A Pausanias reader in progress: Description of Greece, Scrolls 1–10

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{1.1.1} Belonging to the Greek [Hellēnikē] mainland [ēpeiros], [1] facing the Cyclades Islands and the Aegean Sea, is the headland [akrā] named Sounion, jutting out from the land of Attica. When one has rounded the headland [akrā] there is a harbor and a temple [nāos] of Athena of-Sounion [Souniás] on the peak [koruphē] of the headland [akrā]. Farther on is Laurion, where once the Athenians had silver mines, and a small uninhabited island called the Island of Patroklos. [2] I say-this-because [gar] a fortification was built on it and a palisade constructed by Patroklos, who was admiral in command of the Egyptian trireme ships sent by Ptolemy, son of Ptolemy, son of Lagos, to help the Athenians, when Antigonos, son of Demetrios, was ravaging their country, which he had invaded with an army, and at the same time was blockading them by sea with a fleet. [3]

{1.1.2} The [harbor city] Peiraieus was a deme [dēmos] from early times, though it was not a seaport [epi-neion] before Themistocles [4] became an archon [arkhōn] of the Athenians. [5] Their seaport [epi-neion] had been Phaleron, for at this place the sea comes nearest to Athens, and from here it is said that Menestheus sailed off with his fleet for Troy, and before him Theseus, when he went off to give compensation to Minos for the death of Androgeōs. But when Themistocles became archon [arkhōn], since he thought that the [harbor city] Peiraieus was more conveniently situated for those who sail, and had three harbors [limenes] as against one at Phaleron, he made it [= Peiraieus] the Athenian seaport [epi-neion]. Even up to my time there were ship-sheds [neōs oikoi] there, and near the largest harbor [limēn] is the tomb of Themistocles. For it is said that the Athenians repented of their treatment of Themistocles, and that his relatives took up his bones and brought them from Magnesia. And the children of Themistocles certainly returned [to Athens] and set up in the Parthenon a painting [graphē] in which [the figure] of Themistocles has been painted [graphesthai].

{1.1.3} Worthy of viewing [théā] in the Peiraieus is a precinct [temenos] of Athena and Zeus. Both their statues [agalmata] are of bronze; Zeus holds a scepter and a Nike, Athena a spear. Here is [a painting of] Leosthenes and [of] his sons, painted [graphein] by Arkesilaos. This Leosthenes at the head of the Athenians and the united Greeks [Hellēnes] defeated the Macedonians in Boeotia and again outside Thermopylae forced them into Lamia over against Oitē, and hemmed them in there. [6] It [= the painting] is in the long portico [stoā], where is located a marketplace [agorā] for those living near the sea—those farther away from the harbor [limēn] have another—but behind the portico near the sea stand a Zeus and a [personified] Dēmos, the work [ergon] of Leokhares. And by the sea Konon [7] built a sanctuary [hieron] of Aphrodite, after he had crushed the Lacedaemonian warships off Knidos in the Carian peninsula. [8] I say-this-because [gar] the people of Knidos honor [tīmân] Aphrodite greatly, and they have sanctuaries [hiera] of the goddess [theos (feminine)]; the oldest is to her as Doritis [‘Bountiful’], the next in age as Akraia [‘of the Headland’], while the newest is to the Aphrodite called ‘of Knidos’ by people generally, but Euploia [‘Good Sailing’] by the people of Knidos themselves.

{1.1.4} The Athenians have also another harbor [limēn], at Mounukhia, with a temple [nāos] of Artemis of Mounukhia, and yet another at Phaleron, as I have already stated, and near it is a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter. Here there is also a temple [nāos] of Athena Skiras, and one of Zeus some distance away, and altars of the gods named Unknown [Agnōstoi], and of heroes [hērōes], and of the children of Theseus and Phaleros; for this Phaleros is said by the Athenians to have sailed with Jason to Kolkhis. There is also an altar [bōmos] of Androgeōs, son of Minos, though it is called that of Hērōs; those, however, who pay special attention to the study of their local-antiquities [enkhōria] know that it belongs to Androgeōs.

{1.1.5} Twenty stadium-lengths away is the headland [akrā] called Kōlias; to this place, when the Persian fleet was destroyed, the wreckage was carried down by the waves. There is here a statue [agalma] of the Aphrodite surnamed Kōlias, together with goddesses [theai] called Genetyllides [presiding-over-childbirth]. And I am of opinion that the goddesses [theai] of the people of Phokaia in Ionia, whom they call Gennaides, are the same as those at Kōlias. On the way from Phaleron to Athens there is a temple [nāos] of Hērā with neither doors nor roof. It is said that Mardonios, son of Gobryas, burned it. But the statue [agalma] there today is, as report goes, the work of Alkamenes. [9] So that this, at any rate, cannot have been desecrated by the Persians.

{1.2.1} As one enters the city, there is a tomb [mnēma] [10] of Antiope the Amazon. This Antiope, Pindar says, was abducted [harpazein] by Peirithoös and Theseus, but Hegias of Troizen has created-poetically [poieîn] about her such things as I will now tell. Hēraklēs was besieging Themiskyra at [the river] Thermodon, and could not take it, but Antiope, having-conceived-a-passion [erastheisa] for Theseus, who was aiding Hēraklēs in his campaign, surrendered the stronghold. These things has Hegias created-poetically [poieîn]. But the Athenians assert that when the Amazons came [to attack Athens], Antiope was shot by Molpadia [the Amazon], while Molpadia was killed by Theseus. The Athenians have a tomb [mnēma] [11] of Molpadia as well.

{1.2.2} As one goes up from the Peiraieus there are ruins of the walls that Konon restored after the naval battle offshore from [the island of] Knidos. I say-this-because [gar] those [walls] that had been built by Themistocles after the retreat of the Persians were destroyed during the rule [arkhē] of the so-called Thirty. [12] Along the road are some very well-known tombs [taphoi]: that of Menander, son of Diopeithes, and a cenotaph [mnēma kenon ‘empty tomb’] of Euripides. He [= Euripides] himself went to King Arkhelaos [of Macedonia] and lies buried in Macedonia; as for the way [tropos] he died—many have narrated it—let it be as they say.

{1.2.3} I say-this-because [gar] even in his time [= the era of Euripides] poets [poiētai] could live in the company of kings, as earlier still Anacreon resided in the company of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos; also, Aeschylus and Simonides were sent to Hieron at Syracuse. Residing in the company of Dionysius, tyrant in Sicily at a later period, was Philoxenos, and, residing in the company of Antigonos, [13] ruler of Macedonia, were Antagoras of Rhodes and Aratos of Soloi. As for Hesiod and Homer, they either did not have the good fortune of residing in the company of kings or else purposely neglected doing so, Hesiod because of his countryside ways [agroikiā] and reluctance to travel, while Homer, having traveled very far and wide, considered the aid provided by the powerful in the acquisition of wealth to be less important than his fame [doxa] among the hoi polloi. And yet Homer, too, in what he composed [poieîn], makes Demodokos live in the compnay of Alkinoos, and [he makes] Agamemnon leave behind [when the king departed for Troy] a poet [poiētēs] to attend his wife. Not far from the gates is a tomb [taphos], on which is positioned a soldier [stratiōtēs] standing by a horse. Who it is I do not know, but both horse and soldier were carved by Praxiteles.

{1.2.4} On entering the city there is a building for the preparation of the processions [pompai], which are arranged [pempein] in some cases every year, in other cases at longer intervals. Close by is a temple [nāos] of Demeter, with statues [agalmata] of her and of her daughter, and of Iakkhos holding a torch. On the wall, in Attic letters, is written that they are works of Praxiteles. Not far from the temple [nāos] is Poseidon on horseback, hurling a spear against the giant [gigas] Polubōtēs, concerning whom is prevalent among the people of Kos the myth [mūthos] about the promontory [akrā] of Khelōnē. But the inscription of our time assigns the likeness [eikōn] to another, and not to Poseidon. Extending from the gate to the Kerameikos there are porticoes [stoai], and in front of them bronze likenesses [eikones] of such as had some title to fame [doxa], both men and women.

{1.2.5} One of the porticoes [stoai] contains shrines [hiera] of gods, and a gymnasium named after Hermes. In it is the house [oikiā] of Poulutiōn, at which it is said that a mystical-rite [teletē] was once performed [drân] by Athenians of considerable fame, corresponding to the mystical-rite performed at Eleusis. But in my time it was devoted to the worship of Dionysus. This Dionysus they call Melpomenos [from melpesthai ‘sing and dance’], on the same principle as they call Apollo Mousēgētēs ‘Leader of the Muses’. Here there are statues [agalmata] of Athena Paiōniā), of Zeus, of Mnemosyne [‘Memory’] and of the Muses, an Apollo, the votive-offering [anathēma] and work [ergon] of Euboulides, and Akratos, a superhuman force [daimōn] who is one of the attendants of Dionysus [Jones mistakenly says “Apollo” here]; it is only a face [prosōpon] of him, worked-into [en-oikodomeîn] the wall [toikhos]. Situated beyond the precinct [temenos] of Dionysus is a building [oikēma] that contains terracotta statues [agalmata]: Amphiktyon, king of Athens, in the act of celebrating-at-a-feast [hestiân] Dionysus and other gods. Here also is Pēgasos of Eleutherai, who introduced the god to the Athenians. Participating-in-the-action [sun-lambanesthai] was the oracle [manteion] at Delphi, which called-to-mind [ana-mnē-sai] that the god once dwelled [epi-dēmeîn] in Athens in the days of Ikarios.

{1.2.6} Amphiktyon acquired the kingdom [basileiā] thus. It is said that Aktaios was the first to become-king [basileuein] of what is now Attica. When Aktaios died, Kekrops received-by-relay [ek-dekhesthai] the rulership [arkhē], housed-together [sun-oikeîn] as he was with the daughter of Aktaios, and there were born to him daughters, Hersē, Aglauros and Pandrosos, and a son Erysikhthon. This son did not become king [basileuein] of the Athenians, but happened to die while his father lived, and the one who inherited-by-relay [ek-dekhesthai] the kingdom of Kekrops was Kranaos, who surpassed at the time the other Athenians with his power. They say that Kranaos had daughters, and among them Atthis; and from her they call the region Attica, which before was named Aktaia. And Amphiktyon, leading an insurrection against Kranaos, although he had his daughter as wife, deposed him from rulership [arkhē]. Afterwards he himself was deposed as the result of an insurrection organized by Erikhthonios and his followers. They say that Erikhthonios was not born of humans [anthrōpoi], but that his parents were Hephaistos and Earth [Gē].

{1.3.1} The locale [khōrion] known as the Kerameikos has its name from the hero Keramos, and they say that he too was son of Dionysus and Ariadne. First on the right is what is called the Royal Portico [Sto ā Basileios], where is seated the archon-king [arkhōn basileus] when holding the yearly rulership [arkhē] that is named after the arkhōn basileus. On the tiling [keramos] of this portico [stoā] are statues [agalmata] made of terracotta, Theseus throwing Skiron into the sea and Day [Hēmerā] carrying away Kephalos, who they say was most beautiful and was abducted [harpazein] by Day, who conceived-a-passion [erasthēnai] for him. His son was Phaethon, afterwards abducted [harpazein] by Aphrodite) […] and he was made a guardian [phulax] of her temple [nāos]. That is what is said by Hesiod, among others, in his verses [epos plural] having to do with women.

{1.3.2} Near the portico [stoā] stand [the statues of] Konon, Timotheus his son, and Euagoras, [14] King of Cyprus, who exacted a gift of Phoenician trireme ships to be given to Konon by King Artaxerxes. This he did as an Athenian whose ancestry connected him with Salamis, for he traced-his-lineage [geneālogeîn] back to Teukros as also to the daughter of Kinyras. Here stand [the statue of] Zeus, called Zeus Eleutherios [‘of Freedom’], and [the statue of] ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian, who made-public-displays [apo-deiknusthai] of his benefactions to all the populations that he ruled [arkhein]—and especially to the city of the Athenians.

{1.3.3} Another portico [stoā] is built behind [the one I just talked about], and this one has paintings [graphai] of the gods called the Twelve. On the wall opposite are painted [graphesthai] Theseus, [personified] Democracy [Dēmokratiā], and [personified] Dēmos. The painting [graphē] represents Theseus as the one who established for the Athenians a system of governance [politeuesthai] on-an-equal-footing [ex isou]. In other ways as well did the story [phēmē] spread among the people—the story that Theseus bestowed upon them the management of their own affairs [pragmata], and that from his time onward the people continued to have-a-democratic government [dēmokrateîsthai], until the emergence of Peisistratos, who became-tyrant [turanneîn]. [15] Granted, the majority of people tell and are told many other things as well—things that are not true [alēthē], since people are ignorant of scientific-research [historiā] and consider trustworthy whatever they have heard, from childhood onward, in choruses [khoroi] and tragedies [tragōidiai]. There are stories like that also concerning Theseus, who himself became king, and afterwards, when Menestheus died, the descendants of Theseus remained rulers even to the fourth generation [geneā]. But if I cared about tracing-lineages [geneālogeîn] I should have included in the counting, besides these, the kings starting from Melanthos extending all the way to Kleidikos the son of Aisimides.

{1.3.4} Also painted [graphesthai] here is the exploit, near Mantineia, of the Athenians who were sent to help the Lacedaemonians. [16] Xenophon among others has written a history of the whole war—the taking of the Kadmeia, the defeat of the Lacedaemonians at Leuktra, how the Boeotians invaded the Peloponnesus, and the contingent sent to the Lacedaemonians from the Athenians. The painting [graphē] shows a cavalry battle, in which the most famous men are, among the Athenians, Grylos the son of Xenophon, and, in the Boeotian cavalry, Epameinondas the Theban. These paintings [graphai] were painted [graphein] for the Athenians by Euphranor, and he also did the Apollo surnamed Patrōos [‘Ancestral’] in the temple [nāos] close by. In front of the temple [nāos] is an Apollo that Leokhares made [poieîn]; [also in front is] another Apollo, called Alexikakos [‘averter of evil’], made by Kalamis. They say that the god received this name because, by way of an oracular pronouncement [manteion] from Delphi, he stopped the pestilential disease [nosos] that afflicted the Athenians at the time of the Peloponnesian War. [17]

{1.3.5} Here is built also a sanctuary [hieron] of the Mother of the gods; she [= her statue] is by Pheidias. Close by is the council-chamber [bouleutērion] of those called the Five Hundred, who for a term of a year act-as-councilors [bouleuein] on behalf of the Athenians. In it are a wooden-statue [xoanon] of Zeus Boulaios and an Apollo, the work [tekhnē] of Peisias, and a [personified] Dēmos, a work [ergon] by Lyson. As for the lawgivers [thesmothetai], they were painted [graphein] by Protogenes [18] of Kaunos, and Olbiades painted Kallippos, who led the Athenians to Thermopylae to stop the incursion of the Gauls [Galatai] into Greece [Hellas]. [19]

{1.4.1} These Gauls [Galatai] inhabit the most remote portions of Europe, near a great sea that is not navigable all the way to its extremities [perata], and has tides and fauna quite unlike those of other seas. Through their territory [khōrā] flows the river Ēridanos, on the banks of which the Daughters of Hēlios [‘Sun’] are customarily thought to be lamenting the experience [pathos] of their brother Phaethon. It was late before the name Gauls [Galatai] prevailed; for in ancient times they were called Celts [Keltoi] both among themselves and by others. An army of them gathered and turned towards the Ionian Sea. They dispossessed the Illyrian people and all who dwelled as far away as Macedonia, along with the Macedonians themselves. Then they overran Thessaly. And when they drew near to Thermopylae, the Greeks [Hellēnes] in general made no move to prevent the incursion of the barbarians, since previously they had been severely defeated by Alexander and Philip. Further, Antipatros and Kassandros [20] afterwards crushed the Greek side [tò Hellēnikon], so that, because of their weakness, each state thought it was not shameful to take no part in the defense.

{1.4.2} But the Athenians, although they were more exhausted than any of the other Greeks [Hellēnes] by the long Macedonian war, and had been generally unsuccessful in their battles, nevertheless set forth to Thermopylae with such Greeks [Hellēnes] as joined them, having made the Kallippos I mentioned their general. Occupying the pass where it was narrowest, they tried to keep the barbarians from entering Greece [Hellas]; but the Celts, having discovered the path by which Ephialtes of Trakhis once led the Persians, [21] overwhelmed the men of Phokis stationed there and crossed Oitē unperceived by the Greeks [Hellēnes].

{1.4.3} Then it was that the Athenians put the Greeks [Hellēnes] under the greatest obligation, and although outflanked offered resistance to the barbarians on two sides. But the Athenians in the fleet suffered most, for the Lamian gulf is a swamp near Thermopylae—the reason being, I think, the hot water that here runs into the sea. These then were more distressed, and the reason is this: taking the Greeks [Hellēnes] on board, they were forced to sail through the mud, weighed downas they were by arms and men.

{1.4.4} So, they tried to save the Greeks [Hellēnes] in the way described, but the Gauls, now south of the Gates [= Thermopylae], cared not at all to capture the other towns, but were very eager to plunder Delphi and the treasures of the god. They were opposed by the people of Delphi themselves and by the men of Phokis who originated from the cities around Mount Parnassus; a force of Aetolians also joined the defenders, for the Aetolians at this time were preeminent for their vigorous resistance. When the forces engaged, not only were thunderbolts [keraunoi] and rocks broken off from Parnassus hurled against the Gauls, but terrifying-shapes [deimata] that looked like armed warriors appeared to the barbarians. They say that two of these apparitions, Hyperokhos and Amadokos, came from the Hyperboreans, and that the third was Pyrrhos son of Achilles. Because of this help in battle the Delphians sacrifice [enagizein] to Pyrrhos [as to a hero], although formerly they held even his tomb [mnēma] in dishonor [atīmiā], as being that of an enemy. [22]

{1.4.5} The greater number of the Gauls crossed over to Asia [Minor] by ship and plundered its coasts. Some time after, the inhabitants of Pergamon, which was called in ancient times Teuthrania, drove the Gauls into this region, away from the sea. Now this population occupied the country on the farther side of the river Sangarios, capturing Ankyra, a city of the Phrygians, which Midas son of Gordios had founded in former time. And the anchor [ankura], which Midas found, was even as late as my time in the sanctuary [hieron] of Zeus, as well as a spring [krēnē] called the Spring of Midas, water from which they say Midas mixed with wine to capture Silenos. Well then, the Pergamenes took Ankyra and Pessinos which is situated under Mount Agdistis, where they say that Attis lies buried.

{1.4.6} They [= the Pergamenes] have spoils-of-war [captured] from the Gauls, and a painting [graphē] that portrays their deed [ergon] against them. The land they dwell in was, they say, in ancient times sacred [hierā] to the Kabeiroi, and they claim that they are themselves Arcadians, being descended from those who crossed into Asia [Minor] with Telephos. Of the wars that they have waged no story [phēmē] has been made public to the world-at-large, except that they have accomplished three most notable achievements: the subjection of the coastal region of Asia [Minor], the expulsion of the Gauls from there, and the exploit of Telephos against the followers of Agamemnon, at a time when the Greeks [Hellēnes], after failing to reach Troy, were plundering the plain called Mēion, thinking it Trojan territory. Now I will return from my digression.

{1.5.1} Near to the council-chamber [bouleutērion] of the Five Hundred is what is called Tholos [‘Round House’]; here the presidents [prutaneis] sacrifice [thuein], and there are a few small statues [agalmata] made of silver. Farther up stand statues [andriantes] of heroes [hērōes], from whom afterwards the Athenian subdivisions [phūlai] received their names. Who the man was who established ten phūlai instead of four, and changed their old names to new ones—all this is told by Herodotus [5.69]. [23]

{1.5.2} The heroes known as the eponymous ones [epōnumoi] are [1] Hippothoön son of Poseidon and of Alope daughter of Kerkyon, [2] Antiokhos, whose father was Hēraklēs and whose mother was Meda daughter of Phylas, thirdly, [3] Ajax son of Telamon, and, among the Athenians, [4] Leōs, who is said to have given up [as human sacrifice] his daughters in accordance with what was-said-in-an-oracular-pronouncement [khrē-] by the god [Apollo] in order to achieve a salvation [sōtēriā] that was to be communal [koinē] for all; also among the eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi] is [5] Erekhtheus, who conquered the Eleusinians in battle, and killed their general, Immarados the son of Eumolpos; there is also [6] Aigeus, and [7] Oineus the bastard son of Pandion, and [8] Akamas, one of the children of Theseus.

{1.5.3} I saw also among the eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi] the likenesses [eikones] of [9] Kekrops and [10] Pandion, but I do not know who among those who have these names are given the honor [tīmē] [of being venerated as an eponymous hero. I say this because there was an earlier Kekrops who was-ruler [arkhein]—his wife was the daughter of Aktaios—and there was also a later Kekrops—the one who led-a-colonizing-expedition [met-oikeîn] to Euboea. This one was son of Erekhtheus son of Pandion son of Erikhthonios. And there was a king Pandion who was son of Erikhthonios, and another who was son of Kekrops the second. This man [Pandion] was deposed from his rule [arkhē] by the Mētionidai, and when he fled to Megara—for he had as wife the daughter of Pylas king of Megara—his children were banished with him. And Pandion is said to have fallen ill there [in Megara] and died, and on the coast of the region of Megara is his tomb [mnēma], [24] situated on the cliff called the rock of Athena the Aithuia.

{1.5.4} But his sons [= the sons of Pandion] expelled the Mētionidai, and returned from their exile at Megara. Then Aigeus, as the eldest, became king of the Athenians. As for his daughters [by contrast with his sons], on the other hand, there was no benevolent [agathos] superhuman-force [daimōn] to help him raise them, nor did they [= these daughters] leave him with any sons who could avenge him [the same way that his sons avenged him against the Mētionidai]. And yet it was for the sake of [his own] power [dunamis] that he [Pandion] had made a marriage-alliance [kēdos] with the man from Thrace [= Tereus, king of Thrace]. Well, there is no way [poros] for a mortal to evade what is sent by a god as a thing that the god deems to be fitting to send. They say that Tereus, though he was married to Procne, violated Philomela. Thus, [Thracian that he was,] he transgressed the custom [nomos] of the Greeks [Hellēnes]. And, on top of that, he mutilated the body [sōma] of the daughter [of Pandion,] [cutting out her tongue]. By doing so, his action led the women [= the daughters of Pandion] to resort to [what was for them] the necessity of retribution [dikē]. There is also another statue [andrias] of Pandion on the Acropolis, and it is worthy of viewing [théā].

{1.5.5} These are the Athenian eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi] who belong to the ancients [arkhaioi]. [25] And of later date than these they have subdivisions [phūlai] named after the following: Attalos [26] the Mysian [27] and Ptolemy the Egyptian, [28] and within my own time* [29] ‘King’ [basileus]Hadrian , [30] who was most observant in giving honor [tīmē] to divinity [tò theion] and who contributed very much to the happiness [eudaimoniā] of those whom he ruled [arkhein]. He never voluntarily entered upon a war, but he reduced the Hebrews [Hebraioi] who lived beyond Syria; they had rebelled. [31] As for the sanctuaries [hiera] of the gods that in some cases he built from the beginning, in others adorned [epi-kosmeîn] them with offerings [anathēmata] and furnishings, and the gifts [dōreai] he gave to cities that are Greek [Hellēnides], and sometimes even to barbarians who asked him, all these acts are inscribed in his honor in the sanctuary [hieron] at Athens that is common [koinon] to all the gods.

{1.6.1} But as for what pertains to Attalos and Ptolemy, it is more ancient in point of time, so that the story [phēmē] no longer remains, and those who attended these kings for the writing-up [sun=graphē] of their deeds fell into neglect even before [= before the story failed]. So, it occurred to me to highlight [dēloûn] their deeds also, and how the rule [arkhē] of Egypt, of the Mysians, and of the neighboring peoples fell into the hands of the ancestors [of these rulers].

{1.6.2} [32] The Macedonians consider Ptolemy to be the son of Philip, the son of Amyntas, though putatively the son of Lagos, asserting that his mother was pregnant when she was married off to Lagos by Philip. And among the distinguished acts of Ptolemy in Asia they mention that it was he who, of all the companions of Alexander, was foremost in helping him when in danger among the Oxydrakai. After the death of Alexander, [33] by withstanding those who would have conferred all his empire [arkhē] upon Aridaios, the son of Philip, he became chiefly responsible for the division of the various nations [ethnē] into the kingdoms [basileiai].

{1.6.3} He crossed over to Egypt in person, and killed Kleomenes, whom Alexander had appointed satrap of that country, considering him a friend of Perdikkas, and therefore not faithful to himself; and the Macedonians who had been entrusted with the task of carrying the corpse [nekros] of Alexander to Aigai, he persuaded to hand it over to him. And he proceeded to entomb [thaptein] it, in the ritual-way [nomos] of the Macedonians, in Memphis, but, knowing that Perdikkas would make war, he kept Egypt garrisoned. And Perdikkas took Aridaios, son of Philip, and the boy Alexander, whom Rōxanē, daughter of Oxyartes, had borne to Alexander, to create some decorum for the military campaign, but really he was plotting to take from Ptolemy his kingdom in Egypt. But being expelled from Egypt, and having lost his reputation as a soldier, and being in other respects unpopular with the Macedonians, he was killed by his bodyguards.

{1.6.4} The death of Perdikkas immediately raised Ptolemy to power, who both reduced the Syrians and Phoenicia, and also welcomed Seleukos, son of Antiokhos, who was in exile, having been expelled by Antigonos; he further himself prepared to attack Antigonos. He prevailed on Kassandros, son of Antipatros, and Lysimakhos, who was king in Thrace, to join in the war, on the grounds that Seleukos was in exile and that the growth of the power of Antigonos was dangerous to them all.

{1.6.5} For a time Antigonos prepared for war, and was by no means confident of the issue; but on learning that the revolt of Cyrene had called Ptolemy to Libya, he immediately reduced the Syrians and Phoenicians by a sudden attack, handed them over to Demetrios, his son, a man who for all his youth had already a reputation for good sense, and went down to the Hellespont. But he led his army back without crossing, on hearing that Demetrios had been overcome by Ptolemy in battle. But Demetrios had not altogether evacuated the country before Ptolemy, and having surprised a force of Egyptians, killed a few of them. Then on the arrival of Antigonos Ptolemy did not wait for him but returned to Egypt.

{1.6.6} When the winter was over, Demetrios sailed to Cyprus and overcame in a naval action Menelaos, [34] the satrap of Ptolemy, and afterwards Ptolemy himself, who had crossed over to bring help. Ptolemy fled to Egypt, where he was besieged by Antigonos on land and by Demetrios with a fleet. In spite of his extreme peril Ptolemy saved his empire [arkhē] by making a stand with an army at Pēlousion while offering resistance with warships from the river. Antigonos now abandoned all hope of reducing Egypt, under the circumstances, and dispatched Demetrios against the Rhodians with a fleet and a large army, hoping, if the island were won, to use it as a base against the Egyptians. But the Rhodians displayed daring and ingenuity in the face of the besiegers, while Ptolemy helped them with all the forces he could muster.

{1.6.7} Antigonos thus failed to reduce Egypt or, later, Rhodes, and shortly afterwards he offered battle to Lysimakhos, and to Kassandros and the army of Seleukos, but he lost most of his forces, and was himself killed, having suffered most by reason of the length of the war with Eumenes. Of the kings who put down Antigonos I hold that the most unholy [an-hosios] was Kassandros, who although he had recovered the throne of Macedonia with the aid of Antigonos, nevertheless came to fight against a benefactor.

{1.6.8} After the death of Antigonos, Ptolemy again reduced the Syrians and Cyprus, and also restored Pyrrhos to Thesprotia on the mainland. Cyrene rebelled; but Magas, the son of Berenikē (who was at this time married to Ptolemy) captured Cyrene in the fifth year of the rebellion. If this Ptolemy really was the son of Philip, son of Amyntas, he must have inherited from his father his madness [tò epi-manes] for women, for, while wedded to Eurydikē, the daughter of Antipatros, although he had children he went into a state-of-passion [erōs] for Berenikē, whom Antipatros had sent to Egypt with Eurydikē. Having conceived-a-passion [erastheis] for this woman, he had children by her, and when his end drew near he left the kingdom of Egypt to Ptolemy (after whom the Athenians name their phulē) being the son of Berenikē and not of the daughter of Antipatros.

{1.7.1} This Ptolemy, having-conceived-a-passion [erastheis] for Arsinoe, his full sister, married her, violating Macedonian custom [nomizomena] in doing so, but following that of his Egyptian subjects. Secondly he put to death his brother Argaios, who was, it is said, plotting against him; and it was he who brought down from Memphis the corpse [nekros] of Alexander. [35] He put to death another brother also, son of Eurydikē, on discovering that he was creating disaffection among the Cypriotes. Then Magas, the half-brother of Ptolemy, who had been entrusted with the governorship of Cyrene by his mother Berenikē—she had borne him to Philip, a Macedonian but of no note and of lowly origin—induced the people of Cyrene to revolt from Ptolemy and marched against Egypt.

{1.7.2} Ptolemy fortified the entrance into Egypt and awaited the attack of the Cyrenaeans. But while on the march Magas was informed that the Marmaridai, a tribe of Libyan nomads, had revolted, and thereupon fell back upon Cyrene. Ptolemy resolved to pursue, but was checked owing to the following circumstance. When he was preparing to meet the attack of Magas, he engaged mercenaries, including some four thousand Gauls. Discovering that they were plotting to seize Egypt, he led them through the river to a deserted island. There they perished at one another’s hands or by famine.

{1.7.3} Magas, who was married to Apame, daughter of Antiokhos, son of Seleukos, persuaded Antiokhos to break the treaty that his father Seleukos had made with Ptolemy and to attack Egypt. When Antiokhos resolved to attack, Ptolemy dispatched forces against all the subjects of Antiokhos—he sent plunderers to overrun the lands of the weaker, and an army to hold back the stronger—so that Antiokhos never had an opportunity to attack Egypt. I have already stated how this Ptolemy sent a fleet to help the Athenians against Antigonos and the Macedonians, but it did very little to save Athens. His children were born of Arsinoe—not his sister, but the daughter of Lysimakhos. His sister who had wedded him happened to die before this, leaving no issue, and there is in Egypt a district called Arsinoites after her.

{1.8.1} It is pertinent to add here a report about Attalos, because he too is one of the Athenian eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi]. A Macedonian by the name of Dokimos, a general of Antigonos, who afterwards surrendered both himself and his property to Lysimakhos, had a Paphlagonian eunuch called Philetairos. All that Philetairos did to further the revolt from Lysimakhos, and how he won over Seleukos, will form an episode in my account of Lysimakhos. Attalos, however, son of Attalos and nephew of Philetairos, received the kingdom from his cousin Eumenes, who handed it over. The greatest of his achievements was his forcing the Gauls to withdraw from the seacoast into the region that they still hold.

{1.8.2} After the likenesses [eikones] of the eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi] come statues [agalmata] of gods, Amphiaraos, and Eirene [‘Peace’] carrying the boy Ploutos [‘Wealth’[. Here stands a bronze figure of Lycurgus (Lukourgos), son of Lykophron, and of Kallias, who, as most of the Athenians say, brought about the peace between the Greeks [Hellēnes] and Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes. [36] Here also is Demosthenes, whom the Athenians forced to retire to Kalaureia, the island off Troizen, and then, after receiving him back, banished again after the disaster at Lamia.

{1.8.3} Exiled for the second time [37] Demosthenes crossed once more to Kalaureia, and committed suicide there by taking poison, being the only Greek [Hellēn] exile whom Arkhias failed to bring back to Antipatros and the Macedonians. This Arkhias was a man from Thourioi who undertook the unholy [an-hosion] task of bringing to Antipatros for punishment those who had opposed the Macedonians before the Greeks [Hellēnes] met with their defeat in Thessaly. Such was Demosthenes’ reward for his great devotion [eu-noia] to Athens. I think it is well said, the saying that no man who has unsparingly thrown himself into political-life [politeiā] trusting in the loyalty of the democracy [tà tou dēmou] has ever met with a beautiful death.

{1.8.4} Near the likeness [eikōn] of Demosthenes is a sanctuary [hieron] of Ares, where are placed two statues [agalmata] of Aphrodite, one of Ares made by Alkamenes, and one of Athena made by a man from Paros by the name of Lokros. There is also a statue [agalma] of Enyo, made by the sons of Praxiteles. About the temple stand [images of] Hēraklēs, Theseus, Apollo binding his hair with a fillet [tainiā], and statues [andriantes] of Kalades, who it is said to have framed laws for the Athenians, and of Pindar, and this likeness [eikōn] [of Pindar] is one of the rewards the Athenians gave him for praising [ep-aineîn] them in a song that he made [poieîn].

{1.8.5} Close by stand statues of Harmodios and Aristogeiton, who killed Hipparkhos. [38] The reason [aitiā] for this deed and the way it was done have been related by others; of the statues [andriantes] some were made by Kritios, the old ones being the work of Antenor. When Xerxes captured Athens after the Athenians had abandoned the city he took away these statues also among the spoils, but they were afterwards restored to the Athenians by Antiokhos.

{1.8.6} Before the entrance of the theater [theatron] that they call the Odeum [ōideion] are statues of Egyptian kings. They are all alike called Ptolemy, but each has his own surname. For they call one Philometor, and another Philadelphos, while the son of Lagos is called Soter, a name given him by the Rhodians. Of these, Philadelphos is he whom I have mentioned before among the eponymous-heroes [epōnumoi], and near him is a likeness [eikōn] of his sister Arsinoe.

{1.9.1} The one called Philometor is eighth in descent from Ptolemy son of Lagos, and his surname was given him in sarcastic mockery [khleuasmos], for we know of none of the kings who was so hated by his mother. Although he was the eldest of her children she would not allow him to be called to the throne, but prevailed on his father before the call came to send him to Cyprus. Among the reasons assigned for Kleopatra’s enmity towards her son is her expectation that Alexander the younger of her sons would prove more subservient, and this consideration induced her to urge the Egyptians to choose Alexander as king.

{1.9.2} When the people [plēthos] offered opposition, she dispatched Alexander for the second time to Cyprus, ostensibly as general, but really because she wished by this means to make Ptolemy more afraid of her. Finally she covered with wounds those eunuchs she thought were best disposed [toward her, and thus least likely to object], and she presented them to the people [plēthos], pretending that she was the victim of Ptolemy’s machinations, and that he had treated the eunuchs in such a fashion. The people of Alexandria rushed to kill Ptolemy, and when he escaped on board a ship, made Alexander, who returned from Cyprus, their king.

{1.9.3} Retribution for the exile of Ptolemy came upon Kleopatra, for she was put to death by Alexander, whom she herself had made to be king of the Egyptians. When the deed was discovered, and Alexander fled in fear of the citizens, Ptolemy returned and for the second time assumed control of Egypt. He made war against the Thebans, who had revolted, reduced them two years after the revolt, and treated them so cruelly that they were left not even a memorializing [hupomnēma] of their former prosperity, which had so grown that they once surpassed in wealth the richest of the Greeks [Hellēnes], even the sanctuary [hieron] of Delphi and the people of Orkhomenos. Shortly after this Ptolemy met with his appointed fate [moira], and the Athenians, who had been benefited by him in many ways, which I need not stop to relate, set up a bronze [statue] of him and of Berenikē, his only legitimate child.

{1.9.4} Next in line after the Egyptians are set up the statues of Philip and of his son Alexander. The events of their lives were too important to make digressive remarks [parerga] in what is another story. In the case of the Egyptians, they had their tokens of gratitude bestowed upon them because the honor [tīmē] they received was genuine and because they were benefactors, but it was rather the sycophancy [kolakeiā] of the people [plēthos] that resulted in tokens of gratitude to Philip and Alexander, since they set up a [statue of] Lysimakhos also not so much out of goodwill [eunoiā] as because they thought it would serve their immediate ends.

{1.9.5} This Lysimakhos was a Macedonian by birth and one of Alexander’s bodyguards [doruphoroi], whom Alexander once in anger shut up in a chamber with a lion, and afterwards found that he had overpowered the beast. Henceforth he always treated him with respect, and honored him as much as the noblest Macedonians. After the death of Alexander, Lysimakhos ruled those of the Thracians, who are neighbors of the Macedonians, who had been under the sway of Alexander and before him of Philip. These would comprise but a small part of Thrace. If populations be compared with populations no people except the Celts are more numerous than the Thracians taken all together, and for this reason no one before the Romans reduced the whole Thracian population. But the Romans have subdued all Thrace, and they also hold such Celtic territory as is worth possessing, but they have intentionally overlooked the parts that they consider useless through excessive cold or barrenness.

{1.9.6} Then Lysimakhos made war against his neighbors, first the Odrysai, secondly the Getai and their king Dromikhaites. Engaging with men not unversed in warfare and far his superiors in number, he himself escaped from a position of extreme danger, but his son Agathokles, who was serving with him then for the first time, was taken prisoner by the Getai. Lysimakhos met with other reverses afterwards, and attaching great importance to the capture of his son made peace with Dromikhaites, yielding to the king of the Getai the parts of his empire beyond the Istros, and, chiefly under compulsion, giving him his daughter in marriage. Others say that not Agathokles but Lysimakhos himself was taken prisoner, regaining his liberty when Agathokles made a treaty with the king of the Getai on his behalf. On his return he married to Agathokles Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy, son of Lagos, and of Eurydikē.

{1.9.7} He also crossed with a fleet to Asia (Minor) and helped to overthrow the empire [arkhē] of Antigonos. [39] And he founded the modern city of Ephesos, extending as far as the coast, bringing to it as settlers people of Lebedos and Kolophon, after destroying their cities, so that the iambic poet Phoenix composed-a-lament [thrēneîn] for the capture of Kolophon. Mermesianax, the one who wrote [graphein] elegies [elegeia], was, I think, no longer living, otherwise he too would certainly have been moved by the taking of Kolophon to make-a-lament [oduresthai]. Lysimakhos also went to war with Pyrrhos-son-of-Aiakidēs. Waiting for his departure from Epeiros—Pyrrhos was of a very roving disposition—he ravaged Epeiros until he reached the royal tombs [thēkai].

{1.9.8} The next parts of the story are not credible [pista] to me, but Hieronymos of Kardia writes [graphein] that he [= Lysimachus] destroyed the tombs [thēkai] and cast out the bones of the corpses. But this Hieronymos has a reputation generally of being biased against all the kings [basileîs] except for Antigonos, and of being unfairly partial towards him. As to the treatment of the tombs [taphoi] of the people of Epeiros, it is perfectly plain that it was malice that made him record that a Macedonian destroyed the tombs [thēkai] of the dead. Besides, Lysimakhos was surely aware that they were the ancestors not of Pyrrhos only but also of Alexander. In fact, Alexander was a native of Epeiros and descended from the lineage of the Aiakidai on his mother’s side, and the subsequent alliance between Pyrrhos and Lysimakhos proves that even as enemies they were not irreconcilable. Possibly Hieronymos had grievances against Lysimakhos, especially for his destroying the city of the people of Kardia and founding Lysimakheia in its stead on the isthmus of the Thracian Chersonesus.

{1.10.1} As long as Aridaios reigned, and after him Kassandros and his sons, friendly relations continued between Lysimakhos and Macedon. But when the kingdom devolved upon Demetrios, son of Antigonos, Lysimakhos, henceforth expecting that war would be declared upon him by Demetrios, resolved to take aggressive action. He was aware that Demetrios inherited a tendency to aggrandize, and he also knew that he visited Macedonia at the summons of Alexander and Kassandros, and on his arrival murdered Alexander himself [40] and ruled the Macedonians in his stead.

{1.10.2} For these reasons he clashed with Demetrios at Amphipolis and came near to being pushed out from Thrace, [41] but after Pyrrhos came to his aid he mastered Thrace and afterwards extended his empire at the expense of the Nestians and Macedonians. The greater part of Macedonia was under the control of Pyrrhos himself, who came from Epeiros with an army and was at that time on friendly terms with Lysimakhos. When, however, Demetrios crossed over into Asia (Minor) and made war on Seleukos, the alliance between Pyrrhos and Lysimakhos lasted only as long as Demetrios continued hostilities; when Demetrios submitted to Seleukos, the friendship between Lysimakhos and Pyrrhos was broken, and when war broke out Lysimakhos fought against Antigonos son of Demetrios and against Pyrrhos himself, had much the better of the struggle, conquered Macedonia and forced Pyrrhos to retreat to Epeiros.

{1.10.3} Erotic-passion [erōs] has a way of bringing many calamities [sumphrorai] for humans. Lysimakhos, although by this time of mature age and considered happy [eudaimōn] in respect of his children, and although Agathokles had children by Lysandra, nevertheless married Lysandra’s sister Arsinoe. This Arsinoe, fearing for her children, lest on the death of Lysimakhos they should fall into the hands of Agathokles, is said for this reason to have plotted against Agathokles. People have already written [graphein] about how Arsinoe got into a state of erotic-passion [erōs] for Agathokles, and, being unsuccessful, they say that she plotted against his life. They say also that Lysimakhos discovered later his wife’s machinations, but by now, toward the end, he had no resources left, having lost all who were near-and-dear [philoi] to him.

{1.10.4} Since Lysimakhos, then, entrusted to Arsinoe the murder of Agathokles, Lysandra fled to Seleukos, taking along her children and her brothers, who were taking refuge with Ptolemy and who finally adopted this course. They were accompanied on their escape to Seleukos by Alexander, who was the son of Lysimakhos by an Odrysian woman. So, going up to Babylon, they entreated Seleukos to make war on Lysimakhos. And, at the same time, Philetairos, to whom the property of Lysimakhos had been entrusted, aggrieved at the death of Agathokles and suspicious of the treatment he would receive at the hands of Arsinoe, seized Pergamon-on-the-Kaïkos, and sending a herald offered both the property and himself to Seleukos.

{1.10.5} Lysimakhos, hearing of all these things, lost no time in crossing into Asia (Minor), [42] and, taking the initiative, he attacked Seleukos, suffered a severe defeat, and was killed. Alexander, his son by the Odrysian woman, after interceding long with Lysandra, won possession of his body and afterwards conveyed [komizein] it to the Chersonesus and buried it, where his tomb [taphos] is still to be seen between the district [kōmē] of Kardia and Paktye.

{1.11.1} Such were the things that happened in connection with Lysimakhos. The Athenians have also a likeness [eikōn] of Pyrrhos. This Pyrrhos was not related to Alexander, except by way of genealogy [genos]. Pyrrhos was son of Aiakidēs, son of Arybbas, but Alexander was son of Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemos, and the father of Neoptolemos and Arybbas was Alketas, son of Tharypos. And from Tharypos to Pyrrhos, son of Achilles, are fifteen generations [geneai]. Now, Pyrrhos was the first who after the capture of Troy disdained to return to Thessaly, but sailing to Epeiros dwelled there following the oracular-pronouncements [khrēsmoi] of Helenos. By Hermione Pyrrhos had no child, but by Andromache he had Molossos, Pielos, and Pergamos, who was the youngest. Helenos also had a son, Kestrinos, being married to Andromache after the killing of Pyrrhos at Delphi.

{1.11.2} Helenos on his death passed his rulership [arkhē] to Molossos, son of Pyrrhos, so that Kestrinos with volunteers from the people of Epeiros took possession of the region beyond the river Thyamis, while Pergamos crossed into Asia (Minor) and killed Areios, despot in Teuthrania, who fought with him in single combat for the rulership [arkhē], and gave his name to the city which is still called after him. [43] For Andromache, who accompanied him, there is still a hero-shrine [hērōion] in the city. [44] Pielos remained behind in Epeiros, and to him as ancestor Pyrrhos-son-of-Aiakidēs and his fathers traced their descent, and not to Molossos.

{1.11.3} Down to the time of Alketas, son of Tharypos, Epeiros too was under one king. But the sons of Alketas after a quarrel agreed to rule with equal authority, remaining faithful to their compact; and afterwards, when Alexander, son of Neoptolemos, died among the Leukanoi, and Olympias returned to Epeiros through fear of Antipatros, it was Aiakidēs, son of Arybbas, who continued in allegiance to Olympias and joined in her campaign against Aridaios and the Macedonians, although the men of Epeiros refused to accompany him.

{1.11.4} Olympias on her victory behaved in-unholy-ways [an-hosia] in the matter of the death of Aridaios, and in even more-unholy-ways [an-hosia] with regard to certain Macedonian men, and for this reason was considered to have deserved her subsequent treatment at the hands of Kassandros; so Aiakidēs at first was not received even by the people of Epeiros because of their hatred of Olympias, and when afterwards they forgave him, his return to Epeiros was next opposed by Kassandros. When a battle occurred at Oineadai between Philip-brother-of-Kassandros and Aiakidēs, it was Aiakidēs who was wounded and who shortly after met what was fated [tò khreōn]. [45]

{1.11.5} The people of Epeiros accepted Alketas as their king, being the son of Arybbas and the elder brother of Aiakidēs, but of an uncontrollable temper [thūmos] and on this account banished by his father. Immediately on his arrival he began to take out his insanity [mainesthai] on the people of Epeiros, until they rose up and put him and his children to death at night. After killing him they brought back Pyrrhos-son-of-Aiakidēs. No sooner had he arrived than Kassandros made war on him, while he was young in years and before he had consolidated his empire [arkhē]. When the Macedonians attacked him, Pyrrhos went to Ptolemy, son of Lagos, in Egypt. Ptolemy gave him as wife the half-sister of his children, and restored him by way of an Egyptian force.

{1.11.6} The first of the Greeks [Hellēnes] that Pyrrhos attacked on becoming king were the people of Corcyra. He saw that the island was near his own territory, and he did not wish others to have a base from which to attack him. My account of Lysimakhos has already related how he [= Pyrrhos] fared, after taking Corcyra, in his war with Lysimakhos—how he expelled Demetrios and ruled Macedonia until he was in turn expelled by Lysimakhos, the most important of his achievements until he waged war against the Romans,

{1.11.7} being the first Greek [Hellēn] we know of to do so. For no further battle, it is said, took place between Aeneas and Diomedes with his Argives. One of the many ambitions of the Athenians was to reduce all Italy, but the disaster at Syracuse [46] prevented an encounter then with the Romans. Alexander, son of Neoptolemos, of the same family as Pyrrhos but older, died among the Leukanoi before he could engage the Romans in battle.

{1.12.1} So Pyrrhos was the first to cross the Ionian Sea from Greece [Hellas] to attack the Romans. [47] And even he crossed on the invitation of the people of Tarentum. For they were already involved in a war with the Romans, but were no match for them unaided. Pyrrhos was already in their debt, because they had sent a fleet to help him in his war with Corcyra, but the most cogent arguments of the envoys of Tarentum were their accounts of Italy, how its prosperity was equal to that of the whole of Greece [Hellas], and their plea that it was unholy [an-hosion] to dismiss them when they had come as friends and suppliants in their hour of need. When the envoys urged these considerations, Pyrrhos remembered the capture of Troy, which he took to be an omen of his success in the war, as he was a descendant of Achilles making war upon a settlement [apoikiā] of Trojans.

{1.12.2} Pleased with this proposal, and being a man who never lost time when once he had made up his mind, he immediately proceeded to man war ships and to prepare transports to carry horses and men-at-arms. There are books [biblia] written by men of no renown when it comes to writing-things-up [sun-graphē], which are called commentaries [hupomnēmata]. When I read these I marveled [thaumazein] greatly both at the personal bravery of Pyrrhos in battle, and also at the forethought [pronoia] he displayed whenever a conflict was imminent. So, on this occasion also when crossing to Italy with a fleet he eluded the observation of the Romans, and for some time after his arrival they were unaware of his presence; it was only when the Romans made an attack upon the people of Tarentum that he appeared on the scene with his army, and his unexpected assault naturally threw his enemies into confusion.

{1.12.3} And being perfectly aware that he was no match for the Romans, he prepared to let loose against them his elephants. The first European to acquire elephants was Alexander, after subduing Poros and the power of the Indians; after his death others of the kings got them but Antigonos more than any; Pyrrhos captured his beasts in the battle with Demetrios. When on this occasion they came in sight the Romans were seized with panic, and did not believe they were animals.

{1.12.4} For although the use of ivory in arts and crafts all men obviously have known for a long time, the actual beasts, before the Macedonians crossed into Asia, nobody had seen at all except for the Indians themselves, for the Libyans, and for their neighbors. This is proved by Homer, who describes the couches and houses of the more prosperous kings as ornamented with ivory, but never mentions the beast; but if he had seen or heard about it he would, in my opinion, have been much more likely to speak of it than of the battle between the dwarf-men and cranes. [48]

{1.12.5} Pyrrhos was brought over to Sicily by an embassy of the Syracusans. The Carthaginians had crossed over and were destroying the Greek [Hellēnides] cities, and had set up a siege of Syracuse, the only city now remaining. When Pyrrhos heard this from the envoys he abandoned Tarentum and the Italiots on the coast, and crossing into Sicily forced the Carthaginians to raise the siege of Syracuse. In his self-conceit, although the Carthaginians, being Phoenicians of Tyre by ancient descent, were more experienced seafarers than any other barbarian people of that day, Pyrrhos was nevertheless encouraged to engage them in a naval battle, employing the people of Epeiros, the majority of whom, even after the capture of Troy, knew nothing of the sea nor even as yet how to use salt. Witness the words of Homer in the Odyssey:

{1.13.1} Defeated on this occasion, Pyrrhos retreated with the remainder of his vessels to Tarentum. Here he met with a serious reverse. And his withdrawal, for he knew that the Romans would not let him depart without striking a blow, he contrived in the following manner. On his return from Sicily and his defeat, he first sent various dispatches to Asia (Minor) and to Antigonos, asking some of the kings for troops, some for money, and Antigonos for both. When the envoys returned and their dispatches were delivered, he summoned those in authority, whether from Epeiros or from Tarentum, and without reading any of the dispatches declared that reinforcements would come. A report spread quickly even to the Romans that Macedonians and men from Asia (Minor) also were crossing to the aid of Pyrrhos. The Romans, on hearing this, made no move, but Pyrrhos, on the approach of that very night, crossed to the headlands of the mountain called Keraunion.

{1.13.2} After the defeat in Italy, Pyrrhos gave his forces a rest and then declared war on Antigonos, his chief ground of complaint being the failure to send reinforcements to Italy. Overpowering the native troops of Antigonos and his Gallic mercenaries he pursued them to the coast cities, and himself reduced upper Macedonia and the Thessalians. The extent of the fighting and the decisive character of the victory of Pyrrhos are shown best by the Celtic armor dedicated in the sanctuary of Itonian Athena between Pherai and Larisa, with this inscription on them:

These shields then are here, but the shields of the Macedonians themselves he dedicated to Dodonian Zeus. They too have an inscription:

Pyrrhos came very near to reducing Macedonia entirely, but,

{1.13.4} being usually readier to do what came first to hand, he was prevented by Kleonymos. This Kleonymos, who persuaded Pyrrhos to abandon his Macedonian adventure and to go to the Peloponnesus, was a Lacedaemonian who led a hostile army into the Lacedaemonian territory for a reason I will relate after giving the descent of Kleonymos. Pausanias, who was in command of the Greeks [Hellēnes] at Plataea, [50] was the father of Pleistoanax, he of Pausanias, and he of Kleombrotos, who was killed at Leuktra fighting against Epameinondas and the Thebans. Kleombrotos was the father of Agesipolis and Kleomenes, and, Agesipolis dying without issue, Kleomenes ascended the throne.

{1.13.5} Kleomenes had two sons, the elder being Akrotatos and the younger Kleonymos. Now Akrotatos died first; and when afterwards Kleomenes died, a claim to the throne was put forward by Areus son of Akrotatos, and Kleonymos took steps to induce Pyrrhos to enter the country. Before the battle of Leuktra [51] the Lacedaemonians had suffered no disaster, so that they even refused to admit that they had yet been defeated in a land battle. For Leonidas, they said, had won the victory, [52] but his followers were insufficient for the entire destruction of the Persians; the achievement of Demosthenes and the Athenians on the island of Sphakteria [53] was no victory, but only a trick in war.

{1.13.6} Their first reverse took place in Boeotia, and they afterwards suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Antipatros and the Macedonians. [54] Thirdly the war with Demetrios [55] came as an unexpected misfortune to their land. Invaded by Pyrrhos and seeing a hostile army for the fourth time, they arrayed themselves to meet it along with the Argives and Messenians who had come as their allies. Pyrrhos won the day, and came near to capturing Sparta without further fighting, but desisted for a while after ravaging the land and carrying off plunder. [56] The citizens prepared for a siege, and Sparta even before this in the war with Demetrios had been fortified with deep trenches and strong stakes, and at the most vulnerable points with buildings as well.

{1.13.7} Just about this time, while the Laconian war was dragging on, Antigonos, having recovered the Macedonian cities, hastened to the Peloponnesus being well aware that if Pyrrhos were to reduce Lacedaemon and the greater part of the Peloponnesus, he would not return to Epeiros but to Macedonia to make war there again. When Antigonos was about to lead his army from Argos into Laconia, Pyrrhos himself reached Argos. Victorious once more he dashed into the city along with the exiles, and his formation not unnaturally was broken up.

{1.13.8} When the fighting was now taking place by sanctuaries and houses, and in the narrow lanes, between detached bodies in different parts of the city, Pyrrhos, left by himself, was wounded in the head. It is said that his death [57] was caused by a blow from a tile thrown by a woman. The Argives however declare that it was not a woman who killed him but Demeter in the likeness of a woman. This is what the Argives themselves relate about his end, and Lykeas, the exegete [ex-hēgetēs] for the local-population [epikhōrioi], has also said so in hexameters [epē]. They [= the Argives] have a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter, built in accordance with an oracular-pronouncement [khrē-], on the spot where Pyrrhos died,

{1.13.9} and, in there, Pyrrhos is buried. I consider it a wonder [thauma] that, of those who are called Aiakidai, three met their end [teleutē] in the same kinds of way through the agency of the god [ek tou theou]—if, as Homer says, Achilles was killed by Alexander, son of Priam, and by Apollo, and if the people of Delphi were bidden by the Pythia to slay Pyrrhos, son of Achilles, and if the end of the son of Aiakidēs was such as the Argives say and as Lykeas has said-in-poetry [poieîn]. What Hieronymos of Kardia has written [graphein], however, is different, since a man who associates with royalty cannot help being partial in what he writes up [sun-graphein]. If Philistos had just-cause [aitiā dikaiā] in suppressing the most unholy [an-hosia] deeds of Dionysius, because he expected to be restored to Syracuse from exile, surely Hieronymos may be fully forgiven for writing [graphein] to please Antigonos.

{1.14.1} In this way did the period when the people of Epeiros reached their zenith come-to-a-catastrophic-end [kata-strephein]. Entering the Odeum [ōideion], one finds situated there, among other things that are also worthy of viewing [théā], a figure of Dionysus. Nearby is a fountain [krēnē] called Enneakrounos [‘Nine Streams’]; the way it is now is the way it had been arranged [kosmeîsthai] by Peisistratos. Unlike the cisterns [phreata] that are found all over the city, this fountain is really a freshwater spring [pēgē]. Looming over the fountain [krēnē] are two shrines [nāoi]. One of them is sacred to Demeter and the Maiden [Korē]. Inside the other one, a statue [agalma] of Triptolemos has been set up. I will write down [graphein] the things that pertain to him [= Triptolemos], but I will omit whatever part of the things-that-are-said [logos] pertains to Dēiopē.

{1.14.2} The Greeks [Hellēnes] who dispute [amphisbēteîn], more than anyone else, the claims made by the people of Athens regarding their antiquity [arkhaiotēs] and also regarding the gifts they say they have received from the gods [theoi], are the people of Argos, just as among those who are barbarians [barbaroi] the Egyptians compete with the Phrygians. So, it is said [by the people of Argos] that when Demeter came to Argos she was received by Pelasgos into his home [oikos], and that Khrysanthis, knowing about the abduction [harpagē] of the Maiden [Korē], related-the-story [di-hēgeîsthai] to her. They say that, at a later point, Trokhilos, revealer-of-the-mysteries [hierophantēs], fled from Argos because of the enmity of Agenor, came to Attica, and married a woman of Eleusis, by whom he had two children, Eubouleus and Triptolemos. This is what-is-said [logos] by the people of Argos. But the people of Athens and those who inhabit Athens with them […] know that Triptolemos, son of Keleus, was the first to sow-seed [speirein] for getting cultivated grain-to-be-harvested [karpos].

{1.14.3} There are on one hand verses [epē] of Musaeus—if in fact even these verses really belong to Musaeus—that say, in the singing [āidesthai = aeidesthai], that Triptolemos is the son of Ōkeanos and Earth. There are on the other hand verses of Orpheus—again, I do not think that these verses belong to Orpheus—saying that Eubouleus and Triptolemos are sons of Dysaules, and that because they made-revelations [mēnuein] to Demeter about her daughter, she gave them as her gift the sowing [speirein] of grains-to-be-harvested [karpoi]. But Khoirilos, an Athenian, who made [poieîn] a drama [drâma] called Alopē, says that Kerkyon and Triptolemos were brothers, that their mother was the daughter of Amphiktyon, and that the father of Triptolemos was Raros—while the father of Kerkyon was Poseidon. I was getting ready to go further in connection with this thing-that-is-said [logos], telling about however many things the sacred-place [hieron] has available for interpretation [ex-hēgēsis]—I mean, the sacred place in Athens that is called Eleusinion, but a vision [opsis] that came from a dream [oneiar] held me back. As for things that it is divinely-allowed [hosion] to write down [graphein] in addressing everyone, I will turn [implied –trepesthai] to these things while turning away [apo-trepesthai] from other things.

{1.14.4} In front of the temple [nāos], where is also the statue [agalma] of Triptolemos, is a bronze bull being led as it were to sacrifice [thusiā], and what has been made [pe-poíētai] there is a seated figure of Epimenides of Knossos, who they say came to a field [agros], entered a cave [spēlaion] there, and fell-asleep [koimâsthai]. The sleep [hupnos] did not leave him before the fortieth year, and afterwards he made [poieîn] verses [epē] and purified [kathairein] Athens and other cities. But Thales, who stopped the plague [nosos] for the Lacedaemonians, was not related to Epimenides in any way, and did not belong to the same city. The one I mentioned first was from Knossos, but Thales was from Gortyn, according to Polymnastos of Kolophon, who composed [poieîn] verses [epē] with reference to him for the Lacedaemonians.

{1.14.5} Still farther off is a shrine [nāos] of Eúkleia ‘she of good glory [kleos]’, this too being a dedication [anathēma] having to do with [the victory over] the Persians [Mēdoi] who had landed at Marathon. It is in-responsiveness-to [epi + dative case] this victory [nīkē] that the Athenians have- their most lofty -thoughts [phroneîn ‘have thoughts’ + malista ‘most of all’]. A special example is Aeschylus. When the completion [teleutē] of his life was coming into view for him, he reminisced [mnēmoneuein] not about any of his other deeds, even though he had reached such heights of glory [doxa] with his poetry [poiēsis] and with his participation in the naval battles of Artemision and at Salamis. Instead, he just wrote down [graphein] [in an epigram] his name, his father’s name, the name of his city of origin [= Athens], and how he had as his witnesses for affirming his manly-valor [andreiā] the grove [alsos] at Marathon—and the Persians [Mēdoi] who had landed there.

{1.14.6} Looming over the Kerameikos and the portico [stoā] called the King’s Portico [Stoā Baslileios] is a temple [nāos] of Hephaistos. No wonder [thauma], I thought, that next to it stands a statue [agalma] of Athena, because I know the thing-that-is-said [logos] in-responsiveness-to [epi + dative case] Erikhthonios. And when I saw that the statue [agalma] of Athena had gray [glaukoi] eyes I made-inquiries-and-found-out [heuriskein] that the myth [mūthos] comes from the Libyans. For it has been said by the Libyans that she is the daughter of Poseidon and of the [personified] lake [limnē] Tritonis, so that, for this reason, she has gray [glaukoi] eyes like Poseidon.

{1.14.7} Nearby is a sanctuary [hieron] of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ouraniā]; the first humans [anthrōpoi] to establish the custom of worshipping [sebesthai] her were the Assyrians, and then, after the Assyrians, the Paphians of Cyprus and the Phoenicians who live at Askalon in Palestine [Palaistinē]; it is from the Phoenicians that the people of Kythēra learned the practice of worshipping [sebesthai] her. Among the Athenians it was Aigeus who established [kathistasthai] the practice, who thought that he was childless (he had, in fact, no children at the time) and that his sisters had suffered their misfortune [sumphorā] because of the wrath [mēnīma] of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ouraniā]. The statue [agalma], as it exists even in my time, is of Parian marble and is the work [ergon] of Pheidias. One of the Athenian demes [dēmoi] is that of the Athmoneis, who say that Porphyrion, an earlier king than Aktaios, founded their sanctuary [hieron] of the celestial one [Ouraniā]. But the traditions current among the demes [dēmoi] often differ altogether from those of the city [polis].

{1.15.1} As one goes to the portico [stoā] that they call painted [poikilē], because of its paintings [graphai], there is a bronze statue of Hermes of-the-Marketplace [agoraios], and near it a gate [pulē]. Placed over it [= the gate] is a trophy [tropaion] erected by the Athenians, who in a cavalry action overcame Pleistarkhos, to whose command his brother Kassandros had entrusted his cavalry and mercenaries. This portico [stoā] contains [wall paintings that represent], first, the Athenians arrayed against the Lacedaemonians at Oinoe in the Argive territory. What has been painted [graphesthai] is not the critical-point [akmē] of the struggle [agōn] nor when the action [ergon] had advanced as far as the display [epideixis] of deeds of valor, but the beginning of the fight when the combatants were about to close in on each other.

{1.15.2} On the middle wall are [wall paintings that represent] the Athenians and Theseus fighting with the Amazons. So it seems that only the women did not lose through their defeats their reckless courage in the face of danger; Themiskyra was taken by Hēraklēs, and afterwards the army that they [= the Amazons] dispatched to Athens was destroyed, but nevertheless they [= the Amazons] came to Troy to fight all the Greeks [Hellēnes] as well as the Athenians themselves. Next after the Amazons are shown the Greeks [Hellēnes] when they have taken Troy [Ilion], and the kings assembled on account of the outrage [tolmēma] committed by Ajax against Cassandra. The painting [graphē] includes Ajax himself, Cassandra, and other captive women.

{1.15.3} At the concluding part of the painting [graphē] are [represented] the men who fought at Marathon, namely, the men from [the city of] Plataea-in-Boeotia and the men from all the territory-of-Athens [= Attica]. They are at the moment of coming into contact in hand-to-hand combat with the barbarians. At this point, the two sides are evenly matched for the action [ergon], but then, in a close-up of the battle [makhē], the barbarians are starting to turn and run, heading for the marshland [helos] and crowding each other [into the morass]. At the outer edges of the painting are [represented] the [beached] ships of the Phoenician navy and the Greeks [Hellēnes] who are slaughtering those of the barbarians who are scrambling to climb on board. And at this point is painted [graphesthai] also the hero [hērōs] by the name of Marathon, after whom the plain [pedíon] called Marathon gets its name. Also represented [eikazesthai] is Theseus as he appeared when he was coming back up from under the earth. Also, Athena and Hēraklēs. I say-this-because [gar], the people of Marathon were the first to establish-the-custom-of-venerating [nomizein] Hēraklēs as a god [theos]. Featured most prominently in the painting [graphē] are Kallimakhos, who had been elected commander-in-chief [polem-arkhos] by the Athenians, and Miltiades, one of the generals [stratēgoi]. Also [featured is] a hero [hērōs] called Ekhetlos, about whom I will make mention [mnēmē] at a later point as well. [58]

{1.15.4} Here are dedicated bronze shields, and some have an inscription [saying] that they are taken from the Skiōnaioi and their allies, [59] while others, smeared with pitch lest they should be worn by age and rust, are said to be those of the Lacedaemonians who were taken prisoners in the island of Sphakteria. [60]

{1.16.1} Here are placed bronze statues [andriantes], one, in front of the portico [stoā], of Solon, who wrote [graphein] the laws [nomoi] for the Athenians, [61] and, a little farther away, one of Seleukos, whose future prosperity was foreshadowed by signs [sēmeia] that were not at all unclear [aphanes-]. When he was about to set forth from Macedonia with Alexander, and was sacrificing [thuein] at Pella to Zeus, the wood [xula] that was placed on the altar [bōmos] moved all-by-itself [automato-] toward the statue [agalma] and caught-fire [haptesthai] without the application of fire. After Alexander died, Seleukos, in fear of Antigonos, who had arrived at Babylon, fled to Ptolemy, son of Lagos, and then returned again to Babylon. On his return he overcame the army of Antigonos and killed Antigonos himself, afterwards capturing Demetrios, son of Antigonos, who had advanced with an army.

{1.16.2} After these successes, which were shortly followed by the fall of Lysimakhos, he [= Seleukos] entrusted to his son Antiokhos all his empire [arkhē] in Asia (Minor), and himself proceeded rapidly towards Macedonia, having with him an army both of Greeks [Hellēnes] and of barbarians. But Ptolemy, brother of Lysandra, had taken refuge with him from Lysimakhos; this man [= Ptolemy], who was in any case prone to be-daring [tolmân] and for this reason was called Thunderbolt [Keraunos], [accomplished quite a daring act] when the army of Seleukos had advanced as far as Lysimakheia: he [= Ptolemy] killed Seleukos by stealth. Then he turned over to the [other] kings [basileîs] his possessions [= the possessions of Seleukos], [62] while he [= Ptolemy] ruled-as-king [basileuein] over Macedonia until, being as far as we know the first of the kings [basileîs] to dare [tolmân] to face the Gauls [Galatai] in battle, he was killed by thesebarbarians. [63] The empire [arkhē] was restored-to-safety [sōzesthai] by Antigonos son of Demetrios.

{1.16.3} I am persuaded that Seleukos was the most righteous [dikaios], and in particular the most pious-in-ritual [eu-sebēs] of the kings [baslileîs]. For one thing, it was Seleukos who sent-back [kata-pempein] to Brankhidai for the people of Miletus the bronze Apollo that had been conveyed [ana-komizesthai] by Xerxes to Ecbatana in Persia. For another thing, when he founded [oikizein] Seleukeia on the river Tigris and brought to it Babylonians as settlers [sunoikoi], he spared the wall [teikhos] of Babylon as well as the sanctuary [hieron] of Bēl, near which he permitted the Chaldaeans to settle [oikeîn].

{1.17.1} In the Agora [‘Marketplace’] of the Athenians there are things that are not meaningful [epi-sēma] to all [though they are meaningful to me]. Among such things is an altar [bōmos] [sacred] to Pity [Eleos] [personified]. Of all the other gods [theoi] he [= Eleos] is the most helpful [ōphelimos] in the life [bios] of-humans [anthrōpinos] and in the vicissitudes of their affairs [pragmata], but only the Athenians, alone among the Greeks [Hellēnes], assign [nemein] to him [= Eleos] honors [tīmai] [of worship]. And they [= the Athenians] have institutionalized not only those things that pertain to love-of-humanity [philanthrōpiā] but they also piously-engage-in-rituals [eusebeîn] more than the others. I say-this-because [gar] they also have an altar [bōmos] [sacred] to Decency [Aidōs] [personified], one to Special-Wording [Phēmē] [personified], and one to Initiative [Hormē] [personified]. It is clear [dēla], visibly [enargōs] so, that those who excel in piously-engaging-in-ritual [eu-sebeîn] have an equally great share in good [khrēstē] fortune [tukhē].

{1.17.2} Not far from the Agora is a gymnasium that is named after Ptolemy, its founder. In this gymnasium are stone Hermai worthy of viewing [théā] and a likeness [eikōn] in bronze of Ptolemy. Here also is Juba the Libyan and Khrysippos [64] of Soloi. Close by the gymnasium is a sanctuary [hieron] of Theseus, where are paintings [graphai] of Athenians battling Amazons. [The story of] this war [polemos] has also been crafted [poieîsthai] for them on the shield [aspis] of their [statue of] Athena and upon the base [bathron] of the [statue of] Olympian Zeus. There has also been painted [graphesthai] in the sanctuary [hieron] of Theseus the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapithai. Theseus has already killed a Centaur, but, for the others [= the other fighters], the fighting is still undecided.

{1.17.3} The painting [graphē] on the third wall [of the sanctuary of Theseus] is not clear [saphēs] for those who have not inquired-about-and-learned [punthanesthai] what is said [legein]. It [= the lack of clarity] is due partly to the passage of time and partly to the fact that Mikon [the painter] did not paint [graphein] the entirety of what is said to have happened. When Minos was bringing to Crete Theseus and the rest of the group-that-was sent [stolos], which was a group of young-ones [paides], he [= Minos] conceived a passion [erâsthai] for Periboia, and, when Theseus opposed him with the greatest kind of opposition [imaginable], he [= Minos] got angry and hurled insults at him [= Theseus], saying that he [= Theseus] was not the son of Poseidon, claiming that he [= Theseus] could not bring-back-to-safety [ana-sōzein] for him the signet-ring [sphrāgis] that he [= Minos] happened to be wearing, if he [= Minos] threw it into the sea. Saying these things, Minos is said to have thrown the signet-ring [sphrāgis], but they say that Theseus came up [for air] from out of the sea holding that signet-ring [sphrāgis] and holding also a gold garland [stephanos] that Amphitrite gave him.

{1.17.4} With regard to the end [teleutē] of Theseus many things have been said, and these things are not [mutually] consistent. They say he was kept tied-down [deesthai] until he was brought-back [an-agein] by Hēraklēs [to the light of day], but, of all the things I heard, the most believable [pithanon] is as follows. Theseus invaded Thesprotia to carry off the wife of the Thesprotian king, and in this way lost the greater part of his army, and both he and Peirithoös—he too was taking part in the expedition, being eager for the marriage—were taken captive. The Thesprotian king kept them tied-down [deein] at Kikhyros.

{1.17.5} Among the things worthy of viewing [théā] at Thesprotia are a sanctuary [hieron] of Zeus at Dodona and an oak [phēgos] sacred [hierā] to the god [theos]. Near Kikhyros is a lake called Akherousia, and a river called Akheron. There is also Kokytos, a stream of water [hudōr] that is the-farthest-away-from-giving-any-pleasure [aterpestaton]. I think it was because Homer had seen these places that he acted boldly in putting into his poetry [poiēsis] the things having to do with Hadēs, and gave to the rivers there the names of those in Thesprotia. While Theseus was thus held-back [ekhesthai], the sons of Tyndareus [= the Dioskouroi] led their armed forces against Aphidna, captured it, and restored Menestheus to the kingship.

{1.17.6} Now Menestheus took no account of the children of Theseus, who had secretly withdrawn to Elephenor in Euboea, but he was aware that Theseus, if ever he was-brought-back-to-safety [ana-komizesthai] from Thesprotia, would be a powerful antagonist, and so he curried favor with the people [dēmos], with the result that Theseus, when he had been brought-back-home-to-safety [ana-sōzesthai], was expelled [after his homecoming]. Theseus now set-off-on-a-voyage [stellesthai] to [reach a man called] Deukalion in Crete. Being carried off-course by winds to the island of Skyros he was treated splendidly by the inhabitants, thanks to the fame [doxa] of his lineage [genos] and to the worthiness of his own achievements. For this very reason, Lykomedes plotted his death. And-from-what-I-have-just-said-you-can-now-see-why [men dē] the Athenians had their hero-precinct [sēkos] [of Theseus]. This was after the Persians landed at Marathon. It was when Kimon, son of Miltiades, removed the population of Skyros, thus exacting vindication [dikē] for the death of Theseus, and brought-to-safety [komizein] his bones to Athens.

{1.18.1} The sanctuary [hieron] of the Dioskouroi is ancient. They themselves are represented as standing, while their sons are seated on horses. Here Polygnotus [65] painted [graphein] the marriage of the daughters of Leukippos, which was [a story that was] pertinent to them [= the Dioskouroi], while Mikon painted those who sailed with Jason to the land of Kolkhis. He [=Mikon] focused his [artistic] effort on Akastos and the horses of Akastos.

