PAUSANIAS 7. 17 - 27

DESCRIPTION OF GREECE 7. 17 - 27, TRANSLATED BY W. H. S. JONES

DYME

[7.17.5] To resume after my researches into Achaean history. The boundary between Achaia and Elis is the river Larisus, and by the river is a temple of Larisaean Athena; about thirty stades distant from the Larisus is Dyme, an Achaean city. This was the only Achaean city that in his wars Philip the son of Demetrius made subject to him, and for this reason Sulpicius, another Roman governor, handed over Dyme to be sacked by his soldiery. Afterwards Augustus annexed it to Patrae.

[7.17.6] Its more ancient name was Paleia, but the Ionians changed this to its modern name while they still occupied the city; I am uncertain whether they named it after Dyme, a native woman, or after Dymas, the son of Aegimius. But nobody is likely to be led into a fallacy by the inscription on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia. Oebotas was a man of Dyme, who won the foot-race at the sixth Festival³⁴ and was honored, because of a Delphic oracle, with a statue erected in the eightieth Olympiad.³⁵ On it is an inscription which says:–

[7.17.7] This Oebotas, an Achaean, the son of Oenias, by winning the foot-race,
Added to the renown of his fatherland Paleia.

This inscription should mislead nobody, although it calls the city Paleia and not Dyme. For it is the custom of Greek poets to use ancient names instead of more modern ones, just as they surname Amphiaraus and Adrastus Phoronids, and Theseus an Erechthid.

[7.17.8] A little before the city of Dyme there is, on the right of the road, the grave of Sostratus. He was a native youth, loved they say by Heracles, who outliving Sostratus made him his tomb and gave him some hair from his head as a primal offering. Even today there is a slab on the top of the mound, with a figure of Heracles in relief. I was told that the natives also sacrifice to Sostratus as to a hero.

[7.17.9] The people of Dyme have a temple of Athena with an extremely ancient image; they have as well a sanctuary built for the Dindymenian mother and Attis. As to Attis, I could learn no secret about him,³⁶ but Hermesianax, the elegiac poet, says in a poem that he was the son of Galaus the Phrygian, and that he was a eunuch from birth. The account of Hermesianax goes on to say that, on growing up, Attis migrated to Lydia and celebrated for the Lydians the orgies of the Mother; that he rose to such honor with her that Zeus, being wroth at it,³⁷ sent a boar to destroy the tillage of the Lydians.

[7.17.10] Then certain Lydians, with Attis himself, were killed by the boar, and it is consistent with this that the Gauls who inhabit Pessinus abstain from pork. But the current view about Attis is different, the local legend about him being this. Zeus, it is said, let fall in his sleep seed upon the ground, which in course of time sent up a demon, with two sexual organs, male and female. They call the demon Agdistis. But the gods, fearing³⁸ Agdistis, cut off the male organ.

[7.17.11] There grew up from it an almond-tree with its fruit ripe, and a daughter of the river Sangarius, they say, took of the fruit and laid it in her bosom, when it at once disappeared, but she was with child. A boy was born, and exposed, but was tended by a he-goat. As he grew up his beauty was more than human, and Agdistis fell in love with him. When he had grown up, Attis was sent by his relatives to Pessinus, that he might wed the king's daughter.

[7.17.12] The marriage-song was being sung, when Agdistis appeared, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals, as also did he who was giving him his daughter in marriage. But Agdistis repented of what he had done to Attis, and persuaded Zeus to grant that the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay.

[7.17.13] These are the most popular forms of the legend of Attis. In the territory of Dyme is also the grave of Oebotas the runner. Although this Oebotas was the first Achaean to win an Olympic victory, he yet received from them no special prize. Wherefore Oebotas pronounced a curse that no Achaean in future should win an Olympic victory. There must have been some god who was careful that the curse of Oebotas should be fulfilled, but the Achaeans by sending to Delphi at last learned why it was that they had been failing to win the Olympic crown.

[7.17.14] So they dedicated the statue of Oebotas at Olympia and honored him in other ways, and then Sostratus of Pellene won the footrace for boys. It is still to-day a custom for the Achaeans who are going to compete at Olympia to sacrifice to Oebotas as to a hero, and, if they are successful, to place a wreath on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia.

OLENUS

[7.18.1] XVIII. Some forty stades from Dyme the river Peirus flows down into the sea; on the Peirus once stood the Achaean city of Olenus. The poets who have sung of Heracles and his labours have found a favorite subject in Dexamenus, king of Olenus, and the entertainment Heracles received at his court. That Olenus was from the beginning a small town I find confirmed in an elegiac poem composed by Hermesianax about Eurytion the Centaur. In course of time, it is said, the inhabitants, owing to their weakness, left Olenus and migrated to Peirae and Euryteiae.

PATRAE (MYTHICAL HISTORY)

[7.18.2] About eighty stades from the river Peirus is the city of Patrae. Not far from Patrae the river Glaucus flows into the sea. The historians of ancient Patrae say that it was an aboriginal, Eumelus, who first settled in the land, and that he was king over but a few subjects. But when Triptolemus came from Attica, he received from him cultivated corn, and, learning how to found a city, named it Aroe from the tilling of the soil.

[7.18.3] It is said that Triptolemus once fell asleep, and that then Antheias, the son of Eumelus, yoked the dragons to the car of Triptolemus and tried to sow the seed himself. But Antheias fell off the car and was killed, and so Triptolemus and Eumelus together founded a city, and called it Antheia after the son of Eumelus.

[7.18.4] Between Antheia and Aroe was founded a third city, called Mesatis. The stories told of Dionysus by the people of Patrae, that he was reared in Mesatis and incurred there all sob of perils through the plots of the Titans, I will not contradict, but will leave it to the people of Patrae to explain the name Mesatis as they choose.

[7.18.5] When afterwards the Achaeans had driven out the Ionians, Patreus, the son of Preugenes, the son of Agenor, forbade the Achaeans to settle in Antheia and Mesatis, but built at Aroe a wall of greater circumference so as to include Aroe within it, and named the city Patrae after himself. Agenor, the father of Preugenes, was the son of Areus, the son of Ampyx, and Ampyx was a son of Pelias, the son of Aeginetes, the son of Dereites, the son of Harpalus, the son of Amyclas, the son of Lacedaemon.

PATRAE (HISTORY)

[7.18.6] Such was the genealogy of Patreus. In course of time the people of Patrae on their own account crossed into Aetolia; they did this out of friendship for the Aetolians, to help them in their war with the Gauls, and no other Achaeans joined them. But suffering unspeakable disasters in the fighting, and most of them being also crushed by poverty, all with the exception of a few left Patrae, and scattered, owing to their love of agriculture, up and down the country, dwelling in, besides Patrae, the following towns: Mesatis, Antheia, Bolina, Argyra and Arba.

