia he owed to
the people of Lampsacus: for the following is recorded about him. He
got round Alexander, who was by no means a mild king but excessively
passionate, by the following contrivance. The people of Lampsacus
having espoused the cause of the king of the Persians, or being thought
to have done so by Alexander, he boiled over in anger against them and
threatened them with the most condign chastisement. And they in all
haste sent Anaximenes to supplicate for their wives and children and
country, as he had been well known to Alexander and earlier still to
Philip. And Anaximenes went to Alexander, who had learnt the motive
of his errand, and had sworn they say by all the gods that he would
do exactly contrary to what he entreated. Then Anaximenes said, “O
King oblige me with this favour, enslave the women and children at
Lampsacus, and raze the whole town to its foundations, and burn the
temples of the gods.” This is what he said, and Alexander having no
contrivance to meet his cunning, and being compelled by his oath, very
unwillingly pardoned the people of Lampsacus. Anaximenes seems also
to have known how to punish an enemy very cleverly and exemplarily.
He was naturally a sophist and a very good imitator of the arguments
of the sophists. And having a quarrel with Theopompus, the son of
Damasistratus, he wrote a book full of abuse against the Athenians
and Lacedæmonians and Thebans. And as he had imitated his style very
accurately, and put the name of Theopompus on the title page, and
distributed the book about in various towns, though he himself was
really the writer, general odium was stirred up throughout Greece
against Theopompus. Nor did any one earlier than Anaximenes practise
extempore oratory. But I cannot think that he was author of the verses
about Alexander that run in his name.
And Sotades, (who was proclaimed a Cretan, as indeed he was), won
the prize in the long course in the 99th Olympiad, but in the next
Olympiad, being bribed by the Ephesian people, he registered himself as
an Ephesian, and the Cretans exiled him for it.
And the first athletes who had effigies at Olympia were Praxidamas
the Æginetan, who won the prize for boxing in the 59th Olympiad, and
the Opuntian Rhexibius, who won the prize in the pancratium in the 61st
Olympiad. And their effigies are made of wood, Rhexibius’ of figwood,
and the Æginetan’s of cypress. This last has suffered less than the
other.
CHAPTER XIX.
And there is in Altis a base of tufa stone to the North of the temple
of Hera, at its back is the mountain of Cronos. On this base are
treasuries such as some of the Greeks have made for Apollo at Delphi.
There is a treasury at Olympia called the treasury of the Sicyonians,
the votive offering of Myron the King of the Sicyonians. It was
constructed by Myron after his chariot victory in the 33rd Olympiad.
In this treasury he constructed two chambers, one of Doric the other
of Ionic architecture. I myself have seen them: they are of brass: but
whether the brass comes from Tartessus, according to the tradition of
the people of Elis, I do not know. The river Tartessus is they say in
the country of the Iberes, and has two outlets to the sea, and there
is a town of the same name that lies between the outlets of the river.
And it is the largest river in Iberia, and in later times was called
Bætis from its ebb and flow. And the Iberes who inhabit the town of
Carpia believe that their town was originally called Tartessus. And
on the smaller of the two chambers at Olympia there are inscriptions,
one on the lintel stating that there are 500 talents there, another
as to the givers of the votive offering, stating that they were Myron
and the people of the Sicyonians. In this treasury there are three
quoits, which they use in the contest for the pentathlum. And there
is a brazen shield curiously painted inside, and helmet and greaves
to match. And there is an inscription on this armour that they are an
offering to Zeus from the Myanes. As to who these Myanes were different
people have different ideas. I remember that Thucydides in his account
of the Locrians near Phocis mentions several towns, among others the
Myones.[79] These Myanes on the shield are in my opinion the same as
the Myones in the Locrian mainland: and the letters on the shield are
a little worn away, in consequence of its great antiquity. There are
also here several other curious articles, as the sword of Pelops with
golden hilt, and the horn of Amalthea in ivory, the votive offering
of Miltiades the son of Cimon, who was the first of his family that
reigned in the Thracian Chersonese: and this is the inscription on the
horn in old Athenian letters,
“I was offered to Zeus by the warriors that took the fort of Aratus
on the Chersonese: their leader was Miltiades.”
There is also a statue of Apollo made of boxwood with the head gilt:
the inscription states that it was a votive offering of the Locrians
at the promontory of Zephyrium, and by Patrocles of Croton, the son of
Catillus.
And next to the treasury of the Sicyonians is that of the
Carthaginians, constructed by Pothæus and Antiphilus and Megacles.
And the votive offerings in it are a huge Zeus and three linen
breastplates, presented by Gelon and the Syracusans who beat the
Phœnicians either on land or sea.
And the third and fourth treasuries are the votive offering of the
people of Epidamnus. They contain the world upheld by Atlas, and
Hercules and the apple tree in the garden of the Hesperides with the
dragon coiled round it, carved in cedar-wood, the carving of Theocles
(the son of Hegylus) who says his son joined him in the carving of
the world. And the Hesperides, which were removed by the people of
Elis, were in my time in the temple of Hera. And Pyrrhus and his sons
Lacrates and Hermon made this treasury for the people of Epidamnus.
The people of Sybaris also built a treasury next to that of the
people of Byzantium. Those who have inquired most carefully into the
history of Italy and its towns say that Lupiæ, which lies between
Brundisium and Hydrus, has changed its name, and was originally called
Sybaris. And the haven for ships was made by navvies in the reign of
the Emperor Adrian.
And next to the treasury of the people of Sybaris is the treasury
of the Libyans at Cyrene, containing statues of the Roman kings. The
Carthaginians expelled the Selinuntian Siceliotes in war, but before
that disaster happened to them, they had got together the treasury for
Zeus at Olympia. Dionysus is there with his face toes and hands of
ivory.
And in the treasury of the people of Metapontum, which is next to
that of the Selinuntians, is a statue of Endymion, all ivory but the
dress. The cause of the ruin of Metapontum I do not know, but in my
time nothing but the theatre and walls round the town was left. The
Megarians also near Attica have a treasury and votive offerings in
it, figures in cedar overlaid with gold, to represent the battle of
Hercules and Achelous. There are Zeus and Deianira and Achelous and
Hercules, and Ares is helping Achelous. And Athene stands as if in
alliance with Hercules, near the Hesperides that are now in the temple
of Hera. And on a gable of this treasury is the war between the gods
and the giants: and over the gable is a shield, which states that the
Megarians offered the treasury, after triumphing over the Corinthians.
I think they won this victory when Phorbas was Archon at Athens, who
was Archon all his life, for the Archonship was not yet a yearly
office at Athens, nor were the Olympiads registered at this period
by the people of Elis. The Argives are also said to have assisted
the Megarians against the Corinthians. This treasury at Olympia was
constructed by the Megarians some years after the battle. But the
votive offerings they probably had from old time, since they were made
by the Lacedæmonian Dontas, the pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis. And the
last of the treasuries is near the course, and the inscription on it
states that it and its statues are the votive offerings of the people
of Gela. The statues however are no longer there.
CHAPTER XX.
Cronos’ mountain is, as I have already said, behind the base, and
extends the length of these treasuries. And on the summit of the
mountain those that are called _Basilæ_ sacrifice to Cronos at the
vernal equinox in the month of Elaphius. And at the North end of Mount
Cronos there is between the treasuries and the mountain a temple of
Ilithyia, and in it is honoured Sosipolis the tutelary deity of the
people of Elis. Ilithyia they surname the Olympian, and select annually
a priestess for her: the old priestess of Sosipolis also performs holy
rites according to the custom of the people of Elis, brings lustral
water to the goddess, and sets before her cakes kneaded with honey.
In the vestibule of the temple is the altar of Ilithyia, as also
the approach to the temple for people generally: inside Sosipolis
is honoured, and no one but the priestess of the god must enter his
sanctuary, with a white veil drawn over her head and face. And the
maidens that reside in the temple of Ilithyia and the women sing
hymns to Sosipolis, and burn incense to him, but are not accustomed
to pour libations of wine to his honour. And their most binding oath
is by Sosipolis. And it is said that, when the Arcadians invaded Elis
with an army, and the people of Elis were drawn up in battle array
against them, a woman came to the generals of Elis, with a baby boy
at her breast, saying that she was mother of the boy, and offered him
according to a dream she had had to help the people of Elis. And the
authorities, crediting the woman’s tale, put the child in the front
of the army all naked as it was. And the Arcadians commenced the
attack, and the child was changed into a dragon, and the Arcadians
were troubled at the sight and began to flee, and the people of Elis
pursued them hotly, and won a notable victory and called the god
Sosipolis. And where the dragon appeared to glide off after the battle,
they built a temple, and resolved to worship it and Ilithyia jointly,
for they thought it was she who had introduced the child into the
world. And the Arcadians who were slain in the battle have a monument
on the hill towards the west after you have crossed the Cladeus. And
near Ilithyia there are ruins of a temple of celestial Aphrodite, to
whom they sacrifice on the altars which still remain.
And inside Altis, at the processional entrance, is what is called
the Hippodamium, surrounded by a wall, occupying about an acre. This
is the entrance every year for the women, who sacrifice to Hippodamia
and perform other rites in her honour. They say Hippodamia fled to
Midea in Argolis, when Pelops was especially angry with her owing to
the death of Chrysippus: and they say that according to the oracle they
afterwards placed her remains at Olympia. And at the end of the statues
which they erected out of fines imposed on the athletes is the entrance
which they call Private. For by it the Umpires and combatants enter
the course. There is also an embankment, and seats for the managers of
the games. And opposite the Umpires is an altar of white stone, seated
on which the priestess of Demeter Chamyne watches the Olympian games,
an honour which different priestesses at different times have received
from the people of Elis, for they do not prevent maidens from seeing
the games. And at the starting-place is the tomb of Endymion, according
to the tradition of the people of Elis.
And near the place where the Umpires sit is the ground appointed
for the horse-races and the starting-place, which is in shape like
the prow of a ship with its beak turned to the course. And the prow
is broad where it joins the Portico called Agnaptus. And there is a
brazen dolphin upon a bar at the extremity of the beak. Each side of
the starting-place is more than 400 feet in length, and there are some
buildings there, which those who enter for the horse-races get by lots.
And in front of the chariots and race-horses is extended a rope as a
sort of barrier. And there is an altar of unbaked brick erected near
the middle of the beak every Olympiad, whitewashed outside. And there
is a brazen eagle on this altar with its wings stretched out wide. When
the clerk of the course touches a piece of mechanism on this altar, the
eagle is so constructed as to mount aloft so as to be visible to the
spectators, while the dolphin falls to the ground. First the ropes on
each side of the Portico called Agnaptus are slackened, and the horses
in position there start first, and run on till they come to the horses
in the second position, and then the ropes there are slackened, and
so on along the whole course where the horses are in position, till
they can all start fair at the beak. Then commences the exhibition of
the skill of the charioteers and the swiftness of the horses. Cleœtas
originally contrived this method of starting, and plumed himself upon
his invention, as we find by the inscription on his statue at Athens,
“I was made by Cleœtas the son of Aristocles, who invented at Olympia
the start for horses.”
They say too that Aristides subsequently somewhat improved the
invention.
But the other side of the Hippodrome is more extended, being also of
raised earth, and at its outlet is Taraxippus the terror of horses,
which is in the shape of a circular altar, and as the horses run past
it they are immediately seized with strong fear without any apparent
cause, and this fear generates terror, insomuch that chariots are often
smashed up, and the charioteers badly injured. And the charioteers
sacrifice to avoid this, and pray that Taraxippus will be propitious
to them. About Taraxippus the Greeks have various views; some say it
is the tomb of an Autochthon, famous for his skill with horses, whose
name was Olenius, and say that the rock Olenia in Elis was named after
him. Others say that Dameon the son of Phlius, an associate with
Hercules in the expedition against Augeas and the people of Elis, was
killed together with the horse on which he rode by Cteatus the son of
Actor, and that this is the joint tomb of Dameon and his horse. Others
say that Pelops erected here a cenotaph to Myrtilus, and sacrificed
to him to avert his anger for his murder, and named him Taraxippus,
because the horses of Œnomaus were disturbed by his contrivance. But
some say that Œnomaus himself hindered the horses in the course. And
I have heard the blame put upon Alcathous the son of Porthaon, who
was buried here after having been slain by Œnomaus as one of the
unsuccessful suitors of Hippodamia, and who, in consequence of his bad
success in the Hippodrome, has an evil eye and is a malevolent demon
to race-horses. But an Egyptian told me that Pelops received something
from Amphion and buried it on the spot called Taraxippus, and that in
consequence of what was buried there the horses of Œnomaus formerly,
and everybody’s horses since, have been terrified. This Egyptian also
thought that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were wonderful magicians,
and that by their charms wild beasts followed Orpheus, and stones
formed themselves into houses for Amphion. The most plausible account
however of Taraxippus seems to me that which makes it a surname of
Poseidon Hippius. There is also at the Isthmus a Taraxippus, Glaucus
the son of Sisyphus, who they say was killed by horses, when Acastus
was holding the funeral games to his father. And at Nemea in Argolis
there is no hero that terrifies horses, but there is a gleam like fire
from a red stone where the horses turn which frightens the horses. But
Taraxippus at Olympia is far the most formidable panic-inspirer in
horses. And at one of the goals there is a brazen statue of Hippodamia
with a fillet, about to bind Pelops with it for his victory.
CHAPTER XXI.
And the other part of the hippodrome is not an embankment, but a hill
of no great size, on the top of which is a temple built to Demeter
under the name of Chamyne. And some think that title of hers an ancient
one, and that the earth opened there and took in the chariot of Pluto,
and closed again. Others say that Chamynus of Pisa, (who opposed the
dominion in Pisa of Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion, and stirred the
people up to revolt from Elis), was slain by Pantaleon, and that it
was out of his property that the temple to Demeter was built. And in
lieu of the old ones new statues of Proserpine and Demeter were erected
in Pentelican marble by the Athenian Herodes. And in the gymnasium
at Olympia they practise for the pentathlum and the races. And in the
open air there is a basement of stone, and originally on the basement
there was a trophy for a victory over the Arcadians. On the left of
the entrance to the gymnasium there is a smaller enclosure where the
athletes practise wrestling. And at the Portico of the gymnasium
facing East are some buildings for the Athletes facing South and West.
And after you have crossed the river Cladeus you come to the tomb of
Œnomaus, a mound piled up with stones, and above the tomb are some
remains of buildings where they say the horses of Œnomaus were stabled.
And here are the boundaries towards Arcadia, which now belong to the
people of Elis, but formerly belonged to the people of Pisa.