{1.18.2} Looming over the sanctuary [hieron] of the Dioskouroi is a sacred-precinct [temenos] of Aglauros. It was to Aglauros and her sisters, Herse and Pandrosos, that they say Athena gave Erikhthonios, whom she had hidden in a box [kibōtos], forbidding them to pry curiously into what was entrusted to their charge. Pandrosos, they say, obeyed, but the other two opened the box [kibōtos], and went mad [mainesthai] when they saw Erikhthonios, and they threw themselves down the steepest part of the Acropolis. Here it was that the Persians [Mēdoi] climbed [up the Acropolis] and killed the Athenians who thought that they understood the oracle [66] better than did Themistocles, and fortified the Acropolis with logs and stakes. [67]

{1.18.3} Close by is the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’], in which the laws of Solon are inscribed, and statues [agalmata] are placed of the goddesses [theai] Eirene [‘Peace’] and Hestia [‘Hearth’], while among the statues-of-humans [andriantes] is Autolykos, a contestant in the pankration. [68] And I say-this-because [gar] the likenesses of Miltiades and Themistocles have had their inscriptions reinscribed to refer to a Roman and a Thracian.

{1.18.4} As one descends from here to the lower part of the city, there is a sanctuary [hieron] of Serapis, whose worship the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy. Of the Egyptian sanctuaries [hiera] of Serapis the most famous is at Alexandria, the oldest at Memphis. Into the second of these two neither stranger nor priest may enter, until they make-a-funeral-for [thaptein] Apis. Not far from the sanctuary of Serapis is the place where they say that Peirithoös and Theseus made their pact before setting forth to Lacedaemon and afterwards to Thesprotia.

{1.18.5} Close by is built a temple [nāos] of Eileithuia, who they say came from the Hyperboreans to Delos as a helper [boēthoos] to Leto in her labor; and from Delos the name spread to other populations. The people of Delphi sacrifice [thuein] to Eileithuia and sing a hymn [humnos] of Olen. But the Cretans customarily-think [nomizein] that Eileithuia was born at Amnisos in the territory of Knossos, and that Hērā was her mother. Only among the Athenians are the wooden-figures [xoana] of Eileithuia draped [kaluptesthai] all the way to the feet. The women told me that two [of these xoana] are Cretan, being offerings [anathēmata] of Phaedra, and that the third [xoanon], which is the oldest, Erysikhthon conveyed [komizein] from Delos.

{1.18.6} Before one enters the sanctuary [hieron] of Olympian Zeus—Hadrian ‘King’ [basileus] of the Romans dedicated [anatithenai] the temple [nāos] and the statue [agalma] [of Zeus], so worthy of viewing [théā], which in size exceeds all other statues [agalmata] except for the colossi [kolossoi] in Rhodes and in Rome, and is made of ivory and gold with an artistic skill [tekhnē] that is remarkable when the size is taken into account—before one enters, as I say, there are statues [eikones] of Hadrian, two of Thasian stone, two of Egyptian. In front of the columns [kiones] stand bronze statues that the Athenians call apoikoi poleis. The whole enclosure [peribolos] [of the precinct] is about four stadium-lengths, and it is full of statues; for every city has dedicated a likeness [eikōn] of ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian, but the Athenians have surpassed them all in dedicating [anatithenai], in the back part of the temple, the colossus [kolossos] [of Zeus], so worthy of viewing [théā].

{1.18.7} Within the enclosure [peribolos] are antiquities: a bronze Zeus, a shrine [nāos] of Kronos and Rhea, and a sacred-precinct [temenos] of Earth [Gē] surnamed Olympian [Olumpiā]. There is an opening in the floor here, which is the width of a cubit, and they say that it was here that the water flowed off after the cataclysm that occurred in the time of Deukalion, and into it they cast every year ground wheat mixed with honey.

{1.18.8} On top of a column [kiōn] is a statue [andrias] of Isocrates, in whose memory [mnēmē] three things are to be noted: his being most-painstaking [epiponōtatos] in continuing to have students [mathētai] up to the end of his ninety-eight years, his being most-moderate [sōphronestatos] in keeping aloof from politics [politeiā] and from officiousness in public-affairs [koina], and his being most-devoted-to-freedom [eleutherōtatos] in dying a voluntary death, distressed as he was at the news of the battle at Khairōneia. [69] There are also statues in Phrygian marble of Persians supporting a bronze tripod; both the figures and the tripod are worthy of viewing [théā]. The ancient sanctuary [hieron] of Olympian Zeus the Athenians say was built by Deukalion, and they show as a sign [sēmeion]—that Deukalion resided [oikeîn] in Athens—a tomb [taphos] that is not far from the present temple [nāos].

{1.18.9} Hadrian constructed other buildings also for the Athenians: a temple [nāos] of Hērā and Zeus Panhellēnios [‘belonging to all Hellenes’], a sanctuary [hieron] that was common [koinon] to all the gods, and, most famous of all, a hundred columns [kiones] of Phrygian marble. The walls [toikhoi] too are constructed of the same material as the porticoes [stoai]. And there are rooms there adorned with a gilded roof and with alabaster stone, as well as with statues [agalmata] and paintings [graphai]. In them are kept books [biblia]. There is also a gymnasium named after Hadrian; of this too the columns [kiones] are a hundred in number, from the Libyan quarries.

{1.19.1} Close to the temple [nāos] of Olympian Zeus is a statue [agalma] of the Pythian Apollo. There is also a sanctuary [hieron] of Apollo surnamed Delphinios. They say that when the temple was finished, with the exception of the roof, Theseus arrived in the city, unknown as yet to everybody. When he came to the temple of the Delphinian, wearing a tunic [khitōn] that reached to his feet and with his hair neatly plaited [plekesthai], those who were building the roof by way of mockery [khleuasiā] inquired why a girl [parthénos] who was in the right season [hōrā] for getting married was wandering around all by herself. The only answer that Theseus made was to unyoke, it is said, the oxen from a wagon [hamaxa] close by, and to throw it higher than the roof of the temple they were building.

{1.19.2} Concerning the place [khōríon] called The Gardens [Kēpoi], and the temple [nāos] of Aphrodite, there is no word [logos] about them, nothing that is told [legesthai]—nor about the Aphrodite that stands near the temple [nāos]. Now the shape [skhēma] of it is tetragonal, like that of the Hermai, and the inscription [epigramma] indicates [sēmainein] that Aphrodite the celestial one [Ouraniā] is the oldest of what are called the Fates [Moirai]. And the statue [agalma] of Aphrodite in the Gardens [Kēpoi] is the work [ergon] of Alkamenes. It is one of those few things that are most worthy of viewing [théā] in Athens.

{1.19.3} There is also the sanctuary [hieron] of Hēraklēs, called ‘Brightness of the Dog’ [Kynosarges]; the things having to do with the bright-white [leukē] dog [kuōn] may be known by reading [epilegesthai] [the pronouncement of] the oracle [khrēsmos]. There are altars [bōmoi] of Hēraklēs and Hebe, who they customarily-think [nomizein] is the daughter of Zeus and lives with [sun-oikeîn] Hēraklēs. An altar [bōmos] has been built to Alkmene and to Iolaos, who shared-in-labors [sun-poneîn] with Hēraklēs with regard to most of his deeds [erga]. The Lyceum [Lukeion] has its name from Lykos [Lukos], the son of Pandion, but it was considered sacred to Apollo from the beginning down to my time, and here was the god first named Lykios [Lukios]. It is said that the Termilai also, to whom Lykos came when he fled from Aigeus, were called Lykioi [Lukioi] after him.

{1.19.4} Behind the Lyceum is a tomb [mnēma] [70] of Nisos, who was killed while king of Megara by Minos, and he [= his body] was conveyed [komizein] by the Athenians to this place, and he was buried here. About this Nisos the word [logos] is that his hair was purple [porphurai], and that it had-to-happen [khrē-] that he would die if it was cut off. When the Cretans attacked the land [of Megara], they captured by assault the other cities of the region of Megara, but Nisaia, where Nisos had taken refuge, they besieged. It is said that it was here that the daughter of Nisos, conceiving a passion for [erasthēnai] Minos, cut off her father’s hair.

{1.19.5} Anyway, they say that it happened this way. As for the rivers that flow through the land of the Athenians, they are the Ilissos and its tributary the Eridanos, the name of which is the same as that of the Celtic river. This Ilissos is the river by which Oreithyia was playfully-dancing [paizein] when, as they say, she was abducted [harpazesthai] by the North Wind [Boreas]. With Oreithyia he [= Boreas] lived [sun-oikeîn], and because of the tie-as-in-laws [kēdos] between him and the Athenians he helped them by destroying most of the barbarians’ warships [triēreis]. The Athenians concede that the Ilissos is sacred to other deities [theoi] as well, and on its banks is an altar [bōmos] of the Muses of Ilissos. The place too is pointed out [deiknusthai] where the Peloponnesians killed Kodros, son of Melanthos and king of Athens.

{1.19.6} Across the Ilissos is a place [khōríon] called Agrai and a temple [nāos] of Artemis Agroterā. They say that Artemis first hunted here when she came from Delos, and for this reason the statue [agalma] holds a bow [toxon]. A marvel [thauma] to the eyes, though not so conducive [epagōgon] to hear of, is a race-course [stadion] of white marble, the size of which can best be estimated from the fact that beginning in a crescent on the heights above the Ilissos it descends in two straight lines to the river banks. This was built by Herodes, an Athenian, and the greater part of the Pentelic quarry was used up in its construction.

{1.20.1} Leading from the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] is a road called Tripods [Tripodes]. The place [khōríon] takes its name from the shrines [nāoi], large enough to hold the tripods [tripodes] that stand upon them, of bronze, and containing works of artisanship that are most worthy of remembering [mnēmē], including a Satyr, of which Praxiteles is said to have thought-of [phroneîn] very highly. Once upon a time, Phryne asked him which of his works [erga] was the most beautiful of them all, and they say that he agreed to give that one as a gift [to her], but he refused to say which of his works appeared to him to be the most beautiful of them all. Well, a slave of Phryne rushed up to Praxiteles saying that a fire had broken out in his building and that the greater number of his works [erga] were lost, though not all were destroyed.

{1.20.2} Praxiteles at once started to rush out the door saying that his labor was all lost if in fact the fire [phlox] had caught his Satyr and his Love [Eros]. But Phryne ordered him to stay and be of good courage, for he had suffered no grievous loss, but had been trapped into confessing which were the most beautiful of his works. So, Phryne chose the statue of Love [Eros]; meanwhile, a Satyr is in the temple of Dionysus close by—a boy holding out a cup. The Love [Eros] standing with him and the Dionysus were made by Thymilos.

{1.20.3} The oldest sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus is near the theater. Within the enclosure [peribolos] are two temples [nāoi] and two statues of Dionysus, the Eleuthereus [‘Deliverer’] and the one that Alkamenes made of ivory and gold. There are paintings [graphai] here. One of them shows Dionysus bringing up [an-agein] Hephaistos to the sky [ouranos]. And the following things are also said about this by the Greeks [Hellēnes]: Hephaistos, when he was born, was thrown down by Hērā. In revenge, he sent to her as a gift a golden throne [thronos] with invisible bonds [desmoi]. When Hērā sat down she was held bound, and Hephaistos refused to listen to any other of the gods except for Dionysus—in him he placed the fullest trust—and after making him drunk Dionysus brought him to the sky [ouranos]. Also painted [on the wall painting] are Pentheus and Lycurgus (Lukourgos) paying the penalty [dikē] for having committed-outrage [hubrizein] against Dionysus; also Ariadne, asleep; Theseus, departing by sea; and Dionysus, arriving to abduct [harpazein] Ariadne.

{1.20.4} Near the sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus and the theater is a structure that is said to be a replica [mīmēsis] of the tent [skēnē] of Xerxes. It has been rebuilt, for the old building was burned down by the Roman general [stratēgos] Sulla when he captured Athens. [71] The cause [aitiā] of the war was this. Mithridates was king over the barbarians [barbaroi] around the Black Sea [Pontos Euxeinos]. Now his pretext [prophasis] for making war against the Romans, and how he crossed into Asia [Minor], and what cities he took by force of arms or made his friends, I must leave for those to find out who wish to know the things concerning Mithridates. What I will highlight here is the capture of Athens.

{1.20.5} There was an Athenian, Aristion, whom Mithridates used as his envoy to the Greek [Hellēnides] cities. He persuaded the Athenians to join Mithridates rather than the Romans, although he did not persuade all, but only the common-people [dēmos] and, in particular, the most turbulent part of the common-people [dēmos]. But those Athenians who were of any account [logos] fled to the Romans of their own accord. In the engagement that followed, the Romans won a decisive victory; Aristion and the Athenians fled and were pursued right into the city [of Athens itself], while Arkhelaos and the barbarians were pursued right into the [harbor city of] Peiraieus. This Arkhelaos was another general of Mithridates, whom earlier than this the Magnesians who inhabit [oikeîn] the region of Mount Sipylos wounded when he raided their territory, killing most of the barbarians as well. So, Athens was besieged.

{1.20.6} Taxilos, a general [stratēgos] of Mithridates, was at the time besieging Elateia in Phokis, but, on receiving the news, he withdrew his troops towards Attica. Learning this, the general [stratēgos] of the Romans entrusted the siege of Athens to a portion of his army, and with the greater part of his forces advanced in person to engage Taxilos in Boeotia. On the third day from this, news came to both the Roman armies; Sulla heard that the Athenian fortifications had been breached, and the besieging force learned that Taxilos had been defeated in battle near Khairōneia. When Sulla returned to Attica he rounded up inside the Kerameikos the Athenians who had opposed him, and one chosen by lot out of every ten he ordered to be led to execution.

{1.20.7} Sulla did not relent in his anger against the Athenians, and so a few who managed to escape to Delphi inquired there whether the time had now come when it was fated for even Athens to become a deserted place. The Pythia said-in-an-oracular-pronouncement [khrē-] the-things-having-to-do-with the ‘wine-skin’ [askos]. Afterwards, Sulla was afflicted with that disease [nosos], which I learn also afflicted Pherecydes of Syros. Although Sulla treated the Athenian people in a way that was so savage as to be unseemly for a Roman, I do not think that this was the cause [aitiā] of his misfortune [sumphorā]. What caused it, rather, was I think the cosmic-anger [mēnīma] of the Lord-of-Suppliants [Hikesios], for he [= Sulla] had dragged Aristion from the sanctuary [hieron] of Athena, where he had sought asylum, and killed him. Thus was Athens afflicted by the war with Rome, but it blossomed [antheîn] again when Hadrian was-‘King’ [basileuein].

{1.21.1} In the theater the Athenians have portrait-statues [eikones] of the poets [poiētai] of tragedy [tragōidiā] and comedy [kōmōidiā], but they [= the statues] are mostly of undistinguished persons. With the exception of Menander no poet [poiētēs] of comedy [kōmōidiā] represented here won a reputation [doxa], but tragedy [tragōidiā] has two illustrious representatives, Euripides and Sophocles. It is said that after the death of Sophocles, when the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica, their commander saw in a vision Dionysus, who ordered him to honor [tīmân], with all the customary honors [tīmai] of the dead, the new Siren [Seirēn]. It seemed to him that the dream [onar] referred to Sophocles and his poetry [poiēsis], and down to the present day people are used to liken to a Siren whatever is enchanting [epagōgon] in both poetry [poiēmata] and prose [logoi].

{1.21.2} The likeness [eikōn] of Aeschylus is, I think, much later than his death and than the painting [graphē] of the action [ergon] at Marathon. Here is what Aeschylus himself said: that, when he was a young-man [meirakion] and he once fell asleep while he was guarding the grapes in a vineyard, Dionysus appeared to him and ordered him to make [poieîn] tragedy [tragōidiā]. When day came, in obedience to the vision, he made an attempt and started to compose [poieîn] with the greatest of ease.

{1.21.3} These are the things that he [= Aeschylus] said. On the South Wall [teikhos], as it is called, of the Acropolis, which faces the theater, there is dedicated a gilded head of Medusa the Gorgon, and around it is crafted an aegis [aigis]. Looming over the theater is a grotto [spēlaion] in the rocks under the Acropolis. This also has a tripod standing over it. In it are [likenesses of] Apollo and Artemis slaying the children of Niobe. This Niobe I myself saw when I went up to the mountain [oros] called Sipylos. When one is close by, it is a rock [petrā], a steep crag [krēmnos], showing not at all the shape [skhēma] of a woman who is lamenting [pentheîn] or the like; but if one gets further away from it one will think one is seeing a woman shedding-tears [dakruein], with-sunken-eyes [katēphēs].

{1.21.4} On the way to the Athenian Acropolis from the theater is the tomb of Kálōs. Daidalos killed this Kálōs, who was his sister’s son and a learner of the craft [tekhnē]. Because of this he fled to Crete; afterwards he ran off to the residence of Kokalos in Sicily. The sanctuary [hieron] of Asklepios is worthy of viewing [théā] both for its paintings [graphai] and for the statues [agalmata] of the god and his children. In it there is a spring [krēnē], at which they say that Poseidon’s son Halirrhothios ravished Alkippe the daughter of Ares, who killed the ravisher and was the first to be put on trial [dikē] in-compensation-for [epi + dative] the killing [phonos].

{1.21.5} Among the votive offerings there is a breastplate [thōrax] originating from the people known as the Sauromatai. On seeing this, one will say that no less than Greeks [Hellēnes] are barbarians skilled in the arts [tekhnai]. I say this for the following reasons. The Sauromatai have no iron, neither mined by themselves nor yet imported. They have, in fact, no dealings at all with the [other] barbarians who inhabit the places surrounding them. To meet this deficiency they have invented things [ex-heuriskein]. In place of iron they use bone for their spear-blades, and cornel-wood for the bows [toxa] from which they shoot arrows, with bone points for the arrows. They throw a lasso around any enemy they encounter, and then, turning around their horses, they up-end the enemy caught in the lasso.

{1.21.6} Their breastplates [thōrakes] they make in the following way. Each man keeps many mares, since the land is not divided [merizein] into allotments [klēroi], nor does it bear anything except wild trees, as the people are nomads. These mares they not only use for war, but they also sacrifice [thuein] them to the local [epikhōroioi] gods [theoi] and eat them for food. Their hooves they collect, clean, split, and make from them as it were scales of serpents [drakontes]. Whoever has never seen a serpent [drakōn] must at least have seen a pine-cone still green. He will not be mistaken if he likens the product from the hoof to the segments that are seen on the pine-cone. These pieces they bore and stitch together with the sinews of horses and oxen, and then use them as breastplates [thōrakes] that are as beautiful and strong as those of the Greeks [Hellēnes]. For they can withstand blows of missiles or when struck in close combat.

{1.21.7} Linen breastplates [thōrakes] are not so useful to those fighting in battles, for they let the iron pass through, if the blow be a violent one. They aid hunters, however, for the teeth of lions or leopards break off in them. One may see linen breastplates [thōrakes] dedicated in other sanctuaries [hiera], notably in the one at Gryneion, where is found a most beautiful grove [alsos] of Apollo, with cultivated trees, and all those other kinds of trees that, although they bear no fruit, are pleasing to smell or look at.

{1.22.1} Moving past the sanctuary [hieron] of Asklepios, as one goes along this way toward the Acropolis, there is a shrine [nāos] of Themis. In front of it, heaped-up-as-a-tumulus [kekhōstai], is a tomb [mnēma] [72] for Hippolytus. The end of his life, they say, came from curses [katārai]. Everybody, even a barbarian who has learned the language of the Greeks [Hellēnes], knows about the erotic-passion [erōs] of Phaedra and about the wickedness that her nurse [trophos] dared to commit as her servant. The people of Troizen also [= just as the Athenians] have a tomb [taphos] [73] of Hippolytus, and their story [logos] about it is as follows.

{1.22.2} When Theseus was about to marry Phaedra, he did not wish, in case he had children, for Hippolytus either to be ruled by them or for Hippolytus to be king [basileuein] instead of them, and so he sent him [= Hippolytus] to Pittheus [in Troizen] to be raised there to become the future king of Troizen. Sometime later, Pallas and his sons rebelled against Theseus. After killing them he [= Theseus] went to Troizen for purification [katharsia], and Phaedra first saw Hippolytus there. [74] Conceiving-a-passion [erasthēnai] for him she made-contrivances [bouleuein] that resulted in death. [75] The people in Troizen have a myrtle bush [mursinē] [76] that has every one of its leaves pricked with holes; they say that it did not grow originally in this way, the holes being the result-created [ergon] by two causes. One was the saturation-of-longing [asē] that she felt in her erotic-passion [erōs] and the other was the pin [peronē] that Phaedra wore in her hair.

{1.22.3} When Theseus had united into one state [polis] the many Athenian demes [dēmoi], he established the custom of worshipping [sebesthai] Aphrodite, surnamed ‘common to every district’ [Pan-dēmos] and [worshipping also] Persuasion [Peithō]. The old statues [agalmata] no longer existed in my time, but those I saw were the work of no inferior artisans [tekhnītai]. There is also a sanctuary [hieron] of Earth [Gē] [who has the epithet] Kourotrophos [‘nurturing the young’] and of Demeter [who has the epithet] Chloe [Khloē ‘burst of green’]. One can learn all about their epithets [epōnumiai] by getting into conversations [logoi] with the priests [hiereis].

{1.22.4} There is only one entrance to the Acropolis. It affords no other, being precipitous all around and having a strong wall. The Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] has a roof of white marble, and down to the present day it is unrivalled for the arrangement [kosmos] and size of its stones. Now as to the likenessess [eikones] of the horsemen [hippeis], I cannot tell for certain whether they are the sons of Xenophon or whether they were made merely for their good looks [euprepeia]. On the right of the Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] is a temple [nāos] of Wingless Nike. From this point the sea is visible, and here it was, so they say, that Aigeus threw himself down to his death.

{1.22.5} I say-this-because [gar] the ship that carried the young people to Crete began its voyage with black sails; but Theseus, who was sailing off on his daring-adventure [tolmē] against the bull of Minos, so it is called, had told his father beforehand that he would use white sails if he should sail back victorious over the bull. But he had a memory-loss [lēthē] of these things after Ariadne was taken from him. So, Aigeus, when from this vantage-point he saw the vessel carried along [komizesthai] by black sails, thinking that his son was dead, threw himself down to destruction. There is in Athens a hero-shrine [hērōion] that is named as belonging to Aigeus.

{1.22.6} On the left of the Gateway [Propulaia / Propylaea] is a building [oikēma] that houses paintings [graphai]. Among those not effaced by time there was Diomedes taking the [statue of] Athena from Troy, and Odysseus in Lemnos taking away the bow [toxon] of Philoctetes. There in the paintings [graphai] is Orestes killing Aigisthos, and Pylades killing the sons of Nauplios, who had come as helpers [boēthooi] for Aigisthos. And there is Polyxena about to be slaughtered [sphazesthai] near the tomb [taphos] of Achilles. Homer did well in bypassing this deed, which is so raw-in-its-cruelty [ōmon]. And I think he also did well in making [poieîn] Achilles capture Skyros, differing entirely from those who say that Achilles had a life-experience [diaita] in Skyros together with the maidens there, as Polygnotus has pictured-in-painting [graphein]. He [= Polygnotus] also painted [graphein] Odysseus happening upon the girls washing clothes with Nausikaa at the river, just like what Homer made-in-poetry [poieîn]. There are also other paintings, including one that features Alcibiades,

{1.22.7} and in that painting are signs [sēmeia] indicating the victory [nīkē] his horses won at Nemeā. There is also Perseus returning [komizesthai] to Seriphos and carrying to Polydektes the head of Medusa. As for things having to do with Medusa I am not inclined [prothūmos] to give-indications [sēmainein] in my account [here] about Attica. Included among the paintings [graphai]—I omit the boy carrying the water-jars [hudriai] and the wrestler of Timainetos [77] —is Musaeus. I have read [epilegesthai] verses [epē] in which Musaeus receives from the North Wind [Boreas] the gift of flight, but, in my opinion, Onomacritus made [poieîn] these [verses], and there is nothing that is verifiably by Musaeus except for a hymn [humnos] to Demeter, [composed] for the Lykomidai.

{1.22.8} Right at the very entrance to the Acropolis [at the Propulaia / Propylaea] are (1) a Hermes called Hermes of the Propulaia [/Propylaea] and (2) [statues of] the Graces [Kharites]. These they say were made [poieîn] by Socrates, the son of Sophroniskos. The Pythia was witness to his being the wisest [sophōtatos] of humans. She refused to address in the same way Anakharsis, although he really wanted it to happen, and that is why he had come to Delphi.

{1.23.1} Among the things the Greeks [Hellēnes] say is that there were Seven Wise [Sophoi] Men. Two of them were the tyrant [turannos] [Pittakos] of Lesbos and Periandros [of Corinth] the son of Kypselos. And yet Peisistratos and his son Hippias were more humane [philanthrōpoi] than Periandros, also more skilled [sophoi] in warfare and in the proper-arrangement [kosmos] of citizens [polītai], until, on account of the murder of Hipparkhos, Hippias went the other way as he yielded to his anger [thūmos], especially with regard to a woman whose name was Leaina [meaning ‘Lioness’].

{1.23.2} What I am about to say has never before been committed to a [historical] write-up [sungraphē], but it is generally given credence by most Athenians. When Hipparkhos died, Hippias subjected Leaina to degradations that led to her death, because he understood that she was the mistress [hetaira] of Aristogeiton and therefore could not possibly, he thought, be in ignorance of the plot [bouleuma]. In compensation, when the tyranny [turannis] of the Peisistratidai was brought to an end, the Athenians set up a bronze [statue of a] lioness [leaina] in memory [mnēmē] of the woman. The statue was a dedication initiated by Kallias, and the work [ergon] [on the statue] was done by Kalamis.

{1.23.3} Close by is a bronze statue [andrias] of Diitrephes shot through by arrows. [78] Among the things accomplished by this Diitrephes as reported by the Athenians is his leading back home the Thracian mercenaries who arrived too late to take part in the expedition of Demosthenes against Syracuse. He also made a landing at Euripos-at-Khalkis, where the Boeotians had an inland town Mykalessos, marched up to this town from the coast, and captured it. Of the inhabitants the Thracians killed not only the combatants but also the women and children. There is-evidence [martureîn] for me [to cite]. All the Boeotian cities [poleis] that the Thebans captured were inhabited [oikeîsthai] in my time, since the people escaped just before the capture. So, if the barbarians had not killed off the people of Mykalessos the survivors would have afterwards reoccupied the city [polis].

{1.23.4} It was such a great wonder [thauma] for me to see the likeness [eikōn] of Diitrephes pierced with arrows. I say this because the only Greeks [Hellēnes] for whom it is a local-thing [epikhōrion] to use-bow-and-arrows [toxeuein] are the Cretans. After all, the men of Opountian Lokris, whom Homer made [poieîn] to be carrying bows [toxa] and slings [sphendonai] when they came to Ilion [= Troy], we know were-armed-as-heavy-infantry [hoplīteuein] by the time of the Persian wars. Nor for that matter did the Malians continue the practice [meletē] of using bow-and-arrows [toxa]; even more, I think that they did not know it before the time of Philoctetes, and they gave it up soon after. Near the Diitrephes—I do not wish to write down [graphein] the less distinguished likenesses [eikones]—are statues [agalmata] of gods; of Hygieia, who they say is the daughter of Asklepios, and of Athena, who also has this name Hygieia by way of epithet [epiklēsis].

{1.23.5} There is also a stone [lithos], not very big but just large enough to serve as a seat for a little man. On it they say Silenos rested when Dionysus came to the land. I-say-this-because [gar] the oldest of the Satyrs they call Silenoi. Wishing to know better than most people who the Satyrs are, I got into conversations [logoi] with many about this very matter. Euphemos, a man from Caria, said that on a voyage to Italy he was driven off-course by winds and was carried into the outer sea, beyond the trajectory of seamen. He affirmed that there were many uninhabited islands while others were inhabited [oikeîn] by wild [agrioi] men. The sailors did not wish to make a landing at the second islands,

{1.23.6} because, having made a landing before, they had some experience of the inhabitants [enoikoûntes], but on this occasion they would have to be violently-forced [biasthênai] [to make a landing]. The islands were called Satyrides by the sailors, and the inhabitants [enoikoûntas] were rustic, and had upon their flanks tails not much smaller than those of horses. As soon as they noticed their visitors, they ran down to the ship without a shout and assaulted the women in the ship. To end it all, the sailors in fear tossed over [to them] on the island a barbarian woman, whom the Satyrs outraged [hubrizein] not only in the usual way, but also all over her body.

{1.23.7} Having viewed [theâsthai] other things also on the Athenian Acropolis, I know them. There is a bronze boy holding the sprinkler [peri-rrhantērion], by Lykios son of Myron. And there is Myron’s Perseus, [shown] right after having just done [ergazesthai] the Deed [ergon] with regard to Medusa. There is also a sanctuary [hieron] of Artemis Braurōniā; the statue [agalma] is the work of Praxiteles, and the goddess [theos (feminine)] derives her name from the deme [dēmos] of Brauron. The old wooden-statue [xoanon] is in Brauron, the Artemis in-Tauroi [Taurikē], as she is called.

{1.23.8} There is the horse called Dourios [‘Wooden’] set up there, made of bronze. That the work [poiēma] of Epeios [= the ‘Wooden Hourse’] was a mechanism [mēkhanēma] to make a breach in the Trojan wall is known to everybody who does not attribute utter credulity to the Phrygians [= the Trojans]. But it is said about that horse that it contained the best [aristoi] of the Greeks [Hellēnes], and the figuring [skhēma] of the bronze fits in well with what is said about it. Menestheus and Teukros are peeping out of it, and so too are the sons of Theseus.

{1.23.9} Of the statues [andriantes] that stand behind the horse, the likeness [eikōn] of Epikharinos who perfected the footrace-in-armor [hoplītodrameîn] was made [poieîn] by Kritios, while the credit goes to Oinobios for the fine work [ergon] with regard to [the likeness of] Thucydides the son of Oloros. [79] Oinobios had succeeded in getting a decree [psēphisma] passed for the return of Thucydides to Athens, but he was treacherously murdered as he was returning, and there is a tomb [mnēma] [80] for him not far from the gate known as the Melitides.

{1.23.10} Things to be said with regard to Hermolykos, who competed in the pankration, also with regard to Phormion, [81] the son of Asopikhos, I omit, since others have written down [graphein] those things. About Phormion, however, I have one further thing to write down [graphein]. Quite one of the best men in Athens and distinguished for the fame [doxa] of his ancestors, he happened to be heavily in debt. So, he withdrew to the deme [dēmos] Paiania and lived there until the Athenians elected him to command a naval expedition. But he refused the office on the grounds that before his debts were discharged he lacked the mind-set [phronēma] to face his troops. So, the Athenians, who were absolutely determined to have Phormion as commander, paid all his creditors.

{1.24.1} In this place has been made [poieîsthai] [a statue of] Athena striking Marsyas the Silenos for taking up the aulos [‘double-reed’], which the goddess [theos (feminine)] wished to be cast aside, once and for all. As one moves past the works I have spoken of, there is what is talked about as the Battle [Makhē] of Theseus with the so-called Bull of Minos, whether this was a man or a beast of the kind he is said to have been in the prevalent story. I say it this way because even in our time women have given birth to monstrosities [terata] that are far more-wondrous [thaumasiōtera] than this.

{1.24.2} There is also set up a [statue of] Phrixos the son of Athamas, carried ashore to the land of Kolkhis by the ram. Having sacrificed [thuein] it [= the ram] to some god or other, presumably to the one called Laphystios by the people of Orkhomenos, he has cut out the thighs [mēroi] in accordance with the custom [nomos] of the Greeks [Hellēnes] and is watching them as they burn. Next are set up other likenesses [eikones], including one of Hēraklēs strangling the serpents [drakontes], as the story [logos] has it. There is Athena too coming up out of the head of Zeus, and also a bull dedicated by the Council of the Areiopagos on some occasion or other, about which one could, if one wanted to, say- many different -likely-things [eikazein].

{1.24.3} I have already said earlier that the Athenians, far more than other people, share in a zeal [spoudē] for that-which-is-divine [theion]. They were the first to surname [epοnomazein] Athena as Ergane [= patroness of ergon ‘work’]; they were the first to set up limbless Hermai; and the temple [nāos] [of their goddess] is shared by a Daimōn [‘superhuman force’] of zealous-ones [spoudaioi]. [82] Whoever prefers things that have been made [poieîsthai] with artistry [tekhnē] to mere antiquity [arkhaiotēs], such a person may have the following things to view [theâsthai]: a man wearing a helmet, by Kleoitas, whose nails the artist has made of silver, and a statue [agalma] of Earth [Gē] imploring Zeus to rain upon her; perhaps the Athenians themselves needed downpourings [of rain], or maybe all the Greeks [Hellēnes] had been plagued with a drought. There also are set up Timotheus the son of Konon and Konon himself; Procne too, who has already made up her mind about the boy, and Itys as well—a group dedicated by Alkamenes. There has also been made [poieîsthai] an Athena displaying her olive-plant [phuton], and Poseidon displaying his wave [kūma];

{1.24.4} also, there is a statue [agalma] of Zeus, one made by Leokhares [83] and another one called Polieus [‘of the city’], the traditions [kathestēkota] for sacrificing [thusiā] to whom I will write down [graphein] without writing down [graphein] the reason [aitiā] for [epi + dative] these [traditions]. Upon the altar [bōmos] of Zeus Polieus they place barley mixed with wheat and leave it unguarded. The ox, which they keep already prepared for sacrifice [thusiā], goes to the altar [bōmos] and makes contact [haptesthai] with the grain [spermata]. One of the priests [hiereis] they call the ox-slayer [bouphonos], and he kills the ox; then, casting aside the axe [pelekus] at that spot, according to the ritual [nomos], he runs away. The others bring the axe [pelekus] to trial [dikē], as if they did not know the man who did [drân] the deed [ergon].

{1.24.5} They do [drân] these things as I have just said they do them. And now, as one enters the temple [nāos] that they name the Parthenon, all the details that have been put into what is called the [east] pediment [aetos] show the birth [genesis] of Athena, but on the rear [= west] pediment there is the strife [eris] between Athena and Poseidon over the ownership of the land [of Athens]. As for the statue [agalma] [of the goddess] itself, it is made [poieîsthai] of ivory and gold. On the middle of her helmet [kranos] is placed a likeness [eikōn] of the Sphinx—the things that are said of the Sphinx I will write down [graphein] when my discourse [logos] moves ahead to things having to do with Boeotia—and on either side of the helmet [kranos] are griffins [grupes] in relief.

{1.24.6} These griffins, Aristeas [84] of Prokonnesos says in his verses [epē], fight for the gold with the Arimaspoi beyond the Issedones. The gold that the griffins guard, he says, comes out of the earth; the Arimaspoi are men all born with one eye; griffins are beasts like lions, but with the beak and wings of an eagle. I will say no more about the griffins.

{1.24.7} The statue [agalma] of Athena is standing [not seated], with a tunic [khitōn] reaching to the feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is worked in ivory. She holds a [statue of] Nike about four cubits high, and in the other hand a spear [doru]; at her feet is placed a shield [aspis] and near the spear [doru] is a serpent [drakōn]. This serpent [drakōn] would be Erikhthonios. On the pedestal of the statue [agalma] is the birth of Pandora in relief. It has been said-in-poetry [poieîsthai] by Hesiod and others that this Pandora was the first woman; before Pandora was born there was as yet no womankind. And there, as I know because I saw it, is a portrait-statue [eikōn] of ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian—it is the only one there, but at the entrance there is one [= a portrait-statue] of Iphikrates, [85] who accomplished-for-public-display [apodeiknusthai] many wondrous [thaumasta] deeds.

{1.24.8} Beyond the temple [nāos] is a bronze Apollo, and it is said that Pheidias made [poieîn] the statue [agalma]. They call it the Locust God [Parnopios], because once when locusts [parnopes] were devastating the land the god said that he would drive them from Attica. That he did drive them away they know, but they do not say how. I myself know that locusts [parnopes] have been destroyed three times in the past on Mount Sipylos, and not in the same way. Once a gale arose and swept them away; on another occasion violent heat came on after rain and destroyed them; the third time, sudden cold caught them and they died.

{1.25.1} Such were the things I saw happening to the locusts. On the Athenian Acropolis is a [statue of] Pericles, the son of Xanthippos, and one of Xanthippos himself, who fought against the Persians at the naval battle of Mykale. [86] But the statue [andrias] of Pericles stands apart, while near Xanthippos stands [a statue of] Anacreon of Teos, the first poet after Sappho of Lesbos to compose [poieîn] love poetry [erōtika] as the major part of what he wrote [graphein], and his posture [skhēma] is as it were that of a man singing in a state of intoxication [methē]. Deinomenes [87] has made [poieîn] the two female figures which stand near, Io, the daughter of Inakhos, and Kallisto, the daughter of Lykaon, about both of whom there are similar [homoia] stories [diēgēmata]: erotic-passion [erōs] of Zeus, wrath [orgē] of Hērā, and metamorphosis [allagē]—Io becoming a cow and Kallisto, a bear.

{1.25.2} At the south wall is [represented] the war they say was fought with the giants [gigantes], who once dwelled about Thrace and on the isthmus of Pallene, also the battle [makhē] between the Athenians and the Amazons, also the deed [ergon] accomplished against the Persians at Marathon, also the destruction of the Gauls [Galatai] in Mysia. [88] Each is about two cubits, and all were dedicated [anatithenai] by Attalos. There stands too Olympiodoros, who won fame [doxa] for the greatness of his achievements, especially in the crisis when he displayed a brave confidence among men who had met with continuous reverses and were therefore in despair of winning a single success in the days to come.

{1.25.3} For the disaster at Khairōneia [89] was the beginning of misfortune for all the Greeks [Hellēnes], and especially did it turn into slaves [douloi] those who had been blind to the danger and such as had sided with Macedon. Most of their cities Philip captured; with Athens he nominally came to terms, but really imposed the severest penalties upon it, taking away the islands and putting an end to its empire [arkhē] at sea. For a time the Athenians remained passive, during the reign of Philip and subsequently of Alexander. But when on the death of Alexander the Macedonians chose Aridaios to be their king, though the whole empire [arkhē] had been entrusted to Antipatros, the Athenians now thought it intolerable if Greece [Hellas] should be forever under the Macedonians, and themselves embarked on war besides inciting others to join them.

{1.25.4} The cities [poleis] that took part were, of the Peloponnesians, Argos, Epidauros, Sikyon, Troizen, the people of Elis, the Phliasians, Messene; on the other side of the Corinthian Isthmus the people of Lokris, the people of Phokis, the Thessalians, Karystos, the Acarnanians belonging to the Aetolian League. The Boeotians, who occupied [nemesthai] the territory of Thebes now that there were no Thebans left to dwell there, in fear that the Athenians would injure them by founding-a-settlement [epoikizein] on the site of Thebes, refused to join the alliance and lent all their forces to furthering the Macedonian cause.

{1.25.5} The armed forces under the alliance had their own generals [stratēgoi] from each city, but the Athenian Leosthenes was chosen to command all of them, both because of the prestige [axiōma] of his city and also because he had the reputation of being an experienced soldier. He had already proved himself a general benefactor of all Greeks [Hellēnes]. All those of them who were serving as mercenaries in the armies of Darius and his satraps Alexander had wished to deport to Persia, but Leosthenes was too quick for him, and he brought [komizein] them by sea to Europe. On this occasion too he accomplished [apodeiknusthai] brilliant deeds [erga], true to expectation, and so his death produced a general despair that was chiefly responsible for the defeat. A Macedonian garrison [phrourā] was set over the Athenians, and it occupied first Mounukhia and afterwards Peiraieus also and the Long Walls. [90]

{1.25.6} On the death of Antipatros Olympias came over from Epeiros, killed Aridaios, and for a time was-the-ruler [arkhein]; but shortly afterwards she was besieged by Kassandros, captured, and handed over to the people [plēthos]. As for Kassandros and his rule-as-king [basileuein], my account [logos] will deal only with what is relevant to the Athenians. He seized the fort of Panakton in Attica, also Salamis, and he established as tyrant in Athens Demetrios the son of Phanostratos, a man who had won a reputation [doxa] for wisdom [sophiā]. The tyrrannical-régime [turannis] of this man was terminated by Demetrios the son of Antigonos, a young man who was ambitiously [philotīmōs] disposed to promote Hellenism [tò Hellēnikon].

{1.25.7} Meanwhile Kassandros, who had an underlying hatred [mīsos] for the Athenians, cultivated Lakhares, who up to now had been a champion of the people [dēmos], and persuaded him to undertake a plot to achieve a tyrannical-régime [turannis]. Of all the tyrants [turannoi] we know of, no régime of any of them was so cruel to humans [anthrōpoi] and so uncaring toward what is divine [tò theion]. Although Demetrios the son of Antigonos had his differences with the populace [dēmos] of the Athenians, he nevertheless deposed Lakhares from his tyranny [turannis], who, on the capture of the fortifications, escaped to Boeotia. Lakhares took golden shields [aspides] from the Acropolis, and stripped even the statue [agalma] of Athena of its removable ornamentation [kosmos]; he was accordingly suspected of being a very wealthy man,

{1.25.8} and was murdered by some men of Κorōneia for the sake of this wealth. After freeing [eleutheroûn] the Athenians from tyrants [turannoi] Demetrios the son of Antigonos did not restore the Peiraieus to them immediately after the flight of Lakhares, but subsequently overcame them and brought a garrison [phrourā] even into the upper city, fortifying the place called the Place of the Muses [Mouseion / Museum]. This is a hill right opposite the Acropolis within the ancient enclosure [peribolos] [of the city] where they say Musaeus [Mousaios ‘Man of the Muses’] used to sing [āidein], and, dying of old age, was buried. Afterwards a tomb [mnēma] also was built [oikodomeîn] here for a Syrian. At the time to which I refer Demetrios fortified and held it.

{1.26.1} But, later on, a few men brought back to mind [mnēmē] their forefathers [progonoi], and what a transformation [metabolē] of the ancient prestige [axiōma] of the Athenians had come to pass. Then, just like that, they went ahead and elected Olympiodoros to be their general [stratēgos]. He led them, both the old men and the young, against the Macedonians, [91] hoping for military success by trusting more in their zeal [prothūmiā] than in their strength [rhōmē]. The Macedonians came out to engage him, but he overcame them, pursued them to the Place of the Muses [Mouseion / Museum], and captured the position.

{1.26.2} So Athens was freed [eleutheroûsthai] from the Macedonians, and though all the Athenians did engage-in-the-struggle [agōnizesthai] in a way that is worthy of recording, Leokritos the son of Protarkhos is said to have displayed the greatest boldness [tolmē] in facing the deed-to-be-done [ergon]. For he was the first to scale the fortification for the Place of the Muses [Mouseion / Museum], and the first to rush inside; and when he fell fighting, the Athenians paid him great honors [tīmai], and they even dedicated his shield [aspis] to Zeus Eleutherios [‘of Freedom’] and inscribed on it the name of Leokritos and his success.

{1.26.3} This is the greatest deed [ergon] of Olympiodoros, aside from other accomplishments, which include his recovering [anasōzesthai] Peiraieus and Mounukhia; and again, when the Macedonians were raiding Eleusis he collected a force of Eleusinians and defeated the invaders. Still earlier than this, when Kassandros had invaded Attica, Olympiodoros sailed to Aetolia and persuaded the Aetolians to come-and-help [boētheîn]. This allied force was the main reason [aition] why the Athenians escaped war with Kassandros. Olympiodoros has not only honors [tīmai] in Athens, both on the Acropolis and in the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’], but also a portrait-painting [graphē] at Eleusis. Likewise, the people of Phokis who originate from Elateia dedicated at Delphi a bronze statue of Olympiodoros for help in their revolt from Kassandros.

{1.26.4} Near the likeness [eikōn] of Olympiodoros stands a bronze statue [agalma] of Artemis with the surname [epiklēsis] Leukophryne, dedicated by the sons of Themistocles. I say-this-because [gar] the Magnesians whom he ruled [arkhein]—and this rule was granted to him by the King [Basileus] [of the Persian Empire]—hold Artemis Leukophryne in honor [tīmē]. But my narrative [logos] must move ahead, with its goal kept in mind, which is, to go through all subjects relating to things Greek [Hellēnika] while-keeping-in-mind-the-similarities [homoiōs]. Endoios was an Athenian by birth and a student of Daidalos, who also, when Daidalos was in exile because of the death of Kálōs, went with him to Crete. His [= of Endoios] is a statue [agalma] of Athena seated, with an inscription [epigramma] saying that Kallias dedicated the image, but Endoios made [poieîn] it.

{1.26.5} There is also a building [oikēma] called the Erekhtheion [/Erechtheum]. In front of the entrance is an altar [bōmos] of Zeus Hypatos [‘the Most High’], on which they never sacrifice [thuein] anything alive [empsūkhon] but they deposit [tithenai] baked-goods [pemmata], and they follow-the-custom [nomizein] of not using any wine either. As one goes inside, there are altars [bōmoi], one belonging to Poseidon, on which in following up on an oracular-pronouncement [manteuma] they sacrifice [thuein] also to Erekhtheus; the second [altar belongs] to the hero [hērōs] Boutēs; and the third to Hephaistos. On the walls are paintings [graphai] that depict the Boutadai [‘descendants of Boutēs’]; there is also inside—the building [oikēma] is double—sea-water in a well [phrear]. This is no great wonder [thauma], since other inhabitants of any midland region [mesógaia] also have such wells, in particular the Carians who inhabit Aphrodisias. But this particular well [phrear] [in Athens] lends itself to a scientific-write-up for this reason: it makes the sound of waves when a south wind blows. And on the surface of the rock is the outline [skhēma] of a trident [triaina]. It is said that these things appeared [phanēnai] as evidence [marturia] in support of Poseidon’s claim to the land.

{1.26.6} Both the city [polis] [of Athens] and the whole of the land [gē] are alike sacred [hierā] to Athena; for even those who in their demes [dēmoi] have traditions of worshipping [sebein] other gods nevertheless hold Athena in honor [tīmē]. But the thing that was customarily-thought [nomizesthai] to be the most holy [hagion] thing by all in common [en koinōi] already for many years before the demes [dēmoi] came-together [sun-eltheîn] is the statue [agalma] of Athena [Polias] that is on what is now called the Acropolis, but was in early days [called] the Polis. A tale [phēmē] concerning it says that it [= the wooden statue of Athena Polias] fell from the sky [ouranos]; but I will not follow up and say whether it was this way or some other way.

{1.26.7} Having filled the lamp [lukhnos] with olive oil, they wait until the same day next year, and the oil is sufficient for the lamp [lukhnos] during the interval, although it is lit both day and night. The wick in it is made of flax from Karpasia, the only kind of flax that does not get burned up by the fire [of the flame], and a bronze palm above the lamp reaches to the roof and draws off the smoke. The Kallimakhos who made the lamp, although not of the first rank with regard to this craft [tekhnē], was nevertheless the best in cleverness [sophiā], so that he was the first to drill holes through stones, and he gave himself the title of katatēxitekhnos [‘having expertise in the process of melting’], or perhaps others gave the title and he established it as his.

{1.27.1} In the temple [nāos] of Athena Polias [‘of the Polis’) is set up a wooden Hermes, said to have been a dedication [anathēma] by Kekrops, but not clearly visible because of boughs of myrtle [mursinē]. The votive-offerings [anathēmata] worthy of taking-account [logos] are, of the old ones, a folding chair, the making [poiēma] of which is by Daidalos; also spoils taken from the Persians [Mēdoi], namely the breastplate [thōrax] of Masistios, who commanded the cavalry at Plataea, [92] and a scimitar [akinakēs] said to have belonged to Mardonios. Now Masistios I know was killed by the Athenian cavalry. But Mardonios was facing in battle the Lacedaemonians and was killed by a Spartan; so, the Athenians could not have taken the scimitar to begin with, and, furthermore, the Lacedaemonians would scarcely have let them carry it off [pheresthai].

{1.27.2} About the olive tree [elaiā] they have nothing to say except that it was evidence [marturion] adduced by the goddess [theos (feminine)] for the contest [agōn] [with Poseidon] for the land. They also say that, when the the Mede [= ho Mēdos, = the Persians] set Athens on fire, the olive tree [elaiā] was burned down, but on the very day it was burned it grew again to the height of two cubits. Adjoining the temple [nāos] of Athena is the temple [nāos] of Pandrosos, the only one of the sisters who was not guilty [an-aitios] with regard to what-had-been-entrusted [parakatathēkē].

{1.27.3} The things about this that most of all cause-wonder [thaumazein] for me are not completely knowable [gnōrima], but I will write down what kinds of things take place. Two maidens [parthenoi] dwell [oikeîn] not far from the temple [nāos] of Athena Polias. The Athenians call them Arrhephoroi [arrhēphoroi]. For a time they live a regulated-life [diaita] [there] at the place of the goddess [theos (feminine)], but when the festival [heortē] comes round they ritually-perform [drân] at night the following. They place on their heads what the priestess [hiereia] of Athena gives them to carry [pherein]—neither she who gives it knows [eidénai] what it is that she is giving nor do they who carry [pherein] it understand [epistasthai] what it is. Now, there is an enclosure [peribolos] in the city, the enclosure of Aphrodite in the Gardens [kēpoi], as she is called. It is not far away, and there is an underground descending-passage [kathodos] that goes through it [= the enclosure]. This descending-passage is not-artificial-but-natural [automatē]. By way of this passage the maidens descend [katienai], and, [when they arrive] down below [katō], they leave behind the things they were carrying [pherein] and [replacing those things] they take [lambanein] something else, which they bring-back [komizein]—something that is covered [kaluptesthai]. These maidens [parthenoi], after this, are dismissed, and then there are other maidens led [agein] up to the Acropolis as replacements for them.

{1.27.4} Near the temple [nāos] of Athena is […] the likeness of an old woman about a cubit high. She is called an attendant [diakonos] of Lysimakhe. And there are large bronze statues [agalmata] of men facing each other for a fight, one of whom they call Erekhtheus, the other Eumolpos. But those Athenians who are acquainted with antiquity [ta arkhaia] must surely know that the man killed by Erekhtheus was Immarados, the son of Eumolpos.

{1.27.5} On the pedestal [bathron] are also statues of Theainetos, who was seer to Tolmides, and of Tolmides himself, who when in command of the Athenian fleet inflicted severe damage upon the enemy, especially upon the Peloponnesians who dwell along the coast. He burned the dock-yards [neōria] at Gythion and captured Boiai, belonging to the ‘peripheral-dwellers’ [perioikoi], and the island of Cythera. He made a descent on Sikyonia, and, attacked by the citizens as he was ravaging the country, he put them to flight and chased them to the city. Returning afterwards to Athens, he conducted Athenian colonists to Euboea and Naxos and invaded Boeotia with an army. Having ravaged the greater part of the land and reduced Khairōneia by way of a siege, he advanced into the territory of Haliartos, where he was killed in battle and all his army defeated. [93] Such were the things I learned about Tolmides.

{1.27.6} There are also old statues [agalmata] of Athena, no limbs of which indeed are missing, but they are rather black and too fragile to bear a blow. For they too were caught by the flames when the Athenians had gone on board their ships and the King [Basileus] [of the Persian Empire] captured the city, which had been emptied of its able-bodied inhabitants. There is also a boar-hunt (I do not know for certain whether it is the Calydonian boar) and Kyknos fighting with Hēraklēs. This Kyknos is said to have killed, among others, Lykos the Thracian, a prize having been proposed for the winner of the duel, but near the river Peneios he was himself killed by Hēraklēs.

{1.27.7} One of the Troizenian stories [logoi] about Theseus is the following. When Hēraklēs visited Pittheus at Troizen, he laid aside his lion’s skin to eat his dinner, and there came in to see him some Troizenian children together with Theseus, then about seven years of age. It is said that when they saw the skin the other children ran away, but Theseus slipped out not much afraid, seized an axe [pelekus] from the attendants [diakonoi], and straightway attacked the skin in earnest, thinking it to be a lion.

{1.27.8} This is the first Troizenian story [logos] about Theseus. The next is that Aigeus placed boots and a sword under a rock as tokens for the child, and then sailed away to Athens; Theseus, when sixteen years old, pushed the rock away and departed, taking what Aigeus had deposited. There is a representation [eikōn] of what is said in this story [logos] on the Acropolis, everything in bronze except the rock.

{1.27.9} There is another deed [ergon] that they [= the Athenians] have represented-in-the-form-of-a-dedicatory-offering [ana-tithenai], and here is the tale [logos] that pertains to that deed. The land of the Cretans and especially the part that is next to the river Tethris was ravaged by a bull. I say-this-because [gar] beasts [thēria] in ancient times were much more formidable for humans. For example, there is the Nemean lion. And the lion of Parnassus. And so many serpents [drakontes] in many parts of Greece [Hellas]. And then there are the boars of Calydon and Erymanthos.

Also the one from Krommyon in the land of Corinth. It was said that some [of these beasts] were sent up from the earth down below, that others were sacred [hiera] to the gods, while still others had been let loose for the punishment [tīmōriā] of humankind. In the case of this bull as well, the Cretans say that it was sent by Poseidon to their land because, although Minos was ruler [arkhōn] of the Greek [Hellēnikē] Sea [Thalassa], he did not give more honor [tīmē] to Poseidon than to the other gods.

{1.27.10} Anyway, they say that this bull was conveyed [komizesthai] from Crete to the Peloponnesus, and became one of what are called the Twelve Labors [āthloi] of Hēraklēs. When he was set loose on the Plain of the Argives he fled [pheugein] through the isthmus of Corinth and then fled [pheugein] further into the land of Attica as far as the Attic deme [dēmos] of Marathon, killing everyone he encountered, including Androgeōs, son of Minos. Minos then sailed against Athens with his navy, not believing that the Athenians were guiltless [an-aitioi] in the death of Androgeōs, and oppressed them so badly that it was finally agreed that they [= the Athenians] would bring seven girls [parthenoi] and seven boys [paides] to the Minotaur who was said to dwell [oikeîn] in the Labyrinth [laburinthos] at Knossos. But, later on, Theseus is said to have driven the bull of Marathon to the Acropolis, where he sacrificed [thuein] it to the goddess [theos (feminine), = Athena]. And the dedicatory-offering [ana-thēma] [that signals this deed] is from the deme [dēmos] of Marathon.

{1.28.1} Why they set up a bronze statue of Kylon in spite of his plotting a tyranny [turannis], [94] I cannot say for certain; but I infer that it was because he was very beautiful to look upon, and of no undistinguished fame [doxa], having won an Olympian victory in the double-foot-race [diaulos], and he had married the daughter of Theagenes, tyrant of Megara.

{1.28.2} Above and beyond the things that I have so far inventoried [katalegein], there are two tithes [dekatai] dedicated by the Athenians in the aftermath of wars. There is first a bronze statue [agalma] of Athena, tithe [dekatē] from the [victory over the] Persians who landed at Marathon. It is the work [tekhnē] of Pheidias, but the reliefs upon the shield, including the fight between Centaurs and Lapithai, are said to have been metalworked [toreuein] by someone named Mys, for whom they say Parrhasios son of Euenor designed [kata-graphein] this and the rest of his works [erga]. The point of the spear of this Athena and the crest of her helmet are already visible to those sailing to Athens as they pass by Cape Sounion. The other tithe [dekatē] is a bronze chariot, offered by the Boeotians and by the people of Khalkis in Euboea. [95] There are two other offerings [anathēmata], (1) a statue of Pericles, the son of Xanthippos, and (2) the best of those works of Pheidias that are most worthy of viewing [théā], the statue [agalma] of Athena named ‘the one from Lemnos’, since those who dedicated [anatithenai] it were from there.

{1.28.3} All the Acropolis is surrounded by a wall; a part was constructed by Kimon, son of Miltiades, but all the rest is said to have been built round it by the Pelasgians, who once lived under the Acropolis. The builders, they say, were Agrolas and Hyperbios. On inquiring who they were I could discover nothing except that they were Sicilians originally who emigrated to Akarnania.

{1.28.4} As one descends, not to the lower city, but to just beneath the Propylaia [‘Gateway’], there is a fountain [pēgē] and near it a sacred space [hieron] of Apollo in a cave [spēlaion]. It was here, according to customary-thinking [nomizein], that Apollo had sex [sun-genesthai] with Kreousa, daughter of Erekhtheus. [There seems to be a gap here in the text.] When the Persians [Medes] had landed in Attica, Philippides was sent as a messenger [from Marathon] to Sparta [Lacedaemon]. When he returned [to Marathon], he said that the Spartans [Lacedaemonians] had postponed sending out [any reinforcements], on the grounds that it was their custom not to go out to fight before the circle of the moon was full. Philippides went on to say that near Mount Parthenios he had been met by Pan, who told him that he is kindly-disposed [eu-nous] to the Athenians and would come as their ally [summakhos] to Marathon. This deity, then, gets honored [tīmâsthai] in return for this message [angeliā].

{1.28.5} There is also the Peak of Ares [Areiopagos], so named because Ares was the first to be put on trial here; my narrative [logos] has already made it clear [dēloûn] [96] that he killed Halirrhothios, and what were the grounds for this act of his. Afterwards, they say, Orestes was put on trial for killing his mother, and there is an altar [bōmos] to Athena Areia [‘Warlike’], which he dedicated [anathenai] after he was acquitted. The unhewn stones on which stand the defendants and the prosecutors, they call the stone of Hubris [‘Outrage’] and the stone of Anaideia [‘Shamelessness’].

{1.28.6} Close by is a sanctuary [hieron] of the goddesses [theai] whom the Athenians call the Semnai [‘the august ones’], but Hesiod in the Theogony calls them Erinyes [‘Furies’]. [97] It was Aeschylus who first represented them with snakes in their hair. But on the statues [agalmata] neither of these nor of any of the under-earth [hupo-gaioi] deities [theoi] is there anything horrific. There are statues [agalmata] of Pluto [Ploutōn], Hermes, and Earth, in the name of whom sacrifices-are-made [thuein] by those who are acquitted of guilt [aitiā] on the Peak of Ares [Areiopagos]; sacrifices-are-made [thuein] also on other occasions by both city-folk and visitors [xenoi].

{1.28.7} Within the enclosure [peribolos] is a tomb [mnēma] of Oedipus, whose bones, after diligent inquiry, I found were brought [komizein] from Thebes. I am prevented from thinking as trustworthy the things having to do with the death of Oedipus as composed-in-poetry [poieîn] by Sophocles. I am prevented by Homer, who says that, after the death of Oedipus, Mekisteus [of Athens] came to Thebes and participated-in-the-athletic contest [agōnizesthai] at the funeral-compensating-for-his-death [epitaphios].

{1.28.8} The Athenians have other law courts [dikastēria] as well, which do not have so great a fame [doxa]. There is the so-called Parabuston and the Triangle [Trigōnon]; the first of the two is in an obscure part of the city, and in it the most trivial cases are tried; the second is named from its shape. The names of Frog Court [Batrakhioûn] and Red Court [Phoinikioûn], due to their colors, have lasted down to the present day. The largest court, to which the greatest numbers come, is called Hēliaiā. One of the other courts that deal with bloodshed is called […] Palladion, into which are brought cases of involuntary homicide. All are agreed that Demophon was the first to be put on trial there, but as to the nature of the charge accounts differ.

{1.28.9} It is said that after the capture of Troy [Ilion] Diomedes was returning-home [komizesthai] with his ships when night overtook them as they sailed near Phaleron. The Argives went ashore, though they thought that they had landed in hostile territory, since the darkness prevented them from seeing that they were in Attica. At that point, they say that Demophon, he too being unaware of the facts and ignorant that those who had landed were Argives, responded-to-the-alarm-and-went-on-the-attack [ek-boētheîn]. He killed a number of the men, seized the Palladium, and rode off with it. An Athenian, however, not seeing in the dark that Demophon, riding his horse, was heading in that direction, was knocked over and trampled to death. So, Demophon was brought to trial, some say by the relatives of the man who was trampled, others say by the community [tò koinon] of the Argives.

{1.28.10} At the Delphinion are tried those who claim that they have committed justifiable homicide, which was the plea put forward by Theseus on the occasion when he was acquitted, after having killed Pallas, who had risen in revolt against him, and his sons. Before Theseus was acquitted it was the established custom among all men for the one who sheds blood to go into exile, or, if he remained, to be put to a similar death. The Court in the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’], as it is called, where they try iron and all similar inanimate things, had its origin, I think [nomizō], in-response-to [epi + dative case] the following event. It was when Erekhtheus was king of Athens that the ox-slayer [bou-phonos] first killed an ox at the altar [bōmos] of Zeus Polieus. Leaving the axe [pelekus] where it lay he went out of the land into exile, and the axe [pelekus] was immediately put-on-trial [krinesthai] and acquitted, and the trial has been repeated year by year down to the present.

{1.28.11} Furthermore, it is also said that inanimate objects have on occasion of their own accord inflicted righteous retribution upon men; of this the scimitar [akinakēs] of Cambyses affords the best and most famous instance. [98] Near the sea at the Peiraieus is Phreattys. Here it is that men in exile, when a further charge has been brought against them in their absence, make their defense on a ship while the judges listen on land. The story [logos] is that Teukros first defended himself in this way before Telamon, claiming that he had not done anything that contributed to the death of Ajax. Let this account suffice for those who are interested to learn about the law courts [dikastēria].

{1.29.1} Near the Peak of Ares [Areiopagos] is shown a ship built for the procession [pompē] of the Panathenaia. This ship, I suppose, has been surpassed in size by others, but I know of no builder who has outdone the vessel at Delos, with its nine banks of oars below the deck.

{1.29.2} Outside the city [polis], too, in the demes [dēmoi] and on the roads [hodoi], the Athenians have sanctuaries [hiera] of the gods [theoi], and tombs [taphoi] of heroes [hērōes] and of men [andres]. Nearest is the Academy [Akadēmiā], a place [khōrion] that once belonged to a private-individual [idiōtēs], but in my time a gymnasium. As one goes down to it [=Akadēmiā], there is an enclosure [peribolos] of Artemis, and wooden-statues [xoana] of Ariste [‘Best’] and Kalliste [‘Most Beautiful’]. I think, and my thinking is in agreement with the poetry [epos plural] of Pamphos, that these are surnames [epiklēseis] of Artemis. I know another tale [logos] that is told [legesthai] about them, but I shall pass over that one. Then there is a small shrine [nåos], into which every year on fixed days they carry [komizein] the statue [agalma] of Dionysus Eleuthereus.

{1.29.3} Such are their sanctuaries [hiera] here, and of the tombs [taphoi] the first is that of Thrasyboulos son of Lykos, in all respects the best [aristos] of all famous [logimoi] Athenians, whether they lived before him or after him. The greater number of the things to be said about him I shall pass over, but the following thing will suffice for verification [pistis] concerning what-is-said [logos]: he put down what is called the tyranny [turannis] of the Thirty, [99] setting out from Thebes with a force amounting at first to sixty men; he also persuaded the Athenians, who were divided-by-factionalism [stasiazein], to be reconciled and to abide by their reconciliation. His is the first tomb [taphos], and after it come those of Pericles, Khabrias, [100] and Phormion. [101]

{1.29.4} There is also a tomb [mnēma] for all the Athenians who happened to die in war, whether in battles [makhai] at sea or on land, except for those who had their struggle [agōnizesthai] at Marathon. These, on account of their manly-valor [andragathiā], have their burial-places [taphoi] on the field-of-battle [khōrā], but the others lie along the road to the Academy [Akadēmiā], and over their burial-places [taphoi] stand slabs [stēlai] that say [by way of inscriptions] the name and the deme [dēmos] of each. First were buried those who in Thrace, after a victorious advance as far as Drabeskos, [102] were unexpectedly attacked by the Edonians and slaughtered. It is also said that strokes-of-lightning [keraunoi] fell upon them.

{1.29.5} Among the generals were Leagros, to whom was entrusted chief command of the army, and Sophanes of Decelea, who killed—when he came to the help of the Aeginetans—Eurybates the Argive, who won the prize in the pentathlon [103] at the Nemean games. This was the third expedition that the Athenians dispatched to places outside of Greece [Hellas]. For against Priam and the Trojans war was made in common [apo koinou logou] by all the Greeks [Hellēnes]; but by themselves the Athenians sent armies, first with Iolaos to Sardinia, secondly to what is now Ionia, and thirdly on the mentioned occasion to Thrace.

{1.29.6} In front of the monument is a slab [stēlē] on which are (represented) horsemen [hippeis] fighting. Their names are Melanopos and Makartatos, who met their death fighting against the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] and Boeotians on the borders of Eleon and Tanagra. There is also a tomb of Thessalian horsemen [hippeis] who, by reason of an old alliance, came when the Peloponnesians with Arkhidamos invaded Attica with an army for the first time, [104] and, close by, that of Cretan bowmen [toxotai]. Again there are tombs [mnēmata] of Athenians: of Cleisthenes, who invented the system of the subdivisions [phulai] at present existing, [105] and of horsemen [hippeis] who died when the Thessalians shared the fortune of war with the Athenians.

{1.29.7} Here too lie the men of Kleōnai, who came with the Argives into Attica; [106] the occasion of which I will write [graphein] when in the course of my narrative [logos] I come to the Argives. There is also the tomb [taphos] of the Athenians who fought against the Aeginetans before the invasion of the Medes [Persians]. It was surely a just decree [bouleuma] even for a democracy when the Athenians actually allowed slaves a public funeral, and to have their names inscribed on a slab [stēlē], which declares that in the war they proved to be good men in relation to their masters [despotai]. There are also [written on tombs] names of other men, their fields-of-battle [agōnes] located in various different places [khōria]. Here lie the most renowned [logimoi] of those who went against Olynthus, [107] and Melesandros, who sailed with a fleet along the Maeander River into upper Caria; [108]

{1.29.8} also those who died in the war with Kassandros, and the Argives who once fought as the allies of Athens. It is said that the alliance between the two sides came about in the following way. The city [polis] of the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] was once shaken by an earthquake sent by the god [theos], and the Helots seceded to Ithome. [109] After the secession the Spartans [Lacedaemonians] sent for help to various places, including Athens, and the Athenians dispatched specially-chosen troops under the command of Kimon, the son of Miltiades. These the Spartans [Lacedaemonians] dismissed, because they suspected them.

{1.29.9} It was intolerable, the Athenians thought, that they had been insulted [peri-hubrizesthai] this way, and on their way back they made an alliance with the Argives, the immemorial enemies of the Spartans [Lacedaemonians]. Afterwards, when a battle was imminent at Tanagra, [110] the Athenians opposing the Boeotians and Spartans [Lacedaemonians], the Argives reinforced the Athenians. For a time the Argives had the better, but night came on and took from them the assurance of their victory, and on the next day the Spartans [Lacedaemonians] had the better, as the Thessalians betrayed the Athenians.

{1.29.10} It occurred to me to account for [katalegein] the following men also. First, there is Apollodoros, commander of the mercenaries, who was an Athenian dispatched by Arsites, satrap of Phrygia-by-the-Hellespont, and who saved their city for the Perinthians when Philip had invaded their territory with an army. [111] He, then, is buried here, and also Euboulos [112] the son of Spintharos, along with men who though brave were not attended by good fortune; some attacked Lakhares when he was tyrant, others planned the capture of the Peiraieus when in the hands of a Macedonian garrison, but before the deed could be accomplished were betrayed by their accomplices and put to death.

{1.29.11} Here also lie those who fell near Corinth. [113] The god [theos] showed most distinctly here and again at Leuktra [114] that those whom the Greeks [Hellēnes] call brave are as nothing if Good Fortune be not with them, seeing that the Spartans [Lacedaemonians], who had on this occasion overcome Corinthians and Athenians, and furthermore Argives and Boeotians, were afterwards at Leuktra so utterly defeated by the Boeotians alone. After those who were killed in Corinth, we come across elegiac verses declaring that one and the same slab has been erected to those who died in Euboea and Chios, [115] and to those who perished in the remote parts of the continent of Asia [Minor], or in Sicily.

{1.29.12} The names of the generals are inscribed with the exception of Nikias, and among the private soldiers are included the Plataeans along with the Athenians. This is the reason why Nikias was passed over, and my account is identical with that of Philistos, who says that while Demosthenes made a truce for the others and excluded himself, attempting to commit suicide when taken prisoner, Nikias voluntarily submitted to the surrender. [116] For this reason Nikias did not have his name inscribed on the slab, being condemned as a voluntary prisoner and an unworthy soldier.

{1.29.13} On another slab are the names of those who fought in the region of Thrace and at Megara, [117] and when Alcibiades persuaded the Arcadians in Mantineia and the people of Elis to revolt from the Spartans [Lacedaemonians], [118] and of those who were victorious over the Syracusans before Demosthenes arrived in Sicily. Here were buried also those who fought in the sea-fights near the Hellespont, [119] those who opposed the Macedonians at Khairōneia, [120] those who were killed at Delium in the territory of Tanagra, [121] the men whom Leosthenes led into Thessaly, those who sailed with Kimon to Cyprus, [122] and of those who with Olympiodoros [123] expelled the garrison not more than thirteen men.

{1.29.14} The Athenians declare that when the Romans were waging a border war they sent a small force to help them, and later on five Attic warships assisted the Romans in a naval action against the Carthaginians. Accordingly, these men also have their tomb here. The achievements of Tolmides and his men, and the manner of their death, I have already set forth, and any who are interested may take note that they are buried along this road. Here lie too those who with Kimon achieved the great feat of winning a land and naval victory on one and the same day. [124]

{1.29.15} Here also are buried Konon and Timotheus, father and son, the second pair thus related to accomplish illustrious deeds, Miltiades and Kimon being the first; Zeno too, the son of Mnaseas and Khrysippos [125] of Soloi, Nikias the son of Nikomedes, the best in painting [zōia graphein = zōigraphos] of all his contemporaries, Harmodios and Aristogeiton, who killed Hipparkhos, the son of Peisistratos; there are also two orators, Ephialtes, who was chiefly responsible for the abolition of the privileges of the Areiopagos [126] , and Lycurgus [Lykourgos], [127] the son of Lykophron;

{1.29.16} Lycurgus [Lykourgos] provided for the state-treasury six thousand five hundred talents more than Pericles, the son of Xanthippos, collected, and he furnished for the procession of the goddess [theos (feminine)] golden figures of Nike and ornaments for a hundred girls [parthénoi]; for war he provided armor and projectiles, besides increasing the fleet to four hundred warships. As for buildings, he completed the theater that others had begun, while during his political life he built ship-sheds [neōs oikoi] at the dockyards in Peiraieus. He built also the gymnasium near what is called the Lyceum. Everything made of silver or gold became part of the plunder that Laoites made away with when he became tyrant, but the buildings remained to my time.

{1.30.1} Before the entrance to the Academy is an altar to Eros, with an inscription indicating that Kharmos was the first Athenian to dedicate an altar to that god. The altar within the city called the altar of Ant-eros they say was dedicated by resident aliens, because the Athenian Meles, spurning the love of Timagoras, a resident alien, ordered him to ascend to the highest point of the rock and cast himself down. Now Timagoras took no account of his life, and was ready to gratify the youth in any of his requests, so he went and cast himself down. When Meles saw that Timagoras was dead, he suffered such pangs of remorse that he threw himself from the same rock and so died. From this time the resident aliens worshipped as Ant-eros the avenging spirit of Timagoras.

{1.30.2} In the Academy is an altar to Prometheus, and from it they run to the city carrying burning torches. The contest is while running to keep the torch still lit; if the torch of the first runner goes out, he has no longer any claim to victory, but the second runner has. If his torch also goes out, then the third man is the victor. If all the torches go out, no one is left to be winner. There is an altar to the Muses, and another to Hermes, and one inside to Athena, and they have built one to Hēraklēs. There is also an olive tree, accounted to be the second that appeared.

{1.30.3} Not far from the Academy is the tomb [mnēma] of Plato, to whom the god [theos] foretold [pro-sēmainein] that he would be the best [aristos] when it comes to philosophy. The manner of the foretelling [pro-sēmainein] was this. On the night before Plato was to become his pupil Socrates dreamed that he saw a swan [kuknos] fly into his insides [kolpos]. Now the swan is a bird with a reputation for the art-of-the-Muses [mousikē], because, they say, a practitioner-of-the-art-of-the-Muses [mousikos] by the name of Swan [Kuknos] became king of the Ligyes on the other side of the Eridanos beyond the Celtic territory, and after his death by the will of Apollo he was changed into the bird. I am ready to believe that a practitioner-of-the-art-of-the-Muses [mousikos] became king of the Ligyes, but I cannot believe that a bird was generated out of a man.