[7.18.7] But Augustus, for some reason, perhaps because he thought that Patrae was a convenient port of call, brought back again to Patrae the men from the other towns, and united with them the Achaeans also from Rhypes, which town he razed to the ground. He granted freedom to the Patraeans, and to no other Achaeans; and he granted also all the other privileges that the Romans are accustomed to bestow on their colonists.

PATRAE

[7.18.8] On the acropolis of Patrae is a sanctuary of Artemis Laphria. The surname of the goddess is a foreign one, and her image too was brought in from elsewhere. For after Calydon with the rest of Aetolia had been laid waste by the Emperor Augustus in order that the Aetolian people might be incorporated into Nicopolis above Actium, the people of Patrae thus secured the image of Laphria.

CULT OF ARTEMIS LAPHRIA

[7.18.9] Most of the images out of Aetolia and from Acarnania were brought by Augustus' orders to Nicopolis, but to Patrae he gave, with other spoils from Calydon, the image of Laphria, which even in my time was still worshipped on the acropolis of Patrae. It is said that the goddess was surnamed Laphria after a man of Phocis, because the ancient image of Artemis was set up at Calydon by Laphrius, the son of Castalius, the son of Delphus.

[7.18.10] Others say that the wrath of Artemis against Oeneus weighed as time went on more lightly (elaphroteron) on the Calydonians, and they believe that this was why the goddess received her surname. The image represents her in the guise of a huntress; it is made of ivory and gold, and the artists were Menaechmus and Soldas of Naupactus, who, it is inferred, lived not much later than Canachus of Sicyon and Callon of Aegina.

[7.18.11] Every year too the people of Patrae celebrate the festival Laphria in honor of their Artemis, and at it they employ a method of sacrifice peculiar to the place. Round the altar in a circle they set up logs of wood still green, each of them sixteen cubits long. On the altar within the circle is placed the driest of their wood. Just before the time of the festival they construct a smooth ascent to the altar, piling earth upon the altar steps.

[7.18.12] The festival begins with a most splendid procession in honor of Artemis, and the maiden officiating as priestess rides last in the procession upon a car yoked to deer. It is, however, not till the next day that the sacrifice is offered, and the festival is not only a state function but also quite a popular general holiday. For the people throw alive upon the altar edible birds and every kind of victim as well; there are wild boars, deer and gazelles; some bring wolf-cubs or bear-cubs, others the full-grown beasts. They also place upon the altar fruit of cultivated trees.

[7.18.13] Next they set fire to the wood. At this point I have seen some of the beasts, including a bear, forcing their way outside at the first rush of the flames, some of them actually escaping by their strength. But those who threw them in drag them back again to the pyre. It is not remembered that anybody has ever been wounded by the beasts.

CULT OF ARTEMIS TRICLARIA

[7.19.1] XIX. Between the temple of Laphria and the altar stands the tomb of Eurypylus. Who he was and for what reason he came to this land I shall set forth presently; but I must first describe what the condition of affairs was at his arrival. The Ionians who lived in Aroe, Antheia and Mesatis had in common a precinct and a temple of Artemis surnamed Triclaria, and in her honor the Ionians used to celebrate every year a festival and an all-night vigil. The priesthood of the goddess was held by a maiden until the time came for her to be sent to a husband.

[7.19.2] Now the story is that once upon a time it happened that the priestess of the goddess was Comaetho, a most beautiful maiden, who had a lover called Melanippus, who was far better and handsomer than his fellows. When Melanippus had won the love of the maiden, he asked the father for his daughter's hand. It is somehow a characteristic of old age to oppose the young in most things, and especially is it insensible to the desires of lovers. So Melanippus found it; although both he and Comaetho were eager to wed, he met with nothing but harshness from both his own parents and from those of his lover.

[7.19.3] The history of Melanippus, like that of many others, proved that love is apt both to break the laws of men and to desecrate the worship of the gods, seeing that this pair had their fill of the passion of love in the sanctuary of Artemis. And hereafter also were they to use the sanctuary as a bridal-chamber. Forthwith the wrath of Artemis began to destroy the inhabitants; the earth yielded no harvest, and strange diseases occurred of an unusually fatal character.

[7.19.4] When they appealed to the oracle at Delphi the Pythian priestess accused Melanippus and Comaetho. The oracle ordered that they themselves should be sacrificed to Artemis, and that every year a sacrifice should be made to the goddess of the fairest youth and the fairest maiden. Because of this sacrifice the river flowing by the sanctuary of Triclaria was called Ameilichus (relentless). Previously the river had no name.

[7.19.5] The innocent youths and maidens who perished because of Melanippus and Comaetho suffered a piteous fate, as did also their relatives; but the pair, I hold, were exempt from suffering, for the one thing³⁹ that is worth a man's life is to be successful in love.

[7.19.6] The sacrifice to Artemis of human beings is said to have ceased in this way. An oracle had been given from Delphi to the Patraeans even before this, to the effect that a strange king would come to the land, bringing with him a strange divinity, and this king would put an end to the sacrifice to Triclaria. When Troy was captured, and the Greeks divided the spoils, Eurypylus the son of Euaemon got a chest. In it was an image of Dionysus, the work, so they say, of Hephaestus, and given as a gift by Zeus to Dardanus.

[7.19.7] But there are two other accounts of it. One is that this chest was left by Aeneas when he fled; the other that it was thrown away by Cassandra to be a curse to the Greek who found it. Be this as it may, Eurypylus opened the chest, saw the image, and forthwith on seeing it went mad. He continued to be insane for the greater part of the time, with rare lucid intervals. Being in this condition he did not proceed on his voyage to Thessaly, but made for the town and gulf of Cirrha. Going up to Delphi he inquired of the oracle about his illness.

[7.19.8] They say that the oracle given him was to the effect that where he should come across a people offering a strange sacrifice, there he was to set down the chest and make his home. Now the ships of Eurypylus were carried down by the wind to the sea off Aroe. On landing he came across a youth and a maiden who had been brought to the altar of Triclaria. So Eurypylus found it easy to understand about the sacrifice, while the people of the place remembered their oracle seeing a king whom they had never seen before, they also suspected that the chest had some god inside it.

[7.19.9] And so the malady of Eurypylus and the sacrifice of these people came to an end, and the river was given its present name Meilichus. Certain writers have said that the events I have related happened not to the Thessalian Eurypylus, but to Eurypylus the son of Dexamenus who was king in Olenus, holding that this man joined Heracles in his campaign against Troy and received the chest from Heracles. The rest of their story is the same as mine.

[7.19.10] But I cannot bring myself to believe that Heracles did not know the facts about the chest, if they were as described, nor, if he were aware of them, do I think that he would ever have given it to an ally as a gift. Further, the people of Patrae have no tradition of a Eurypylus save the son of Euaemon, and to him every year they sacrifice as to a hero, when they celebrate the festival in honor of Dionysus.

