BOOK II — Corinth (Part 1)

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.” 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 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,

“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.

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. 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.”

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.” 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 has recorded the lady Mycene in the following line,

“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”

and the poem called the Great Eœæ, 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. 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. “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. 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.”

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. 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.”

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 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 Eœæ, 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.

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.