{1.30.4} In this landscape [khōrā] is visible the tower [purgos] of Timon, the only man to see that there is no way to be happy [eudaimōn] except to shun other humans [anthrōpoi]. There is also pointed out a place [khōros] called the Kolōnos Hippios [‘Tumulus of Horses’], the first point in Attica, they say, that Oedipus reached—these things that are said do differ from what is in the poetry [poiēsis] Homer, but they say these things in any case—and an altar [bōmos] of Poseidon Hippios [‘(controller of) horses’], and of Athena Hippiā [‘(controller of) horses’], and a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Peirithoös and Theseus, Oedipus and Adrastos. The grove [alsos] and shrine [nāos] of Poseidon were burned down by Antigonos [128] when he invaded Attica, who at other times also ravaged the land of the Athenians.

{1.31.1} The small demes [dēmoi] of Attica, the founding of all of which happenend separately, presented the following things that are worthy of remembrance [mnēmē]. At Alimous is a sanctuary of Demeter Thesmophoros and of the Maiden [Korē], and at Zoster [‘Waistband’] on the coast is an altar [bōmos] to Athena, as well as to Apollo, to Artemis and to Leto. They say that Leto did not give birth to her children here, but loosened her waistband with a view to her delivery, and the place received its name from this incident. Prospalta has also a sanctuary [hieron] of the Maiden [Korē] and Demeter, and Anagyros has a sanctuary [hieron] of the Mother of the gods. At Kephale the chief cult is that of the Dioskouroi, for the inhabitants call them the Great gods.

{1.31.2} At Prasiai is a temple of Apollo. Hither they say are sent the first-fruits of the Hyperboreans, and the Hyperboreans are said to hand them over to the Arimaspi, the Arimaspi to the Issedones, from these the Scythians bring them to Sinope, thence they are carried by Greeks [Hellēnes] to Prasiai, and the Athenians take them to Delos. The first-fruits are hidden in wheat straw, and they are known of none. There is at Prasiai a monument to Erysikhthon, who died on the voyage home from Delos, after the sacred mission thither.

{1.31.3} How Amphiktyon banished Kranaos, his kinsman by marriage and king of Athens, I have already related. They say that fleeing with his supporters to the deme [dēmos] of Lamptrai he died and was buried there, and at the present day there is a monument to Kranaos at Lamptrai. At Potamoi in Attica is also the tomb of Ion the son of Xouthos—for he too dwelled among the Athenians and was their commander-in-chief in the war with Eleusis.

{1.31.4} Such is the way it is told [legesthai]. The people of Phlya and Myrrhinous have altars [bōmoi] of Apollo Dionysodotos [‘gift of Dionysus’], Artemis Selasphoros ‘light-bearer’], Dionysus Anthios [‘he of the blossoms’], the nymphs [numphai] named Ismenides, and Earth [Gē], whom they name the Great Goddess [theos (feminine)]; a second temple [nāos] has altars [bōmoi] of Demeter Anēsidōrā [‘sender-up of gifts’], Zeus Ktēsios [ ‘giver of possessions’], Athena Tithrōnē, the Maiden [Korē] who is Prōtogonē [‘generated first of all’], and the goddesses [theai] named Semnai. The wooden-likeness [xoana] at Myrrhinοus is of Κolainis.

{1.31.5} The people of Athmonia honor [tīmân] Artemis Amarysia. On inquiry I discovered that the guides [exhēgētai] knew nothing about these female figures, but I conjecture [sun-ballomai] as follows. Amarynthos is a town in Euboea, the inhabitants of which honor [tīmân] Amarysia, while the festival [heortē] of Amarysia which the Athenians celebrate [agein] is no less splendid than the Euboean. The name [of the goddess], I think, came to Athmonia in this way, while the Kolainis in Myrrhinous is named after Kolainos. I have already written that many of the inhabitants of the demes [dēmoi] say that they were ruled-by-kings [basileuesthai] even before the rule [arkhē] of Kekrops. Now Kolainos, say the people of Myrrhinous, is the name of a man who ruled [arkhein] before Kekrops became-king [basileuein].

{1.31.6} There is a deme [dēmos] called Akharnai, where they honor [tīmân], among the gods [theoi],Apollo Aguieus [‘he of the streets’], and Hēraklēs, and there is an altar [bōmos] of Athena Hygieia. And they call upon the name of Athena Hippia [‘of horses’] and Dionysus Melpomenos [‘singing-and-dancing’ (in a chorus)] and, with reference to the same god, Kissos [‘vy’], saying that the plant ivy [kissos] first appeared [phanēnai] there.

{1.32.1} The Attic mountains are Pentelikos, where there are quarries, Parnes, where there is hunting of wild boars and of bears, and Hymettos, which grows the most suitable pasture for bees, except that of the Alazones. [129] For these people have actually bees ranging free, tamely following the other creatures when they go to pasture. These bees are not kept shut up in hives, and they work in any part of the land they happen to visit. They produce a solid mass from which you cannot separate either wax or honey. Such then is its nature.

{1.32.2} The Athenians have also statues [agalmata] of gods on their mountains. On Pentelikos is a statue [agalma] of Athena, on Hymettos one of Zeus Hymettios. There are altars [bōmoi] both of Zeus Ombrios [‘he of the rain’] and of Apollo Proopsios [’foreseer’]. On Parnes is a bronze Zeus Parnethios, and an altar to Zeus Semaleus. There is on Parnes another altar [bōmos], and on it they make-sacrifice [thuein], calling Zeus sometimes Ombrios, sometimes Apēmios. Ankhesmos is a mountain of no great size, with a statue [agalma] of Zeus Ankhesmios.

{1.32.3} Before turning to a description of the islands, I follow up further on matters having to do with the demes [dēmoi] [of Attica]. There is a deme [dēmos] called Marathon, equally distant from the city [polis] of the Athenians and from Karystos in Euboea. It was at this point in Attica that the barbarians landed, were defeated [krateîsthai] in battle, and lost some of their ships as they were trying to pull away [from the shore]. [130] On the plain [pedíon] is the tomb [taphos] of the Athenians, and upon it are slabs [stēlai] with [inscriptions of] the names of those killed, organized by way of their subdivisions [phūlai]; and there is another tomb for the men of Plataea from Boeotia and also for the slaves. I say-this-because [gar] slaves too fought there, and it was the first time that this happened.

{1.32.4} There is also an individual monument [mnēma] for one man, Miltiades son of Kimon, although his end [teleutē] happened later, after he had failed to capture Paros and for this reason had been put on trial by the Athenians. At this place [= Marathon] every night you can hear horses neighing and you can sense that men are fighting in combat. No one who has deliberately set out to experience this vision [théā] in-full-view [en-argēs] has ever really had any success, but still, if something is experienced in some alternative way by someone who has no ear for such things, this is no cause for anger [orgē] on the part of the spirits [daimones]. The people of Marathon worship [sebesthai] both those who died in the fighting, calling them heroes [hērōes], and also [the hero] Marathon, from whom the deme [dēmos] derives its name, and then Hēraklēs, saying that they were the first among the Greeks [Hellēnes] to establish-the-custom-of-thinking [nomizein] him to be a god [theos].

{1.32.5} They [= the people of Marathon] tell about something that happened at the battle [makhē] [of Marathon]. It was the presence of a man who had the looks [eidos] of a farmer [agr-oikos]—and implements [skeuē] to match. Wielding a plough [arotron] he slaughtered with it many of the barbarians, and then, after having done what-was-done [ergon] he disappeared [= became a-phanēs]. When the Athenians consulted the god [Apollo], he did not make-an-oracular-pronouncement [khrēsai] with regard to him [= the man with the plough] but simply commanded them to honor [tīmân] Ekhetlaios (= he of the plough-handle) as a hero [hērōs]. A trophy-column [tropaion] of white marble has been made [to mark the turning-point or tropaion of the battle of Marathon]. The Athenians say that they buried the Persians, since it is a universally [pantōs] holy-thing [hosion] for the corpse [nekros] of a human to be covered by the earth, but I could not find any tomb [taphos] for them. There was neither a tumulus [khōma] nor any other marker [sēmeion] to be seen. They must have carried them [= the dead Persians], just as they found them, to some ditch and tossed them in.

{1.32.6} In Marathon is a spring [pēgē] called Makaria, and what they say about it is as follows. When Hēraklēs left Tiryns, fleeing from Eurystheus, he went to live with his friend Keyx, who was king of Trakhis. When Hēraklēs departed the life of humans [anthrōpoi], Eurystheus demanded his children. But the king of Trakhis sent them to Athens, saying that he was weak while Theseus was hardly powerless to protect them. The arrival of the children as suppliants [hiketai] caused for the first time war between Peloponnesians and Athenians, since Theseus refused to give them up [= the children of Hēraklēs] at the demand of Eurystheus. And they say that an oracle [khrēsmos] was given the Athenians that one of the children of Hēraklēs must die a voluntary death, or else victory [nīkē] could not be theirs. Then Makaria, daughter of Deianeira and Hēraklēs, slaughtered [apo-sphazein] herself and gave to the Athenians the upper hand [kratos] in the war and to the spring [pēgē] her own name.

{1.32.7} There is at Marathon a lake [limnē] which for the most part is marshy [hel-ōdēs]. Into this lake fell the barbarians [= the Persians] as they were turning and running [after the battle], since they did not know their way around the roads, and it is said that much of the slaughter [phonos] that followed was because of this. Above the lake are the stone stables of the horses of Artaphernes, and there are marks [sēmeia] of his tent [skēnē] on the rocks. Out of the lake flows a river, providing near the lake itself water suitable for cattle, but near its mouth it becomes saline and full of sea fish. A little beyond the plain is the Hill of Pan and a Cave of Pan, which is worthy of viewing [théā]. The entrance to it is narrow, but farther in are chambers and baths and the so-called Pan’s herd of goats, which are rocks that look very much like goats.

{1.33.1} At some distance from Marathon is Brauron, where, they say that Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, landed carrying the statue [agalma] of Artemis when she fled from Tauroi; leaving the statue [agalma] there she came to Athens also and afterwards to Argos. There is indeed an old wooden image of Artemis here, but who in my opinion have the one taken from the barbarians I will set forth in another place.

{1.33.2} About sixty stadium-lengths from Marathon as you go along the road by the sea to Oropos stands Rhamnous. The houses [oikēseis] for human habitation are on the coast, but a little way inland is a sacred space [hieron] of Nemesis, who of all the gods [theoi] is the most inexorable toward humans who-commit-outrage [hubristai]. It is thought that the wrath [mēnīma] of this goddess [(he) theos] countered the barbarians [= Persians] who landed at Marathon. Scornfully thinking that nothing stood in the way of their capturing Athens, they were bringing a piece of Parian marble for the making [poiēsis] of a trophy [tropaion], as if their task were already finished.

{1.33.3} Of this marble Pheidias made a statue [agalma] of Nemesis, and on the head of the goddess [theos (feminine) ] is a garland [stephanos] picturing deer and small statues [agalmata] of Nike. In her left hand she holds an apple branch, in her right hand a cup on which are crafted the figures of Aethiopians. As to the Aethiopians, I could hazard no guess myself, nor could I accept the statement of those who are convinced that the Aethiopians have been carved upon the cup because of the river Okeanos. For the Aethiopians, they say, dwell near it, and Okeanos is the father of Nemesis.

{1.33.4} It is not the river Okeanos, but the farthest part of the sea navigated by man, near which dwell the Iberians and the Celts, and Okeanos surrounds the island of Britain. But of the Aethiopians beyond Syene, those who live farthest in the direction of the Red Sea are the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eaters), and the gulf round which they live is called after them. The most righteous of them inhabit the city Meroe and what is called the Aethiopian plain. These are they who show the Table of the Sun, [131] and they have neither sea nor river except the Nile.

{1.33.5} There are other Aethiopians who are neighbors of the Mauroi and extend as far as the Nasamones. For the Nasamones, whom Herodotus calls the Atlantes, and those who profess to know the measurements of the earth, named the Lixitai, are the Libyans who live the farthest close to Mount Atlas, and they do not till the ground at all, but live on wild vines. But neither these Aethiopians nor yet the Nasamones have any river. For the water near Atlas, which provides a beginning to three streams, does not make any of the streams a river, as the sand swallows it all up at once. So the Aethiopians dwell near no river Okeanos.

{1.33.6} The water from Atlas is muddy, and near the source were crocodiles of not less than two cubits, which when the men approached dashed down into the spring. The thought has occurred to many that it is the reappearance of this water out of the sand which gives the Nile to Egypt. Mount Atlas is so high that its peaks are said to touch the sky [ouranos], but is inaccessible because of the water and the presence everywhere of trees. Its region indeed near the Nasamones is known, but we know of nobody yet who has sailed along the parts facing the sea. I must now resume.

{1.33.7} Neither this nor any other ancient statue [agalma] of Nemesis has wings, for not even the holiest [hagiōtata] wooden-images [xoana] of the people of Smyrna have them, but those who came later, wishfully thinking that the goddess [theos (feminine)] appears-in-epiphanies [epi-phainesthai] mostly as a consequence of passionate-love [erân], make [poieîn] wings for Nemesis as they do for Eros [‘passionate-love’ personified] . I will now go go through what has been artistically-worked [ergazesthai] into the pedestal of the statue [agalma], having made such preliminary remarks as I have made for the sake of clarity. The Greeks [Hellēnes] say that Nemesis was the mother of Helen, while Leda breast-fed her and raised [trephein] her. And, along these same lines, they as well as everyone else say that the father of Helen is not Tyndareus but Zeus.

{1.33.8} Having heard these things Pheidias has represented Helen as being led to Nemesis by Leda, and he has represented Tyndareus and his children with a man Hippeus by name standing by with a horse. There are Agamemnon and Menelaos and Pyrrhos, the son of Achilles and first husband of Hermione, the daughter of Helen. Orestes was passed over because of his crime against his mother, yet Hermione stayed by his side in everything and bore him a child. Next upon the pedestal is one called Epochus and another youth; the only thing I heard about them was that they were brothers of Oinoe, from whom the deme [dēmos] has its name.

{1.34.1} The land of Oropos, between Attica and the land of Tanagra, which originally belonged to Boeotia, in our time belongs to the Athenians, who always fought for it but never won secure possession until Philip gave it to them after taking Thebes. Their city [polis] is on the coast and affords nothing remarkable for any scientific-write-up [sungraphē]. About twelve stadium-lengths from the city [polis] is a sanctuary [hieron] of Amphiaraos.

{1.34.2} It is said that, when Amphiaraos was fleeing from Thebes, the earth opened up and received-from-down-below [hupo-dekhesthai] both him and his chariot. Except, it is also said that it did not happen here. There is a place called the Chariot [Harma], located on the road from Thebes to Khalkis. It was first among the people of Oropos that it became customary to think [nomizein] Amphiaraos to be a god [theos]. In later time, all Greeks [Hellēnes] have come around to thinking [hēgeîsthai] the same way. I can enumerate [kata-legein] other humans [anthrōpoi] from back then who now have honors [tīmai] that belong to gods [theoi]; some even have cities dedicated to them, such as Elaious in Chersonnesus, dedicated to Protesilaos, and Lebadea of the Boeotians, dedicated to Trophonios. The people of Oropos have both a temple [nāos] and a white marble statue [agalma] of Amphiaraos.

{1.34.3} The altar [bōmos] shows parts. One part is to Hēraklēs, Zeus, and Apollo Healer, another is given up to heroes and to wives of heroes, the third is to Hestia and Hermes and Amphiaraos and the children of Amphilokhos. But Alkmaion, because of his treatment of Eriphyle, is honored neither in the temple of Amphiaraos nor yet with Amphilokhos. The fourth portion of the altar is to Aphrodite and Panacea, and further to Iaso, Hygieia and Athena Healer. The fifth is dedicated to the nymphs and to Pan, and to the rivers Akhelōos and Kephisos. The Athenians too have an altar to Amphilokhos in the city, and there is at Mallus in Cilicia an oracle of his which is the most trustworthy of my day.

{1.34.4} The Oropians have near the temple a spring, which they call the Spring of Amphiaraos; they neither sacrifice into it nor are accustomed to use it for purifications or for lustral water. But when a man has been cured of a disease through a response the custom is to throw silver and coined gold into the spring, for by this way they say that Amphiaraos rose up after he had become a god. Iophon of Knossos, a guide, produced responses in hexameter verse, saying that Amphiaraos gave them to the Argives who were sent against Thebes. These verses unrestrainedly appealed to popular taste. Except those whom they say Apollo inspired of old none of the seers uttered oracles, but they were good at explaining dreams and interpreting the flights of birds and the entrails of victims.

{1.34.5} My opinion is that Amphiaraos devoted himself most to the exposition of dreams. It is manifest that, when his divinity was established, it was a dream oracle that he set up. One who has come to consult Amphiaraos is accustomed first to purify himself. The mode of purification is to sacrifice to the god, and they sacrifice not only to him but also to all those whose names are on the altar. And when all these things have been first done, they sacrifice a ram, and, spreading the skin under them, go to sleep and await enlightenment in a dream.

{1.35.1} There are islands not far from Attica. Of the one called the Island of Patroklos I have already given an account. [132] There is another when you have sailed past Sounion with Attica on the left. On this they say that Helen landed after the capture of Troy,

{1.35.2} and for this reason the name of the island is Helene. Salamis lies over against Eleusis, and stretches as far as the territory of Megara. It is said that the first to give this name to the island was Cychreus, who called it after his mother Salamis, the daughter of Asopos, and afterwards it was colonized by the Aeginetans with Telamon. Philaios the son of Eurysakes the son of Ajax, is said to have handed the island over to the Athenians, having been made an Athenian by them. Many years afterwards the Athenians drove out all the Salaminians, having discovered that they had been guilty of treachery in the war with Kassandros, [133] and mainly of set purpose had surrendered to the Macedonians. They sentenced to death Aiskhetades, who on this occasion had been elected general for Salamis, and they swore never to forget the treachery of the Salaminians.

{1.35.3} There are still the remains of a marketplace, a temple of Ajax and his statue [agalma] in ebony. Even at the present day the Athenians pay honors to Ajax himself and to Eurysakes, for there is an altar of Eurysakes also in Athens. In Salamis is shown a stone not far from the harbor, on which they say that Telamon sat when he gazed at the ship in which his children were sailing away to Aulis to take part in the joint expedition of the Greeks [Hellēnes].

{1.35.4} Those who dwell about Salamis say that it was when Ajax died that the flower first appeared in their country. It is white and tinged with red, both flower and leaves being smaller than those of the lily; there are letters on it like to those on the iris. About the judgment concerning the armor I heard a story of the Aeolians who afterwards settled at Ilion, to the effect that when Odysseus suffered shipwreck the armor was cast ashore near the tomb of Ajax. As to the hero’s size, a Mysian was my informant.

{1.35.5} He said that the sea flooded the side of the tomb facing the beach and made it easy to enter the tomb, and he told me to form an estimate of the size of the corpse in the following way. The bones on his knees, called by doctors the knee-pan, were in the case of Ajax as big as the discus of a boy in the pentathlon. I saw nothing to wonder at in the stature of those Celts who live farthest off on the borders of the land which is uninhabited because of the cold; these people, the Kabareîs, are no bigger than Egyptian corpses. But I will relate all that appeared to me worthy of viewing [théā].

{1.35.6} For the Magnesians on the Lethaios, Protophanes, one of the citizens, won at Olympia in one day victories in the pankration [134] and in wrestling. Into the tomb of this man robbers entered, thinking to gain some advantage, and after the robbers people came in to see the corpse, which had ribs not separated but joined together from the shoulders to the smallest ribs, those called by doctors bastard. Before the city of the Milesians is an island called Lade, and from it certain islets are detached. One of these they call the islet of Asterios, and say that Asterios was buried in it, and that Asterios was the son of Anax, and Anax the son of Earth. Now the corpse is not less than ten cubits.

{1.35.7} But what really caused me surprise is this. There is a small city of upper Lydia called The Doors of Temenus. There a crest broke away in a storm, and there appeared bones the shape of which led one to suppose that they were human, but from their size one would never have thought it. At once the story spread among the multitude that it was the corpse of Geryon, the son of Khrysaor, and that the seat also was his. For there is a man’s seat carved on a rocky spur of the mountain. And a torrent they called the river Okeanos, and they said that men ploughing met with the horns of cattle, for the story is that Geryon reared excellent cows.

{1.35.8} And when I criticized the account and pointed out to them that Geryon is at Gadeira, where there is, not his tomb, but a tree showing different shapes, the guides of the Lydians related the true story, that the corpse is that of Hyllos, a son of Earth, from whom the river is named. They also said that Hēraklēs from his sojourning with Omphale called his son Hyllos after the river.

{1.36.1} But I will return to my subject. In Salamis is a sanctuary of Artemis, and also a trophy erected in honor of the victory which Themistocles the son of Neokles won for the Greeks [Hellēnes]. [135] There is also a sanctuary of Kykhreus. When the Athenians were fighting the Persians at sea, a serpent is said to have appeared in the fleet, and the god in an oracle told the Athenians that it was Kykhreus the hero.

{1.36.2} Before Salamis there is an island called Psyttalea. Here they say that about four hundred of the barbarians [= Persians] landed, and when the fleet of Xerxes was defeated, these also were killed after the Greeks [Hellēnes] had crossed over to Psyttaleia. The island has no artistic statue [agalma], only some roughly carved-wooden-statues [xoana] of Pan.

{1.36.3} As one goes to Eleusis from Athens along what the Athenians call the Sacred Way [Hierā Hodos], there is a tomb [mnēma] that was made [poieîn]—the tomb of Anthemokritos. [136] The people of Megara committed against him a most wicked deed, for when he had come as a herald to forbid them to encroach upon the land in future they put him to death. For this act the wrath of the Two Goddesses [theai] lies upon them even to this day, for they are the only Greeks [Hellēnes] that not even ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian could make more prosperous.

{1.36.4} After the tombstone of Anthemokritos comes the tomb of Molottos, who was deemed worthy of commanding the Athenians when they crossed into Euboea [137] to reinforce Plutarch, [138] and also a place called Skiron, which received its name for the following reason. The Eleusinians were making war against Erekhtheus when there came from Dodona a seer called Skiros, who also set up at Phaleron the ancient sanctuary of Athena Skiras. When he fell in the fighting the Eleusinians buried him near a torrent, and the hero has given his name to both place and torrent.

{1.36.5} Close by is the tomb of Kephisodoros, who was champion of the people and opposed to the utmost Philip, the son of Demetrios, king of Macedon. Kephisodoros induced to become allies of Athens two kings, Attalos the Mysian and Ptolemy the Egyptian, and, of the self-governing peoples, the Aetolians with the Rhodians and the Cretans among the islanders.

{1.36.6} As the reinforcements from Egypt, Mysia, and Crete were for the most part too late, and the Rhodians, whose strength lay only in their fleet, were of little help against the Macedonian men-at-arms, Kephisodoros sailed with other Athenians to Italy and begged aid of the Romans. [139] They sent a force and a general, who so reduced Philip and the Macedonians that afterwards Perseus, the son of Philip, lost his throne and was himself taken prisoner to Italy. This Philip was the son of Demetrios. Demetrios was the first of this house to hold the throne of Macedon, having put to death Alexander, son of Kassandros, as I have related in a former part of my account.

{1.37.1} After the tomb of Kephisodoros is the tomb of Heliodoros Halis. A portrait of this man is also to be seen in the great temple of Athena. Here too is the tomb of Themistocles, son of Poliarkhos, and grandson of the Themistocles who fought the sea fight against Xerxes and the Persians. Of the later descendants I shall mention none except Akestion. She, her father Xenokles, his father Sophocles, and his father Leon, all of them up to her great-grandfather Leon won the honor of being torch-bearers [dāidoukhoi], and in her own lifetime she saw as torch-bearers, first her brother Sophocles, after him her husband Themistocles, and after his death her son Theophrastus. Such was the fortune [tukhē], they say, that happened to her.

{1.37.2} A little way past the tomb of Themistocles is a precinct [temenos] that is sacred [hieron] to Lakios, a hero [hērōs], and there is a deme [dēmos] called after him, Lakiadai; also the tomb [mnēma] of Nikokles of Tarentum, who won a unique reputation as a citharode [kitharōidos = kitharā-singer]. There is also an altar [bōmos] of Zephyrus and a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter and her daughter. With them Athena and Poseidon have honors [tīmai]. They say that in this place [khōrion] Phytalos welcomed Demeter in his home, for which act the goddess [theos (feminine)] gave him the fig tree. This story is borne out by the inscription on the tomb of Phytalos:

{1.37.3} Before crossing the Kephisos one comes to the tomb of Theodoros, the best tragic actor of his day. [141] By the river is a statue [agalma] of Mnesimakhe, and a votive statue [anathēma] of her son cutting his hair as a gift for Kephisos. That this habit has existed from ancient times among all the Greeks [Hellēnes] may be inferred from the poetry of Homer, [142] who makes Peleus vow that on the safe return of Achilles from Troy he will cut off the young man’s hair as a gift for the Sperkheios.

{1.37.4} Across the Kephisos is an ancient altar of Zeus Meilikhios [‘benign’]. At this altar Theseus obtained purification at the hands of the descendants of Phytalus after killing brigands, including Sinis who was related to him through Pittheus. Here is the tomb of Theodektes [143] of Phaselis, and also that of Mnesitheus. They say that he was a skillful physician and dedicated statues [agalmata], among which is a representation of Iakkhos. On the road stands a small temple called that of Cyamites. [144] I cannot state for certain whether he was the first to sow beans, or whether they gave this name to a hero because they may not attribute to Demeter the discovery of beans. Whoever has been initiated at Eleusis or has read what are called the Orphika knows what I mean.

{1.37.5} Of the tombs, the largest and most beautiful are that of a Rhodian who settled in Athens, and the one made by the Macedonian Harpalos, who ran away from Alexander and crossed with a fleet from Asia to Europe. On his arrival in Athens he was arrested by the citizens, but ran away after bribing among others the friends of Alexander. But before this he married Pythonikē, whose family I do not know, but she was a courtesan in Athens and in Corinth. His love for her was so great that when she died he made her a tomb [mnēma] which is of all the old tombs of the Greeks [Hellēnes] the most worthy of viewing [théā]. .

{1.37.6} There is a sanctuary in which are set statues [agalmata] of Demeter, her daughter, Athena, and Apollo. At the first it was built in honor of Apollo only. That is because, as they say, Kephalos the son of Deion, having helped Amphitryon to destroy the Teleboans, was the first to dwell [oikeîn] in the island that now is called after him Kephallenia, and they say that he resided [met-oikeîn] till that time at Thebes, exiled from Athens because he had killed his wife Procris. In the tenth generation afterwards Khalkinos and Daitos, descendants of Kephalos, sailed to Delphi and asked the god for permission to return to Athens.

{1.37.7} He ordered them first to sacrifice to Apollo in that spot in Attica where they should see a man-of-war running on the land. When they reached the mountain called the Many-colored Mountain a snake was seen hurrying into its hole. In this place they sacrificed to Apollo; afterwards they came to Athens and the Athenians made them citizens. After this is a temple of Aphrodite, before which is a wall worthy of viewing [théā], made of unfinished stone.

{1.38.1} The streams called Rheitoi are rivers only in so far as they have a flow [rheuma]. I say this because the water [of these streams] is sea water. It is a reasonable belief that they flow beneath the earth from the Euripos of the people of Kalkhis, and plunge into a sea of a lower level. The streams called Rheitoi are said to be sacred [hieroi] to the Maiden [Korē] and to Demeter, and only the priests [hiereîs] [of these goddesses] are permitted to catch the fish in them. In ancient times, I learn, these streams were the boundaries [horoi] between the land of the Eleusinians and that of the other Athenians,

{1.38.2} and the first to dwell [oikeîn] on the other side of the Rheitoi was Krokon, where at the present day is what is called the royal-palace [basíleia] of Krokon. This Krokon the Athenians say shared-his-welling [sun-oikeîn] with Saisara, daughter of Keleus. Not all of them say this, but only those who belong to the deme [dēmos] of Skambonidai. I could not find the tomb [taphos] of Crocon, but Eleusinians and Athenians both agreed in identifying the tomb of Eumolpos. This Eumolpos they say came from Thrace, being the son of Poseidon and Khione. Khione they say was the daughter of the wind Boreas and of Oreithyia. Homer poetically-says [poieîn] nothing about the lineage [genos] of Eumolpos, but in his verses [epē] he calls him agēnōr [‘very manly’].

{1.38.3} When the Eleusinians fought with the Athenians, Erekhtheus, king [basileus] of the Athenians, was killed, as was also Immarados, son of Eumolpos. These were the terms on which they concluded the war: the Eleusinians were in all ways to be subject to the Athenians—except that would be on their own in ritually-conducting [teleîn] the [Eleusinian] mysteries [teletē]. The sacred-rites [hiera] for the Two Goddesses [theai] would be performed [drân] by Eumolpos and by the daughters of Keleus, whom Pamphos and Homer agree in naming Diogénia, Pammerope, and, the third, Saisara. Eumolpos was survived by Keryx, the younger of his sons whom the Kerykes themselves say was a son of Aglauros, daughter of Kekrops, and of Hermes, not of Eumolpos.

{1.38.4} There is also a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Hippothoön, after whom the civic-lineage [phulē] is named, and, close by, one of Zarex. The latter they say learned the art-of-the-Muses [mousikē] from Apollo, but my opinion is that he was a Lacedaemonian who came as a stranger [xenos] to the land, and that after him is named Zarax, a town in the Laconian territory near the sea. If there is a local [epikhōrios] Athenian hero [hērōs] called Zarex, I have nothing to say concerning him.

{1.38.5} At Eleusis flows a [stream named] Kephisos that is more-violent [biaioteron] than the stream [rheuma] by the same name as mentioned above, and by the side of it is the place they call Erineus. They say that Pluto [Ploutōn] descended [katabainein] there [to the lower world] after abducting [harpazein] the Maiden [Korē]. Near this Kephisos Theseus killed a brigand [lēistēs] named Polypemon and surnamed Procrustes.

{1.38.6} The Eleusinians have a temple [nāos] of Triptolemos, of Artemis Propulaia [‘of the Portal’], and of Poseidon Patēr [‘father’], also a well [phrear] called Kallikhoron [‘beautiful place-for-dance-and-song’), where first the women of the Eleusinians set up [histanai] a khoros ‘place for song-and-dance’, and they sang [āidein], directing the song at the goddess [(he) theā, = Artemis]. They say that the plain [pedíon] called Rharion was the first to be sown and the first to grow crops-for-harvest [karpos], and for this reason it is the custom to use sacrificial-barley [oulai] from its produce and to make cakes [pemmata] for the sacrifices [thusiai]. Here is shown what is called the threshing-floor [halōs] of Triptolemos, and an altar [bōmos].

{1.38.7} As for the things inside the wall [teikhos] of the sanctuary [hieron], I had a dream [oneiros] about them, but this dream did not permit me to write it down. Those who are not initiated [telesthentes] are of course unable to learn of the vision [théā] what they are prevented from seeing. Some say that the hero [hērōs] Eleusis, after whom the city is named, is a son of Hermes and of Daeira, daughter of Okeanos; It has been said-poetically [poieîn] by others, however, that Ogygos is the father of Eleusis. Ancient stories [logoi], not backed up by poetry [epē], have given rise to many things that people make-up [plasasthai], especially with regard to the genealogies [genē] of heroes [hērōes].

{1.38.8} When you have turned from Eleusis to Boeotia you come to the Plataean land, which borders on Attica. Formerly Eleutherai formed the boundary on the side towards Attica, but when it came over to the Athenians henceforth the boundary of Boeotia was Kithairon. The reason why the people of Eleutherai came over was not because they were reduced by war, but because they desired to share Athenian citizenship and hated the Thebans. In this plain is a temple of Dionysus, from which the old wooden image was carried off to Athens. The image at Eleutherai at the present day is a copy of the old one.

{1.38.9} A little farther on is a small cave, and beside it is a spring [pēgē] of cold water. It is said about the cave that Antiope, after her labor, placed her babies into it; as to the spring [pēgē], it is said that the shepherd who found the babies washed them there for the first time, taking off their swaddling clothes. Of Eleutherai there were still left the ruins of the wall and of the houses. From these it is clear that the city was built a little above the plain close to Kithairon.

{1.39.1} There is another road from Eleusis, which leads to Megara. As you go along this road you come to a well called Anthium (Flowery Well). Pamphos in his poems describes how Demeter in the likeness of an old woman sat at this well after the abduction of her daughter, how the daughters of Keleos thence took her as an Argive woman to their mother, and how Metaneira thereupon entrusted to her the rearing of her son.

{1.39.2} A little farther on from the well is a sanctuary of Metaneira, and after it are tombs of those who went against Thebes. For Creon, who at that time ruled in Thebes as guardian of Laodamas the son of Eteokles, refused to allow the relatives to take up and bury their dead. But Adrastos having supplicated Theseus, the Athenians fought with the Boeotians, and Theseus being victorious in the fight carried the dead to the Eleusinian territory and buried them here. The Thebans, however, say that they voluntarily gave up the dead for burial and deny that they engaged in battle.

{1.39.3} After the tombs of the Argives is the tomb of Alope, who, they say, after she was made pregnant by Poseidon and became mother of Hippothoön, was at this very place put to death by her father Kerkyon. He is said to have treated strangers wickedly, especially in wrestling with them against their will. So even to my day this place is called the Wrestling Ground of Kerkyon, being a little way from the tomb of Alope. Kerkyon is said to have killed all those who tried a bout with him except Theseus, who outmatched him mainly by his skill. For Theseus was the first to discover the art of wrestling, and through him afterwards was established the teaching of the art. Before him men used in wrestling only size and strength of body. Such in my opinion are the best-known stories [logoi] and sights [theõrēmata] that the Athenians possess, and from the beginning my own narrative [logos] has picked out, from such many things, those that stand out as worth writing-up [sun-graphein].

{1.39.4} Next to Eleusis is the district called Megaris. This too belonged to Athens in ancient times, Pylas the king having left it to Pandion. My evidence is this; in the land is the tomb of Pandion, and Nisos, while giving up the rule over the Athenians to Aigeus, the eldest of all the family, was himself made king of Megara and of the territory as far as Corinth. Even at the present day the port of the Megarians is called Nisaia after him. Subsequently in the reign of Kodros the Peloponnesians made an expedition against Athens. Having accomplished nothing brilliant, on their way home they took Megara from the Athenians, and gave it as a dwelling-place to such of the Corinthians and of their other allies as wished to go there.

{1.39.5} In this way the Megarians changed their customs and dialect and became Dorians, and they say that the city received its name when Kar the son of Phoroneus was king in this land. It was then they say that sanctuaries of Demeter were first made by them, and then that men used the name Megara (Chambers). This is their history according to the Megarians themselves. But the Boeotians declare that Megareus, son of Poseidon, who dwelled in Onkhestos, came with an army of Boeotians to help Nisos wage the war against Minos; that falling in the battle he was buried on the spot, and the city was named Megara from him, having previously been called Nisa.

{1.39.6} In the twelfth generation after Kar the son of Phoroneus the Megarians say that Lelex arrived from Egypt and became king, and that in his reign the tribe Leleges received its name. Lelex they say fathered Kleson, Kleson Pylas and Pylas Skiron, who married the daughter of Pandion and afterwards disputed with Nisos, the son of Pandion, about the throne, the dispute being settled by Aiakos, who gave the kingship to Nisos and his descendants, and to Skīrōn the leadership in war. They say further that Nisos was succeeded by Megareus, the son of Poseidon, who married Iphinoe, the daughter of Nisos, but they ignore altogether the Cretan war and the capture of the city in the reign of Nisos.

{1.40.1} There is in the city a fountain, which was built for the citizens by Theagenes, [145] whom I have mentioned previously as having given his daughter in marriage to Kylon the Athenian. This Theagenes upon becoming tyrant built the fountain, which is worthy of viewing [théā] for its size, beauty and the number of its pillars. Water flows into it called the water of the Sithnid nymphs. The Megarians say that the Sithnid nymphs are native, and that one of them mated with Zeus; that Megaros, a son of Zeus and of this nymph, escaped the flood in the time of Deukalion, and made his escape to the heights of Gerania. The mountain had not yet received this name, but was then named Gerania (Crane Heights) because cranes were flying and Megaros swam towards the cry of the birds.

{1.40.2} Not far from this fountain is an ancient sanctuary, and in our day likenesses [eikónes] stand in it of Roman emperors, and a bronze statue [agalma] is there of Artemis surnamed Savior. There is a story that a detachment of the army of Mardonios, having overrun Megaris, [146] wished to return to Mardonios at Thebes, but that by the will of Artemis night came on them as they marched, and missing their way they turned into the hilly region. Trying to find out whether there was a hostile force near they shot some missiles. The rock near groaned when struck, and they shot again with greater eagerness,

{1.40.3} until at last they used up all their arrows thinking that they were shooting at the enemy. When the day broke, the Megarians attacked, and being men in armor fighting against men without armor who no longer had even a supply of missiles, they killed the greater number of their opponents. For this reason they had an image made of Artemis Savior. Here are also statues [agalmata] of the gods named the Twelve, said to be the work of Praxiteles. But the image of Artemis herself was made by Strongylion.

{1.40.4} After this, as one enters the precinct [temenos] of Zeus called the Olympieion, there is a temple [nāos] of his there that is worthy of viewing [théā]. But the statue [agalma] of Zeus was not finished, for the work was interrupted by the war of the Peloponnesians against the Athenians, in which the Athenians every year ravaged the land of the Megarians with a fleet and an army, damaging public revenues and bringing private families to dire distress. The face of the statue [agalma] of Zeus is of ivory and gold, the other parts are of clay and gypsum. The artist is said to have been Theokosmos, a native, helped by Pheidias. Above the head of Zeus are the Seasons and Fates, and all may see that he is the only god obeyed by Destiny, and that he apportions the seasons as is due. Behind the temple lie half-worked pieces of wood, which Theokosmos intended to overlay with ivory and gold in order a complete the statue [agalma] of Zeus.

{1.40.5} In the temple itself is dedicated a bronze ram of a galley. This ship they say that they captured off Salamis in a naval action with the Athenians. The Athenians too admit that for a time they evacuated the island before the Megarians, saying that afterwards Solon [147] wrote elegiac poems and encouraged them, and that thereupon the Athenians challenged their enemies, won the war and recovered Salamis. But the Megarians say that exiles from themselves, whom they call Dorycleans, reached the colonists in Salamis and betrayed the island to the Athenians.

{1.40.6} After the precinct [temenos] of Zeus, as one goes up to the acropolis, which even at the present day is called Karia from Kar, son of Phoroneus, there is a temple [nāos] of Dionysus Nyktelios [of the night], also a sanctuary [temenos] made [poieîn] for Aphrodite Epistrophiā [‘she-who-turns-(humans-)to-love’], also an oracle [manteîon] called ‘of the Night’, also a temple [nāos] of Zeus Konios [‘of the dust’], which does not have a roof. The statue [agalma] of Asklepios and also that of Hygieia were made by Bryaxis. Here too is what is called the Chamber [megaron] of Demeter, which was made [poieîn], they say, by Kar when he was king.

{1.41.1} As one comes down from the acropolis, where the ground turns northwards, is the tomb of Alkmene, near the Olympieion. They say that as she was walking from Argos to Thebes she died on the way at Megara, and that the Herakleidai got into a dispute, some wishing to convey [komizein] the corpse [nekros] of Alkmene back to Argos, others wishing to take it to Thebes, as in Thebes were buried Amphitryon and the children of Hēraklēs that were mothered by Megara. But the god in Delphi gave them an oracle that it was better for them to bury Alkmene in Megara.

{1.41.2} From this place the local guide took us to a place which he said was named Rhous (Stream), for that water once flowed here from the mountains above the city. But Theagenes, who was tyrant at that time, turned the water into another direction and made here an altar to Akhelōos. Close by is the tomb of Hyllos, son of Hēraklēs, who fought a duel with an Arcadian, Ekhemos the son of Aeropos. Who the Ekhemos was who killed Hyllos I will tell in another part of my narrative, but Hyllos also is buried at Megara. These events might correctly be called an expedition of the Herakleidai into the Peloponnesus in the reign of Orestes.

{1.41.3} Not far from the tomb of Hyllos is a temple of Isis, and beside it one of Apollo and of Artemis. They say that Alkathoos made it after killing the lion from Kithairon, as he is called. By this lion they say many were killed, including Euhippos, the son of Megareus their king, whose elder son Timalkos had before this been killed by Theseus while on a campaign with the Dioskouroi against Aphidna. Megareus they say promised that he who killed the lion of Kithairon should marry his daughter and succeed him in the kingdom. Alkathoos therefore, son of Pelops, attacked the beast and overcame it, and when he came to the throne he built this sanctuary, surnaming Artemis as Agrotera [‘Huntress’] and Apollo Agraios [‘Hunter’].

{1.41.4} Such is the account of the Megarians; but although I wish my account to agree with theirs, yet I cannot accept everything they say. I am ready to believe that a lion was killed by Alkathoos on Kithairon, but what historian has recorded that Timalkos the son of Megareus came with the Dioskouroi to Aphidna? And supposing he had gone there, how could one hold that he had been killed by Theseus, when Alcman wrote a poem on the Dioskouroi, [148] in which he says that they captured Athens and carried into captivity the mother of Theseus, but Theseus himself was absent?

{1.41.5} Pindar in his poems agrees with this account, saying that Theseus, wishing to be related to the Dioskouroi, carried off Helen and kept her until he departed to carry out with Peirithoös the marriage that they tell of. Whoever has studied genealogy finds the Megarians guilty of great silliness, since Theseus was a descendant of Pelops. The fact is that the Megarians know the true story but conceal it, not wishing it to be thought that their city was captured in the reign of Nisos, but that both Megareus, the son-in-law of Nisos, and Alkathoos, the son-in-law of Megareus, succeeded their respective fathers-in-law as king.

{1.41.6} It is evident that Alkathoos arrived from Elis just at the time when Nisos had died and the people of Megara had lost everything. Witness-to-the-truth [marturion] of what I say is that he built the wall [teikhos] all over again, from the start, since the old enclosure [peribolos] [round the city] had been destroyed by the Cretans. Let so much suffice for memory [mnēmē] about Alkathoos and the lion, whether it was on Kithairon or elsewhere that the killing took place that caused him to make a temple [nāos] to Artemis Agrotera and Apollo Agraios. As one goes down from this sanctuary [hieron] there is the hero-shrine [hērōion] of Pandion. My narrative [logos] has already told how Pandion was buried on what is called the Rock [skopelos] of Athena Aithuia [‘Gannet’]. He receives honors [tīmai] from the people of Megara in the city as well.

{1.41.7} Near the hero-shrine [hērōion] of Pandion is the tomb [mnēma] of Hippolyte. I will write down [graphein] the kinds of things that the people of Megara say with regard to her. When the Amazons, having made war against the Athenians because of Antiope, were defeated by Theseus, most of them met their death in the fighting, but Hippolyte, the sister of Antiope and on this occasion the leader of the women, escaped with a few others to Megara. Having failed so badly with her army and feeling disheartened [athumōs ekhein] at her present situation, given that she felt-there-was-no-way-out [aporeîn] with regard to getting back home in safety [sōtēriā] to Themiskyra, she died in her sorrow [lupē]. And, now that she was dead, the people of Megara buried her. The shape [skhēma] of her tomb [mnēma] is like an Amazonian shield [aspis].

{1.41.8} Not far from this is the tomb of Tereus, who married Procne the daughter of Pandion. The Megarians say that Tereus was king of the region around what is called Pagai [‘springs’] of Megaris, but my opinion, which is confirmed by extant evidence, is that he ruled over Daulis beyond Khairōneia, for in ancient times the greater part of what is now called Greece [Hellas] was inhabited by barbarians. When Tereus did what he did to Philomela and Itys suffered at the hands of the women, Tereus found himself unable to seize them.

{1.41.9} He committed suicide in Megara, and the Megarians forthwith raised him a barrow, and every year sacrifice to him, using in the sacrifice gravel instead of barley meal; they say that the bird called the hoopoe appeared here for the first time. The women came to Athens, and while lamenting their sufferings and their revenge, perished through their tears; their reported metamorphosis into a nightingale and a swallow is due, I think, to the fact that the note of these birds is plaintive and like a lamentation.

{1.42.1} The Megarians have another citadel, which is named after Alkathoos. As you ascend this citadel you see on the right the tomb of Megareus, who at the time of the Cretan invasion came as an ally from Onkhestos. There is also shown a hearth of the gods called Prodomeis (Builders before). They say that Alkathoos was the first to sacrifice to them, at the time when he was about to begin the building of the wall.

{1.42.2} Near this hearth is a stone, on which they say Apollo laid his lyre when he was helping Alkathoos in the building. I am confirmed in my view that the Megarians used to be tributary to the Athenians by the fact that Alkathoos appears to have sent his daughter Periboia with Theseus to Crete in payment of the tribute. On the occasion of his building the wall, the Megarians say, Apollo helped him and placed his lyre on the stone; and if you happen to hit it with a pebble it sounds just as a lyre does when struck.

{1.42.3} This made me marvel, but the colossus in Egypt made me marvel far more than anything else. In Egyptian Thebes, on crossing the Nile to the so-called Pipes, I saw a statue [agalma], still sitting, which gave out a sound. The many call it Memnon, who they say from Aethiopia overran Egypt and as far as Susa. The Thebans, however, say that it is a statue [agalma], not of Memnon, but of a native named Phamenoph, and I have heard some say that it is Sesostris. This statue [agalma] was broken in two by Cambyses, and at the present day from head to middle it is thrown down; but the rest is seated, and every day at the rising of the sun it makes a noise, and the sound one could best liken to that of a harp or lyre when a string has been broken.

{1.42.4} The Megarians have a council chamber which once, they say, was the tomb of Timalkos, who just now I said was not killed by Theseus. On the top of the citadel is built a temple of Athena, with a statue [agalma] gilded except the hands and feet; these and the face are of ivory. There is another sanctuary built here, of Athena Nike, and yet a third of Athena Aiantis. About the last the Megarian guides have omitted to record anything, but I will write what I take to be the facts. Telamon the son of Aiakos married Periboia the daughter of Alkathoos; so my opinion is that Ajax, who succeeded to the throne of Alkathoos, made the statue [agalma] of Athena.

{1.42.5} The ancient temple of Apollo was of brick, but ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian afterwards built it of white marble. The Apollo called Pythian and the one called Dekatephoros [’he who wins Tithes as a prize’] are very like the Egyptian wooden-statues [xoana] , but the one surnamed Arkhegetes [‘Founder’] resembles Aeginetan works. They are all alike made of ebony. I have heard a man of Cyprus, who was skilled at sorting herbs for medicinal purposes, say that the ebony does not grow leaves or bear fruit, or even appear in the sunlight at all, but consists of underground roots which are dug up by the Aethiopians, who have men skilled at finding ebony.

{1.42.6} There is also a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter Thesmophoros. As one goes down from it there is the tomb [mnēma] of Kallipolis, son of Alkathoos. Alkathoos had also an elder son, Iskhepolis, whom his father sent to help Meleagros to destroy the wild-beast [thērion] in Aetolia. There he died, and Kallipolis was the first to hear of his death. Running up to the acropolis, at the moment when his father was lighting a fire for Apollo, he flung the logs [xula] from the altar [bōmos]. Alkathoos, who had not yet heard of the fate of Iskhepolis, judged that Kallipolis was guilty of impiety, and forthwith, angry as he was, killed him by striking his head with one of the logs [xula] that had been flung from the altar [bōmos].

{1.42.7} On the road to the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] [of Megara] is the hero-shrine [hērōion] of Ino, around which is a fencing [thrinkos] of stones. Olive trees grow there. The people of Megara are the only Greeks [Hellēnes] who say that the corpse [nekros] of Ino had washed ashore on their coast; more, they say that Klēsō and Tauropolis, the daughters of Klēsōn son of Lelex, found and buried it; even more, they say that it was in their locale [= Megara] that Ino was for the first time named White Goddess [Leukotheā], and every year a sacrificial-feast [thusiā] is celebrated [agein] in her honor.

{1.43.1} They say that there is also at that place a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Iphigeneia, since, according to them, she died in Megara. Now I have heard another account of Iphigeneia that is given by Arcadians and I know that Hesiod, in the Catalogue of Women, makes-it-happen-in-his poetry [poieîn] that Iphigenia does not die, but, by the will of Artemis, is Hekate. With this agrees Herodotus, who writes [graphein] that the Tauroi near Scythia sacrifice [thuein] those who are shipwrecked to a maiden [parthénos], and they say that this maiden [parthénos] is Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. Adrastos also has honors [tīmai] [of hero cult] among the people of Megara, who say that he too died among them when he was leading back his army after capturing Thebes, and that his death was caused by old age and by the death of Aigialeus. A sanctuary [hieron] of Artemis was made [poieîn] by Agamemnon when he came to persuade Calchas, who dwelled [oikeîn] in Megara, to accompany him to Troy.

{1.43.2} In the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] are buried, they say, Euhippos the son of Megareus and Iskhepolis the son of Alkathoos. Near the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] is a rock [petrā]. They name it Anaklēthris [‘calling-to-come-back’], because Demeter—if this is credible to anyone—in this place too [= Megara, not only in other places] was-calling-back [ana-kaleîn] her daughter while wandering [planâsthai] in search of her. Even in our day the women of Megara sacrally-perform [drân] actions-that-look-like [eoikóta] what-the-words-of-the-story-say [logos].

{1.43.3} In the city are tombs [taphoi] of Megarians. They made one for those who died in the invasion of the Medes [Persians], and what is called the Aisymnion [‘Shrine of Aisymnos’] was also a tomb [mnēma] of heroes [hērōes]. When Agamemnon’s son Hyperion, the last who ruled-as-king [basileuein] over the people of Megara, was killed by Sandion for his greed [pleonexiā] and violence [biā], they resolved no longer to be ruled-by-kings [basileuesthai] by way of one-man rule, but to have elected [hairetoi] magistrates [arkhontes] and to obey one another by-taking-turns [ana meros]. Then Aisymnos, who had a reputation [doxa] second to none among the Megarians, came to the god [theos] in Delphi and asked in what way they could be-fortunate [eudaimoneîn]. The god [theos] said-in-oracular-reply [khrêsai] that they would fare well if they took-counsel [bouleuein] with the majority. This poetic-utterance [epos] they took to refer to the dead, and built a council-chamber [bouleutērion] in this place in order that the tomb [taphos] of their heroes [hērōes] might be inside the council-chamber [bouleutērion].

{1.43.4} Proceeding from there to the hero-shrine [hērōion] of Alkathoos, which in my day the people of Megara used as a place for the safe-keeping [phulakē] of written-records [grammata], was the tomb [mnēma], they said, of Pyrgo, the wife of Alkathoos before he married Euaikhme, the daughter of Megareus, and the tomb of Iphinoe, the daughter of Alkathoos; she died, they say, a still a virgin [parthénos]. It is customary for the girls [korai] to bring [pros-pherein] libations [khoai] to the tomb [mnēma] of Iphinoe and to make-an-offering [ap-arkhesthai] of their [cut] hair before their wedding [gamos], just as the daughters of the people of Delos once cut their hair for Hekaerge and Opis.

{1.43.5} Beside the entrance [esodos] to the sanctuary-of-Dionysus [Dionusion] is the tomb [taphos] of Astykrateia and Manto. They were daughters of Polyidos, son of Koiranos, son of Abas, son of Melampous, who came to Megara to purify [kathairein] Alkathoos in-compensation-for [epi + dative case] his killing [phonos] of his son Kallipolis. Polyidus also built the sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus, and dedicated a wooden-image [xoanon] that in our day is covered up except for the face [prosōpon], which alone is exposed. By the side of it is a Satyr of Parian marble made by Praxiteles. This Dionysus they call Patrōos [‘Ancestral’]; but the statue [agalma] of another, which they surname Dasyllios, they say was dedicated by Eukhenor, son of Koiranos, son of Polyidos.

{1.43.6} After the sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus is a temple [nāos] of Aphrodite, with an ivory statue [agalma] of Aphrodite surnamed Praxis [‘Fulfilled Action’]. This is the oldest object in the temple [nāos]. There is also Peithō [‘Persuasion’] and another goddess [theos (feminine) ], whom they name Parēgoros [‘consoler’]—works of Praxiteles. By the workmanship of Scopas are Erōs [‘passionate-love’] and Himeros [‘desire’] and Pothos [‘yearning’], if indeed their functions [erga] are as different as their names. Near the temple [nāos] of Aphrodite is a sanctuary [hieron] of Tukhē [‘Fortune’], the workmanship [tekhnē] of Praxiteles. In the temple [nāos] close by are Muses and a bronze Zeus by Lysippos.

{1.43.7} The people of Megara have also the tomb [taphos] of Koroibos. The poetic-verses [epē] about him, although they are shared [koina] by the people of Argos, I will make clear here. They say that in the reign of Krotopos at Argos, Psamathe, the daughter of Krotopos, bore a son to Apollo, and being in dire terror of her father, exposed the child. He was found and destroyed by sheepdogs of Krotopos, and Apollo sent Poinē [‘vengeance’] to the city to punish the people of Argos. They say that she used to snatch [harpazein] children from their mothers, until Koroibos to please the the people of Argos killed Poinē. At which point, as a second punishment, a plague fell upon them and did not let up. So Koroibos of his own accord went to Delphi to submit to the punishment of the god for having slain Poinē.

{1.43.8} The Pythia would not allow Koroibos to return to Argos, but ordered him to take up a tripod and carry it out of the sanctuary [hieron], and where the tripod should fall from his hands, there he was to build a temple [nāos] of Apollo and to dwell [oikeîn] there himself. At Mount Gerania the tripod slipped and fell unawares. Here he dwelled [oikeîn] in the district [kōmê] called the Little-Tripods [Tripodiskoi]. The tomb [taphos] of Koroibos is in the marketplace [agorā] of the people of Megara. Elegiac [elegeia] verses [epē] about Psamathe and of himself are written there [on the tomb], and further, as an emplacement on top of the tomb [taphos] is represented Koroibos slaying Poinē. These are the oldest stone statues [agalmata] I am aware of having seen among the Greeks [Hellēnes].

{1.44.1} Near Koroibos is buried Orsippos who won the foot-race at Olympia by running naked when all his competitors wore waistbands according to ancient custom. [149] They say also that Orsippos when general afterwards annexed some of the neighboring territory. My own opinion is that at Olympia he intentionally let the waistband slip off him, realizing that a naked man can run more easily than one who is wearing a waistband.

{1.44.2} As one goes down from the marketplace [agorā] there is on the right of the street called Eutheia [‘Straight’] a sanctuary [hieron] of Apollo Prostaterios [‘Protecting’]. One must turn a little aside from the road to discover it. In it is an Apollo worthy of viewing [théā], and there is an Artemis also, and Leto, and other statues [agalmata], made by Praxiteles. In the old gymnasium near the gate [pulai] called the Nymphades is a stone [lithos] of the shape of a small pyramid. This they name Apollo Karinos, and at this place there is a sanctuary [hieron] of the Eileithuiai. Such are the sights that the city had for the showing [epideixis.

{1.44.3} When one has gone down to the port [epineion], which to the present day is called Nisaia, there is a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter Mālophoros. One of the accounts given of the surname [epiklēsis] is that those who first raised sheep [probata, = māla in the local dialect] in the land named Demeter Mālophoros [‘she who brings sheep’]. The roof of the sanctuary [hieron] one might conclude has fallen in through age. There is an acropolis here, which also is called Nisaia. Below the acropolis near the sea is the tomb [mnēma] of Lelex, who they say arrived from Egypt and became-king [basileusai], being the son of Poseidon and of Libya, daughter of Epaphos. Parallel to Nisaia lies the small island of Minoa, where in the war against Nisos anchored the fleet of the Cretans.

{1.44.4} The mountainous part of the region of Megara borders upon Boeotia, and in it the people of Megara have built the city [polis] Pagai and another one called Aigosthena. As one goes to Pagai, on turning a little aside from the highway [leōphoros], one is shown a rock [petrā] with arrows stuck all over it, into which the Persians [Mēdoi] once shot in the night. In Pagai a relic worthy of viewing [théā] is a bronze statue [agalma] of Artemis surnamed Sōteira [‘Savior’], in size equal to that at Megara and exactly like it in pose [skhēma]. There is also a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Aigialeus, son of Adrastos. When the men of Argos made their second assault on Thebes he died at Glisas early in the first battle, and his near-and-dear carried [komizein] him to Pagai in the territory of Megara and buried him there. The hero-shrine [hērōion] is still now called the Aigialeion.

{1.44.5} In Aigosthena is a sanctuary [hieron] of Melampous, son of Amythaon, and a small figure of a man carved upon a stele [stēlē]. To Melampous they sacrifice [thuein] and celebrate [agein] a festival [heortē] every year. They say that he divines neither by dreams nor in any other way. Here is something else that I heard in Ereneia, a district [kōmē] of the people of Megara. Autonoe, daughter of Kadmos, left Thebes to live here owing to her great grief at the death of Aktaion, as the story-is-told [legesthai], and at the general misfortune of her father’s house. The tomb [mnēma] of Autonoe is in this district [kōmē].

{1.44.6} As one proceeds from Megara to Corinth, there are tombs [taphoi], including that of the aulos-player Telephanes of Samos. [150] The tomb [taphos] is said to have been made [poieîn] by Kleopatra, daughter of Philip son of Amyntas. There is also the tomb [mnēma] of Kar, son of Phoroneus, which was originally a piled-up-mound [khōma] of earth, but afterwards, in accordance with what the god [theos] said-in-an-oracular-pronouncement [khrēsai], it was adorned [kosmeîn] with a kind of stone known as konkhītēs [‘in-which-seashells [konkhoi]-are-embedded’]. The people of Megara are the only Greeks [Hellēnes] to possess this kind of konkhītēs stone, and in the city also they have made [poieîn] many things out of it. It is very white, and softer than other stone; embedded in it through and through are seashells [konkhoi]. Such, then, is the stone itself. [As for rock formations that are also white…] There is a road called Skīrōnis—that is what it is called even to this day—and it is named after Skīrōn [= ‘he of the White Rock’]. This Skīrōn, when he was the military leader of the people of Megara, was the first, they say, to make [poieîn] it [= Skīrōnis] a road usable enough for men who outfit themselves for travel. But then ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian broadened it, and made it more usable—so much so that even chariots [harmata] could pass each other going in opposite directions.

{1.44.7} There are tales told with regard to those [white] rocks [petrai] that become ever more elevated as the road narrows. One of these [elevated white rock formations] is a rock called Molouris, and it is from here, they say, that Ino threw [rhiptein] herself into the sea while holding Melikertes, the younger of her children. Learkhos, the elder of them, had been killed by his father. It is said by some that Athamas did [drân] this in-a-state-of-madness [manēnai]; but others say that he vented on Ino and her children his uncontrollable rage [thūmos] when he learned about the famine [līmos] that befell the people of Orkhomenos and about the death—as he supposed—of Phrixos. He [= Athamas] supposed that all the things happened not because of divine power [tò theion] but because of plotting by Ino, the stepmother.

{1.44.8} Then it was that she [= Ino] fled to the sea and precipitated [aphiénai] herself and her son from the Rock [Petrā] that is Molouris. The son, they say, was brought to land on the Isthmus of Corinth by a dolphin, and honors [tīmai] were given to Melikertes, thereafter renamed Palaimon. One of these honors, in-compensation-for [epi + dative case] him, was the celebrating [agein] of the competition [agōn] called the Isthmia. The Rock [Petrā] that is Molouris has been considered to be sacred [hierā] to the White Goddess [Leukotheā] and Palaimon. But the other rocks, as one travels further, are customarily-thought [nomizein] to be polluted [en-ageis], in that Skīrōn [= ‘he of the White Rock’], dwelling there [par-oikeîn], used to cast into the sea all the strangers [xenoi] he met. A turtle used to swim under the rocks [petrai] to seize those that fell in. Sea turtles are like land turtles except for their size and for the shape of their feet, which are like those of seals. Retribution [dikē] for these things overtook Skīrōn, for he was precipitated [aphiénai] into the same sea by Theseus.

{1.44.9} [Digression…] On the top of a mountain [in Aegina] that is called The Mountain [Oros] is a shrine [nāos] of Zeus surnamed the Precipitator [Aphésios, derived from the verb aphiénai ‘precipitate’]. It is said that, on the occasion of the drought [aukhmos] that once afflicted the Greeks [Hellēnes], Aiakos in obedience to an oracular-instruction [logion] made-sacrifice [thuein] in Aegina to Zeus Pan-Hellēnios, and that Zeus made-precipitation [aphiénai], saving [komizen] them [from the drought] and thus getting the name Aphésios [derived from the verb aphiénai ‘release’]. [Back from the digression, to Megara …] There are also statues [agalmata] of Aphrodite, Apollo, and Pan.

{1.44.10} Farther on is the tomb [mnēma] of Eurystheus. They say that he fled from Attica after the battle with the Herakleidai and was killed here by Iolaos. Further down from this road is a sanctuary [hieron] of Apollo Lātōios, and then, after that, there are the limits [horoi] between Megara and Corinth, where they say that Hyllos, son of Hēraklēs, fought-in-single-combat [monomakheîn] with Ekhemos of Arcadia.

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{2.1.1} The Corinthian land is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Korinthos. That Korinthos was a son of Zeus I have never known anybody say seriously except the majority of the Corinthians. Eumēlos, the son of Amphilytos, [151] of the family called Bakkhidai, who is said to have composed the epic poem, says in his Corinthian History (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra, the daughter of Okeanos, dwelled first in this land; that afterwards Marathon, the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of Hēlios [Sun], fleeing from the lawless violence of his father, migrated to the sea coast of Attica; that on the death of Epopeus he came to Peloponnesus, divided his kingdom among his sons, and returned to Attica; and that Asopia was renamed after Sikyon, and Ephyraia after Korinthos.

{2.1.2} Corinth is no longer inhabited by any of the old Corinthians, but by colonists sent out by the Romans. This change is due to the Achaean League. [152] The Corinthians, being members of it, joined in the war against the Romans, which Kritolaos, when appointed general of the Achaeans, brought about by persuading to revolt both the Achaeans and the majority [of the Greeks outside the Peloponnesus. When the Romans won the war, they carried out a general disarmament of the Greeks [Hellēnes] [153] and dismantled the walls of such cities as were fortified. Corinth was laid waste by Mummius, who at that time commanded the Romans in the field, and it is said that it was afterwards refounded by Caesar, [154] who was the author of the present constitution of Rome. Carthage, too, they say, was refounded in his reign.

{2.1.3} In the Corinthian territory is also the place called Cromyon from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say that Phaia was bred; overcoming this sow was one of the traditional achievements of Theseus. Farther on the pine still grew by the shore at the time of my visit, and there was an altar of Melikertes. At this place, they say, the boy was brought ashore by a dolphin; Sisyphus found him lying and gave him burial on the Isthmus, establishing the Isthmian games in his honor.

{2.1.4} At the beginning of the Isthmus is the place where the brigand Sinis used to take hold of pine trees and draw them down. All those whom he overcame in fight he used to tie to the trees, and then allow them to swing up again. Thereupon each of the pines used to drag to itself the bound man, and as the bond gave way in neither direction but was stretched equally in both, he was torn in two. This was the way in which Sinis himself was slain by Theseus. For Theseus rid of evildoers the road from Troizen to Athens, killing those whom I have enumerated and, in sacred Epidaurus, Periphetes, thought to be the son of Hephaistos, who used to fight with a bronze club.

{2.1.5} The Corinthian Isthmus stretches on the one hand to the sea at Kenkhreai, and on the other to the sea at Lekhaion. For this is what makes the region to the south mainland. He who tried to make the Peloponnesus an island gave up before digging through the Isthmus. Where they began to dig is still to be seen, but into the rock they did not advance at all. So it still is mainland as its nature is to be. Alexander the son of Philip wished to dig through Mimas, and his attempt to do this was his only unsuccessful project. The people of Knidos began to dig through their isthmus, but the Pythian priestess stopped them. So difficult it is for man to alter by violence the things that belong to the gods [tà theia].

{2.1.6} What is said by the Corinthians about their land is not peculiar to them, for I believe that the Athenians were the first to relate a similar story to glorify Attica. The Corinthians too say that Poseidon had a dispute with Hēlios [Sun] about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmus and the parts adjoining, and giving to Hēlios the height above the city. Ever since, they say, the Isthmus has belonged to Poseidon.

{2.1.7} Worthy of viewing [théā] here are a theater and a white-marble race-course. Within the sanctuary of the god stand on the one side portrait statues of athletes who have won victories at the Isthmian games, on the other side pine trees growing in a row, the greater number of them rising up straight. On the temple, which is not very large, stand bronze Tritons. In the front part of the temple are statues [agalmata], two of Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except for the hoofs, which are of ivory,

{2.1.8} and two gold Tritons beside the horses, with the parts below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and there is the boy Palaimon upright upon a dolphin. These too are made of ivory and gold. On the middle of the base on which the car is has been crafted a Sea holding up the young Aphrodite, and on either side are the nymphs called Nereids. I know that there are altars to these in other parts of Greece, and that some Greeks have even dedicated to them precincts by shores, where honors are also paid to Achilles. In Gabala is a holy sanctuary of Doto, where there was still remaining the robe by which the Greeks say that Eriphyle was bribed to wrong her son Alkmaion.

{2.1.9} Among the reliefs on the base of the statue of Poseidon are the sons of Tyndareus, because these too are saviors of ships and of sea-faring men. The other offerings are statues [agalmata] of Calm and of Sea, a horse like a whale from the breast onward, Ino and Bellerophontes, and the horse Pegasus [Pegasos].

{2.2.1} Within the enclosure [peribolos] is on the left a temple [nāos] of Palaimon, with statues [agalmata] in it of Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon himself. There is also what is called his Holy-of-Holies [Aduton ‘impenetrable’], and an underground-descent [kathodos] to it, where they say that Palaimon is concealed [kruptesthai]. Whosoever, whether Corinthian or stranger [xenos], swears falsely here, will find no way [mēkhanē] to escape from his oath. There is also an ancient [arkhaion] sanctuary [hieron] called the altar [bōmos] of the Cyclopes, and they sacrifice [thuein] to the Cyclopes upon it.

{2.2.2} The tombs [taphoi] of Sisyphus and of Neleus—for they say that Neleus came to Corinth, died of disease, and was buried near the Isthmus—I do not think that anyone would look for after reading Eumēlos. For he says that not even to Nestor did Sisyphus show the tomb [mnēma] of Neleus, because it must [khrēnai] be kept unknown to everybody alike, and that Sisyphus is indeed buried on the Isthmus, but that few Corinthians, even those of his own day, knew where the tomb [taphos] was. The Isthmian Competition [agōn] was not interrupted even when Corinth had been destroyed by Mummius, but so long as it [= Corinth] was depopulated the celebrating [agein] of the Contest was entrusted to the people of Sikyon, and when it was repopulated the honor [tīmē] was restored to the present population.

{2.2.3} The names of the Corinthian harbors were given them by Lekhes and Cenchrias, said to be the children of Poseidon and Peirene the daughter of Akhelōos, though in the poem called The Great Ehoiai Peirene is said to be a daughter of Oibalos. In Lechaion are a sanctuary and a bronze statue [agalma] of Poseidon, and on the road leading from the Isthmus to Cenchreae a temple and ancient wooden-statue [xoanon]of Artemis. In Kenkhreai are a temple and a stone statue [agalma] of Aphrodite, after it on the mole running into the sea a bronze statue of Poseidon, and at the other end of the harbor sanctuaries of Asklepios and of Isis. Right opposite Kenkhreai is Helen’s Bath. It is a large stream of salt, tepid water, flowing from a rock into the sea.

{2.2.4} As one goes up to Corinth are tombs, and by the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks surname the Dog. Before the city is a grove of cypresses called Craneum. Here are a precinct of Bellerophontes, a temple of Aphrodite Melainis and the tomb of Lais, upon which is set a lioness holding a ram in her fore-paws.

{2.2.5} There is in Thessaly another tomb which claims to be that of Lais, for she went to that country also when she fell in love with Hippostratos. The story is that originally she was of Hycara in Sicily. Taken captive while yet a girl by Nikias and the Athenians, she was sold and brought to Corinth, where she surpassed in beauty the courtesans of her time, and so won the admiration of the Corinthians that even now they claim Lais as their own.

{2.2.6} The things worthy of mention in the city include the extant remains of antiquity, but the greater number of them belong to the period of its second ascendancy. On the marketplace, where most of the sanctuaries are, stand Artemis surnamed Ephesian and wooden images of Dionysus, which are covered with gold with the exception of their faces; these are ornamented with red paint. They are called Lysius and Baccheus,

{2.2.7} and I too give the story told about them. They say that Pentheus treated Dionysus despitefully, his crowning outrage being that he went to Kithairon, to spy upon the women, and climbing up a tree beheld what was done. When the women detected Pentheus, they immediately dragged him down, and joined in tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb. Afterwards, as the Corinthians say, the Pythian priestess commanded them by an oracle to discover that tree and to worship it equally with the god. For this reason they have made these images from the tree.

{2.2.8} There is also a temple of Fortune, with a standing statue [agalma] of Parian marble. Beside it is a sanctuary for all the gods. Hard by is built a fountain, on which is a bronze Poseidon; under the feet of Poseidon is a dolphin spouting water. There is also a bronze Apollo surnamed Clarius and a statue [agalma] of Aphrodite made by Hermogenes of Cythera. There are two bronze, standing statues [agalmata] of Hermes, for one of which a temple has been made. The images of Zeus also are in the open; one had not a surname, another they call Khthonios (of the Lower World) and the third Most High.

{2.3.1} In the middle of the marketplace is a bronze Athena, on the pedestal of which are made-in-relief-figures [agalmata] of the Muses. Above the marketplace is a temple of Octavia the sister of Augustus, who was emperor of the Romans after Caesar, the founder of the modern Corinth.

{2.3.2} On leaving the marketplace along the road to Lekhaion you come to a gateway, on which are two gilded chariots, one carrying Phaethon the son of Hēlios [Sun], the other Hēlios himself. A little farther away from the gateway, on the right as you go in, is a bronze Hēraklēs. After this is the entrance to the water of Peirene. They say about Peirene that she was a woman who became a spring because of her tears shed in lamentation for her son Kenkhrias, who was unintentionally killed by Artemis.

{2.3.3} The spring is ornamented with white marble, and there have been made chambers like caves, out of which the water flows into an open-air well. It Is pleasant to drink, and they say that the Corinthian bronze, when red-hot, is tempered by this water, since bronze … the Corinthians have not. Moreover near Peirene are a statue [agalma] and a sacred enclosure of Apollo; in the latter is a painting of the exploit of Odysseus against the suitors.

{2.3.4} Proceeding on the direct road to Lekhaion we see a bronze statue [agalma] of a seated Hermes. By him stands a ram, for Hermes is the god who is thought most to care for and to increase flocks, as Homer puts it in the Iliad:

The story told at the mysteries of the Mother about Hermes and the ram I know but do not relate. After the image of Hermes come Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon on a dolphin.

{2.3.5} The Corinthians have baths in many parts of the city, some put up at the public charge and one by ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian. The most famous of them is near the Poseidon. It was made by the Spartan Eurykles, who beautified it with various kinds of stone, especially the one quarried at Krokeai in Laconia. On the left of the entrance stands a Poseidon, and after him Artemis hunting. Throughout the city are many springs [krēnai], for the Corinthians have a copious supply of flowing water, besides the water that ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian brought from Lake Stymphalos, but the most noteworthy is the one by the side of the statue [agalma] of Artemis. Over it is a Bellerophontes, and the water flows through the hoof of the horse Pegasus [Pegasos].

{2.3.6} As you go along another road from the marketplace [agorā], which leads to Sikyon, you can see on the right of the road a temple [nāos] of Apollo, which has a bronze statue [agalma] of him. A little farther along the way is a well called the Spring [krēnē] of Glauke. Into this well they say she [= Glauke] threw herself, thinking that the water would be a cure for [the pain that she was suffering from] the magical drugs [pharmaka] of Medea. Above this spring [krēnē] has been built what is called the Odeum [ōideion], beside which is the tomb [mnēma] of Medea’s children. Their names were Mermeros and Pheres, and they are said to have been stoned to death by the Corinthians because—as is also said—they had brought to Glauke the gifts [dōra] [from Medea].