After you have crossed the river Erymanthus, near the ridge called
after Saurus, is the tomb of Saurus, and a temple of Hercules, ruins
of which are to be seen in our day. Saurus they say used to molest
wayfarers and the people of the country, till he was killed by
Hercules. From the south side of the ridge called after this robber a
river falls into the Alpheus nearly opposite Erymanthus. Its name is
Diagon, and it divides the district of Pisa from Arcadia. And 40 stades
onwards from the ridge of Saurus is the temple of Æsculapius, surnamed
Demænetus from the name of the builder. It is in ruins too, and is
built on the high ground along the Alpheus. And not far from it is the
temple of Dionysus Lucyanites, hard by the river Lucyanias, which rises
in Mount Pholoe, and flows into the Alpheus. When you have crossed the
Alpheus you are in the district of Pisa.
Here you will see a hill with a steep acclivity, and on it are ruins
of the town of Phrixa, and a temple of Athene Cydonia, not in my time
in complete preservation, there is only an altar. They say Clymenus,
a descendant of Idæan Hercules, erected the temple to the goddess. He
came from Cydonia in Crete and from the river Iardanus. The people
of Elis say also that Pelops sacrificed to Athene Cydonia before his
race with Œnomaus. And as you advance a little further you come to the
river Parthenia, on whose banks the horses of Marmax are buried. The
story is that Marmax was the first suitor of Hippodamia, and that he
was slain before the rest by Œnomaus, and the names of his horses were
Parthenia and Eripha, and Œnomaus cut their throats and buried them
with their master, and the river Parthenia got its name from one of
them. There is also another river called Harpinates, and at no great
distance from it some remains of a town Harpina especially altars: they
say that Œnomaus built the town and gave it its name after his mother
Harpina.
A little further is a lofty mound of earth, the tomb of the suitors
of Hippodamia, Œnomaus did not (they say) bury them in the ground near
one another as a mark of honour, but it was Pelops subsequently who
gave them a common sepulchre, in honour to them and out of affection to
Hippodamia, and I think also as a record to posterity how many worthy
gentlemen Œnomaus had slain before he Pelops vanquished him. Indeed
according to the poem called the Great EϾ the following were killed
by Œnomaus, Alcathous the son of Porthaon next to Marmax, and next
to Alcathous Euryalus and Eurymachus and Crotalus. Their parents and
native lands I could not ascertain. But Acrias, who was killed next,
one would infer to have been a Lacedæmonian and the founder of Acriæ.
And next to Acrias Œnomaus slew Capetus and Lycurgus and Lasius and
Chalcodon and Tricolonus, who the Arcadians say was a descendant as
well as namesake of Tricolonus the son of Lycaon. And after Tricolonus
fate overtook in this fatal race Aristomachus and Prias and Pelagon and
Æolius and Cronius. Some also add to the list I have given Erythras,
the son of Leucon and grandson of Athamas, who gave his name to the
town in Bœotia called Erythræ, and Eioneus, the son of Magnes and
grandson of Æolus. Here then is the tomb of all these, and they say
Pelops offered them funeral rites every year when he was king of Pisa.
CHAPTER XXII.
And if you go about a stade forward from this tomb there are traces of
a temple of Artemis surnamed Cordace, because the attendants of Pelops
used to offer their sacrifices to the goddess there, and dance the
national dance of Sipylus called the _cordax_. And not far from the
temple is a building not very large, and in it is a brazen coffer, in
which are deposited the remains of Pelops. And there is no vestige of a
wall or any other building, but vines are planted all over the site on
which Pisa was built. The founder of the town was they say Pisus, the
son of Perieres and grandson of Æolus. And the people of Pisa brought
on their own misfortunes by making themselves objectionable to the
people of Elis, and by their desire to start the Olympian games instead
of the people of Elis, and in the 8th Olympiad they invited Phido the
Argive, the most haughty of all the Greek tyrants, and made him the
patron of the games. And in the 34th Olympiad the people of Pisa and
their king Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion, assembled together the
neighbouring people, and instituted the Olympian games instead of the
people of Elis. During these Olympiads, and also in the 104th Olympiad
which was set on foot by the Arcadians, the people of Elis kept no
register, nor do they include them in the Olympiads. And in the 48th
Olympiad Damophon the son of Pantaleon gave the people of Elis reason
to suspect that he intended to act treacherously against them, so they
invaded Pisæa, but did not at this time do any damage, because they
returned home again being persuaded by entreaties and promises. But
when Pyrrhus the son of Pantaleon succeeded his brother Damophon on the
throne, then the people of Pisa of their own accord commenced war with
the people of Elis. And the people of Macistus and Scillus in Triphylia
joined them in their revolt from the people of Elis, and of the other
neighbouring people the Dyspontii, whose relations had always been very
friendly with the people of Pisa, and whose founder Dysponteus was they
state the son of Œnomaus. And the people of Elis eventually razed Pisa
to the ground and all the towns that had assisted her in the war.
The ruins of Pylos in Elis are visible as you go over the mountains
from Olympia to Elis. And from Pylos to Elis is 80 stades’ distance.
This Pylos was built, as I have already mentioned, by the Megarian
Pylon the son of Cleson. And being destroyed by Hercules, and once
again peopled by the people of Elis, it was destined once more to
lack inhabitants. Near it the river Ladon flows into the Peneus. And
the people of Elis say that it is about this Pylos that the lines of
Homer[80] are.
“He derived his origin from the river Alpheus, which flows in broad
volume through the territory of Pylos.”
And they persuaded me by what they said, for the Alpheus flows
through this district, and the lines cannot refer to the other Pylos.
For by the Pylos near the island Sphacteria the Alpheus does not flow
at all, nor do we know of any town in Arcadia formerly called Pylos.
And about 50 stades from Olympia is the village belonging to Elis
called Heraclea, and near it is the river Cytherus. There is a well
that flows into the river, and there is a temple to the Nymphs by the
well. And the proper names of these Nymphs individually are Calliphæa
and Synallaxis and Pegæa and Iasis, and collectively Ionides. And
people bathing in this well get cured from pains and aches of all
kinds. And they say the Nymphs got their name Ionides from Ion, the son
of Gargettus, who migrated to this place from Athens.
But if you wish to go to Elis through the plain, it is 120 stades
to Letrini, and 180 from Letrini to Elis. Letrini was a small town
originally founded by Letreus the son of Pelops, but now there are
only a few buildings, and a temple and statue of Alphean Artemis. They
give the following legend to account for the goddess being called
Alphean. Alpheus they say was deeply in love with her, and when he
found he could not marry her for all his wooing and vows, he had the
boldness to try and force her, and went to a nightly revel at Letrini,
which was to be held by her and the Nymphs with whom she associated
in sport: and she, suspecting his plot, smeared with mud her own face
and the faces of all the Nymphs present, and so Alpheus when he got
there could not distinguish her from the Nymphs, and accordingly had to
depart without effecting his object. So the people of Letrini called
the goddess Alphean from Alpheus’ passion for her. And the people of
Elis, for they had an ancient friendship for the people of Letrini, say
that they borrowed their worship of the Elaphiæan Artemis from them,
and used to perform rites to her as Alphea, but in process of time the
name Elaphiæa prevailed. But in my opinion the people of Elis called
Artemis Elaphiæa from her love of hunting deer: but their own tradition
is that Elaphius was the name of a woman who was Artemis’ nurse. And
about six stades beyond Letrini is a perennial lake about three stades
in diameter.
CHAPTER XXIII.
And the notable things in Elis are an old gymnasium, in which before
they go to Olympia the athletes go through all the customary training.
There are some lofty plane-trees inside a wall growing all along the
course, and the whole enclosure is called Colonnade, because Hercules
the son of Amphitryon used to exercise there, and all the thorns and
weeds that grew there were plucked up every day. There is a course
called by the people of the place sacred, set apart for the races,
and there is another course where they practise for the races and the
pentathlum. There is also in the gymnasium a place called Plethrium,
where the Umpires pit the athletes together according to their ages or
difference in their training, and put them to wrestling to test their
capacities. And there are in the gymnasium altars to some of the gods,
as Idæan Hercules under the title of Champion, and Eros, and the god
whom the Athenians and people of Elis alike call Anteros, and Demeter
and Proserpine. There is no altar to Achilles, but he has a cenotaph
in accordance with an oracle. And at the commencement of the general
festival on a given day, when the sun begins to set, the women of Elis
among other rites in honour of Achilles are wont to wail and strike the
breast.
And there is another enclosure, smaller than the gymnasium but
adjacent to it, which they call from its shape the Square. And here
the athletes practise their wrestling, and here they test the athletes
who are past wrestling, sometimes even applying blows with mild whips.
And one of the statues is erected here, which were made of Zeus out
of the fine-money of Sosander of Smyrna and Polyctor of Elis. There
is also a third enclosure used as a gymnasium, which is called Maltho
from the softness of its floor, and this is given up to the lads all
the time the general festival lasts. And in a corner of Maltho there
is a statue of Hercules, merely the head and shoulders, and in one
of the wrestling-places is a figure of Eros and Anteros, Eros has a
branch of palm which Anteros is trying to take away. And on each side
of the entrance to Maltho is the statue of a boy-boxer, and the Custos
Rotulorum at Elis says that it is a native of Alexandria above the
island Pharos, called Serapion, who came to Elis and gave the people
food when they were short of corn. That was why he received these
honours: and the date when he received the crown at Olympia, and did
this kindness to the people at Elis, was the 217th Olympiad. In this
gymnasium the people of Elis also have a council chamber, where they
practise extempore rhetoric, and submit all kinds of writings to public
criticism: it is called Lalichmium from the name of its originator.
And round it are some shields hung up, well worth seeing, not made for
purposes of war, but simply for ornament.
You go from the gymnasium to the baths by the street called Silence
near the temple of Artemis the Lover of Youths. The goddess was so
called from her proximity to the gymnasium. And the street was called
Silence from the following circumstance. Some men in the army of Oxylus
being sent forward to reconnoitre Elis, and having cheered one another
on the road, when they got near the walls, passed round the word for
silence, and to listen if they could hear any sound within the town,
and so stole into the town without being observed by this street, and
returned again to Ætolia after having got the wished for intelligence.
And the street received its name from the silence of these spies.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Another way out of the gymnasium leads to the market-place, and to what
is called the Umpires’ Hall beyond the tomb of Achilles, and it is by
this way that the Umpires are accustomed to enter the gymnasium. And
they enter the gymnasium to pit together the runners before the sun
gets too powerful, and at noon they call the competitors together for
the pentathlum and the arduous contests.
And the market-place at Elis is not like that of the Ionians, or of
the Greek cities in Ionia, but is built after a more antique type,
with porticoes and streets at regular intervals. And the name of the
market-place in our day is Hippodrome, and there the people of the
place exercise their horses. The architecture of the portico facing
South is Doric, and it is divided into 3 portions by pillars: it is
there that the Umpires mostly spend the day. And there are altars
erected to Zeus, and several other altars in the open air in the
market-place, and they are easily removed as they are only improvised
altars. And at the end of this portico, on the left as you go to the
market-place, is the Umpires’ Hall, and a street separates it from the
market-place. In this Umpires’ Hall those who are chosen as Umpires
live ten months together, and are instructed by the Custodes Rotulorum
in all things that appertain to the games. And near the portico where
the Umpires spend the day is another portico, called the Corcyræan,
and a street runs between the two porticoes. It was so called because
when the Corcyræans invaded Elis in their ships, the people of Elis
they say drove them off and took much booty from them, and built their
portico with a tenth of the spoil. And the architecture of the portico
is Doric: it has a double row of pillars, one towards the market-place,
the other in the opposite direction. In the middle are no pillars,
but a wall supports the roof, and there are statues on either side
of this wall. And at the end of the portico near the market-place is
a statue of Pyrrho the son of the Sophist Pistocrates, who had great
persuasiveness on any topic. Pyrrho’s tomb is at no great distance from
Elis, at a place called Petra, an old hamlet according to tradition.
And the people of Elis have in the open air near the market-place a
most noble temple and statue of Apollo the Healer. This would probably
be much the same title as his Athenian title of Averter of Evil.[81]
And on another side are stone statues to the Sun and Moon, she has
horns on her head, he has his beams. There is also a temple to the
Graces, and their wooden statues, their dresses gilt, and their heads
hands and feet of white marble, and one of them holds a rose, the
second dice, and the third a small branch of myrtle. The meaning of
which things we may conjecture thus. The rose and myrtle are sacred to
Aphrodite, and have a place in the legend of Adonis, and the Graces
have most intimate connection with Aphrodite: and dice are playthings
of striplings and maidens, who have not yet lost all grace through
old age. And on the right of the Graces is a statue of Eros on the
same pedestal. There is also there a temple of Silenus, dedicated to
Silenus alone, and not in common to him and Dionysus, and Drunkenness
is filling his cup. That the Sileni are mortal we should infer from
their tombs, for there is the tomb of one Silenus in the country of
the Hebrews, and of another at Pergamum.[82] And in the market-place
the people of Elis have the following remarkable thing, which I have
myself seen, in the shape of a temple. It is no great height, and has
no walls, and the roof is supported by pillars made of oak. The people
of the country say that it is a monument, but whose they do not record,
but if the account of the old man whom I asked be correct, it would be
the monument of Oxylus. There is also in the market-place a room for
the 16 matrons, where they weave the shawl for Hera.[83]
CHAPTER XXV.
And next the market-place is an ancient temple, a colonnade with
pillars all round. The roof is fallen in with age, and there is no
statue remaining. It was dedicated to the Roman Emperors.
And behind the Corcyræan Portico is a temple of Aphrodite, and a
grove in the open air sacred to her, not far from the temple. The
statue of the goddess in the temple is called Celestial Aphrodite, and
is by Phidias in ivory and gold, she has one foot on a tortoise. Her
grove is surrounded by a wall, and inside the grove is a basement on
which is a brazen statue by Scopas of the Pandemian Aphrodite sitting
on a brazen he-goat. The meaning of the tortoise and he-goat I leave my
readers to guess.
And the sacred precincts and temple of Pluto (for the people of Elis
have both) are opened once every year, but no one may enter them even
then but the sacrificing priest. And as far as we know the men of Elis
are the only ones that honour Pluto, for the following reason. When
Hercules led an army against Pylos in Elis they say Athene cooperated
with him. Then it was that Pluto came and helped the people of Pylos
out of hostility to Hercules, and was accordingly honoured at Pylos.
And they cite as their witness Homer’s lines in the Iliad.[84]
“Mighty Pluto also endured the swift arrow, when this man, the son of
Ægis-bearing Zeus, wounded him at Pylos, and gave him pain among the
dead.”