[7.20.1] XX. The surname of the god inside the chest is Aesymnetes (Dictator), and his chief attendants are nine men, elected by the people from all the citizens for their reputation, and women equal in number to the men. On one night of the festival the priest carries the chest outside. Now this is a privilege that this night has received, and there go down to the river Meilichus a certain number of the native children, wearing on their heads garlands of corn-ears. It was in this way that they used to array of old those whom they led to be sacrificed to Artemis.

[7.20.2] But at the present day they lay aside the garlands of corn-ears by the goddess, and after bathing in the river and putting on fresh garlands, this time made of ivy, they go to the sanctuary of the Dictator.

PATRAE (CONTINUED)

This then is their established ritual, and within the precincts of Laphria is a temple of Athena surnamed Panachaean. The image is of ivory and gold.

[7.20.3] On the way to the lower city there is a sanctuary of the Dindymenian Mother, and in it Attis too is worshipped. Of him they have no image to show; that of the Mother is of stone. In the marketplace is a temple of Olympian Zeus; the god himself is on a throne with Athena standing by it. Beyond the Olympian is an image of Hera and a sanctuary of Apollo. The god is of bronze, and naked. On his feet are sandals, and one foot stands upon the skull of an ox.

[7.20.4] That Apollo takes great pleasure in oxen is shown by Alcaeus⁴⁰ in his hymn to Hermes, who writes how Hermes stole cows of Apollo, and even before Alcaeus was born Homer made Apollo tend cows of Laomedon for a wage. In the Iliad he puts these verses in the mouth of Poseidon:--

[7.20.5] Verily I built a wall for the Trojans about their city,
A wide wall and very beautiful, that the city might be impregnable;
And thou, Phoebus, didst tend the shambling cows with crumpled horns.
Hom. Il. 21.446-448

This, it may be conjectured, is the reason for the ox skull. On the market-place, in the open, is an image of Athena with the grave of Patreus in front of it.

[7.20.6] Next to the market-place is the Music Hall, where has been dedicated an Apollo well worth seeing. It was made from the spoils taken when alone of the Achaeans the people of Patrae helped the Aetolians against the army of the Gauls. The Music Hall is in every way the finest in Greece, except, of course, the one at Athens. This is unrivalled in size and magnificence, and was built by Herodes, an Athenian,in memory of his dead wife. The reason why I omitted to mention this Music Hall in my history of Attica is that my account of the Athenians was finished before Herodes began the building.

[7.20.7] As you leave the market-place of Patrae, where the sanctuary of Apollo is, at this exit is a gate, upon which stand gilt statues, Patreus, Preugenes, and Atherion; the two latter are represented as boys, because Patreus is a boy in age. Opposite the marketplace by this exit is a precinct and temple of Artemis, the Lady of the Lake.

[7.20.8] When the Dorians were now in possession of Lacedaemon and Argos, it is said that Preugenes, in obedience to a dream, stole from Sparta the image of our Lady of the Lake, and that he had as partner in his exploit the most devoted of his slaves. The image from Lacedaemon is usually kept at Mesoa, because it was to this place that it was originally brought by Preugenes. But when the festival of our Lady is being held, one of the slaves of the goddess comes from Mesoa bringing the ancient wooden image to the precinct in the city.

[7.20.9] Near this precinct the people of Patrae have other sanctuaries. These are not in the open, but there is an entrance to them through the porticoes. The image of Asclepius, save for the drapery, is of stone; Athena is made of ivory and gold. Before the sanctuary of Athena is the tomb of Preugenes. Every year they sacrifice to Preugenes as to a hero, and likewise to Patreus also, when the festival of our Lady is being held. Not far from the theater is a temple of Nemesis, and another of Aphrodite. The images are colossal and of white marble.

CULT OF DIONYSUS CALYDONIUS

[7.21.1] XXI. In this part of the city is also a sanctuary of Dionysus surnamed Calydonian, for the image of Dionysus too was brought from Calydon. When Calydon was still inhabited, among the Calydonians who became priests of the god was Coresus, who more than any other man suffered cruel wrongs because of love. He was in love with Callirhoe, a maiden. But the love of Coresus for Callirhoe was equalled by the maiden's hatred of him.

[7.21.2] When the maiden refused to change her mind, in spite of the many prayers and promises of Coresus, he then went as a suppliant to the image of Dionysus. The god listened to the prayer of his priest, and the Calydonians at once became raving as though through drink, and they were still out of their minds when death overtook them. So they appealed to the oracle at Dodona. For the inhabitants of this part of the mainland, the Aetolians and their Acarnanian and Epeirot neighbors, considered that the truest oracles were the doves and the responses from the oak.

[7.21.3] On this occasion the oracles from Dodona declared that it was the wrath of Dionysus that caused the plague, which would not cease until Coresus sacrificed to Dionysus either Callirhoe herself or one who had the courage to die in her stead. When the maiden could find no means of escape, she next appealed to her foster parents. These too failing her, there was no other way except for her to be put to the sword.

[7.21.4] When everything had been prepared for the sacrifice according to the oracle from Dodona, the maiden was led like a victim to the altar. Coresus stood ready to sacrifice, when, his resentment giving way to love, he slew himself in place of Callirhoe. He thus proved in deed that his love was more genuine than that of any other man we know.

[7.21.5] When Callirhoe saw Goresus lying dead, the maiden repented. Overcome by pity for Goresus, and by shame at her conduct towards him, she cut her throat at the spring in Galydon not far from the harbor, and later generations call the spring Callirhoe after her.

PATRAE (CONTINUED)

[7.21.6] Near to the theater there is a precinct sacred to a native lady. Here are images of Dionysus, equal in number to the ancient cities, and named after them Mesateus, Antheus and Aroeus. These images at the festival of Dionysus they bring into the sanctuary of the Dictator. This sanctuary is on the right of the road from the market-place to the sea-quarter of the city.

[7.21.7] As you go lower down from the Dictator there is another sanctuary with an image of stone. It is called the sanctuary of Recovery, and the story is that it was originally founded by Eurypylus on being cured of his madness. At the harbor is a temple of Poseidon with a standing image of stone. Besides the names given by poets to Poseidon to adorn their verses, and in addition to his local names, all men give him the following surnames – Marine, Giver of Safety, God of Horses.

[7.21.8] Various reasons could be plausibly assigned for the last of these surnames having been given to the god, but my own conjecture is that he got this name as the inventor of horsemanship. Homer, at any rate, when describing the chariot-race, puts into the mouth of Menelaus a challenge to swear an oath by this god:–

Touch the horses, and swear by the earth-holder, earth-shaker,
That thou didst not intentionally, through guile, obstruct my chariot. Hom. Il. 23.584-585

[7.21.9] Pamphos also, who composed for the Athenians the most ancient of their hymns, says that Poseidon is:–

Giver of horses and of ships with sails set. Pamphos, work unknown

So it is from horsemanship that he has acquired his name, and not for any other reason.