{2.3.7} And, since their death was violent and unjust, the infant offspring [nēpia tekna] of the Corinthians kept on being destroyed by them [= the ghosts of the children of Medea] until, in accordance with what the god [= Apollo] said-as-an-oracular-pronouncement [khrēsai], yearly sacrifices [thusiai] were established in their honor and a figure of Terror [Deima] was set-up-in-compensation [epi-stēnai]. This figure still exists, even in my time: it is the image [eikōn] of a woman rather frightful to look at. After Corinth was destroyed by the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers no longer observed the custom of offering those sacrifices [thusiai] to the sons of Medea, nor do their children [who are initiated into the hero cult of the children of Medea] cut their hair for them or wear black clothes.

{2.3.8} On the occasion referred to Medea went to Athens and lived with Aigeus, but subsequently she was detected plotting against Theseus and fled from Athens also; coming to the land then called Aria she caused its inhabitants to be named after her Medes. The son, whom she brought with her in her flight to the Arii, they say she had by Aigeus, and that his name was Mēdos. Hellanicus, however, calls him Polyxenos and says that his father was Jason.

{2.3.9} The Greeks have an epic poem called Naupactia. In this Jason is represented as having removed his home after the death of Pelias from Iolkos to Corcyra, and Mermerus, the elder of his children, to have been killed by a lioness while hunting on the mainland opposite. Of Pheres is recorded nothing. But Kinaithon of Lacedaemon, another writer of pedigrees in verse, said that Jason’s children by Medea were a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis; he too, however, gives no further information about these children.

{2.3.10} Eumēlos said that Hēlios [Sun] gave the Asopian land to Aloeus and Ephyraia to Aietes. When Aietes was departing for Kolkhis he entrusted his land to Bounos, the son of Hermes and Alkidameiā, and when Bounos died Epopeus the son of Aloeus extended his kingdom to include the Ephyraeans. Afterwards, when Korinthos, the son of Marathon, died childless, the Corinthians sent for Medea from Iolkos and bestowed upon her the kingdom.

{2.3.11} Through her Jason was king in Corinth, and Medea, as her children were born, carried each to the sanctuary of Hērā and concealed them, doing so in the belief that so they would be immortal. At last she learned that her hopes were vain, and at the same time she was detected by Jason. When she begged for pardon he refused it, and sailed away to Iolkos. For these reasons Medea too departed, and handed over the kingdom to Sisyphus.

{2.4.1} This is the account that I read, and not far from the tomb is the temple of Athena Khalinitis (Bridler). For Athena, they say, was the divinity who gave most help to Bellerophontes, and she delivered to him Pegasus [Pegasos], having herself broken in and bridled him. The statue [agalma] of hers is of wood [xoanon], but face, hands and feet are of white marble.

{2.4.2} That Bellerophontes was not an absolute king, but was subject to Proitos and the Argives is the belief of myself and of all who have read carefully the Homeric poems. [155] When Bellerophontes migrated to Lycia it is clear that the Corinthians none the less were subject to the despots at Argos or Mycenae. By themselves they provided no leader for the campaign against Troy, but shared in the expedition as part of the forces, Mycenaean and other, led by Agamemnon.

{2.4.3} Sisyphus had other sons besides Glaukos, the father of Bellerophontes a second was Ornytion, and besides him there were Thersandros and Almus. Ornytion had a son Phokos, reputed to have been begotten by Poseidon. He migrated to Tithorea in what is now called Phokis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion, remained behind in Corinth. Thoas begat Damophon, Damophon begat Propodas, and Propodas begat Doridas and Hyanthidas. While these were kings the Dorians took the field against Corinth, their leader being Aletes, the son of Hippotas, the son of Phylas, the son of Antiokhos, the son of Hēraklēs. So Doridas and Hyanthidas gave up the kingship to Aletes and remained in Corinth, but the Corinthian people were conquered in battle and expelled by the Dorians.

{2.4.4} Aletes himself and his descendants reigned for five generations to Bacchis, the son of Prumnis, and, named after him, the Bakkhidai reigned for five more generations to Telestes, the son of Aristodemos. Telestes was killed in hate by Arieus and Perantas, and there were no more kings, but Prytaneis (‘Presidents’) taken from the Bakkhidai and ruling for one year, until Kypselos, the son of Eetion, became tyrant and expelled the Bakkhidai. [156] Kypselos was a descendant of Melas, the son of Antasus. Melas from Gonoussa above Sikyon joined the Dorians in the expedition against Corinth. When the god expressed disapproval Aletes at first ordered Melas to withdraw to other Greeks, but afterwards, mistaking the oracle, he received him as a settler. Such I found to be the history of the Corinthian kings.

{2.4.5} Now the sanctuary of Athena Khalinitis is by their theater, and near is a naked wooden image of Hēraklēs, said to be a work of Daidalos. All the works of this artist, although rather uncouth to look at, are nevertheless distinguished by a kind of inspiration. Above the theater is a sanctuary of Zeus surnamed in the Latin tongue Capitolinus, which might be rendered into Greek, ‘Koruphaios’. Not far from this theater is the ancient gymnasium, and a spring called Lerna. Pillars stand around it, and seats have been made to refresh in summer time those who have entered it. By this gymnasium are temples of Zeus and Asklepios. The statues [agalmata] of Asklepios and of Hygieia are of white marble, that of Zeus is of bronze.

{2.4.6} The Acrocorinth is a mountain peak above the city, assigned to Hēlios by Briareos when he acted as adjudicator, and handed over, the Corinthians say, by Hēlios to Aphrodite. As you go up this Acrocorinth you see two precincts of Isis, one if Isis surnamed Pelagian (Marine) and the other of Egyptian Isis, and two of Serapis, one of them being of Serapis called ‘Canopus’. After these are altars to Hēlios, and a sanctuary of Necessity and Force, into which it is not customary to enter.

{2.4.7} Above it are a temple of the Mother of the gods and a throne; the image and the throne are made of stone. The temple of the Fates and that of Demeter and the Maiden have statues [agalmata] that are not exposed to view. Here, too, is the temple of Hērā Bounaia set up by Bounos the son of Hermes. It is for this reason that the goddess is called Bounaia.

{2.5.1} As you go up to the summit of the Acrocorinth, there is a shrine [nāos] of Aphrodite. The statues [agalmata] there are Aphrodite herself, armed, also Hēlios, also Eros with a bow. The spring [pēgē], which is behind the shrine [nāos], they say was the gift of Asopos to Sisyphus, who knew, so they also say, that Zeus had abducted Aegina, the daughter of Asopos, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had some spring-water given him on the Acrocorinth. When Asopos granted this request, Sisyphus turned informer, and because of that he receives—if anyone believes it—punishment in Hādēs. I have heard people say that this spring-water and Peirene are the same, and that the water in the city flows there underground all the way from here.

{2.5.2} This Asopos rises in the Phliasian territory, flows through the Sikyonian, and empties itself into the sea here. His daughters, say the Phliasians, were Corcyra, Aegina, and Thebe. Corcyra and Aegina gave new names to the islands called Scheria and Oinone, while from Thebe is named the city below the Kadmeia. The Thebans do not agree, but say that Thebe was the daughter of the Boeotian, and not of the Phliasian, Asopos.

{2.5.3} The other stories about the river are current among both the Phliasians and the Sikyonians, for instance that its water is foreign and not native, in that the Maeander, descending from Kelainai through Phrygia and Caria, and emptying itself into the sea at Miletus, goes to the Peloponnesus and forms the Asopos. I remember hearing a similar story from the Delians, that the stream which they call Inopus comes to them from the Nile. Further, there is a story that the Nile itself is the Euphrates, which disappears into a marsh, rises again beyond Aethiopia and becomes the Nile.

{2.5.4} Such is the account I heard of the Asopos. When you have turned from the Acrocorinth into the mountain road you see the Teneatic gate and a sanctuary of Eileithuia. The town called Tenea is just about sixty stadium-lengths distant. The inhabitants say that they are Trojans who were taken prisoners in Tenedos by the Greeks, and were permitted by Agamemnon to dwell in their present home. For this reason they honor Apollo more than any other god.

{2.5.5} As you go from Corinth, not into the interior but along the road to Sikyon, there is on the left not far from the city a burned temple. There have, of course, been many wars carried on in Corinthian territory, and naturally houses and sanctuaries outside the wall have been fired. But this temple, they say, was Apollo’s, and Pyrrhos the son of Achilles burned it down. Subsequently I heard another account, that the Corinthians built the temple for Olympian Zeus, and that suddenly fire from some quarter fell on it and destroyed it.

{2.5.6} The Sikyonians, the neighbors of the Corinthians at this part of the border, say about their own land that Aigialeus was its first and aboriginal inhabitant, that the district of the Peloponnesus still called Aigialos was named after him because he reigned over it, and that he founded the city Aigialeia on the plain. Their citadel, they say, was where is now their sanctuary of Athena; further, that Aigialeus begat Europs, Europs Telchis, and Telchis Apis.

{2.5.7} This Apis reached such a height of power before Pelops came to Olympia that all the territory south of the Isthmus was called after him Apia. Apis begat Thelxion, Thelxion Aigyros, the Thourimakhos, and Thourimakhos Leukippos. Leukippos had no male issue, only a daughter Calchinia. There is a story that this Calchinia mated with Poseidon; her child was reared by Leukippos, who at his death handed over to him the kingdom. His name was Peratos.

{2.5.8} What is reported of Plemnaios, the son of Peratos, seemed to me very wonderful. All the children borne to him by his wife died the very first time they wailed. At last Demeter took pity on Plemnaios, came to Aigialeia in the guise of a strange woman, and reared for Plemnaios his son Orthopolis. Orthopolis had a daughter Khrysorthe, who is thought to have borne a son named Koronos to Apollo. Koronos had two sons, Korax and a younger one Lamedon.

{2.6.1} Korax died without issue, and at about this time came Epopeus from Thessaly and took the kingdom. In his reign the first hostile army is said to have invaded the land, which before this had enjoyed unbroken peace. The reason was this. Antiope, the daughter of Nykteus, had a name among the Greeks for beauty, and there was also a report that her father was not Nykteus but Asopos, the river that separates the territories of Thebes and Plataea.

{2.6.2} This woman Epopeus carried off but I do not know whether he asked for her hand or adopted a bolder policy from the beginning. The Thebans came against him in arms, and in the battle Nykteus was wounded. Epopeus also was wounded, but won the day. Nykteus they carried back ill to Thebes, and when he was about to die he appointed to be regent of Thebes his brother Lykos for Labdacus, the son of Polydoros, the son of Kadmos, being still a child, was the ward of Nykteus, who on this occasion entrusted the office of guardian to Lykos. He also besought him to attack Aigialeia with a larger army and bring vengeance upon Epopeus; Antiope herself, if taken, was to be punished.

{2.6.3} As to Epopeus, he forthwith offered sacrifice for his victory and began a temple of Athena, and when this was complete he prayed the goddess to make known whether the temple was finished to her liking, and after the prayer they say that olive oil flowed before the temple. Afterwards Epopeus also died of his wound, which he had neglected at first, so that Lykos had now no need to wage war. For Lamedon, the son of Koronos, who became king after Epopeus, gave up Antiope. As she was being taken to Thebes by way of Eleutherai, she was delivered there on the road.

{2.6.4} On this matter Asios the son of Amphiptolemos [157] says in his poem:

Homer traces their descent to the more august side of their family, and says that they were the first founders of Thebes, in my opinion distinguishing the lower city from the Kadmeia.

{2.6.5} When Lamedon became king he took to wife an Athenian woman, Pheno, the daughter of Klytios. Afterwards also, when war had arisen between him and Arkhandros and Arkhiteles, the sons of Achaeus, he brought in as his ally Sikyon from Attica, and gave him Zeuxippe his daughter to wife. This man became king, and the land was named after him Sikyonia, and the city Sikyon instead of Aigiale. But they say that Sikyon was not the son of Marathon, the son of Epopeus, but of Metion the son of Erekhtheus. Asios confirms their statement, while Hesiod makes Sikyon the son of Erekhtheus, and Ibycus says that his father was Pelops.

{2.6.6} Sikyon had a daughter Khthonophyle, and they say that she and Hermes were the parents of Polybus. Afterwards she married Phlias, the son of Dionysus, and gave birth to Androdamas. Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaos the son of Bias, king of the Argives; and when Adrastos fled from Argos he came to Polybus at Sikyon, and afterwards on the death of Polybus he became king at Sikyon. When Adrastos returned to Argos, Ianiskos, a descendant of Klytios the father-in-law of Lamedon, came from Attica and was made king, and when Ianiskos died he was succeeded by Phaistos, said to have been one of the children of Hēraklēs.

{2.6.7} After Phaistos in obedience to an oracle migrated to Crete, the next king is said to have been Zeuxippos, the son of Apollo and the nymph Syllis. On the death of Zeuxippos, Agamemnon led an army against Sikyon and king Hippolytus, the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phaistos. In terror of the army that was attacking him, Hippolytus agreed to become subject to Agamemnon and the Mycenaeans. This Hippolytus was the father of Lacestades. Phalkes the son of Temenus, with the Dorians, surprised Sikyon by night, but did Lacestades no harm, because he too was one of the Herakleidai, and made him partner in the kingdom.

{2.7.1} From that time the Sikyonians became Dorians and their land a part of the Argive territory. The city built by Aigialeus on the plain was destroyed by Demetrios the son of Antigonos, [159] who founded the modern city near what was once the ancient citadel. The reason why the Sikyonians grew weak it would be wrong to seek; we must be content with Homer’s saying about Zeus:

When they had lost their power there came upon them an earthquake, which almost depopulated their city and took from them many of their famous sights. It damaged also the cities of Caria and Lycia, and the island of Rhodes was very violently shaken, so that it was thought that the Sibyl had had her utterance about Rhodes [160] fulfilled.

{2.7.2} When you have come from the Corinthian to the Sikyonian territory you see the tomb of Lykos the Messenian, whoever this Lykos may be; for I can discover no Messenian Lykos who practiced the pentathlon or won a victory at Olympia. This tomb is a mound of earth, but the Sikyonians themselves usually bury their dead in a uniform manner. They cover the body in the ground, and over it they build a basement of stone upon which they set pillars. Above these they put something very like the pediment of a temple. They add no inscription, except that they give the dead man’s name without that of his father and bid him farewell.

{2.7.3} After the tomb of Lykos, but on the other side of the Asopos, there is on the right the Olympium, and a little farther on, to the left of the road, the tomb of Eupolis, the Athenian comic poet. Farther on, if you turn in the direction of the city, you see the tomb of Xenodice, who died in childbirth. It has not been made after the native fashion, but so as to harmonize best with the painting, which is very well worth seeing.

{2.7.4} Farther on from here is the tomb of the Sikyonians who were killed at Pellene, at Dyme of the Achaeans, in Megalopolis and at Sellasia. [161] Their story I will relate more fully presently. By the gate they have a spring in a cave, the water of which does not rise out of the earth, but flows down from the roof of the cave. For this reason it is called the Dripping Spring.

{2.7.5} On the modern citadel is a sanctuary of Fortune of the Height, and after it one of the Dioskouroi. Their statues [agalmata] and that of Fortune are of wood [xoana]. On the stage of the theater built under the citadel is a statue of a man with a shield, who they say is Aratos, the son of Kleinias. After the theater is a temple of Dionysus. The god is of gold and ivory, and by his side are Bacchic women [Bakkhai] of white marble. These women they say are sacred [hierai] to Dionysus and are-maddened [mainesthai] by his inspiration. The Sikyonians have also some statues [agalmata] that are kept secret. These one night in each year they carry to the temple of Dionysus from what they call the Kosmeterion, and they do so with lighted torches and hymns [humnoi] that are local [epikhōrioi]

{2.7.6} The first is the one named Baccheus, set up by Androdamas, the son of Phlias, and this is followed by the one called Lysios (Deliverer), brought from Thebes by the Theban Phanes at the command of the Pythian priestess. Phanes came to Sikyon when Aristomakhos, the son of Kleodaios, failed to understand the oracle [162] given him, and therefore failed to return to the Peloponnesus. As you walk from the temple of Dionysus to the marketplace you see on the right a temple of Artemis of the lake. A look shows that the roof has fallen in, but the inhabitants cannot tell whether the statue [agalma] had been saved [komizesthai] and taken elsewhere or whether it was destroyed on the spot.

{2.7.7} Within the marketplace is a sanctuary of Persuasion; this too has no statue [agalma]. The worship of Persuasion was established among them for the following reason. When Apollo and Artemis had killed Pythō they came to Aigialeia to obtain purification. Dread coming upon them at the place now named Fear, they turned aside to Carmanor in Crete, and the people of Aigialeia were smitten by a plague. When the seers ordered them to propitiate Apollo and Artemis,

{2.7.8} they sent seven boys and seven girls as suppliants to the river Sythas. They say that the deities, persuaded by these, came to what was then the citadel, and the place that they reached first is the sanctuary of Persuasion. Conformable with this story is the ceremony they perform at the present day; the children go to the Sythas at the feast of Apollo, and having brought, as they pretend, the deities to the sanctuary of Persuasion, they say that they take them back again to the temple of Apollo. The temple stands in the modern marketplace, and was originally, it is said, made by Proitos, because in this place his daughters recovered from their madness.

{2.7.9} It is also said that in this temple Meleagros dedicated the spear with which he slew the boar. There is also a story that the aulos [‘double-reed’] of Marsyas is dedicated here. When the Silenos met with his disaster, the river Marsyas carried the aulos [‘double-reed’] to the Maeander; reappearing in the Asopos it was cast ashore in the Sikyonian territory and given to Apollo by the shepherd who found them. I found none of these offerings still in existence, for they were destroyed by fire when the temple was burned. The temple that I saw, and its statue [agalma], were dedicated by Pythokles.

{2.8.1} The precinct near the sanctuary of Persuasion that is devoted to Roman emperors was once the house of the tyrant Kleon. He became tyrant in the modern city there was another tyranny while the Sikyonians still lived in the lower city, [163] that of Cleisthenes, the son of Aristonymos, the son of Myron. Before this house is a hero-shrine of Aratos, [164] whose achievements eclipsed those of all contemporary Greeks. His history is as follows.

{2.8.2} After the despotism of Kleon, many of those in authority were seized with such an ungovernable passion for tyranny that two actually became tyrants together, Euthydemos and Timokleidas. These were expelled by the people, who made Kleinias, the father of Aratos, their champion. A few years afterwards Abantidas became tyrant. Before this time Kleinias had met his death, and Aratos went into exile, either of his own accord or because he was compelled to do so by Abantidas. Now Abantidas was killed by some natives, and his father Paseas immediately became tyrant.

{2.8.3} He was killed by Nikokles, who succeeded him. [165] This Nikokles was attacked by Aratos with a force of Sikyonian exiles and Argive mercenaries. Making his attempt by night, he eluded some of the defenders in the darkness; the others he overcame, and forced his way within the wall. Day was now breaking, and taking the populace with him he hastened to the tyrant’s house. This he easily captured, but Nikokles himself succeeded in making his escape. Aratos restored equality of political rights to the Sikyonians, striking a bargain for those in exile; he restored to them their houses and all their other possessions which had been sold, compensating the buyers out of his own purse.

{2.8.4} Moreover, as all the Greeks were afraid of the Macedonians and of Antigonos, the guardian of Philip, the son of Demetrios, he induced the Sikyonians, who were Dorians, to join the Achaean League. He was immediately elected general by the Achaeans, and leading them against the the people of Lokris in Amphissa and into the land of the Aetolians, their enemies, he ravaged their territory. Corinth was held by Antigonos, and there was a Macedonian garrison in the city, but he threw them into a panic by the suddenness of his assault, winning a battle and killing among others Persaios, the commander of the garrison, who had studied philosophy under Zeno, the son of Mnaseas.

{2.8.5} When Aratos had liberated Corinth, the League was joined by the Epidaurians and Troizenians inhabiting Argolian Acte, and by the Megarians among those beyond the Isthmus, while Ptolemy made an alliance with the Achaeans. The Lacedaemonians and king Agis, the son of Eudamidas, surprised and took Pellene by a sudden onslaught, but when Aratos and his army arrived they were defeated in an engagement, evacuated Pellene, and returned home under a truce.

{2.8.6} After his success in the Peloponnesus, Aratos thought it a shame to allow the Macedonians to hold unchallenged Peiraieus, Mounukhia, Salamis, and Sounion; but not expecting to be able to take them by force he bribed Diogenes, the commander of the garrisons, to give up the positions for a hundred and fifty talents, himself helping the Athenians by contributing a sixth part of the sum. He induced Aristomakhos also, the tyrant of Argos, to restore to the Argives their democracy and to join the Achaean League; he captured Mantineia from the Lacedaemonians who held it. But no man finds all his plans turn out according to his liking, and even Aratos was compelled to become an ally of the Macedonians and Antigonos in the following way.

{2.9.1} Kleomenes, the son of Leonidas, the son of Kleonymos, having succeeded to the kingship at Sparta, resembled Pausanias [166] in being dissatisfied with the established constitution and in aiming at a tyranny. A more fiery man than Pausanias, and no coward, he quickly succeeded by spirit and daring in accomplishing all his ambition. He poisoned Eurydamidas, the king of the other royal house, while yet a boy, raised to the throne by means of the ephors his brother Epikleidas, destroyed the power of the senate, and appointed in its stead a nominal Council of Fathers. Ambitious for greater things and for supremacy over the Greeks, he first attacked the Achaeans, hoping if successful to have them as allies, and especially wishing that they should not hinder his activities.

{2.9.2} Engaging them at Dyme beyond Patrai, Aratos being still leader of the Achaeans, he won the victory. [167] In fear for the Achaeans and for Sikyon itself, Aratos was forced by this defeat to bring in Antigonos as an ally. Kleomenes had violated the peace which he had made with Antigonos and had openly acted in many ways contrary to treaty, especially in laying waste Megalopolis. So Antigonos crossed into the Peloponnesus and the Achaeans met Kleomenes at Sellasia. [168] The Achaeans were victorious, the people of Sellasia were sold into slavery, and Lacedaemon itself was captured. Antigonos and the Achaeans restored to the Lacedaemonians the constitution of their fathers;

{2.9.3} but of the children of Leonidas, Epikleidas was killed in the battle, and Kleomenes fled to Egypt. Held in the highest honor by Ptolemy, he came to be cast into prison, being convicted of inciting Egyptians to rebel against their king. He made his escape from prison and began a riot among the Alexandrians, but at last, on being captured, he fell by his own hand. The Lacedaemonians, glad to be rid of Kleomenes, refused to be ruled by kings any longer, but the rest of their ancient constitution they have kept to the present day. Antigonos remained a constant friend of Aratos, looking upon him as a benefactor who had helped him to accomplish brilliant deeds.

{2.9.4} But when Philip succeeded to the throne, since Aratos did not approve of his violent treatment of his subjects, and in some cases even opposed the accomplishment of his purposes, he killed Aratos by giving him secretly a dose of poison. This fate came upon Aratos at Aigion, from which place he was carried to Sikyon and buried, and there is still in that city the hero-shrine of Aratos. Philip treated two Athenians, Eurykleides and Mikon, in a similar way. These men also, who were orators enjoying the confidence of the people, he killed by poison.

{2.9.5} After all, Philip himself in his turn was fated to suffer disaster through the fatal cup. Philip’s son, Demetrios, was poisoned by Perseus, his younger son, and grief at the murder brought the father also to his tomb. I mention the incident in passing, with my mind turned to the inspired words of the poet Hesiod, that he who plots mischief against his neighbor directs it first to himself.

{2.9.6} After the hero-shrine of Aratos is an altar to Isthmian Poseidon, and also a Zeus Meilichios (Gracious) and an Artemis named Patroa (Paternal), both of them very inartistic works. The Meilichios is like a pyramid, the Artemis like a pillar. Here too stand their council-chamber and a portico called Cleisthenean from the name of him who built it. It was built from spoils by Cleisthenes, who helped the Amphiktyones in the war at Cirrha. [169] In the marketplace under the open sky is a bronze Zeus, a work of Lysippos, and by the side of it a gilded Artemis.

{2.9.7} Hard by is a sanctuary of Apollo Lykios (wolf-god), now fallen into ruins and not worth any attention. For wolves once so preyed upon their flocks that there was no longer any profit therefrom, and the god, mentioning a certain place where lay a dry log, gave an oracle that the bark of this log mixed with meat was to be set out for the beasts to eat. As soon as they tasted it the bark killed them, and that log lay in my time in the sanctuary of the Wolf-god, but not even the guides of the Sikyonians knew what kind of tree it was.

{2.9.8} Next after this are bronze portrait statues, said to be the daughters of Proitos, but the inscription I found referred to other women. Here there is a bronze Hēraklēs, made by Lysippos the Sikyonian, and hard by stands Hermes of the Marketplace.

{2.10.1} In the gymnasium not far from the marketplace is dedicated a stone Hēraklēs made by Scopas. There is also in another place a sanctuary of Hēraklēs. The whole of the enclosure here they name Paidizē; in the middle of the enclosure is the sanctuary, and in it is an old wooden figure carved by Laphaēs the Phliasian. I will now describe the ritual at the festival. The story is that on coming to the Sikyonian land Phaistos found the people giving offerings to Hēraklēs as to a hero. Phaistos then refused to do anything of the kind, but insisted on sacrificing to him as to a god. Even at the present day the Sikyonians, after slaying a lamb and burning the thighs upon the altar, eat some of the meat as part of a victim given to a god, while the rest they offer as to a hero. The first day of the festival in honor of Hēraklēs they name …; the second they call Herakleia.

{2.10.2} From here is a way to a sanctuary of Asklepios. On passing into the enclosure you see on the left a building with two rooms. In the outer room lies a figure of Sleep, of which nothing remains now except the head. The inner room is given over to the Carnean Apollo; into it none may enter except the priests. In the portico lies a huge bone of a sea-monster, and after it a statue [agalma] of the Dream-god and [a statue of] Sleep, surnamed Epidotes (Bountiful), lulling to sleep a lion. Within the sanctuary on either side of the entrance is a statue [agalma] of Pan seated, and, on the other side, [a statue of] Artemis standing.

{2.10.3} When you have entered you see the god, a beardless figure of gold and ivory made by Kalamis. He holds a staff in one hand, and a cone of the cultivated pine in the other. The Sikyonians say that the god was carried to them from Epidaurus on a carriage drawn by two mules, that he was in the likeness of a serpent, and that he was brought by Nicagora of Sikyon, the mother of Agasikles and the wife of Ekhetīmos. Here are small figures [agalmata] hanging from the roof. She who is on the serpent they say is Aristodama, the mother of Aratos, whom they hold to be a son of Asklepios.

{2.10.4} Such are the noteworthy things that this enclosure presented to me, and opposite is another enclosure, sacred to Aphrodite. The first thing inside is a statue [agalma] of Antiope. They say that her sons were Sikyonians, and because of them the Sikyonians will have it that Antiope herself is related to themselves. After this is the sanctuary of Aphrodite, into which enter only a female verger, who after her appointment may not have intercourse with a man, and a virgin, called the Bath-bearer, holding her sacred office for a year. All others are accustomed to behold the goddess from the entrance, and to pray from that place.

{2.10.5} The statue [agalma], which is seated, was made by the Sikyonian Kanakhos, who also fashioned the Apollo at Didyma of the Milesians, and the Ismenian Apollo for the Thebans. It is made of gold and ivory, having on its head a polos, [170] and carrying in one hand a poppy and in the other an apple. They offer the thighs of the victims, excepting pigs; the other parts they burn for the goddess with juniper wood, but as the thighs are burning they add to the offering a leaf of the paideros.

{2.10.6} This is a plant in the open parts of the enclosure, and it grows nowhere else either in Sikyonia or in any other land. Its leaves are smaller than those of the esculent oak, but larger than those of the holm; the shape is similar to that of the oak-leaf. One side is of a dark color, the other is white. You might best compare the color to that of white-poplar leaves.

{2.10.7} Ascending from here to the gymnasium you see in the right a sanctuary of Artemis Pheraia. It is said that the wooden image was brought from Pherai. This gymnasium was built for the Sikyonians by Kleinias, and they still train the youths here. White marble images are here, an Artemis crafted only to the waist, and a Hēraklēs whose lower parts are similar to the square Hermai.

{2.11.1} Turning away from here towards the gate called Holy you see, not far from the gate, a temple of Athena. Dedicated long ago by Epopeus, it surpassed all its contemporaries in size and splendor. Yet the memory of even this was doomed to perish through lapse of time—it was burned down by lightning—but the altar there, which escaped injury, remains down to the present day as Epopeus made it. Before the altar a barrow has been raised for Epopeus himself, and near the tomb are the gods Averters of evil. Near them the Greeks perform such rites as they are accustomed to do in order to avert misfortunes. They say that the neighboring sanctuary of Artemis and Apollo was also made by Epopeus, and that of Hērā after it by Adrastos. I found no statues [agalmata] remaining in either. Behind the sanctuary of Hērā he built an altar to Pan, and one to Hēlios [Sun] made of white marble.

{2.11.2} On the way down to the plain is a sanctuary of Demeter, said to have been founded by Plemnaios as a thank-offering to the goddess for the rearing of his son. A little farther away from the sanctuary of Hērā founded by Adrastos is a temple of Apollo Karneios. Only the pillars are standing in it; you will no longer find there walls or roof, nor yet in that of Hērā Pioneer. This temple was founded by Phalkes, son of Temenus, who asserted that Hērā guided him on the road to Sikyon.

{2.11.3} On the direct road from Sikyon to Phleious, on the left of the road and just about ten stadium-lengths from it, is a grove called Puraiā, and in it a sanctuary of Hērā Protectress and the Maiden. Here the men celebrate a festival by themselves, giving up to the women the temple called Nymphon for the purposes of their festival. In the Nymphon are statues [agalmata] of Dionysus, Demeter, and the Maiden, with only their faces exposed. The road to Titane is sixty stadium-lengths long, and too narrow to be used by carriages drawn by a yoke.

{2.11.4} At a distance along it, in my opinion, of twenty stadium-lengths, to the left on the other side of the Asopos, is a grove of holm oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the August, and by the Sikyonians the Kindly Ones. On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and offer sheep big with young as a burned offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practice similar rites at the altar of the Fates; it is in an open space in the grove.

{2.11.5} On turning back to the road, and having crossed the Asopos again and reached the summit of the hill, you come to the place where the natives say that Titan first dwelled. They add that he was the brother of Hēlios [Sun], and that after him the place got the name Titane. My own view is that he proved clever at observing the seasons of the year and the times when the sun increases and ripens seeds and fruits, and for this reason was held to be the brother of Hēlios. Afterwards Alexanor, the son of Machaon, the son of Asklepios, came to Sikyonia and built the sanctuary of Asklepios at Titane.

{2.11.6} The neighbors are chiefly servants of the god, and within the enclosure are old cypress trees. One cannot learn of what wood or metal the statue [agalma] is, nor do they know the name of the maker, though one or two attribute it to Alexanor himself. Of the statue [agalma] can be seen only the face, hands, and feet, for it has about it a tunic of white wool and a cloak. There is a similar statue [agalma] of Hygieia; this, too, one cannot see easily because it is so surrounded with the locks of women, who cut them off and offer them to the goddess, and with strips of Babylonian raiment. With whichever of these a votary here is willing to make propitiations, the same instructions have been given to him, to worship this image which they are pleased to call Hygieia.

{2.11.7} There are statues [agalmata] also of Alexanor and of Euamerion; to the former they give offerings as to a hero after the setting of the sun; to Euamerion, as being a god, they give burned sacrifices. If I conjecture aright, the Pergamenes, in accordance with an oracle, call this Euamerion Telesphoros (Accomplisher) while the Epidaurians call him Akesis (Cure). There is also a wooden image of Coronis, but it has no fixed position anywhere in the temple. While to the god are being sacrificed a bull, a lamb, and a pig, they remove Coronis to the sanctuary of Athena and honor her there. The parts of the victims which they offer as a burned sacrifice, and they are not content with cutting out the thighs, they burn on the ground, except the birds, which they burn on the altar.

{2.11.8} In the gable at the ends are figures of Hēraklēs and of Victories. In the portico are dedicated statues [agalmata] of Dionysus and Hekate, with Aphrodite, the Mother of the gods, and Fortune. These are wooden, but Asklepios, surnamed Gortynian, is of stone. They are unwilling to enter among the sacred serpents through fear, but they place their food before the entrance and take no further trouble. Within the enclosure is a bronze statue of a Sikyonian named Granianus, who won the following victories at Olympia: the pentathlon twice, the foot-race, the double-course foot-race twice, once without and once with the shield.

{2.12.1} In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the image of Coronis. In it is an old wooden figure of Athena, and I was told that it, too, was struck by lightning. The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year. He also performs other secret rites at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts, and he is said to chant as well charms of Medea.

{2.12.2} On reaching Sikyon from Titane, as you go down to the shore you see on the left of the road a temple of Hērā having now neither statue [agalma] nor roof. They say that its founder was Proitos, the son of Abas. When you have gone down to the harbor called the Sikyonians’ and turned towards Aristonautai, the Port of Pellene, you see a little above the road on the left hand a sanctuary of Poseidon. Farther along the highway is a river called the Helisson, and after it the Sythas, both emptying themselves into the sea.

{2.12.3} Phliasia borders on Sikyonia. The city is just about forty stadium-lengths distant from Titane, and there is a straight road to it from Sikyon. That the Phliasians are in no way related to the Arcadians is shown by the passage in Homer that deals with the list of the Arcadians, in which the Sikyonians are not included among the Arcadian confederates. As my narrative progresses it will become clear that they were Argive originally, and became Dorian later after the return of the Herakleidai to the Peloponnesus. I know that most of the traditions concerning the Phliasians are contradictory, but I shall make use of those which have been most generally accepted.

{2.12.4} They say that the first man in this land was Aras, who sprang from the soil. He founded a city around that hillock which even down to our day is called the Arantine Hill, not far distant from a second hill on which the Phliasians have their citadel and their sanctuary of Hebe. Here, then, he founded a city, and after him in ancient times both the land and the city were called Arantia. While he was king, Asopos, said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon, discovered for him the water of the river which the present inhabitants call after him Asopos. The tomb of Aras is in the place called Celeae, where they say is also buried Dysaules of Eleusis.

{2.12.5} Aras had a son Aoris and a daughter Araethyrea, who, the Phliasians say, were experienced hunters and brave warriors. Araethyrea died first, and Aoris, in memory of his sister, changed the name of the land to Araethyrea. This is why Homer, in making a list of Agamemnon’s subjects, has the verse: Orneaiwas their home and Araethyrea the delightful. [171] The tombs of the children of Aras are, in my opinion, on the Arantine Hill and not in any other part of the land. On the top of them are far-seen tombstones, and before the celebration of the mysteries of Demeter the people look at these tombs and call Aras and his children to the libations.

{2.12.6} The Argives say that Phlias, who has given the land its third name, was the son of Ceisus, the son of Temenus. This account I can by no means accept, but I know that he is called a son of Dionysus, and that he is said to have been one of those who sailed on the Argo. The verses of the Rhodian poet confirm me in my opinion:

Here did he dwell and prosper, because Dionysus his father

{2.13.1} On the return of the Herakleidai disturbances took place throughout the whole of the Peloponnesus except Arcadia, so that many of the cities received additional settlers from the Dorian lineage, and their inhabitants suffered yet more revolutions. The history of Phleious is as follows. The Dorian Rhegnidas, the son of Phalkes, the son of Temenus, attacked it from Argos and Sikyonia. Some of the Phliasians were inclined to accept the offer of Rhegnidas, which was that they should remain on their own estates and receive Rhegnidas as their king, giving the Dorians with him a share in the land.

{2.13.2} Hippasus and his party, on the other hand, urged the citizens to defend themselves, and not to give up many advantages to the Dorians without striking a blow. The people, however, accepted the opposite policy, and so Hippasus and any others who wished fled to Samos. Great-grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, the celebrated sage. For Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarkhos, the son of Euphranor, the son of Hippasus. This is the account the Phliasians give about themselves, and the Sikyonians in general agree with them.

{2.13.3} I will now add an account of the most remarkable of their famous sights. On the Phliasian citadel is a grove of cypress trees and a sanctuary which from ancient times has been held to be peculiarly holy. The earliest Phliasians named the goddess to whom the sanctuary belongs Ganymeda; but later authorities call her Hebe, whom Homer [172] mentions in the duel between Menelaos and Alexander, saying that she was the cup-bearer of the gods; and again he says, in the descent of Odysseus to Hades, [173] that she was the wife of Hēraklēs. Olen, [174] in his hymn to Hērā, says that Hērā was reared by the Seasons, and that her children were Ares and Hebe. Of the honors that the Phliasians pay to this goddess the greatest is the pardoning of suppliants.

{2.13.4} All those who seek sanctuary here receive full forgiveness, and prisoners, when set free, dedicate their fetters on the trees in the grove. The Phliasians also celebrate a yearly festival which they call Ivy-cutters. There is no statue [agalma], either kept in secret or openly displayed, and the reason for this is set forth in a sacred discourse [hieros logos] of theirs though on the left as you go out is a temple of Hērā with a statue [agalma] of Parian marble.

{2.13.5} On the citadel is another enclosure, which is sacred to Demeter, and in it are a temple and statue [agalma] of Demeter and [one of] her daughter. Here there is also a bronze statue [agalma] of Artemis, which appeared to me to be ancient. As you go down from the citadel you see on the right a temple of Asklepios with a statue [agalma] of the god as a beardless youth. Below this temple is built a theater. Not far from it is a sanctuary of Demeter and old, seated statues [agalmata].

{2.13.6} On the marketplace is a votive offering, a bronze she-goat for the most part covered with gold. The following is the reason why it has received honors among the Phliasians. The constellation which they call the Goat on its rising causes continual damage to the vines. In order that they may suffer nothing unpleasant from it, the Phliasians pay honors to the bronze goat on the marketplace and adorn the image with gold. Here also is the tomb of Aristias, the son of Pratinas. [175] This Aristias and his father Pratinas composed satyric plays more popular than any save those of Aeschylus.

{2.13.7} Behind the marketplace is a building which the Phliasians name the House of Divination. Into it Amphiaraos entered, slept the night there, and then first, say the Phliasians, began to divine. According to their account Amphiaraos was for a time an ordinary person and no diviner. Ever since that time the building has been shut up. Not far away is what is called the Omphalos (Navel), the center of all the Peloponnesus, if they speak the truth about it. Farther on from the Omphalos they have an old sanctuary of Dionysus, a sanctuary of Apollo, and one of Isis. The statue [agalma] of Dionysus is visible to all, and so also is that of Apollo, but the image of Isis only the priests may behold.

{2.13.8} There is also a tale [logos] told by Phliasians, and it goes like this. When Hēraklēs came back safe from Libya, bringing the apples of the Hesperides, as they were called, he visited Phleious on some private matter. While he was staying there Oineus came to him from Aetolia. He had already allied himself to the lineage of Hēraklēs, and after his arrival on this occasion either he entertained Hēraklēs or Hēraklēs entertained him. Be this as it may, displeased with the drink given him Hēraklēs struck on the head with one of his fingers the boy Cyathus, the cup-bearer of Oineus, who died on the spot from the blow. A chapel keeps the memory of the deed fresh among the Phliasians; it is built by the side of the sanctuary of Apollo, and it contains statues [agalmata] made of stone representing Cyathus holding out a cup to Hēraklēs.

{2.14.1} Celeae is some five stadium-lengths distant from the city, and here they celebrate the mysteries in honor of Demeter, not every year but every fourth year. The initiating priest is not appointed for life, but at each celebration they elect a fresh one, who takes, if he cares to do so, a wife. In this respect their custom differs from that at Eleusis, but the actual celebration is modeled on the Eleusinian rites. The Phliasians themselves admit that they copy the ‘performance’ at Eleusis.

{2.14.2} They say that it was Dysaules, the brother of Keleus, who came to their land and established the mysteries, and that he had been expelled from Eleusis by Ion, when Ion, the son of Xuthus, was chosen by the Athenians to be commander-in-chief in the Eleusinian war. Now I cannot possibly agree with the Phliasians in supposing that an Eleusinian was conquered in battle and driven away into exile, for the war terminated in a treaty before it was fought out, and Eumolpos himself remained at Eleusis.

{2.14.3} But it is possible that Dysaules came to Phleious for some other reason than that given by the Phliasians. I do not believe either that he was related to Keleus, or that he was in any way distinguished at Eleusis, otherwise Homer would never have passed him by in his poems. For Homer is one of those who have written in honor of Demeter, and when he is making a list of those to whom the goddess taught the mysteries he knows nothing of an Eleusinian named Dysaules. These are the verses:

{2.14.4} At all events, this Dysaules, according to the Phliasians, established the mysteries here, and he it was who gave to the place the name Celeae. I have already said that the tomb of Dysaules is here. So the tomb of Aras was made earlier, for according to the account of the Phliasians Dysaules did not arrive in the reign of Aras, but later. For Aras, they say, was a contemporary of Prometheus, the son of Iapetos, and three generations of men older than Pelasgus the son of Arkas and those called in Athens aboriginals. On the roof of what is called the Anactorum they say is dedicated the chariot of Pelops.

{2.15.1} These are the things that I found most worthy of mention among the Phliasians. On the road from Corinth to Argos is a small city Kleonai. They say that Kleones was a son of Pelops, though there are some who say that Kleone was one of the daughters of Asopos, that flows by the side of Sikyon. Be this as it may, one or other of these two accounts for the name of the city. Here there is a sanctuary of Athena, and the statue [agalma] is a work of Skyllis and Dipoinos. [176] Some hold them to have been the pupils of Daidalos, but others will have it that Daidalos took a wife from Gortyn, and that Dipoinos and Skyllis were his sons by this woman. Kleonai possesses this sanctuary and the tomb of Eurytos and Kteatos. The story is that as they were going as ambassadors from Elis to the Isthmian contest they were here shot by Hēraklēs, who charged them with being his adversaries in the war against Augeias.

{2.15.2} From Kleonai to Argos are two roads; one is direct and only for men who are physically fit, the other goes along the pass called Trētos, is narrow like the other, being surrounded by mountains, but is nevertheless more suitable for vehicles. In these mountains is still shown the cave of the famous lion, and the place [khōrion] called Neméā is distant some fifteen stadium-lengths. In Neméā is a temple [nāos] of Nemean [Nemeios] Zeus, which is worthy of viewing [théā], but I found that the roof had caved in and that there was no longer any statue [agalma] [of Zeus] left. Around the temple is a grove of cypress trees, and here it is, they say, that Opheltes was placed by his nurse in the grass and killed by the serpent [drakōn].

{2.15.3} The Argives offer-sacrifices [thuein] to Zeus the Nemean [Nemeios] in Nemeā, and elect a priest of Nemean Zeus; moreover they offer a prize for a race in armor at the winter celebration of the Nemean games. In this place is the tomb of Opheltes; around it is a fence of stones, and within the enclosure are altars. There is also a mound of earth which is the tomb of Lycurgus [Lykourgos] the father of Opheltes. The spring [pēgē] they call Adrasteia for some reason [aitiā] or other, perhaps because Adrastos found it. The land was named, they say, after Nemeā, who was another daughter of Asopos. Above Nemeā is Mount Apesas, where they say that Perseus first made-sacrifice [thuein] to Zeus of Apesas.

{2.15.4} Going upland to [the pass called] Trētos and then down again along the road to Argos, you see on the left the ruins [ereipia] of Mycenae. The Greeks are generally aware that the founder [oikistēs] of Mycenae was Perseus, but I will also write down the cause [aitiā] of its foundation [oikismos] and the pretext [prophasis] that theArgives gave when they at a later point destroyed Mycenae. In the region now called Argolis, some things most ancient are not memorialized [mnēmoneuein] while other things are, and here is one such thing: they say that Inakhos was once their king and that he named the river Inakhos after himself and that he sacrificed to Hērā.

{2.15.5} There is also another tale [logos] told [legesthai] that goes like this… that Phoroneus was the first to be born in this land, and that Inakhos, the father of Phoroneus, was not a man but the river. This river, with the rivers Kephisos and Asterion, arbitrated [dikazein] concerning possession of the land between Poseidon and Hērā. They decided [krinein] that the land belonged to Hērā, and so Poseidon made their waters disappear. For this reason neither Inakhos nor either of the other rivers I have mentioned provides any water except whenver the god [= Zeus] makes rain. In summer their streams are dry except for those at Lerna. Phoroneus, the son of Inakhos, was the first to gather together humans [anthrōpoi] into a commonality [koinon], who up to that time had been scattered and living-in-settlements[oikeîn] all by themselves. The place into which they were first gathered was named the City [Astu] of Phoroneus.

{2.16.1} Argos, the maternal grandson of Phoroneus became king [basileus] after Phoroneus andgave his own name to the land. Argos fathered Peirasos and Phorbas, Phorbas fathered Triopas, and Triopas fathered Iasos and Agenor. Io, the daughter of Iasos, went to Egypt, whether the circumstances be as Herodotus writes or as the Greeks say. After Iasos, Krotopos the son of Agenor came to power [arkhē] and fathered Sthenelas, but Danaos sailed from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelasand put a stop to the succession of the descendants of Agenor to kingship. What followed is known to all alike the crime that the daughters of Danaos committed against their male cousins, and how, after the death of Danaos, Lynkeus succeeded him.

{2.16.2} Then there was Abas the son of Lynkeus, and his own sons Akrisios and Proitos divided the kingship [basileiā] between themselves. Akrisios remained where he was at Argos, and Proitos took over the Hēraion, Mideiā, Tiryns, and the Argive coastal region. Traces [sēmeia] of the residence [oikēsis] of Proitos in Tiryns remain to the present day. Afterwards Akrisios, learning that Perseus himself was not only alive but accomplishing [apodeiknusthai] great deeds, withdrew to Larisa, by [the river] Pēneios. And Perseus, wishing at all costs to see the father of his mother and to greet him with fair words and deeds, visited him at Larisa. Being in the prime of life and proud of being the inventor of the discus, he showed off [apodeiknusthai] [his skill in throwing the discus] in front of everybody, and Akrisios, through the agency of some superhuman force [daimōn], stepped unnoticed into the path of the discus.

{2.16.3} So the prediction of the god to Akrisios found its fulfillment [telos], nor was the-thing-that-had-been-prophesied [tò khreōn] prevented by his precautions against his daughter and the son of his daughter. Perseus felt shame because of what-was-said [phēmē] about the homicide, and so, on his return to Argos, he induced Megapenthes, the son of Proitos, to make an exchange of kingdoms; taking over for himself the rule [arkhē] of the kindom of Megapenthes, he founded [ktizein] Mycenae. For on its site the pommel [myces = mukēs] fell out of his sword, and he regarded this as a sign [sēmeion] to establish the foundation [oikismos] of a citadel [polis]. I have also heard the following account. He was thirsty, and the thought occurred to him to pick up a mushroom [myces = mukēs] from the ground. Water flowed from that spot, and, taking delight in drinking from it, he gave to the place the name of Mycenae.

{2.16.4} Homer in the Odyssey [2.120] mentions a woman [gunē] named Mycene [Mukēnē] in the following verse:

Τυρώ τ’ Ἀλκμήνη τε ἐϋστέφανός τε Μυκήνη

{2.16.5} It was envy that caused the Argives to destroy Mycenae. For at the time of the Persian invasion the Argives made-no-move [hēsukhazein], but the Mycenaeans sent eighty men to Thermopylae who shared in the achievement [ergon] of the Lacedaemonians. This act-of-eagerness-for-distinction [philo-tīmēma] brought ruin upon them by aggravating the Argives. There still remain, however, parts of the enclosing-wall [peribolos], including the gate [pulē], on top of which stand lions. These [walls], too, are said to be the work [erga] of the Cyclopes, who made for Proitos the [circumference-] wall [teikhos] at Tiryns.

{2.16.6} Inside the ruins [ereipia] of Mycenae is a spring [krēnē] called Perseiā; there are also underground chambers [hupo-gaia oikodomēmata] of Atreus and his offspring [paides], in which were stored the treasuries [thēsauroi] of their possessions. The tomb [taphos] of Atreus is there, along with the tombs of those who, besides Agamemnon, returned with him from Troy and were slaughtered by Aigisthos after they had been wined and dined by him at a banquet. As for the tomb [mnēma] [177] of Cassandra [Kassandrā], there is a rival claim to it by the Lacedaemonians who dwell [oikeîn] in the vicinity of Amyklai. There is [at Mycenae] another tomb [mnēma] [besides the tombs in the Treasury of Atreus] that specifically belongs to Agamemnon, and there is also another tomb belonging to Eurymedon his charioteer, while still another one is shared by Teledāmos and Pelops, twin sons, they say, of Cassandra,

{2.16.7} whom while they were still infants [nēpioi] Aigisthos slaughtered after he slaughtered their parents. As for Electra … Orestes married her off to Pylades, and Hellanicus adds that the children of Pylades by Electra were Medon and Strophios. Clytemnestra and Aigisthos were buried at some little distance from the [circumference-]wall [teikhos]. They were thought unworthy of a place inside it [= the circumference-wall], which is where Agamemnon himself and those who were slaughtered with him had been placed.

{2.17.1} Fifteen stadium-lengths distant from Mycenae is on the left the Hēraion. Alongside the road flows the rivulet called ‘the-water-that-makes-free’ [Eleutherion]. The women who attend the sacred space [hieron] use it [= the water] in purifications [katharsia] and for sacrifices [thusai] that are mystical [apo-rrhētoi]. The sacred space [hieron] itself is on a lower part of Euboea. Euboea is the name they give to the hill here, saying that Asterion the river had three daughters, Euboea, Prosymna, and Akraia, and that they were nurses [trophoi] of Hērā.

{2.17.2} The hill opposite the Hēraion they name after Akraia, while the environs of the sacred space [hieron] they name after Euboea, and, further, the land beneath the Hēraion they name after Prosymna. This on flows above the Hēraion, and falling into a cleft disappears. On its banks grows a plant, which also is called asterion. They offer the plant itself to Hēra, and from its leaves they weave garlands [stephanoi] for her.

{2.17.3} It is said that the architect of the temple [nāos] was Eupolemos, an Argive. The sculptures carved above the columns [kiones] refer not only to the birth [genesis] of Zeus and the battle between the gods and the giants but also to the Trojan war and the capture of Ilion. Before the entrance stand statues [andriantes] of women who have been priestesses [hiereiai] of Hērā and of various heroes [hērōes], including Orestes. I say it this way because the statue that has an inscription on it claiming that it represents the Emperor Augustus is really, they say, the statue of Orestes. In the front-part-of-the-temple [pro-nāos] are on the one side ancient statues [agalmata] of the Graces [Kharites], and on the right a couch [klinē] of Hērā and a votive offering [anathēma], that is, the shield [aspis] that Menelaos once took from Euphorbos at Troy. [178]

{2.17.4} The statue [agalma] of Hērā is seated on a throne [thronos]; it [= the statue] is huge in size, made of gold and ivory, and is a work of Polycleitus. She is wearing [on her head] a garland [stephanos] that features Graces [Kharites] and Seasons [Hōrai] worked upon it, and in one hand she holds a pomegranate while in the other a scepter [skēptron]. About the pomegranate … I must let go of this subject, since its story [logos] is somewhat mystical [apo-rrhētos]. The presence of a cuckoo seated on the scepter [skēptron] they explain by telling how, when Zeus lusted [erân] for Hērā as virgin [parthénos], he changed himself into this bird, and she caught it to be her plaything [paignion]. This story [logos] and similar things said about the gods I write down without accepting [apodekhesthai] them, but I write them down nevertheless.

{2.17.5} By the side of Hērā stands what is said to be a statue [agalma] of Hēbē fashioned by Naukydes; it, too, is of ivory and gold. By its side is an old statue [agalma] of Hērā on a column [kiōn]. The oldest statue is made of wild-pear wood, and was dedicated in Tiryns by Peirasos, son of Argos, and when the Argives destroyed Tiryns they carried it away to the Hēraion. I myself saw it, a small, seated statue [agalma].

{2.17.6} Of the votive offerings [anathēmata] the following are worth speaking-about [logos]. There is an altar [bōmos] upon which is worked in relief the storied [legomenon] wedding of Hēbē and Hēraklēs. This is of silver, but the peacock dedicated by ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian is of gold and gleaming stones. He dedicated it because they hold the bird to be sacred to Hērā. Also deposited here are a golden garland [stephanos] and a purple robe [peplos], offerings [anathēmata] of Nero.

{2.17.7} Above this temple are the foundations of the earlier temple and such parts of it as were spared by the flames. It had burned down because sleep overpowered Khryseis, the priestess of Hērā, when the lamp before the garlands set fire to them. Khryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Athena Alea. Although so great a disaster had befallen them the Argives did not take down the statue of Khryseis; it is still in position in front of the burned temple.

{2.18.1} By the side of the road from Mycenae to Argos there is on the left hand a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Perseus. He gets honors [tīmai], as I discovered, from the local-population-nearby [proskhōrioi] here as well [as inside the walls of Mycenae], but the greatest honors are paid to him in Seriphos and among the Athenians, who have a precinct [temenos] sacred to Perseus and an altar [bōmos] of Dictys and Klymene, who are called the saviors [sōtēres] of Perseus. As one advancxes in the Argive territory from this hero-shrine [hērōion], therfe is on the right the tomb [taphos] of Thyestes. On it is a ram [krios] made of stone, because Thyestes obtained a golden lamb [arēn] after seducing his brother’s wife. Atreus was not restrained by prudence [logismos] from retaliating, but contrived the slaughter of the children of Thyestes and the banquet that is sung about in songs.

{2.18.2} But as to what followed, I cannot say for certain whether Aigisthos began the injustice [adikiā] or whether Agamemnon was first to commit injustice in killing Tantalos the son of Thyestes. It is said that Tantalos had lived-with [sun-oikeîn]Clytaemnestra, having received her from Tyndareus when she was still a virgin. I myself do not wish to condemn them of having been wicked by nature [phusis]; but if the pollution [miasma] of Pelops and the avenging spirit of Myrtilos dogged their steps so long, it was after all only consistent that the Pythian priestess said to the Spartan Glaukos, the son of Epikydes, who consulted her about breaking his oath, that the punishment for this also comes upon the descendants.

{2.18.3} A short distance beyond the Rams [krioi]—this is the name they give to the tomb of Thyestes—there is on the left a place [khōrion] called Mysia and a sanctuary [hieron] of Demeter Mysia, so named after a man Mysios who, say the Argives, was another one of those who acted as a host [xenos] to Demeter. In any case, this sanctuary has no roof, but inside it is another shrine [nāos], built of baked brick, in it are wooden-statues of the Maiden [Korē], Pluto [Ploutōn], and Demeter. Farther on is the river called Inakhos, and on the other side of it an altar [bōmos] of Hēlios [the Sun]. After this you will come to a gate [pulē] named after the sanctuary [hieron] that is near it. This sanctuary belongs to Eileithuia.

{2.18.4} The Argives are the only Greeks that I know of who have been divided into three kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, son of Argeus, son of Megapenthes, the women were smitten with madness, and straying from their homes they roamed about the country, until Melampos the son of Amythaon cured them of the plague on condition that he himself and his brother Bias had a share of the kingdom equal to that of Anaxagoras. Now descended from Bias five men, Neleids on their mother’s side, occupied the throne for four generations down to Kyanippos, son of Aigialeus, and descended from Melampos six men in six generations down to Amphilokhos, son of Amphiaraos.

{2.18.5} But the native house of the lineage of Anaxagoras ruled longer than the other two. For Iphis, son of Alector, son of Anaxagoras, left the throne to Sthenelus, son of Capaneus his brother. After the capture of Troy, Amphilokhos migrated to the people now called the Amphilochians, and, Kyanippos having died without issue, Cylarabes, son of Sthenelus, became sole king. However, he too left no offspring, and Argos was seized by Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was a neighbor. Besides his ancestral dominion, he had extended his rule over the greater part of Arcadia and had succeeded to the throne of Sparta; he also had a contingent of allies from Phokis always ready to help him.

{2.18.6} When Orestes became king of the Lacedaemonians, they themselves consented to accept him for they considered that the sons of the daughter of Tyndareus had a claim to the throne prior to that of Nikostratos and Megapenthes, who were sons of Menelaos by a slave woman. On the death of Orestes, there succeeded to the throne Tisamenus, the son of Orestes and of Hermione, the daughter of Menelaos. The mother of Penthilos, the bastard son of Orestes, was, according to the poet Cinaethon, Erigone, the daughter of Aigisthos.

{2.18.7} It was in the reign of this Tisamenus that the Herakleidai returned to the Peloponnesus; they were Temenus and Kresphontes, the sons of Aristomakhos, together with the sons of the third brother, Aristodemos, who had died. Their claim to Argos and to the throne of Argos was, in my opinion, most just, because Tisamenus was descended from Pelops, but the Herakleidai were descendants of Perseus. Tyndareus himself, they made out, had been expelled by Hippokoön, and they said that Hēraklēs, having killed Hippokoön and his sons, had given the land in trust to Tyndareus. They gave the same kind of account about Messenia also, that it had been given in trust to Nestor by Hēraklēs after he had taken Pylos.

{2.18.8} So they expelled Tisamenus from Lacedaemon and Argos, and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, namely Alkmaion, son of Sillus, son of Thrasymedes, Peisistratos, son of Peisistratos, and the sons of Paion, son of Antilokhos, and with them Melanthos, son of Andropompus, son of Borus, son of Penthilos, son of Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went with his army to the land that is now Achaea.

{2.18.9} To what people Peisistratos retreated I do not know, but the rest of the Neleidai went to Athens, and the clans of the Painonidai and of the Alkmaionidai were named after them. Melanthos even came to the throne, having deposed Thymoetes the son of Oxyntes; for Thymoetes was the last Athenian king descended from Theseus.

{2.19.1} It is not to my purpose that I should set forth here the history of Kresphontes and of the sons of Aristodemos. But Temenus openly employed, instead of his sons, Delphontes, son of Antimakhos, son of Thrasyanor, son of Ktesippos, son of Hēraklēs, as general in war and as adviser on all occasions. Even before this he had made him his son-in-law, while Hyrnetho was his favorite daughter; he was accordingly suspected of intending to divert the throne to her and Delphontes. For this reason his sons plotted against him, and Ceisus, the eldest of them, seized the kingdom.

{2.19.2} But from the earliest times the Argives have loved freedom and self-government, and they limited to the utmost the authority of their kings, so that to Medon, the son of Ceisus, and to his descendants was left a kingdom that was such only in name. Meltas, the son of Lacedas, the tenth descendant of Medon, was condemned by the people and deposed altogether from the kingship.

{2.19.3} The most famous building in the city of Argos is the sanctuary of Apollo Lykios (wolf-god). The modern statue [agalma] was made by the Athenian Attalos, but the original temple and wooden-statue [xoanon] were the offering of Danaos. I am of opinion that in those days all statues called xoana, especially Egyptian ones, were made of wood. The reason why Danaos founded a sanctuary of Apollo Lykios was this. On coming to Argos he claimed the kingdom against Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas. Many plausible arguments were brought forward by both parties, and those of Sthenelas were considered as fair as those of his opponent; so the people, who were sitting in judgment, put off, they say, the decision to the following day.

{2.19.4} At dawn a wolf fell upon a herd of oxen that was pasturing before the wall, and attacked and fought with the bull that was the leader of the herd. It occurred to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull and Danaos like the wolf, for as the wolf will not live with men, so Danaos up to that time had not lived with them. It was because the wolf overcame the bull that Danaos won the kingdom. Accordingly, believing that Apollo had brought the wolf on the herd, he founded a sanctuary of Apollo Lykios.

{2.19.5} Here is dedicated the throne of Danaos, and here Is placed a statue of Biton, in the form of a man carrying a bull on his shoulders. According to the poet Lykeas, when the Argives were holding a sacrifice to Zeus at Nemeā, Biton by sheer physical strength took up a bull and carried it there. Next to this statue is a fire which they keep burning, calling it the fire of Phoroneus. For they do not admit that fire was given to mankind by Prometheus, but insist in assigning the discovery of fire to Phoroneus.

{2.19.6} As to the wooden images of Aphrodite and Hermes, the one they say was made by Epeios, while the other is a votive offering of Hypermnestra. She was the only one of the daughters of Danaos who neglected his command, [179] and was accordingly brought to justice by him, because be considered that his life was in danger so long as Lynkeus was at large, and that the refusal to share in the crime of her sisters increased the disgrace of the contriver of the deed. On her trial she was acquitted by the Argives, and to commemorate her escape she dedicated an image of Aphrodite, the Bringer of Nike.

{2.19.7} Within the temple is a statue of Ladas, the swiftest runner of his time, and one of Hermes with a tortoise which he has caught to make a lyre. Before the temple is a pit with a relief representing a fight between a bull and a wolf, and with them a maiden throwing a rock at the bull. The maiden is thought to be Artemis. Danaos dedicated these, and some pillars hard by and wooden images of Zeus and Artemis.

{2.19.8} Here are tombs; one is that of Linos, the son of Apollo by Psamathe, the daughter of Krotopos; the other, they say, is that of Linos the poet. The story of the latter Linos is more appropriate to another part of my narrative, and so I omit it here, while I have already given the history of the son of Psamathe in my account of Megara. After these is an image of Apollo, God of Streets, and an altar of Zeus, God of Rain, where those who were helping Polyneikes in his efforts to be restored to Thebes swore an oath together that they would either capture Thebes or die. As to the tomb of Prometheus, their account seems to me to be less probable than that of the Opuntians, but they hold to it nevertheless.

{2.20.1} Passing over a statue [eikōn] of Creugas, a boxer, and a trophy that was set up to celebrate a victory over the Corinthians, you come to a seated statue [agalma] of Zeus Meilikhios [‘benign’], made of white marble by Polycleitus. [180] I discovered that it was made for the following reason. Ever since the Lacedaemonians began to make war upon the Argives there was no cessation of hostilities until Philip, the son of Amyntas, forced them to stay within the original boundaries of their territories. Before this, if the Lacedaemonians were not engaged on some business outside the Peloponnesus, they were always trying to annex a piece of Argive territory; or if they were busied with a war beyond their borders it was the turn of the Argives to retaliate.

{2.20.2} When the hatred of both sides was at its height, the Argives resolved to maintain a thousand picked men. The commander appointed over them was the Argive Bryas. His general behavior to the men of the people was violent, and a girl who was being taken to the bridegroom he seized from those who were escorting her and ravished. When night came on, the girl waited until he was asleep and put out his eyes. Detected in the morning, she took refuge as a suppliant with the people. When they did not give her up to the Thousand for punishment both sides took up arms; the people won the day, and in their anger left none of their opponents alive. [181] Subsequently they had recourse to purifications for shedding kindred blood; among other things they dedicated a statue [agalma] of Zeus Meilikhios [‘benign’].

{2.20.3} Hard by are Kleobis and Biton carved in relief on stone, themselves drawing the carriage and taking in it their mother to the sanctuary of Hērā. Opposite them is a sanctuary of Nemean Zeus, and an upright bronze statue [agalma] of the god made by Lysippos. Going forward from this you see on the right the tomb of Phoroneus, to whom even in our time they bring offerings as to a hero. Over against the Nemean Zeus is a temple of Fortune, which must be very old if it be the one in which Palamedes dedicated the dice that he had invented.

{2.20.4} The tomb near this they call that of the maenad Chorea, saying that she was one of the women who joined Dionysus in his expedition against Argos, and that Perseus, being victorious in the battle, put most of the women to the sword. To the rest they gave a common grave, but to Chorea they gave burial apart because of her high rank.

{2.20.5} A little farther on is a sanctuary of the Seasons. On coming back from here you see statues of Polyneikes, the son of Oedipus, and of all the chieftains who with him were killed in battle at the wall of Thebes. These men Aeschylus has reduced to the number of seven only, although there were more chiefs than this in the expedition, from Argos, from Messene, with some even from Arcadia. But the Argives have adopted the number seven from the drama of Aeschylus, and near to their statues are the statues of those who took Thebes: Aigialeus, son of Adrastos; Promakhos, son of Parthenopaeus, son of Talaos; Polydoros, son of Hippomedon; Thersandros; Alkmaion and Amphilokhos, the sons of Amphiaraos; Diomedes, and Sthenelus. Among their company were also Euryalus, son of Mecisteus, and Adrastos and Timeas, sons of Polyneikes.

{2.20.6} Not far from the statues are shown the tomb of Danaos and a cenotaph of the Argives who met their death at Troy or on the journey home. Here there is also a sanctuary of Zeus the Savior. Beyond it is a building where the Argive women bewail Adonis. On the right of the entrance is the sanctuary of Kephisos. It is said that the water of this river was not utterly destroyed by Poseidon, but that just in this place, where the sanctuary is, it can be heard flowing under the earth.

{2.20.7} Beside the sanctuary of Kephisos is a head of Medusa made of stone, which is said to be another of the works of the Cyclopes. The ground behind it is called even at the present time the Place of Judgment, because it was here that they say Hypermnestra was brought to judgment by Danaos. Not far from this is a theater. In it are some noteworthy sights, including a representation of a man killing another, namely the Argive Perilaos, the son of Alcenor, killing the Spartan Othryadas. Before this, Perilaos had succeeded in winning the prize for wrestling at the Nemean games.

{2.20.8} Above the theater is a sanctuary of Aphrodite, and before the image is a slab with a representation crafted on it in relief of Telesilla, the lyric poetess. Her books lie scattered at her feet, and she herself holds in her hand an helmet, which she is looking at and is about to place on her head. Telesilla was a distinguished woman who was especially renowned for her poetry. It happened that the Argives had suffered an awful defeat at the hands of Kleomenes, the son of Anaxandrides, and the Lacedaemonians. Some fell in the actual fighting; others, who had fled to the grove of Argos, also perished. At first they left sanctuary under an agreement, which was treacherously broken, and the survivors, when they realized this, were burned to death in the grove. So when Kleomenes led his troops to Argos there were no men to defend it. [182]

{2.20.9} But Telesilla mounted on the wall all the slaves and such as were incapable of bearing arms through youth or old age, and she herself, collecting the arms in the sanctuaries and those that were left in the houses, armed the women of vigorous age, and then posted them where she knew the enemy would attack. When the Lacedaemonians came on, the women were not dismayed at their battlecry, but stood their ground and fought valiantly. Then the Lacedaemonians, realizing that to destroy the women would be an invidious success while defeat would mean a shameful disaster, gave way before the women.

{2.20.10} This fight had been foretold by the Pythian priestess in the oracle quoted by Herodotus, who perhaps understood to what it referred and perhaps did not:

{2.21.1} Having descended thence, and having turned again to the marketplace, we come to the tomb of Cerdo, the wife of Phoroneus, and to a temple of Asklepios. The sanctuary of Artemis, surnamed Persuasion, is another offering of Hypermnestra after winning the trial to which she was brought by her father because of Lynkeus. Here there is also a bronze statue of Aeneas, and a place called Delta. I intentionally do not discuss the origin of the name, because I could not accept the traditional accounts.

{2.21.2} In front of it stands an altar of Zeus Phyxios, and near is the tomb of Hypermnestra, the mother of Amphiaraos, the other tomb being that of Hypermnestra, the daughter of Danaos, with whom is also buried Lynkeus. Opposite these is the tomb of Talaos, the son of Bias; the history of Bias and his descendants I have already given.

{2.21.3} A sanctuary of Athena Trumpet they say was founded by Hegeleos. This Hegeleos, according to the story, was the son of Tyrsenus, and Tyrsenus was the son of Hēraklēs and the Lydian woman; Tyrsenus invented the trumpet, and Hegeleos, the son of Tyrsenus, taught the Dorians with Temenus how to play the instrument, and for this reason gave Athena the surname Trumpet. Before the temple of Athena is, they say, the tomb of Epimenides. The Argive story is that the Lacedaemonians made war upon the people of Knossos and took Epimenides alive; they then put him to death for not prophesying good luck to them, and the Argives taking his body buried it here.

{2.21.4} The building of white marble in just about the middle of the marketplace is not, as the Argives declare, a trophy in honor of a victory over Pyrrhos of Epeiros, but it can be shown that his body was burned here, and that this is his monument, on which are carved in relief the elephants and his other instruments of warfare. This building then was set up where the pyre stood, but the bones of Pyrrhos lie in the sanctuary of Demeter, beside which, as I have shown in my account of Attica, his death occurred. At the entrance to this sanctuary of Demeter you can see a bronze shield of Pyrrhos hanging dedicated over the door.

{2.21.5} Not far from the building in the marketplace of Argos is a mound of earth, in which they say lies the head of the Gorgon Medusa. I omit the miraculous, but give the rational parts of the story about her. After the death of her father, Phorcus, she reigned over those living around Lake Tritonis, going out hunting and leading the Libyans to battle. On one such occasion, when she was encamped with an army over against the forces of Perseus, who was followed by picked troops from the Peloponnesus, she was assassinated by night. Perseus, admiring her beauty even in death, cut off her head and carried it to show the Greeks.

{2.21.6} But Prokles, the son of Eucrates, a Carthaginian, thought a different account more plausible than the preceding. It is as follows. Among the incredible monsters to be found in the Libyan desert are wild men and wild women. Prokles affirmed that he had seen a man from them who had been brought to Rome. So he guessed that a woman wandered from them, reached Lake Tritonis, and harried the neighbors until Perseus killed her; Athena was supposed to have helped him in this exploit, because the people who live around Lake Tritonis are sacred to her.

{2.21.7} In Argos, by the side of this monument of the Gorgon, is the tomb of Gorgophone (Gorgon-kilIer), the daughter of Perseus. As soon as you hear the name you can understand the reason why it was given her. On the death of her husband, Perieres, the son of Aeolus, whom she married when a virgin, she married Oibalos, being the first woman, they say, to marry a second time; for before this wives were accustomed, on the death of their husbands, to live as widows.

{2.21.8} In front of the tomb is a trophy of stone made to commemorate a victory over an Argive Laphaes. When this man was tyrant I write what the Argives themselves say concerning themselves—the people rose up against him and cast him out. He fled to Sparta, and the Lacedaemonians tried to restore him to power, but were defeated by the Argives, who killed the greater part of them and Laphaes as well. Not far from the trophy is the sanctuary of Leto; the statue [agalma] is a work of Praxiteles.

{2.21.9} The statue [eikōn] of the maiden beside the goddess they call Chloris (Pale), saying that she was a daughter of Niobe, and that she was called Meliboea at the first. When the children of Amphion were destroyed by Apollo and Artemis, she alone of her sisters, along with Amyclas, escaped; their escape was due to their prayers to Leto. Meliboea was struck so pale by her fright, not only at the time but also for the rest of her life, that even her name was accordingly changed from Meliboea to Chloris.

{2.21.10} Now the Argives say that these two built originally the temple to Leto, but I think that none of Niobe’s children survived, for I place more reliance than others on the poetry of Homer, one of whose verses bears out my view:Though they were only two, yet they gave all to destruction. [183] So Homer knows that the house of Amphion was utterly overthrown.

{2.22.1} The temple of Hērā Anthea (Flowery) is on the right of the sanctuary of Leto, and before it is a tomb of women. They were killed in a battle against the Argives under Perseus, having come from the Aegean Islands to help Dionysus in war; for which reason they are surnamed Haliai (Women of the Sea). Facing the tomb of the women is a sanctuary of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian from Pelasgus, son of Triopas, its founder, and not far from the sanctuary is the tomb of Pelasgus.

{2.22.2} Opposite the tomb is a small bronze vessel supporting ancient images [agalmata] of Artemis, Zeus, and Athena. Now Lykeas in his poem says that the statue [agalma] is of Zeus Mekhaneus (Contriver), and that here the Argives who set out against Troy swore to persist in the war until they either took Troy or met their end fighting. Others have said that in the bronze vessel lie the bones of Tantalos.

{2.22.3} Now that the Tantalos is buried here who was the son of Thyestes or Broteas (both accounts are given) and married Clytaemnestra before Agamemnon did, I will not gainsay; but the tomb of him who is said to be the son of Zeus and Pluto [Ploutō feminine]—it is worthy of viewing [théā]—is on Mount Sipylos. I know because I saw it. Moreover, no constraint came upon him to flee from Sipylos, such as afterwards forced Pelops to run away when Ilus the Phrygian launched an army against him. But I must pursue the inquiry no further. The ritual performed at the pit hard by they say was instituted by Nikostratos, a native. Even at the present day they throw into the pit burning torches in honor of the Maiden who is daughter of Demeter.

{2.22.4} Here is a sanctuary of Poseidon, surnamed Prosklystios (Flooder), for they say that Poseidon inundated the greater part of the country because Inakhos and his assessors decided that the land belonged to Hērā and not to him. Now it was Hērā who induced Poseidon to send the sea back, but the Argives made a sanctuary to Poseidon Prosklystios at the spot where the tide ebbed.