Nor if in the expedition of Agamemnon and Menelaus against Ilium
Poseidon, according to the tradition of Homer, helped the Greeks,
was it against probability that Pluto should have helped the people
of Pylos in the opinion of the same poet. Anyway the people of Elis
erected this temple to Pluto as being friendly to them and hostile to
Hercules. And once every year they are accustomed to open the temple to
indicate, I think, that men once descend to Pluto’s gloomy realm. The
people of Elis have also a temple to Fortune, and in the portico of
this temple is a huge statue of wood, gilt all over except the head the
hands and the toes, which are of white marble. Here too Sosipolis is
honoured on the left of Fortune, in a rather small shrine: represented,
according to the appearance of him seen in a dream, as a boy with a
particoloured cloak on covered with stars, and in one of his hands the
horn of Amalthea.
And in that part of the town where the people of Elis have most of
their population, there is a statue not larger than life of a beardless
man, who has his feet crossed, and leans against his spear with both
his hands, his dress is of wool and linen and flax. This statue is said
to be of Poseidon, and was worshipped of old at Samicum in Triphylia.
And it was honoured even still more when removed to Elis, and they give
it the name of Satrapes and not Poseidon, having learnt this name from
their neighbours at Patræ. And Satrapes is the surname of Corybas.
CHAPTER XXVI.
And the old theatre between the market-place and the temple of the
goddess Mene is the theatre and temple of Dionysus, the statue of the
god is by Praxiteles. And of all the gods the people of Elis honour
Dionysus most, and say that he frequents their festival in his honour
called the Thyia, a festival which they celebrate about 8 stades from
the city. The priests deposit 3 empty flagons in the chapel, in the
presence of the citizens and strangers who may chance to be at the
feast, and the priests themselves or any others who like seal the doors
of the chapel. And the next day they come to the chapel to observe the
miracle, and on entering find the flagons full of wine. Those held in
the highest repute at Elis, and strangers as well, have sworn that this
is as I have said, I was not myself there at the time of the festival.
The people of Andros also say that annually at the feast of Dionysus
wine flows spontaneously from the temple. If one can believe the
Greeks in this matter, one might equally credit the tradition of the
Ethiopians beyond Syene as to the Table of the Sun.
And in the citadel at Elis is a temple of Athene, her statue is of
ivory and gold, and said to be by Phidias, and on her helmet is a cock,
because that bird is said to be most pugnacious, or perhaps because it
is sacred to Athene the Worker.
And about 120 stades from Elis is Cyllene, which faces Sicily, and is
a fine harbour for ships. The dockyard belongs to the people of Elis
but got its name from an Arcadian. Homer has not mentioned Cyllene in
his Catalogue of the people of Elis, but subsequently in the Iliad
shews that he knew that there was such a town as Cyllene.
“And Polydamas killed Otus of Cyllene, the companion of Phyleides,
the leader of the brave Epeans.”[85]
The gods who have temples in Cyllene are Æsculapius and Aphrodite.
Hermes also has an Ithyphallic statue, which the natives pay
extravagant honour to.
The country of Elis is fertile in fruits of all kinds but especially
in flax. As to hemp and flax all sow them whose land is favourable to
their growth. But the threads which the Seres make their garments of
are not from any plant, but are produced in the following manner. There
is an insect on the earth which the Greeks called Ser, but the Seres
give it another name. Its size is about double that of the largest
beetle, and in other respects it is like the spiders that weave their
webs under trees, and has also 8 feet like spiders. These insects the
Seres breed, and put summer and winter into little domiciles specially
constructed for them. And what these insects produce is a slender
thread, which rolls round their feet. For 4 years they feed them on
grain, and in the fifth year (for they know they will not live longer)
they give them green reed to eat. This food is the most agreeable of
all to this insect, and when it has taken its fill of this it bursts
from repletion. And when it is dead they find the thread in its inside.
It is well-known that the island Seria is in the Red Sea. But I have
heard that it is not the Red Sea, but a river called the Ser that makes
this island, just as in Egypt the Delta is formed by the Nile and not
by sea. Such a kind of island is Seria. The Seres are of Ethiopian
race, and so are those that inhabit the neighbouring islands Abasa and
Sacæa. Some however say that they are not Ethiopians but a cross-breed
of Scythians and Indians. Such are the various traditions.
As you go from Elis to Achaia it is about 127 stades to the river
Larisus, which is in our day the boundary between Elis and Achaia, but
in ancient times the boundary was the promontory Araxus near the sea.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] This proverb means _to play fast and loose_, _to be a turn-coat_,
_a Vicar of Bray_. The best illustration is Cicero _ad Fam._ vii. 29.
“Noli hanc epistolam Attico ostendere: sine eum errare et putare me
virum bonum esse nec solere duo parietes de eadem fidelia dealbare.”
See also Erasmus’ _Adagia_.
[77] The passage referred to is Iliad, vi. 407.
[78] See Book v., ch. 9.
[79] Thucyd. iii. 101.
[80] Iliad, v. 544, 545.
[81] See Book i. ch. 3.
[82] One might also infer the same from the fate of Marsyas.
[83] See Book v. ch. 16.
[84] v. 395-397.
[85] Iliad, xv. 518, 519.
INDEX
(_The number in Roman Notation is the number of the Book, the number in
Arabic Notation the number of the Chapter._)
Achelous, a river in Ætolia, iv. 34; viii. 24. Its contest with
Hercules, iii. 18; vi. 19. Father of Callirhoe, viii. 24, of the
Sirens, ix. 34, of Castalia, x. 8.
Acheron, a river in Thesprotia, i. 17; v. 14; x. 28.
Achilles, i. 22; iii. 18, 19, 24.
Acichorius, a general of the Galati, x. 19, 22, 23.
Acrisius, son of Abas, ii. 16. Husband of Eurydice, iii. 13.
Constructs a brazen chamber for his daughter Danae, ii. 23; x. 5.
Killed unintentionally by his grandson Perseus, ii. 16.
Actæa, the ancient name of Attica, i. 2.
Actæon, son of Aristæus, ix. 2; x. 17, 30.
Addison, ii. 20, Note.
Adonis, ii. 20; ix. 29.
Adrian, the Roman Emperor, i. 3, 18, 44; ii. 3, 17; vi. 16, 19; viii.
8, 10, 11, 22. His love for, and deification of, Antinous, viii. 9.
Adriatic sea, viii. 54.
Adultery, iv. 20; ix. 36.
Ægialus, afterwards Achaia, v. 1; vii. 1, where see Note.
Ægina, the daughter of Asopus, ii. 5, 29; v. 22; x. 13.
Ægina, the island, ii. 29, 30.
Ægisthus, i. 22; ii. 16, 18.
Ægos-potamoi, iii. 8, 11, 17, 18; iv. 17; ix. 32; x. 9.
Æneas, the son of Anchises, ii. 21, 23; iii. 22; v. 22; viii. 12; x.
17, 26.
Æschylus, the son of Euphorion, i. 2, 14, 21, 28; ii. 13, 20, 24;
viii. 6, 37; ix. 22; x. 4.
Æsculapius, the son of Apollo, ii. 10, 26, 27, 29; iii. 23; vii. 23;
viii. 25. His temples, i. 21; ii. 10, 13, 23; iii. 22, 26; iv. 30,
31; vii. 21, 23, 27; viii. 25.
Æsymnetes, vii. 19, 20.
Æthra, wife of Phalanthus, her love for her husband, x. 10.
Ætna, its craters, how prophetic, iii. 23. Eruption of Ætna, x. 28.
Agamemnon, i. 43; ii. 6, 18; iii. 9; vii. 24; ix. 40. His tomb, ii.
16; iii. 19.
Ageladas, an Argive statuary, iv. 33; vi. 8, 10, 14; vii. 24; viii.
42; x. 10.
Aglaus of Psophis, happy all his life, viii. 24.
Ajax, the son of Oileus, his violation of Cassandra, i. 15; x. 26, 31.
Ajax, the son of Telamon, i. 5, 35; v. 19.
Alcæus, vii. 20; x. 8.
Alcamenes, a statuary, a contemporary of Phidias, i. 8, 19, 20, 24;
ii. 30; v. 10; viii. 9; ix. 11.
Alcmæon, son of Amphiaraus, the murderer of his mother Eriphyle, i.
34; v. 17; viii. 24.
Alcman, the poet, i. 41; iii. 18, 26.
Alcmena, the daughter of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle, and wife of
Amphitryon, deceived by Zeus, v. 18. Hated by Hera, ix. 11. Mother
of Hercules, v. 14.
Alcyone, the daughter of Atlas, ii. 30; iii. 18; ix. 22.
Alexander, son of Alexander the Great by Roxana, i. 6; ix. 7.
Alexander the Great, i. 9; v. 21; vii. 5; ix. 23, 25. Said by the
Macedonians to be the son of Ammon, iv. 14. Very passionate, vi.
18. Tradition about his death, viii. 18. Buried at Memphis, i. 6.
His corpse removed thence by Ptolemy, i. 7. Statues of him, i. 9;
v. 25; vi. 11. Cassander’s hatred of him, ix. 7.
Alexandria, v. 21; viii. 33.
Alpheus, a river in Pisa, iii. 8; v. 7; vi. 22. Enamoured of Artemis,
vi. 22; of Arethusa, v. 7. Women may not cross the Alpheus on
certain days, v. 6. Leucippus lets his hair grow to the Alpheus,
viii. 20.
Altars, v. 13, 14; vi. 20, 24; ix. 3, 11.
Althæa, daughter of Thestius and mother of Meleager, viii. 45; x. 31.
Altis (a corruption of ἄλσος, grove), v. 10, 11, 14, 15, 27.
Amaltheæ cornu, iv. 30; vi. 19, 25; vii. 26. (Cornu copiæ.)
Amazons, i. 15, 41; iii. 25; iv. 31; vi. 2.
Amber, native and otherwise, v. 12.
Ambraciotes, v. 23; x. 18.
Ammon, iii. 18, 21; iv. 14, 23; v. 15; vi. 8; viii. 11, 32; ix. 16;
x. 13.
Amphiaraus, i. 34; ii. 13, 23; ix. 8, 19.
Amphictyones, vii. 24; x. 2, 8, 15, 19.
Amphion and Zethus, sons of Antiope, ii. 6; ix. 5, 17; x. 32.
Amphion, ii. 21; vi. 20; ix. 5, 8, 16, 17.
Anacharsis, i. 22.
Anacreon of Teos, a friend of Polycrates, i. 2. The first erotic poet
after Sappho, i. 25.
Anaximenes, his ruse with Alexander the Great, &c., vi. 18.
Ancæus, the son of Lycurgus, viii. 4, 45.
Androgeos, i. 1, 27.
Andromache, the wife of Hector, x. 25.
Androtion, vi. 7; x. 8.
Angelion and Tectæus, statuaries and pupils of Dipœnus and Scyllis,
ii. 32; ix. 35.
Antæus, ix. 11.
Antalcidas, Peace of, ix. 1, 13.
Antenor, x. 26, 27.
Anteros, i. 30; vi. 23.
Anticlea, the mother of Odysseus, x. 29.
Anticyra, famous for hellebore, originally called Cyparissus, x. 36.
Antigone, ix. 25.
Antimachus, the poet, viii. 25; ix. 35.
Antinous, viii. 9. See also Adrian.
Antioch, the capital of Syria, viii. 29.
Antiochus, the pilot of Alcibiades, iii. 17; ix. 32.
Antiope, the Amazon, i. 2, 41.
Antiope, the mother of Zethus and Amphion, i. 38; ii. 6; ix. 17, 25;
x. 32.
Antiphanes, an Argive statuary, v. 17; x. 9.
Antipœnus, heroism of his daughters Androclea and Alcis, ix. 17.
Antonine, the Emperor, called by the Romans Pius, viii. 43. His son
and successor Antonine, viii. 43.
Anytus, one of the Titans, viii. 37.
Aphidna, i. 17, 41; ii. 22; iii. 17, 18.
Aphrodite, Anadyomene, ii. 1; v. 11. Mother of Priapus, according to
the people of Lampsacus, ix. 31. The tutelary saint of the men of
Cnidus, i. 1. Ancient temple of her and Adonis in common in Cyprus,
ix. 41. Her clients, ii. 34; ix. 38. Her statue by Dædalus, ix.
40. The myrtle in connection with her, vi. 24. The Celestial and
Pandemian Aphrodite, vi. 25; ix. 16. (The Latin _Venus_.)
Apis, the Egyptian god, i. 18; vii. 22.
Apollo, helps Alcathous, i. 42. Herds the cattle of Laomedon, vii.
20. Inventor of the lute, iii. 24; v. 14; viii. 31. Jealous of
Leucippus, viii. 20. Jealous of Linus, ix. 29. His altar in common
with Hermes, v. 14. See also Delphi.
Aratus of Soli, i. 2.
Aratus of Sicyon, ii. 8, 9; viii. 10, 52.
Ardalus, the son of Hephaæstus, inventor of the flute, ii. 31.
Ares, the Latin _Mars_, charged with murder, i. 21, 28.
Areopagus, i. 28; iv. 5.
Arethusa, v. 7; vii. 24; viii. 53.
Argiope, a Nymph, mother of Thamyris by Philammon, iv. 33.
Argo, the famous ship, vii. 26; ix. 32.
Argonauts, vii. 4.
Argos, ii. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; vii. 17.
Ariadne, i. 20, 22; x. 29.
Aricia, the people of, their tradition about Hippolytus, ii. 27.
Arimaspians, i. 24, 31.
Arion, the horse, viii. 25.
Arion and the dolphin, iii. 25.
Aristocrates, viii. 5, 13. Heredity in vice and punishment.
Aristodemus, king of the Messenians, iv. 8, 10, 13, 26.
Aristogiton, i. 8, 29.
Aristomache, the daughter of Priam, x. 26.
Aristomenes, the hero of Messenia, iv. 6, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22,
23, 24, 27, 32; vi. 7; viii. 14, 51.
Aristo, the father of the famous Plato, iv. 32.
Aristophanes on Lepreus, v. 5.
Aristotle, the mighty Stagirite, his statue, vi. 4.
Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemy, and wife of her own brother, i. 7, 8;
ix. 31.
Arsinoites, name of a district in Egypt, v. 21.
Art, the noble art of self-defence, vi. 10; viii. 40.
Artemis, (the Latin _Diana_,) iii. 22; iv. 30; viii. 3, 27.
Especially worshipped at Hyampolis, x. 35. Temple of the goddess at
Aulis, ix. 19. Events there, _do._
Artemisia, her valour at Salamis, iii. 11.
Artemisium, a mountain, ii. 25; viii. 5.
Ascra, in Bœotia, the birthplace of Hesiod, ix. 29, 38.