[7.21.10] In Patrae, not far from that of Poseidon, are sanctuaries of Aphrodite. One of the two images was drawn up by fishermen in a net a generation before my time. There are also quite near to the harbor two images of bronze, one of Ares and the other of Poseidon. The image of Aphrodite, whose precinct too is by the harbor, has its face, hands and feet of stone, while the rest of the figure is made of wood.

[7.21.11] They have also a grove by the sea, affording in summer weather very agreeable walks and a pleasant means generally of passing the time. In this grove are also two temples of divinities, one of Apollo, the other of Aphrodite. The images of these too are made of stone. Next to the grove is a sanctuary of Demeter; she and her daughter are standing, but the image of Earth is seated.

[7.21.12] Before the sanctuary of Demeter is a spring. On the side of this towards the temple stands a wall of stones, while on the outer side has been made a descent to the spring. Here there is an infallible oracle, not indeed for everything, but only in the case of sick folk. They tie a mirror to a fine cord and let it down, judging the distance so that it does not sink deep into the spring, but just far enough to touch the water with its rim.⁴¹ Then they pray to the goddess and burn incense, after which they look into the mirror, which shows them the patient either alive or dead.

[7.21.13] This water partakes to this extent of truth, but close to Cyaneae by Lycia, where there is an oracle of Apollo Thyrxeus, the water shows to him who looks into the spring all the things that he wants to behold. By the grove in Patrae are also two sanctuaries of Serapis. In one is the tomb of Aegyptus, the son of Belus. He is said by the people of Patrae to have fled to Aroe because of the misfortunes of his children and because he shuddered at the mere name of Argos, and even more through dread of Danaus.

[7.21.14] There is also at Patrae a sanctuary of Asclepius. This sanctuary is beyond the acropolis near the gate leading to Mesatis. The women of Patrae outnumber the men by two to one. These women are amongst the most charming in the world. Most of them gain a livelihood from the fine flax that grows in Elis, weaving from it nets for the head as well as dresses.

PHARAE

[7.22.1] XXII. Pharae, a city of the Achaeans, belongs to Patrae, having been given to it by Augustus. The road from the city of Patrae to Pharae is a hundred and fifty stades, while Pharae is about seventy stades inland from the coast. Near to Pharae runs the river Pierus, which in my opinion is the same as the one flowing past the ruins of Olenus, called by the men of the coast the Peirus. Near the river is a grove of plane-trees, most of which are hollow through age, and so huge that they actually feast in the holes, and those who have a mind to do so sleep there as well.

[7.22.2] The market-place of Pharae is of wide extent after the ancient fashion, and in the middle of it is an image of Hermes, made of stone and bearded. Standing right on the earth, it is of square shape, and of no great size. On it is an inscription, saying that it was dedicated by Simylus the Messenian. It is called Hermes of the Market, and by it is established an oracle. In front of the image is placed a hearth, which also is of stone, and to the hearth bronze lamps are fastened with lead.

[7.22.3] Coming at eventide, the inquirer of the god, having burnt incense upon the hearth, filled the lamps with oil and lighted them, puts on the altar on the right of the image a local coin, called a “copper,” and asks in the ear of the god the particular question he wishes to put to him. After that he stops his ears and leaves the marketplace. On coming outside he takes his hands from his ears, and whatever utterance he hears he considers oracular.

[7.22.4] There is a similar method of divination practised at the sanctuary of Apis in Egypt. At Pharae there is also a water sacred to Hermes. The name of the spring is Hermes' stream, and the fish in it are not caught, being considered sacred to the god. Quite close to the image stand square stones, about thirty in number. These the people of Pharae adore, calling each by the name of some god. At a more remote period all the Greeks alike worshipped uncarved stones instead of images of the gods.

[7.22.5] About fifteen stades from Pharae is a grove of the Dioscuri. The trees in it are chiefly laurels; I saw in it neither temple nor images, the latter, according to the natives, having been carried away to Rome. In the grove at Pharae is an altar of unshaped stones. I could not discover whether the founder of Pharae was Phares, son of Phylodameia, daughter of Danais, or someone else with the same name.

TRITEIA

[7.22.6] Triteia, also a city of Achaia, is situated inland, but like Pharae belongs to Patrae, having been annexed by the emperor. The distance to Triteia from Pharae is a hundred and twenty stades. Before you enter the city is a tomb of white marble, well worth seeing, especially for the paintings on the grave, the work of Nicias. There is an ivory chair on which is a young and beautiful woman, by whose side is a handmaid carrying a sunshade. There is also a young man, who is standing.

[7.22.7] He is too young for a beard, and wears a tunic with a purple cloak over it. By his side is a servant carrying javelins and leading hounds. I could not discover their names, but anyone can conjecture that here man and wife share a common grave.

[7.22.8] The founder of Triteia is said by some to have been Celbidas, who came from Cumae in the country of the Opici. Others say that Ares mated with Triteia the daughter of Triton, that this maiden was priestess to Athena, and that Melanippus, the son of Ares and Triteia, founded the city when he grew up, naming it after his mother.

[7.22.9] In Triteia is a sanctuary of the gods called Almighty, and their images are made of clay. In honor of these every year they celebrate a festival, exactly the same sort of festival as the Greeks hold in honor of Dionysus. There is also a temple of Athena, and the modern image is of stone. The ancient image, as the folk of Triteia say, was carried to Rome. The people here are accustomed to sacrifice both to Ares and to Triteia.

AEGIUM TO PATRAE COAST

[7.22.10] These cities are at some distance from the sea and completely inland. As you sail to Aegium from Patrae you come first to the cape called Rhium, fifty stades from Patrae, the harbor of Panormus being fifteen stades farther from the cape. It is another fifteen stades from Panormus to what is known as the Fort of Athena. From the Fort of Athena to the harbor of Erineus is a coastal voyage of ninety stades, and from Erineus to Aegium is sixty. But the land route is about forty stades less than the number here given.

RIVERS MEILICHUS & CHARADRUS

[7.22.11] Not far from the city of Patrae is the river Meilichus, and the sanctuary of Triclaria, which no longer has an image. This is on the right. Advancing from the Meilichus you come to another river, the name of which is the Charadrus. The flocks and herds that drink of this river in spring are bound to have male young ones for the most part, and for this reason the herdsmen remove all except the cows to another part of the country. The cows they leave behind by the river, because for sacrifices and for agriculture bulls are more suitable than cows, but in the case of other cattle the females are preferred.