{2.22.5} Going on a little further you see the tomb of Argos, reputed to be the son of Zeus and Niobe, daughter of Phoroneus. After these comes a temple of the Dioskouroi. The statues [agalmata] represent the Dioskouroi themselves and their sons, Anaxis and Mnasinous, and with them are their mothers, Hilaeira and Phoebe. They are of ebony wood, and were made by Dipoinos and Skyllis. The horses, too, are mostly of ebony, but there is a little ivory also in their construction.

{2.22.6} Near the Lords is a sanctuary of Eilethyia, dedicated by Helen when, Theseus having gone away with Peirithoös to Thesprotia, Aphidna had been captured by the Dioskouroi and Helen was being brought to Lacedaemon. For it is said that she was with child, was delivered In Argos, and founded there the sanctuary of Eilethyia, giving the daughter she bore to Clytaemnestra, who was already wedded to Agamemnon, while she herself subsequently married Menelaos.

{2.22.7} And on this matter the poets Euphorion of Khalkis and Alexander of Pleuron, and even before them, Stesichorus of Himera, agree with the Argives in asserting that Iphigeneia was the daughter of Theseus. [184] Over against the sanctuary of Eilethyia is a temple of Hekate, and the statue [agalma] is a work of Scopas. This one is of stone, while the bronze statues [agalmata] opposite, also of Hekate, were made respectively by Polycleitus and his brother Naukydes, son of Mothon.

{2.22.8} As you go along a straight road to a gymnasium, called Cylarabis after the son of Sthenelus, you come to the tomb of Licymnius, the son of Electryon, who, Homer says, was killed by Tleptolemos, the son of Hēraklēs for which homicide Tleptolemos was banished from Argos. On turning a little aside from the road to Cylarabis and to the gate there, you come to the tomb of Sacadas, who was the first to play at Delphi the Pythian tune of the aulos [‘double-reed’];

{2.22.9} the hostility of Apollo to players of the aulos [‘double-reed’], which had lasted ever since the rivalry of Marsyas the Silenos, is supposed to have stayed because of this Sacadas. In the gymnasium of Cylarabes is an Athena called Pania; they show also the tombs of Sthenelus and of Cylarabes himself. Not far from the gymnasium has been built a common grave of those Argives who sailed with the Athenians to enslave Syracuse and Sicily.

{2.23.1} As one goes from here along a road [hodos] called Hollow [Koilē], there is on the right a temple [nāos] of Dionysus; the statue [agalma], they say, is from Euboea. For when the Greeks, as they were returning [komizesthai] from Troy, met with the shipwreck at Caphereus, those of the Argives who were able to escape to land suffered from cold and hunger. Having prayed that someone of the gods should prove himself a savior [sōtēr] in their present distress, straightway as they advanced they came upon a cave of Dionysus; in the cave was a statue [agalma] of the god, and on this occasion wild she-goats had gathered there to escape from the storm. These the Argives killed, using the flesh as food and the skins as clothing. When the storm was over and the Argives, having refitted their ships, were returning [komizesthai] homeward, they took with them the wooden-image [xoanon] from the cave, and continue to honor [tīmân] it to the present day.

{2.23.2} Very near to the temple of Dionysus you will see the house [oikiā] [185] of Adrastos, and, further on from there, a sanctuary [hieron] of Amphiaraos, and, beyond the sanctuary [hieron] the tomb [mnēma] of Eriphyle. Next to these is a precinct [temenos] of Asklepios, and, after them, a sanctuary [hieron] of Baton. Now Baton belonged to the same lineage [genos] as Amphiaraos, to the Melampodidai, and was-charioteer [hēniokheîn] for him [=Amphiaraos] when that one went forth to battle. When the rout [tropē] took place at the wall of Thebes, an opening-up [khasma] of the earth happened, receiving Amphiaraos and his chariot, and the opening made him disappear [aphanizein] together with this Baton.

{2.23.3} As one comes back from Hollow-Road [Koilē], one sees what they say is the tomb [taphos] of Hyrnetho. If it is merely empty [kenos, = a cenotaph], serving no other purpose than a memorializing [mnēmē] of the woman, then the things they say are likely [eikóta] but if they think [nomizein] that the corpse [nekros] lies here, then I cannot believe it. If there is anyone who has not learned [as I have] the things thought by the people of Epidauros, let someone like that go on and believe it.

{2.23.4} The most famous sanctuary of Asklepios at Argos contains at the present day a white-marble statue [agalma] of the god seated, and by his side stands Hygieia. There are also seated figures of Xenophilus and Straton, who made the statues [agalmata]. The original founder of the sanctuary was Sphyrus, son of Makhaon and brother of the Alexanor who is honored among the Sikyonians in Titane.

{2.23.5} The Argives, like the Athenians and Sikyonians, worship Artemis Pheraia, and they, too, assert that the statue [agalma] of the goddess was brought from Pherai in Thessaly. But I cannot agree with them when they say that in Argos are the tombs of Deianeira, the daughter of Oineus, and of Helenos, son of Priam, and that there is among them the statue [agalma] of Athena that was brought from Troy, thus causing the capture of that city. For the Palladium, as it is called, was manifestly brought to Italy by Aeneas. As to Deianeira, we know that her death took place near Trakhis and not in Argos, and her tomb is near Herakleia, at the foot of Mount Oitē.

{2.23.6} The story of Helenos, son of Priam, I have already given: that he went to Epeiros with Pyrrhos, the son of Achilles; that, wedded to Andromache, he was guardian to the children of Pyrrhos and that the district called Kestrine received its name from Kestrinos, son of Helenos. Now even the guides of the Argives themselves are aware that their account is not entirely correct. Nevertheless they hold to their opinion, for it is not easy to make the multitude change their views. The Argives have other things worth seeing;

{2.23.7} for instance, an underground building over which was the bronze chamber which Akrisios once made to guard his daughter. Perilaos, however, when he became tyrant, pulled it down. Besides this building there is the tomb of Krotopos and a temple of Cretan Dionysus. For they say that the god, having made war on Perseus, afterwards laid aside his enmity, and received great honors at the hands of the Argives, including this precinct set specially apart for himself.

{2.23.8} It was afterwards called the precinct of the Cretan god, because, when Ariadne died, Dionysus buried her here. But Lykeas says that when the temple was being rebuilt an earthenware coffin was found, and that it was Ariadne’s. He also said that both he himself and other Argives had seen it. Near the temple of Dionysus is a temple of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ourania].

{2.24.1} The citadel they call Larisa, after the daughter of Pelasgus. After her were also named two of the cities in Thessaly, the one by the sea and the one by the river Pēneios. As you go up the citadel you come to the sanctuary of Hērā of the Height, and also a temple of Apollo, which is said to have been first built by Pythaeus when he came from Delphi. The present statue [agalma] is a bronze standing figure called Apollo Deiradiotes, because this place, too, is called Deiras (Ridge). Oracular responses are still given here, and the oracle acts in the following way. There is a woman who prophesies, being debarred from intercourse with a man. Every month a lamb is sacrificed at night, and the woman, after tasting the blood, becomes inspired by the god.

{2.24.2} Adjoining the temple of Apollo Deiradiotes is a sanctuary of Athena Oxyderces (Sharp-sighted), dedicated by Diomedes, because once when he was fighting at Troy the goddess removed the mist from his eyes. Adjoining it is the race-course, in which they hold the games in honor of Nemean Zeus and the festival of Hērā. As you go to the citadel there is on the left of the road another tomb of the children of Aigyptos. For here are the heads apart from the bodies, which are at Lerna. For it was at Lerna that the youths were murdered, and when they were dead their wives cut off their heads, to prove to their father that they had done the dreadful deed.

{2.24.3} On the top of Larisa is a temple of Zeus, surnamed Larisaean, which has no roof; the wooden statue [agalma] I found no longer standing upon its pedestal. There is also a temple of Athena worth seeing. Here are placed votive offerings, including a wooden image of Zeus, which has two eyes in the natural place and a third on its forehead. This Zeus, they say, was a paternal god of Priam, the son of Laomedon, set up in the uncovered part of his court, and when Troy was taken by the Greeks Priam took sanctuary at the altar of this god. When the spoils were divided, Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus, received the image, and for this reason it has been dedicated here.

{2.24.4} The reason for its three eyes one might infer to be this. That Zeus is king in the sky [ouranos] is a saying common to all men. As for him who is said to rule under the earth, there is a verse of Homer which calls him, too, Zeus:

The god in the sea, also, is called Zeus by Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion. So whoever made the image made it with three eyes, as signifying that this same god rules in all the three ‘allotments’ of the Universe, as they are called.

{2.24.5} From Argos are roads to various parts of the Peloponnesus, including one to Teges on the side towards Arcadia. On the right is Mount Lykone, which has trees on it, chiefly cypresses. On the top of the mountain is built a sanctuary of Artemis Orthia (of the Steep), and there have been made white-marble statues [agalmata] of Apollo, Leto, and Artemis, which they say are works of Polycleitus. On descending again from the mountain you see on the left of the highway a temple of Artemis.

{2.24.6} A little farther on there is on the right of the road a mountain called Chaon. At its foot grow cultivated trees, and here the water of the Erasinos rises to the surface. Up to this point it flows from Stymphalos in Arcadia, just as the Rheitoi, near the sea at Eleusis, flow from the Euripus. At the places where the Erasinos gushes forth from the mountain they sacrifice to Dionysus and to Pan, and to Dionysus they also hold a festival called Tyrbe (Throng).

{2.24.7} On returning to the road that leads to Tegea you see Cenchreae on the right of what is called the Wheel. Why the place received this name they do not say. Perhaps in this case also it was Cenchrias, son of Peirene, that caused it to be so called. Here are common graves of the Argives who conquered the Lacedaemonians in battle at Hysiai. [186] This fight took place, I discovered, when Peisistratos was archon [arkhōn] in Athens, in the fourth year of the twenty-seventh Olympiad, in which the Athenian, Eurybotos, won the foot-race. On coming down to a lower level you reach the ruins of Hysiai, which once was a city in Argolis, and here it is that they say the Lacedaemonians suffered their reverse.

{2.25.1} The road from Argos to Mantineia is not the same as that to Tegea, but begins from the gate at the Ridge. On this road is a sanctuary built with two rooms, having an entrance on the west side and another on the east. At the latter is a wooden-statue [xoanon] of Aphrodite, and at the west entrance one of Ares. They say that the statues [agalmata] are votive offerings of Polyneikes and of the Argives who joined him in the campaign to redress his wrongs.

{2.25.2} Farther on from here, across the torrent called Kharadros (Gully), is Oinoe, named, the Argives say, after Oineus. The story is that Oineus, who was king in Aetolia, on being driven from his throne by the sons of Agrios, took refuge with Diomedes at Argos, who aided him by an expedition into Calydonia, but said that he could not remain with him, and urged Oineus to accompany him, if he wished, to Argos. When he came, he gave him all the attention that it was right to give a father’s father, and on his death buried him here. After him the Argives name the place Oinoe.

{2.25.3} Above Oinoe is Mount Artemisios, with a sanctuary of Artemis on the top. On this mountain are also the springs of the river Inakhos. For it really has springs, though the water does not run far.

{2.25.4} Here I found nothing else that is worth seeing. There is another road, that leads to Lyrcea from the gate at the Ridge. The story is that to this place came Lynkeus, being the only one of the fifty brothers to escape death, and that on his escape he raised a beacon here. Now to raise the beacon was the signal he had agreed with Hypermnestra to give if he should escape Danaos and reach a place of safety. She also, they say, lighted a beacon on Larisa as a sign that she too was now out of danger. For this reason the Argives hold every year a beacon festival.

{2.25.5} At the first the place was called Lyncea; its present name is derived from Lyrcus, a bastard son of Abas, who afterwards dwelled there. Among the ruins are several things not worth mentioning, besides a figure of Lyrcus upon a slab. The distance from Argos to Lyrcea is about sixty stadium-lengths, and the distance from Lyrcea to Orneaiis the same. Homer in the Catalogue makes no mention of the city Lyrcea, because at the time of the Greek expedition against Troy it already lay deserted; Omeae, however, was inhabited, and in his poem he places it [187] on the list before Phleious and Sikyon, which order corresponds to the position of the towns in the Argive territory.

{2.25.6} The name is derived from Orneus, the son of Erekhtheus. This Orneus begat Peteos, and Peteos begat Menestheus, who, with a body of Athenians, helped Agamemnon to destroy the kingdom of Priam. From him then did Orneai get its name, and afterwards the Argives removed all its citizens, who thereupon came to live at Argos. At Orneaiare a sanctuary and an upright wooden image of Artemis; there is besides a temple devoted to all the gods in common. On the further side of Orneaiare Sikyonia and Phliasia.

{2.25.7} On the way from Argos to Epidauria there is on the right a building made very like a pyramid, and on it in relief are created shields of the Argive shape. Here took place a fight for the throne between Proitos and Akrisios; the contest, they say, ended in a draw, and a reconciliation resulted afterwards, as neither could gain a decisive victory. The story is that they and their hosts were armed with shields, which were first used in this battle. For those that fell on either side was built here a common tomb, as they were fellow citizens and kinsmen.

{2.25.8} Going on from here and turning to the right, you come to the ruins of Tiryns. The Tirynthians also were removed by the Argives, who wished to make Argos more powerful by adding to the population. The hero Tiryns, from whom the city derived its name, is said to have been a son of Argos, a son of Zeus. The wall, which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the Cyclopes made of unfinished stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones were so inserted that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together.

{2.25.9} Going down seawards, you come to the chambers of the daughters of Proitos. On returning to the highway you will reach Medea on the left hand. They say that Electryon, the father of Alkmene, was king of Medea, but in my time nothing was left of it except the foundations.

{2.25.10} On the straight road to Epidaurus is a village Lessa, in which is a temple of Athena with a wooden image exactly like the one on the citadel Larisa. Above Lessa is Mount Arachnaeus, which long ago, in the time of Inakhos, was named Sapyselaton. On it are altars to Zeus and Hērā. When rain is needed they sacrifice to them here.

{2.26.1} At Lessa the Argive territory joins that of Epidaurus. But before you reach Epidaurus itself you will come to the sanctuary of Asklepios. Who dwelled in this land before Epidaurus came to it I do not know, nor could I discover from the natives the descendants of Epidaurus either. But the last king before the Dorians arrived in the Peloponnesus was, they say, Pityreus, a descendant of Ion, son of Xuthus, and they relate that he handed over the land to Deiphontes and the Argives without a struggle.

{2.26.2} He went to Athens with his people and dwelled there, while Deiphontes and the Argives took possession of Epidauria. These on the death of Temenus seceded from the other Argives; Deiphontes and Hyrnetho through hatred of the sons of Temenus, and the army with them, because it respected Deiphontes and Hyrnetho more than Ceisus and his brothers. Epidaurus, who gave the land its name, was, the people of Elis say, a son of Pelops but, according to Argive opinion and the poem the Great Eoeae, the father of Epidaurus was Argos, son of Zeus, while the Epidaurians maintain that Epidaurus was the child of Apollo.

{2.26.3} That the land is especially sacred to Asklepios is due to the following reason. The Epidaurians say that Phlegyas came to the Peloponnesus, ostensibly to see the land, but really to spy out the number of the inhabitants, and whether the greater part of them was warlike. For Phlegyas was the greatest soldier of his time, and making forays in all directions he carried off the crops and lifted the cattle.

{2.26.4} When he went to the Peloponnesus, he was accompanied by his daughter, who all along had kept hidden from her father that she was with child by Apollo. In the country of the Epidaurians she bore a son, and exposed him on the mountain called Nipple at the present day, but then named Myrtium. As the child lay exposed he was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the mountain, and was guarded by the watchdog of the herd. And when Aresthanas (for this was the herdsman’s name)

{2.26.5} discovered that the tale of the goats was not full, and that the watchdog also was absent from the herd, he left, they say, no stone unturned, and on finding the child desired to take him up. As he drew near he saw lightning that flashed from the child, and, thinking that it was something divine, as in fact it was, he turned away. Presently it was reported over every land and sea that Asklepios was discovering everything he wished to heal the sick, and that he was raising dead men to life.

{2.26.6} There is also another tradition concerning him. Coronis, they say, when with child with Asklepios, had intercourse with Ischys, son of Elatos. She was killed by Artemis to punish her for the insult done to Apollo, but when the pyre was already lighted Hermes is said to have snatched the child from the flames.

{2.26.7} The third account is, in my opinion, the farthest from the truth; it makes Asklepios to be the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leukippos. For when Apollophanes the Arcadian, came to Delphi and asked the god if Asklepios was the son of Arsinoe and therefore a Messenian, the Pythian priestess gave this response: —O Asklepios, born to bestow great joy upon mortals, Pledge of the mutual love I enjoyed with Phlegyas’ daughter, Lovely Coronis, who bare thee in rugged land Epidaurus. This oracle makes it quite certain that Asklepios was not a son of Arsinoe, and that the story was a fiction invented by Hesiod, or by one of Hesiod’s interpolators, just to please the Messenians.

{2.26.8} There is other evidence that the god was born in Epidaurus for I find that the most famous sanctuaries of Asklepios had their origin from Epidaurus. In the first place, the Athenians, who say that they gave a share of their mystic rites to Asklepios, call this day of the festival Epidauria, and they allege that their worship of Asklepios dates from then. Again, when Arkhias, son of Aristaechmus, was healed in Epidauria after spraining himself while hunting about Pindasus, he brought the cult to Pergamon.

{2.26.9} From the one at Pergamon has been built in our own day the sanctuary of Asklepios by the sea at Smyrna. Further, at Balagraiof the Cyreneans there is an Asklepios called Healer, who like the others came from Epidaurus. From the one at Cyrene was founded the sanctuary of Asklepios at Lebene, in Crete. There is this difference between the Cyreneans and the Epidaurians, that whereas the former sacrifice goats, it is against the custom of the Epidaurians to do so.

{2.26.10} That Asklepios was considered a god from the first, and did not receive the title only in course of time, I infer from several signs, including the evidence of Homer, who makes Agamemnon say about Makhaon:Talthybios, with all speed go summon me hither Makhaon, mortal son of Asklepios. [188] As who should say, ‘human son of a god’.

{2.27.1} The sacred grove of Asklepios is surrounded on all sides by boundary marks. No death or birth takes place within the enclosure the same custom prevails also in the island of Delos. All the offerings, whether the offerer be one of the Epidaurians themselves or a stranger, are entirely consumed within the bounds. At Titane too, I know, there is the same rule.

{2.27.2} The statue [agalma] of Asklepios [inside his temple] is, in size, half as big as the Olympian Zeus in Athens, and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription reveals that the artist was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotos. The god is sitting on a seat throne [thronos] grasping a staff [baktēriā]; the other hand he is holding over the head of the serpent [drakōn]; there is also a figure of a dog lying by his side. On the throne [thronos] are worked in relief the deeds [erga] of Argive heroes [hērōes]—Bellerophontes against the Chimaera, and Perseus, who has cut off the head of Medusa. Over on the side of the temple is the place where the suppliants [hiketai] of the god fall asleep [= go into a state of incubation].

{2.27.3} Nearby [= near the Temple of Asklepios] has been built a circular building [oikēma … peripheres] of white marble, called Tholos, which is worthy of viewing [théā]. In it is a picture by Pausias representing Love, who has cast aside his bow and arrows, and is carrying instead of them a lyre that he has taken up. Here there is also another work of Pausias, Drunkenness drinking out of a crystal cup. You can see even in the painting a crystal cup and a woman’s face through it. Within the enclosure [peribolos] stood slabs [stēlai]; in my time six remained, but in ancient times there were more. On them are inscribed the names of both men and women who have been healed by Asklepios, also the disease also from which each suffered, also the means of cure. The dialect is Doric.

{2.27.4} Apart from the others is an ancient [arkhaiā] slab [stēlē]. It says [that is, the inscription on it says] that Hippolytus dedicated twenty horses to the god [Asklepios]. What is said by the people of Aricia agrees with the inscription on this slab, that when Hippolytus was killed because of the curses [ārai] of Theseus, Asklepios resurrected [an-histanai] him from the dead. When he came-back-to-life [authis biōnai] he refused to forgive his father for rejecting his entreaties, and he went to the people of Aricia in Italy. There he became king [basileusai] and dedicated a precinct [temenos] to Artemis, where down to my time there was a contest-for-prizes [āthla]—a contest of single-combat [monomakhiā]—and [among the prizes was the provision] that the winner [of the contest] was to be consecrated-as-priest] [hierâsthai] to the goddess [theos (feminine)]. The contest [agōn] was not open to free men, but only to slaves [oiketai] who had run away from their masters [despotai].

{2.27.5} The people of Epidaurus have a theater [theātron] within the sacred space [hieron], and it is in my opinion very much worthy of viewing [théā]. I say this because, while the Roman theaters are far superior to those anywhere else in their splendor, and the Arcadian theater at Megalopolis is unequalled for size, what architect could seriously rival Polycleitus in symmetry [harmoniā] and beauty? It was Polycleitus who built both this theater [theātron] and the circular building [oikēma … peripheres]. Within the grove are a temple of Artemis, a statue [agalma] of Epione, a sanctuary of Aphrodite and Themis, a race-course consisting, like most Greek race-courses, of a bank of earth, and a fountain worth seeing for its roof and general splendor.

{2.27.6} A Roman senator, Antoninus, made in our own day a bath of Asklepios and a sanctuary of the gods they call Bountiful. [189] He made also a temple to Hygieia, Asklepios, and Apollo, the last two surnamed Egyptian. He moreover restored the portico that was named the Portico of Cotys, which, as the brick of which it was made had been unburned, had fallen into utter ruin after it had lost its roof. As the Epidaurians about the sanctuary were in great distress, because their women had no shelter in which to be delivered and the sick breathed their last in the open, he provided a dwelling, so that these grievances also were redressed. Here at last was a place in which without sin a human being could die and a woman be delivered.

{2.27.7} Above the grove are the Nipple and another mountain called Cynortium; on the latter is a sanctuary of Maleatian Apollo. The sanctuary itself is an ancient one, but among the things Antoninus made for the Epidaurians are various appurtenances for the sanctuary of the Maleatian, including a reservoir into which the rainwater collects for their use.

{2.28.1} The serpents, including a peculiar kind of a yellowish color, are considered sacred to Asklepios, and are tame with men. These are peculiar to Epidauria, and I have noticed that other lands have their peculiar animals. For in Libya only are to be found land crocodiles at least two cubits long; from India alone are brought, among other creatures, parrots. But the big snakes that grow to more than thirty cubits, such as are found in India and in Libya, are said by the Epidaurians not to be serpents, but some other kind of creature.

{2.28.2} As you go up to Mount Coryphum you see by the road an olive tree called Twisted. It was Hēraklēs who gave it this shape by bending it round with his hand, but I cannot say whether he set it to be a boundary mark against the Asinaeans in Argolis, since in no land, which has been depopulated, is it easy to discover the truth about the boundaries. On the Top of the mountain there is a sanctuary of Artemis Coryphaea (of the Peak), of which Telesilla made mention in an ode.

{2.28.3} On going down to the city of the Epidaurians, you come to a place where wild olives grow; they call it Hyrnethium. I will relate the story of it, which is probable enough, as given by the Epidaurians. Ceisus and the other sons of Temenus knew that they would grieve Deiphontes most if they could find a way to part him and Hyrnetho. So Cerynes and Phalkes (for Agraios, the youngest, disapproved of their plan) came to Epidaurus. Staying their chariot under the wall, they sent a herald to their sister, pretending that they wished to parley with her.

{2.28.4} When she obeyed their summons, the young men began to make many accusations against Deiphontes, and besought her much that she would return to Argos, promising, among other things, to give her to a husband in every respect better than Deiphontes, one who ruled over more subjects and a more prosperous country. But Hyrnetho, pained at their words, gave as good as she had received, retorting that Deiphontes was a dear husband to her, and had shown himself a blameless son-in-law to Temenus; as for them, they ought to be called the murderers of Temenus rather than his sons.

{2.28.5} Without further reply the youths seized her, placed her in the chariot, and drove away. An Epidaurian told Deiphontes that Cerynes and Phalkes had gone, taking with them Hyrnetho against her will; he himself rushed to the rescue with all speed, and as the Epidaurians learned the news they reinforced him. On overtaking the runaways, Deiphontes shot Cerynes and killed him, but he was afraid to shoot at Phalkes, who was holding Hyrnetho, lest he should miss him and become the slayer of his wife; so he closed with them and tried to get her away. But Phalkes, holding on and dragging her with greater violence, killed her, as she was with child.

{2.28.6} Realizing what he had done to his sister, he began to drive the chariot more recklessly, as he was anxious to gain a start before all the Epidaurians could gather against him. Deiphontes and his children—for before this children had been born to him, Antimenes, Xanthippos, and Argeus, and a daughter, Orsobia, who, they say, afterwards married Pamphylos, son of Aigimios—took up the dead body of Hyrnetho and carried it to this place, which in course of time was named Hyrnethium.

{2.28.7} They built for her a hero-shrine, and bestowed upon her various honors; in particular, the custom was established that nobody should carry home, or use for any purpose, the pieces that break off the olive trees, or any other trees, that grow there; these are left there on the spot to be sacred to Hyrnetho.

{2.28.8} Not far from the city is the tomb of Melissa, who married Periandros, the son of Kypselos, and another of Prokles, the father of Melissa. He, too, was tyrant of Epidaurus, as Periandros, his son-in-law, was tyrant of Corinth. [190]

{2.29.1} The most noteworthy things which I found the city of Epidaurus itself had to show are these. There is, of course, a precinct of Asklepios, with statues [agalmata] of the god [theos] himself and of Epione. Epione, they say, was the wife of Asklepios. These are of Parian marble, and are set up in the open. There is also in the city a temple of Dionysus and one of Artemis. The figure of Artemis one might take to be the goddess hunting. There is also a sanctuary of Aphrodite, while the one at the harbor, on a height that juts out into the sea, they say is Hērā’s. The Athena on the citadel, a wooden image worth seeing, they surname Cissaea (Ivy Goddess).

{2.29.2} The Aeginetans dwell in the island that is situated opposite the mainland of Epidauros. It is said that in the beginning there were no humans in it; but after Zeus brought to it, when uninhabited, Aegina, daughter of Asopos, its name was changed from Oinone to Aegina; and when Aiakos, on growing up, asked Zeus for settlers, the god, they say, raised up the inhabitants out of the earth. They can mention no king of the island except Aiakos, since we know of none even of the sons of Aiakos who stayed there; for to Peleus and Telamon befell exile for the murder of Phokos, while the sons of Phokos made their home about Parnassus, in the land that is now called Phokis.

{2.29.3} This name had already been given to the land, at the time when Phokos, son of Ornytion, came to it a generation previously. In the time, then, of this Phokos only the district about Tithorea and Parnassus was called Phokis, but in the time of Aiakos the name spread to all from the borders of the Minyaiat Orkhomenos to Skarphea among the people of Lokris [= Lokroi].

{2.29.4} From Peleus sprang the kings in Epeiros; but as for the sons of Telamon, the lineage of Ajax is undistinguished, because he was a man who lived a private life; though Miltiades, who led the Athenians to Marathon, [191] and Kimon, the son of Miltiades, achieved renown; but the lineage of Teukros continued to be the royal house in Cyprus down to the time of Euagoras. Asios the epic poet says that to Phokos were born Panopeus and Crisus. To Panopeus was born Epeios, who made, according to Homer, the wooden horse; and the grandson of Crisus was Pylades, whose father was Strophios, son of Crisus, while his mother was Anaxibia, sister of Agamemnon. Such was the pedigree of the Aiakidai (lineage of Aiakos), as they are called, but they departed from the beginning to other lands.

{2.29.5} Subsequently a division of the Argives who, under Deiphontes, had seized Epidaurus, crossed to Aegina, and, settling among the old Aeginetans, established in the island Dorian manners and the Dorian dialect. Although the Aeginetans rose to great power, so that their navy was superior to that of Athens, and in the Persian war supplied more ships than any state except Athens, yet their prosperity was not permanent but when the island was depopulated by the Athenians, [192] they took up their abode at Thyrea, in Argolis, which the Lacedaemonians gave them to dwell in. They recovered their island when the Athenian warships were captured in the Hellespont, [193] yet it was never given them to rise again to their old wealth or power.

{2.29.6} Of the Greek islands, Aegina is the most difficult of access, for it is surrounded by sunken rocks and reefs which rise up. The story is that Aiakos devised this feature of set purpose, because he feared piratical raids by sea, and wished the approach to be perilous to enemies. Near the harbor in which vessels mostly anchor is a temple of Aphrodite, and in the most conspicuous part of the city what is called the shrine of Aiakos, a quadrangular enclosure of white marble.

{2.29.7} Made-in-relief at the entrance are the envoys whom the Greeks once dispatched to Aiakos. The reason for the embassy given by the Aeginetans is the same as that which the other Greeks assign. A drought had for some time afflicted Greece, and no rain fell either beyond the Isthmus or in the Peloponnesus, until at last they sent envoys to Delphi to ask what was the cause and to beg for deliverance from the evil. The Pythian priestess ordered them to propitiate Zeus, saying that he would not listen to them unless the one to supplicate him were Aiakos.

{2.29.8} And so envoys came with a request to Aiakos from each city. By sacrifice and prayer to Zeus Panhēllenios [‘the one who belongs to all Hellēnes’], he caused rain to fall upon the earth, and the Aeginetans made these likenesses of those who came to him. Within the enclosure are olive trees that have grown there from of old, and there is an altar which is raised but a little from the ground. That this altar is also the tomb of Aiakos is told as a holy secret.

{2.29.9} Beside the shrine of Aiakos is the tomb of Phokos, a barrow surrounded by a basement, and on it lies a rough stone. When Telamon and Peleus had induced Phokos to compete at the pentathlon, and it was now the turn of Peleus to hurl the stone, which they were using for a discus, he intentionally hit Phokos. The act was done to please their mother; for, while they were both born of the daughter of Skiron, Phokos was not, being, if indeed the report of the Greeks be true, the son of a sister of Thetis. I believe it was for this reason, and not only out of friendship for Orestes, that Pylades plotted the murder of Neoptolemos.

{2.29.10} When this blow of the discus killed Phokos, the sons of Endeis boarded a ship and fled. Afterwards Telamon sent a herald denying that he had plotted the death of Phokos. Aiakos, however, refused to allow him to land on the island, and bade him to make his defense standing on board ship, or if he wished, from a mole raised in the sea. So he sailed into the harbor called Secret, and proceeded to make a mole by night. This was finished, and still remains at the present day. But Telamon, being condemned as implicated in the murder of Phokos, sailed away a second time and came to Salamis.

{2.29.11} Not far from the Secret Harbor is a theater worth seeing; it is very similar to the one at Epidaurus, both in size and in style. Behind it is built one side of a race-course, which not only itself holds up the theater, but also in turn uses it as a support.

{2.30.1} There are three temples close together, one of Apollo, one of Artemis, and a third of Dionysus. Apollo has a naked wooden image of native workmanship, but Artemis is dressed, and so, too, is Dionysus, who is, moreover, represented with a beard. The sanctuary of Asklepios is not here, but in another place, and his statue [agalma] is of stone, and seated.

{2.30.2} Of the gods, the Aeginetans worship most Hekate, in whose honor every year they celebrate mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thracian established among them. Within the enclosure is a temple; its wooden-statue [xoanon] is the work of Myron, [194] and it has one face and one body. It was Alkamenes, [195] in my opinion, who first made three statues [agalmata] of Hekate attached to one another, a figure called by the Athenians Epipurgidia (on the Tower); it stands beside the temple of the Wingless Nike.

{2.30.3} In Aegina, as you go towards the mountain [oros] of Zeus, god of all the Hellenes, you reach a sanctuary [hieron] of Aphaia, in whose honor Pindar composed an ode for the Aeginetans. The Cretans say (the story of Aphaia is Cretan) that Carmanor, who purified Apollo alter he had killed Pythō, was the father of Euboulos, and that the daughter of Zeus and of Carme, the daughter of Euboulos, was Britomartis. She took delight, they say, in running and in the chase, and was very dear to Artemis. Fleeing from Minos, who had fallen in love with her, she threw herself into nets which had been cast (aphemena) for a draught of fishes. She was made a goddess by Artemis, and she is worshipped, not only by the Cretans, but also by the Aeginetans, who say that Britomartis shows herself in their island. Her surname among the Aeginetans is Aphaia; in Crete it is Dictynna (Goddess of Nets).

{2.30.4} The Mountain [oros] of all the Hellenes, except for the sanctuary of Zeus, has, I found, nothing else worthy of mention. This sanctuary, they say, was made for Zeus by Aiakos. The story of Auxesia and Damia, how the Epidaurians suffered from drought, how in obedience to an oracle they had these wooden-statues [xoana]images made of olive wood that they received from the Athenians, how the Epidaurians left off paying to the Athenians what they had agreed to pay, on the ground that the Aeginetans had the statues [agalmata], how the Athenians perished who crossed over to Aegina to fetch them—all this, as Herodotus has described it accurately and in detail, I have no intention of relating, because the story has been well told already; but I will add that I saw the statues [agalmata], and sacrificed to them in the same way as it is customary to sacrifice at Eleusis.

{2.30.5} So much I must relate about Aegina, for the sake of Aiakos and his exploits. Bordering on Epidauria are the Troizenians, unrivalled glorifiers of their own country. They say that Orus was the first to be born in their land. Now, in my opinion, Orus is an Egyptian name and utterly foreign; but they assert that he became their king, and that the land was called Oraea after him and that Althepus, the son of Poseidon and of Leis, the daughter of Orus, inheriting the kingdom after Orus, named the land Althepia.

{2.30.6} During his reign, they say, Athena and Poseidon disputed about the land, and after disputing held it in common, as Zeus commanded them to do. For this reason they worship both Athena, whom they name both Polias (Urban) and Sthenias (Strong), and also Poseidon, under the surname of King. And moreover their old coins have as device a trident and a face of Athena.

{2.30.7} After Althepus, Saron became king. They said that this man built the sanctuary for Saronian Artemis by a sea which is marshy and shallow, so that for this reason it was called the Phoebaean lagoon. Now Saron was very fond of hunting. As he was chasing a doe, it so chanced that it dashed into the sea and he dashed in alter it. The doe swam further and further from the shore, and Saron kept close to his prey, until his ardor brought him to the open ocean. Here his strength failed, and he was drowned in the waves. The body was cast ashore at the grove of Artemis by the Phoebaean lagoon, and they buried it within the sacred enclosure, and after him they named the sea in these parts the Saronic instead of the Phoebaean lagoon.

{2.30.8} They know nothing of the later kings down to Hyperes and Anthas. These they assert to be sons of Poseidon and of Alcyone, daughter of Atlas, adding that they founded in the country the cities of Hyperea and Anthea; Aitios, however, the son of Anthas, on inheriting the kingdoms of his father and of his uncle, named one of the cities Poseidonias. When Troizen and Pittheus came to Aitios there were three kings instead of one, but the sons of Pelops enjoyed the balance of power.

{2.30.9} Here is evidence of it. When Troizen died, Pittheus gathered the inhabitants together, incorporating both Hyperea and Anthea into the modern city, which he named Troizen after his brother. Many years afterwards the descendants of Aitios, son of Anthas, were dispatched as colonists from Troizen, and founded Halicarnassus and Myndus in Caria. Anaphlystos and Sphettos, sons of Troizen, migrated to Attica, and the demes [dēmoi] are named after them. As my readers know it already, I shall not relate the story of Theseus, the grandson of Pittheus. There is, however, one incident that I must add.

{2.30.10} On the return of the Herakleidai, the Troizenians too received Dorian settlers from Argos. They had been subject at even an earlier date to the Argives; Homer, too, in the Catalogue, says that their commander was Diomedes. For Diomedes and Euryalus, son of Mecisteus, who were guardians of the boy Kyanippos, son of Aigialeus, led the Argives to Troy. Sthenelus, as I have related above, came of a more illustrious family, called the Anaxagoridai, and he had the best claim to the Kingdom of Argos. Such is the story of the Troizenians, with the exception of the cities that claim to be their colonies. I will now proceed to describe the appointments of their sanctuaries and the remarkable sights of their country.

{2.31.1} In the marketplace of Troizen is a temple of Artemis Savior [Sōteira], with statues [agalmata] of the goddess. It was said that the temple was founded and the name Savior given by Theseus when he returned from Crete after overcoming Asterion the son of Minos. This victory he considered the most noteworthy of his achievements, not so much, in my opinion, because Asterion was the bravest of those killed by Theseus, but because his success in unraveling the difficult Maze and in escaping unnoticed after the exploit made credible the saying that it was divine providence that brought Theseus and his company back in safety.

{2.31.2} In this temple are altars to the gods said to rule under the earth. It is here that they say Semele was brought out of Hades by Dionysus, and that Hēraklēs dragged up the Hound of Hades. [196] But I cannot bring myself to believe even that Semele died at all, seeing that she was the wife of Zeus; while, as for the so-called Hound of Hades, I will give my views in another place.

{2.31.3} Behind the temple is the tomb of Pittheus, on which are placed three seats of white marble. On them they say that Pittheus and two men with him used to sit in judgment. Not far off is a sanctuary of the Muses, made, they told me, by Ardalus, son of Hephaistos. This Ardalus they hold to have invented the aulos [‘double-reed’], and after him they name the Muses Ardalides. Here, they say, Pittheus taught the art of rhetoric, and I have myself read a book purporting to be a treatise by Pittheus, published by a citizen of Epidaurus. Not far from the Muses’ Hall is an old altar, which also, according to report, was dedicated by Ardalus. Upon it they sacrifice to the Muses and to Sleep, saying that Sleep is the god that is dearest to the Muses.

{2.31.4} Near the theater a temple of Artemis Lykaia was made by Hippolytus. About this surname [Lykaia] I could learn nothing from the local guides, but I gathered that either Hippolytus destroyed wolves [lukoi] that were ravaging the land of Troizen, or else that Lykaia is a surname of Artemis among the Amazons, from whom he [=Hippolytus] was descended through his mother. Perhaps there may be another explanation that I am unaware of. The stone in front of the temple, called the Sacred Stone, they say is that on which nine men of Troizen once purified Orestes from the stain of matricide.

{2.31.5} Not far from Artemis Lykaia are altars close to one another. The first of them is to Dionysus, surnamed, in accordance with an oracle, Saotes (Savior); the second is named the altar of the Themides (Laws), and was dedicated, they say, by Pittheus. They had every reason, it seems to me, for making an altar to Hēlios Eleutherios (Sun, God of Freedom), seeing that they escaped being enslaved by Xerxes and the Persians.

{2.31.6} The sanctuary of Thearian Apollo, they told me, was set up by Pittheus; it is the oldest I know of. Now the people of Phokaia, too, in Ionia have an old temple of Athena, which was once burned by Harpagus the Persian, and the Samians also have an old one of Pythian Apollo; these, however, were built much later than the sanctuary at Troizen. The modern statue [agalma] was dedicated by Auliskos, and made by Hermon of Troizen. This Hermon made also the wooden images of the Dioskouroi.

{2.31.7} Under a portico in the marketplace are set up women; both they and their children are of stone. They are the women and children whom the Athenians gave to the Troizenians to be kept safe, when they had resolved to evacuate Athens and not to await the attack of the Persians by land. They are said to have dedicated likenesses, not of all the women—for, as a matter of fact, the statues are not many—but only of those who were of high rank.

{2.31.8} In front of the sanctuary of Apollo is a building called the Booth of Orestes. For before he was purified for shedding his mother’s blood, no citizen of Troizen would receive him into his home; so they lodged him here and gave him entertainment while they purified him, until they had finished the purification. Down to the present day the descendants of those who purified Orestes dine here on appointed days. A little way from the booth were buried, they say, the means of purifying, and from them grew up a bay tree, which, indeed, still remains, being the one before this booth.

{2.31.9} Among the means of purifying which they say they used to purify Orestes was water from Hippocrene (Horse’s Fount) for the Troizenians too have a fountain called the Horse’s, and what they say is a variant of what they say in Boeotia. For they, too, say that the earth sent up the water when the horse Pegasus [Pegasos] struck the ground with his hoof, and that Bellerophontes came to Troizen to ask Pittheus to give him Aithra as wife, but before the marriage took place he was banished from Corinth.

{2.31.10} Here there is also a Hermes called Polygius. Against this statue [agalma], they say, Hēraklēs leaned his club. Now this club, which was of wild olive, taking root in the earth (if anyone cares to believe the story), grew up again and is still alive; Hēraklēs, they say, discovering the wild olive by the Saronic Sea, cut a club from it. There is also a sanctuary of Zeus surnamed Savior, which, they say, was made by Aitios, the son of Anthas, when he was king. To a water they give the name River of Gold. They say that when the land was afflicted with a drought for nine years, during which no rain fell, all the other waters dried up, but this River of Gold even then continued to flow as before.

{2.32.1} To Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, is dedicated a very famous precinct [temenos], in which is a temple [nāos] with an ancient [arkhaion] statue [agalma]. Diomedes, they say, made [poieîn] these, and, further, he was the first to sacrifice [thuein] to Hippolytus. The people of Troizen have a priest [hiereus] of Hippolytus, and he is consecrated [hierâsthai] [to Hippolytus] for life. Also, it is an established practice for them to have annual sacrifices [thusiai] performed [for Hippolytus]. In addition [to this ritual practice performed for Hippolytus] they have another one. They perform-a-ritual [drân] that is as follows. Every girl before marriage cuts off for him [= Hippolytus] a lock [plokamos] of her hair and, having cut it off, she brings it, in an act of bringing-in-procession [pherein], to his temple [nāos] and dedicates it. They [= the people of Troizen] are unwilling to accept that he died, dragged to death by his horses, and they do not show [apophainein] his tomb [taphos], though they know where it is. But they customarily-think [nomizein] that the one who is called the Charioteer [= Auriga = hēniokhos] in the sky, this one [houtos], is that one [ekeinos], the Hippolytus who receives this honor [tīmē] from the gods.

{2.32.2} Within this enclosure [peribolos] [197] [of Hippolytus] is a temple [nāos] of Apollo Epibatērios [‘boarding (the ship)’], a dedication of Diomedes for having weathered the storm that came upon the Greeks as they were returning from Troy. They say that Diomedes was also the first to hold the Pythian Contest [agōn] in honor of Apollo. Of Damia and Auxesia (for the people of Troizen, too, share in their worship) they do not tell [legein] the same story [logos] as do the people of Epidauros and of Aegina, but they say that they were maidens [parthénoi] who came from Crete. When factionalism [stasis] broke out everywhere in the city, even these girls, they say, were stoned to death by an opposing faction and they [= the people of Troizen] celebrate [agein] a festival [heortē] for their sake, calling it the Lithobolia [‘throwing of stones’]

{2.32.3} In the other part of the enclosure [peribolos] [198] is a racecourse [stadion] named after Hippolytus, and looming over it is a shrine [nāos] of Aphrodite [invoked by way of the epithet] Kataskopiā [‘looking down from the heights]. Here is the reason [for the epithet]: it was at this very spot, whenever Hippolytus was exercising-naked [gumnazesthai], that she, Phaedra, feeling-an-erotic-passion-for [erân] him, used-to-gaze-away [apo-blepein] at him from above. A myrtle bush [mursinē] still grows here, and its leaves—as I wrote at an earlier point [= 1.22.2]—have holes pricked into them. [199] Whenever Phaedra was-feeling-there-was-no-way-out [aporeîn] and could find no relief for her erotic-passion [erōs], she would take it out on the leaves of this myrtle bush, wantonly injuring them.

{2.32.4} There is also a [taphos] of Phaedra, not far from the tomb [mnēma] of Hippolytus, and it [= the mnēma] is heaped-up-as-a-tumulus [kekhōstai] near the myrtle bush [mursinē]. The statue [agalma] of Asklepios was made by Timotheus, but the people of Troizen say that it is not Asklepios, but a likeness [eikōn] of Hippolytus. Also, when I saw the House [oikiā] of Hippolytus, I knew that it was his abode. [200] In front of it is situated what they call the Fountain [krēnē] of Hēraklēs, since Hēraklēs, as the people of Troizen say, discovered the water.

{2.32.5} On the citadel is a temple of Athena, called Sthenias. The wooden-statue [xoanon] itself of the goddess was made by Kallon, of Aegina. [201] Kallon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion, who made the statue [agalma] of Apollo for the Delians. Angelion and Tectaeus were trained in the school of Dipoinos and Skyllis.

{2.32.6} On going down from here you come to a sanctuary of Pan Lyterios (Releasing), so named because he showed to the Troizenian magistrates dreams which supplied a cure for the epidemic that had afflicted Troizenia, and the Athenians more than any other people. Having crossed the sanctuary, you can see a temple of Isis, and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height. The temple of Isis was made by the Halicarnassians in Troizen, because this is their mother-city, but the statue [agalma] of Isis was dedicated by the people of Troizen.

{2.32.7} On the road that leads through the mountains to Hermione is a spring of the river Hyllicus, originally called Taurios (Bull-like), and a rock called the Rock of Theseus; when Theseus took up the boots and sword of Aigeus under it, it, too, changed its name, for before it was called the altar of Zeus Sthenios (Strong). Near the rock is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Nymphia (Bridal), made by Theseus when he took Helen to wife.

{2.32.8} Outside the wall there is also a sanctuary of Poseidon Nurturer (Phytalmios). For they say that, being angry with them, Poseidon smote the land with barrenness, brine (halme) reaching the seeds and the roots of the plants (phuta), [202] until, appeased by sacrifices and prayers, he ceased to send up the brine upon the earth. Above the temple of Poseidon is Demeter Lawbringer (Thesmophoros), set up, they say, by Althepus.

{2.32.9} On going down to the harbor at what is called Celenderis, you come to a place called Birthplace (Genethlion), where Theseus is said to have been born. Before this place is a temple of Ares, for here also did Theseus conquer the Amazons in battle. These must have belonged to the army that strove in Attica against Theseus and the Athenians.

{2.32.10} As you make your way to the Psiphaean Sea you see a wild olive growing, which they call the Bent Rhakos. The people of Troizen call rhakos every kind of barren olive tree—kotinos, phylia, or elaious—and this tree they call Bent because it was when the reins caught in it that the chariot of Hippolytus was upset. Not far from this stands the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, and I have already given an account of it. I must add that every year they hold in honor of Artemis a festival called Saronia.

{2.33.1} The people of Troizen possess islands, one of which is near the mainland, and it is possible to wade across the channel. This was formerly called Sphairia, but its name was changed to Sacred Island for the following reason. In it is the tomb of Sphairos, who, they say, was charioteer to Pelops. In obedience forsooth to a dream from Athena, Aithra crossed over into the island with libations for Sphairos. After she had crossed, Poseidon is said to have had intercourse with her here. So, for this reason, Aithra set up here a temple of Athena Apaturia, [203] and changed the name from Sphairia to Sacred Island. She also established a custom for the girls of Troizen: to dedicate their waistbands, before marriage, to Athena Apaturia.

{2.33.2} Kalaureia, they say, was sacred to Apollo of old, at the time when Delphi was sacred to Poseidon. It is also said that the two gods exchanged the two places. They still say this, and quote an oracle:

At any rate, there is a holy sanctuary of Poseidon here, and it is served by a maiden priestess until she reaches an age fit for marriage.

{2.33.3} Within the enclosure is also the tomb of Demosthenes. His fate, and that of Homer before him, have, in my opinion, showed most plainly how spiteful the deity is; for Homer, after losing his sight, was, in addition to this great affliction, cursed with a second—a poverty which drove him in beggary to every land; while to Demosthenes it befell to experience exile in his old age and to meet with such a violent end. Now, although concerning him, not only others, but Demosthenes himself, have again and again declared that assuredly he took no part of the money that Harpalos brought from Asia,

{2.33.4} yet I must relate the circumstances of the statement made subsequently. Shortly after Harpalos ran away from Athens and crossed with a squadron to Crete, he was put to death by the servants who were attending him, though some assert that he was assassinated by Pausanias, a Macedonian. The steward of his money fled to Rhodes, and was arrested by a Macedonian, Philoxenos, who also had demanded Harpalos from the Athenians. Having this slave in his power, he proceeded to examine him, until he learned everything about such as had allowed themselves to accept a bribe from Harpalos. On obtaining this information he sent a dispatch to Athens,

{2.33.5} in which he gave a list of such as had taken a bribe from Harpalos, both their names and the sums each had received. Demosthenes, however, he never mentioned at all, although Alexander held him in bitter hatred, and he himself had a private quarrel with him. So Demosthenes is honored in many parts of Greece, and especially by the dwellers in Kalaureia.

{2.34.1} Stretching out far into the sea from Troizenia is a peninsula, on the coast of which has been founded a little town called Methana. Here there is a sanctuary of Isis, and on the marketplace is a statue [agalma] of Hermes, and also one of Hēraklēs. Some thirty stadium-lengths distant from the town are hot baths. They say that it was when Antigonos, son of Demetrios, was king of Macedon that the water first appeared, and that what appeared at once was not water, but fire that gushed in great volume from the ground, and when this died down the water flowed; indeed, even at the present day it wells up hot and exceedingly salt. A bather here finds no cold water at hand, and if he dives into the sea his swim is full of danger. For wild creatures live in it, and it swarms with sharks.

{2.34.2} I will also relate what astonished me most in Methana. The wind called Lips, striking the budding vines from the Saronic Gulf, blights their buds. So while the wind is still rushing on, two men cut in two a rooster whose feathers are all white, and run round the vines in opposite directions, each carrying half of the rooster. When they meet at their starting place, they bury the pieces there.

{2.34.3} Such are the means they have devised against the Lips. The islets, nine in number, lying off the land are called the Isles of Pelops, and they say that when it rains one of them is not touched. If this be the case I do not know, though the people around Methana said that it was true, and I have seen before now men trying to keep off hail by sacrifices and spells.

{2.34.4} Methana, then, is a peninsula of the Peloponnesus. Within it, bordering on the land of Troizen, is Hermione. The founder of the old city, the Hermionians say, was Hermion, the son of Europs. Now Europs, whose father was certainly Phoroneus, Herophanes of Troizen said was an illegitimate child. For surely the kingdom of Argos would never have devolved upon Argos, Niobe’s son, the grandchild of Phoroneus, in the presence of a legitimate son.

{2.34.5} But even supposing that Europs was a legitimate child who died before Phoroneus, I am quite sure that his son was not likely to stand a fair chance against Niobe’s child, whose father was supposed to be Zeus. Subsequently the Dorians from Argos settled, among other places, at Hermion, but I do not think there was war between the two peoples, or it would have been spoken of by the Argives.

{2.34.6} There is a road from Troizen to Hermion by way of the rock which aforetime was called the altar of Zeus Sthenios (Strong) but afterwards Theseus took up the tokens, and people now call it the Rock of Theseus. As you go, then, along a mountain road by way of this rock, you reach a temple of Apollo surnamed Platanistios (God of the Plane tree Grove), and a place called Eilei, where are sanctuaries of Demeter and of her daughter Kore (Maiden). Seawards, on the borders of Hermionis, is a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Thermasia (Warmth).

{2.34.7} Just about eighty stadium-lengths away is a headland Scyllaeum, which is named alter the daughter of Nisos. For when, owing to her treachery, Minos had taken Nisaia and Megara, he said that now he would not have her to wife, and ordered his Cretans to throw her from the ship. She was drowned, and the waves cast up her body on this headland. They do not show a tomb of her, but say that the sea birds were allowed to tear the corpse to pieces.

{2.34.8} As you sail from Scyllaeum in the direction of the city, you reach another headland, called Bucephala (Ox-head), and, after the headland, islands, the first of which is Haliussa (Salt Island). This provides a harbor where there is good anchorage. After it comes Pityussa (Pine Island), and the third they call Aristerae. On sailing past these you come to another headland, Colyergia, jutting out from the mainland, and after it to an island, called Trikrana (Three Heads), and a mountain, projecting into the sea from the Peloponnesus, called Buporthmus (Oxford). On Buporthmus has been built a sanctuary of Demeter and her daughter, as well as one of Athena, surnamed Promakhorma (Champion of the Anchorage).

{2.34.9} Before Buporthmus lies an island called Aperopia, not far from which is another island, Hydrea. After it the mainland is skirted by a crescent-shaped beach and after the beach there is a spit of land up to a sanctuary of Poseidon, beginning at the sea on the east and extending westwards. It possesses harbors, and is some seven stadium-lengths long, and not more than three stadium-lengths in breadth where it is broadest.

{2.34.10} Here the Hermionians had their former city. They still have sanctuaries here: one of Poseidon at the east end of the spit, and a temple of Athena further inland by the side of the latter are the foundations of a race-course, at which they say the sons of Tyndareus contended. There is also another sanctuary of Athena, of no great size, the roof of which has fallen in. There is a temple to Hēlios [Sun], another to the Graces, and a third to Serapis and Isis. There are also circuits of large unhewn stones, within which they perform mystic ritual to Demeter.

{2.34.11} Such are the possessions of the Hermionians in these parts. The modern city is just about four stadium-lengths distant from the headland, upon which is the sanctuary of Poseidon, and it lies on a site which is level at first, gently rising up a slope, which presently merges into Prone, for so they name this mountain. A wall stands all round Hermione, a city which I found afforded much to write about, and among the things which I thought I myself must certainly mention are a temple of Aphrodite, surnamed both Pontia (of the Deep Sea) and Limenia (of the Harbor), and a white-marble statue [agalma] of huge size, and worth seeing for its artistic excellence.

{2.34.12} There is also another temple of Aphrodite. Among the honors paid her by the Hermionians is this custom: girls, and widows about to remarry, all sacrifice to her before wedding. Sanctuaries have also been built of Demeter Thermasia (Warmth), one at the border towards Troizenia, as I have stated above, while there is another in Hermione itself.

{2.35.1} Near the latter is a temple of Dionysus of the Black Goatskin. In his honor every year they hold a competition in music, and they offer prizes for swimming-races and boat-races. There is also a sanctuary of Artemis surnamed Iphigeneia, and a bronze Poseidon with one foot upon a dolphin. Passing by this into the sanctuary of Hestia, we see no statue [agalma], but only an altar, and they sacrifice to Hestia upon it.

{2.35.2} Of Apollo there are three temples and three statues [agalmata]. One has no surname; the second they call Pythaeus, and the third Horios (of the Borders). The name Pythaeus they have learned from the Argives, for Telesilla tells us that they were the first Greeks to whose country came Pythaeus, who was a son of Apollo. I cannot say for certain why they call the third Horios, but I conjecture that they won a victory, either in war or by arbitration, in a dispute concerning the borders (horoi) of their land, and for this reason paid honors to Apollo Horios.

{2.35.3} The sanctuary of Fortune is said by the Hermionians to be the newest in their city; a colossus of Parian marble stands there. Of their wells, one is very old; nobody can see the water flowing into it, but it would never run dry, even if everybody descended and drew water from it. Another well they made in our own day, and the name of the place from which the water flows into it is Leimon (Meadow).

{2.35.4} The object most worthy of mention is a sanctuary of Demeter on Pron. This sanctuary is said by the Hermionians to have been founded by Klymenos, son of Phoroneus, and Khthonia, sister of Klymenos. But the Argive account is that when Demeter came to Argolis, while Atheras and Mysios afforded hospitality to the goddess, Colontas neither received her into his home nor paid her any other mark of respect. His daughter Khthonia disapproved of this conduct. They say that Colontas was punished by being burned up along with his house, while Khthonia was brought to Hermion by Demeter, and made the sanctuary for the Hermionians.

{2.35.5} At any rate, the goddess herself is called Khthonia, and Khthonia is the name of the festival they hold in the summer of every year. The manner of it is this. The procession is headed by the priests of the gods and by all those who hold the annual magistracies; these are followed by both men and women. It is now a custom that some who are still children should honor the goddess in the procession. These are dressed in white, and wear wreaths upon their heads. Their wreaths are woven of the flower called by the natives kosmosandalon, which, from its size and color, seems to me to be an iris; it even has inscribed upon it the same letters of mourning. [204]

{2.35.6} Those who form the procession are followed by men leading from the herd a full-grown cow, fastened with ropes, and still untamed and frisky. Having driven the cow to the temple, some loose her from the ropes that she may rush into the sanctuary, others, who hitherto have been holding the doors open, when they see the cow within the temple, close the doors.

{2.35.7} Four old women, left behind inside, are they who dispatch the cow. Whichever gets the chance cuts the throat of the cow with a sickle. Afterwards the doors are opened, and those who are appointed drive up a second cow, and a third after that, and yet a fourth. All are dispatched in the same way by the old women, and the sacrifice has yet another strange feature. On whichever of her sides the first cow falls, all the others must fall on the same.

{2.35.8} Such is the manner in which the sacrifice is performed by the Hermionians. Before the temple stand a few statues [eikónes] of the women who have served Demeter as her priestess, and on passing inside you see seats on which the old women wait for the cows to be driven in one by one, and statues [agalmata], of no great age, of Athena and Demeter. But the thing itself that they worship more than all else, I never saw, nor yet has any other man, whether stranger or Hermionian. The old women may keep their knowledge of its nature to themselves.

{2.35.9} There is also another temple, all round which stand statues. This temple is right opposite that of Khthonia, and is called that of Klymenos, and they sacrifice to Klymenos here. I do not believe that Klymenos was an Argive who came to Hermion. ‘Klymenos’ is the surname of the god, whoever the story [logos] says is king in the underworld.

{2.35.10} Beside this temple is another; it is of Ares, and has a statue [agalma] of the god, while to the right of the sanctuary of Khthonia is a portico, called by the natives the Portico of Echo. It is such that if a man speaks it reverberates at least three times. Behind the temple of Khthonia are three places which the Hermionians call that of Klymenos, that of Pluto [Ploutōn], and the Acherusian Lake. All are surrounded by fences of stones, while in the place of Klymenos there is also a chasm in the earth. Through this, according to what-is-said [legomena] by the Hermionians, Hēraklēs brought up the Hound of Hades.

{2.35.11} At the gate through which there is a straight road leading to Mases, there is a sanctuary of Eileithuia within the wall. Every day, both with sacrifices and with incense, they magnificently propitiate the goddess, and, moreover, there is a vast number of votive gifts offered to Eileithuia. But the statue [agalma] no one may see, except, perhaps, the priestesses.

{2.36.1} Proceeding about seven stadium-lengths along the straight road to Mases, you reach, on turning to the left, a road to Halice. At the present day Halice is deserted, but once it, too, had inhabitants, and there is mention made of citizens of Halice on the Epidaurian slabs on which are inscribed the cures of Asklepios. I know, however, no other authentic document in which mention is made either of the city Halice or of its citizens. Well, to this city also there is a road, which lies midway between Pron and another mountain, called in old days Thornax; but they say that the name was changed because, according to what they say, it was here that the transformation of Zeus into a cuckoo took place.

{2.36.2} Even to the present day there are sanctuaries on the tops of the mountains: on Mount Cuckoo one of Zeus, on Pron one of Hērā. At the foot of Mount Cuckoo is a temple, but there are no doors standing, and I found it without a roof or a statue [agalma] inside. The temple was said to be Apollo’s. by the side of it runs a road to Mases for those who have turned aside from the straight road. Mases was in old days a city, even as Homer [205] represents it in the catalogue of the Argives, but in my time the Hermionians were using it as a seaport.

{2.36.3} From Mases there is a road on the right to a headland called Strouthos (Sparrow Peak). From this headland by way of the summits of the mountains the distance to the place called Philanorium and to the Boleoi is two hundred and fifty stadium-lengths. These Boleoi are heaps of unhewn stones. Another place, called Twins, is twenty stadium-lengths distant from here. There is here a sanctuary of Apollo, a sanctuary of Poseidon, and in addition one of Demeter. The statues [agalmata] are of white marble, and are upright.

{2.36.4} Next comes a district, belonging to the Argives, that once was called Asinaia, and by the sea are ruins of Asine. When the Lacedaemonians and their king Nikandros, son of Kharillos, son of Polydektes, son of Eunomos, son of Prytanis, son of Eurypon, invaded Argolis with an army, the Asinaeans joined in the invasion, and with them ravaged the land of the Argives. When the Lacedaemonian expedition departed home, the Argives under their king Eratos attacked Asine.

{2.36.5} For a time the Asinaeans defended themselves from their wall, and killed among others Lysistratos, one of the most notable men of Argos. But when the wall was lost, the citizens put their wives and children on board their vessels and abandoned their own country; the Argives, while leveling Asine to the ground and annexing its territory to their own, left the sanctuary of Apollo Pythaeus, which is still visible, and by it they buried Lysistratos.

{2.36.6} Distant from Argos forty stadium-lengths and no more is the sea at Lerna. On the way down to Lerna the first thing on the road is the Erasinos, which empties itself into the Phrixos, and the Phrixos into the sea between Temenium and Lerna. About eight stadium-lengths to the left from the Erasinos is a sanctuary of the Lords Dioskouroi (Sons of Zeus). Their wooden images have been made similar to those in the city.

{2.36.7} On returning to the straight road, you will cross the Erasinos and reach the river Kheimarros (Winter-torrent). Near it is a circuit of stones, and they say that Pluto [Ploutōn], after carrying off, according to the story, Kore, the daughter of Demeter, descended here to his fabled kingdom underground. Lerna is, I have already stated, by the sea, and here they celebrate mysteries in honor of Lernaean Demeter.

{2.36.8} There is a sacred grove beginning on the mountain they call Pontinos. Now Mount Pontinos does not let the rainwater flow away, but absorbs it into itself. From it flows a river, also called Pontinos. Upon the top of the mountain is a sanctuary of Athena Saitis, now merely a ruin; there are also the foundations of a house of Hippomedon, who went to Thebes to redress the wrongs of Polyneikes, son of Oedipus.

{2.37.1} At this mountain begins the grove, which consists chiefly of plane trees, and reaches down to the sea. Its boundaries are, on the one side the river Pantinos, on the other side another river, called Amymane, after the daughter of Danaos. Within the tomb are statues [agalmata] of Demeter Prosymne and of Dionysus. Of Demeter there is a seated statue [agalma] of no great size.

{2.37.2} Both are of stone, but in another temple is a seated wooden-statue [xoanon] of Dionysus Saotes (Savior), while by the sea is a stone statue [agalma] of Aphrodite. They say that the daughters of Danaos dedicated it, while Danaos himself made the sanctuary of Athena by the Pontinos. The mysteries of the Lernaeans were established, they say, by Philammon. Now the words which accompany the ritual are evidently of no antiquity

{2.37.3} and the inscription also, which I have heard is written on the heart made of orichalcum, was shown not to be Philammon’s by Arriphon, an Aetolian of Triconium by descent, who now enjoys a reputation second to none among the Lycians; excellent at original research, he found the clue to this problem in the following way: the verses, and the prose interspersed among the verses, are all written in Doric. But before the return of the Herakleidai to the Peloponnesus the Argives spoke the same dialect as the Athenians, and in Philammon’s day I do not suppose that even the name Dorians was familiar to all Greek ears.

{2.37.4} All this was proved in the demonstration. At the source of the Amymone grows a plane tree, beneath which, they say, the hydra (water-snake) grew. I am ready to believe that this beast was superior in size to other water-snakes, and that its poison had something in it so deadly that Hēraklēs treated the points of his arrows with its gall. It had, however, in my opinion, one head, and not several. It was Peisandros [206] of Camirus who, in order that the beast might appear more frightful and his poetry might be more remarkable, represented the hydra with its many heads.

{2.37.5} I saw also what is called the Spring of Amphiaraos and the Alcyonian Lake, through which the Argives say Dionysus went down to Hades to bring up Semele, adding that the descent here was shown him by Palymnus. There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who had ropes made several stadium-lengths long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth.

{2.37.6} This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away. The circumference of the lake is not great, being about one-third of a stadium-length. Upon its banks grow grass and rushes. The nocturnal rites performed every year in honor of Dionysus I must not divulge to the world at large.

{2.38.1} Temenium is in Argive territory, and was named after Temenus, the son of Aristomakhos. For, having seized and strengthened the position, he waged therefrom with the Dorians the war against Tisamenus and the Achaeans. On the way to Temenium from Lerna the river Phrixos empties itself into the sea, and in Temenium is built a sanctuary of Poseidon, as well as one of Aphrodite; there is also the tomb of Temenus, which is worshipped by the Dorians in Argos.

{2.38.2} Fifty stadium-lengths, I conjecture, from Temenium is Nauplia, which at the present day is uninhabited; its founder was Nauplios, reputed to be a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Of the walls, too, ruins still remain and in Nauplia are a sanctuary of Poseidon, harbors, and a spring called Canathus. Here, say the Argives, Hērā bathes every year and recovers her virginity.

{2.38.3} This is one of the sayings told as a holy secret at the mysteries which they celebrate in honor of Hērā. The story told by the people in Nauplia about the ass, how by nibbling down the shoots of a vine he caused a more plenteous crop of grapes in the future, and how for this reason they have carved an ass on a rock, because he taught the pruning of vines—all this I pass over as trivial.

{2.38.4} From Lerna there is also another road, which skirts the sea and leads to a place called Genesium. By the sea is a small sanctuary of Poseidon Genesios. Next to this is another place, called Apobathmi (Steps). The story is that this is the first place in Argolis where Danaos landed with his daughters. From here we pass through what is called Anigraea, along a narrow and difficult road, until we reach a tract on the left which stretches down to the sea;

{2.38.5} it is fertile in trees, especially the olive. As you go up inland from this is a place where three hundred picked Argives fought for this land with an equal number of specially chosen Lacedaemonian warriors. [207] All were killed except one Spartan and two Argives, and here were raised the tombs for the dead. But the Lacedaemonians, having fought against the Argives with all their forces, won a decisive victory; at first they themselves enjoyed the fruits of the land, but afterwards they assigned it to the Aeginetans, when they were expelled from their island by the Athenians. [208] In my time Thyreatis was inhabited by the Argives, who say that they recovered it by the award of an arbitration. [209]

{2.38.6} As you go from these common graves you come to Athene, where Aeginetans once made their home, another village Neris, and a third Eua, the largest of the villages, in which there is a sanctuary of Polemocrates. This Polemocrates is one of the sons of Makhaon, and the brother of Alexanor; he cures the people of the district, and receives honors from the neighbors.

{2.38.7} Above the villages extends Mount Parnon, on which the Lacedaemonian border meets the borders of the Argives and Tegeatae. On the borders stand stone figures of Hermes, from which the name of the place is derived. A river called Tanaus, which is the only one descending from Mount Parnon, flows through the Argive territory and empties itself into the Gulf of Thyrea.

[ back ]

{3.1.1} After the figures of Hermes we reach Laconia on the west. According to the tradition of the Lacedaemonians themselves, Lelex, an aboriginal was the first king in this land, after whom his subjects were named Leleges. Lelex had a son Myles, and a younger one Polycaon. Polycaon retired into exile, the place of this retirement and its reason I will set forth elsewhere. On the death of Myles his son Eurotas succeeded to the throne. He led down to the sea by means of a trench the stagnant water on the plain, and when it had flowed away, as what was left formed a river-stream, he named it Eurotas. [210]

{3.1.2} Having no male issue, he left the kingdom to Lacedaemon, whose mother was Taygete, after whom the mountain was named, while according to report his father was none other than Zeus. Lacedaemon was wedded to Sparta, a daughter of Eurotas. When he came to the throne, he first changed the names of the land and its inhabitants, calling them after himself, and next he founded and named after his wife a city, which even down to our own day has been called Sparta.

{3.1.3} Amyclas, too, son of Lacedaemon, wished to leave some memorial behind him, and built a town in Laconia. Hyakinthos, the youngest and most beautiful of his sons, died before his father, and his tomb is in Amyklai below the image of Apollo. On the death of Amyclas the empire came to Aigalus, the eldest of his sons, and afterwards, when Aigalus died, to Cynortas. Cynortas had a son Oibalos.

{3.1.4} He took a wife from Argos, Gorgophone the daughter of Perseus, and begat a son Tyndareus, with whom Hippokoön disputed about the kingship, claiming the throne on the ground of being the eldest. With the end of Icarius and his partisans he had surpassed Tyndareus in power, and forced him to retire in fear; the Lacedaemonians say that he went to Pellana, but a Messenian story [logos] about him is that he fled to Aphareus in Messenia, Aphareus being the son of Perieres and the brother of Tyndareus on his mother’s side. The story goes on to say that he settled at Thalamaiin Messenia, and that his children were born to him when he was living there.

{3.1.5} Subsequently Tyndareus was brought back by Hēraklēs and recovered his throne. His sons too became kings, as did Menelaos the son of Atreus and son-in-law of Tyndareus, and Orestes the husband of Hermione the daughter of Menelaos. On the return of the Herakleidai in the reign of Tisamenus, son of Orestes, both districts, Messene and Argos, had kings put over them; Argos had Temenus and Messene Kresphontes. In Lacedaemon, as the sons of Aristodemos were twins, there arose two royal houses; for they say that the Pythian priestess approved.

{3.1.6} Tradition has it that Aristodemos himself died at Delphi before the Dorians returned to the Peloponnesus, but those who glorify his fate assert that he was shot by Apollo for not going to the oracle, having learned from Hēraklēs, who met him before he arrived there, that the Dorians would make this return to the Peloponnesus. But the more correct account is that Aristodemos was murdered by the sons of Pylades and Electra, who were cousins of Tisamenus son of Orestes.

{3.1.7} The names given to the sons of Aristodemos were Prokles and Eurysthenes, and although they were twins they were bitter enemies. Their enmity reached a high pitch, but nevertheless they combined to help Theras, the son of Autesion and the brother of their mother Argeia and their guardian as well, to found a colony. This colony Theras was dispatching to the island that was then called Kalliste, [211] and he hoped that the descendants of Membliarus would of their own accord give up the kingship to him. This as a matter of fact they did,

{3.1.8} taking into account that the lineage of Theras went back to Kadmos himself, while they were only descendants of Membliarus, who was a man of the people whom Kadmos left in the island to be the leader of the settlers. And Theras changed the name of the island, renaming it after himself, and even at the present day the people of Thera every year offer to him as their founder the sacrifices that are given to a hero. Prokles and Eurysthenes were of one mind in their eagerness to serve Theras; but in all else their purposes were always widely different.

{3.1.9} Even if they had agreed together, I should never have ventured to include their descendants in a common list; for they did not altogether coincide in respect of age, so that cousins, cousins’ children, and later generations were not born so as to make the steps in one pedigree coincide with those of the other. So I shall give the history of each house by itself separately, instead of combining them both in one narrative.

{3.2.1} Eurysthenes, the elder of the sons of Aristodemos, had, they say, a son Agis, after. whom the lineage of Eurysthenes is called the Agiadai. In his time, when Patreus the son of Preugenes was founding in Achaea a city which even at the present day is called Patrai from this Patreus, the Lacedaemonians took part in the settlement. They also joined in an expedition oversea to establish a colony. Gras the son of Ekhelas the son of Penthilos the son of Orestes was the leader, who was destined to occupy the land between Ionia and Mysia, called at the present day Aeolis; his ancestor Penthilos had even before this seized the island of Lesbos, which faces this part of the mainland.

{3.2.2} When Ekhestratos, son of Agis, was king at Sparta, the Lacedaemonians removed all the Cynurians of military age, alleging as a reason that freebooters from the Cynurian territory were harrying Argolis, the Argives being their kinsmen, and that the Cynurians themselves openly made forays into the land. The Cynurians are said to be Argives by descent, and tradition has it that their founder was Cynurus, son of Perseus.

{3.2.3} Not many years afterwards Labotas, son of Ekhestratos, became king in Sparta. This Labotas Herodotus, in his history of Croesus, says was in his childhood the ward of Lycurgus (Lykourgos) the lawgiver, but he calls him Leobotes and not Labotas. It was then that the Lacedaemonians first resolved to make war upon the Argives, bringing as charges against them that they were annexing the Cynurian territory which they themselves had captured, and were causing revolts among their subjects the Perioeci (Dwellers around). On this occasion neither of the belligerents, according to the account, achieved anything worthy of mention,

{3.2.4} and the next kings of this house, Doryssus, son of Labotas, and Agesilaos, son of Doryssus, were soon both killed. Lycurgus (Lykourgos) too laid down their laws for the Lacedaemonians in the reign of Artesilaos; some say that he was taught how to do this by the Pythian priestess, others that he introduced Cretan institutions. The Cretans say that these laws of theirs were laid down by Minos, and that Minos was not without divine aid in his deliberations concerning them. Homer too, I think, refers in riddling words to the legislation of Minos in the following verses:

{3.2.5} Of Lycurgus (Lykourgos) I shall make further mention later. Agesilaos had a son Arkhelaos. In his reign the Lacedaemonians took by force of arms Aigys, a city of the Perioeci, and sold the inhabitants into slavery, suspecting them of Arcadian sympathies. Kharilaos, the king of the other house, helped Arkhelaos to destroy Aigys, but the exploits he achieved when leading the Lacedaemonians by himself, these too I shall relate when my narrative comes to treat of those called the Eurypontidai.