Asopus, a river in Bœotia, ii. 6. Reedy, v. 14.
Asopus, a river in Sicyonia, ii. 5, 15.
Asphodel, its unpleasant smell, x. 38.
Atalanta, iii. 24; viii. 35, 45.
Athamas, son of Æolus, vii. 3. Brother of Sisyphus, ix. 34. Desirous
to kill his children Phrixus and Helle, ix. 34.
Athene, (the Latin _Minerva_,) why grey-eyed, i. 14. Her birth, i.
24. Disputes as to territory between her and Poseidon, i. 24;
ii. 30. Gives Erichthonius to the daughters of Cecrops, i. 18. A
colossal statue of the goddess at Thebes, ix. 11.
Athens, sacred to Athene, i. 26. Captured by Sulla, i. 20.
Athenians, very pious, i. 17, 24; x. 28. (Cf. Acts xvii. 22.) Helped
in war by the gods, viii. 10. Their forces at Marathon and against
the Galati, iv. 25; x. 20. Their expedition to Sicily, viii. 11;
x. 11, 15. The only democracy that ever rose to greatness, iv. 35.
Their magistrates, iii. 11; iv. 5, 15. Their townships, i. 3, 32,
33. Their law-courts, i. 28. Their Eponymi, i. 5. Their expeditions
beyond Greece, i. 29. Their heroes, x. 10.
Athletes, their diet in training, vi. 7.
Atlas, v. 11, 18; vi. 19; ix. 20.
Atlas, a mountain in Libya, i. 33; viii. 43.
Atreus, ii. 16, 18; ix. 40.
Attalus, an ally of the Romans, vii. 8, 16. His greatest feat, i. 8.
The oracle about him, x. 15.
Attica, whence it got its name, i. 2. Sacred to Athene, i. 26.
Augeas, v. 1, 3, 4, 8.
Augustus, iii. 11, 21, 26; iv. 31; vii. 17, 18, 22; viii. 46. Statues
of Augustus, ii. 17; v. 12.
Aulis, iii. 9; viii. 28; ix. 19.
Aurora, i. 3; iii. 18; v. 22.
Axe tried in Court, i. 24, 28.
Babylon, its walls, iv. 31.
Bacchantes, ii. 2, 7.
Bacchus, see Dionysus.
Bacis, his oracles, iv. 27; ix. 17; x. 14, 32. A Bœotian, x. 12.
Bacon, Francis, Viscount St. Albans, on revenge, iii. 15, Note.
Bady, place and river, v. 3.
Balsam tree, ix. 28.
Banqueting-hall at Elis, v. 15.
Barley cakes, mysterious property of, iii. 23.
Baths, how taken in ancient times, x. 34. Women’s swimming-bath, iv.
35. Warm baths, ii. 34; iv. 35; vii. 3.
Bato, the charioteer of Amphiaraus, ii. 23.
Bayle on _Hippomanes_, v. 27, Note.
Beans, i. 37; viii. 15.
Bear, the Great, viii. 3.
Bears, i. 32; iii. 20; vii. 18.
Bees of Hymettus, i. 32. Bees and Pindar, ix. 23. In connection with
Trophonius, ix. 40. Temple fabled to have been built by them, x. 5.
Bel, i. 16; viii. 33.
Bellerophon, ii. 2, 4, 31; iii. 18; ix. 31.
Bias of Priene, x. 24.
Biblis, love-passages of, vii. 5.
Bison, x. 13.
Bito, see Cleobis.
Blackbirds of Mt. Cyllene, viii. 17.
Boar’s Memorial, iv. 15, 19.
Bœotarchs, ix. 13, 14; x. 20.
Bones, ii. 10; iii. 22.
Booneta, iii. 12, 15.
Bootes, viii. 3.
Brasiæ, iii. 24, see Note.
Brass, first brass-founders, viii. 14; x. 38.
Brennus, x. 8, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Briareus, ii. 1, 4.
Brigantes in Britain, viii. 43.
Briseis, v. 24; x. 25.
Britomartis, iii. 14; viii. 2.
Bupalus, iv. 30; ix. 35.
Buphagus, viii. 14, 27.
Burial, ii. 7; ix. 32.
Bustards, x. 34.
Byzantium, walls of, iv. 31.
Cabiri, i. 4; iv. 1; ix. 22, 25; x. 38.
Cadmean victory, ix. 9.
Cadmus, the son of Agenor, iii. 15; ix. 5, 12, 19.
C. Julius Cæsar, ii. 1; iii. 11. His gardens, viii. 46.
Calais and Zetes, iii. 18.
Calamis, a famous statuary, master of Praxias, i 3, 23; ii. 10; v.
25, 26; vi. 12; ix. 16, 20, 22; x. 16.
Calchas, i. 43; vii. 3; ix. 19.
Callicrates, vii. 10, 12.
Callimachus, i. 26; ix. 2.
Callion, barbarity of the Galati at, x. 22.
Calliphon of Samos, v. 19; x. 26.
Callirhoe and Coresus, tragic love story about, vii. 21.
Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, changed into a she-bear, i. 25;
viii. 3.
Callon, a statuary of Ægina, ii. 32; iii. 18; vii. 18.
Calus, murder of by Dædalus, i. 21, 26.
Calydonian boar, i. 27; iii. 18; viii. 45, 46, 47.
Canachus, a statuary, ii. 10; vi. 9, 13; vii. 18; ix. 10; x. 9.
Cantharus, a statuary, vi. 3, 17.
Capaneus, the son of Hipponous, struck with lightning, ix. 8, see
Note.
Capua, the chief town in Campania, v. 12.
Carcinus, a native of Naupactus, x. 38.
Carpo, a Season, ix. 35.
Carthage, rebuilt by Julius Cæsar, ii. 1.
Carthaginians, i. 12; v. 25; vi. 19; x. 8, 17, 18.
Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, violated by Ajax, i. 15; v. 19; x.
26. Called _Alexandra_, iii. 19, 26.
Castalia, x. 8.
Castor and Pollux, see Dioscuri.
Catana, filial piety at, x. 28.
Caverns, notable ones, x. 32.
Ceadas, iv. 18.
Cecrops, son of Erechtheus, king of Athens, i. 5; vii. 1; viii. 2.
Celeus, father of Triptolemus, i. 14, 38, 39; ii. 14.
Centaur, v. 19. Fight between the Centaurs and the Lapithæ, i. 17; v.
10.
Cephalus and Aurora, i. 3; iii. 18.
Cepheus, father of Andromeda, iv. 35.
Cephisus, a river in Argolis, ii. 15, 20.
Cephisus, a river in Attica, i. 37.
Cephisus, a river in Eleusis, i. 38.
Cephisus, a river in Bœotia, ix. 24, 38; x. 8, 33, 34.
Ceramicus, i. 3; viii. 9.
Cerberus, ii. 31, 35; iii. 25.
Ceres, see Demeter.
Cestus, viii. 40.
Chæronea, fatal battle of, i. 18, 25; v. 20; ix. 6, 29, 40. (Milton’s
“dishonest victory, fatal to liberty.”)
Chaldæans, the first who taught the immortality of the soul, iv. 32.
Champagny on Pausanias, see Title-page.
Chaos first, ix. 27.
Charon, x. 28. (Cf. Virgil’s “Jam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque
senectus.”—_Æn._ vi. 304.)
Chimæra, iii. 25.
Chios, vii. 4.
Chiron, a Centaur and tutor of Achilles, iii. 18; v. 5, 19.
Chrysanthis, i. 14.
Cicero, see Note to x. 35.
Cimon, the son of Miltiades, ii. 29; viii. 52.
Cinadus, the pilot of Menelaus, iii. 22.
Cinæthon, the Lacedæmonian genealogist, ii. 3, 18; iv. 2; viii. 53.
_Ciphos_, our _coif_, iii. 26.
Cirrha, x. 1, 8, 37.
Cists, used in the worship of Demeter and Proserpine, viii. 25, 37;
x. 28.
Cithæron, a mountain in Bœotia, i. 38; ix. 2.
Clearchus, iii. 17; vi. 4.
Cleobis and Bito, ii. 20, see Note.
Cleombrotus, the son of Pausanias, king of Sparta, i. 13; iii. 5, 6;
ix. 13.
Cleomedes, vi. 9.
Cleomenes, ii. 9.
Cleon, statuary, v. 17, 21; vi. 1, 8, 9, 10.
Clymene, reputed by some mother of Homer, x. 24.
Clytæmnestra, ii. 16, 18, 22.
Coats of mail, i. 21; vi. 19; x. 26.
Coccus, x. 36.
Cocytus, i. 17. (Cf. Virgil, _Æneid_, vi. 132, “Cocytusque sinu
labens circumvenit atro,” and Horace, _Odes_, ii. 14-17, 18.)
Colophon, vii. 3, 5; ix. 32.
Colossuses, i. 18, 42. (If gentle reader objects to this plural let
me cite Sir T. Herbert, “In that isle he also defaced an hundred
other colossuses.”—_Travels_, p. 267.)
Comætho, her love-passages with Melanippus, vii. 19.
Commentaries of events, i. 12.
Conon, son of Timotheus, i. 1, 2, 3, 24, 29; iii. 9; vi. 3, 7; viii.
52.
Cordax, a dance, vi. 22.
Coresus, see Callirhoe.
Corinna, ix. 20, 22.
Corinth, taken by Mummius, ii. 1; vii. 16. Rebuilt by Julius Cæsar,
ii. 1, 3; v. 1.
Corœbus, the Argive, i. 43.
Corpses, remarkable, v. 20, 27; viii. 29.
Corsica, x. 17.
Corybantes, iii. 24; viii. 37.
Cos, island, iii. 23; vi. 14, 17; viii. 43.
Cosmosandalum, ii. 35.
Costoboci, x. 34.
Creon, i. 3; ix. 5, 10.
Cresphontes, son of Aristomachus, ii. 18; iv. 3, 5, 31; v. 3. Marries
the daughter of Cypselus, iv. 3; viii. 5, 29.
Crete, island of, iii. 2; vii. 2; viii. 38, 53. Cretan bowmen, i. 23;
iv. 8; vii. 16.
Crocodiles, i. 33; ii. 28; iv. 34.
Crœsus, iii. 10; iv. 5; viii. 24.
Cronos, (the Latin _Saturnus_,) i. 18; viii. 8, 36; ix. 2, 41; x. 24.
Crotonians, their tradition about Helen, iii. 19. Milo a native of
Croton, vi. 14. Wolves numerous in the neighbourhood of Croton, vi.
14.
Crowns in the games, viii. 48.
Cuckoo and Hera, ii. 17.
Curetes, iv. 31, 33; v. 7; viii. 2, 37; x. 38.
Cybele, see the Dindymene Mother.
Cyclades, islands, i. 1; v. 21, 23.
Cyclopes, their buildings, ii. 16, 20, 25; vii. 25.
Cycnus, a Celtic king, tradition about, i. 30.
Cydias, his prowess against the Galati, x. 21.
Cydnus, a river that flows through the district of Tarsus, a cold
river, viii. 28.
Cynoscephalæ, battle of, vii. 8.
Cyprus, claims to be birth-place of Homer, x. 24.
Cypselus, his chest, v. 17, 18, 19.
Dædalus, the famous Athenian, son of Palamaon, why called Dædalus,
ix. 3. A contemporary of Œdipus, x. 17. Fled to Crete, why, i. 21;
vii. 4; viii. 53. His pupils, ii. 15; iii. 17; v. 25. His works of
art, i. 27; ii. 4; viii. 16, 35, 46; ix. 11, 39.
Dædalus of Sicyon, statuary also, vi. 2, 3, 6; x. 9.
Damophon, the best Messenian statuary, iv. 31; vii. 23; viii. 31, 37.
Danae, daughter of Acrisius and mother of Perseus, her brazen
chamber, ii. 23; x. 5. (Horace’s “turris aenea.”)
Danaus, how he became king of Argos, ii. 19. His daughters’
savageness, ii. 16, 24; x. 10. How he got them second husbands,
iii. 12.
Daphne, and the crown of laurel in the Pythian games, x. 7.
Darius, the son of Hystaspes, iii. 4, 9, 12; vii. 10.
Decelea, iii. 8.
Delium, i. 29; ix. 6, 20; x. 28.
Delphi, x. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Delta, ii. 21; vi. 26.
Demaratus, a seven-month child, iii. 4, 7.
Demeter, (the Latin _Ceres_,) i. 14, 37, 39, 43; ii. 35; viii. 15,
25, 42. See also Triptolemus.
Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, i. 6, 10, 25, 36; ix. 7.
Demo, the Sibyl of Cumæ, x. 12.
Democracies, none in Greece in old times, ix. 1. No democracy that we
know of but Athens ever rose to greatness, iv. 35. Remark on, i. 8.
Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes, i. 13, 29.
Demosthenes, the son of Demosthenes, i. 8; ii. 33.
Despœna, viii. 37. See also Proserpine.
Deucalion, his flood, i. 18, 40; v. 8; x. 6.
Dicæarchia, iv. 35; viii. 7. (_Puteoli._)
Dice, vi. 24; vii. 25; x. 30.
Dindymene Mother, vii. 17, 20; viii. 46; ix. 25. (That is Cybele.)
Diocles, ii. 14.
Diomede, king of Thrace, iii. 18; v. 10.
Diomede, who led the Argives to Troy, i. 11, 28; ii. 30, 32; x. 31.
Runs off with the Palladium, i. 22.
Dionysius, the tyrant, i. 2; vi. 2.
Dionysus, (the Latin _Bacchus_,) father of Priapus, ix. 31. Son of
Zeus by Semele, iii. 24. Fetches up Semele from Hades, ii. 31, 37.
Punishes Antiope, ix. 17. Takes Ariadne from Theseus, x. 29. Many
legends about him, x. 29. His orgies, x. 33; ii. 2, 7.
DIOSCURI (_Castor and Pollux_), iii. 13, 26; iv. 31. Visit the house
of Phormio, iii. 16. Their anger against the Messenians, iv. 16,
26. Origin of their anger, iv. 27. Their particular kind of hats,
iii. 24; iv. 27. Called Anactes, ii. 36; x. 38.
Diotimus, the father of Milo, of Croton, vi. 14.
Dipœnus and Scyllis, pupils of Dædalus, statuaries, ii. 15, 22, 32;
iii. 17; v. 17; vi. 19; ix. 35.
Dirce, the legend about her, ix. 17, 25.
Divination, various modes of, iii. 23, 26; iv. 32; vi. 2; vii. 21,
25; ix. 11.
Dodona, i. 17; vii. 21, 25; viii. 11, 23, 28; ix. 25; x. 12.