ARGYRA

[7.23.1] XXIII. After the Charadrus you come to some ruins, not at all remarkable, of the city Argyra, to the spring Argyra, on the right of the high road, and to the river Selemnus going down to the sea. The local legend about Selemnus is that he was a handsome lad who used to feed his flocks here. Argyra, they say, was a sea-nymph, who fell in love with Selemnus and used to come up out of the sea to visit him, sleeping by his side.

[7.23.2] After no long while Selemnus no longer seemed so handsome, and the nymph would not visit him. So Selemnus, deserted by Argyra, died of love, and Aphrodite turned him into a river. This is what the people of Patrae say. As Selemnus continued to love Argyra even when he was turned into water, just as Alpheius in the legend continued to love Arethusa, Aphrodite bestowed on him a further gift, by blotting out the memory of Argyra.

[7.23.3] I heard too another tale about the water, how that it is a useful remedy for both men and women when in love; if they wash in the river they forget their passion. If there is any truth in the story the water of the Selemnus is of more value to mankind than great wealth.

BOLINA

[7.23.4] At some distance from Argyra is a river named Bolinaeus, and by it once stood a city Bolina. Apollo, says a legend, fell in love with a maiden called Bolina, who fleeing to the sea here threw herself into it, and by the favour of Apollo became an immortal. Next to it a cape juts out into the sea, and of it is told a story how Cronus threw into the sea here the sickle with which he mutilated his father Uranus. For this reason they call the cape Drepanum.⁴² Beyond the high road are the ruins of Rhypes. Aegium is about thirty stades distant from Rhypes.

AEGIUM

[7.23.5] The territory of Aegium is crossed by a river Phoenix, and by another called Meiganitas, both of which flow into the sea. A portico near the city was made for Straton, an athlete who won at Olympia on the same day victories in the pancratium and in wrestling. The portico was built that this man might exercise himself in it. At Aegium is an ancient sanctuary of Eileithyia, and her image is covered from head to foot with finely-woven drapery; it is of wood except the face, hands and feet,

[7.23.6] which are made of Pentelic marble. One hand is stretched out straight; the other holds up a torch. One might conjecture that torches are an attribute of Eileithyia because the pangs of women are just like fire. The torches might also be explained by the fact that it is Eileithyia who brings children to the light. The image is a work of Damophon the Messenian.

[7.23.7] Not far from Eileithyia is a precinct of Asclepius, with images of him and of Health. An iambic line on the pedestal says that the artist was Damophon the Messenian. In this sanctuary of Asclepius a man of Sidon entered upon an argument with me. He declared that the Phoenicians had better notions about the gods than the Greeks, giving as an instance that to Asclepius they assign Apollo as father, but no mortal woman as his mother.

[7.23.8] Asclepius, he went on, is air, bringing health to mankind and to all animals likewise; Apollo is the sun, and most rightly is he named the father of Asclepius, because the sun, by adapting his course to the seasons, imparts to the air its healthfulness. I replied that I accepted his statements, but that the argument was as much Greek as Phoenician for at Titane in Sicyonia the same image is called both Health and . . .⁴³ thus clearly showing that it is the course of the sun that brings health to mankind.

[7.23.9] At Aegium you find a temple of Athena and a grove of Hera. Of Athena there are two images of white marble; the image of Hera may be seen by nobody except the woman who happens to hold the office of priestess to the goddess. Near the theater they have a sanctuary of Dionysus with an image of the god as a beardless youth. There is also in the market-place a precinct of Zeus surnamed Saviour, with two images, both of bronze, on the left as you go in; the one without a beard seemed to me the more ancient.

[7.23.10] In a building right in front of the entrance are images, of bronze like the others, representing Poseidon, Heracles, Zeus and Athena. They are called gods from Argos. The Argives say it is because they were made in Argos; the people of Aegium themselves say that the images were deposited by the Argives with them on trust.

[7.23.11] They say further that they were ordered to sacrifice each day to the images. But bethinking themselves of a trick they sacrificed a vast number of animals, but the victims they ate up at public feasts, so that they were not put to any expense. At last the Argives asked for the images to be returned, whereupon the people of Aegium asked for the cost of the sacrifices. As the Argives had not the means to pay, they left the images at Aegium.

[7.24.1] XXIV. By the market-place at Aegium is a temple shared by Apollo and Artemis in common; and in the market-place there is a sanctuary of Artemis, who is represented in the act of shooting an arrow, and also the grave of Talthybius the herald. There is also at Sparta a barrow serving as a tomb to Talthybius, and both cities sacrifice to him as to a hero.

[7.24.2] By the sea at Aegium is a sanctuary of Aphrodite, and after it one of Poseidon; there is also one of the Maiden, daughter of Demeter, and one to Zeus Homagyrius (Assembler). Here are images of Zeus, of Aphrodite and of Athena. The surname Assembler was given to Zeus because in this place Agamemnon assembled the most eminent men in Greece, in order that they might consult together how to make war on the empire of Priam. Among the claims of Agamemnon to renown is that he destroyed Troy and the cities around her⁴⁴ with the forces that followed him originally, without any later reinforcements.

[7.24.3] Adjoining Zeus the Assembler is a sanctuary of Demeter Panachaean. The beach, on which the people of Aegium have the sanctuaries I have mentioned, affords a plentiful supply of water from a spring; it is pleasing both to the eye and to the taste. They have also a sanctuary of Safety. Her image may be seen by none but the priests, and the following ritual is performed. They take cakes of the district from the goddess and throw them into the sea, saying that they send them to Arethusa at Syracuse.

[7.24.4] There are at Aegium other images made of bronze, Zeus as a boy and Heracles as a beardless youth, the work of Ageladas of Argos. Priests are elected for them every year, and each of the two images remains at the house of the priest. In a more remote age there was chosen to be priest for Zeus from the boys he who won the prize for beauty. When his beard began to grow the honor for beauty passed to another boy. Such were the customs. Even in my time the Achaean assembly still meets at Aegium, just as the Amphictyons do at Thermopylae and at Delphi.

HELICE

[7.24.5] Going on further you come to the river Selinus, and forty stades away from Aegium is a place on the sea called Helice. Here used to be situated a city Helice, where the Ionians had a very holy sanctuary of Heliconian Poseidon. Their worship of Heliconian Poseidon has remained, even after their expulsion by the Achaeans to Athens, and subsequently from Athens to the coasts of Asia. At Miletus too on the way to the spring Biblis there is before the city an altar of Heliconian Poseidon, and in Teos likewise the Heliconian has a precinct and an altar, well worth seeing.

[7.24.6] There are also passages in Homer⁴⁵ referring to Helice and the Heliconian Poseidon. But later on the Achaeans of the place removed some suppliants from the sanctuary and killed them.

EARTHQUAKES OF HELICE (HISTORY)

But the wrath of Poseidon visited them without delay; an earthquake promptly struck their land and swallowed up, without leaving a trace for posterity to see, both the buildings and the very site on which the city stood.