{3.2.6} Arkhelaos had a son Teleklos. In his reign the Lacedaemonians conquered in war and reduced Amyklai, Pharis, and Geranthrae, cities of the Perioeci, which were still in the possession of the Achaeans. The inhabitants of Pharis and Geranthrae, panic-stricken at the onslaught of the Dorians, made an agreement to retire from the Peloponnesus under a truce, but those of Amyklai were not driven out at the first assault, but only after a long and stubborn resistance, in which they distinguished themselves by glorious achievements. To this heroism the Dorians bore witness by raising a trophy against the Amyklaians, implying that their success was the most memorable exploit of that time. Not long after this Teleklos was murdered by Messenians in a sanctuary of Artemis. This sanctuary was built on the frontier of Laconia and Messenia, in a place called Limniai(Lakes).

{3.2.7} After the death of Teleklos, Alkamenes his son succeeded to the throne, and the Lacedaemonians sent to Crete Kharmidas the son of Euthys, who was a distinguished Spartan, to put down the civil strife among the Cretans, to persuade them to abandon the weak, inland towns, and to help them to people instead those that were conveniently situated for the coasting voyage. They also laid waste Helos, an Achaean town on the coast, and won a battle against the Argives who came to give aid to the Helots.

{3.3.1} On the death of Alkamenes, Polydoros his son succeeded to the throne, and the Lacedaemonians sent colonies to Croton in Italy and to the people of Lokris [= Lokroi] by the Western headland. The war called the Messenian reached its height in the reign of this king. As to the causes of the war, the Lacedaemonian version differs from the Messenian.

{3.3.2} The accounts given by the belligerents, and the manner in which this war ended, will be set forth later in my narrative. For the present I must state thus much; the chief leader of the Lacedaemonians in the first war against the Messenians was Theopompos the son of Nikandros, a king of the other house. When the war against Messene had been fought to a finish, and Messenia was enslaved to the Lacedaemonians, Polydoros, who had a great reputation at Sparta and was very popular with the masses—for he never did a violent act or said an insulting word to anyone, while as a judge he was both upright and humane—

{3.3.3} his fame having by this time spread throughout Greece, was murdered by Polemarkhos, a member of a distinguished family in Lacedaemon, but, as he showed, a man of an unscrupulous temper. After his death Polydoros received many signal marks of respect from the Lacedaemonians. However, Polemarkhos too has a tomb in Sparta; either he had been considered a good man before this murder, or perhaps his relatives buried him secretly.

{3.3.4} During the reign of Eurycrates, son of Polydoros, the Messenians submitted to be subjects of the Lacedaemonians, neither did any trouble befall from the Argive people. But in the reign of Anaxandros, son of Eurycrates—for destiny was by this time driving the Messenians out of all the Peloponnesus—the Messenians revolted from the Lacedaemonians. For a time they held out by force of arms, but at last they were overcome and retired from the Peloponnesus under a truce. The remnant of them left behind in the land became the slaves of the Lacedaemonians, with the exception of those in the towns on the coast.

{3.3.5} The incidents of the war which the Messenians waged after the revolt from the Lacedaemonians it is not pertinent that I should set forth in the present part of my narrative. Anaxandros had a son Eurycrates, and this second Eurycrates a son Leon. While these two kings were on the throne the Lacedaemonians were generally unsuccessful in the war with Tegea. But in the reign of Anaxandrides, son of Leon, the Lacedaemonians won the war with Tegea in the following manner. A Lacedaemonian, by name Lichas, came to Tegea when there chanced to be a truce between the cities. [212]

{3.3.6} When Lichas arrived the Spartans were seeking the bones of Orestes in accordance with an oracle. Now Lichas inferred that they were buried in a smithy, the reason for this inference being this. Everything that he saw in the smithy he compared with the oracle from Delphi, likening to the winds the bellows, for that they too sent forth a violent blast, the hammer to the “stroke,” the anvil to the “counterstroke” to it, while the iron is naturally a “woe to man,” because already men were using iron in warfare. In the time of those called heroes the god would have called bronze a woe to man.

{3.3.7} Similar to the oracle about the bones of Orestes was the one afterwards given to the Athenians, that they were to bring back Theseus from Scyros to Athens otherwise they could not take Scyros. Now the bones of Theseus were discovered by Kimon the son of Miltiades, who displayed similar sharpness of wit, and shortly afterwards took Scyros.

{3.3.8} I have evidence that in the heroic age weapons were universally of bronze in the verses of Homer [213] about the axe of Peisandros and the arrow of Meriones. My statement is likewise confirmed by the spear of Achilles dedicated in the sanctuary of Athena at Phaselis, and by the sword of Memnon in the temple of Asklepios at Nikomedeia. The point and butt-spike of the spear and the whole of the sword are made of bronze. The truth of these statements I can vouch for.

{3.3.9} Anaxandrides the son of Leon was the only Lacedaemonian to possess at one and the same time two wives and two households. For his first consort, though an excellent wife, had the misfortune to he barren. When the ephors told him to put her away he firmly refused to do so, but made this concession to them, that he would take another wife in addition to her. The fruit of this union was a son, Kleomenes; and the former wife, who up to this time had not conceived, after the birth of Cieomenes bore Dorieus, then Leonidas, and finally Kleombrotos.

{3.3.10} And when Anaxandrides died, the Lacedaemonians, believing Dorieus to be both of a sounder judgment than Kleomenes and a better soldier, much against their will rejected him as their king, and obeyed the laws by giving the throne to the elder claimant Kleomenes.

{3.4.1} Now Dorieus could not bear to stay at Lacedaemon and be subject to his brother, and so he went on a colonizing expedition. As soon as he became king, Kleomenes gathered together an army, both of the Lacedaemonians themselves and of their allies, and invaded Argolis. The Argives came out under arms to meet them, but Kleomenes won the day. Near the battlefield was a grove sacred to Argos, son of Niobe, and on being routed some five thousand of the Argives took refuge therein. Kleomenes was subject to fits of mad excitement, and on this occasion he ordered the Helots to set the grove on fire, and the flames spread all over the grove, which, as it burned, burned up the suppliants with it.

{3.4.2} He also conducted campaigns against Athens, by the first of which he delivered the Athenians from the sons of Peisistratos and won a good report among the Greeks both for himself personally and for the Lacedaemonians; [214] while the second campaign was to please an Athenian, Isagoras, by helping him to establish a tyranny over Athens. [215] When he was disappointed, and the Athenians fought strenuously for their freedom, Kleomenes devastated the country, including, they say, the district called Orgas, which was sacred to the deities in Eleusis. He advanced as far as Aegina, and proceeded to arrest such influential Aeginetans as had shown Persian sympathies, and had persuaded the citizens to give earth and water to king Dareios, son of Hystaspes.

{3.4.3} While Kleomenes was occupied in Aegina, Demaratos, the king of the other house, was slandering him to the Lacedaemonian populace. On his return from Aegina, Kleomenes began to intrigue for the deposition of king Demaratos. He bribed the Pythian prophetess to frame responses about Demaratos according to his instructions, and instigated Leotykhides, a man of royal birth and of the same family as Demaratos, to put in a claim to the throne.

{3.4.4} Leotykhides seized upon the remark that Ariston in his ignorance blurted out when Demaratos was born, denying that he was his child. On the present occasion the Lacedaemonians, according to their wont, referred to the oracle at Delphi the claim against Demaratos, and the prophetess gave them a response which favored the designs of Kleomenes.

{3.4.5} So Demaratos was deposed, not rightfully, but because Kleomenes hated him. Subsequently Kleomenes met his end in a fit of madness for seizing a sword he began to wound himself, and hacked and maimed his body all over. The Argives assert that the manner of his end was a punishment for his treatment of the suppliants of Argos; the Athenians say that it was because he had devastated Orgas; the Delphians put it down to the bribes he gave the Pythian prophetess, persuading her to give lying responses about Demaratos.

{3.4.6} It may well be too that the wrath of heroes and the wrath of gods united together to punish Kleomenes since it is a fact that for a personal wrong Protesilaos, a hero not a bit more illustrious than Argos, punished at Elaeus Artayctes, a Persian [Persēs]; while the Megarians never succeeded in propitiating the deities at Eleusis for having encroached upon the sacred land. As to the tampering with the oracle, we know of nobody, with the exception of Kleomenes, who has had the audacity even to attempt it.

{3.4.7} Kleomenes had no male issue, and the kingdom devolved on Leonidas, son of Anaxandrides and full brother of Dorieus. At this time Xerxes led his host against Greece, and Leonidas with three hundred Lacedaemonians met him at Thermopylae. Now although the Greeks have waged many wars, and so have barbarians among themselves, yet there are but few that have been made more illustrious by the exceptional valor of one man, in the way that Achilles shed luster on the Trojan war and Miltiades on the engagement at Marathon. But in truth the success of Leonidas surpassed, in my opinion, all later as well as all previous achievements.

{3.4.8} For Xerxes, the proudest of all who have reigned over the Medes [Mēdoi], or over the Persians [Persai] who succeeded them, the achiever of such brilliant exploits, was met on his march by Leonidas and the handful of men he led to Thermopylae, [216] and they would have prevented him from even seeing Greece at all, and from ever burning Athens, if the man of Trakhis had not guided the army with Hydarnes by the path that stretches across Oitē, and enabled the enemy to surround the Greeks; so Leonidas was overwhelmed and the barbarians passed along into Greece.

{3.4.9} Pausanias the son of Kleombrotos never became king. For while guardian of Pleistarkhos, the son of Leonidas, who was a child when his father died, he led the Lacedaemonians to Plataea, and afterwards with their fleet to the Hellespont. [217] I cannot praise too highly the way in which Pausanias treated the Coan lady, who was the daughter of a man of distinction among the people of Kos, Hegetorides the son of Antagoras, and the unwilling concubine of a Persian [Persēs], Pharandates the son of Teaspis.

{3.4.10} When Mardonios fell in the battle of Plataea, and the barbarians were destroyed, Pausanias sent the lady back to Kos, and she took with her the apparel that the Persian [Persēs] had procured for her as well as the rest of her belongings. Pausanias also refused to dishonor the body of Mardonios, as Lampon the Aeginetan advised him to do.

{3.5.1} Shortly after Pleistarkhos the son of Leonidas came to the throne he died, and the kingdom devolved on Pleistoanax, son of the Pausanias who commanded at Plataea. Pleistoanax had a son Pausanias; he was the Pausanias who invaded Attica, ostensibly to oppose Thrasyboulos and the Athenians, but really to establish firmly the despotism of those to whom the government had been entrusted by Lysander. [218] Although he won a battle against the Athenians holding the Peiraens, yet immediately after the battle he resolved to lead his army back home, and not to bring upon Sparta the most disgraceful of reproaches by increasing the despotic power of wicked men.

{3.5.2} When he returned from Athens with only a fruitless battle to his credit, he was brought to trial by his enemies. The court that sat to try a Lacedaemonian king consisted of the senate, “old men” as they were called, twenty eight in number, the members of the ephorate, and in addition the king of the other house. Fourteen senators, along with Agis, the king of the other house, declared that Pausanias was guilty; the rest of the court voted for his acquittal.

{3.5.3} Shortly after this the Lacedaemonians gathered an army against Thebes; the reason for so doing will be given in my account of Agesilaos. On this occasion Lysander came to Phokis, took along with him the entire army of Phokis, and without any further delay entered Boeotia and began assaults upon the wall of Haliartos, the citizens of which refused to revolt from Thebes. Already a band of Thebans and Athenians had secretly entered the city; these came out and offered battle before the wall, and there fell here several Lacedaemonians, including Lysander himself.

{3.5.4} Pausanias was too late for the fight, having been collecting forces from Tegea and Arcadia generally; when he finally reached Boeotia, although he heard of the defeat of the forces with Lysander and of the death of Lysander himself, he nevertheless led his army against Thebes and purposed to take the offensive. Thereupon the Thebans offered battle, and Thrasyboulos was reported to be not far away with the Athenians. He was waiting for the Lacedaemonians to take the offensive, on which his intention was to launch an attack himself against their rear.

{3.5.5} So Pausanias, fearing lest he should be caught between two enemy forces, made a truce with the Thebans and took up for burial those who had fallen under the wall of Haliartos. The Lacedaemonians disapproved of this decision, but the following reason leads me to approve it. Pausanias was well aware that the disasters of the Lacedaemonians always took place when they had been caught between two enemy forces, and the defeats at Thermopylae and on the island of Sphakteria made him afraid lest he himself should prove the occasion of a third misfortune for them.

{3.5.6} But when his fellow citizens charged him with his slowness in this Boeotian campaign, he did not wait to stand his trial, but was received by the people of Tegea as a suppliant of Athena Alea. Now this sanctuary had been respected from early days by all the Peloponnesians, and afforded peculiar safety to its suppliants, as the Lacedaemonians showed in the case of Pausanias and of Leotykhides before him, and the Argives in the case of Khrysis; they never wanted even to ask for these refugees, who were sitting as suppliants in the sanctuary, to be given up.

{3.5.7} When Pausanias fled, his sons Agesipolis and Kleombrotos were still quite boys, and Aristodemos, their nearest relative, was their guardian. This Aristodemos was in command of the Lacedaemonians when they won their success in Corinth.

{3.5.8} When Agesipolis grew up and came to the throne, the first Peloponnesians against whom he waged war were the Argives. When he led his army from the territory of Tegea into that of Argos, the Argives sent a herald to make for them with Agesipolis a certain ancestral truce, which from ancient times had been an established custom between Dorians and Dorians. But Agesipolis did not make the truce with the herald, but advancing with his army proceeded to devastate the land. Then there was an earthquake, but not even so would Agesipolis consent to take away his forces. And yet more than any other Greeks were the Lacedaemonians (in this respect like the Athenians) frightened by signs from the sky [dio-sēmeiai].

{3.5.9} By the time that he was encamping under the wall of Argos, the earthquakes were still occurring, some of the troops had actually been killed by lightning, and some moreover had been driven out of then senses by the thunder. In this circumstance he reluctantly withdrew from Argive territory, and began another campaign, attacking Olynthus. Victorious in the war, having captured most of the cities in Khalkidike, and hoping to capture Olynthus itself, he was suddenly attacked by a disease which ended in his death. [219]

{3.6.1} As Agesipolis died childless, the kingdom devolved upon Kleombrotos, who was general in the battle at Leuktra against the Boeotians. [220] Kleombrotos showed personal bravery, but fell when the battle was only just beginning. In great disasters Providence is peculiarly apt to cut off early the general, just as the Athenians lost Hippocrates the son of Ariphron, who commanded at Delium, and later on Leosthenes in Thessaly. [221]

{3.6.2} Agesipolis, the elder of the sons of Kleombrotos, is not a striking figure in history, and was succeeded by his younger brother Kleomenes. His first son was Akrotatos, his second Kleonymos. Akrotatos did not outlive his father, and when Kleomenes afterwards died, there arose a dispute about the throne between Kleonymos the son of Kleomenes and Areus the son of Akrotatos. So the senators acted as arbitrators, and decided that the dignity was the inheritance of Areus the son of Akrotatos, and not of Kleonymos.

{3.6.3} Deprived of his kingship Kleonymos became violently angry, and the ephors tried to soothe his feelings by bestowing upon him various honors, especially the leadership of the armies, so as to prevent his becoming one day an enemy of Sparta. But at last he committed many hostile acts against his fatherland, and induced Pyrrhos the son of Aiakidēs to invade Laconia.

{3.6.4} While Areus the son of Akrotatos was king in Sparta, Antigonos the son of Demetrios attacked Athens with an army and a fleet. [222] To the help of the Athenians there came the Egyptian expedition with Patroklos, and every available man of the Lacedaemonians with Areus their king at their head.

{3.6.5} Antigonos invested Athens and prevented the Athenian reinforcements from entering the city; so Patroklos dispatched messengers urging Areus and the Lacedaemonians to take the offensive against Antigonos. On their doing so, he would himself, he said, attack the Macedonians in rear; but before such a move it was not fair for Egyptian sailors to attack Macedonians on land. The Lacedaemonians were eager to make the venture, both because of their friendship for Athens and also because they were ambitious to hand down to posterity a famous achievement,

{3.6.6} but as their supplies were exhausted Areus led his army back home, thinking that desperate measures should be reserved for one’s own advantage and not risked recklessly for the benefit of others. After they had held out as long as they could, Antigonos made peace with the Athenians, on condition that he brought a garrison into the Museum to be a guard over them. After a time Antigonos himself removed the garrison from Athens of his own accord while Areus begat Akrotatos, and Akrotatos Areus, who died of disease when he was just about eight years old.

{3.6.7} And as the only male representative of the house of Eurysthenes was Leonidas the son of Kleonymos, by this time a very old man, the Lacedaemonians gave him the throne. Leonidas, it so happened, had a bitter opponent in Lysander, a descendant of Lysander the son of Aristokritos. This Lysander won over to his side Leonidas’ son-in-law Kleombrotos. After gaining his support he brought various charges against Leonidas, in particular that when a boy he had sworn to his father Kleonymos to ruin Sparta.

{3.6.8} So Leonidas ceased to be king and Kleombrotos came to the throne in his stead. Now if Leonidas had given way to impulse and retired, like Demaratos the son of Ariston, either to the king of Macedonia or to the Egyptian king, he would have profited nothing even by the Spartans changing their minds. But as it was, when the citizens sentenced him to exile, he went to Arcadia, whence not many years later he was recalled by the Lacedaemonians, who made him king again.

{3.6.9} Now how Kleomenes the son of Leonidas performed daring feats of valor, and how after him the Spartans ceased to be ruled by kings, I have already shown in my account of Aratos of Sikyon. My narrative also included the manner of his death in Egypt.

{3.7.1} So of the lineage of Eurysthenes, called the Agiadae, Kleomenes the son of Leonidas was the last king in Sparta. I will now relate what I have heard about the other house. Prokles the son of Aristodemos called his son Sous, whose son Eurypon they say reached such a pitch of renown that this house, hitherto called the Prokleidai, came to be named after him the Eurypontidai.

{3.7.2} The son of Eurypon was Prytanis, in whose reign began the enmity of the Lacedaemonians against the Argives, although even before this quarrel they made war against the Cynurians. During the generations immediately succeeding this, while Eunomos the son of Prytanis and Polydektes the son of Eunomos were on the throne, Sparta continued at peace,

{3.7.3} but Kharillos the son of Polydektes devastated the land of the Argives—for he it was who invaded Argolis—and not many years afterwards, under the leadership of Kharillos, took place the campaign of the Spartans against Tegea, when lured on by a deceptive oracle the Lacedaemonians hoped to capture the city and to annex the Tegean plain from Arcadia.

{3.7.4} After the death of Kharillos, Nikandros his son succeeded to the throne, in whose reign the Messenians murdered, in the sanctuary of the Lady of the Lake, Teleklos the king of the other house. Nikandros also invaded Argolis with an army, and laid waste the greater part of the land. The Asinaeans took part in this action with the Lacedaemonians, and shortly after were punished by the Argives, who inflicted great destruction on their fatherland and drove out the inhabitants.

{3.7.5} About Theopompos, the son of Nikandros, who ascended the throne after him, I shall have more to say later on, when I come to the history of Messenia. While Theopompos was still king in Sparta there also took place the struggle of the Lacedaemonians with the Argives for what is called the Thyreatid district. Theopompos personally took no part in the affair, chiefly because of old age and sorrow, for while he was yet alive Arkhidamos died.

{3.7.6} Nevertheless Arkhidamos did not die childless, but left a son Zeuxidamos, whose son Anaxidamos succeeded to the throne. In his reign the Messenians were expelled from the Peloponnesus, being vanquished for the second time by the Spartans. Anaxidamos begat Arkhidamos, and Arkhidamos begat Agesikles. It was the lot of both of these to pass all their lives in peace, undisturbed by any wars.

{3.7.7} Ariston, son of Agesikles, married a wife who, they say, was the ugliest girl in Sparta, but became the most beautiful of her women, because Helen changed her; seven months only after his marriage with her Ariston had born to him a son, Demaratos. As he was sitting in council with the ephors there came to him a servant with the news that a child was born to him. Ariston, forgetting the lines in the Iliad about the birth of Eurystheus, or else never having understood them at all, declared that because of the number of months the child was not his.

{3.7.8} Afterwards he repented of his words. Demaratos, a king of good repute at Sparta, particularly for his helping Kleomenes to free Athens from the Peisistratidai, [223] became a private citizen through the thoughtlessness of Ariston and the hatred of Kleomenes. He went over to the Persians [Persai] to stay with king Dareios the king [basileus], and they say that his descendants remained in Asia for a long time.

{3.7.9} Leotykhides, on coming to the throne in place of Demaratos, took part with the Athenians and the Athenian general Xanthippos, the son of Ariphron, in the engagement of Mykale, [224] and afterwards undertook a campaign against the Aleuadaiin Thessaly. Although his uninterrupted victories in the fighting might have enabled him to reduce all Thessaly, he accepted bribes from the Aleuadae. [225]

{3.7.10} Or, being brought to trial in Lacedaemon he voluntarily went into exile to Tegea, where he sought sanctuary as a suppliant of Athena Alea. Zeuxidamos, the son of Leotykhides, died of disease while Leotykhides was still alive and before he retired into exile so his son Arkhidamos succeeded to the throne after the departure of Leotykhides for Tegea. This Arkhidamos did terrible damage to the land of the Athenians, invading Attica with an army every year, on each occasion carrying destruction from end to end; he also besieged and took Plataea, which was friendly to Athens. [226]

{3.7.11} Nevertheless he was not eager that war should be declared between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, but to the utmost of his power tried to keep the truce between them unbroken. [227] It was Sthenelaidas, an influential Spartan who was an ephor at the time, who was chiefly responsible for the war. Greece, that still stood firm, was shaken to its foundations by this war, and afterwards, when the structure had given way and was far from sound, was finally overthrown by Philip the son of Amyntas.

{3.8.1} Arkhidamos left sons when he died, of whom Agis was the elder and inherited the throne instead of Agesilaos. Arkhidamos had also a daughter, whose name was Kyniska; she was exceedingly ambitious to succeed at the Olympic games, and was the first woman to breed horses and the first to win an Olympic victory. After Kyniska other women, especially women of Lacedaemon, have won Olympic victories, but none of them was more distinguished for their victories than she.

{3.8.2} The Spartans seem to me to be of all men the least moved by poetry and the praise of poets. For with the exception of the epigram upon Kyniska, of uncertain authorship, and the still earlier one upon Pausanias that Simonides wrote on the tripod dedicated at Delphi, there is no poetic composition to commemorate the doings of the royal houses of the Lacedaemonians.

{3.8.3} In the reign of Agis the son of Arkhidamos the Lacedaemonians had several grievances against the people of Elis, being especially exasperated because they were debarred from the Olympic games and the sanctuary at Olympia. So they dispatched a herald commanding the people of Elis to grant home-rule to Lepreum and to any other of their neighbors [228] that were subject to them. The people of Elis replied that, when they saw the cities free that were neighbors of Sparta, they would without delay set free their own subjects; whereupon the Lacedaemonians under king Agis invaded the territory of Elis.

{3.8.4} On this occasion there occurred an earthquake, and the army retired home after advancing as far as Olympia and the Alpheus but in the next year Agis devastated the country and carried off most of the loot. Xenias, a man of Elis who was a personal friend of Agis and the state-friend [229] of the Lacedaemonians, rose up with the rich citizens against the people but before Agis and his army could come to their aid, Thrasydaeus, who at this time championed the interests of the popular party at Elis, overthrew in battle Xenias and his followers and cast them out of the city.

{3.8.5} When Agis led back his army, he left behind Lysistratos, a Spartan, with a portion of his forces, along with the refugees from Elis, that they might help the Lepreans to ravage the land. In the third year of the war [230] the Lacedaemonians under Agis again prepared to invade the territory of Elis. So Thrasydaeus and the people of Elis, reduced to dire extremities, agreed to forgo their supremacy over their neighbors, to dismantle the fortifications of their city, and to allow the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice to the god and to compete in the games at Olympia.

{3.8.6} Agis used also to make continual incursions into Attica, and established the fortified post at Decelea to annoy the Athenians. [231] When the Athenian navy was destroyed at Aigospotamoi, [232] Lysander, the son of Aristokritos, and Agis violated the oaths which the Lacedaemonians as a state had sworn by the gods to the Athenians, and it was on their own initiative, and without the approval of the Spartan state, that they put before their allies the proposal to destroy Athens root and branch.

{3.8.7} Such were the most remarkable military achievements of Agis. The rash remark that Ariston made about Demaratos was also made by Agis about his son Leotykhides; at the suggestion of some evil spirit he said in the hearing of the ephors that he did not believe Leotykhides to be his son. Yet Agis, too, repented afterwards; he was at the time being carried home sick from Arcadia, and when he reached Heraia, he not only called the people to witness that he sincerely believed Leotykhides to be his very own son, but also with prayers and tears charged them to take the tidings to the Lacedaemonians.

{3.8.8} After the death of Agis, Agesilaos tried to keep Leotykhides from the throne, recalling to the minds of the Lacedaemonians what Agis once said about Leotykhides. But the Arcadians from Heraia arrived and bore witness for Leotykhides, stating what they had heard the dying Agis say.

{3.8.9} Yet further fuel for the controversy between Agesilaos and Leotykhides was supplied by the oracle that was delivered at Delphi to this effect:

{3.8.10} Leotykhides on this occasion said that these words pointed to Agesilaos, who was lame in one of his feet, while Agesilaos interpreted them as alluding to the illegitimacy of Leotykhides. Although they might have done so, the Lacedaemonians did not refer the disputed point to Delphi; the reason was in my opinion that Lysander, the son of Aristokritos, an active supporter of Agesilaos, would have him king at all costs.

{3.9.1} So Agesilaos, son of Arkhidamos, became king, and the Lacedaemonians resolved to cross with a fleet to Asia in order to put down Artaxerxes, son of Dareios. [233] For they were informed by several of their magistrates, especially by Lysander, that it was not Artaxerxes but Cyrus who had been supplying the pay for the fleet during the war with Athens. Agesilaos, who was appointed to lead the expedition across to Asia and to be in command of the land forces, sent round to all parts of the Peloponnesus, except Argos, and to the Greeks north of the Isthmus, asking for allies.

{3.9.2} Now the Corinthians were most eager to take part in the expedition to Asia, but considering it a bad omen that their temple of Zeus surnamed Olympian had been suddenly burned down, they reluctantly remained behind. The Athenians excused themselves on the ground that their city was returning to its former state of prosperity after the Peloponnesian war and the epidemic of plague, and the news brought by messengers, that Konon, son of Timotheus, had gone up to the Persian king, strongly confirmed them in their policy of inactivity.

{3.9.3} The envoy dispatched to Thebes was Aristomelidas, the father of the mother of Agesilaos, a close friend of the Thebans who, when the wall of Plataea had been taken, had been one of the judges voting that the remnant of the garrison should be put to death. Now the Thebans like the Athenians refused, saying that they would give no help. When Agesilaos had assembled his Lacedaemonian forces and those of the allies, and at the same time the fleet was ready, he went to Aulis to sacrifice to Artemis, because Agamemnon too had propitiated the goddess here before leading the expedition to Troy.

{3.9.4} Agesilaos, then, claimed to be king of a more prosperous city than was Agamemnon, and to be like him overlord of all Greece, and that it would be a more glorious success to conquer Artaxerxes and acquire the riches of the Persians [Persai] than to destroy the empire [arkhē] of Priam. But even as he was sacrificing [thuein] armed Thebans came upon him, threw down from the altar [bōmos] the still burning thighs [mëria] of the sacrificial-victims [hiereia], and drove him from the sanctuary [hieron].

{3.9.5} Though vexed that the sacrifice was not completed, Agesilaos nevertheless crossed into Asia and launched an attack against Sardis, for Lydia at this period was the most important district of lower Asia, and Sardis, pre-eminent for its wealth and resources, had been assigned as a residence to the satrap of the coast region, just as Susa had been to the king himself.

{3.9.6} A battle was fought on the plain of the Hermos with Tissaphernes, satrap of the parts around Ionia, in which Agesilaos conquered the cavalry of the Persians [Persai] and the infantry, of which the muster on this occasion had been surpassed only in the expedition of Xerxes and in the earlier ones of Dareios against the Scythians and against Athens. The Lacedaemonians, admiring the energy of Agesilaos, added to his command the control of the fleet. But Agesilaos made his brother-in-law, Peisandros, admiral, and devoted himself to carrying on the war vigorously by land.

{3.9.7} The jealousy of some deity prevented him from bringing his plans to their conclusion. For when Artaxerxes heard of the victories won by Agesilaos, and how, by attending to the task that lay before him, he advanced with his army even further and further, he put Tissaphernes to death in spite of his previous services, and sent down to the sea Tithraustes, a clever schemer who had some grudge against the Lacedaemonians.

{3.9.8} On his arrival at Sardes he at once thought out a plan by which to force the Lacedaemonians to recall their army from Asia. He sent Timocrates, a Rhodian, to Greece with money, instructing him to stir up in Greece a war against the Lacedaemonians. Those who shared in this money are said to have been the Argives Kylon and Sodamas, the Thebans Androkleides, Ismenias and Amphithemis, the Athenians Cephalus and Epicrates, with the Corinthians who had Argive sympathies, Polyanthes and Timolaos.

{3.9.9} But those who first openly started the war were the peoplefrom Amphissa in Lokris. For there happened to be a piece of land the ownership of which was a matter of dispute between the people of Lokris and the people of Phokis. Egged on by Ismenias and his party at Thebes, the people of Lokris cut the ripe wheat in this land and drove off the what they had plundered. The men of Phokis on their side invaded Lokris with all their forces, and laid waste the land.

{3.9.10} So the people of Lokris brought in the Thebans as allies, and devastated Phokis. Going to Lacedaemon the men of Phokis inveighed against the Thebans, and set forth what they had suffered at their hands. The Lacedaemonians determined to make war against Thebes, chief among their grievances being the outrageous way the Thebans behaved towards Agesilaos when he was sacrificing at Aulis.

{3.9.11} The Athenians receiving early intimation of the Lacedaemonians’ intentions, sent to Sparta begging them to submit their grievances to a court of arbitration instead of appealing to arms, but the Lacedaemonians dismissed the envoys in anger. The sequel, how the Lacedaemonians set forth and how Lysander died, I have already described in my account of Pausanias. [234]

{3.9.12} And what was called the Corinthian war, which continually became more serious, had its origin in the expedition of the Lacedaemonians into Boeotia. [235] So these circumstances compelled Agesilaos to lead his army back from Asia. Crossing with his fleet from Abydos to Sestos he passed through Thrace as far as Thessaly, where the Thessalians, to please the Thebans, tried to prevent his further progress; there was also an old friendship between them and Athens.

{3.9.13} But Agesilaos put the Thessalian cavalry to flight and passed through Thessaly, and again made his way through Boeotia, winning a victory over Thebes and the allies at Coronea. When the Boeotians were put to flight, certain of them took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena surnamed Itonia. Agesilaos, although suffering from a wound received in the battle, did not sin against the suppliants.

{3.10.1} Not long afterwards the Corinthians in exile for pro-Spartan sympathies held the Isthmian games. The Corinthians in the city made no move at the time, through their fear of Agesilaos but when he marched to Sparta, they too celebrated the Isthmian games along with the Argives. Agesilaos again marched with an army against Corinth, and, as the festival Hyakinthia was at hand, he gave the Amycleans leave to go back home and perform the traditional rites in honor of Apollo and Hyakinthos. This battalion was attacked on the way and annihilated by the Athenians under Iphicrates.

{3.10.2} Agesilaos went also to Aetolia to give assistance to the Aetolians, who were hard pressed in a war with, the Acarnanians; [236] these he compelled to put an end to the war, although they had come very near capturing Calydon and the other towns of the Aetolians. Afterwards he sailed to Egypt, to protect the Egyptians who had revolted from the king of Persia. Agesilaos performed many noteworthy achievements in Egypt, but, being by this time ah old man, he died on the march. Then his dead body was brought home, the Lacedaemonians buried it with greater honors than they had given to any other king.

{3.10.3} In the reign of Arkhidamos, son of Agesilaos, the people of Phokis seized the sanctuary at Delphi. [237] To help in a war with Thebes the people of Phokis hired with its wealth independent mercenaries, but they here also aided publicly by the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, the latter calling to mind some old service rendered by the people of Phokis, the former, too, pretending to be friends when their real reason was, I think, hatred of the Thebans. Theopompos, son of Damasistratos, said that Arkhidamos himself had a share of the Delphic money, and further that Deinicha the wife of Arkhidamos, receiving a bribe from the chief men of Phokis, made Arkhidamos more ready to bring them reinforcements.

{3.10.4} To accept sacred money and to help men who had pillaged the most famous of oracles I do not hold praiseworthy, but the following incident does redound to his praise. The men of Phokis were contemplating the cruel course of killing the Delphians of vigorous age, enslaving the women and children, and levelling the city itself to the ground; it was due to the intercession of Arkhidamos that they escaped this fate at the hands of the men of Phokis.

{3.10.5} Arkhidamos afterwards also crossed over into Italy to help the people of Tarentum to wage war against their barbarian neighbors. Here he was killed by the barbarians, and his corpse missed burial owing to the anger of Apollo. Agis, the elder son of this Arkhidamos, met his death fighting against Antipatros and the Macedonians, but while the younger son, Eudamidas, was king, the Lacedaemonians enjoyed peace. The history of Agis, son of Eudamidas, and of Eurydamidas, son of Agis, my account of Sikyon has already set forth.

{3.10.6} On the way from the Hermaithe whole of the region is full of oak trees. The name of the district, Scotitas (Dark), is not due to the unbroken woods but to Zeus surnamed Scotitas, and there is a sanctuary of Zeus Scotitas on the left of the road and about ten stadium-lengths from it. If you go back from the sanctuary to the road, advance a little and then turn again to the left, you come to an image of Hēraklēs and a trophy, which I was told Hēraklēs raised after killing Hippokoön and his sons.

{3.10.7} The third branch from the straight road is on the right, and leads to Caryae (Walnut trees) and to the sanctuary of Artemis. For Caryae is a region sacred to Artemis and the nymphs, and here stands in the open an image of Artemis Caryatis. Here every year the Lacedaemonian girls hold chorus-dances, and they have a traditional native dance. On returning, as you go along the highway, you come to the ruins of Sellasia. The people of this city, as I have stated already, were sold into slavery by the Achaeans after they had conquered in battle the Lacedaemonians under their king Kleomenes, the son of Leonidas. [238]

{3.10.8} In Thornax, which you will reach as you go along, is an image of Apollo Pythaeus, made after the style of the one at Amyklai; the fashion of it I will describe when I come to speak of the latter. For in the eyes of the Lacedaemonians the cult of the Amyklaian is the more distinguished, so that they spent on adorning the image in Amyklai even the gold which Croesus the Lydian sent for Apollo Pythaeus. [239]

{3.11.1} Farther on from Thornax is the city, which was originally named Sparta, but in course of time came to be called Lacedaemon as well, a name which till then belonged to the land. To prevent misconception, I added in my account of Attica that I had not mentioned everything in order, but had made a selection of what was most noteworthy. This I will repeat before beginning my account of Sparta; for from the beginning the plan of my work has been to discard the many trivial stories current among the several communities, and to pick out the things most worthy of mention—an excellent rule which I will never violate.

{3.11.2} The Lacedaemonians who live in Sparta have a marketplace worth seeing; the council-chamber of the senate, and the offices of the ephors, of the guardians of the laws, and of those called the Bidiaeans, are all in the marketplace. The senate is the council which has the supreme control of the Lacedaemonian constitution, the other officials form the executive. Both the ephors and the Bidiaeans are five in number; it is customary for the latter to hold competitions for the boys, particularly the one at the place called Platanistas (Plane tree Grove), while the ephors transact the most serious business, one of them giving his name to the year, just as in Athens this privilege belongs to one of those called the Nine Arkhontes.

{3.11.3} The most striking feature in the marketplace is the stoa [portico] that they call Persian [Persikē] because it was made from spoils taken in the wars with the Medes. In course of time they have altered it until it is as large and as splendid as it is now. On the pillars are white-marble figures of Persians [Persai], including Mardonios, son of Gobryas. There is also a figure of Artemisia, daughter of Lygdamis and queen of Halicarnassus. It is said that this lady voluntarily joined the expedition of Xerxes against Greece and distinguished herself at the naval engagement off Salamis.

{3.11.4} On the marketplace are temples; there is one of Caesar, the first Roman to covet monarchy and the first emperor under the present constitution, and also one to his son Augustus, who put the empire on a firmer footing, and became a more famous and a more powerful man than his father. His name “Augustus” means in Greek sebastos [‘revered’].

{3.11.5} At the altar of Augustus they show a bronze statue of Agias. This Agias, they say, by divining for Lysander captured the Athenian fleet at Aigospotamoi with the exception of ten ships of war. [240] These made their escape to Cyprus; all the rest the Lacedaemonians captured along with their crews. Agias was a son of Agelokhos, a son of Tisamenus.

{3.11.6} Tisamenus belonged to the lineage of the Iamidai at Elis, and an oracle was given to him that he should win five most famous contests. So he trained for the pentathlon at Olympia, but came away defeated. And yet he was first in two events, beating Hieronymos of Andros in running and in jumping. But when he lost the wrestling bout to this competitor, and so missed the prize, he understood what the oracle meant, that the god granted him to win five contests in war by his divinations.

{3.11.7} The Lacedaemonians, hearing of the oracle the Pythian priestess had given to Tisamenos, persuaded him to migrate from Elis and to be state-diviner at Sparta. And Tisamenos won them five contests in war. [241] The first was at Plataea against the Persians [Persai]; the second was at Tegea, when the Lacedaemonians had engaged the Tegeans and Argives; the third was at Dipaea, an Arcadian town in Mainalia, when all the Arcadians except the Mantineians were arrayed against them.

{3.11.8} His fourth contest was against the Helots who had rebelled and left the Isthmus for Ithome. [242] Not all the Helots revolted, only the Messenian element, which separated itself off from the old Helots. These events I shall relate presently. On the occasion I mention the Lacedaemonians allowed the rebels to depart under a truce, in accordance with the advice of Tisamenos and of the oracle at Delphi. The last time Tisamenos divined for them was at Tanagra, an engagement taking place with the Argives and Athenians. [243]

{3.11.9} Such I learned was the history of Tisamenus. On their marketplace the Spartans have images of Apollo Pythaeus, of Artemis and of Leto. The whole of this region is called Choros (Dancing), because at the Gymnopaediae, a festival which the Lacedaemonians take more seriously than any other, the boys perform dances in honor of Apollo. Not far from them is a sanctuary of Earth and of Zeus of the Marketplace, another of Athena of the Marketplace and of Poseidon surnamed Securer, and likewise one of Apollo and of Hērā.

{3.11.10} There is also dedicated a colossal statue of the Spartan People. The Lacedaemonians have also a sanctuary of the Fates, by which is the tomb of Orestes, son of Agamemnon. For when the bones of Orestes were brought from Tegea in accordance with an oracle they were buried here. Beside the tomb of Orestes is a statue of Polydoros, son of Alkamenes, a king who rose to such honor that the magistrates seal with his likeness everything that requires sealing.

{3.11.11} There is also Hermes of the Marketplace carrying Dionysus as a child, besides the old Courts of the Ephors, as they are called, in which are the tombs of Epimenides the Cretan and of Aphareus the son of Perieres. As to Epimenides, I think the Lacedaemonian story is more probable than the Argive. Here, where the Fates are, the Lacedaemonians also have a sanctuary of Hestia. There is also Zeus Hospitable and Athena Hospitable.

{3.12.1} As you go from the marketplace by the road they name the Aphetaid Road, you come to the so-called Booneta. [244] But my narrative must first explain why the road has this name.

{3.12.2} It is said that Icarius proposed a foot-race for the wooers of Penelope; that Odysseus won is plain, but they say that the competitors were let go (aphethenai) for the race along the Aphetaid Road. In my opinion, Icarius was imitating Danaos when he held the running-race. For Danaos contrived the following plan to solve the difficulty about his daughters. Nobody would take a wife from among them because of their pollution so Danaos sent round a notice that he would give away his daughters without bride-gifts, and that each suitor could choose the one whose beauty pleased him most. A few men came, among whom he held a foot-race the first comer was allowed to choose before all the others, after him the second, and so on to the last. The daughters that were left had to wait until other suitors arrived and competed in another foot-race.

{3.12.3} On this road the Lacedaemonians have, as I have already said, what is called the Booneta, which once was the house of their king Polydoros. When he died, they bought it from his widow, paying the price in oxen. For at that time there was as yet neither silver nor gold coinage, but they still bartered in the old way with oxen, slaves, and uncoined silver and gold.

{3.12.4} Those who sail to India say that the natives give other merchandise in exchange for Greek cargoes, knowing nothing about coinage, even though they have plenty of gold and of bronze.

On the opposite side of the office of the Bidiaeans is a sanctuary of Athena. Odysseus is said to have set up the image and to have named it Keleuthea (Lady of the Road), when he had beaten the suitors of Penelope in the foot-race. Of Keleuthea he set up sanctuaries, three in number, at some distance from each other.

{3.12.5} Farther along the Aphetaid Road are hero-shrines, of Iops, who is supposed to have been born in the time of Lelex or. Myles, and of Amphiaraos the son of Oikles. The last they think was made by the sons of Tyndareus, for that Amphiaraos was their cousin. There is a hero-shrine of Lelex himself. Not far from these is a precinct of Poseidon of Taenarum, which is the surname given him, and near by an image of Athena, which is said to have been dedicated by the colonists

{3.12.6} who left for Tarentum in Italy. As to the place they call the HeIlenium, it has been stated that those of the Greeks who were preparing to repel Xerxes when he was crossing into Europe deliberated at this place how they should resist. The other story is that those who made the expedition against Troy to please Menelaos deliberated here how they could sail out to Troy and exact satisfaction from Alexander for carrying off Helen.

{3.12.7} Near the Hellenium they point out the tomb of Talthybios. The Achaeans of Aigion too say that a tomb which they show on their marketplace belongs to Talthybios. It was this Talthybios whose wrath at the murder of the heralds, who were sent to Greece by king Dareios to demand earth and water, left its mark upon the whole state of the Lacedaemonians, but in Athens fell upon individuals, the members of the house of one man, Miltiades the son of Kimon. Miltiades was responsible for the death at the hands of the Athenians of those of the heralds who came to Attica.

{3.12.8} The Lacedaemonians have an altar of Apollo Acritas, and a sanctuary, surnamed Gasepton, of Earth. Above it is set up Maleatian Apollo. At the end of the Aphetaid Road, quite close to the wall, are a sanctuary of Dictynna and the royal tombs of those called the Eurypontidai. Beside the Hellenium is a sanctuary of Arsinoe, daughter of Leukippos and sister of the wives of Polydeukes and Castor (Kastor). At the place called the Forts is a temple of Artemis, and a little further on has been built a tomb for the diviners from Elis, called the Iamidai.

{3.12.9} There is also a sanctuary of Maron and of Alpheios. Of the Lacedaemonians who served at Thermopylae they consider that these men distinguished themselves in the fighting more than any save Leonidas himself. The sanctuary of Zeus Tropaean (He who turns to flight) was made by the Dorians, when they had conquered in war the Amyklaians, as well as the other Achaeans, who at that time occupied Laconia. The sanctuary of the Great Mother has paid to it the most extraordinary honors. After it come the hero-shrines of Hippolytus, son of Theseus, and of the Arcadian Aulon, son of Tlesimenes. Some say that Tlesimenes was a brother, others a son of Parthenopaeus, son of Melanion.

{3.12.10} Leading from the marketplace is another road, on which they have built what is called Scias (Canopy), where even at the present day they hold their meetings of the Assembly. This Canopy was made, they say, by Theodoros of Samos, who discovered the melting of iron and the moulding of images from it. [245] Here the Lacedaemonians hung the harp of Timotheus of Miletus, to express their disapproval of his innovation in harping, the addition of four strings to the seven old ones.

{3.12.11} By the Canopy is a circular building, and in it images of Zeus and Aphrodite surnamed Olympian. This, they say, was set up by Epimenides, but their account of him does not agree with that of the Argives, for the Lacedaemonians deny that they ever fought with the Cnossians.

{3.13.1} Hard by is the tomb of Cynortas son of Amyclas, together with the tomb of Castor (Kastor), and over the tomb there has also been made a sanctuary, for they say that it was not before the fortieth year after the fight with Idas and Lynkeus that divine honors were paid to the sons of Tyndareus. By the Canopy is also shown the tomb of Idas and Lynkeus. Now it fits in best with their history to hold that they were buried not here but in Messenia.

{3.13.2} But the disasters of the Messenians, and the length of their exile from the Peloponnesus, even after their return wrapped in darkness much of their ancient history, and their. ignorance makes it easy for any who wish to dispute a claim with them.

Opposite the Olympian Aphrodite the Lacedaemonians have a temple of the Savior Maiden. Some say that it was made by Orpheus the Thracian, others by Abairis when he had come from the Hyperboreans.

{3.13.3} Carneus, whom they surname “of the House,” had honors in Sparta even before the return of the Herakleidai, his seat being in the house of a seer, Crius (Ram) the son of Theokles. The daughter of this Crius was met as she was filling her pitcher by spies of the Dorians, who entered into conversation with her, visited Crius and learned from him how to capture Sparta.

{3.13.4} The cult of Apollo Carneus has been established among all the Dorians ever since Carnus, an Acarnanian by birth, who was a seer of Apollo. When he was killed by Hippotes the son of Phylas, the wrath of Apollo fell upon the camp of the Dorians Hippotes went into banishment because of the bloodguilt, and from this time the custom was established among the Dorians of propitiating the Acarnanian seer. But this Carnus is not the Lacedaemonian Carneus of the House, who was worshipped in the house of Crius the seer while the Achaeans were still in possession of Sparta.

{3.13.5} The poetess Praxilla represents Carneus as the son of Europa, Apollo and Leto being his nurses. There is also another account of the name; in Trojan Ida there grew in a grove of Apollo cornel trees, which the Greeks cut down to make the Wooden Horse. Learning that the god was angry with them they propitiated him with sacrifices and named Apollo Carneus from the cornel tree (craneia), a custom prevalent in the olden time making them transpose the r and the a.

{3.13.6} Not far from Carneus is what is called the image of Aphetaeus. Here they say was the starting-place of the race run by the suitors of Penelope. There is a place having its porticoes in the form of a square, where of old stuff used to be sold to the people. By this is an altar of Zeus Counsellor and of Athena Counsellor, also of the Dioskouroi, likewise surnamed Counsellors.

{3.13.7} Opposite is what is called the Knoll, with a temple of Dionysus of the Knoll, by which is a precinct of the hero who they say guided Dionysus on the way to Sparta. To this hero sacrifices are offered before they are offered to the god by the daughters of Dionysus and the daughters of Leukippos. For the other eleven ladies who are named daughters of Dionysus there is held a foot-race; this custom came to Sparta from Delphi.

{3.13.8} Not far from the Dionysus is a sanctuary of Zeus of Fair Wind, on the right of which is a hero-shrine of Pleuron. The sons of Tyndareus were descended on their mother’s side from Pleuron, for Asios in his poem says that Thestios the father of Leda was the son of Agenor the son of Pleuron. Not far from the hero-shrine is a hill, and on the hill a temple of Argive Hērā, set up, they say, by Eurydikē, the daughter of Lacedaemon and the wife of Akrisios the son of Abas. An oracular utterance caused to be built a sanctuary of Hērā Hyperchemia (she whose hand is above) at a time when the Eurotas was flooding a great part of the land.

{3.13.9} An old wooden image they call that of Aphrodite Hērā. A mother is accustomed to sacrifice to the goddess when a daughter is married. On the road to the right of the hill is a statue of Hetoimokles. Both Hetoimokles himself and his father Hipposthenes won Olympic victories for wrestling the two together won eleven, but Hipposthenes succeeded in beating his son by one victory.

{3.14.1} On going westwards from the marketplace is a cenotaph of Brasidas the son of Tellis. [246] Not far from it is the theater, made of white marble and worth seeing. Opposite the theater are two tombs; the first is that of Pausanias, the general at Plataea, the second is that of Leonidas. Every year they deliver speeches over them, and hold a contest in which none may compete except Spartans. The bones of Leonidas were taken by Pausanias from Thermopylae forty years after the battle. There is set up a slab with the names, and their fathers’ names, of those who endured the fight at Thermopylae against the Persians.

{3.14.2} There is a place in Sparta called Theomelida. In this part of the city are the tombs of the Agiad kings, and near is what is called the lounge of the Crotani, who form a part of the Pitanatans. Not far from the lounge is a sanctuary of Asklepios, called “in the place of the Agiadae.” Farther on is the tomb of Taenarus, after whom they say the headland was named that juts out into the sea. Here are sanctuaries of Poseidon Hippocurius (Horse-tending) and of Artemis Aiginaia (Goat-goddess?). On returning to the lounge you see a sanctuary of Artemis Issoria. They surname her also Lady of the Lake, though she is not really Artemis hut Britomartis of Crete. I deal with her in my account of Aegina.

{3.14.3} Very near to the tombs which have been built for the Agiadaiyou will see a slab, on which are written the victories in the foot-race won, at Olympia and elsewhere, by Khionis, a Lacedaemonian. [247] The Olympian victories were seven, four in the single-stadium-length race and three in the double-stadium-length race. [248] The race with the shield, that takes place at the end of the contest, was not at that time one of the events. It is said that Khionis also took part in the expedition of Battos of Thera, helped him to found Cyrene and to reduce the neighboring Libyans.

{3.14.4} The sanctuary of Thetis was set up, they say, for the following reason. The Lacedaemonians were making war against the Messenians, who had revolted, and their king Anaxander, having invaded Messenia, took prisoners certain women, and among them Kleo, priestess of Thetis. This Kleo the wife of Anaxandros asked for from her husband, and discovering that she had the wooden image of Thetis, she set up with her a temple for the goddess. This Leandris did because of a vision in a dream,

{3.14.5} but the wooden image of Thetis is guarded in secret. The cult of Demeter Chthonia (of the Lower World) the Lacedaemonians say was handed on to them by Orpheus, but in my opinion it was because of the sanctuary in Hermione [249] that the Lacedaemonians also began to worship Demeter Chthonia. The Spartans have also a sanctuary of Serapis, the newest sanctuary in the city, and one of Zeus surnamed Olympian.

{3.14.6} The Lacedaemonians give the name Running Course to the place where it is the custom for the young men even down to the present day to practice running. As you go to this Course from the tomb of the Agiadae, you see on the left the tomb of Eumedes—this Eumedes was one of the children of Hippokoön—and also an old image of Hēraklēs, to whom sacrifice is paid by the Sphaereis. These are those who are just passing from youth to manhood. In the Course are two gymnastic schools, one being a votive gift of Eurykles, a Spartan. Outside the Course, over against the image of Hēraklēs, there is a house belonging now to a private individual, but in olden times to Menelaos. Farther away from the Course are sanctuaries of the Dioskouroi, of the Graces, of Eileithuia, of Apollo Carneus, and of Artemis Leader.

{3.14.7} The sanctuary of Agnitas has been made on the right of the Course; Agnitas is a surname of Asklepios, because the god had a wooden image of agnus castus. The agnus is a willow like the thorn. Not far from Asklepios stands a trophy, raised, they say, by Polydeukes to celebrate his victory over Lynkeus. This is one of the pieces of evidence that confirm my statement that the sons of Aphareus were not buried in Sparta. At the beginning of the Course are the Dioskouroi Starters, and a little farther on a hero-shrine of Alcon, who they say was a son of Hippokoön.

Beside the shrine of Alcon is a sanctuary of Poseidon, whom they surname “of the House.”

{3.14.8} And there is a place called Platanistas (Plane tree Grove) from the unbroken ring of tall plane trees growing round it. The place itself, where it is customary for the youths to fight, is surrounded by a moat just like an island in the sea; you enter it by bridges. On each of the two bridges stand images; on one side an image of Hēraklēs, on the other a likeness of Lycurgus (Lykourgos). Among the laws Lycurgus (Lykourgos) laid down for the constitution are those regulating the fighting of the youths.

{3.14.9} There are other acts performed by the youths, which I will now describe. Before the fighting they sacrifice in the Phoebaeum, which is outside the city, not far distant from Therapne. Here each company of youths sacrifices a puppy to Enyalios, holding that the most valiant of tame animals is an acceptable victim to the most valiant of the gods. I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of Kolophon; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to the Wayside Goddess. Both the sacrifice of the Kolophonians and that of the youths at Sparta are appointed to take place at night.

{3.14.10} At the sacrifice the youths set trained boars to fight; the company whose boar happens to win generally gains the victory in Plane tree Grove. Such are the performances in the Phoebaeum. A little before the middle of the next day they enter by the bridges into the place I have mentioned. They cast lots during the night to decide by which entrance each band is to go in. In fighting they use their hands, kick with their feet, bite, and gouge out the eyes of their opponents. Man to man they fight in the way I have described, but in the melee they charge violently and push one another into the water.

{3.15.1} At Plane tree Grove there is also a hero-shrine of Kyniska, daughter of Arkhidamos king of the Spartans. She was the first woman to breed horses, and the first to win a chariot-race at Olympia. Behind the portico built by the side of Plane tree Grove are other hero-shrines, of Alcimus, of Enaraephorus, at a little distance away one of Dorceus, and close to it one of Sebrus.

{3.15.2} These are said to be sons of Hippokoön. The fountain near the hero-shrine of Dorceus they call Dorcean after him; the place Sebrium is named after Sebrus. On the right of Sebrium is the tomb of Alcman, the lyric poet, the charm of whose works was not in the least spoilt by the Laconian dialect, which is the least musical of them all.

{3.15.3} There are sanctuaries of Helen and of Hēraklēs; the former is near the tomb of Alcman, the latter is quite close to the wall and contains an armed image of Hēraklēs. The attitude of the image is due, they say, to the fight with Hippokoön and his sons. The enmity of Hēraklēs towards the lineage of Hippokoön is said to have sprung out of their refusing to purify him when he came to Sparta for purifying after the death of Iphitos.

{3.15.4} The following incident, too, helped to begin the feud. Oeonus, a young cousin of Hēraklēs—he was the son of Licymnius the brother of Alcmene—came to Sparta along with Hēraklēs, and went round to view the city. When he came to the house of Hippokoön, a house-dog attacked him. Oeonus happened to throw a stone which knocked over the dog. So the sons of Hippokoön ran out, and dispatched Oeonus with their clubs.

{3.15.5} This made Hēraklēs most bitterly angry with Hippokoön and his sons, and straightway, angry as he was, he set out to give them battle. On this occasion he was wounded, and made good his retreat by stealth but afterwards he made an expedition against Sparta and succeeded in avenging himself on Hippokoön, and also on the sons of Hippokoön for their murder of Oeonus. The tomb of Oeonus is built by the side of the sanctuary of Hēraklēs.

{3.15.6} As you go from the Course towards the east, there is a path on the right, with a sanctuary of Athena called Axiopoinos (Just Requital or Tit for Tat). For when Hēraklēs, in avenging himself on Hippokoön and his sons, had inflicted upon them a just requital for their treatment of his relative, he founded a sanctuary of Athena, and surnamed her Axiopoinos because the ancients used to call vengeance poinai. There is another sanctuary of Athena on another road from the Course. It was dedicated, they say, by Theras son of Autesion son of Tisamenus son of Thersandros, when he was leading a colony to the island now called Thera after him, the name of which in ancient times was Kalliste (Fairest).

{3.15.7} Near is a temple of Hipposthenes, who won so many victories in wrestling. They worship Hipposthenes in accordance with an oracle, paying him honors as to Poseidon. Opposite this temple is an old image of Enyalios in fetters. The idea the Lacedaemonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by their Wingless Victory; the former think that Enyalios will never run away from them, being bound in the fetters, while the Athenians think that Victory, having no wings, will always remain where she is.

{3.15.8} In this fashion, and with such a belief have these cities set up the wooden images. In Sparta is a lounge called Painted, and by it hero-shrines of Kadmos the son of Agenor, and of his descendants Oiolykos, son of Theras, and Aigeus, son of Oiolykos. They are said to have been made by Maesis, Laeas and Europas, sons of Hyraeus, son of Aigeus. They made for Amphilokhos too his hero-shrine, because their ancestor Tisamenus had for his mother Demonassa, the sister of Amphilokhos.

{3.15.9} The Lacedaemonians are the only Greeks who surname Hērā Goat-eater, and sacrifice goats to the goddess. They say that Hēraklēs founded the sanctuary and was the first to sacrifice goats, because in his fight against Hippokoön and his children he met with no hindrance from Hērā, although in his other adventures he thought that the goddess opposed him. He sacrificed goats, they say, because he lacked other kinds of victims.

{3.15.10} Not far from the theater is a sanctuary of Poseidon God of Kin, and there are hero-shrines of Kleodaios, son of Hyllos, and of Oibalos. The most famous of their sanctuaries of Asklepios has been built near Boöneta, and on the left is the hero-shrine of Teleklos. I shall mention him again later in my history of Messenia. [250] A little farther on is a small hill, on which is an ancient temple with a wooden image of Aphrodite armed. This is the only temple I know that has an upper storey built upon it.

{3.15.11} It is a sanctuary of Morpho, a surname of Aphrodite, who sits wearing a veil and with fetters on her feet. The story is that the fetters were put on her by Tyndareus, who symbolized by the bonds the faithfulness of wives to their husbands. The other account, that Tyndareus punished the goddess with fetters because he thought that from Aphrodite had come the shame of his daughters, I will not admit for a moment. For it were surely altogether silly to expect to punish the goddess by making a cedar figure and naming it Aphrodite.

{3.16.1} Near is a sanctuary of Hilaeira and of Phoebe. The author of the poem Cypria calls them daughters of Apollo. Their priestesses are young maidens, called, as are also the goddesses, Leukippides (Daughter of Leukippos). [251] One of the images was adorned by a Leucippis who had served the goddesses as a priestess. She gave it a face of modern workmanship instead of the old one; she was forbidden by a dream to adorn the other one as well. Here there his been hung from the roof an egg tied to ribands, and they say that it is the famous egg that, as the story [logos] has it, Leda brought forth.

{3.16.2} Each year the women weave a tunic for the Apollo at Amyklai, and they call Tunic the chamber in which they do their weaving. Near it is built a house, said to have been occupied originally by the sons of Tyndareus, but afterwards it was acquired by Phormion, a Spartan. To him came the Dioskouroi in the likeness of strangers. They said that they had come from Cyrene, and asked to lodge with him, requesting to have the chamber which had pleased them most when they dwelled among men.

{3.16.3} He replied that they might lodge in any other part of the house they wished, but that they could not have the chamber.

For it so happened that his virgin daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioskouroi, a table, and silphium upon it.

{3.16.4} Such is the story. As you go from the Tunic in the direction of the gate there is a hero-shrine of Kheilon, who is considered one of the Seven Sages, and also of Athenodoros, one of those who with Dorieus the son of Anaxandrides set out for Sicily. The reason of their setting out was that they held that the Erycine district belonged to the descendants of Hēraklēs and not to the barbarians who held it. The story is that Hēraklēs wrestled with Eryx on these terms: if Hēraklēs won, the land of Eryx was to belong to him but if he were beaten, Eryx was to depart with the cows of Geryon;

{3.16.5} for Hēraklēs at the time was driving these away, and when they swam across to Sicily he too crossed over in search of them near the bent olive tree. The good will [tò eumenes] emanating from the gods [theoi] was more partial to Hēraklēs than it was afterwards to Dorieus the son of Anaxandrides; Hēraklēs killed Eryx, but Dorieus himself and the greater part of his army were destroyed by the Egestaeans.

{3.16.6} The Lacedaemonians have also made a sanctuary for Lycurgus (Lykourgos), who drew up the laws, looking upon him as a god. Behind the temple is the tomb of Eukosmos, the son of Lycurgus (Lykourgos), and by the altar the tomb of Lathria and Anaxandra. Now these were themselves twins, and therefore the sons of Aristodemos, who also were twins likewise, took them to wife; they were daughters of Thersandros son of Agamedidas, king of the people of Kleonai and great-grandson of Ktesippos, son of Hēraklēs. Opposite the temple is the tomb of Theopompos son of Nikandros, and also that of Eurybiades, who commanded the Lacedaemonian warships that fought the Persians at Artemisium and Salamis. Near is what is called the hero-shrine of Astrabacus.

{3.16.7} The place named Limnaeum (Marshy) is sacred to Artemis Orthia (Upright). The wooden image there they say is that which once Orestes and Iphigeneia stole out of the Tauric land, and the Lacedaemonians say that it was brought to their land because there also Orestes was king. I think their story more probable than that of the Athenians. For what could have induced Iphigeneia to leave the image behind at Brauron? Or why did the Athenians, when they were preparing to abandon their land, fail to include this image in what they put on board their ships?

{3.16.8} And yet, right down to the present day, the fame of the Tauric goddess has remained so high that the Cappadocians dwelling on the Euxine claim that the image is among them, a like claim being made by those Lydians also who have a sanctuary of Artemis Anaeitis. But the Athenians, we are asked to believe, made light of the fact that it was plundered by the Persians. For the image at Brauron was brought to Susa, and afterwards Seleukos gave it to the Syrians of Laodicea, who still possess it.

{3.16.9} I will give other evidence that the Orthia in Lacedaemon is the wooden image from the barbarians. Firstly, Astrabacus and Alopecus, sons of Irbus, son of Amphisthenes, son of Amphikles, son of Agis, when they found the image straightway became insane. Secondly, the Spartan Limnatians, the Cynosurians, and the people of Mesoa and Pitane, while sacrificing to Artemis, fell to quarreling, which led also to bloodshed; many were killed at the altar and the rest died of disease.

{3.16.10} Whereat an oracle was delivered to them, that they should stain the altar with human blood. He used to be sacrificed upon whomsoever the lot fell, but Lycurgus (Lykourgos) changed the custom to a scourging of the boys, and so in this way the altar is stained with human blood. By them stands the priestess, holding the wooden image. Now it is small and light,

{3.16.11} but if ever the scourgers spare the lash because of a boy’s beauty or high rank, then at once the priestess finds the image grow so heavy that she can hardly carry it. She lays the blame on the scourgers, and says that it is their fault that she is being weighed down. So the image ever since the sacrifices in the Tauric land keeps its fondness for human blood. They call it not only Orthia, but also Lygodesma (Willow-bound), because it was found in a thicket of willows, and the encircling willow made the image stand upright.

{3.17.1} Not far from the Orthia is a sanctuary of Eileithuia. They say that they built it, and came to worship Eileithuia as a goddess, because of an oracle from Delphi.

The Lacedaemonians have no citadel rising to a conspicuous height like the Kadmeia at Thebes and the Larisa at Argos. There are, however, hills in the city, and the highest of them they call the citadel.

{3.17.2} Here is built a sanctuary of Athena, who is called both City-protecting and Lady of the Bronze House. The building of the sanctuary was begun, they say, by Tyndareus. On his death his children were desirous of making a second attempt to complete the building, and the resources they intended to use were the spoils of Aphidna. They too left it unfinished, and it was many years afterwards that the Lacedaemonians made of bronze both the temple and the image of Athena. The builder was Gitiadas, a native of Sparta, who also composed Dorian lyrics, including a hymn to the goddess. [252]

{3.17.3} On the bronze are made-in-relief many of the labors of Hēraklēs and many of the voluntary exploits he successfully carried out, besides the abduction of the daughters of Leukippos and other achievements of the sons of Tyndareus. There is also Hephaistos releasing his mother from the fetters. The things that are said about this I have already shown in my write-up [sungraphē] about Attica. [253] There are also represented nymphs bestowing upon Perseus, who is starting on his enterprise against Medusa in Libya, a cap and the shoes by which he was to be carried through the air. Also crafted are the birth of Athena, Amphitrite, and Poseidon, the largest figures, and those which I thought the best worth seeing.

{3.17.4} There is here another sanctuary of Athena; her surname is the Worker. As you go to the south portico there is a temple of Zeus surnamed Kosmetas (Orderer), and before it is the tomb of Tyndareus. The west portico has two eagles, and upon them are two Victories. Lysander dedicated them to commemorate both his exploits; the one was off Ephesos, when he conquered Antiokhos, the captain of Alcibiades, and the Athenian warships and the second occurred later, when he destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aigospotamoi.

{3.17.5} On the left of the Lady of the Bronze House they have set up a sanctuary of the Muses, because the Lacedaemonians used to go out to fight, not to the sound of the trumpet, but to the music of the flute and the accompaniment of lyre and harp. Behind the Lady of the Bronze House is a temple of Aphrodite Areia (Warlike). The wooden images are as old as any in Greece.

{3.17.6} On the right of the Lady of the Bronze House has been set up an image of Zeus Most High, the oldest image that is made of bronze. It is not created in one piece. Each of the limbs has been hammered separately; these are fitted together, being prevented from coming apart by nails. They say that the artist was Klearkhos of Rhēgion, who is said by some to have been a pupil of Dipoinos [254] and Skyllis, by others of Daidalos himself. By what is called the Scenoma (Tent) there is a statue of a woman, whom the Lacedaemonians say is Euryleonis. She won a victory at Olympia with a two-horse chariot.

{3.17.7} By the side of the altar of the Lady of the Bronze House stand two statues of Pausanias, the general at Plataea. His history, as it is known, I will not relate. The accurate accounts of my predecessors suffice; I shall content myself with adding to them what I heard from a man of Byzantium. Pausanias was detected in his treachery, and was the only suppliant of the Lady of the Bronze House who failed to win security, solely because he had been unable to wipe away a defilement of bloodshed.

{3.17.8} When he was cruising about the Hellespont with the Lacedaemonian and allied fleets, he fell in love with a Byzantine girl. And straightway at the beginning of night Kleonike —that was the girl’s name—was brought by those who had been ordered to do so. But Pausanias was asleep at the time and the noise awoke him. For as she came to him she unintentionally dropped her lighted lamp. And Pausanias, conscious of his treason to Greece, and therefore always nervous and fearful, jumped up then and struck the girl with his sword.

{3.17.9} From this defilement Pausanias could not escape, although he underwent all sorts of purifications and became a suppliant of Zeus Phyxios (God of Flight), and finally went to the wizards at Phigalia in Arcadia but he paid a fitting penalty to Kleonike and to the god. The Lacedaemonians, in fulfillment of a command from Delphi, had the bronze images made and honor the spirit Bountiful, saying that it was this Bountiful that turns aside the wrath that the God of Suppliants shows because of Pausanias.

{3.18.1} Near the statues of Pausanias is an image of Aphrodite Ambologera (Postponer of Old Age), which was set up in accordance with an oracle; there are also images of Sleep and of Death. They think them brothers, in accordance with the verses in the Iliad.

{3.18.2} As you go towards what is called the Alpium is a temple of Athena Ophthalmitis (Goddess of the Eye). They say that Lycurgus (Lykourgos) dedicated it when one of his eyes had been struck out by Alkandros, because the laws he had made happened not to find favor with Alkandros. Having fled to this place he was saved by the Lacedaemonians from losing his remaining eye, and so he made this temple of Athena Ophthalmitis.

{3.18.3} Farther on from here is a sanctuary of Ammon. From the first the Lacedaemonians are known to have used the oracle in Libya more than any other Greeks. It is said also that when Lysander was besieging Aphytis in Pallene Ammon appeared by night and declared that it would be better for him and for Lacedaemon if they ceased from warring against Aphytis. And so Lysander raised the siege, and induced the Lacedaemonians to worship the god still more. The people of Aphytis honor Ammon no less than the Ammonian Libyans.

{3.18.4} The story of Artemis Cnagia is as follows. Cnageus, they say, was a native who joined the Dioskouroi in their expedition against Aphidna. Being taken prisoner in the battle and sold into Crete, he lived as a slave where the Cretans had a sanctuary of Artemis; but in course of time he ran away in the company of the virgin priestess, who took the image with her. It is for this reason that they name Artemis Cnagia.

{3.18.5} But I am of opinion that Cnageus came to Crete in some other way, and not in the manner the Lacedaemonians state; for I do not think there was a battle at Aphidna at all, Theseus being detained among the Thesprotians and the Athenians not being unanimous, their sympathies inclining towards Menestheus. Moreover, even if a fight occurred, nobody would believe that prisoners were taken from the conquerors, especially as the victory was overwhelming, so that Aphidna itself was captured.

{3.18.6} I must now end my criticisms. As you go down to Amyklai from Sparta you come to a river called Tiasa. They hold that Tiasa was a daughter of Eurotas, and by it is a sanctuary of Graces, Phaenna and Cleta, as Alcman calls them in a poem. They believe that Lacedaemon founded the sanctuary for the Graces here, and gave them their names.

{3.18.7} The things worth seeing in Amyklai include a victor in the pentathlon, [255] named Ainetos, on a slab. The story is that he won a victory at Olympia, but died while the garland was being placed on his head. So there is the statue of this man; there are also bronze tripods. The older ones are said to be a tithe of the Messenian war.

{3.18.8} Under the first tripod stood an image of Aphrodite, and under the second an Artemis. The two tripods themselves and the reliefs are the work of Gitiadas. [256] The third was made by Gallon of Aegina, and under it stands an image of the Maiden, daughter of Demeter. Aristandros of Paros and Polycleitus of Argos [257] have statues here; the former a woman with a lyre, supposed to be Sparta, the latter an Aphrodite called “beside the Amyklaian.” These tripods are larger than the others, and were dedicated from the spoils of the victory at Aigospotamoi.

{3.18.9} Bathykles of Magnesia, [258] who made the throne of the Amyklaian, dedicated, on the completion of the throne, Graces and an image of Artemis Leucophryene. Whose pupil this Bathykles was, and who was king of Lacedaemon when he made the throne, I pass over; but I saw the throne and will describe its details.

{3.18.10} It is supported in front, and similarly behind, by two Graces and two Seasons. On the left stand Echidna and Typhos, on the right Tritons. To describe the reliefs one by one in detail would have merely bored my readers; but to be brief and concise (for the greater number of them are not unknown either) Poseidon and Zeus are carrying Taygete, daughter of Atlas, and her sister Alcyone. There are also reliefs of Atlas, the single combat of Hēraklēs and Kyknos, and the battle of the Centaurs at the cave of Pholus.

{3.18.11} I cannot say why Bathykles has represented the so-called Bull of Minos bound, and being led along alive by Theseus. There is also on the throne a band of Phaeacian dancers, and Demodocus singing. Perseus, too, is represented killing Medusa. Passing over the fight of Hēraklēs with the giant Thourios and that of Tyndareus with Eurytos, we have next the abduction of the daughters of Leukippos. Here are Dionysus, too, and Hēraklēs; Hermes is bearing the infant Dionysus to the sky [ouranos], and Athena is taking Hēraklēs to dwell henceforth with the gods.

{3.18.12} There is Peleus handing over Achilles to be reared by Kheiron, who is also said to have been his teacher. There is Cephalus, too, carried off by Day because of his beauty. The gods are bringing gifts to the marriage of Harmonia. There is created also the single combat of Achilles and Memnon, and Hēraklēs avenging himself upon Diomedes the Thracian, and upon Nessus at the river Euenus. Hermes is bringing the goddesses to Alexander to be judged. Adrastos and Tydeus are staying the fight between Amphiaraos and Lycurgus (Lykourgos) the son of Pronax.

{3.18.13} Hērā is gazing at Io, the daughter of Inakhos, who is already a cow, and Athena is running away from Hephaistos, who chases her. Next to these have been created two of the exploits of Hēraklēs—his slaying the hydra, and his bringing up the Hound of Hades. Anaxias and Mnasinous are each seated on horseback, but there is one horse only carrying Megapenthes, the son of Menelaos, and Nikostratos. Bellerophontes is destroying the beast in Lycia, and Hēraklēs is driving off the cows of Geryones.