Dog, cure for bite of, viii. 19.
Dolphin, i. 44; ii. 1; iii. 25; x. 13.
Dontas, pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis, vi. 19.
Doric Architecture, v. 10, 16; vi. 24. Dorian measure, ix. 12.
Doriclydas, pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis, v. 17.
Draco, the Athenian legislator, vi. 11; ix. 36.
Dragon, viii. 8. Guards the apples of the Hesperides, vi. 19. One
wonderfully killed, ix. 26. Seed of the dragon’s teeth, ix. 10.
Dragons sacred to Æsculapius, ii. 11, 28. Also to Trophonius, ix.
39. Yoked to the chariot of Triptolemus, vii. 18.
Dreams, x. 2, 38. Interpreters of, i. 34; v. 23.
Drunkenness personified, ii. 27; vi. 24.
Dryads, viii. 4; x. 32.
Dumb bells, v. 26; vi. 3.
Dyrrhachium, formerly Epidamnus, vi. 10.
Dysaules, brother of Celeus, and father of Triptolemus, i. 14; ii.
12, 14.
Earth, viii. 29; x. 12. The Great Goddess, i. 31.
Earthquakes, ii. 7; vii. 24.
Eating-contest between Lepreus and Hercules, v. 5.
Ebony, i. 42; ii. 22; viii. 17, 53.
Ecbatana, iv. 24.
Echetlæus, his prowess at Marathon, i. 32.
Echinades, islands, viii. 1, 24.
Echoes, wonderful ones, ii. 35; v. 21.
Edoni, i. 29; x. 33.
Eels of Lake Copais, ix. 24.
Eira, iv. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Elaphius, the month of, at Elis, v. 13; vi. 20.
Electra, married to Pylades, ii. 16; iii. 1; ix. 40.
Elephants, i. 12; v. 12.
Eleusinian mysteries, viii. 15; x. 31.
Eleutherolacones, iii. 21.
Elk, v. 12; ix. 21.
Elysium, viii. 53.
Emperors, Roman, statues of, i. 40; v. 20; vi. 19. See also under
_Adrian_, _Augustus_, _C. Julius Cæsar_, _Gaius_, &c. Flattery
to, ii. 8, Note.
Endœus, an Athenian statuary, and pupil of Dædalus, i. 26; vii. 5;
viii. 46.
Enyalius, a name for Ares, (the Latin _Mars_,) iii. 14, 15; v. 18.
Enyo, i. 8; iv. 30.
Epaminondas, iv. 26, 31; viii. 11, 27, 49, 52; ix. 13, 14, 15.
Epeus, the constructor of the famous Wooden Horse, i. 23; ii. 29; x.
26.
Ephesus, temple of Artemis at, vii. 5. (Cf. Acts; xix. 27, 28. Farrar
very aptly quotes Appul. _Metam._ ii. “Diana Ephesia, cujus nomen
unicum, multiformi specie, ritu vario, nomine multijugo, _totus
veneratur orbis_.”)
Ephors at Sparta, iii. 11.
Epicaste, mother of Œdipus, ix. 5, 26. Better known as _Jocasta_.
Epidaurus, a town in Argolis, ii. 26, 27, 28, 29.
Epigoni, ix. 9, 19, 25; x. 10, 25.
Epimenides, the Rip Van Winkle of Antiquity, i. 14.
Eponymi, the heroes so called at Athens, i. 5.
Erato, the Nymph, wife of Arcas, an interpreter of the oracles of
Pan, viii. 4, 37; x. 9.
Erechtheus, i. 5, 26, 28, 38.
Eridanus, a Celtic river, i. 4; v. 12, 14; viii. 25.
Eriphyle, wife of Amphiaraus, slain by Alcmæon her son, i. 34; viii.
24. The famous necklace, v. 17; viii. 24; ix. 41; x. 29.
Erymanthian boar, viii. 24.
Eryx, conquered in wrestling by Hercules, iii. 16; iv. 36; viii. 24.
Essenes of Ephesian Artemis, viii. 13.
Eteocles, the son of Œdipus, v. 19; ix. 5.
Eubœa, v. 23; viii. 14.
Euclides, an Athenian statuary, vii. 25, 26.
Euclus, x. 12, 14, 24.
Evœ, the Bacchic cry, iv. 31. (See Horace’s _Odes_, ii. 19-5-7.)
Euphorion, ii. 22; x. 26.
Euphrates, the river, iv. 34; x. 29.
Eupolis, where buried, ii. 7.
Euripides, i. 2, 21.
Euripus, near Chalcis, i. 23, 38.
Eurotas, river in Laconia, iii. 1, 21; viii. 44, 54.
Euryclides, an Athenian orator, poisoned by Philip, ii. 9.
Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, ix. 30.
Eurypontidæ, ii. 36; iii. 7, 12; iv. 4.
Eurypylus, vii. 19.
Eurystheus, his tomb, i. 44. His hostility to Hercules, iv. 34.
Eurytion, a Centaur, v. 10; vii. 18.
Fables of the Greeks, how to be understood, viii. 8.
Filial piety, instances of, ii. 20; x. 28.
Fire, its inventor, ii. 19. Ever-burning, v. 15; viii. 9, 37.
Magically lighted, v. 27.
Fish, vocal in the river Aroanius, viii. 21.
Flax, v. 5; vi. 26; vii. 21.
Flute-playing, iv. 27; ix. 12.
Food, primitive, viii. 1.
Foolish desires a source of ruin, viii. 24.
Fortune, iv. 30.
Friendship of Phocus and Iaseus, x. 30.
Furies of Clytæmnestra, viii. 34. Furies euphemistically called _The
Venerable Ones_, i. 28. Compare vii. 25.
Gaius, the Roman Emperor, end of, ix. 27.
Galati, their cavalry-arrangements, x. 19. Their irruption into
Greece, x. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Ganymede, v. 24.
Gelanor, ii. 19.
Gerenia, called by Homer _Enope_, iii. 26.
Germans, viii. 43.
Geryon, i. 35; iii. 16; iv. 36; v. 19.
Getæ, the, added to the Roman Empire by Trajan, v. 12. Brave in
battle, i. 9.
Giants, the, viii. 29, 32, 36, 47.
_Girding oneself_, ix. 17.
Girdles worn round the loins in the races at Olympia, i. 44.
Glaucus of Carystus, story about, vi. 10.
Glaucus of Chios, x. 16.
Glaucus, the god of the sea, vi. 10.
Gobryas, i. 1; iii. 11; ix. 1.
Gods, the twelve, i. 3, 40; viii. 25. Unknown gods, i. 1; v. 14.
Gorgias of Leontini, vi. 17; x. 18.
Gorgon, ii. 21. See also Medusa.
Gorgus, the son of Aristomenes, iv. 19, 21, 23.
Graces, ix. 35.
Grasshoppers, idiosyncrasy of, vi. 6.
Greeks, apt to admire things out of their own country, ix. 36.
Numbers that fought against Xerxes and the Galati, x. 20.
Munificence of in their worship of the gods, v. 12.
Griffins, i. 24.
Gryllus, the son of Xenophon, i. 3; viii. 9, 11; ix. 15.
Gymnopædia, festival of, iii. 11.
Gythium, Lacedæmonian arsenal, i. 27; iii. 21; viii. 50.
Hair, shorn to river-gods, i. 37; viii. 41. See also viii. 20.
Halirrhothius, i. 21, 28.
Hannibal, oracle about his death, viii. 11.
Happiness only intermittent, viii. 24.
Harmodius, i. 8, 29.
Harmosts, officers among the Lacedæmonians, ix. 6, 32.
Harpies, iii. 18; v. 17; x. 30.
Hebe, i. 19; ii. 13, 17; viii. 9.
Hecas, the seer, iv. 16, 21.
Hecatæus, the Milesian, iii. 25; iv. 2; viii. 4, 47.
Hecate, i. 43; ii. 22, 30.
Hecatomphonia, iv. 19.
Hector, son of Priam, iii. 18; v. 25; ix. 18; x. 31.
Hecuba, x. 12, 27.
He-goat, oracle about, iv. 20.
Helen, the famous, a woe to Europe and Asia, x. 12. Tradition about,
iii. 19. Her maids, x. 25. Oath taken about, iii. 20.
Helen, a Jewess, her tomb, viii. 16.
Helenus, son of Priam, i. 11; ii. 23; v. 22.
Helicon, a mountain in Bœotia, ix. 26, 27, 28, 29.
Hellas in Thessaly, gave name to the Hellenes, iii. 20.
Hellebore, x. 36, 37.
Helots, iii. 11, 20; iv. 23, 24; viii. 51.
Hephæstus, (the Latin _Vulcan_,) i. 20; ii. 31; iii. 17; viii. 53;
ix. 41.
Hera, (the Latin _Juno_,) i. 18; ii. 15; v. 16; vi. 24. Story about
her quarrel and reconciliation with Zeus, ix. 3. Becomes a virgin
again annually, ii. 38. The cuckoo in connection with her, ii. 17.
The peacock sacred to her, ii. 17.
Heraclidæ, Return of the, ii. 13, 18; iii. 1; iv. 3.
Hercules, the Egyptian, x. 13.
Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, his Colonnade, vi. 23. Hunts the
Erymanthian boar, viii. 24. Fights against the Amazons, v. 11, 25.
Relieves Atlas, v. 10, 11. Brings up Cerberus from Hades, ii. 31,
35; iii. 25; ix. 34. Cleans Elis, v. 1, 10; ix. 11. Drives off the
oxen of Geryon, iii. 16, 18; iv. 36; v. 19. Overcomes the Nemean
lion, iii. 18; v. 11; vi. 5; viii. 13. Has an eating contest with
Lepreus, v. 5. First accounted a god by the people of Marathon,
i. 15, 32. Taken to heaven by Athene, iii. 18, 19. Kills Nessus,
iii. 18. Introduces into Greece the white poplar, v. 14. Liberates
Prometheus, v. 10. His club, ii. 31. His Labours, iii. 17; v. 10,
26.
Hercules, the Idæan, v. 7, 13; ix. 27.
Heredity, i. 6; viii. 5, 13.
Hermæ, i. 17, 24; iv. 33; viii. 39; x. 12.
Hermes, (the Latin _Mercury_,) vii. 27; viii. 14. Steals Apollo’s
oxen, vii. 20. Takes the goddesses to Paris for the choice of
beauty, iii. 18; v. 19. Invents the lyre, ii. 19; v. 14; viii. 17.
Herodes Atticus, i. 19; ii. 1; vi. 21; vii. 20; x. 32.
Herodotus, quoted or alluded to, i. 5, 28, 43; ii. 16, 20, 30; iii.
2, 25; v. 26; viii. 27; ix. 23, 36; x. 20, 32, 33.
Herophile, a Sibyl, x. 12.
Hesiod, i. 2; ix. 30, 31, 38; x. 7. Quoted or alluded to, i. 24; ii.
9.
Hesperides, v. 11; vi. 19.
Hides, garments made of, viii. 1; x. 38. Used as shields in battle,
iv. 11.
Hieronymus of Cardia, historian, i. 9, 13.
Hilaira and Phœbe, ii. 22; iii. 16; iv. 31.
Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, i. 8, 23, 29.
Hippocrene, ii. 31; ix. 31.
Hippodamia, daughter of Œnomaus, v. 11, 14, 16, 17; vi. 20, 21; viii.
14.
Hippodrome at Olympia, vi. 20.
Hippolyta, leader of the Amazons, i. 41.
Hippolytus, son of Theseus, i. 22; ii. 27, 31, 32; iii. 22.
Hippopotamus, iv. 34; v. 12; viii. 46.
Homer, his age and birthplace, ix. 30; x. 24. His oracle, viii. 24;
x. 24. His poverty, ii. 33. On Homer generally, i. 2; iv. 28, 33;
vii. 5, 26; ix. 40; x. 7. Homer is quoted very frequently, viz., i.
13, 28, 37; ii. 3, 6, 7, 12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 25, 26; iii. 2, 7, 18,
19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26; iv. 1, 9, 30, 32, 33, 36; v. 6, 8, 11, 14,
24; vi. 5, 22, 26, 26; vii. 1, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26; viii. 1, 3, 8,
16, 18, 24, 25, 29, 37, 38, 41, 48, 50; ix. 5, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24,
26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41; x. 5, 6, 8, 14, 17, 22,
25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 37.
Hoopoe, i. 41; x. 4.
Hoplodamus assists Rhea, viii. 32, 36.
Horns of animals, v. 12. Horn of Amalthea, vi. 25.
Horse, curious story in connection with, v. 27. The famous Wooden
Horse, i. 23; x. 9. Winged horses, v. 17, 19.
Hyacinth, the flower, i. 35; ii. 35.
Hyampolis, a town in Phocis, x. 1, 3, 35.
Hyantes, ix. 5, 35.
Hydarnes, a general of Xerxes, iii. 4; x. 22.
Hydra, ii. 37; v. 5; v. 17.
Hygiea, daughter of Æsculapius, i. 23; v. 20. Her temple, iii. 22.
Hyllus, son of Hercules, i. 35, 41, 44; iv. 30; viii. 5, 45, 53.
Hymettus, famous for its bees, i. 32.
Hyperboreans, i. 31; v. 7; x. 5.
Hypermnestra, ii. 19, 20, 21, 25; x. 10, 35.
Hyrieus, his treasury, story about, ix. 37.
Hyrnetho, daughter of Temenus, ii. 19, 23. Her tragic end, ii. 28.
Iamidæ, seers at Elis, descendants of Iamus, iii. 11, 12; iv. 16; vi.
2; viii. 10.
Ibycus, the poet, ii. 6.
Icarus, the son of Dædalus, ix. 11.
Ichnusa, the old name of Sardinia, x. 17.
Idæan Dactyli, v. 7.
Iliad, The Little, iii. 26; x. 26.
Ilissus, a river in Attica, i. 19.
Ilithyia, i. 18; viii. 32; ix. 27.
Immortals, The, vi. 6; x. 19.
Inachus, a river, ii. 15, 18, 25; viii. 6.
Indian sages taught the immortality of the soul, iv. 32. India famous
for wild beasts, iv. 34; viii. 29.
Ino, i. 42, 44; iii. 23, 24, 26; iv. 34; ix. 5.
Inscriptions, ox-fashion, v. 17.
Inventions, source of, viii. 31.
Inundations, destruction caused by, vii. 24; viii. 14.
Io, daughter of Inachus, i. 25; iii. 18.
Iodama, ix. 34.
Iolaus, nephew of Hercules, vii. 2; viii. 14. Shares in his uncle’s
Labours, i. 19; viii. 45. Kills Eurystheus, i. 44. Colonizes
Sardinia, vii. 2; x. 17. His hero-chapel, ix. 23.