[7.24.7] Warnings, usually the same in all cases, are wont to be sent by the god before violent and far-reaching earthquakes. Either continuous storms of rain or else continuous droughts occur before earthquakes for an unusual length of time, and the weather is unseasonable. In winter it turns too hot, and in summer along with a tendency to haze the orb of the sun presents an unusual color, slightly inclining to red or else to black.

[7.24.8] Springs of water generally dry up; blasts of wind sometimes swoop upon the land and overturn the trees; occasionally great flames dart across the sky; the shapes of stars too appear such as have never been witnessed before, producing consternation in those that witness them; furthermore there is a violent rumbling of winds beneath the earth – these and many other warnings is the god wont to send before violent earthquakes occur.

[7.24.9] The shock itself is not of one fixed type, but the original inquirers into such matters and their pupils have been able to discover the following forms of earthquake. The mildest form – that is, if such a calamity admits of mitigation – is when there coincides with the original shock, which levels the buildings with the ground, a shock in the opposite direction, counteracting the first and raising up the buildings already knocked over.

[7.24.10] In this form of' earthquake pillars may be seen righting themselves which have been almost entirely uprooted, split walls coming together to their original position; beams, dislocated by the shock, go back to their places, and likewise channels, and such-like means of furthering the flow of water, have their cracks cemented better than they could be by human craftsmen. Now the second form of earthquake brings destruction to anything liable to it, and it throws over at once, as it were by a battering-ram, whatever meets the force of its impact.

[7.24.11] The most destructive kind of earthquake the experts are wont to liken to the symptoms of a man suffering from a non-intermittent fever, the breathing of such a patient being rapid and laboured. There are symptoms of this to be found in many parts of the body, especially at each wrist. In the same way, they say, the earthquake dives directly under buildings and shakes up their foundations, just as molehills come up from the bowels of the earth. It is this sort of shock alone that leaves no trace on the ground that men ever dwelt there.

[7.24.12] This was the type of earthquake, they say, that on the occasion referred to levelled Helice to the ground, and that it was accompanied by another disaster in the season of winter. The sea flooded a great part of the land, and covered up the whole of Helice all round. Moreover, the tide was so deep in the grove of Poseidon that only the tops of the trees remained visible. What with the sudden earthquake, and the invasion of the sea that accompanied it, the tidal wave swallowed up Helice and every man in it.

[7.24.13] A similar fate, though different in type,⁴⁶ came upon a city on Mount Sipylus, so that it vanished into a chasm. The mountain split, water welled up from the fissure, and the chasm became a lake called Saloe. The ruins of the city were to be seen in the lake, until the water of the torrent hid them from view. The ruins of Helice too are visible, but not so plainly now as they were once, because they are corroded by the salt water.

[7.25.1] XXV. The disaster that befell Helice is but one of the many proofs that the wrath of the God of Suppliants is inexorable. The god at Dodona too manifestly advises us to respect suppliants. For about the time of Apheidas the Athenians received from Zeus of Dodona the following verses:–

Consider the Areopagus, and the smoking altars
Of the Eumenides, where the Lacedaemonians are to be thy suppliants,
When hard-pressed in war. Kill them not with the sword,
And wrong not suppliants. For suppliants are sacred and holy.

[7.25.2] The Greeks were reminded of these words when Peloponnesians arrived at Athens at the time when the Athenian king was Codrus, the son of Melanthus. Now the rest of the Peloponnesian army, on learning of the death of Codrus and of the manner of it, departed from Attica, the oracle from Delphi making them despair of success in the future; but certain Lacedaemonians, who got unnoticed within the walls in the night, perceived at daybreak that their friends had gone, and when the Athenians gathered against them, they took refuge in the Areopagus at the altars of the goddesses called August.

[7.25.3] On this occasion the Athenians allowed the suppliants to go away unharmed, but subsequently the magistrates themselves put to death the suppliants of Athena, when Cylon and his supporters had seized the Acropolis. So the slayers themselves and also their descendants were regarded as accursed to the goddess. The Lacedaemonians too put to death men who had taken refuge in the sanctuary of Poseidon at Taenarum. Presently their city was shaken by an earthquake so continuous and violent that no house in Lacedaemon could resist it.

[7.25.4] The destruction of Helice occurred while Asteius was still archon at Athens, in the fourth year of the hundred and first Olympiad,⁴⁷ whereat Damon of Thurii was victorious for the first time. As none of the people of Helice were left alive, the land is occupied by the people of Aegium.

CERYNEIA

[7.25.5] After Helice you will turn from the sea to the right and you will come to the town of Ceryneia. It is built on a mountain above the high road, and its name was given to it either by a native potentate or by the river Cerynites, which, flowing from Arcadia and Mount Ceryneia, passes through this part of Achaia. To this part came as settlers Mycenaeans from Argolis because of a catastrophe. Though the Argives could not take the wall of Mycenae by storm,

[7.25.6] built as it was like the wall of Tiryns by the Cyclopes, as they are called, yet the Mycenaeans were forced to leave their city through lack of provisions. Some of them departed for Cleonae, but more than half of the population took refuge with Alexander in Macedonia, to whom Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, entrusted the message to be given to the Athenians.⁴⁸ The rest of the population came to Ceryneia, and the addition of the Mycenaeans made Ceryneia more powerful, through the increase of the population, and more renowned for the future.

[7.25.7] In Ceryneia is a sanctuary of the Eumenides, which they say was established by Orestes. Whosoever enters with the desire to see the sights, if he be guilty of bloodshed, defilement or impiety, is said at once to become insane with fright, and for this reason the right to enter is not given to all and sundry. The images made of wood . . . they are not very large in size, and at the entrance to the sanctuary are statues of women, made of stone and of artistic workmanship. The natives said that the women are portraits of the former priestesses of the Eumenides.

BURA

[7.25.8] On returning from Ceryneia to the high road, if you go along it for a short distance you may turn aside again to Bura, which is situated on a mountain to the right of the sea. It is said that the name was given to the city from a woman called Bura, who was the daughter of Ion, son of Xuthus, and of Helice. When the god wiped off Helice from the face of the earth, Bura too suffered a severe earthquake, so that not even the ancient images were left in the sanctuaries.

[7.25.9] The only Burians to survive were those who chanced to be absent at the time, either on active service or for some other reason, and these became the second founders of Bura. There is a temple here of Demeter, one of Aphrodite and Dionysus, and a third of Eileithyia. The images are of Pentelic marble, and were made by Eucleides of Athens. There is drapery for Demeter.⁴⁹ Isis too has a sanctuary.