{3.18.14} At the upper edge of the throne are created, one on each side, the sons of Tyndareus on horses. There are sphinxes under the horses, and beasts running upwards, on the one side a leopard, by Polydeukes a lioness. On the very top of the throne has been created a band of dancers, the Magnesians who helped Bathykles to make the throne.

{3.18.15} Underneath the throne, the inner part away from the Tritons contains the hunting of the Calydonian boar and Hēraklēs killing the children of Aktor. Calais and Zetes are driving the Harpies away from Phineus. Peirithoös and Theseus have seized Helen, and Hēraklēs is strangling the lion. Apollo and Artemis are shooting Tityus.

{3.18.16} There is represented the fight between Hēraklēs and Oreios the Centaur, and also that between Theseus and the Bull of Minos. There are also represented the wrestling of Hēraklēs with Akhelōos, the fabled binding of Hērā by Hephaistos, the games Akastos held in honor of his father, and the story of Menelaos and the Egyptian Proteus from the Odyssey. [259] Lastly there is Admetos yoking a boar and a lion to his chariot, and the Trojans are bringing libations to Hector.

{3.19.1} The part of the throne where the god would sit is not continuous; there are several seats, and by the side of each seat is left a wide empty space, the middle, whereon the image stands, being the widest of them.

{3.19.2} I know of nobody who has measured the height of the image, but at a guess one would estimate it to be as much as thirty cubits. It is not the work of Bathykles, being old and uncouth; for though it has face, feet, and hands, the rest resembles a bronze pillar. On its head it has a helmet, in its hands a spear and a bow.

{3.19.3} The pedestal of the statue is fashioned into the shape of an altar and they say that Hyakinthos is buried in it, and at the Hyakinthia, before the sacrifice to Apollo, they devote offerings to Hyakinthos as to a hero into this altar through a bronze door, which is on the left of the altar. On the altar are made-in-relief, here an image of Biris, there Amphitrite and Poseidon. Zeus and Hermes are conversing; near stand Dionysus and Semele, with Ino by her side.

{3.19.4} On the altar are also Demeter, the Maiden, Pluto [Ploutōn], next to them Fates and Seasons, and with them Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis. They are carrying to the sky [ouranos] Hyakinthos and Polyboia, the sister, they say, of Hyakinthos, who died a virgin [parthénos]. Now this statue of Hyakinthos represents him as bearded, but Nikias, [260] son of Nikomedes, has painted him in the very prime of youthful beauty, hinting at the storied [legomenos] passionate-love [erōs] of Apollo for Hyakinthos.

{3.19.5} Crafted on the altar is also Hēraklēs; he too is being led to the sky [ouranos] by Athena and the other gods. On the altar are also the daughters of Thestios, Muses and Seasons. As for the West Wind, how Apollo unintentionally killed Hyakinthos, and the things that have been told about the flower, we must be content with how it is told, although perhaps it could have been otherwise.

{3.19.6} Amyklai was laid waste by the Dorians, and since that time has remained a village; I found there a sanctuary and image of Alexandra worth seeing. Alexandra is said by the Amyklaians to be Cassandra, the daughter of Priam. Here is also a statue of Clytaemnestra, together with what is supposed to be the tomb of Agamemnon. The natives worship the Amyklaian god and Dionysus, surnaming the latter, quite correctly I think, Psilax. For psila is Doric for wings, and wine uplifts men and lightens their spirit no less than wings do birds.

Such I found were the things worth mentioning about Amyklai. Another road from the city leads to Therapne,

{3.19.7} and on this road is a wooden image of Athena Alea. Before the Eurotas is crossed, a little above the bank is shown a sanctuary of Zeus Wealthy. Across the river is a temple of Asklepios Cotyleus (of the Hip-joint); it was made by Hēraklēs, who named Asklepios Cotyleus, because he was cured of the wound in the hip-joint that he received in the former fight with Hippokoön and his sons. Of all the objects along this road the oldest is a sanctuary of Ares. This is on the left of the road, and the image is said to have been brought from Kolkhis by the Dioskouroi.

{3.19.8} They surname him Theritas after Thero, who is said to have been the nurse of Ares. Perhaps it was from the people of Kolkhis that they heard the name Theritas, since the Greeks know of no Thero, nurse of Ares. My own belief is that the surname Theritas [261] was not given to Ares because of his nurse, but because when a man meets an enemy in battle he must cast aside all gentleness, as Homer says of Achilles:

{3.19.9} The name of Therapne is derived from the daughter of Lelex, and in it is a temple of Menelaos; they say that Menelaos and Helen were buried here. The account of the Rhodians is different. They say that when Menelaos was dead, and Orestes still a wanderer, Helen was driven out by Nikostratos and Megapenthes and came to Rhodes, where she had a friend in Polyxo,

{3.19.10} the wife of Tlepolemos. For Polyxo, they say, was an Argive by descent, and when she was already married to Tlepolemos shared his flight to Rhodes. At the time she was queen of the island, having been left with an orphan boy. They say that this Polyxo desired to avenge the death of Tlepolemos on Helen, now that she had her in her power. So she sent against her when she was bathing handmaidens dressed up as Furies, who seized Helen and hanged her on a tree, and for this reason the Rhodians have a sanctuary of Helen of the Tree.

{3.19.11} A story too I will tell which I know the people of Kroton tell about Helen. The people of Himera too agree with this account. In the Euxine at the mouths of the Ister is an island sacred to Achilles. It is called White Island, and its circumference is twenty stadium-lengths. It is wooded throughout and abounds in animals, wild and tame, while on it is a temple of Achilles with an image of him.

{3.19.12} The first to sail there, it is said, was Leonymus of Kroton. For when war had arisen between the people of Kroton and the people of Lokris [= Lokroi] in Italy, the people of Lokris, in virtue of the relationship between them and the Opuntians, called upon Ajax son of Oileus to help them in battle. So Leonymus the general of the people of Kroton attacked his enemy at that point where he heard that Ajax was posted in the front line. Now he was wounded in the breast, and weak with his hurt came to Delphi. When he arrived the Pythian priestess sent Leonynios to White Island, telling him that there Ajax would appear to him and cure his wound.

{3.19.13} In time he was healed and returned from White Island, where, he used to declare, he saw Achilles, as well as Ajax the son of Oileus and Ajax the son of Telamon. With them, he said, were Patroklos and Antilokhos; Helen was wedded to Achilles, and had bidden him sail to Stesichorus at Himera, and announce that the loss of his sight was caused by her wrath.

{3.20.1} Therefore Stesichorus composed his recantation. In Therapne I remember seeing the fountain Messeis. Some of the Lacedaemonians, however, have declared that of old the name Messeis was given, not to the fountain at Therapne, but to the one we call Polydeucea. The fountain Polydeucea and a sanctuary of Polydeukes are on the right of the road to Therapne.

{3.20.2} Not far from Therapne is what is called Phoebaeum, in which is a temple of the Dioskouroi. Here the youths sacrifice to Enyalios. At no great distance from it stands a sanctuary of Poseidon surnamed Earth-embracer. Going on from here in the direction of Taygetos you come to a place called Alesiai(Place of Grinding) they say that Myles (Mill-man) the son of Lelex was the first human being to invent a mill, and that he ground wheat in this Alesiae. Here they have a hero-shrine of Lacedaemon, the son of Taygete.

{3.20.3} Crossing from here a river Phellia, and going past Amyklai along a road leading straight towards the sea, you come to the site of Pharis, which was once a city of Laconia. Turning away from the Phellia to the right is the road that leads to Mount Taygetos. On the plain is a precinct of Zeus Messapeus, who is surnamed, they say, after a man who served the god as his priest. Leaving Taygetos from here you come to the site of the city Bryseae. There still remains here a temple of Dionysus with an image in the open. But the image in the temple women only may see, for women by themselves perform in secret the sacrificial rites.

{3.20.4} Above Bryseai rises Taletum, a peak of Taygetos. They call it sacred to Hēlios (the Sun), and among the sacrifices they offer here to Hēlios are horses. I am aware that the Persians [Persai] also are accustomed to offer the same sacrifice. Not far from Taletum is a place called Euoras, the haunt of wild animals, especially wild goats. In fact all Taygetos is a hunting-ground for these goats and for boars, and it is well stocked with both deer and bears.

{3.20.5} Between Taletum and Euoras is a place they name Therai, where they say Leto from the Peaks of Taygetos … is a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Eleusinian. Here according to the Lacedaemonian story Hēraklēs was hidden by Asklepios while he was being healed of a wound. In the sanctuary is a wooden image of Orpheus, a work, they say, of Pelasgians.

{3.20.6} I know also of the following rite which is performed here. By the sea was a city Helos, which Homer too has mentioned in his list of the Lacedaemonians:

It was founded by Helios [Hĕlios not Hēlios], the youngest of the sons of Perseus, and the Dorians afterwards reduced it by siege. Its inhabitants became the first slaves of the Lacedaemonian state, and were the first to be called Helots [heilōtes], as in fact heilōtesthey were. The slaves afterwards acquired, although they were Dorians of Messenia, also came to be called Helots, just as the entire lineage of people who were called Hellēnes [‘Greeks’] were named after the region in Thessaly once called Hellas.

{3.20.7} From this Helos, on stated days, they bring up to the sanctuary of the Eleusinian a wooden image of the Maiden, daughter of Demeter. Fifteen stadium-lengths distant from the sanctuary is Lapithaion, named after Lapithos, a native of the district. So this Lapithaion is on Taygetos, and not far off is Dereium, where is in the open an image of Artemis Dereatis, and beside it is a spring which they name Anonus. About twenty stadium-lengths past Dereum is Harpleia, which extends as far as the plain.

{3.20.8} On the road from Sparta to Arcadia there stands in the open an image of Athena surnamed Pareia, and after it is a sanctuary of Achilles. This it is not customary to open, but all the youths who are going to take part in the contest in Plane tree Grove are accustomed to sacrifice to Achilles before the fight. The Spartans say that the sanctuary was made for them by Prax, a grandson of Pergamos the son of Neoptolemos.

{3.20.9} Further on is what is called the Tomb of Horse. For Tyndareus, having sacrificed a horse here, administered an oath to the suitors of Helen, making them stand upon the pieces of the horse. The oath was to defend Helen and him who might be chosen to marry her if ever they should be wronged. When he had sworn the suitors he buried the horse here. Seven pillars, which are not far from this tomb … in the ancient manner, I believe, which they say are images of the planets. On the road is a precinct of Cranius surnamed Stemmatias, and a sanctuary of Mysian Artemis.

{3.20.10} The image of Modesty, some thirty stadium-lengths distant from the city, they say was dedicated by Icarius, the following being the reason for making it. When Icarius gave Penelope in marriage to Odysseus, he tried to make Odysseus himself settle in Lacedaemon, but failing in the attempt, he next besought his daughter to remain behind, and when she was setting forth to Ithaca he followed the chariot, begging her to stay.

{3.20.11} Odysseus endured it for a time, but at last he ordered Penelope either to accompany him willingly, or else, if she preferred her father, to go back to Lacedaemon. They say that she made no reply, but covered her face with a veil in reply to the question, so that Icarios, realizing that she wished to depart with Odysseus, let her go, and dedicated an image of Modesty; for Penelope, they say, had reached this point of the road when she veiled herself.

{3.21.1} Twenty stadium-lengths from here the stream of the Eurotas comes very near to the road, and here is the tomb of Ladas, the fastest runner of his day. He was garlanded at Olympia for a victory in the long race, and falling ill, I take it, immediately after the victory he was on his way home; his death took place here, and his tomb is above the highway. His namesake, who also won at Olympia a victory, not in the long race but in the short race, is stated in the records of the people of Elis concerning Olympic victors to have been a native of Aigion in Achaea.

{3.21.2} Farther On in the direction of Pellana is what is called Kharkoma (Trench); and after it Pellana, which in the olden time was a city. They say that Tyndareus dwelled here when he fled from Sparta before Hippokoön and his sons. Remarkable sights I remember seeing here were a sanctuary of Asklepios and the spring Pellanis. Into it they say a girl fell when she was drawing water, and when she had disappeared the veil on her head reappeared in another spring, Lancia.

{3.21.3} A hundred stadium-lengths away from Pellana is The place called Belemina. It is naturally The best watered region of Laconia, seeing that The river Eurotas passes through it, while it has abundant springs of its own.

{3.21.4} As you go down to the sea towards Gythium you come to a village called Croceae and a quarry. It is not a continuous stretch of rock, but the stones they dig out are shaped like river pebbles; they are hard to work, but when worked sanctuaries of the gods might be adorned with them, while they are especially adapted for beautifying swimming-baths and fountains. Here before the village stands an image of Zeus of Croceae in marble, and the Dioskouroi in bronze are at the quarry.

{3.21.5} After Croceae, turning away to the right from the straight road to Gythium, you will reach a city Aegiae. They say that this is the city which Homer [262] in his poem calls Augeae. Here is a lake called Poseidon’s, and by the lake is a temple with an image of the god. They are afraid to take out the fish, saying that a fisherman in these waters turns into the fish called the fisher.

{3.21.6} Gythium is thirty stadium-lengths distant from Aigiai, built by the sea in the territory of the Free Laconians, whom the emperor Augustus freed from the bondage in which they had been to the Lacedaemonians in Sparta. All the Peloponnesus, except the Isthmus of Corinth, is surrounded by sea, but the best shell-fish for the manufacture of purple dye after those of the Phoenician sea are to be found on the coast of Laconia.

{3.21.7} The Free Laconians have eighteen cities; the first as you go down from Aigiai to the sea is Gythium; after it come Teuthrone and Las and Pyrrhikos; on Taenarum are Caenepolis, Oetylus, Leuktra and Thalamae, and in addition Alagoma and Gerenia. On the other side of Clythium by the sea are Asopos, Acriae, Boeae, Larax, Epidaurus Limera, Brasiae, Geronthraiand Marius. These are all that are left to the Free Laconians out of twenty-four cities which once were theirs. All the other cities with which my narrative will deal belong, it must be remembered, to Sparta, and are not independent like those I have already mentioned.

{3.21.8} The people of Cythium say that their city had no human founder, but that Hēraklēs and Apollo, when they were reconciled after their strife for the possession of the tripod, united to found the city. In the marketplace they have images of Apollo and of Hēraklēs, and a Dionysus stands near them. In another part of the city are Carnean Apollo, a sanctuary of Ammon and a bronze image of Asklepios, whose temple is roofless, a spring belonging to the god, a holy sanctuary of Demeter and an image of Poseidon Earth-embracer.

{3.21.9} Him whom the people of Cythium name Old Man, saying that he lives in the sea, I found to be Nereus. They got this name originally from Homer, who says in a part of the Iliad, where Thetis is speaking:

Here is also a gate called the Gate of Castor (Kastor), and on the citadel have been built a temple and image of Athena.

{3.22.1} Just about three stadium-lengths from Gythium is an unfinished stone. It is said that when Orestes sat down upon it his madness left him. For this reason the stone was named in the Dorian tongue Zeus Cappotas. Before Gythium lies the island Cranae, and Homer [263] says that when Alexander had carried off Helen he had intercourse with her there for the first time. On the mainland opposite the island is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Migonitis (Union), and the whole place is called Migonium.

{3.22.2} This sanctuary, they say, was made by Alexander. But when Menelaos had taken Ilion and had returned safe home eight years after the sack of Troy, he set up near the sanctuary of Migonitis an image of Thetis and the goddesses Praxidikai (Exacters of Justice). Above Migonium is a mountain called Larysiumi sacred to Dionysus, and at the beginning of spring they hold a festival in honor of Dionysus, and among the things they say about the ritual is that they find here a ripe bunch of grapes.

{3.22.3} Some thirty stadium-lengths beyond Gythium on the left there are on the mainland walls of a place called Trinasus (Three Islands), which was in my opinion a fort and not a city. Its name I think is derived from the islets which lie off the coast here, three in number. About eighty stadium-lengths beyond Trinasus I came to the ruins o Af Helos,

{3.22.4} and some thirty stadium-lengths farther is Acriae, a city on the coast. Well worth seeing here are a temple and marble image of the Mother of the Gods. The people of Acriae say that this is the oldest sanctuary of this goddess in the Peloponnesus, although the Magnesians, who live to the north of Mount Sipylos, have on the rock Koddinos the most ancient of all the images of the Mother of the gods. The Magnesians say that it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalos.

{3.22.5} The people of Acriae once produced an Olympian victor, Nikokles, who at two Olympian festivals carried off five prizes for running. There has been raised to him a monument between the gymnasium and the wall by the harbor.

{3.22.6} A hundred and twenty stadium-lengths inland from Acriae is Geronthrae. It was inhabited before the Herakleidai came to Peloponnesus, but the Dorians of Lacedaemon expelled the Achaean inhabitants and afterwards sent to it settlers of their own; but in my time it belonged to the Free Laconians. On the road from Acriae to Geronthraiis a village called Palaia (Old), and in Geronthraiitself are a temple and grove of Ares.

{3.22.7} Every year they hold a festival in honor of the God, at which women are forbidden to enter the grove. Around the marketplace are their springs of drinking-water. On the citadel is a temple of Apollo with the head of an ivory image. The rest of the image was destroyed by fire along with the former temple.

{3.22.8} Marius is another town of the Free Laconians, distant from Geronthraione hundred stadium-lengths. Here is an ancient sanctuary common to all the gods, and around it is a grove containing springs. In a sanctuary of Artemis also there are springs. In fact Marius has an unsurpassed supply of water. Above the town, and like it in the interior, is a village, Glyppia. From Geronthraito another village, Selinous, is a journey of twenty stadium-lengths.

{3.22.9} These places are inland from Acriae. By the sea is a city Asopos, sixty stadium-lengths distant from Acriae. In it is a temple of the Roman emperors, and about twelve stadium-lengths inland from the city is a sanctuary of Asklepios. They call the god Philolaos, and the bones in the gymnasium, which they worship, are human, although of superhuman size. On the citadel is also a sanctuary of Athena, surnamed Cyparissia (Cypress Goddess). At the foot of the citadel are the ruins of a city called the City of the Paracyparissian [264] Achaeans.

{3.22.10} There is also in this district a sanctuary of Asklepios, about fifty stadium-lengths from Asopos the place where the sanctuary is they name Hyperteleatum. Two hundred stadium-lengths from Asopos there juts out into the sea a headland, which they call Onugnathus (Jaw of an Ass). Here is a sanctuary of Athena, having neither image nor roof. Agamemnon is said to have made it. There is also the tomb of Cinadus, one of the pilots of the ship of Menelaos.

{3.22.11} After the peak there runs into the land the Gulf of Boeae, and the city of Boeae is at the head of the gulf. This was founded by Boeus, one of the Herakleidai, and he is said to have collected inhabitants for it from three cities, Etis, Aphrodisias and Side. Of the ancient cities two are said to have been founded by Aeneas when he was fleeing to Italy and had been driven into this gulf by storms. Etias, they allege, was a daughter of Aeneas. The third city they say was named after Side, daughter of Danaos.

{3.22.12} When the inhabitants of these cities were expelled, they were anxious to know where they ought to settle, and an oracle was given them that Artemis would show them where they were to dwell. When therefore they had gone on shore, and a hare appeared to them, they looked upon the hare as their guide on the way. When it dived into a myrtle bush [mursinē], they built a city where the myrtle bush [mursinē] was, and down to this day they worship [sebein] that myrtle bush as the Tree [tò dendron]. [265] As for the name they give to Artemis, it is Savior [sōteira].

{3.22.13} In the marketplace of Boeae is a temple of Apollo, and in another part of the town are temples of Asklepios, of Serapis, and of Isis. The ruins of Etis are not more than seven stadium-lengths distant from Boeae. On the way to them there stands on the left a stone image of Hermes. Among the ruins is a not insignificant sanctuary of Asklepios and Hygieia.

{3.23.1} Cythera lies opposite Boeae; to the promontory of Platanistos, the point where the island lies nearest to the mainland, it is a voyage of forty stadium-lengths from a promontory on the mainland called Onugnathus. In Cythera is a port Scandeia on the coast, but the town Cythera is about ten stadium-lengths inland from Scandeia. The sanctuary of Aphrodite the celestial one [Ourania] is most holy, and it is the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Aphrodite among the Greeks. The goddess herself is represented by an armed image of wood.

{3.23.2} On the voyage from Boeae towards the point of Malea is a harbor called Nymphaeum, with a statue of Poseidon standing, and a cave close to the sea; in it is a spring of sweet water. There is a large population in the district. After doubling the point of Malea and proceeding a hundred stadium-lengths, you reach a place on the coast within the frontier of the Boeatae, which is sacred to Apollo and called Epidelium.

{3.23.3} For the wooden image which is now here, once stood in Delos. Delos was then a Greek market, and seemed to offer security to traders on account of the god; but as the place was unfortified and the inhabitants unarmed, Menophanes, an officer of Mithridates, attacked it with a fleet, to show his contempt for the god, or acting on the orders of Mithridates; for to a man whose object is gain what is sacred is of less account than what is profitable.

{3.23.4} This Menophanes put to death the foreigners [xenoi] residing [epidēmein] there and the Delians themselves, and after plundering much property belonging to the traders and all the offerings, and also carrying women and children away as slaves, he razed Delos itself to the ground. As it was being sacked and pillaged, one of the barbarians wantonly flung this image into the sea; but the wave took it and brought it to land here in the country of the Boeatae. For this reason they call the place Epidelium.

{3.23.5} But neither Menophanes nor Mithridates himself escaped the wrath of the god. Menophanes, as he was putting to sea after the sack of Delos was sunk at once by those of the merchants who had escaped; for they lay in wait for him in ships. The god caused Mithridates at a later date to lay hands upon himself, when his empire had been destroyed and he himself was being hunted on all sides by the Romans. There are some who say that he obtained a violent death as a favor at the hands of one of his mercenaries. This was the reward of their impiety.

{3.23.6} The country of the Boeatae is adjoined by Epidaurus Limera, distant some two hundred stadium-lengths from Epidelium. The people say that they are not descended from the Lacedaemonians but from the Epidaurians of the Argolid, and that they touched at this point in Laconia when sailing on public business to Asklepios in Kos. Warned by dreams that appeared to them, they remained and settled here.

{3.23.7} They also say that a snake, which they were bringing from their home in Epidaurus, escaped from the ship, and disappeared into the ground not far from the sea. As a result of the portent of the snake together with the vision in their dreams they resolved to remain and settle here. There are altars to Asklepios where the snake disappeared, with olive trees growing round them.

{3.23.8} About two stadium-lengths to the right is the water of Ino, as it is called, in extent like a small lake, but going deeper into the earth. Into this water they throw cakes of barley meal at the festival of Ino. If good luck is portended to the thrower, the water keeps them under. But if it brings them to the surface, it is judged a bad sign.

{3.23.9} The craters in Aetna have the same feature; for they lower into them objects of gold and silver and also all kinds of victims. If the fire receives and consumes them, they rejoice at the appearance of a good sign, but if it casts up what has been thrown in, they think misfortune will befall the man to whom this happens.

{3.23.10} By the road leading from Boeae to Epidaurus Limera is a sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis (Of the Lake) in the country of the Epidaurians. The city lies on high ground, not far from the sea. Here the sanctuary of Artemis is worth seeing, also that of Asklepios with a standing statue of stone, a temple of Athena on the acropolis, and of Zeus with the title Savior in front of the harbor.

{3.23.11} A promontory called Minoa projects into the sea near [266] the town. The bay has nothing to distinguish it from all the other inlets of the sea in Laconia, but the beach here contains pebbles of prettier form and of all colors.

{3.24.1} A hundred stadium-lengths from Epidaurus is Zarax; though possessing a good harbor, it is the most ruinous of the towns of the Free Laconians, since it was the only town of theirs to be depopulated by Kleonymos the son of Kleomenes, son of Agesipolis. I have told the story of Kleomenes elsewhere. [267] There is nothing in Zarax except a temple of Apollo, with a statue holding a lyre, at the head of the harbor. [268]

{3.24.2} The road from Zarax follows the coast for about a hundred stadium-lengths, and there strikes inland. After an ascent of ten stadium-lengths inland are the ruins of the so-called Cyphanta, among which is a cave sacred to Asklepios; the image is of stone. There is a fountain of cold water springing from the rock, where they say that Atalanta, distressed by thirst when hunting, struck the rock with her spear, so that the water gushed forth.

{3.24.3} Brasiaiis the last town on the coast belonging to the Free Laconians in this direction. It is distant two hundred stadium-lengths by sea from Cyphanta. The inhabitants have a story, found nowhere else in Greece, that Semele, after giving birth to her son by Zeus, was discovered by Kadmos and put with Dionysus into a chest, which was washed up by the waves in their country. Semele, who was no longer alive when found, received a splendid funeral, but they brought up Dionysus.

{3.24.4} For this reason the name of their city, hitherto called Oreiatae, was changed to Brasiaiafter the washing up of the chest to land; so too in our time the common word used of the waves casting things ashore is ekbrazein. The people of Brasiaiadd that Ino in the course of her wanderings came to the country, and agreed to become the nurse of Dionysus. They show the cave where Ino nursed him, and call the plain the garden of Dionysus.

{3.24.5} The temples here are those of Asklepios and of Achilles, in whose honor they hold an annual festival. There is a small promontory at Brasiae, which projects gently into the sea; on it stand bronze figures, not more than a foot high, with caps on their heads. I am not sure whether they consider them to be Dioskouroi or Corybants. They are three in number; a statue of Athena makes a fourth.

{3.24.6} To the right of Gythium is Las, ten stadium-lengths from the sea and forty from Gythium. The site of the present town extends over the ground between the mountains called Ilios, Asia and Cnacadium; formerly it lay on the summit of Mount Asia. Even now there are ruins of the old town, with a statue of Hēraklēs outside the walls, and a trophy for a victory over the Macedonians. These formed a detachment of Philip’s army, when he invaded Laconia, but were separated from the main body and were plundering the coastal districts.

{3.24.7} Among the ruins is a temple of Athena named Asia, made, it is said, by Polydeukes and Castor (Kastor) on their return home from Kolkhis; for the people of Kolkhis had a shrine of Athena Asia. I know that the sons of Tyndareus took part in Jason’s expedition. As to the people of Kolkhis honoring Athena Asia, I give what I heard from the Lacedaemonians. Near the present town is a spring called Galaco (Milky) from the color of the water, and beside the spring a gymnasium, which contains an ancient statue of Hermes.

{3.24.8} On Mount Ilios is a temple of Dionysus, and of Asklepios at the very summit. On Cnacadium is an Apollo called Karneios.

Some thirty stadium-lengths from the Apollo is a place Hypsoi, within the Spartan frontier. Here is a sanctuary of Asklepios and of Artemis called Daphnaea (of the laurel).

{3.24.9} By the sea is a temple of Artemis Dictynna on a promontory, in whose honor they hold an annual festival. A river Smenus reaches the sea to the left of the promontory; its water is extremely sweet to drink; its sources are in Mount Taygetos, and it passes within five stadium-lengths of the town.

{3.24.10} At a spot called Arainos is the tomb of Las with a statue upon it. The natives say that Las was their founder and was killed by Achilles, and that Achilles put in to their country to ask the hand of Helen of Tyndareus. In point of fact it was Patroklos who killed Las, for it was he who was Helen’s suitor. We need not regard it as a proof that Achilles did not ask for Helen because he is not mentioned in the Catalogue of Women as one of her suitors.

{3.24.11} But at the beginning of his poem Homer says that Achilles came to Troy as a favor to the sons of Atreus, [269] and not because he was bound by the oaths which Tyndareus exacted; and in the Games he makes Antilokhos say that Odysseus was a generation older than he, [270] whereas Odysseus, telling Alkinoos of his descent to Hades and other adventures, said that he wished to see Theseus and Peirithoös, men of an earlier age. [271] We know that Theseus carried off Helen, so that it is quite impossible that Achilles could have been her suitor.

{3.25.1} Beyond the tomb a river named Scyras enters the sea. Formerly it was without a name, but was so called, because Pyrrhos the son of Achilles put in here when he sailed from Scyros to wed Hermione. Across the river is an ancient shrine … further from an altar of Zeus. Inland, forty stadium-lengths from the river, lies Pyrrhikos, the name of which is said to be derived from Pyrrhos the son of Achilles;

{3.25.2} but according to another account Pyrrhikos was one of the gods called Kouretes. Others say that Silenus came from Malea and settled here. That Silenus was brought up in Malea is clear from these words in an ode of Pindar:

Not that Pindar said his name was Pyrrhikos; that is a statement of the men of Malea.

{3.25.3} At Pyrrhikos there is a well in the marketplace, considered to be the gift of Silenus. If this were to fail, they would be short of water. The sanctuaries of the gods, that they have in the country, are of Artemis, called Astrateia, because the Amazons stayed their advance (strateia) here, and an Apollo Amazonios. Both gods are represented by wooden images, said to have been dedicated by the women from Thermodon.

{3.25.4} From Pyrrhikos the road comes down to the sea at Teuthrone. The inhabitants declare that their founder was Teuthras, an Athenian. They honor Artemis Issoria most of the Gods, and have a spring Naia. The promontory of Taenarum projects into the sea 150 stadium-lengths from Teuthrone, with the harbors Achilleios and Psamathus. On the promontory is a temple like a cave, with a statue of Poseidon in front of it.

{3.25.5} Some of the Greek poets state that Hēraklēs brought up the hound of Hades here, though there is no road that leads underground through the cave, and it is not easy to believe that the gods possess any underground dwelling where the souls collect. But Hecataeus of Miletus gave a plausible explanation, stating that a terrible serpent lived on Taenarum, and was called the hound of Hades, because any one bitten was bound to die of the poison at once, and it was this snake, he said, that was brought by Hēraklēs to Eurystheus.

{3.25.6} But Homer, who was the first to call the creature brought by Hēraklēs the hound of Hades, [272] did not give it a name or describe it as of manifold form, as he did in the case of the Chimaera. [273] Later poets gave the name Cerberus, and though in other respects they made him resemble a dog, they say that he had three heads. Homer, however, does not imply that he was a dog, the friend of man, any more than if he had called a real serpent the hound of Hades.

{3.25.7} Among other offerings on Taenarum is a bronze statue of Arion the harper on a dolphin. Herodotus has told the story of Arion and the dolphin, as he heard it, in his history of Lydia. [274] I have seen the dolphin at Poroselene that rewards the boy for saving his life. It had been damaged by fishermen and he cured it.I saw this dolphin obeying his call and carrying him whenever he wanted to ride on it.

{3.25.8} There is a spring also on Taenarum but now it possesses nothing marvelous. Formerly, as they say, it showed harbors and ships to those who looked into the water. These sights in the water were brought to an end for good and all by a woman washing dirty clothes in it.

{3.25.9} From the point of Taenarum Caenepolis is distant forty stadium-lengths by sea. Its name also was formerly Taenarum. In it is a hall of Demeter, and a temple of Aphrodite on the shore, with a standing statue of stone. Thirty stadium-lengths distant is Thyrides, a headland of Taenarum, with the ruins of a city Hippola; among them is a sanctuary of Athena Hippolaitis. A little further are the town and harbor of Messa.

{3.25.10} From this harbor it is 150 stadium-lengths to Oetylus. The hero, from whom the city received its name, was an Argive by descent, son of Amphianax, the son of Antimakhos. In Oetylus the sanctuary of Sarapis, and in the marketplace a wooden image of Apollo Karneios are worth seeing.

{3.26.1} From Oetylus to Thalamaithe road is about eighty stadium-lengths long. On it is a sanctuary of Ino and an oracle. They consult the oracle in sleep, and the goddess reveals whatever they wish to learn, in dreams. Bronze statues of Pasiphae and of Hēlios stand in the unroofed part of the sanctuary. It was not possible to see the one within the temple clearly, owing to the garlands, but they say this too is of bronze. Water, sweet to drink, flows from a sacred spring. Pasiphae is a title of the Moon, and is not a local goddess of the people of Thalamae.

{3.26.2} Twenty stadium-lengths from Thalamaiis a place called Pephnus on the coast. In front of it lies a small island no larger than a big rock, also called Pephnus. The people of Thalamaisay that the Dioskouroi were born here. I know that Alcman too says this in a song: but they do not say that they remained to be brought up in Pephnus, but that it was Hermes who took them to Pellana.

{3.26.3} In this little island there are bronze statues of the Dioskouroi, a foot high, in the open air. The sea will not move them, though in winter-time it washes over the rock, which is wonderful. Also the ants here have a whiter color than is usual. The Messenians say that this district was originally theirs, and so they think that the Dioskouroi belong to them rather than to the Lacedaemonians.

{3.26.4} Twenty stadium-lengths from Pephnus is Leuktra. I do not know why the city has this name. If indeed it is derived from Leukippos the son of Perieres, as the Messenians say, it is for this reason, I think, that the inhabitants honor Asklepios most of the gods, supposing him to be the son of Arsinoe the daughter of Leukippos. There is a stone statue of Asklepios, and of Ino in another place.

{3.26.5} Also a temple and statue have been erected to Cassandra the daughter of Priam, called Alexandra by the natives. There are wooden images of Apollo Karneios according to the same custom that prevails among the Lacedaemonians of Sparta. On the acropolis is a sanctuary and image of Athena, and there is a temple and grove of Eros in Leuktra. Water flows through the grove in winter-time, but the leaves which are shaken from the trees by the wind would not be carried away by the water even in flood.

{3.26.6} I record an event which I know to have taken place in my time on the coast of Leuktra. A fire carried by the wind into a wood destroyed most of the trees, and when the place showed bare, a statue of Zeus of Ithome was found to have been dedicated there. The Messenians say that this is evidence that Leuktra was formerly a part of Messenia. But it is possible, if the Lacedaemonians originally lived in Leuktra, that Zeus of Ithome might be worshipped among them.

{3.26.7} Cardamyle, which is mentioned by Homer in the Gifts promised by Agamemnon, [275] is subject to the Lacedaemonians of Sparta, having been separated from Messenia by the emperor Augustus. It is eight stadium-lengths from the sea and sixty from Leuktra. Here not far from the beach is a precinct sacred to the daughters of Nereus. They say that they came up from the sea to this spot to see Pyrrhos the son of Achilles, when he was going to Sparta to wed Hermione. In the town is a sanctuary of Athena, and an Apollo Karneios according to the local Dorian custom.

{3.26.8} A city, called in Homer’s poems Enope, [276] with Messenian inhabitants but belonging to the league of the Free Laconians, is called in our time Gerenia. One account states that Nestor was brought up in this city, another that he took refuge here, when Pylos was captured by Hēraklēs.

{3.26.9} Here in Gerenia is a tomb of Makhaon, son of Asklepios, and a holy sanctuary. In his temple men may find cures for diseases. They call the holy spot Rhodos; there is a standing bronze statue of Makhaon, with a garland on his head which the Messenians in the local speech call kiphos. The author of the epic The Little Iliad says that Machaon was killed by Eurypylos, son of Telephus.

{3.26.10} I myself know that to be the reason of the practice at the temple of Asklepios at Pergamon, where they begin their hymns with Telephus but make no reference to Eurypylos, or care to mention his name in the temple at all, as they know that he was the slayer of Makhaon. It is said that the bones of Makhaon were brought home by Nestor, but that Podaleirios, as they were returning after the sack of Troy, was carried out of his course and reached Syrnus on the Carian mainland in safety and settled there.

{3.26.11} In the territory of Gerenia is a mountain, Calathium; on it is a sanctuary of Claea with a cave close beside it; it has a narrow entrance, but contains objects which are worth seeing. Thirty stadium-lengths inland from Gerenia is Alagonia, a town which I have already mentioned in the list of the Free Laconians. Worth seeing here are temples of Dionysus and of Artemis.

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{4.1.1} The frontier between Messenia and that part of it which was incorporated by the emperor in Laconia towards Gerenia is formed in our time by the valley called Choerius. They say that this country, being unoccupied, received its first inhabitants in the following manner: On the death of Lelex, who ruled in the present Laconia, then called after him Lelegia, Myles, the elder of his sons, received the kingdom. Polycaon was the younger and for this reason a private person, until he took to wife Messene, the daughter of Triopas, son of Phorbas, from Argos.

{4.1.2} Messene, being proud of her origin, for her father was the chief of the Greeks of his day in reputation and power, was not content that her husband should be a private person. They collected a force from Argos and from Lacedaemon and came to this country, the whole land receiving the name Messene from the wife of Polycaon. Together with other cities, they founded Andania, where their palace was built.

{4.1.3} Before the battle which the Thebans fought with the Lacedaemonians at Leuktra, and the foundation of the present city of Messene under Ithome, I think that no city had the name Messene. I base this conclusion principally on Homer’s lines. [277] In the catalogue of those who came to Troy he enumerated Pylos, Arene and other towns, but called no town Messene. In the Odyssey he shows that the Messenians were a tribe and not a city by the following:

{4.1.4} He is still more clear when speaking about the bow of Iphitos:

By the dwelling of Ortilokhos he meant the city of Pherai in Messene, and explained this himself in the visit of Peisistratos to Menelaos:

{4.1.5} The first rulers then in this country were Polycaon, the son of Lelex, and Messene his wife. It was to her that Kaukon, the son of Kelainos, son of Phlyοs, brought the rites of the Great Goddesses from Eleusis. Phlyus himself is said by the Athenians to have been the son of Earth, and the hymn of Musaeus to Demeter made for the Lykomidai agrees.

{4.1.6} But the mysteries of the Great Goddesses were raised to greater honor many years later than Kaukon by Lykos, the son of Pandion, an oak-wood, where he purified the celebrants, being still called the wood of Lykos. That there is a wood in this land so called is stated by Rhianus the Cretan:

{4.1.7} That this Lykos was the son of Pandion is made clear by the lines on the statue of Methapus, who made certain improvements in the mysteries. Methapus was an Athenian by birth, an expert in the mysteries and founder of all kinds of rites. It was he who established the mysteries of the Cabiri at Thebes, and dedicated in the hut of the Lykomidai a statue with an inscription that amongst other things helps to confirm my account:

{4.1.8} “I sanctified houses of Hermes and paths of holy Demeter and Kore her firstborn, where they say that Messene established the feast of the Great Goddesses, taught by Kaukon, sprung from Phlyus’ noble son. And I wondered that Lykos, son of Pandion, brought all the Attic rite to wise Andania.”

{4.1.9} This inscription shows that Kaukon who came to Messene was a descendant of Phlyus, and proves my other statements with regard to Lykos, and that the mysteries were originally at Andania. And it seems natural to me that Messene should have established the mysteries where she and Polycaon lived, not anywhere else.

{4.2.1} As I was extremely anxious to learn what children were born to Polycaon by Messene, I read the poem called Ehoiai and the epic Naupactia, and in addition to these all the genealogies of Cinaethon and Asios. However, they made no reference to this matter, although I know that the Great Ehoiai says that Polycaon, the son of Butes, married Euaichme, the daughter of Hyllos, son of Hēraklēs, but it omits all reference to the husband of Messene and to Messene herself.

{4.2.2} Some time later, as no descendant of Polycaon survived (in my opinion his house lasted for five generations, but no more), they summoned Perieres, the son of Aeolus, as king. To him, the Messenians say, came Melaneus, a good archer and considered for this reason to be a son of Apollo; Perieres assigned to him as a dwelling a part of the country now called the Carnasium, but which then received the name Oechalia, derived, as they say, from the wife of Melaneus.

{4.2.3} Most matters of Greek history have come to be disputed. The Thessalians say that Eurytium, which today is not inhabited, was formerly a city and was called Oechalia. The account given by the Euboeans agrees with the statements of Kreophylos in his Herakleia; and Hecataeus of Miletus stated that Oechalia is in Scius, a part of the territory of Eretria. Nevertheless, I think that the whole version of the Messenians is more probable than these, particularly on account of the bones of Eurytos, which my story will deal with later. [279]

{4.2.4} Perieres had issue by Gorgophone the daughter of Perseus, Aphareus and Leukippos, and after his death they inherited the Messenian kingdom. But Aphareus had the greater authority. On his accession he founded a city Arene, named after the daughter of Oibalos, who was both his wife and sister by the same mother. For Gorgophone was married to Oibalos. The facts regarding her have already been given twice, in my account of the Argolid and of Laconia. [280]

{4.2.5} Aphareus then founded the city of Arena in Messenia, and received into his house his cousin Neleus the son of Kretheus, son of Aeolus (he was also called a son of Poseidon), when he was driven from Iolcos by Pelias. He gave him the maritime part of the land, where with other towns was Pylos, in which Neleus settled and established his palace.

{4.2.6} Lykos the son of Pandion also came to Arene, when he too was driven from Athens by his brother Aigeus, and revealed the rites of the Great Goddesses to Aphareus and his children and to his wife Arene; but it was to Andania that he brought the rites and revealed them there, as it was there that Kaukon initiated Messene.

{4.2.7} Of the children born to Aphareus Idas was the elder and more brave, Lynkeus the younger; he, if Pindar’s words are credible, [281] possessed eyesight so keen that he saw through the trunk of an oak. We know of no child of Lynkeus, but Idas had by Marpessa a daughter Kleopatra, who married Meleagros. The writer of the epic Cypria says that the wife of Protesilaos, the first who dared to land when the Greeks reached Troy, was named Polydora, whom he calls a daughter of Meleagros the son of Oineus. If this is correct, these three women, the first of whom was Marpessa, all slew themselves on the death of their husbands.

{4.3.1} After the fight about the cattle between the sons of Aphareus and their cousins the Dioskouroi, when Lynkeus was killed by Polydeukes and Idas met his doom from the lightning, the house of Aphareus was bereft of all male descendants, and the kingdom of Messenia passed to Nestor the son of Neleus, including all the part ruled formerly by Idas, but not that subject to the sons of Asklepios.

{4.3.2} For they say that the sons of Asklepios who went to Troy were Messenians, Asklepios being the son of Arsinoe, daughter of Leukippos, not the son of Coronis, and they call a desolate spot in Messenia by the name Tricca and quote the lines of Homer, [282] in which Nestor tends Makhaon kindly, when he has been wounded by the arrow. He would not have shown such readiness except to a neighbor and king of a kindred people. But the surest warrant for their account of the Asclepiadae is that they point to a tomb of Makhaon in Gerenia and to the sanctuary of his sons at Pharai.

{4.3.3} After the conclusion of the Trojan war and the death of Nestor after his return home, the Dorian expedition and return of the Herakleidai, which took place two generations later, drove the descendants of Nestor from Messenia. This has already formed a part of my account of Tisamenus. [283] I will only add the following: When the Dorians assigned Argos to Temenus, Kresphontes asked them for the land of Messenia, in that he was older than Aristodemos.

{4.3.4} Aristodemos was now dead, but Kresphontes was vigorously opposed by Theras the son of Autesion, who was of Theban origin and fourth in descent from Polyneikes the son of Oedipus. He was at that time guardian of the sons of Aristodemos, being their uncle on the mother’s side, Aristodemos having married a daughter of Autesion, called Argeia. Kresphontes, wishing to obtain Messenia as his portion at all costs, approached Temenus, and having suborned him pretended to leave the decision to the lot.

{4.3.5} Temenus put the lots of the children of Aristodemos and of Kresphontes into a jar containing water, the terms being that the party whose lot came up first should be the first to choose a portion of the country. Temenus had caused both lots to be made of clay, but for the sons of Aristodemos sun-dried, for Kresphontes baked with fire. So the lot of the sons of Aristodemos was dissolved, and Kresphontes, winning in this way, chose Messenia.

{4.3.6} The common people of the old Messenians were not dispossessed by the Dorians, but agreed to be ruled by Kresphontes and to divide the land with the Dorians. They were induced to give way to them in this by the suspicion which they felt for their rulers, as the Neleidai were originally of Iolcos. Kresphontes took to wife Merope the daughter of Kypselos, then king of the Arcadians, by whom with other children was born to him Aipytos his youngest.

{4.3.7} He had the palace, which he and his children were to occupy, built in Stenyclerus. Originally Perieres and the other kings dwelled at Andania, but when Aphareus founded Arene, he and his sons settled there. In the time of Nestor and his descendants the palace was at Pylos, but Kresphontes ordained that the king should live in Stenyclerus. As his government for the most part was directed in favor of the people, the rich rebelled and killed Kresphontes and all his sons except Aipytos.

{4.3.8} He was still a boy and being brought up by Kypselos, and was the sole survivor of his house. When he reached manhood, he was brought back by the Arcadians to Messene, the other Dorian kings, the sons of Aristodemos and Isthmios, the son of Temenus, helping to restore him. On becoming king, Aipytos punished his father’s murderers and all who had been accessories to the crime. By winning the Messenian nobles to his side by deference, and all who were of the people by gifts, he attained to such honor that his descendants were given the name of Aipytidai instead of Herakleidai.

{4.3.9} Glaukos, his son and successor, was content to imitate his father in all other matters, both publicly and in his treatment of individuals, but attained to greater piety. For the precinct of Zeus on the summit of Ithome, having been consecrated by Polycaon and Messene, had hitherto received no honor among the Dorians, and it was Glaukos who established this worship among them and he was the first to sacrifice to Makhaon the son of Asklepios in Gerenia, and to assign to Messene, the daughter of Triopas, the honors customarily paid to heroes.

{4.3.10} Isthmios the son of Glaukos built a shrine also to Gorgasus and Nikomakhos which is in Pharai. Isthmios had a son Dotadas, who constructed the harbor at Mothone, though Messenia contained others. Sybotas the son of Dotadas established the annual sacrifice by the king to the river Pamisus and also the offering to the hero Eurytos the son of Melaneus at Oechalia before the mysteries of the great Goddesses, which were still held at Andania.

{4.4.1} In the reign of Phintas the son of Sybotas the Messenians for the first time sent an offering and chorus of men to Apollo at Delos. Their processional hymn to the god was composed by Eumēlos, this poem being the only one of his that is considered genuine. It was in the reign of Phintas that a quarrel first took place with the Lacedaemonians. The very cause is disputed, but is said to have been as follows:

{4.4.2} There is a sanctuary of Artemis called Limnatis (of the Lake) on the frontier of Messenian, in which the Messenians and the Lacedaemonians alone of the Dorians shared. According to the Lacedaemonians their girls coming to the festival were violated by Messenian men and their king was killed in trying to prevent it. He was Teleklos the son of Arkhelaos, son of Agesilaos, son of Doryssus, son of Labotas, son of Ekhestratos, son of Agis. In addition to this they say that the girls who were violated killed themselves for shame.

{4.4.3} The Messenians say that a plot was formed by Teleklos against persons of the highest rank in Messene who had come to the sanctuary, his incentive being the excellence of the Messenian land; in furtherance of his design he selected some Spartan youths, all without beards, dressed them in girls’ clothes and ornaments, and providing them with daggers introduced them among the Messenians when they were resting; the Messenians, in defending themselves, killed the beardless youths and Teleklos himself; but the Lacedaemonians, they say, whose king did not plan this without the general consent, being conscious that they had begun the wrong, did not demand justice for the murder of Teleklos. These are the accounts given by the two sides; one may believe them according to one’s feelings towards either side.

{4.4.4} A generation later in the reign of Alkamenes the son of Teleklos in Lacedaemon—the king of the other house was Theopompos the son of Nikandros, son of Kharillos, son of Polydektes, son of Eunomos, son of Prytanis, son of Eurypon in Messenia Antiokhos and Androkles, the sons of Phintas were reigning—the mutual hatred of the Lacedaemonians and Messenians was aroused, and the Lacedaemonians began war, obtaining a pretext which was not only sufficient for them, eager for a quarrel as they were and resolved on war at all costs, but also plausible in the highest degree, although with a more peaceful disposition it could have been settled by the decision of a court. What happened was as follows.

{4.4.5} There was a Messenian Polykhares, a man of no small distinction in all respects and an Olympic victor. (The people of Elis were holding the fourth Olympiad, [284] the only event being the short foot-race, when Polykhares won his victory.) This man, possessing cattle without land of his own to provide them with sufficient grazing, gave them to a Spartan Euaephnus to feed on his own land, Euaephnus to have a share of the produce.

{4.4.6} Now Euaephnus was a man who set unjust gain above loyalty, and a trickster besides. He sold the cattle of Polykhares to some merchants who put in to Laconia, and went himself to inform Polykhares but he said that pirates had landed in the country, had overcome him and carried off the cattle and the herdsmen. While he was trying to deceive him by his lies, one of the herdsmen, escaping in the meantime from the merchants, returned and found Euaephnus there with his master, and convicted him before Polykhares.

{4.4.7} Thus caught and unable to deny it, he made many appeals to Polykhares himself and to his son to grant him pardon; for among the many inducements to be found in human nature which drive us to wrongdoing the love of gain exercises the greatest power. He stated the price which he had received for the cattle and begged that the son of Polykhares should come with him to receive it. When on their way they reached Laconia, Euaephnus dared a deed more impious than the first; he murdered Polykhares’ son.

{4.4.8} Polykhares, when he heard of this new misfortune, went to Lacedaemon and plagued the kings and ephors, loudly lamenting his son and recounting the wrongs that he had suffered from Euaephnus, whom he had made his friend and trusted above all the Lacedaemonians. Obtaining no redress in spite of continual visits to the authorities, Polykhares at last was driven out of his mind, gave way to his rage, and, regardless of himself, dared to murder every Lacedaemonian whom he could capture.

{4.5.1} The Lacedaemonians say that they went to war because Polykhares was not surrendered to them, and on account of the murder of Teleklos; even before this they had been suspicious on account of the wrongdoing of Kresphontes in the matter of the lot. The Messenians make the reply that I have already given with regard to Teleklos, and point to the fact that the sons of Aristodemos helped to restore Aipytos the son of Kresphontes, which they would never have done if they had been at variance with Kresphontes.

{4.5.2} They say that they did not surrender Polykhares to the Lacedaemonians for punishment because they also had not surrendered Euaephnus, but that they offered to stand trial at the meeting of the league before the Argives, kinsmen of both parties, and to submit the matter to the court in Athens called the Areiopagos, as this court was held to exercise an ancient jurisdiction in cases pertaining to murder.

{4.5.3} They say that these were not the reasons of the Lacedaemonians in going to war, but that they had formed designs on their country through covetousness, as in others of their actions, bringing forward against them their treatment of the Arcadians and of the Argives; for in both cases they have never been satisfied with their continual encroachments. When Croesus sent them presents they were the first to become friends with the barbarian, after he had reduced the other Greeks of Asia Minor and all the Dorians who live on the Carian mainland.

{4.5.4} They point out too that when the leaders of Phokis had seized the temple at Delphi, the kings and every Spartan of repute privately, and the board of ephors and senate publicly, had a share of the god’s property. As the most convincing proof that the Lacedaemonians would stick at nothing for the sake of gain, they reproach them with their alliance with Apollodoros, who became tyrant in Cassandreia.

{4.5.5} I could not introduce into the present account the reasons why the Messenians have come to regard this as so bitter a reproach. Although the courage of the Messenians and the length of time for which they fought differ from the facts of the tyranny of Apollodoros, in their disastrous character the sufferings of the people of Cassandreia would not fall far short of the Messenian.

{4.5.6} These then are the reasons for the war which the two sides allege. An embassy then came from the Lacedaemonians to demand the surrender of Polykhares. The Messenian kings replied to the ambassadors that after deliberation with the people they would send the findings to Sparta and after their departure they themselves summoned the citizens to a meeting. The views put forward differed widely, Androkles urging the surrender of Polykhares as guilty of an impious and abominable crime. Antiokhos among other arguments urged against him that it would be the most piteous thing that Polykhares should suffer before the eyes of Euaephnus, and enumerated in detail all that he would have to undergo.

{4.5.7} Finally the supporters of Androkles and of Antiokhos were so carried away that they took up arms. But the battle did not last long, for the party of Antiokhos, far outnumbering the other, killed Androkles and his principal supporters, Antiokhos, now sole king, sent to Sparta that he was ready to submit the matter to the courts which I have already mentioned. But the Lacedaemonians are said to have made no reply to the bearers of the letter.

{4.5.8} Not many months later Antiokhos died and his son Euphaes succeeded to the kingdom. The Lacedaemonians, without sending a herald to declare war on the Messenians or renouncing their friendship beforehand, had made their preparations secretly and with all the concealment possible; they first took an oath that neither the length of the war, should it not be decided soon, nor their disasters, however great they might be, would deter them until they won the land of Messenia by the sword.

{4.5.9} After taking this oath, they attacked Ampheia by night, appointing Alkamenes the son of Teleklos leader of the force. Ampheia is a small town in Messenia near the Laconian border, of no great size, but situated on a high hill and possessing copious springs of water. It seemed generally a suitable base for the whole war. The gates being open and the town not garrisoned, they took it and killed the Messenians captured there, some still in their beds and others who had taken refuge at the sanctuaries and altars of the gods when they realized what had happened. Those who escaped were few.

{4.5.10} This was the first attack which the Lacedaemonians made on the Messenians, in the second year of the ninth Olympiad, [285] when Xenodocus of Messenia won the short foot-race. In Athens the office of an archon [arkhōn] who is annually appointed by lot did not yet exist, At first, the people deprived the descendants of Melanthos, called Medontidai, of most of their power, transforming the kingship into a constitutional office; afterwards they limited their tenure of office to ten years. At the time of the seizure of Ampheia, Aesimides the son of Aeschylus was holding his fifth year office in Athens.

{4.6.1} Before I wrote the history of the war and all the sufferings and actions that the superhuman force [ho daimōn] prepared in it for both sides, I wished to reach a decision regarding the age of a certain Messenian. This war was fought between the Lacedaemonians with their allies and the Messenians with their supporters, but received its name not from the invaders like the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, but was called Messenian from their disasters, just as the name Trojan war, rather than Greek, came to be universally applied to the war at Troy. An account of this war of the Messenians has been given by Rhianus of Bene in his epic, and by Myron of Priene. [286] Myron’s history is in prose.

{4.6.2} Neither writer achieved a complete and continuous account of the whole war from its beginning to the end, but only of the part which each selected: Myron narrated the capture of Ampheia and subsequent events down to the death of Aristodemos; Rhianus did not touch this first war at all. He described the events that in time befell the Messenians after their revolt from the Lacedaemonians, not indeed the whole of them, but those subsequent to the battle which they fought at the Great Trench, as it is called.

{4.6.3} The Messenian, Aristomenes, on whose account I have made my whole mention of Rhianus and Myron, was the man who first and foremost raised the name of Messene to renown. He was introduced by Myron into his history, while to Rhianus in his epic Aristomenes is as great a man as is the Achilles of the Iliad to Homer. As their statements differ so widely, it remained for me to adopt one or other of the accounts, but not both together, and Rhianus appeared to me to have given the more probable account as to the age of Aristomenes.

{4.6.4} One may realize in others of his works that Myron gives no heed to the question of his statements seeming to lack truth and credibility, and particularly in this Messenian history. For he has made Aristomenes kill Theopompos, the king of the Lacedaemonians, shortly before the death of Aristodemos but we know that Theopompos was not killed either in battle or in any other way before the war was concluded.

{4.6.5} It was this Theopompos who put an end to the war, and my evidence is the lines of Tyrtaeus, which say:

Aristomenes then in my view belongs to the time of the second war, and I will relate his history when I come to this.

{4.6.6} The Messenians, when they heard of the events at Ampheia from the actual survivors from the captured town, mustered in Stenyclerus from their cities. When the people had gathered in the assembly, first the leading men and finally the king exhorted them not to be panic-stricken at the sack of Ampheia, or to suppose that the issue of the whole war had already been decided thereby, or to be afraid of the power of the Lacedaemonians as superior to their own. For the Lacedaemonians had longer practice in warfare, but they themselves had a stronger necessity to show themselves brave men, and greater goodwill would be shown by the gods to men defending their country, who were not the authors of injustice.

{4.7.1} With these words Euphaes dismissed the gathering, and henceforward kept all the Messenians under arms, compelling the untrained to learn the art of war and the trained men to undergo a more rigorous discipline than before. The Lacedaemonians carried out raids into Messenia, but did no harm to the country, regarding it as their own, nor did they cut down trees or demolish buildings, but they drove off any cattle that they met with, and carried off the wheat and other produce.

{4.7.2} They made assaults on the towns but captured none, as they were fortified with walls and carefully garrisoned. They withdrew with loss and without effecting anything, and finally gave up attempting the towns. The Messenians also ravaged the Laconian coast and all the cultivated land round Taygetos.

{4.7.3} Three years after the capture of Ampheia, being eager to put to use the spirit of the Messenians, now at the height of their passion against the Lacedaemonians, and considering too that they had undergone sufficient training, Euphaes ordered an advance. He ordered the slaves also to accompany him, bringing wood and all else that was required for the making of an entrenched camp. The Lacedaemonians heard from their garrison at Ampheia that the Messenians were marching out, so they also came out to battle.

{4.7.4} There was a place in Messenia which was in other ways suitable for an engagement, but had a deep ravine in front of it. Here Euphaes drew up the Messenians and appointed Kleonnis general; the cavalry and light-armed, together amounting to less than 500, were commanded by Pytharatos and Antandros.

{4.7.5} As the two forces were about to engage, the ravine which divided them prevented the heavy-armed from coming to close quarters, though they approached one another eagerly and with a recklessness born of hate. The cavalry and light-armed engaged above the ravine, but as they were equally matched in numbers and skill, for this reason the fight was indecisive.

{4.7.6} While they were involved, Euphaes ordered the slaves to fortify with a palisade first the rear of his force and afterwards both flanks, and when the battle had been broken off at nightfall, they fortified his front also on the ravine. So at daybreak the Lacedaemonians realized the forethought of Euphaes. They had no means of fighting the Messenians unless they came out from the stockade, and despaired of forming a siege, for which they were unprepared in all things alike.

{4.7.7} They then returned home; but a year later, when the older men reviled them and taunted them both with cowardice and disregard of their oath, they made a second expedition openly against the Messenians. Both kings were in command, Theopompos the son of Nikandros and Polydoros the son of Alkamenes, Alkamenes being no longer alive. The Messenians encamped opposite them, and when the Spartans endeavored to join battle, went out to meet them.

{4.7.8} The Lacedaemonian commander on the left wing was Polydoros, and Theopompos on the right. The center was held by Euryleon, now a Lacedaemonian, but of Theban origin of the house of Kadmos, fourth in descent from Aigeus the son of Oiolykos, son of Theras, son of Autesion. On the side of the Messenians Antandros and Euphaes were posted opposite the Lacedaemonian right; the other wing, opposite Polydoros, was held by Pytharatos, with Kleonnis in the center.

{4.7.9} As they were about to engage, the kings came forward to encourage their men. The words of encouragement addressed by Theopompos to the Lacedaemonians were few, according to their native custom. He reminded them of their oath against the Messenians, and said how noble was their ambition, to prove themselves to have done a deed more glorious than their fathers, who subdued the neighboring peoples, and to have won a more fortunate land. Euphaes spoke at greater length than the Spartan, but no more than he saw the occasion admitted.

{4.7.10} He declared that the contest would be not only for land and possessions, but he knew well what would overtake them if defeated. Their wives and children would be carried off as slaves, and death unaccompanied by outrage would be the mildest fate for their grown men their sanctuaries would be despoiled and their ancestral homes burned. His words were not supposition, the fate of the men captured at Ampheia was evidence that all could see.

{4.7.11} Better a noble death than such evils; it was far easier for them, while still undefeated and equally matched in courage, to outdo their adversaries in zeal than to repair their losses when once they had lost heart.

{4.8.1} Such were the words of Euphaes. When the leaders on either side gave the signal, the Messenians charged the Lacedaemonians recklessly like men eager for death in their wrath, each one of them eager to be the first to join battle. The Lacedaemonians also advanced to meet them eagerly, but were careful not to break their ranks.

{4.8.2} When they were about to come to close quarters, they threatened one another by brandishing their arms and with fierce looks, and fell to recriminations, these calling the Messenians already their slaves, no freer than the Helots; the others answering that they were impious in their undertaking, who for the sake of gain attacked their kinsmen and outraged all the ancestral gods of the Dorians, and Hēraklēs above all. And now with their taunts they come to deeds, mass thrusting against mass, especially on the Lacedaemonian side, and man attacking man.

{4.8.3} The Lacedaemonians were far superior both in tactics and training, and also in numbers, for they had with them the neighboring peoples already reduced and serving in their ranks, and the Dryopes of Asine, who a generation earlier had been driven out of their own country by the Argives and had come as suppliants to Lacedaemon, were forced to serve in the army. Against the Messenian light-armed they employed Cretan archers as mercenaries.

{4.8.4} The Messenians were inspired alike by desperation and readiness to face death, regarding all their sufferings as necessary rather than terrible to men who honored their country, and exaggerating their achievements and the consequences to the Lacedaemonians. Some of them leapt forth from the ranks, displaying glorious deeds of valor, in others fatally wounded and scarce breathing the frenzy of despair still reigned.

{4.8.5} They encouraged one another, the living and unwounded urging the stricken before their last moment came to sell their lives as dearly as they could and accept their fate with joy. And the wounded, when they felt their strength ebbing and breath failing, urged the unwounded to prove themselves no less valorous than they and not to render their death of no avail to their fatherland.

{4.8.6} The Lacedaemonians refrained from exhorting one another, and were less inclined than the Messenians to engage in striking deeds of valor. As they were versed in warfare from boyhood, they employed a deeper formation and hoped that the Messenians would not endure the contest for so long as they, or sustain the toil of battle or wounds.

{4.8.7} These were the differences in both sets of combatants in action and in feeling; but on both sides alike the conquered made no appeals or promises of ransom, perhaps in their enmity despairing of getting quarter, but mainly because they scorned to disgrace their previous achievements. The victorious refrained alike from boasting and from taunts, neither side having yet sure hopes of victory. The most remarkable was the death of those who tried to strip any of the fallen. For if they exposed any part of their bodies, they were struck with javelins or were struck down while intent on their present occupation, or were killed by those whom they were plundering who still lived.

{4.8.8} The kings fought in a manner that deserves mention. Theopompos rushed wildly forward to slay Euphaes himself. Euphaes, seeing him advancing, said to Antandros that the action of Theopompos was no different from the attempt of his ancestor Polyneikes; for Polyneikes led an army from Argos against his fatherland, and slaying his brother with his own hand was slain by him. Theopompos was ready to involve the lineage of the Herakleidai in pollution as great as that of the house of Laios and Oedipus, but he would not leave the field unscathed. With these words he too advanced.

{4.8.9} Thereupon the battle, though the combatants had wearied, everywhere broke out again in full force. Their strength was renewed and recklessness of death heightened on both sides, so that it might have been thought that they were engaging for the first time. Finally Euphaes and his men in a frenzy of despair that was near to madness (for picked Messenian troops formed the whole of the king’s bodyguard), overpowering the enemy by their valor, drove back Theopompos himself and routed the Lacedaemonian troops opposed to them.

{4.8.10} But the other Messenian wing was in difficulties, for the general Pytharatos had been killed, and the men, without a commander, were fighting in a disorganized and confused manner, though not without heart. Polydoros did not pursue the Messenians when they gave way, nor Euphaes’ men the Lacedaemonians. It seemed better to him and his men to support the defeated wing; they did not, however, engage with Polydoros’ force, for darkness had already descended on the field;

{4.8.11} moreover, the Lacedaemonians were prevented from following the retiring force further not least by their ignorance of the country. Also it was an ancient practice with them not to carry out a pursuit too quickly, as they were more careful about maintaining their formation than about slaying the flying. In the center, where Euryleon was commanding the Lacedaemonians, and Kleonnis on the Messenian side, the contest was undecided; the coming of night separated them here also.

{4.8.12} This battle was fought principally or entirely by the heavy-armed troops on both sides. The mounted men were few and achieved nothing worth mention; for the Peloponnesians were not good horsemen then. The Messenian light-armed and the Cretans on the Lacedaemonian side did not engage at all; for on both sides according to the ancient practice they were posted in reserve to their own infantry.

{4.8.13} The following day neither side was minded to begin battle or to be the first to set up a trophy, but as the day advanced they made proposals for taking up the dead; when this was agreed on both sides, they proceeded to bury them.

{4.9.1} But after the battle the affairs of the Messenians began to get serious. They were exhausted by the expenditure of money devoted to the garrisoning of the towns, and their slaves were deserting to the Lacedaemonians. They were visited also by disease, which caused alarm, as resembling plague, although it did not attack all. In these circumstances they resolved to desert all their numerous towns inland and to settle on Mount Ithome.

{4.9.2} A small town existed here, which they say Homer mentions in the Catalogue:

To this town they withdrew, extending the old circuit to form a sufficient protection for them all. The place was strong in other respects, for Ithome falls short of none of the mountains within the Isthmus in height and at this point was most difficult to climb.

{4.9.3} They also resolved to send an envoy to Delphi, and despatched Tisis the son of Alcis, a man of the highest reputation, considered to be fully versed in divination. While he was returning from Delphi men from the Lacedaemonian garrison at Ampheia laid an ambush for him. Though trapped, he did not submit to be made a prisoner, but stood his ground to resist in spite of the wounds he received, until a voice was heard from an unseen quarter, “Let the bearer of the oracle go free.”

{4.9.4} Tisis, reaching Ithome with all speed, delivered the oracle to the king, and soon afterwards died of his wounds. Euphaes assembled the Messenians and made known the oracle:

{4.9.5} When the god declared this, all the girls of the house of the Aipytidai forthwith cast lots, and the lot fell on the daughter of Lykiskos. But Epebolus the seer forbade them to offer her, for she was not the daughter of Lykiskos, but the woman who was married to Lykiskos being unable to bear a child had palmed off the girl as hers. While Epebolus was making this declaration, Lykiskos took the girl away and deserted to Sparta.

{4.9.6} The Messenians were in despair when they saw that Lykiskos had fled; thereupon Aristodemos, a son of the house of the Aipytidai, of higher standing than Lykiskos both in reputation and in war, freely offered his daughter for the sacrifice. But human affairs and human purpose above all are obscured by fate, just as the mud of a river hides a pebble; for when Aristodemos was striving his utmost to save Messene, fate set this obstacle in his path.

{4.9.7} A Messenian, whose name is not recorded, was in love with the daughter of’ Aristodemos, and was already about to make her his wife. He at first disputed the rights of Aristodemos over the girl for Aristodemos, since he had betrothed her to himself had no further rights over the girl, but he to whom she was betrothed had greater rights than the father. Next, when he saw that this was of no avail, he had recourse to a shameless plea, that the girl was with child by him.

{4.9.8} At last he drove Aristodemos to such a fury of passion that lie killed his daughter; then cutting her open he showed that she was not pregnant. Epebolus, who was present, ordered another man to come forward and offer his daughter, for the daughter of Aristodemos was of no avail to them dead; for the father had murdered her, not offered her to the gods whom the Pythia ordained.

{4.9.9} When the seer said this, the multitude of the Messenians rushed on the girl’s lover to kill him, since he had fixed the guilt of bloodshed on Aristodemos to no purpose, and had made their hopes of safety doubtful. But as he was a close friend of Euphaes, Euphaes persuaded the Messenians that the oracle was fulfilled by the death of the girl and that the deed done by Aristodemos sufficed for them.

{4.9.10} When he said this, all the members of the house of the Aipytidai said that he spoke truth, for each was eager to be rid of the terror threatening his daughter. The people took the advice of the king and broke up the assembly and thereupon turned to sacrifices to the gods and feasting.

{4.10.1} But the Lacedaemonians, when they heard the oracle given to the Messenians, were in despair, both they and their kings, and for the future shrank from offering battle.

But five years after the escape of Lykiskos from Ithome, the victims being auspicious, the Lacedaemonians marched against Ithome. The Cretans were no longer with them. The allies of the Messenians also were late, for the Spartans had now incurred the suspicion of others of the Peloponnesians, especially of the Arcadians and Argives. The Argives intended to come without the knowledge of the Lacedaemonians, and by private enterprise rather than by public declaration. The expedition was openly proclaimed among the Arcadians, but they did not arrive either. For the Messenians were induced by the credit placed in the oracle to face the risk without allies.

{4.10.2} This engagement did not differ in most points from the first, as on this occasion too daylight failed the combatants, but they record that on neither side was a wing or division broken, as they did not maintain the formation in which they were originally posted, champions on either side meeting in the middle, and there supporting the whole combat.

{4.10.3} Euphaes, who showed more eagerness than a king should and recklessly attacked those guarding Theopompos, received a number of mortal wounds. When he swooned and fell, the Lacedaemonians did their utmost to drag him into their own ranks, as he still breathed. But the Messenians were roused by the affection which they felt for their king and by the reproach which would be theirs. It seemed better to die for their kings and sacrifice their lives than that he should be abandoned while one of them escaped.

{4.10.4} So the fall of Euphaes prolonged the battle and called forth further deeds of daring on both sides. He came to himself later and saw that his men had not had the worst of the fight, but he died in a few days, having reigned thirteen years over the Messenians, and having been at war with the Lacedaemonians for the whole of his reign.

{4.10.5} Euphaes, having no children, left his kingdom to the man chosen by the people. Kleonnis and Damis came forward to dispute it with Aristodemos, as they were considered superior to him in war and all else. Antandros had been killed by the enemy, risking his life for Euphaes in the battle. The views of both the seers, Epebolus and Ophioneus, were identical, that they should not give the honors of Aipytos and his descendants to a man who was accursed and polluted by the murder of his daughter. Nevertheless Aristodemos was chosen and became king.

{4.10.6} This Ophioneus, the Messenian seer, was blind from birth and practiced the following method of divination. By learning the facts relevant to each case, both private and public, he thus foretold the future. This then was the way he practiced his art. Aristodemos, becoming king, constantly was ready to show all reasonable favor to the people, and held all the nobles in honor, especially Kleonnis and Damis. He maintained good relations with the allies, sending gifts to the Arcadian leaders and to Argos and Sikyon.

{4.10.7} They carried on the war during his reign by means of constant forays with small parties, and made incursions into one another’s country at harvest time, the Messenians being supported by the Arcadians in their raids into Laconia. The Argives did not think fit to declare their hatred for the Lacedaemonians beforehand, but prepared to take part in the contest when it came.

{4.11.1} In the fifth year of the reign of Aristodemos, being exhausted by the length of the war and by their expenditure, after due notice that a battle would be fought, both sides were joined by their allies, the Lacedaemonians by the Corinthians alone of the Peloponnesians, the Messenians by the full muster of the Arcadians and by picked troops from Argos and Sikyon. The Lacedaemonians entrusted their center to the Corinthians, Helots and all the neighboring peoples who were serving with them; they themselves and the kings were posted on the wings in a deeper and closer formation than ever before.

{4.11.2} The dispositions of Aristodemos and his men were as follows: he selected the most serviceable of the arms for all the Arcadians and Messenians who were physically strong and stout hearted but did not possess powerful weapons, and as the matter was urgent, posted them with the Argives and Sikyonians, extending the line that they might not be surrounded by the enemy. He also took care that they should be drawn up with Mount Ithome in their rear. Placing Kleonnis in command of these troops,

{4.11.3} he himself and Damis remained in reserve with the light troops consisting of a few slingers or archers, the bulk of the force being physically suited to rapid assaults and retirements and lightly armed. Not all of them possessed a breastplate or shield, but those who lacked them were protected with the skins of goats and sheep, some of them, particularly the Arcadian mountaineers, having the hides of wild beasts, wolves and bears.

{4.11.4} Each carried several javelins, and some of them spears. While these were in ambush in a part of Ithome where they were least likely to be visible, the heavy-armed troops of the Messenians and their allies withstood the first assault of the Lacedaemonians, and continued after this to show courage in every way. They were inferior in numbers to the enemy, but were picked men fighting against levies, not selected troops like themselves, and so, by their bravery and training were more able to maintain a lengthy resistance.

{4.11.5} Then the mobile Messenian force, when the signal was given to them, charged the Lacedaemonians and enveloping them threw javelins on their flanks. All who were of higher courage ran in and struck at close quarters. The Lacedaemonians, faced simultaneously with a second and unforeseen danger, were not demoralized, but turning on the light troops, tried to defend themselves. But, as the enemy with their light equipment drew off without difficulty, the Lacedaemonians were filled with perplexity and, as a consequence, with anger.

{4.11.6} Men are apt to be most annoyed by what they regard as beneath them. So then the Spartans who had already been wounded and all who after the fall of their comrades were the first to meet the attack of the light troops, ran out to meet them when they saw the light troops advancing and hotly extended the pursuit as they retired. The Messenian light troops maintained their original tactics, striking and shooting at them when they stood still, and outstripping them in flight when they pursued, attacking again as they tried to retire.