Ion, the son of Xuthus, i. 31; vii. 1.
Iphiclus, the father of Protesilaus, iv. 36; v. 17; x. 31.
Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, i. 33, 43; iii. 16; ix. 19.
Iphimedea, mother of Otus and Ephialtes, ix. 22; x. 28.
Iphitus, king of Elis, v. 4, 8; viii. 26.
Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, iii. 15; x. 13.
Iris, the flower, ix. 41.
Iron, first fused, iii. 12; x. 16.
Ischepolis, son of Alcathous, killed by the Calydonian boar, i. 42,
43.
Isis, the Egyptian goddess, i. 41; ii. 4, 13, 32, 34; v. 25; x. 32.
Ismenius, a river in Bœotia, ix. 9, 10.
Isocrates, i. 18.
Issedones, i. 24, 31; v. 7.
Isthmian games, i. 44; ii. 1, 2. People of Elis excluded from them,
v. 2; vi. 16.
Ister, river, viii. 28, 38.
Ithome, iv. 9, 13, 14, 24, 31.
Ivory, i. 12; v. 11, 12; vii. 27.
_Ivy-cuttings_, feast so called, ii. 13.
Jason, husband of Medea, ii. 3; v. 17.
Jay, anecdote about the, viii. 12.
Jerusalem, viii. 16.
Jocasta, ix. 5. (Called Epicaste, ix. 26.)
Joppa, iv. 35.
Jordan, the famous river, v. 7.
Keys, the three keys of Greece, vii. 7.
Kites, idiosyncrasy of at Olympia, v. 14.
Labyrinth of the Minotaur in Crete, i. 27. (Cf. Virg. Æneid, v.
588-591. Ovid, Metamorphoses, viii. 159-168.)
Lacedæmonians go out on campaign only when the moon is at its full,
i. 28. Go out to battle not to the sound of the trumpet, but to
flutes lyres and harps, iii. 17. Care not for poetry, iii. 8.
Tactics in battle, iv. 8. Always conceal their losses in battle,
ix. 13. Their forces at Thermopylæ, x. 20. Their kings, how tried,
iii. 5.
Lacedæmonian dialect, iii. 15. Brevity, iv. 7.
Laconia originally called Lelegia, iv. 1.
Ladder-pass, viii. 6.
Læstrygones, viii. 29; x. 22.
Lais, ii. 2.
Laius, son of Labdacus, King of Thebes, ix. 5, 26; x. 5.
Lamp of Athene, ever burning, i. 26.
Lampsacus, people of, anecdote about, vi. 18. Great worshippers of
Priapus, ix. 31.
Laomedon, father of Priam, vii. 20; viii. 36.
Lapithæ, their fight with the Centaurs, i. 17; v. 10.
La Rochefoucauld anticipated by Pindar. Note, x. 22.
Laurium, its silver mines, i. 1.
Law-courts at Athens, various names of, i. 28.
Leæna, mistress of Aristogiton, i. 23.
Lebadea in Bœotia, sacred to Trophonius, i. 34; ix. 39.
Lechæum, ii. 1, 2; ix. 14, 15; x. 37.
Leda, i. 33; iii. 13, 16.
Leonidas, the hero of Thermopylæ, i. 13; iii. 3, 4, 14; viii. 52.
Leontini, the birth-place of the famous Gorgias, vi. 17.
Leprosy, cure for, v, 5. (Credat Judæus Apella!)
Lesbos, iii. 2; iv. 35; x. 19, 24.
Lescheos, author of the _Capture of Ilium_, x. 25, 26, 27.
Leto, (the Latin _Latona_,) i. 18, 31; iii. 20; viii. 53.
Leucippus, his love for Daphne, viii. 20.
Leuctra, i. 13; iv. 26; viii. 27; ix. 6, 13, 14.
Libya, famous for wild beasts, ii. 21.
Libyssa, where Hannibal died, viii. 11.
Linus, ix. 29.
Lipara, x. 11, 16.
Lophis, story about, ix. 33. (Cf. story of Jephthah.)
Lounges, iii. 14, 15; x. 25.
Lots, iv. 3; v. 25.
Love, its power, vii. 19. Success in love, vii. 26. Cure of
melancholy caused by, vii. 5. Little sympathy with lovers from
older people, vii. 19. Tragedies through love, i. 30; vii 21; viii.
20.
Lycomidæ, i. 22; iv. 1; ix. 27, 30.
Lycortas, iv. 29; vii. 9; viii. 50.
Lycurgus, the famous legislator, iii. 2, 14, 16, 18; v. 4.
Lygdamis, the father of Artemisia, iii. 11.
Lygdamis, the Syracusan, as big as Hercules, v. 8.
Lynceus, son of Aphareus, his keen eyesight, iv. 2. Slain by Pollux,
iv. 3.
Lynceus, the husband of Hypermnestra, ii. 19, 21, 25. Succeeds
Danaus, ii. 16.
Lyre, invented by Hermes, v. 14; viii. 17. First used by Amphion, ix.
5.
Lysander, iii. 5, 6, 8, 11, 17, 18; ix. 32; x. 9.
Lysippus, a Sicyonian statuary, i. 43; ii. 9, 20; vi. 1, 2, 4, 5, 14,
17; ix. 27, 30.
Lysis, the early schoolmaster of Epaminondas, ix. 13.
Macaria, i. 32.
Machærion, viii. 11.
Machaon, son of Æsculapius, ii. 11, 23, 26, 38; iii. 26; iv. 3.
Machinery, or mechanism, at Olympia, vi. 20. At Jerusalem, viii. 16.
Mæander, river in Asia Minor, famous for its windings, v. 14; vii. 2;
viii. 7, 24, 31; x. 32.
Magic, v. 27.
Maneros, the Egyptian Linus, ix. 29.
Mantinea, ii. 8; viii. 3, 8, 12.
Manto, daughter of Tiresias, vii. 3; ix. 10, 33.
Marathon, i. 15, 32; iv. 25; x. 20.
Mardonius, son of Gobryas, i. 1, 27; iii. 4; vii. 25; ix. 1, 2, 23.
Panic of his men, i. 40; ix. 25.
Marpessa, the Widow, viii. 47, 48.
Marsyas, i. 24; ii. 7; viii. 9; x. 30.
Martiora, ix. 21.
Mausoleums, viii. 16.
Mausolus, viii. 16.
Medea, ii. 3, 12; viii. 11.
Medusa, the Gorgon, i. 21; ii. 20, 21; v. 10, 12, 18; viii. 47; ix.
34.
Megalopolis, ii. 9, 27; iv. 29; vi. 12; viii. 27, 30, 33; ix. 14. Its
theatre, ii. 27.
Megara, i. 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44; vii. 15.
Megaris, i. 39, 44.
Meleager, ii. 7; iv. 2; x. 31.
Melicerta, i. 44; ii. 1; ix. 34.
Memnon, his statue, i. 42.
Memnonides, birds so called, x. 31.
Memphis, i. 18.
Menander, i. 2, 21.
Menelaus, the son of Atreus and husband of Helen, iii. 1, 14, 19; v.
18; x. 25, 26.
Menestratus, ix. 26.
Miletus, vii. 2, 24; viii. 24, 49; x. 33.
Milo, of Croton, his wonderful strength, vi. 14.
Miltiades, son of Cimon, i. 32; ii. 29; vi. 19; vii. 15; viii. 52.
Minos, i. 17, 27; ii. 30, 34; iii. 2; vii. 2, 4; viii. 53.
Minotaur, i. 27; iii. 18.
Minyad, the poem so called, iv. 33; ix. 5; x. 28, 31.
Mirrors, remarkable ones, vii. 21; viii. 37.
Mithridates, king of Pontus, i. 20; iii. 23; ix. 7.
Money, its substitute in old times, iii. 12.
Moon enamoured of Endymion, v. 1. Full moon and the Lacedæmonians, i.
28.
Mullets, love mud, iv. 34.
Mummius, ii. 1, 2; vii. 15, 16. His gifts at Olympia, v. 10, 24.
Musæus, i. 14, 22, 25; iv. 1; x. 5, 7, 9, 12.
Muses, the, ix. 29.
Mycenæ, ii. 15, 16; v. 23; vii. 25; viii. 27, 33; ix. 34.
Myrtilus, the son of Hermes, ii. 18; v. 1, 10; vi. 20; viii. 14.
Myrtle, sacred to Aphrodite, vi. 24.
Myrtoan sea, why so called, viii. 14.
Myus, its mosquitoes, vii. 2.
Nabis, tyrant at Sparta, iv. 29; vii. 8; viii. 50.
Naked, its meaning among the ancients. See Note, x. 27.
Names, confusion in same names general, viii. 15. Different method of
giving names among Greeks and Romans, vii. 7.
Narcissus, ix. 31, 41.
Naupactian poems, ii. 3; iv. 2; x. 38.
Naupactus, iv. 24, 26; vi. 16; ix. 25, 31; x. 38.
Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, i. 22; v. 19.
Neda, river, iv. 20, 36; v. 6; viii. 38, 41.
Neleus, iv. 2, 36; v. 8; x. 29, 31. His posterity, ii. 18; iv. 3.
Nemean games, ii. 15, 24; vi. 16; viii. 48; x. 25.
Nemesis, i. 33; vii. 5, 20; ix. 35.
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the Retribution of, iv. 17. (As to
Neoptolemus generally, see _Pyrrhus_.)
Nereids, ii. 1; iii. 26; v. 19.
Nereus, iii. 21.
Nero, the Roman Emperor, ii. 17, 37; v. 12, 25, 26; vii. 17; ix. 27;
x. 7.
Nessus, iii. 18; x. 38.
Nestor, iii. 26; iv. 3, 31, 36.
Nicias, the Athenian General, i. 29.
Nicias, animal painter, i. 29; iii. 19; iv. 31; vii. 22.
Nicopolis, founded by Augustus, v. 23; vii. 18; x. 8, 38.
Nicostratus, v. 21.
Night, v. 18; vii. 5.
Night-attack, ingenious, x. 1.
Nightingales at Orpheus’ tomb, ix. 30.
Nile, famous river of Egypt, i. 33; ii. 5; iv. 34; v. 7, 14; viii.
24; x. 32.
Nineveh, viii. 33.
Niobe, i. 21; ii. 21; v. 11, 16; viii. 2.
Nisus, i. 19, 39; ii. 34.
North wind, viii. 27. (_Boreas._)
Nymphs, iii. 10; iv. 27; ix. 24; x. 31.
Nymphon, ii. 11.
Oceanus, i. 33.
Ocnus, x. 29. See Note.
Octavia, her temple at Corinth, ii 3.
Odeum at Athens, i. 8, 14; vii. 20.
Odysseus, (the Latin _Ulysses_,) i. 22, 35; iii. 12, 20; iv. 12; v.
25; vi. 6; viii. 3, 14, 44; x. 8, 26, 28, 29, 31.
Œdipodia, ix. 5.
Œdipus, i. 28, 30; ix. 2, 5, 26; x. 5.
Œnobius, i. 23.
Œnomaus, v. 1, 10, 14, 17, 20, 22; vi. 18, 20, 21; viii. 14, 20.
Œnotria, viii. 3.
Œta, Mount, iii. 4; vii. 15; x. 22.
Olen, i. 18; ii. 13; v. 7; viii. 21; ix. 27; x. 5.
Oligarchies, established by Mummius, vii. 16, Note.
Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, mother of Alexander the Great, i.
11, 25; iv. 14; viii 7; ix. 7.
Olympus, Mount, in Thessaly, vi. 5.
Olynthus, iii. 5.
Onatas, Æginetan statuary, v. 25, 27; vi. 12; viii. 42; x. 13.
Onga, ix. 12.
Onomacritus, i 22; viii. 31, 37; ix. 35.
Ophioneus, the seer, iv. 10, 12, 13.
Ophitea, legend about, x. 33.
Opportunity, the youngest son of Zeus, v. 14.
Oracles, ambiguous, viii. 11. (Compare case of ‘Jerusalem’ in
Shakspere, 2 Henry IV., Act iv., Scene iv., 233-241.)
Orestes, son of Agamemnon, i. 28; ii. 18, 31; iii. 1, 16, 22; vii.
25; viii. 5, 34.
Orithyia, i. 19; v. 19.
Orontes, a river in Syria, vi. 2; viii. 20, 29, 33; x. 20.
Orpheus, i. 14, 37; ii. 30; iii. 13, 14, 20; v. 26; vi. 20; ix. 17,
27, 30.
Osiris, x. 32.
Osogo, viii. 10.
Ostrich, ix. 31.
Otilius, vii. 7; x. 36.
Otus and Ephialtes, ix. 29.
Ox-killer, i. 24, 28.
Oxen given in barter, iii. 12.
Oxyartes, father of Roxana, i. 6.
Oxylus, curious tale about, v. 3.
Ozolian, x. 38.
Palæmon, i. 44; ii. 2; viii. 48.
Palamedes, ii. 20; x. 31.
Palladium, i. 28; ii. 23.
Pamphus, i. 38, 39; vii. 21; viii. 35, 37; ix. 27, 29, 31, 35.
Pan, i. 28; viii. 26, 31, 36, 38, 54.
Panic fear, x. 23.
Parian stone, i. 14, 33, 43; v. 11, 12; viii. 25.
Paris, iii. 22; v. 19; x. 31.
Parnassus, Mount, x. 4, 5, 6, 8, 32, 33.
Parrots come from India, ii. 28. (Did Pausanias remember Ovid’s
“Psittacus Eois imitatrix ales ab Indis.” Amor. ii. 6. 1.)
Parthenon at Athens, i. 24; viii. 41.
Patroclus, the friend of Achilles, iii. 24; iv. 28; x. 13, 26, 30.
Patroclus, Egyptian Admiral, i. 1; iii. 6.
Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, i. 13; iii. 17; viii. 52.
Pausanias, a Macedonian, murderer of Harpalus, ii. 33.
Peacock sacred to Hera, ii. 17.
Peace with Wealth, i. 8; ix. 16.
Pegasus, ii. 4, 31; ix. 31.
Pelagos, viii. 11. See Oracles, ambiguous.
Peleus, father of Achilles, i. 37; ii. 29; iii. 18; v. 18; viii. 45;
x. 30.
Pelias, iv. 2; v. 8, 17; viii. 11; x. 30.
Pelion, Mount, x. 19.
Peloponnesian War, iii. 7; iv. 6; viii. 41, 52.
Pelops, ii. 18, 22, 26; v. 1, 8, 10, 13, 17; vi. 20, 21, 24; viii.
14; ix. 40.
Pencala, river in Phrygia, viii. 4; x. 32.