[7.25.10] On descending from Bura towards the sea you come to a river called Buraicus, and to a small Heracles in a cave. He too is surnamed Buraicus, and here one can divine by means of a tablet and dice. He who inquires of the god offers up a prayer in front of the image, and after the prayer he takes four dice, a plentiful supply of which are placed by Heracles, and throws them upon the table. For every figure made by the dice there is an explanation expressly written on the tablet.⁵⁰

AEGAE & THE RIVER CRATHIS

[7.25.11] The straight road from Helice to the Heracles is about thirty stades. Going on from the Heracles you come to the mouth of a river that descends from a mountain in Arcadia and never dries up. The river itself is called the Crathis, which is also the name of the mountain where the river has its source. From this Crathis the river too by Crotona in Italy has been named.

[7.25.12] By the Achaean Crathis once stood Aegae, a city of the Achaeans. In course of time, it is said, it was abandoned because its people were weak.⁵¹ This Aegae is mentioned by Homer in Hera's speech:–

They bring thee gifts up to Helice and to Aegae. Hom. Il. 8.203

Hence it is plain that Poseidon was equally honored at Helice and at Aegae.

[7.25.13] At no great distance from the Crathis you will find a tomb on the right of the road, and on the tombstone a man standing by the side of a horse; the colors of the painting have faded. From the grave it is a journey of about thirty stades to what is called the Gaeus, a sanctuary of Earth surnamed Broad-bosomed, whose wooden image is one of the very oldest. The woman who from time to time is priestess henceforth remains chaste, and before her election must not have had intercourse with more than one man. The test applied is drinking bull's blood. Any woman who may chance not to speak the truth is immediately punished as a result of this test. If several women compete for the priesthood, lots are cast for the honor.

AEGEIRA

[7.26.1] XXVI. To the port of Aegeira, which has the same name as the city, it is seventy-two stades from the Heracles that stands on the road to Bura. The coast town of Aegeira presents nothing worth recording; from the port to the upper city is twelve stades.

[7.26.2] Homer in his poem calls the city Hyperesia.⁵² Its present name was given it while the Ionians were still dwelling there, and the reason for the name was as follows. A hostile army of Sicyonians was about to invade their territory. As they thought themselves no match for the Sicyonians, they collected all the goats they had in the country, and gathering them together they tied torches to their horns, and when the night was far advanced they set the torches alight.

[7.26.3] The Sicyonians, suspecting that allies were coming to the help of the Hyperesians, and that the flames came from their fires, set off home again. The Hyperesians gave their city its present name of Aegeira from the goats (aiges), and where the most beautiful goat, which led the others, crouched, they built a sanctuary of Artemis the Huntress, believing that the trick against the Sicyonians was an inspiration of Artemis.

[7.26.4] The name Aegeira, however, did not supersede Hyperesia at once, just as even in my time there were still some who called Oreus in Euboea by its ancient name of Hestiaea. The sights of Aegeira worth recording include a sanctuary of Zeus with a sitting image of Pentelic marble, the work of Eucleides the Athenian. In this sanctuary there also stands an image of Athena. The face, hands and feet are of ivory, the rest is of wood, with ornamentation of gilt work and of colors.

[7.26.5] There is also a temple of Artemis, with an image of the modern style of workmanship. The priestess is a maiden, who holds office until she reaches the age to marry. There stands here too an ancient image, which the folk of Aegeira say is Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. If they are correct, it is plain that the temple must have been built originally for Iphigeneia.

[7.26.6] There is also a sanctuary of Apollo; the sanctuary itself, with the sculptures on the pediments, are very old; the wooden image of the god also is old, the figure being nude and of colossal size. None of the inhabitants could give the name of the artist, but anyone who has already seen the Heracles at Sicyon would be led to conjecture that the Apollo in Aegeira was also a work of the same artist, Laphaes the Phliasian.

[7.26.7] There are in a temple standing images of Asclepius, and elsewhere images of Serapis and of Isis, these too being of Pentelic marble. They worship most devoutly the Heavenly Goddess, but human beings must not enter her sanctuary. But into the sanctuary of the goddess they surname Syrian they enter on stated days, but they must submit beforehand to certain customary purifications, especially in the matter of diet.

[7.26.8] I remember observing at Aegeira a building in which was an image of Fortune carrying the horn of Amaltheia. By her side is a winged Love, the moral of which is that even success in love depends for mankind on fortune rather than on beauty. Now I am in general agreement with Pindar's ode, and especially with his making Fortune one of the Fates, and more powerful than her sisters.⁵³

[7.26.9] In this building at Aegeira is also an old man in the attitude of a mourner, three women taking off their bracelets, and likewise three lads, with a man wearing a breastplate. They say that in a war of the Achaeans this last man fought more bravely than any other soldier of Aegeira, but was killed. His surviving brothers carried home the news of his death, and therefore in mourning for him his sisters are discarding their ornaments, and the natives call the father Sympathes, because even in the statue he is a piteous figure.

PHELLOE

[7.26.10] There is a straight road from the sanctuary of Zeus at Aegeira, passing through the mountains and steep. It is forty stades long, and leads to Phelloe, an obscure town, which was not always inhabited even when the Ionians still occupied the land.⁵⁴ The district round Phelloe is well suited for the growth of the vine; the rocky parts are covered with oaks, the home of deer and wild boars.

[7.26.11] You may reckon Phelloe one of the towns in Greece best supplied with flowing water. There are sanctuaries of Dionysus and of Artemis. The goddess is of bronze, and is taking an arrow from her quiver. The image of Dionysus is painted with vermilion. On going down from Aegeira to the port, and walking on again, we see on the right of the road the sanctuary of the Huntress, where they say the goat crouched.

PELLENE

[7.26.12] The territory of Aegeira is bounded by that of Pellene, which is the last city of Achaia in the direction of Sicyon and the Argolid. The city got its name, according to the account of the Pellenians, from Pallas, who was, they say, one of the Titans, but the Argives think it was from Pellen, an Argive. And they say that he was the son of Phorbas, the son of Triopas.

[7.26.13] Between Aegeira and Pellene once stood a town, subject to the Sicyonians and called Donussa, which was laid waste by the Sicyonians;it is mentioned, they say, in a verse of Homer that occurs in the list of those who accompanied Agamemnon:–

And the men of Hyperesia and those of steep Donoessa. Hom. Il. 2.573

They go on to say that when Peisistratus collected the poems of Homer, which were scattered and handed down by tradition, some in one place and some in another, then either he or one of his colleagues perverted the name through ignorance.

[7.26.14] The port of Pellene is Aristonautae. Its distance from Aegeira on the sea is one hundred and twenty stades, and to Pellene from this port is half that distance. They say that the name of Aristonautae⁵⁵ was given to that port because it was one of the habors into which the Argonauts entered.