Penelope, wife of Odysseus, iii. 12, 13, 20; viii. 12.
Pentelicus, a mountain in Attica, famous for its stone quarries, i.
19, 32.
Penthesilea, v. 11; x. 31.
Pentheus, i. 20; ii. 2; ix. 2, 5.
Periander, son of Cypselus, one of the Seven Wise Men, i. 23; x. 24.
Pericles, i. 25, 28, 29; viii. 41.
Perjury punished, ii. 2, 18; iv. 22; v. 24.
Pero, the matchless daughter of Neleus, x. 31.
Perseus, son of Danae, and grandson of Acrisius, i. 22; ii. 15, 16,
20, 21, 22, 27; iii. 17; iv. 35; v. 18.
Persians, i. 18, 32, 33; iii. 9; ix. 32. Their shields called
_Gerrha_, viii. 50; x. 19.
Petroma, viii. 15.
Phæacians, iii. 18; viii. 29.
Phædra, the wife of Theseus, enamoured of her stepson Hippolytus, i.
22; ii. 32; ix. 16; x. 29.
Phaennis, a prophetess, x. 15, 20.
Phaethon, i. 3.
Phalanthus, x. 10, 13.
Phalerum, i. 1, 28.
Phemonoe, first priestess of Apollo at Delphi, x. 5, 6, 12.
Phidias, famous Athenian statuary, i. 3, 4, 24, 28, 33, 40; v. 10,
11; vi. 4, 25, 26; vii. 27; ix. 4, 10; x. 10. His descendants, v.
14.
Philammon, father of Thamyris, iv. 33; x. 7.
Philip, oracle about the two Philips, vii. 8.
Philip, the son of Amyntas, i. 6, 25; ii. 20; iii. 7, 24; iv. 28; v.
4; vii. 7, 10, 11; viii. 7, 27; ix. 1, 37; x. 2, 3, 36.
Philip, the son of Demetrius, i. 36; ii. 9; vi. 16; vii. 7, 8; viii.
8, 50; x. 33, 34.
Philoctetes, v. 13; viii. 8, 33; x. 27.
Philomela, i. 5, 14, 41; x. 4.
Philomelus, x. 2, 8, 33.
Philopœmen, son of Craugis, iv. 29; vii. 9; viii. 27, 49, 51, 52.
Phocian Resolution, x. 1.
Phocian War, iv. 28; ix. 6; x. 3.
Phœbe, see Hilaira.
Phœnix, x. 26.
Phormio, son of Asopichus, i. 23, 29; x. 11.
Phormio, the fisherman of Erythræ, vii. 5.
Phormio inhospitable to Castor and Pollux, iii. 16.
Phoroneus, ii. 15, 19, 20, 21.
Phrixus, son of Athainas, i. 24; ix. 34, 38.
Phrontis, the pilot of Menelaus, x. 25.
Phryne, beloved by Praxiteles, i. 20; ix. 27; x. 15.
Phrynichus, play of, x. 31.
Phytalus, i. 37.
Pillars, viii. 45.
Pindar, i. 8; ix. 22, 23, 25; x. 24. Quoted or alluded to, i. 2, 41;
iii. 25; iv. 2, 30; v. 14, 22; vi. 2; vii. 2, 26; ix. 22; x. 5, 16,
22.
Piræus, i. 1.
Pirithous, son of Zeus, and friend of Theseus, i. 17, 30; v. 10;
viii. 45; x. 29.
Pisander of Camirus, ii. 37; viii. 22.
Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, i. 3, 23; ix. 6. Collects Homer’s
Poems, vii. 26.
Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the Seven Wise Men, x. 24.
Plane-trees, wonderful, vii. 22, with Note.
Platanistas at Sparta, iii. 11, 14.
Platæa, battle at, v. 23; vi. 3; ix. 2; x. 15.
Plato, the famous, i. 30; iv. 32. Quoted, vii. 17. Cited, x. 24.
Pluto, i. 38; ii. 36; ix. 23.
Poets, at kings’ courts, i. 3. Statues of, ix. 30.
Pollux, see Dioscuri.
Polybius, viii. 9, 30, 37, 44, 48.
Polycletus, Argive statuary, ii. 17, 20, 22, 24, 27; vi. 2, 4, 7, 9,
13; viii. 31.
Polycrates, i. 2; viii. 14.
Polydamas, vi. 5.
Polydectes, i. 22.
Polygnotus, famous Thasian painter, i. 18, 22; ix. 4; x. 25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 31.
Polynices, son of Œdipus, ii. 19, 20, 25; iv. 8; ix. 5; x. 10.
Polyxena, i. 22; x. 25.
Pomegranate, ii. 17; vi. 14; viii. 37; ix. 25.
Poplar, ii. 10; v. 13, 14.
Poseidon, (the Latin _Neptune_,) i. 24, 27, 30; ii. 1, 4, 22, 30; vi.
25; viii. 10, 25, 42.
Praxias, x. 19.
Praxiteles, the famous, lover of Phryne, i. 2, 20, 23, 40, 43, 44;
ii. 21; v. 17; vi. 26; ix. 1, 2, 11, 27, 39; x. 15, 37.
Priam, ii. 24; iv. 17; x. 25, 27.
Priapus, ix. 31.
Processions, i. 2, 29; ii. 35; vii. 18; x. 18.
Procne, i. 24, 41.
Procrustes, i. 38.
Prœtus, ii. 7, 12, 16, 25; viii. 18; x. 10.
Prometheus, ii. 14, 19; v. 10; x. 4.
Promontory called _Ass’ jawbone_, iii. 22, 23.
Prophetical men and women, x. 12, with Note.
Proserpine, i. 38; ii. 36; iv. 30; viii. 31, 42, 53; ix. 23, 31.
Proteus, iii. 18; viii. 53.
Proverbs, see ii. 9; iv. 17; vi. 3, 10; vii. 12; ix. 9, 30, 37; x. 1,
14, 17, 29.
Providence, v. 25.
Prusias, viii. 11.
Psamathe, i. 43; ii. 19.
Psyttalea, island of, i. 36; iv. 36.
Ptolemies proud of calling themselves Macedonians, x. 7, cf. vi. 3.
Much about the various Ptolemies in, i. 6, 7, 8, 9.
Purple, iii. 21; v. 12.
Puteoli, iv. 35; viii. 7.
Pylades, i. 22; ii. 16, 29; iii. 1.
Pylæ, that is Thermopylæ, ix. 15.
Pylos, iv. 2, 3, 31, 36.
Pyramids, ix. 36.
Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus), the son of Achilles, i. 4, 11, 13; ii. 23;
iii. 20, 25, 26; iv. 17; x. 7, 23, 24, 25, 26.
Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, i. 6, 9, 10, 11; iv. 29, 35.
Pythionice, i. 37.
Pytho, v. 3; x. 6.
Quoits, ii. 16; v. 3; vi. 14.
Return from Ilium, Poem so called, x. 28, 29, 30.
Rhea, viii. 8, 36; ix. 2, 41.
Rhegium, iv. 23, 26; v. 25.
Rhianus, iv. 1, 6, 15, 17.
Rhinoceros, v. 12; ix. 21. Called also Ethiopian bull.
Rhœcus of Samos, viii. 14; ix. 41; x. 38.
Rose, sacred to Aphrodite, vi. 24.
Roxana, wife of Alexander the Great, i. 6; ix. 7.
Sacadas, ii. 22; iv. 27; vi. 14; ix. 30; x. 7.
Sacrifices, remarkable, vii. 18; viii. 29, 37.
Sails, an invention of Dædalus, ix. 11.
Salamis, i. 35, 36, 40.
Samos, vii. 2, 4, 10.
Sanctuaries, not to be approached by the profane, viii. 5; x. 32,
(Procul o, procul este, profani!)
Sappho, the Lesbian Poetess, i. 25, 29; viii. 18; ix. 27, 29.
Sardinia, x. 17.
Sardis, iii. 9; iv. 24.
Sardonic laughter, x. 17.
Saturnus. See Cronos.
Satyrs, i. 23. Satyr of Praxiteles, i. 20.
Scamander, v. 25.
Scedasus and his two daughters, ix. 13.
Scimetar of Cambyses, i. 28.
Scipio, viii. 30.
Sciron, killed by Theseus, i. 3, 44.
Scopas, i. 43; ii. 10, 22; vi. 25; viii. 28, 45, 47; ix. 10, 17.
Scorpion with wings, ix. 21.
Scylla, daughter of Nisus, legend about, ii. 34.
Scyllis of Scione, famous diver, x. 19.
Scythians, travel in waggons, viii. 43. (Compare Horace, Odes, Book
iii. Ode 24. 9-11. “Campestres melius Scythae, Quorum plaustra
vagas rite trahunt domos, Vivunt.”)
Sea, Red, i. 33. Dead, v. 7.
Seasons, v. 11, 17; ix. 35.
Seleucia, on the Orontes, i. 16; viii. 33.
Seleucus, son of Antiochus, i. 6, 16.
Semele, daughter of Cadmus, mother of Dionysus by Zeus, ii. 31, 37;
iii. 24; ix. 5.
Serapis, i. 18; ii. 4, 34; iii. 14, 22, 25; iv. 32; vii. 21; ix. 24.
Ser, and the Seres, vi. 26.
Seriphus, i. 22.
Serpents, remarkable ones, viii. 4, 16. None in Sardinia, x. 17.
Sheep, accompanying Spartan kings to war, ix. 13.
Shields, Used by the Celts in fording rivers, x. 20.
Ship at Delos, i. 29.
Sibyl, ii. 7; vii. 8; x. 9.
Sibyls, various, x. 12.
Sicily, a small hill near Athens, viii. 11.
Sight suddenly lost and recovered, iv. 10, 12; x. 38.
Silenus, i. 4, 23; ii. 22; iii. 25. Sileni mortal, vi. 24.
Simonides, i. 2; iii. 8; vi. 9; ix. 2; x. 27.
Sinis, i. 37; ii. 1. (Pityocamptes.)
Sirens, ix. 34; x. 6.
Sisters, love of by brothers, i. 7; iv. 2; ix. 31.
Sisyphus, son of Æolus, ii. 1, 3, 5; x. 31.
Sleep the god most friendly to the Muses, ii. 31.
Smyrna, v. 8; vii. 5.
Snake, story about, x. 33.
Socrates, i. 22, 30; ix. 35.
Solon, i. 16, 18; x. 24.
Sophocles, i. 21, 28.
Sosigenes, viii. 31.
Sosipolis, vi. 20, 25.
Sparta, iii. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
Sparti, viii. 11; ix. 5. Note. ix. 10.
Speech, ill-advised, iii. 7, 8.
Sperchius, river, x. 20, 21, 22, 23.
Sphacteria, i. 13, 15; iii. 5; iv. 36; v. 26; vi. 22.
Sphinx, the, ix. 26.
Spiders, ix. 6.
Stade. See Note, i. 1.
Stesichorus, iii. 19.
Stratagems of Homer, iv. 28.
Strongyle, a volcanic island, x. 11.
Stymphelides, birds so called, viii. 22.
Styx, river, viii. 17, 18.
Submission to an enemy, technical term for, Note on x. 20. See also
iii. 12.
Sulla, i. 20; ix. 7, 33; x. 20.
Sun-shade used by ladies, vii. 22.
Sunium, i. 1, 28.
Suppliants not to be injured with impunity, vii. 24, 25. See also
iii. 4; iv. 24.
Sus, river, ix. 30.
Susa, i. 42; iii. 9, 16; iv. 31; vi. 5.
Swallows, idiosyncrasy of at Daulis, x. 4.
Swan-eagles, viii. 17.
Tænarum, promontory of, iii. 14, 25; iv. 24.
Tantalus, ii. 22; v. 13; x. 30, 31.
Taraxippus, vi. 20.
Tarentum, iii. 12; x. 10, 13.
Tarsus, viii. 28.
Telamon, son of Æacus, i. 35, 42; ii. 29; viii. 45.
Telesilla, ii. 20, 28, 35.
Tellias of Elis, x. 1, 13.
Tenedos, x. 14. Tenedian axe, x. 14.
Tereus, i. 5, 41; ix. 16; x. 4.
Teucer, son of Telamon, i. 28; viii. 15.
Thamyris, iv. 33; ix. 5, 30; x. 7, 30.
Thebes, ii. 6; iv. 27; vii. 15, 17; viii. 33; ix. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Themis, v. 17; viii. 25; x. 5.
Themisto, reputed by some mother of Homer, x. 24.
Themistocles, i. 1, 36; viii. 50, 52; x. 14.
Theoclus, Messenian seer, iv. 16, 20, 21.
Theodorus of Samos, iii. 12; viii. 14; ix. 41; x. 38. His seal carved
out of an emerald for Polycrates, viii. 14.
Thermopylæ, vii. 15; ix. 32; x. 20, 21.
Thersites, x. 31.
Theseus, i. 1, 2, 3, 17, 19, 22, 27, 37, 39, 41, 44; ii. 1, 22, 30,
32; iii. 18, 24; v. 10, 11; vii. 17; viii. 45, 48; ix. 31, 40; x.
29.
Thetis, mother of Achilles, v. 18, 22.
Thucydides, the famous Historian, i. 23; vi. 19. Possibly alluded to,
i. 8.
Thyestes, ii. 18.
Thyiades, x. 4, 19, 32.
Thyrsus of Dionysus, iv. 36; viii. 31.
Tiger, ix. 21.
Timagoras, tragic story of, i. 30.
Timon of Athens, the famous Misanthrope, i. 30.
Timotheus, the Milesian harper and poet, iii. 12; viii. 50.
Tiphys, the pilot of the Argo, ix. 32.
Tiresias, vii. 3; ix. 18, 32, 33.
Tiryns, ii. 16, 17, 25; v. 23; vii. 25; viii. 2, 33, 46; ix. 36.
Tisias, vi. 17.
Tissaphernes, iii. 9.
Titans, the, vii. 18; viii. 37.
Tityus, iii. 18; x. 4, 11, 29.
Tomb of Helen, a Jewess, at Jerusalem, viii. 16.
Tortoises, i. 44; viii. 23. Lyres made out of them, ii. 19; viii. 17,
54.
Townships of Attica, i. 31, 32, 33.
Traitors, various ones that troubled Greece, vii. 10.
Trajan, the Emperor, iv. 35; v. 12.
Treasuries, ix. 36, 37, 38; x. 11.
Trench, the Great, iv. 6, 17, 20, 22.
Tripods, v. 17; vii. 4.
Triptolemus, i. 14, 38; ii. 14; vii. 18; viii. 4.
Tritons, viii. 2; ix. 20, 21.
Trœzen, ii. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34.
Trophies, unwisdom of erecting, ix. 40.
Trophonius, iv. 16, 32; viii. 10; ix. 11, 37, 39, 40; x. 5.
Tros, father of Ganymede, v. 24.
Troy, why it fell, x. 33. (Compare Horace, Odes, iii. 3. 18-21.
“Ilion, Ilion Fatalis incestusque judex Et mulier peregrina vertit
In pulverem.”)
Tyndareus, ii. 18; iii. 1, 15, 17, 18, 21.
Tyrants, the Thirty, i. 29.
Tyrtæus, iv. 6, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16.
Ulysses. See Odysseus.
Umpires at Olympia, v. 9.
Unknown gods, i. 1; v. 14. (Compare Acts: xvii. 23.)
Venus. See Aphrodite.
Vermilion, viii. 39.
Vespasian, the Roman Emperor, vii. 17.
Vesta, i. 18; ii. 35; v. 14.
Vinegar, its effect on Pearls, viii. 18.
Voice, found through terror, x. 15.
Volcanic islands, x. 11.
Vulcan. See Hephæstus.
Water, various kinds of, iv. 35.
To whitewash two walls, Proverb, vi. 3. See Note.
Wine elevating, iii. 19. (“Vinum lætificat cor hominis.” Ps. ciii.
15.)
Wise Men, the Seven, i. 23; x. 24. Their famous sayings, especially
_Know thyself_, and _Not too much of anything_, x. 24.
Wolves, men turned into, vi. 8; viii. 2. Many in the neighbourhood of
Croton, vi. 14. None in Sardinia, x. 17.
Word for the day given to soldiers, ix. 27.
Wordsworth on Daphne. See Note, x. 7.
World, centre of, x. 16.
Worshipping the deity with other people’s incense, Proverb, ix. 30.
Xanthippus, father of Pericles, i. 25; iii. 7; viii. 52.
Xenocrates, iv. 32; ix. 13.
Xenophon, i. 3; v. 6; ix. 15.
Xerxes, i. 8; iii. 4; vi. 5; viii. 42, 46; x. 7, 35.
Young, Dr., On Commentators, Preface, p. vi.
Zancle, iv. 23.
Zethus, ii. 6; ix. 5, 8, 17.
Zeus, (the Latin _Jupiter_,) the chief of the gods, viii. 36. Assumed
the appearance of Amphitryon, v. 18. Traditions about his early
years, iv. 33; v. 7; viii. 8, 28, 36, 38. His two jars, viii. 24.
Represented with three eyes, why, ii. 24.
END OF VOL. I.
CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE.
Transcriber’s Notes
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the
public domain.
The index has been copied from Volume 2 for the convenience of the
reader. Some incorrect references have been removed.
Minor spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected. In addition
many errors and inconsistent spellings have been corrected as follows:
Changed =acordance= to =accordance= on page 365 in “in accordance
with the oracle at Delphi”.
Changed =Æchylus= to =Æschylus= on page 116 in “next to that of
Æschylus”.
Changed =Ægos-Potamoi= to =Ægos-potamoi= on page 207 in “the victory
at Ægos-potamoi”.
Changed =Ægospotamoi= to =Ægos-potamoi= on page 204 in “the other at
Ægos-potamoi”, page 261 in “Afterwards too at Ægos-potamoi”, page
278 in “the Athenians at Ægos-potamoi” and page 366 in “was taken
at Ægos-potamoi”.
Changed =Aglauros= to =Aglaurus= on page 5 in “Erse, and Aglaurus,
and Pandrosus”.
Changed =Amphiarus= to =Amphiaraus= on page 68 in “oracular responses
of Amphiaraus”.
Changed =Amphisse= to =Amphissa= on page 186 in “the Locrians of
Amphissa”.
Changed =Aphidne= to =Aphidna= on page 204 in “the spoils from
Aphidna”.
Changed =Aristus= to =Aristæus= on page 46 in “says Aristæus the
Proconnesian”.
Changed =arts= to =parts= on page 90 in “maritime parts of Attica”.
Changed =Auxesias= to =Auxesia= on page 150 in “what concerns Auxesia
and Lamia”.
Changed =Bææ= to =Bœæ= on page 52 in “Bœæ in the neighbouring
country”.
Changed =bas-relief= to =bas relief= on page 92 in “in bas relief the
sons of Tyndareus”.
Changed =bearhunting= to =bear-hunting= on page 212 in “superfine
deer-hunting and bear-hunting”.
Changed =boarhunting= to =boar-hunting= on page 212 in “excellent
goat-hunting and boar-hunting”.
Changed =Caphereus= to =Caphareus= on page 301 in “Such was the case
with Caphareus”.
Changed =Cappodocians= to =Cappadocians= on page 202 in “the
Cappadocians who live near the Euxine”.
Changed =Cephissus= to =Cephisus= on page 129 in “built to the river
Cephisus” and page 129 in “the temple of the Cephisus”.
Changed =Chersonnese= to =Chersonese= on page 20 in “conveyed it to
the Chersonese” and page 68 in “as Eleus in the Chersonese”.
Changed =child-birth= to =childbirth= on page 103 in “Xenodice, who
died in childbirth”.
Changed =Cnidos= to =Cnidus= on page 351 in “the people of the
Chersonese in Cnidus”.
Changed =co-operated= to =cooperated= on page 170 in “They cooperated
also with Grais”.
Changed =Colossusses= to =Colossuses= on page 34 in “the Colossuses
at Rhodes and Rome”.
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it a council chamber” and page 6 in “And in the council chamber”.
Changed =Council-Chamber= to =Council Chamber= on page 352 in “statue
of Zeus in the Council Chamber”.
Changed =deathbed= to =death-bed= on page 28 in “on his death-bed”.
Changed =deerhunting= to =deer-hunting= on page 212 in “superfine
deer-hunting and bear-hunting”.
Changed =Demarchus= to =Damarchus= on page 375 in “Damarchus the son
of Dinnytas”.
Changed =doublecourse= to =double course= on page 113 in “and two in
the double course”.
Changed =dropt= to =dropped= on page 253 in “dropped its shield” and
page 259 in “dropped his shield”.
Changed =Eleusininian= to =Eleusinian= on page 293 in “sanctity to
the Eleusinian Mysteries”.
Changed =Endæus= to =Endœus= on page 50 in “Endœus was an Athenian by
race” and page 50 in “and Endœus designed it”.
Changed =Eœœ= to =Eœæ= on page 230 in “the Great Eœæ”.
Changed =equi-distant= to =equidistant= on page 64 in “equidistant
from Athens and Carystus”.
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Changed =Eumolphus= to =Eumolpus= on page 117 in “Eumolpus remained
at Eleusis”.
Changed =Eurypulus= to =Eurypylus= on page 227 in “in their singing
to Eurypylus”.
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fig tree”, page 266 in “he took Aristomenes to this fig tree” and
page 270 in “lately did the wild fig tree teach the same lesson”.
Changed =fluteplayer= to =flute-player= on page 88 in “the Samian
flute-player Telephanes”.
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of Apollo against flute-players”.
Changed =fluteplaying= to =flute-playing= on page 315 in “the Pythian
flute-playing was introduced”.
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Sthenelas”.
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Gerania”.
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goat-hunting and boar-hunting”.
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great-grandson Sciron”.
Changed =head-quarters= to =headquarters= on page 228 in “where the
royal headquarters were established”.
Changed =hegoat= to =he-qoat= on page 266 in “When he-goat drinks of
Neda’s winding stream”.
Changed =Herse= to =Erse= on page 33 in “to her sisters Erse and
Pandrosus”.
Changed =jaw-bone= to =jawbone= on page 217 in “which they call Ass’
jawbone”.
Changed =Lacedamonians= to =Lacedæmonians= on page 6 in “the
slaughter of the Lacedæmonians at Leuctra”.
Changed =Lacedemon= to =Lacedæmon= on page 28 in “the plague at
Lacedæmon”.
Changed =Lacedemonian= to =Lacedæmonian= on page 2 in “the
Lacedæmonian fleet off Cnidus” and page 25 in “a Lacedæmonian led a
hostile force”.
Changed =Lacedemonians= to =Lacedæmonians= on page 6 in “who
were sent to aid the Lacedæmonians”, page 6 in “the help that
came to the Lacedæmonians”, page 25 in “the territory of the
Lacedæmonians”, page 28 in “a poem on him for the Lacedæmonians”,
page 29 in “at Œnoe in Argive territory, against the Lacedæmonians”
and page 30 in “the Lacedæmonians who were captured”.
Changed =Lamias= to =Lamia= on page 150 in “what concerns Auxesia and
Lamia”.
Changed =Lawgiving= to =Law-giving= on page 62 in “a temple to
Law-giving Demeter”.
Changed =lawgiving= to =Law-giving= on page 83 in “a temple of
Law-giving Demeter”.
Changed =Lethæum= to =Lethæus= on page 70 in “Among the Magnesians at
Lethæus”.
Changed =lightarmed= to =light-armed= on page 242 in “the light-armed
troops of the Messenians”.
Changed =Market Place= to =Market-Place= on page 332 in “an altar of
Artemis of the Market-Place”.
Changed =market place= to =market-place= on page 152 in “In
the market-place is a temple” and page 217 in “And near the
market-place are fountains”.
Changed =Market-place= to =Market-Place= on page 331 in “an altar of
Artemis of the Market-Place” and page 331 in “an altar of Zeus of
the Market-Place”.
Changed =marketplace= to =market-place= on page 104 in “from the
temple of Dionysus to the market-place”, page 105 in “in the middle
of the present market-place”, page 108 in “And in the part of
the market-place”, page 109 in “Not far from the market-place”,
page 131 in “And not far from the building in the market-place”,
page 158 in “a statue in the market-place”, page 189 in “there is
a handsome market-place”, page 189 in “public buildings in the
market-place”, page 189 in “But the most notable thing in the
market-place”, page 191 in “As you go from the market-place”, page
193 in “people of Ægæ in Achaia in their market-place”, page 193 in
“And there is another outlet from the market-place”, page 196 in
“As you go westwards from the market-place”, page 215 in “In the
market-place they have statues”, page 218 in “in the market-place
of Bœæ”, page 223 in “a conduit in the market-place”, page 289 in
“And in the market-place at Messene” and page 295 in “a brazen
statue of Zeus Soter in the market-place”.
Changed =Mnasinus= to =Mnasinous= on page 134 in “their sons, Anaxis
and Mnasinous”.
Changed =Munichia= to =Munychia= on page 2 in “The Athenians have
also another harbour at Munychia”.
Changed =Nausicae= to =Nausicaa= on page 42 in “Odysseus suddenly
making his appearance as Nausicaa”.
Changed =Œclees= to =Œcles= on page 192 in “Amphiaraus the son of
Œcles”.
Changed =Œniadœ= to =Œniadæ= on page 277 in “marched against the
Messenians at Œniadæ” and page 278 in “they quietly slipped out of
Œniadæ”.
Changed =Olmpiad= to =Olympiad= on page 318 in “And in the 2nd
Olympiad after this”.
Changed =Pandrosos= to =Pandrosus= on page 5 in “Erse, and Aglaurus,
and Pandrosus”.
Changed =Pan-hellenium= to =Pan-Hellenium= on page 150 in “the
mountain Pan-Hellenium has nothing of note”.
Changed =Panhellenian= to =Pan-Hellenian= on page 150 in “the
mountain of Pan-Hellenian Zeus”.
Changed =pell-mell= to =pell mell= on page 65 in “thrown them in pell
mell”.
Changed =Peloponnesse= to =Peloponnese= on page 26 in “pressed into
the Peloponnese”.
Changed =Pergamum North= to =Pergamum north= on page 326 in “at
Pergamum north of the river Caicus”.
Changed =pine trees= to =pine-trees= on page 312 in “full of wild
pine-trees”.
Changed =pinetrees= to =pine-trees= on page 91 in “the robber Sinis
took two pine-trees”, page 91 in “he tied to these pine-trees” and
page 92 in “and on the other pine-trees planted in a row”.
Changed =plane tree= to =plane-tree= on page 295 in “the water flows
from a plane-tree”.
Changed =plane trees= to =plane-trees= on page 407 in “There are some
lofty plane-trees”.
Changed =planetrees= to =plane-trees= on page 165 in “And the grove
of plane-trees”.
Changed =Planetrees= to =Plane-Trees= on page 159 in “Apollo called
The God of the Plane-Trees”.
Changed =Plotemy= to =Ptolemy= on page 1 in “Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus”.
Changed =porticos= to =porticoes= on page 195 in “a place which has
porticoes forming a square”.
Changed =Pyrrhicus= to =Pyrrhichus= on page 223 in “And the temples
at Pyrrhichus are two”.
Changed =racecourse= to =race-course= on page 155 in “what is called
Hippolytus’ race-course”, page 160 in “and near it some remains of
a race-course” and page 292 in “in the race-course at Messene”.
Changed =rase= to =raze= on page 395 in “raze the whole town to its
foundations”.
Changed =rased= to =razed= on page 349 in “Mycenæ and Tiryns were
razed to the ground” and page 405 in “razed Pisa to the ground”.
Changed =Sacades= to =Sacadas= on page 134 in “the sepulchre of
Sacadas”.
Changed =seafight= to =sea-fight= on page 60 in “five Attic triremes
present at the sea-fight” and page 72 in “fought the great
sea-fight against Xerxes”.
Changed =seafish= to =sea fish= on page 294 in “And some sea fish
swim up it”.
Changed =stopt= to =stopped= on page 385 in “knew that it had come in
first, and stopped running”.
Changed =Stromius= to =Stomius= on page 364 in “and Stomius won one
victory in the pentathlum”.
Changed =Tamagra= to =Tanagra= on page 191 in “And the fifth victory
was at Tanagra”.
Changed =thighbones= to =thigh-bones= on page 185 in “and threw the
thigh-bones of the victims”.
Changed =vissitudes= to =vicissitudes= on page 31 in “the life of man
and its vicissitudes”.
Changed =wes= to =was= on page 161 in “Chthonia was conveyed to
Hermione by Demeter”.
Changed =who’s= to =whose= on page 232 in “he whose lot came up
first”.
Changed =wildboars= to =wild boars= on page 110 in “And they offer in
sacrifice to her the thighs of any victims but wild boars”.
On page 41 the word =white= was changed to =black= in “And Ægeus seeing
the ship with black sails” to make the text agree with the well-known
story of Theseus and Ægeus.
On page 217 the sentence “Marius indeed has plenty of water if any
place” does not make much sense. Other translations indicate that
Marius has an unsurpassed supply of water.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Pausanias' description of Greece, Vol. I" ***
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