[7.27.1] XXVII. The city of Pellene is on a hill which rises to a sharp peak at its summit. This part then is precipitous, and therefore uninhabited, but on the lower slopes they have built their city, which is not continuous, but divided into two parts by the peak that rises up between. As you go to Pellene there is, by the roadside, an image of Hermes, who, in spite of his surname of Crafty, is ready to fulfill the prayers of men. He is of square shape and bearded, and on his head is carved a cap.

[7.27.2] On the way to the city, close up to it, is a temple of Athena, built of local stone, but the image is of ivory and gold. They say that Pheidias made it before he made the images of Athena on the Athenian acropolis and at Plataea. The people of Pellene also say that a shrine of Athena sinks deep into the ground, that this shrine is under the pedestal of the image, and that the air from the shrine is damp, and consequently good for the ivory.

[7.27.3] Above the temple of Athena is a grove, surrounded by a wall, of Artemis surnamed Saviour, by whom they swear their most solemn oaths. No man may enter the grove except the priests. These priests are natives, chosen chiefly because of their high birth. Opposite the grove of the Saviour is a sanctuary of Dionysus surnamed Torch. In his honor they celebrate a festival called the Feast of Torches, when they bring by night firebrands into the sanctuary, and set up bowls of wine throughout the whole city.

[7.27.4] There is also at Pellene a sanctuary of Apollo, the Strangers' God, and the image is made of bronze. They hold in honor of Apollo games that they call Theoxenia, with money as the prizes of victory, the competitors being the natives. Near the sanctuary of Apollo is a temple of Artemis, the goddess being represented in the attitude of shooting. In the market-place is built a tank, and for bathing they use rain-water, since for drinking there are a few springs beneath the city. The place where the springs are they name Glyceiae (Sweet Springs).

[7.27.5] There is an old gymnasium chiefly given up to the exercises of the youths. No one may be enrolled on the register of citizens before he has been on the register of youths. Here stands a man of Pellene called Promachus, the son of Dryon, who won prizes in the pancratium, one at Olympia, three at the Isthmus and two at Nemea. The Pellenians made two statues of him, dedicating one at Olympia and one in the gymnasium; the latter is of stone, not bronze.

[7.27.6] It is said too that when a war arose between Corinth and Pellene, Promachus killed a vast number of the enemy. It is said that he also overcame at Olympia Pulydamas of Scotusa, this being the occasion when, after his safe return home from the king of Persia, he came for the second time to compete in the Olympic games. The Thessalians, however, refuse to admit that Pulydamas was beaten; one of the pieces of evidence they bring forward is a verse about Pulydamas:--

Scotoessa, nurse of unbeaten Pulydamas. unknown

[7.27.7] Be this as it may, the people of Pellene hold Promachus in the highest honor. But Chaeron, who carried off two prizes for wrestling at the Isthmian games and four at the Olympian, they will not even mention by name. This I believe is because he overthrew the constitution of Pellene, and received from Alexander, the son of Philip, the most invidious of all gifts, to be set up as tyrant of one's own fatherland.

[7.27.8] Pellene has also a sanctuary of Eileithyia, which is situated in the lesser portion of the city. What is called the Poseidium in more ancient days was a township, but to-day it is uninhabited. This Poseidium is below the gymnasium, and down to the present day it has been considered sacred to Poseidon.

THE MYSAEUM & THE ASCLEPIUM

[7.27.9] About sixty stades distant from Pellene is the Mysaeum, a sanctuary of the Mysian Demeter. It is said that it was founded by Mysius, a man of Argos, who according to Argive tradition gave Demeter a welcome in his home. There is a grove in the Mysaeum, containing trees of every kind, and in it rises a copious supply of water from springs. Here they also celebrate a seven days' festival in honor of Demeter.

[7.27.10] On the third day of the festival the men withdraw from the sanctuary, and the women are left to perform on that night the ritual that custom demands. Not only men are excluded, but even male dogs. On the following day the men come to the sanctuary, and the men and the women laugh and jeer at one another in turn.

[7.27.11] At no great distance from the Mysaeum is a sanctuary of Asclepius, called Cyrus, where cures of patients are effected by the god. Here too there is a copious supply of water, and at the largest of the springs stands the image of Asclepius.

RIVERS CRIUS & SYTHAS

Rivers come down from the mountains above Pellene, the one on the side nearest Aegeira being called Crius, after, it is said, a Titan of the same name.

[7.27.12] There is another river called Crius, which rises in Mount Sipylus and is a tributary of the Hermus. Where the territory of Pellene borders on that of Sicyon is a Pellenian river Sythas, the last of the Achaean rivers, which flows into the Sicyonian sea.

34. 756 B.C.
35. 460-457 B.C.
36. Or, with the proposed addition of on: “Who Attis was I could not discover, as it is a religious secret.”
37. Or, reading autois and attêi: “honor with them that Zeus, being wroth with him, sent, etc.”
38. With dêsantes the meaning is: “bound Agdistis and cut off.”
39. With the reading of the MSS.: “for to man only is it worth one's life to be successful in love.”
40. Alcaeus Fr. 7 (Bergk).

41. Or, possibly “disk.” The round mirror might be lowered vertically or horizontally (face upwards).
42. Drepanum means “sickle.”
43. The MSS. reading paidi ên is meaningless. Scholars for the most part consider that a name has fallen out of the text. Madvig's emendation would mean “Daughter of the Sun,” and Kayser's would mean “Asclepius.”
44. Or “vassal cities,” like the perioikoi round Sparta. So Frazer.
45. See Hom. Il. 2.575, Hom. 8.203, Hom. 20.404.
46. Perhaps we should delete the commas at katelaben and idean, take heteron to mean “a second,” and construe tên idean with toiouto; “another, similar in type.”
47. 373 B.C.
48. See Hdt. 8.136.
49. This means either that the other images were undraped or that for Demeter raiment was kept in the temple for solemn occasions.
50. I am very uncertain about the meaning of this passage. Frazer's note shows that divination by dice usually took the form of interpreting the sequences of numbers obtained by throwing several dice on to a board. This cannot be the meaning here, as schêma can hardly denote a number on the face of a die, and in any case exêgêsin tou schêmatos must mean “explanation of the shape.” I have accordingly adopted the emendation astragalôn, but epitêdes seems to have no point. Frazer, reading apparently epi de panti astragalôi schêma ti k.t.he, translates: “Each die has a certain figure marked upon it, and the meaning of each figure is explained on the tablet.”

51. Probably because the population declined. It is just possible that the site became unhealthy. The word astheneia admits of either interpretation.
52. Hom. Il. 2.573
53. Pind. Frag. 41 (Schroeder).
54. This rendering would be much more natural with oude instead of kai before Iônôn. It is therefore likely that Spiro's suggestion should be adopted. This would give: “an obscure town, but one which has always been inhabited, even when the Ionians dwelt in the land.”
55. The Greek word means “best sailors.”