{4.11.7} They did this in separate parties and at different points of the enemy’s line. The Messenian heavy-armed and their allies meantime pressed more boldly on the troops facing them. Finally the Lacedaemonians, worn out by the length of the battle and their wounds, and demoralized contrary to their custom by the light troops, broke their ranks. When they had been routed, the light troops inflicted greater damage on them.

{4.11.8} It was impossible to reckon the Lacedaemonian losses in the battle, but I for my part am convinced that they were heavy. The rest made their retreat homewards without molestation, but for the Corinthians it was likely to be difficult, for whether they tried to retire through the Argolid or by Sikyon, in either case it was through enemy country.

{4.12.1} The Lacedaemonians were distressed by the reverse that had befallen them. Their losses in the battle were great and included important men, and they were inclined to despair of all hope in the war. For this reason they sent envoys to Delphi, who received the following reply from the Pythia:

{4.12.2} At this the kings and ephors were eager to invent stratagems, but failed. They imitated that deed of Odysseus at Troy, and sent a hundred men to Ithome to observe what the enemy were planning, but pretending to be deserters. A sentence of banishment had been openly pronounced on them. On their arrival Aristodemos at once sent them away, saying that the crimes of the Lacedaemonians were new, but their tricks old.

{4.12.3} Failing in their attempt, the Lacedaemonians next attempted to break up the Messenian alliance. But when repulsed by the Arcadians, to whom their ambassadors came first, they put off going to Argos. Aristodemos, hearing of the Lacedaemonian intrigues, also sent men to enquire of the god. And the Pythia replied to them:

At the time Aristodemos and the seers were at a loss to interpret the saying, but in a few years the god was like to reveal it and bring it to fulfillment.

{4.12.5} Other things befell the Messenians at that time: while Lykiskos was living abroad in Sparta, death overtook the daughter whom he carried with him on his flight from Messene. As he often visited her tomb, Arcadian horsemen lay in wait and captured him. When carried to Ithome and brought into the assembly he urged that he had not departed a traitor to his country, but because he believed the words of the seer that the girl was not his own.

{4.12.6} His defence did not win credence until the woman who was then holding the priesthood of Hērā came into the theater. She confessed that she was the mother of the girl and had given her to Lykiskos’ wife to pass off as her own. “And now,” she said, “revealing the secret, I have come to lay down my office.” She said this because it was an established custom in Messene that, if a child of a man or woman holding a priesthood died before its parent, the office should pass to another. Accepting the truth of her statement, they chose another woman to take her place as priestess of the goddess, and said that Lykiskos’ deed was pardonable.

{4.12.7} After this, as the twentieth year of the war was approaching, they resolved to send again to Delphi to ask concerning victory. The Pythia made answer to their question:

{4.12.8} Hearing this they thought that the oracle was in their favor and granted them victory; for as they themselves possessed the sanctuary of Zeus of Ithome within the walls, the Lacedaemonians could not forestall them in making the dedication. They set about making tripods of wood, as they had not money enough to make them of bronze. But one of the Delphians reported the oracle to Sparta. When they heard it, no plan occurred to them in public,

{4.12.9} but Oibalos, a man of no repute in general, but evidently shrewd, made a hundred tripods, as best he might, of clay, and hiding them in a bag, carried nets with them like a hunter. As he was unknown even to most of the Lacedaemonians, he would more easily escape detection by the Messenians. Joining some countrymen, he entered Ithome with them, and as soon as night fell, dedicated these tripods of clay to the god, and returned to Sparta to tell the Lacedaemonians.

{4.12.10} The Messenians, when they saw them, were greatly disturbed, thinking, rightly enough, that they were from the Lacedaemonians. Nevertheless Aristodemos encouraged them, saying what the occasion demanded, and setting up the wooden tripods, which had already been made, round the altar of the god of Ithome. It happened also that Ophioneus, the seer who had been blind from birth, received his sight in the most remarkable way. He was seized with a violent pain in the head, and thereupon received his sight.

{4.13.1} Next, as fate was already inclining towards the conquest of the Messenians, the god revealed to them the future. For the armed statue of Artemis, which was all of bronze, let its shield fall. And as Aristodemos was about to sacrifice the victims to Zeus of Ithome, the rams of their own accord leapt towards the altar, and dashing their horns violently against it were killed by the force of the blow. A third portent befell them. The dogs assembled together and howled every night, and at last fled together to the camp of the Lacedaemonians.

{4.13.2} Aristodemos was alarmed by this and by the following dream which came to him. He thought that he was about to go forth armed to battle and the victims’ entrails were lying before him on a table, when his daughter appeared, wearing a black robe and showing her breast and belly cut open; when she appeared she flung down what was on the table, stripped him of his arms, and instead set a golden garland on his head and put a white robe about him.

{4.13.3} Aristodemos, who was already in despair, thought the dream foretold the end of life for him, because the Messenians used to carry out their chiefs for burial wearing a garland and dressed in white garments. Then he received news that Ophioneus the seer could no longer see but had suddenly become blind, as he was at first. Then they understood the oracle, that by the two starting forth from the ambush and again meeting their doom the Pythia meant the eyes of Ophioneus.

{4.13.4} Then Aristodemos, reckoning up his private sorrows, that to no purpose he had become the slayer of his daughter, and seeing that no hope of safety remained for his country, slew himself upon the tomb of his child. He had done all that human calculation could do to save the Messenians, but fortune brought to naught both his achievements and his plans. He had reigned six years and a few months when he died.

{4.13.5} The Messenians were plunged into despair, and were even ready to send to the Lacedaemonians to ask mercy, so demoralized were they by the death of Aristodemos. Their pride, however, prevented them from doing this. But they met in the assembly and chose not a king, but Damis as general with absolute power. He selected Kleonnis and Phyleus as colleagues, and even with their present resources made ready to join battle. For he was forced to this by the blockade, and above all by famine and by the consequent terror that they would be destroyed by want.

{4.13.6} Even then the Messenians were not inferior in courage and brave deeds, but all their generals were killed and their most notable men. After this they held out for some five months, but as the year was coming to an end deserted Ithome, the war having lasted twenty years in all, as is stated in the poems of Tyrtaeus:

{4.13.7} This war came to an end in the first year of the fourteenth Olympiad, [287] when Dasmon of Corinth won the short foot-race. In Athens the Medontidai were still holding the title of archon [arkhōn] as a ten years’ office, Hippomenes having completed his fourth year.

{4.14.1} All the Messenians who had ties with Sikyon and Argos and among any of the Arcadians retired to these states, but those who belonged to the lineage of the Priests and performed the mysteries of the Great Goddesses, to Eleusis. The majority of the common people were scattered in their native towns, as before.

{4.14.2} The Lacedaemonians first razed Ithome to the ground, then attacked and captured the remaining towns. Of the spoils they dedicated bronze tripods to the god of Amyklai. A statue of Aphrodite stands under the first tripod, of Artemis under the second, of Kore or Demeter under the third.

{4.14.3} Dedicating these offerings at Amyklai, they gave to the people of Asine, who had been driven out by the Argives, that part of Messenia on the coast which they still occupy; to the descendants of Androkles (he had a daughter, who with her children had fled at his death and come to Sparta) they assigned the part called Hyamia.

{4.14.4} The Messenians themselves were treated in this way: First they exacted an oath that they would never rebel or attempt any kind of revolution. Secondly, though no fixed tribute was imposed on them, they used to bring the half of all the produce of their fields to Sparta. It was also ordained that for the funerals of the kings and other magistrates men should come from Messene with their wives in black garments, and a penalty was laid on those who disobeyed.

{4.14.5} As to the wanton punishments which they inflicted on the Messenians, this is what is said in Tyrtaeus’ poems:

That they were compelled to share their mourning, he shows by the following:

{4.14.6} In these straits the Messenians, foreseeing no kindness from the Lacedaemonians, and thinking death in battle or a complete migration from Peloponnese preferable to their present lot, resolved at all costs to revolt. They were incited to this mainly by the younger men, who were still without experience of war but were of high spirit and preferred death in a free country, even though slavery might bring happiness in all else.

{4.14.7} Of the young men who had grown up in Messenia the best and most numerous were round Andania, and among them was Aristomenes, who to this day is worshipped as a hero among the Messenians. They think that even the circumstances of his birth were notable, for they assert that a spirit or a god united with his mother, Nikoteleia, in the form of a serpent. I know that the Macedonians tell a similar story about Olympias, and the Sikyonians about Aristodama, but there is this difference:

{4.14.8} The Messenians do not make Aristomenes the son of Hēraklēs or of Zeus, as the Macedonians do with Alexander and Ammon, and the Sikyonians with Aratos and Asklepios. Most of the Greeks say that Pyrrhos was the father of Aristomenes, but I myself know that in their libations the Messenians call him Aristomenes son of Nikomedes. He then, being in the full vigor of youth and courage, with others of the nobles incited them to revolt. This was not done openly at first, but they sent secretly to Argos and to the Arcadians, to ask if they were ready to help unhesitatingly and no less energetically than in the former war.

{4.15.1} When all their preparations were made for the war, the readiness of their allies exceeding expectation (for now the hatred which the Argives and Arcadians felt for the Lacedaemonians had blazed up openly), they revolted in the thirty-ninth year after the capture of Ithome, and in the fourth year of the twenty-third Olympiad, [288] when Icarus of Hyreresia won the short foot-race. In Athens the title of archon [arkhōn]was now of annual tenure, and Tlesias held office.

{4.15.2} Tyrtaeus has not recorded the names of the kings then reigning in Lacedaemon, but Rhianos stated in his epic that Leotykhides was king at the time of this war. I cannot agree with him at all on this point. Though Tyrtaeus makes no statement, he may be regarded as having done so by the following; there are lines of his which refer to the first war:

{4.15.3} It is obvious then that the Messenians went to war now in the second generation after the first war, and the sequence of time shows that the kings of Sparta at that time were Anaxandros the son of Eurycrates, son of Polydoros, and of the other house Anaxidamos the son of Zeuxidamos, son of Arkhidamos, son of Theopompos. I go as far as the third in descent from Theopompos, because Arkhidamos the son of Theopompos died before his father, and the kingdom of Theopompos passed to his grandson, Zeuxidamos. But Leotykhides clearly succeeded Demaratos the son of Ariston, Ariston being sixth in descent from Theopompos.

{4.15.4} In the first year after the revolt the Messenians engaged the Lacedaemonians at a place called Derae in Messenia, both sides being without their allies. Neither side won a clear victory, but Aristomenes is said to have achieved more than it seemed that one man could, so that, as he was of the lineage of the Aipytidai, they were for making him king after the battle. As he declined, they appointed him general with absolute power.

{4.15.5} It was the view of Aristomenes that any man would be ready to die in battle if he had first done deeds worthy of record, but that it was his own especial task at the very beginning of the war to prove that he had struck terror into the Lacedaemonians and that he would be more terrible to them for the future. With this purpose he came by night to Lacedaemon and fixed on the temple of Athena of the Brazen House a shield inscribed

{4.15.6} The Spartans received an oracle from Delphi that they should procure the Athenian as counsellor. So they sent messengers to Athens to announce the oracle, asking for a man to advise what they must do. The Athenians, who were not anxious either that the Lacedaemonians should add to their possessions the best part of Peloponnese without great dangers, or that they themselves should disobey the god, made their plans accordingly. There was a man Tyrtaeus, a teacher of letters, who was considered of poor intellect and was lame in one foot. Him they sent to Sparta. On his arrival he recited his poems in elegiacs and anapaests to the nobles in private and to all whom he could collect.

{4.15.7} A year after the fight at Derae, both sides being joined by their allies, they prepared to join battle at the Boar’s Tomb, as it is called. The Messenians had the men of Elis and the Arcadians and also allies from Argos and from Sikyon. They were joined by all the Messenians who had previously been in voluntary exile, together with those from Eleusis, whose hereditary task it was to perform the rites of the Great Goddesses, and the descendants of Androkles. These indeed were their most zealous supporters.

{4.15.8} The Corinthians came to fight on the side of the Lacedaemonians, and some of the Lepreans owing to their hatred of the people of Elis. But the people of Asine were bound by oaths to both sides. This spot, the Boar’s Tomb, lies in Stenyclerus of Messenia, and there, as is said, Hēraklēs exchanged oaths with the sons of Neleus over the pieces of a boar.

{4.16.1} Sacrifice was offered by the seers on both sides before the battle; on the Lacedaemonian side by Hekas, descendant and namesake of the Hekas who had come with the sons of Aristodemos to Sparta, on the Messenian side by Theoklos, who was descended from Eumantis, a man from Elis, of the lineage of the Iamidai, whom Kresphontes had brought to Messene. Then in the presence of the seers both sides were spurred by greater ardor for the fight.

{4.16.2} All showed the zeal that befitted their age and strength, but Anaxandros, the Lacedaemonian king, and his Spartan guard above all. On the Messenian side the descendants of Androkles, Phintas and Androkles, and their company tried to acquit themselves like brave men. Tyrtaeus and the chief priests of the Great Goddesses took no part in the action, but urged on the hindmost on their own sides.

{4.16.3} As to Aristomenes himself he had with him eighty picked men of the Messenians of the same age as himself, each one of them thinking it the highest honor that he had been thought worthy of a place in the troop with Aristomenes. They were quick to understand each other’s movements, especially those of their leader, when he began or contemplated any manoeuvre. They themselves with Aristomenes were at first hard pressed in face of Anaxandros and the Lacedaemonian champions, but receiving wounds unflinchingly and slowing every form of desperate courage they repulsed Anaxandros and his men by their long endurance and valor.

{4.16.4} As they fled, Aristomenes ordered another Messenian troop to undertake the pursuit. He himself attacked the enemies’ line where it was firmest, and after breaking it at this point sought a new point of assault. Soon successful here, he was the more ready to assail those who stood their ground, until he threw into confusion the whole line of the Lacedaemonians themselves and of their allies. They were now running without shame and without waiting for one another, while he assailed them with a terror that seemed more than one man’s fury could inspire.

{4.16.5} There was a wild pear tree growing in the plain, beyond which Theoklos the seer forbade him to pass, for he said that the Dioskouroi were seated on the tree. Aristomenes, in the heat of passion, did not hear all that the seer said, and when he reached the tree, lost his shield, and his disobedience gave to the Lacedaemonians an opportunity for some to escape from the rout. For he lost time trying to recover his shield.

{4.16.6} The Lacedaemonians were thrown into despair after this blow and purposed to put an end to the war. But Tyrtaeus by reciting his poems contrived to dissuade them, and filled their ranks from the Helots to replace the slain. When Aristomenes returned to Andania, the women threw ribbons and flower blossoms over him, singing also a song which is sung to this day:

{4.16.7} He recovered his shield also, going to Delphi and descending into the holy shrine of Trophonios at Lebadeia, as the Pythia ordered . Afterwards he took the shield to Lebadeia and dedicated it, and I myself have seen it there among the offerings. The device on it is an eagle with both wings outspread to the rim. Now on his return from Boeotia having learned of the shield at the shrine of Trophonios and recovered it, he at once engaged in greater deeds.

{4.16.8} Collecting a force of Messenians, together with his own picked troop, he waited for night and went to a city of Laconia whose ancient name in Homer’s Catalogue is Pharis, [289] but is called Pharai by the Spartans and neighboring people. Arriving here he killed those who offered resistance and surrounding the cattle started to drive them off to Messene. On the way he was attacked by Lacedaemonian troops under king Anaxandros, but put them to flight and began to pursue Anaxandros; but he stopped the pursuit when wounded in the buttocks with a javelin; he did not, however, lose the loot which he was driving away.

{4.16.9} After waiting only for the wound to heal, he was making an attack by night on Sparta itself, but was deterred by the appearance of Helen and of the Dioskouroi. But he lay in wait by day for the girls who were performing the dances in honor of Artemis at Caryae, and capturing those who were wealthiest and of noblest birth, carried them off to a village in Messenia, entrusting them to men of his troop to guard, while he rested for the night.

{4.16.10} There the young men, intoxicated, I suppose, and without any self-control, attempted to violate the girls. When Aristomenes attempted to deter them from an action contrary to Greek usage, they paid no attention, so that he was compelled to kill the most disorderly. He released the captives for a large ransom, still virgins, as when he captured them.

{4.17.1} There is a place Aigila in Laconia, where is a sanctuary sacred to Demeter. Aristomenes and his men knowing that the women were keeping festival there … the women were inspired by the goddess to defend themselves, and most of the Messenians were wounded with the knives with which the women sacrificed the victims and the spits on which they pierced and roasted the meat. Aristomenes was struck with the torches and taken alive. Nevertheless he escaped to Messenia during the same night. Arkhidameia, the priestess of Demeter, was charged with having released him, not for a bribe but because she had been in love with him before; but she maintained that Aristomenes had escaped by burning through his bonds.

{4.17.2} In the third year of the war, when an engagement was about to take place at what is called The Great Trench, and the Messenians had been joined by Arcadians from all the cities, the Lacedaemonians bribed Aristocrates [Aristokrates] the son of Hicetas of Trapezus, who was then king and general of the Arcadians. The Lacedaemonians were the first of whom we know to give bribes to an enemy, and the first to make victory in war a matter of purchase.

{4.17.3} Before the Lacedaemonians committed this crime in the Messenian war in the matter of the treachery of Aristocrates [Aristokrates] the Arcadian, the decision in battle was reached by valor and the fortunes [tukhai] emanating from the god [theos]. Again it is clear that at a later date, when they were lying opposite the Athenian fleet at Aigospotamoi, the Lacedaemonians bought Adeimantos and other Athenian generals.

{4.17.4} However in course of time the punishment of Neoptolemos, as it is called, came upon the Lacedaemonians themselves in their turn. Now it was the fate of Neoptolemos the son of Achilles, after killing Priam on the altar of Zeus Herkeios (Of the Courtyard), himself to be slain by the altar of Apollo in Delphi. Thenceforward to suffer what a man has himself done to another is called the Punishment of Neoptolemos.

{4.17.5} So in the case of the Lacedaemonians, when they were at the height of their power after the destruction of the Athenian fleet, and Agesilaos had already reduced the greater part of Asia, they were unable to capture the whole empire of the Persians but the barbarian overreached them with their own invention, sending money to Corinth, Argos, Athens and Thebes as the result of this bribery the so-called Corinthian war broke out, compelling Agesilaos to abandon his conquests in Asia.

{4.17.6} Thus the superhuman force [ho daimōn] was about to turn the trick employed by the Lacedaemonians against the Messenians to their own destruction. After receiving the money from Lacedaemon, Aristocrates [Aristokrates] concealed his plot from the Arcadians for the present, but when they were about to come into action, he alarmed them by saying that they were caught in a difficult place and there would be no means of retreat for them, if defeated, also that the offerings had not been satisfactory. He ordered everyone therefore to take to flight when he gave the signal.

{4.17.7} When the Lacedaemonians were about to close and the Messenians were occupied on their own front, then Aristocrates [Aristokrates] withdrew the Arcadians as the battle began, leaving the Messenian left and center without troops. For the Arcadians occupied both positions, now that the men of Elis were absent from the battle —so too the Argives and Sikyonians. To complete his work Aristocrates [Aristokrates] caused his men to fly through the Messenians.

{4.17.8} They were astounded at the unexpected state of affairs, and moreover were thrown into confusion by the passage of the Arcadians through their ranks, so that they almost forgot what lay before them; for instead of the advance of the Lacedaemonians they watched the Arcadian retirement, some begging them to stand by them, others cursing them for traitors and scoundrels.

{4.17.9} It was not difficult for the Lacedaemonians to surround the Messenians thus isolated, and they won without trouble the easiest of victories. Aristomenes and his men held together and tried to check the fiercest of the Lacedaemonian assaults but, being few in number, were unable to render much assistance. So great were the numbers of the people of the Messenians slain that in lieu of their former thoughts of becoming the masters instead of the slaves of the Lacedaemonians they now despaired of safety itself. Among the chieftains killed were Androkles and Phintas, and Phanas after the most glorious resistance. He had previously been victorious in the long foot-race at Olympia.

{4.17.10} Aristomenes collected the Messenian survivors after the battle and persuaded them to abandon Andania and most of the other towns that lay in the interior and to settle on Mount Eira. When they had been driven to this spot, the Lacedaemonians sat down to besiege them, thinking that they would soon reduce them. Nevertheless the Messenians maintained their resistance for eleven years after the disaster at the Trench.

{4.17.11} The length of the siege is proved by these lines of the poet Rhianus, regarding the Lacedaemonians:

He reckons winters and summers, by ‘green herbs’ meaning the green wheat or the time just before harvest.

{4.18.1} Settling on Eira and cut off from the rest of Messenia, except in so far as the people of Pylos and Mothone maintained the coastal districts for them, the Messenians plundered both Laconia and their own territory, regarding it now as enemy country. The men taking part in the raids were drawn from all sources, and Aristomenes raised the number of his chosen troop to three hundred.

{4.18.2} They harried and plundered whatever Lacedaemonian property they could; when wheat, cattle and wine were captured, they were consumed, but movable property and men were sold. The Lacedaemonians, as their labors were more profitable to the men at Eira than to themselves, accordingly resolved that Messenia and the neighboring part of Laconia should be left uncultivated during the war.

{4.18.3} As a result scarcity arose in Sparta, and with it revolution. For those who had property here could not endure its lying idle. Their differences were being composed by Tyrtaeus, when Aristomenes and his troop, starting in the late evening and by rapid movement reaching Amyklai before sunrise, captured and plundered the town, retiring before a force from Sparta could come to its relief.

{4.18.4} He continued to overrun the country afterwards, until in an engagement with more than half the Lacedaemonian infantry and both the kings he received various wounds while defending himself and was struck on the head by a stone, so that his eyes became dizzy. When he fell a number of the Lacedaemonians closed upon him and took him alive with some fifty of his followers. The Lacedaemonians resolved to fling them all into the Ceadas, into which they throw men punished for the greatest crimes.

{4.18.5} The rest of the Messenians were killed at once as they fell, but Aristomenes now as on other occasions was preserved by one of the gods. His panegyrists say that, when Aristomenes was thrown into the Ceadas, an eagle flew below him and supported him with its wings, bringing him to the bottom without any damage to his body and without wound. Even from here, as it seems, the superhumsn-force [daimōn] was about to show him a means of escape.

{4.18.6} For when he came to the bottom of the chasm he lay down, and covering himself with his cloak awaited the death that fate had surely decreed. But after two days he heard a noise and uncovered, and being by this time able to see through the gloom, saw a fox devouring the dead bodies. Realizing that the beast must have some entrance, he waited for the fox to come near him, and then seized it. Whenever it turned on him he used one hand to hold out his cloak for it to bite. For the most part he kept pace with it as it ran, but over the more difficult ground he was dragged along by it. At last he saw a hole big enough for a fox to get through and daylight showing through it.

{4.18.7} The fox, when released by Aristomenes, made of presumably, to its earth. But Aristomenes enlarged the hole, which was not large enough to let him through, with his hands and reached his home at Eira in safety, having undergone a remarkable chance in the matter of his capture, for his courage and prowess were so high that no one would have expected Aristomenes to be made a prisoner. Still more remarkable, and a convincing example of divine assistance, was his escape from the Ceadas.

{4.19.1} The Lacedaemonians at once received information from deserters that Aristomenes had returned in safety. Though they thought it as incredible as the news that anyone had risen from the dead, their belief was ensured by the following action on the part of Aristomenes himself. The Corinthians were sending a force to assist the Lacedaemonians in the reduction of Eira.

{4.19.2} Learning from his scouts that their march discipline was lax and that their encampments were made without precaution, Aristomenes attacked them by night. He slew most of them while the rest were still sleeping, and killed the leaders Hypermenides, Achladaeus, Lysistratos and Sidektos. And having plundered the generals’ tent, he made it clear to the Spartans that it was Aristomenes and no other Messenian who had done this.

{4.19.3} He also made the sacrifice called the Offering for the hundred slain to Zeus of Ithome. This was an old-established custom, all Messenians making it who had slain their hundred enemies. Aristomenes first offered it after the battle at the Boar’s Tomb, his second offering was occasioned by the slaughter of the Corinthians in the night. It is said that he made a third offering as the result of his later raids.

{4.19.4} Now the Lacedaemonians, as the festival of Hyakinthos was approaching, made a truce of forty days with the men of Eira. They themselves returned home to keep the feast, but some Cretan archers, whom they had summoned as mercenaries from Lyktos and other cities, were patrolling Messenia for them. Aristomenes then, in view of the truce, was at a distance from Eira and was advancing somewhat carelessly, when seven of these archers laid an ambush for him. They captured him and bound him with the thongs which they had on their quivers, as evening was coming on.

{4.19.5} So two of them went to Sparta, bringing the glad news that Aristomenes had been captured. The rest went to one of the farms in Messenia, where there dwelled a fatherless girl with her mother. On the previous night the girl had seen a dream. Wolves brought a lion to their farm bound and without talons; but she herself loosed the lion from his bonds and found and gave to him his talons, and thus it seemed that the wolves were torn in pieces by the lion.

{4.19.6} And now when the Cretans brought in Aristomenes, the girl realized that the dream of the night had come true, and asked her mother who he was. On learning she was encouraged, and looking intently at him understood what she had been bidden to do. Accordingly she plied the Cretans with wine, and when they were overcome with drunkenness she stole away the dagger of the man who was sleeping most heavily. Then the girl cut the bonds of Aristomenes, and he took the sword and despatched the men. This girl was taken to wife by Gorgos the son of Aristomenes. Aristomenes gave him to the girl as a recompense for saving his life, for Gorgos had not yet completed his eighteenth year when he wedded her.

{4.20.1} But in the eleventh year of the siege it was fated that Eira should be taken and the Messenians dispersed, and the god fulfilled for them an oracle given to Aristomenes and Theoklos. They had come to Delphi after the disaster at the Trench and asked concerning safety, receiving this reply from the Pythia:

{4.20.2} The springs of the Neda are in Mount Lykaios. The river flows through the land of the Arcadians and turning again towards Messenia forms the boundary on the coast between Messenia and Elis. Then they were afraid of the he-goats drinking from the Neda, but it appeared that what the god foretold to them was this. Some of the Greeks call the wild fig tree olunthē, but the Messenians themselves tragos [‘he-goat’]. Now at that time a wild fig tree growing on the bank of the Neda had not grown straight up, but was bending towards the stream and touching the water with the tips of its leaves.

{4.20.3} When the seer Theoklos saw it, he guessed that the goat who drinks of the Neda foretold by the Pythia was this wild fig tree, and that their fate had already come upon the Messenians. He kept it secret from the rest, but led Aristomenes to the fig tree and showed him that their time of safety had gone by. Aristomenes believed that it was so and that there was no delaying their fate, and made provision such as circumstances demanded.

{4.20.4} For the Messenians possessed a secret thing. If it were destroyed, Messene would be overwhelmed and lost forever, but if it were kept, the oracles of Lykos the son of Pandion said that after lapse of time the Messenians would recover their country. Aristomenes, knowing the oracles, took it towards nightfall, and coming to the most deserted part of Ithome, buried it on the mountain, calling on Zeus who keeps Ithome and the gods who had hitherto protected the Messenians to remain guardians of the pledge, and not to put their only hope of return into the power of the Lacedaemonians.

{4.20.5} After this, as formerly for the Trojans, the beginning of the Messenian misfortunes was in adultery. The Messenians commanded the mountain of Eira and its slopes as far as the Neda, some of them having their dwellings outside the gates. The only deserter that came to them from Laconia was a herdsman, slave of Emperamus, bringing his master’s cattle. Emperamus was a man of repute in Sparta.

{4.20.6} This herdsman, who kept his cattle not far from the Neda, saw the wife of one of the Messenians, who had their dwellings outside the wall, as she came to draw water. Falling in love with her, he dared to speak with her and seduced her with gifts. Thenceforward he marked the time when her husband went away to mount guard, garrison duty on the acropolis being undertaken by the Messenians in turn. For it was at this point that they were most afraid of the enemy making their way into the town. Whenever he went away, then the herdsman used to visit the lady.

{4.20.7} Now once when it happened that the turn for duty fell to him and others in the night, it chanced that there was heavy rain, and the Messenians deserted their post. For they were overcome by the density of the rain that streamed from the sky [ouranos], as there were no battlements or towers erected on the wall owing to the hurried nature of its building; moreover they did not expect the Lacedaemonians even to stir on a moonless night that was so stormy.

{4.20.8} A few days earlier a merchant from Cephallenia, who was a friend of Aristomenes and was bringing to Eira all that they needed, had been captured by the Lacedaemonians and archers from Aptera, commanded by Euryalus the Spartan; Aristomenes rescued him and recovered all the goods that he was bringing, but had himself been wounded and was unable to visit rounds, as was his custom. This was the main reason that the acropolis was deserted.

{4.20.9} All of them left their posts and with them the husband of the woman seduced by the herdsman. She was entertaining the herdsman at the time but heard her husband coming and at once hid the man away as quickly as possible. When the husband entered, she treated him with greater affection than ever before and asked him what was the reason of his return. But knowing that she was unfaithful or that the herdsman was in the house, he told her the truth, that owing to the violence of the rain he and all the rest had deserted their post.

{4.20.10} The herdsman listened to him speaking, and learning the exact position, again deserted from the Messenians to the Lacedaemonians. The Kings were absent at the time from the Lacedaemonian camp, but Emperamus, his master, who was commandant, was conducting the siege of Eira. Coming to him he first begged forgiveness for his crime of deserting and then showed him that now was the time for them to take Eira, recounting everything that he had learned from the Messenian.

{4.21.1} His story seemed to be reliable, and he led the way for Emperamus and the Spartans. Their march was difficult, as it was dark and the rain never ceased. Nevertheless they accomplished it in their eagerness, and arriving before the acropolis of Eira, mounted by raising ladders and in any other way that was possible. Various indications of the trouble that was upon them were given to the Messenians, especially by the dogs barking, not in their usual fashion, but uttering more loud and continuous howls. realizing that the supreme and most desperate crisis had come upon them, they did not wait to collect all their arms but snatched whatever lay ready to the hand of each, to defend the fatherland that alone was left to them of all Messenia.

{4.21.2} The first to realize that the enemy were within and to go against them were Gorgos the son of Aristomenes, Aristomenes himself, Theoklos the seer and Mantiklos his son, and with them Euergetidas a man of high repute in Messenia who had attained to greater honor through his wife for he was wedded to Hagnagora, the sister of Aristomenes. Then the rest, though understanding that they were caught as in a net, nevertheless derived some hope even from their present plight.

{4.21.3} But Aristomenes and the seer knew that there was no putting off destruction for the Messenians, for they knew the riddle of the oracle which the Pythia had uttered concerning the goat. Nevertheless they would not declare it, and kept it secret from the rest. As they hastened through the city, visiting all, they exhorted those whom they encountered, when they saw that they were Messenians, to be brave men, and summoned from the houses those who still remained.

{4.21.4} During the night nothing worthy of mention was done on either side; for their ignorance of the ground and the daring of Aristomenes gave pause to the Lacedaemonians, while the Messenians had not previously received a watchword from their generals, and the rain would put out torches or any other light that they kindled.

{4.21.5} When it was day and they could see one another Aristomenes and Theoklos tried to rouse the fury of despair in the Messenians, setting forth all that suited the occasion and reminding them of the valor of the men of Smyrna, how, though an Ionian people, by their valor and courage they had driven out Cyges the son of Dascylus and the Lydians, when they were in occupation of their town.

{4.21.6} The Messenians, when they heard, were filled with desperate courage, and mustering as they happened to be gathered rushed on the Lacedaemonians. Women too were eager to fling tiles and what they could upon the enemy, yet the violence of the rain prevented them from doing this and from mounting to the house-tops. But they dared to take arms, and they too further inflamed the ardor of the men, when they saw their women preferring to perish with their fatherland rather than be taken as slaves to Lacedaemon, so that they might yet have been able to escape their fate.

{4.21.7} But the god caused the rain to descend more densely, with loud claps of thunder, and dazzled their eyes with lightning flashing in their faces. All this put courage in the Lacedaemonians, who said that the god [theos] himself was helping them. And, as the lightning was on their right, Hekas the seer declared the sign [sēmeion] to be of good omen.

{4.21.8} It was he who devised the following plan. The Lacedaemonians far outnumbered the Messenians, but as the battle was not being fought on open ground with troops in line, but they were fighting over different quarters of the town, the rearmost of each detachment were rendered useless. Hekas ordered these to retire to the camp, take food and sleep, and return before evening to relieve their own men who were to remain on duty.

{4.21.9} The Lacedaemonians, by resting and fighting by turns, held out the longer, but the Messenians were faced with difficulties on all sides. They fought continuously day and night until the third day with none to relieve them. When the next day dawned, worn out by lack of sleep and by the rain and cold from the sky [ouranos], they were assailed by hunger and thirst. The women especially, unaccustomed to war, were exhausted by the continuous suffering.

{4.21.10} So the seer Theoklos came to Aristomenes’ side and said: “Why vainly maintain this toil? The decree of fate stands fast that Messene should fall; long since the Pythia declared to us the disaster now before our eyes, and lately the fig tree revealed it. On me the gods have laid one doom with my country, but do thou save the Messenians with what power thou hast and save thyself.” When he had spoken to Aristomenes he rushed upon the enemy, and these were the words that he was constrained to fling at the Lacedaemonians. “Yet not for all time shall you enjoy the fruits of Messenia with impunity.”

{4.21.11} Then falling upon the men who faced him he killed them and himself was wounded, and having sated his passion with the slaughter of his foes, he breathed his last. But Aristomenes called the Messenians back from the fight, except those who by virtue of their courage were fighting to cover them. These he allowed to remain at their post. The rest he ordered to receive the women and children within their ranks and follow him wherever he should show a passage.

{4.21.12} He appointed Gorgos and Mantiklos to command the rear, he himself ran to the head of the company and by the gestures of his head and movement of his spear signified that he asked a passage and had resolved to depart. Emperamus and the Spartans present were pleased to let the Messenians pass, without further inflaming men who had reached the bounds of frenzy and despair. Moreover Hekas the seer ordered them to act thus.

{4.22.1} As soon as the Arcadians heard of the Capture of Eira, they at once ordered Aristocrates [Aristokrates] to lead them to the rescue of the Messenians or to death with them. But he, being in receipt of bribes from Lacedaemon, refused to lead them, and said that he knew that no Messenian survived for them to help.

{4.22.2} When they obtained more certain news, that they survived and had been forced to desert Eira, they themselves proposed to receive them at Mount Lykaios after preparing clothing and food, and sent some of their leading men to comfort the Messenians and also to be their guides on the way. After their safe arrival at Mount Lykaios, the Arcadians entertained them and treated them kindly in every way, offering to distribute them among their towns and to make a new distribution of their land on their account.

{4.22.3} But Aristomenes’ grief for the sack of Eira and his hatred of the Lacedaemonians suggested to him the following plan. He chose from the body of the Messenians five hundred men whom he knew to be the most unsparing of themselves, and asked them in the hearing of Aristocrates [Aristokrates] and the rest of the Arcadians if they were ready to die with him, avenging their country He did not know that Aristocrates [Aristokrates] was a traitor, for he thought that he had fled from the battle formerly from lack of courage and through cowardice, not for any knavery; so he asked the five hundred in his presence.

{4.22.4} When they said that they were ready, he revealed the whole plan, that he proposed at all costs to lead them against Sparta during the following evening. For now was the time when the majority of the Lacedaemonians was away at Eira, and others were scouring Messenia for loot and plunder. “If we can capture and occupy Sparta,” said Aristomenes, “we can give back to the Lacedaemonians what is theirs and receive our own. If we fail, we shall die together, having done a deed for posterity to remember.”

{4.22.5} When he said this, as many as three hundred of the Arcadians were ready to share his enterprise. For the time they delayed their departure, as the victims were unfavorable, but on the following day they learned that the Lacedaemonians had been forewarned of their secret, and that they themselves had been a second time betrayed by Aristocrates [Aristokrates]. For Aristocrates [Aristokrates] had at once written the designs of Aristomenes in a letter, and having entrusted it to the slave whom he knew to be most loyal, sent him to Anaxandros in Sparta.

{4.22.6} As the slave was returning, he was intercepted by some of the Arcadians, who had formerly been at variance with Aristocrates [Aristokrates] and regarded him then with some suspicion. Having intercepted the slave they brought him before the Arcadians and made known to the people the answer from Lacedaemon. Anaxandros was writing that his retreat from the Great Trench formerly had not gone unrewarded on the part of the Lacedaemonians and that he would receive an additional recompense for his information on the present occasion.

{4.22.7} When this was declared to all, the Arcadians themselves stoned Aristocrates [Aristokrates] and urged the Messenians to join them. They looked to Aristomenes. But he was weeping, with his eyes fixed on the ground. So the Arcadians stoned Aristocrates [Aristokrates] to death and flung him beyond their borders without burial, and set up a tablet in the precinct of Zeus Lykaios with the words:

{4.23.1} All the Messenians, who were captured about Eira or anywhere else in Messenia, were reduced by the Lacedaemonians to serfdom. The people of Pylos and Mothone and all who occupied the maritime district retired in ships on the capture of Eira to Cyllene, the port of the Eleians. Thence they sent to the Messenians in Arcadia, proposing to unite their forces and seek a new country to dwell in, enjoining Aristomenes to lead them to a colony.

{4.23.2} But he said that while he lived, he would make war on the Lacedaemonians, as he knew well that trouble would always be brewing for Sparta through him, but he gave them Gorgos and Mantiklos as leaders. Euergetidas too had retired to Mount Lykaios with the rest of the Messenians. From there, when he saw that Aristomenes’ plan to seize Sparta had failed, he persuaded some fifty of the Messenians to go back with him to Eira and attack the Lacedaemonians,

{4.23.3} and coming upon them while they were still plundering, he turned their celebrations of victory to grief. He then met his doom there, but Aristomenes ordered all the Messenians who wished to take part in the colony to join the leaders at Cyllene. And all took part except those debarred by age or lack of funds for journeying abroad. These remained here with the Arcadians.

{4.23.4} Eira was taken, and the second war between the Lacedaemonians and Messenians completed in the year when Autosthenes was archon [arkhōn] in Athens, and in the first year of the twenty-eighth Olympiad, [290] when Khionis the Laconian was victorious.

{4.23.5} When the Messenians assembled at Cyllene, they resolved to winter there for that season, the Eleians providing a market and funds. With the spring they began to debate where they should go. It was the view of Gorgos that they should occupy Zacynthos off Cephallenia, becoming islanders instead of mainlanders, and raid the coasts of Laconia with their ships and ravage the land. But Mantiklos ordered them to forget Messene and their hatred of the Lacedaemonians, and sail to Sardinia and win an island which was of the largest extent and greatest fertility.

{4.23.6} Meantime Anaxilas sent to the Messenians and summoned them to Italy. He was tyrant of Rhēgion, third in descent from Alcidamidas, who had left Messene for Rhēgion after the death of king Aristodemos and the capture of Ithome. So now this Anaxilas summoned the Messenians. When they came, he said that the people of Zancle were at war with him, and that they possessed a prosperous land and city well placed in Sicily; and these he said he was ready to give them and help them to conquer. When they accepted the proposal, Anaxilas then transported them to Sicily.

{4.23.7} Zancle was originally occupied by pirates, who, as the land was uninhabited, walled off the harbor and used it as a base for their raids and cruises. Their leaders were Crataemenes a Samian and Perieres of Khalkis. Later Perieres and Krataimenes resolved to introduce other Greek settlers.

{4.23.8} Anaxilas defeated the Zanclaeans, when they put to sea to oppose him, and the Messenians did the like by land, and the Zanclaeans, blockaded on land by the Messenians and from the sea by the fleet of the Rhegines, when their wall was carried, fled for refuge to the altars of the gods and to the temples. Anaxilas, however, advised the Messenians to put to death the suppliant Zanclaeans and to enslave the rest together with the women and children.

{4.23.9} But Gorgos and Mantiklos besought Anaxilas not to compel them, the victims of unholy treatment at the hands of kinsmen, to behave as men who belong to Greek [Hellenic] lineage. After this they made the Zanclaeans rise from the altars, and exchanging pledges with them, dwelled together in common. They changed the name of the city from Zancle to Messene.

{4.23.10} This event took place in the twenty-ninth Olympiad, [291] when Khionis the Laconian was victorious for the second time. Miltiades was archon [arkhōn] in Athens. Mantiklos founded the temple of Hēraklēs for the Messenians; the temple of the god is outside the walls and he is called Hēraklēs Mantiklos, just as Ammon in Libya and Belus in Babylon are named, the latter from an Egyptian, Belus the son of Libya, Ammon from the shepherd-founder. Thus the exiled Messenians reached the end of their wanderings.

{4.24.1} After declining the leadership of the men setting forth to found a colony, Aristomenes gave his sister Hagnagora in marriage to Tharyx at Phigalia, and his daughters, both the eldest and the next in age, to Damothoidas of Lepreum and Theopompos of Heraia. He himself went to Delphi to enquire of the god. The reply that was given to Aristomenes is not recorded,

{4.24.2} but when Damagetos the Rhodian, who reigned at Ialysos, came to Apollo and asked whence he should take a wife, the Pythia ordered him to take a daughter of the bravest of the Greeks. As Aristomenes had a third daughter, he married her, considering that Aristomenes was by far the bravest of the Greeks of that age. Aristomenes, coming to Rhodes with his daughter, purposed to go up from there to Sardis to Ardys the son of Gyges, and to Ecbatana of the Medes to king Phraortes.

{4.24.3} But ere that he was overtaken by illness and death, for no further misfortune was to befall the Lacedaemonians at the hands of Aristomenes. On his death Damagetos and the Rhodians built him a splendid tomb and paid honor to him thenceforward. I omit what is recorded of the Diagoridai in Rhodes, as they are called, a line sprung from Diagoras the son of Damagetos, son of Dorieus, who was the son of Damagetos and of the daughter of Aristomenes, lest it should seem to be irrelevant.

{4.24.4} Now the Lacedaemonians, gaining possession of Messenia, divided it all among themselves, except the land belonging to the people of Asine; but they gave Mothone to the men of Nauplia, who had recently been driven from their town by the Argives.

{4.24.5} The Messenians who were captured in the country, reduced by force to the position of serfs, were later moved to revolt from the Lacedaemonians in the seventy-ninth Olympiad, [292] when Xenophon the Corinthian was victorious. Arkhimedes was archon [arkhōn] in Athens. The occasion which they found for the revolt was this. Certain Lacedaemonians who had been condemned to death on some charge fled as suppliants to Taenarum but the board of ephors dragged them from the altar there and put them to death.

{4.24.6} As the Spartans paid no heed to their being suppliants, the wrath of Poseidon came upon them, and the god razed all their city to the ground. At this disaster all the serfs who were of Messenian origin seceded to Mount Ithome. Against them the Lacedaemonians, amongst other allies, called to their assistance Kimon the son of Miltiades, their patron in Athens, and an Athenian force. But when the Athenians arrived, they seem to have regarded them with suspicion that they were likely to promote revolution, and as a result of this suspicion to have soon dismissed them from Ithome.

{4.24.7} The Athenians, realizing the feelings of the Lacedaemonians towards them, made friends therefore with the Argives, and gave Naupaktos to the Messenians besieged in Ithome, when they were allowed to depart under a truce. They had taken Naupaktos from the people of the land of Lokris called the Ozolian, adjoining Aetolia. The retirement of the Messenians from Ithome was secured by the strength of the place; also the Pythia announced to the Lacedaemonians that assuredly they would be punished if they committed a crime against the suppliant of Zeus of Ithome. For this reason then they were allowed to go from Peloponnese under a truce.

{4.25.1} When they occupied Naupaktos it was not enough for them to have received a city and country at the hands of the Athenians, but they were filled with a strong desire to show they had won something notable with their own hands. Knowing that the Acarnanians of Oiniadai possessed a good land and were continually at war with the Athenians, they marched against them. They had no numerical advantage, but defeating them by their superior courage, they shut them up in the fortress and besieged them.

{4.25.2} They neglected no human invention in the matter of siege-craft, tried to carry the town by raising scaling-ladders, mined the walls, and by bringing up such engines as could be made ready at short notice proceeded with the destruction of the fortifications. The inhabitants, fearing that if the city were taken they would be put to death and their wives and children enslaved, elected to withdraw on terms.

{4.25.3} The Messenians held the town and occupied the country for about a year. In the following year the Acarnanians collected a force from all their towns and discussed an attack on Naupaktos. They rejected this, as they saw that their line of march would be through the Aetolians, who were always their enemies; moreover they suspected that the men of Naupaktos possessed a fleet, which was the fact; and while they commanded the sea, it was impossible to achieve anything of importance with a land force.

{4.25.4} So they changed their plans and at once turned on the Messenians in Oiniadai and prepared to besiege them, for they never supposed that men so few in number would show such desperate courage as to fight against the full levy of the Acarnanians. The Messenians had previously prepared food and all else that was requisite, expecting to stand a long siege.

{4.25.5} But they were determined before the siege was formed to fight a battle in the open, and being Messenians, who had not been surpassed in valor even by Lacedaemonians, but in fortune only, were determined not to be dismayed at the horde which had come from Acarnania. They recalled the achievement of the Athenians at Marathon, how thirty myriad Persians had been destroyed by men not numbering ten thousand.

{4.25.6} So they joined battle with the Acarnanians, and the course of the battle is said to have been thus. The enemy, being far superior in numbers, had no difficulty in surrounding the Messenians, except where prevented by the gates in the Messenian rear and by the zealous help of their men posted on the wall. Here they could not be surrounded, hut the Acarnanians enveloped both their flanks and shot volleys at them from all sides.

{4.25.7} The Messenians, in close formation, whenever they charged the Acarnanians in a body, threw the enemy at that point into confusion, killing and wounding many of them, but they could not effect a complete rout. For wherever the Acarnanians saw a part of their own line being broken by the Messenians they went to the support of their harassed troops at this point and checked the Messenians, overwhelming them by numbers.

{4.25.8} The Messenians, beaten back and again attempting to pierce the massed troops of the Acarnanians at another point, would meet with the same result. Wherever they attacked, they threw the enemy into confusion and drove them a short distance, but as the Acarnanians again streamed eagerly to this point, they were driven back against their will. The battle was evenly contested until evening, but when at nightfall the Acarnanians received reinforcements from their cities, the blockade of the Messenians was formed.

{4.25.9} They had no fear of the wall being taken by assault, either by the Acarnanians scaling it or by themselves being forced to abandon their posts. But in the eighth month all their provisions alike had been consumed.

{4.25.10} They shouted to the Acarnanians from the wall in mockery that their supplies would not fail them until the tenth year of the siege, but they themselves sallied out of Oiniadai at the time of the first sleep. Their escape became known to the Acarnanians and they were compelled to fight, losing some three hundred and killing still more of the enemy. But the greater part of them got through the Acarnanians, and reaching the territory of the Aetollans, who were their friends, arrived safely at Naupaktos.

{4.26.1} Afterwards, as at all times, they were stirred by their hatred against the Lacedaemonians, and provided the most striking example of their hostility towards them in the war which took place between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. For they offered Naupaktos as a base against Peloponnese, and Messenian slingers from Naupaktos helped to capture the Spartans cut off in Sphakteria.

{4.26.2} When the Athenian reverse at Aigospotamoi took place, the Lacedaemonians, having command of the sea, then drove the Messenians from Naupaktos; they went to their kinsmen in Sicily and to Rhēgion, but the majority came to Libya and to the Euesperitai there, who had suffered severely in war with barbarian neighbors and were inviting any Greek to join them. So the majority of the Messenians went to them, their leader being Komon, who had commanded them in Sphakteria.

{4.26.3} A year before the victory of the Thebans at Leuktra, the superhuman force [daimōn] foretold [pro-sēmainein] their return to Peloponnese to the Messenians. It is said that in Messene on the Straits the priest of Hēraklēs saw a vision in a dream: it seemed that Hēraklēs Mantiklos was bidden by Zeus as a guest to Ithome. Also among the EuesperitaiComon dreamt that he lay with his dead mother, but that afterwards she came to life again. He hoped that as the Athenians had recovered their seapower, they would be restored to Naupaktos. But the dream really indicated the recovery of Messene.

{4.26.4} Not long afterwards the Lacedaemonians suffered at Leuktra the disaster that had long been due. For at the end of the oracle given to Aristodemos, who reigned over the Messenians, are the words:“Act as fate wills, destruction comes on this man before that,” signifying that he and the Messenians must suffer evil at the present, but that hereafter destruction would overtake Lacedaemon.

{4.26.5} Then after their victory at Leuktra the Thebans sent messengers to Italy, Sicily and to the Euesperitae, and summoned the Messenians to Peloponnese from every other quarter where they might be, and they, with longing for their country and through the hatred which had ever remained with them for the Lacedaemonians, assembled quicker than could have been expected.

{4.26.6} To Epameinondas it seemed in no way easy to found a city that could resist the Lacedaemonians, nor could he discover where in the land to build it. For the Messenians refused to settle again in Andania and Oechalia, because their disasters had befallen them when they dwelled there. To Epameinondas in his difficulty it is said that an ancient man, closely resembling a priest of Demeter, appeared in the night and said: “My gift to thee is that thou shalt conquer whomsoever thou dost assail; and when thou dost pass from men, Theban, I will cause thy name to be unforgotten and give thee glory. But do thou restore to the Messenians their fatherland and cities, for now the wrath of the Dioskouroi against them hath ceased.”

{4.26.7} This he said to Epameinondas, and revealed this to Epiteles the son of Aeschines, who had been chosen by the Argives to be their general and to refound Messene. He was bidden by the dream, wherever he found yew and myrtle growing on Ithome, to dig between them and recover the old woman, for, shut in her bronze chamber, she was overcome and well-nigh fainting. When day dawned, Epiteles went to the appointed place, and as he dug, came upon a bronze urn.

{4.26.8} He took it at once to Epameinondas, told him the dream and ordered him to remove the lid and see what was within. Epameinondas, after sacrifice and prayer to the vision that had appeared, opened the urn and having opened it found some tin foil, very thin, rolled like a book. On it were inscribed the mysteries of the Great Goddesses, and this was the pledge deposited by Aristomenes. They say that the man who appeared to Epiteles and Epameinondas in their sleep was Kaukon, who came from Athens to Messene the daughter of Triopas at Andania.

{4.27.1} The wrath of the sons of Tyndareus against the Messenians began before the battle in Stenyclerus, and arose, I think, for the following reason. Panormos and Gonippos of Andania, young men in the bloom of youth, were close friends in all things, and marched together into battle and on raids into Laconia.

{4.27.2} The Lacedaemonians were keeping a feast of the Dioskouroi in camp and had turned to drinking and sports after the midday meal, when Gonippos and Panormos appeared to them, riding on the finest horses and dressed in white tunics and scarlet cloaks, with caps on their heads and spears in their hands. When the Lacedaemonians saw them they bowed down and prayed, thinking that the Dioskouroi themselves had come to their sacrifice.

{4.27.3} When once they had come among them, the youths rode right through them, striking with their spears, and when many had been killed, returned to Andania, having outraged the sacrifice to the Dioskouroi. It was this, in my view, that roused the Dioskouroi to their hatred of the Messenians. But now, as the dream declared to Epameinondas, the Dioskouroi no longer opposed the return of the Messenians.

{4.27.4} Epameinondas was most strongly drawn to the foundation by the oracles of Bacis, who was inspired by the Nymphs and left prophecies regarding others of the Greeks as well as the return of the Messenians:

I have discovered that Bacis also told in what manner Eira would be captured, and this too is one of his oracles:

{4.27.5} When the mysteries were recovered, all who were of the priestly family set them down in books. As Epameinondas considered the spot where the city of the Messenians now stands most convenient for the foundation, he ordered enquiry to be made by the seers if the favor of the gods would follow him here. When they announced that the offerings were auspicious, he began preparations for the foundation, ordering stone to be brought, and summoning men skilled in laying out streets and in building houses, temples, and ring-walls.

{4.27.6} When all was in readiness, victims being provided by the Arcadians, Epameinondas himself and the Thebans then sacrificed to Dionysus and Apollo IsMenios in the accustomed manner, the Argives to Argive Hērā and Nemean Zeus, the Messenians to Zeus of Ithome and the Dioskouroi, and their priests to the Great Goddesses and Kaukon. And together they summoned heroes to return and dwell with them, first Messene the daughter of Triopas, after her Eurytos, Aphareus and his children, and of the sons of Hēraklēs Kresphontes and Aipytos. But the loudest summons from all alike was to Aristomenes.

{4.27.7} For that day they were engaged in sacrifice and prayer, but on the following days they raised the circuit of the walls, and within built houses and the temples. They worked to the sound of music, but only from Boeotian and Argive auloi [‘double-reeds’], and the tunes of Sacadas and Pronomos were brought into keen competition. The city itself was given the name Messene, but they founded other towns. The men of Nauplia were not disturbed at Mothone,

{4.27.8} and they allowed the people of Asine to remain in their home, remembering their kindness when they refused to join the Lacedaemonians in the war against them. The men of Nauplia on the return of the Messenians to Peloponnese brought them such gifts as they had, and while praying continually to the gods for their return begged the Messenians to grant protection to themselves.

{4.27.9} The Messenians returned to Peloponnese and recovered their own land two hundred and eighty-seven years after the capture of Eira, in the year when Dyskinetos was archon [arkhōn] in Athens and in the third year of the hundred and second Olympiad, [293] when Damon of Thourioi was victorious for the second time. It was no short time for the Plataeans that they were in exile from their country, and for the Delians when they settled in Adramyttion after being expelled from their island by the Athenians.

{4.27.10} The Minyae, driven by the Thebans from Orkhomenos after the battle of Leuktra, were restored to Boeotia by Philip the son of Amyntas, as were also the Plataeans. When Alexander had destroyed the city of the Thebans themselves, Kassandros the son of Antipatros rebuilt it after a few years. The exile of the Plataeans seems to have lasted the longest of those mentioned, but even this was not for more than two generations.

{4.27.11} But the wanderings of the Messenians outside the Peloponnese lasted almost three hundred years, during which it is clear that they did not depart in any way from their local customs, and did not lose their Doric dialect, but even to our day they have retained the purest Doric in Peloponnese.

{4.28.1} After their return they had nothing to fear at first from the Lacedaemonians. For the Lacedaemonians, restrained by fear of the Thebans, submitted to the foundation of Messene and to the gathering of the Arcadians into one city. But when the war of the people of Phokis, or, as it is called, the Sacred War caused the Thebans to withdraw from Peloponnese, the Lacedaemonians regained courage and could no longer refrain from attacking the Messenians.

{4.28.2} The Messenians maintained the war with the help of the Argives and Arcadians, and asked the Athenians for help. They refused to join in an attack on Laconia, but promised to render assistance in person if the Lacedaemonians began war and invaded Messenia. Finally the Messenians formed an alliance with Philip the son of Amyntas and the Macedonians; it was this, they say, that prevented them from taking part in the battle which the Greeks fought at Khaironeia. They refused, however, to bear arms against the Greeks.

{4.28.3} After the death of Alexander, when the Greeks had raised a second war against the Macedonians, the Messenians took part, as I have shown earlier in my account of Attica. [294] They did not join the Greeks against the Gauls, as Kleonymos and the Lacedaemonians refused to grant them a truce.

{4.28.4} Not long afterwards the Messenians occupied Elis, employing strategy and daring alike. The Eleians in the earliest times were the most law-abiding of the Peloponnesians, but when Philip the son of Amyntas did all the harm to Greece that has been related, he also bribed the leading men in Elis; the Eleians were divided by factions for the first time and came to blows, it is said.

{4.28.5} Henceforward it was likely to be more easy for quarrels to arise among men whose counsels were divided on account of the Lacedaemonians, and they arrived at civil war. Learning this, the Lacedaemonians were preparing to assist their partisans in Elis. While they were being organized in squadrons and distributed in companies, a thousand picked Messenian troops arrived hurriedly at Elis with Laconian blazons on their shields.

{4.28.6} Seeing their shields, all the Laconising party in Elis thought their supporters had arrived and received them into the fortress. But having obtained admission in this way, the Messenians drove out the supporters of the Lacedaemonians and made over the city to their own partisans.

{4.28.7} The trick is Homer’s, but the Messenians plainly imitated it opportunely, for Homer represents Patroklos in the Iliad [295] clad in the arms of Achilles, and says that the barbarians were filled with the belief that it was Achilles attacking them, and that their front ranks were thrown into confusion. Other stratagems are the invention of Homer, the coming of the two Greek spies by night among the Trojans, instead of one [296] and later a man coming to Troy, who pretends to be a deserter but actually is to find out their secrets.

{4.28.8} Again, the Trojans who, through youth or years were not of fighting age, he posted as garrison of the walls, [297] while the men of military age were encamped against the Greeks. The wounded Greeks in Homer arm the fighting men, so that even they may not be altogether idle. Indeed Homer’s ideas have proved useful to men in every matter.

{4.29.1} Not long after the affair at Elis, the Macedonians and Demetrios the son of Philip, son of Demetrios, [298] captured Messene. I have already, in my account of Sikyon, [299] narrated most of the crimes of Perseus against Philip himself and against Demetrios the son of Philip. These are the facts relating to the capture of Messene.

{4.29.2} Philip was in need of money, and as it was necessary to raise it at all costs, he sent Demetrios with a fleet to Peloponnese. He put in to one of the less frequented harbors of the Argolid, and at once marched his army by the shortest route to Messene. With an advance guard consisting of all the light-armed troops who knew the road to Ithome, he succeeded just before dawn in scaling the wall unnoticed at a point where it lay between the city and the peak of Ithome.

{4.29.3} When day dawned and the inhabitants had realized the danger that beset them, they were at first under the impression that the Lacedaemonians had forced an entry into the town, and attacked them more recklessly owing to their ancient hatred. But when they discovered from their equipment and speech that it was the Macedonians and Demetrios the son of Philip, they were filled with great fear, when they considered the Macedonian training in warfare and the good fortune which they saw that they enjoyed in all their ventures.

{4.29.4} Nevertheless the magnitude of the present evil caused them to display a courage beyond their strength, also they were inspired with hope for the best, since it seemed not without divine help that they had accomplished their return to Peloponnese after so long an absence. So the Messenians in the town went against the Macedonians full of courage, and the garrison on the acropolis attacked from the high ground above.

{4.29.5} In like manner the Macedonians, brave and experienced troops, at first offered a firm resistance. But worn out by their march, attacked by the men and bombarded with tiles and stones by the women, they took to flight in disorder. The majority were pushed over the precipices and killed, for Ithome is very steep at this point. A few escaped by throwing away their arms.

{4.29.6} The Messenians refrained at first from joining the Achaean league for the following reason, I think. When Pyrrhos the son of Aiakidēs made war on the Lacedaemonians, they came unasked to their assistance, and as a result of this service a more peaceful disposition towards them came to be established at Sparta. Therefore they were unwilling to revive the feud by joining the league, which was openly declared the bitterest enemy of the Lacedaemonians.

{4.29.7} I realize, as of course did the Messenians, that even without their joining the league the policy of the Achaeans was hostile to the Lacedaemonians. For the Argives and the Arcadian group formed not the smallest element in the league. However, in the course of time they joined the league. And not long afterwards Kleomenes the son of Leonidas, son of Kleonymos, captured the Arcadian Megalopolis in peace-time. [300]

{4.29.8} Of the people of Megalopolis who were caught in the city, some were killed at the time of its capture, but Philopoimen the son of Kraugis and all who withdrew with him (the number of the citizens who escaped is said to have been more than two-thirds) were received by the Messenians, who for the sake of the former services rendered by the Arcadians in the time of Aristomenes and again at the founding of Messene now repaid the like.

{4.29.9} Such, it would seem, are the vicissitudes of human affairs, if in fact the superhuman force [daimōn] granted that the Messenians should in their turn preserve the Arcadians, and what is still more surprising, that they should capture Sparta. For they fought against Kleomenes at Sellasia and joined with Aratos and the Achaeans to capture Sparta.

{4.29.10} When the Lacedaemonians were rid of Kleomenes there rose to power a tyrant Makhanidas, and after his death a second tyrant arose in Nabis. As he plundered human property and robbed temples alike, he amassed vast wealth in a short time and with it raised an army. This Nabis seized Messene, but when Philopoimen and the people of Megalopolis arrived during the same night,

{4.29.11} the Spartan tyrant retired on terms. But the Achaeans after this, having some quarrel with the Messenians, invaded them with all their forces and ravaged most of the country. On a second occasion they mustered when the wheat was ripe to invade Messenia. But Deinocrates, the head of the government, who had been chosen to command the Messenians on that occasion, compelled Lykortas and his force to retire without effecting anything, by occupying beforehand the passes from Arcadia into Messenia with the Messenians from the city and troops from the surrounding districts that came to their assistance.

{4.29.12} Philopoimen arrived with a few cavalry some time later than the force with Lykortas and had been unable to obtain any news of it; the Messenians, having the advantage of the high ground, defeated him and took him alive. I will narrate the manner of Philopoimen’s capture and death in my account of Arcadia later. [301] The Messenians, who were responsible for his death, were punished and Messene was again brought into the Achaean league.

{4.29.13} Hitherto my account has dealt with the many sufferings of the Messenians, how fate scattered them to the ends of the earth, far from Peloponnese, and afterwards brought them safely home to their own country. Let us now turn to a description of the country and cities.

{4.30.1} There is in our time a city Abia in Messenia on the coast, some twenty stadium-lengths distant from the Choerius valley. They say that this was formerly called Ire and was one of the seven cities which Homer says that Agamemnon promised to Achilles. [302] When Hyllos and the Dorians were defeated by the Achaeans, it is said that Abia, nurse of Glenus the son of Hēraklēs, withdrew to Ire, and settling there built a temple to Hēraklēs, and that afterwards for this reason Kresphontes, amongst other honors assigned to her, renamed the city after Abia. There was a notable temple of Hēraklēs here, and also of Asklepios.

{4.30.2} Pharai is seventy stadium-lengths distant from Abia. On the road is a salt spring. The Emperor Augustus caused the Messenians of Pharai to be incorporated in Laconia. The founder Pharis is said to have been the son of Hermes and Phylodameia the daughter of Danaos. He had no male children, but a daughter Telegone. Homer, tracing her descendants in the Iliad, [303] says that twins, Crethon and Ortilokhos, were born to Diokles, Diokles himself being the son of Ortilokhos son of Alpheios. He makes no reference to Telegone, who in the Messenian account bore Ortilokhos to Alpheios.

{4.30.3} I heard also at Pharai that besides the twins a daughter Anticleia was born to Diokles, and that her children were Nikomakhos and Gorgasus, by Makhaon the son of Asklepios. They remained at Pharai and succeeded to the kingdom on the death of Diokles. The power of healing diseases and curing the maimed has remained with them to this day, and in return for this, sacrifices and votive offerings are brought to their sanctuary. The people of Pharai possess also a temple of Fortune (Tyche) and an ancient image.

{4.30.4} Homer is the first whom I know to have mentioned Fortune in his poems. He did so in the Hymn to Demeter, where he enumerates the daughters of Okeanos, telling how they played with Kore the daughter of Demeter, and making Fortune one of them. The lines are:

{4.30.5} He said nothing further about this goddess being the mightiest of gods in human affairs and displaying greatest strength, as in the Iliad he represented Athena and Enyo as supreme in war, and Artemis feared in childbirth, and Aphrodite heeding the affairs of marriage. [304] But he makes no other mention of Fortune.

{4.30.6} Boupalos [305] a skillful temple-architect and carver of images, who made the statue of Fortune at Smyrna, was the first whom we know to have represented her with the celestial sphere [polos] upon her head and carrying in one hand the horn of Amaltheia, as the Greeks call it, representing her functions to this extent. The poems of Pindar later contained references to Fortune, and it is he who called her Supporter of the City.

{4.31.1} Not far from Pharai is a grove of Apollo Karneios and a spring of water in it. Pharai is about six stadium-lengths from the sea. Eighty stadium-lengths on the road which leads thence into the interior of Messenia is the city of the Thuriatae, which they say had the name Antheia in Homer’s poems. [306] Augustus gave Thuria into the possession of the Lacedaemonians of Sparta. For when Augustus was emperor of the Romans, Antony, himself a Roman, made war upon him and was joined by the Messenians and the rest of the Greeks, because the Lacedaemonians were on the side of Augustus.

{4.31.2} For this reason Augustus punished the Messenians and the rest of his adversaries, some more, some less. The people of Thuria left their town, which lay originally on high ground, and came down to live in the plain. Nevertheless the upper town is not entirely deserted, but there are remains of the wall and a temple there, called the temple of the Syrian Goddess. A river called Aris flows past the town in the plain.

{4.31.3} In the interior is a village Calamae and a place Limnae, where is a sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis (Of the lake). They say that Teleklos king of Sparta met his end here.

{4.31.4} On the road from Thuria towards Arcadia are the springs of the Pamisus, at which little children find cures.

A road turns to the left from the springs, and after some forty stadium-lengths is the city of the Messenians under Ithome. It is enclosed not only by Mount Ithome, but on the side towards the Pamisos by Mount Eva. The mountain is said to have obtained its name from the fact that the Bacchic cry of “Evoe” was first uttered here by Dionysus and his attendant women.

{4.31.5} Round Messene is a wall, the whole circuit of which is built of stone, with towers and battlements upon it. I have not seen the walls at Babylon or the walls of Memnon at Susa of-the-Persians [Persika], nor have I heard the account of any eyewitness; but the walls at Ambrossos in Phokis, at Byzantium and at Rhodes, all of them the most strongly fortified places, are not so strong as the Messenian wall.

{4.31.6} The Messenians possess a statue of Zeus the Savior in the marketplace and a fountain Arsinoe. It received its name from the daughter of Leukippos and is fed from a source called Clepsydra. There are sanctuaries of the gods Poseidon and Aphrodite, and, what is most deserving of mention, a statue of the Mother of the Gods, of Parian marble, the work of Damophon, [307] the artist who repaired the Zeus at Olympia with extreme accuracy when the ivory parted. Honors have been granted to him by the people of Elis.

{4.31.7} By Damophon too is the so-called Laphria at Messene. The cult came to be established among them in the following way: Among the people of Calydon, Artemis, who was worshipped by them above all the gods, had the title Laphria, and the Messenians who received Naupaktos from the Athenians, being at that time close neighbors of the Aetolians, adopted her from the people of Calydon. I will describe her appearance in another place [= 7.18.8]. The name Laphria spread only to the Messenians and to the Achaeans of Patrai.

{4.31.8} But all cities worship Artemis of Ephesos, and individuals hold her in honor above all the gods. The reason, in my view, is the renown of the Amazons, who traditionally dedicated the image, also the extreme antiquity of this sanctuary. Three other points as well have contributed to her renown, the size of the temple, surpassing all buildings among men, the eminence of the city of the Ephesians and the renown of the goddess who dwells there.

{4.31.9} The Messenians have a temple erected to Eileithuia with a stone statue, and near by a hall of the Kouretes, where they make burned offerings of every kind of living creature, thrusting into the flames not only cattle and goats, but finally birds as well. There is a holy shrine of Demeter at Messene and statues of the Dioskouroi, carrying the daughters of Leukippos. I have already explained in an earlier passage [308] that the Messenians argue that the sons of Tyndareus belong to them rather than to the Lacedaemonians.

{4.31.10} The most numerous statues and the most worth seeing are to be found in the sanctuary of Asklepios. For besides statues of the god and his sons, and besides statues of Apollo, the Muses and Hēraklēs, the city of Thebes is represented and Epameinondas the son of Kleommis, Fortune, and Artemis Bringer of Light. The stone statues are the work of Damophon (I know of no other Messenian sculptor of merit apart from him); the statue of Epameinondas is of iron and the work of some other artist.

{4.31.11} There is also a temple of Messene the daughter of Triopas with a statue of gold and Parian marble. At the back of the temple are paintings of the kings of Messene: before the coming of the Dorian host to Peloponnese, Aphareus and his sons, after the return of the Herakleidai, Kresphontes the Dorian leader, of the inhabitants of Pylos, Nestor, Thrasymedes and Antilokhos, singled out from among the sons of Nestor on the score of age and because they took part in the expedition to Troy.

{4.31.12} There is Leukippos brother of Aphareus, Hilaeira and Phoebe, and with them Arsinoe. Asklepios too is represented, being according to the Messenian account a son of Arsinoe, also Makhaon and Podaleirios, as they also took part in the affair at Troy. These pictures were painted by Omphalion, pupil of Nikias [309] the son of Nikomedes. Some say that he was also a slave in the house of Nikias and his favorite.

{4.32.1} The place called Hierothesion by the Messenians contains statues of all the gods whom the Greeks worship, and also a bronze image of Epameinondas. Ancient tripods are dedicated there, which ‘have felt not the fire’, as Homer says. [310] The statues in the gymnasium are the work of Egyptian artists. They represent Hermes, Hēraklēs, and Theseus, who are honored in the gymnasium and wrestling-ground according to a practice universal among Greeks, and now common among barbarians …

{4.32.2} I learned by enquiry that Aethidas was a man older than myself, who gained influence through his wealth and is honored by the Messenians as a hero. There are certain Messenians, who, while admitting that Aethidas was a man of great wealth, maintain that it is not he who is represented on the relief but an ancestor and namesake. The elder Aethidas was their leader, when Demetrios the son of Philip and his force surprised them in the night and succeeded in penetrating into the town unnoticed.

{4.32.3} There is also the tomb of Aristomenes here. They say that it is not a cenotaph, but when I asked whence and in what manner they recovered the bones of Aristomenes, they said that they sent to Rhodes for them, and that it was the god of Delphi who ordered it. They also instructed me in the nature of the rites carried out at the tomb. The bull which is to be offered to the dead man is brought to the tomb and bound to the pillar which stands upon the tomb. Being fierce and unused to bonds he will not stand; and if the pillar is moved by his struggles and bounds, it is a good omen to the Messenians, but if the pillar is not moved the sign portends misfortune.

{4.32.4} They have it that Aristomenes was present at the battle of Leuktra, though no longer among men, and say that he helped the Thebans and was the chief cause of the Lacedaemonian disaster. I know that the Chaldaeans and Indian sages were the first to say that the soul of man is immortal, and have been followed by some of the Greeks, particularly by Plato the son of Ariston. If all are willing to accept this, this too cannot be denied, that his hatred for the Lacedaemonians was imparted to Aristomenes for all time.

{4.32.5} What I myself heard in Thebes gives probability to the Messenian account, although it does not coincide in all respects. The Thebans say that when the battle of Leuktra was imminent, they sent to other oracles and to enquire of the god of Lebadeia. The replies of the Ismenian and Ptoan Apollo are recorded, also the responses given at Abaiand at Delphi. Trophonios, they say, answered in hexameters:

{4.32.6} When the oracle was brought, they say that Epameinondas urged Xenocrates, who sent for the shield of Aristomenes and used it to adorn a trophy in a spot where it could be seen by the Lacedaemonians. Those of them who had seen the shield at Lebadeia in peace-time knew it, and all knew it by repute. After their victory the Thebans restored the offering to Trophonios. There is also a bronze statue of Aristomenes in the Messenian running-ground. Not far from the theater is a sanctuary of Sarapis and Isis.

{4.33.1} On the ascent to the summit of Ithome, which is the Messenian acropolis, is a spring Clepsydra. It is a hopeless task, however zealously undertaken, to enumerate all the peoples who claim that Zeus was born and brought up among them. The Messenians have their share in the story for they too say that the god was brought up among them and that his nurses were Ithome and Neda, the river having received its name from the latter, while the former, Ithome, gave her name to the mountain. These nymphs are said to have bathed Zeus here, after he was stolen by the Kouretes owing to the danger that threatened from his father, and it is said that it has its name from the Kouretes’ theft. Water is carried every day from the spring to the sanctuary of Zeus of Ithome.

{4.33.2} The statue of Zeus is the work of Ageladas [311] and was made originally for the Messenian settlers in Naupaktos. The priest is chosen annually and keeps the image in his house. [312] They keep an annual festival, the Ithomaia, and originally a musical contest was held. This can be gathered from the epic lines of Eumēlos and other sources. Eumēlos, in his processional hymn to Delos, says:

I think that he wrote the lines because he knew that they held a musical contest.

{4.33.3} At the Arcadian gate leading to Megalopolis is a Herm of Attic style; for the square form of Herm is Athenian, and the rest adopted it thence. After a descent of thirty stadium-lengths from the gate is the watercourse of Balyra. The river is said to have got its name from Thamyris throwing (ballein) his lyre away here after his blinding. He was the son of Philammon and the nymph Argiope, who once dwelled on Parnassus, but settled among the Odrysaiwhen pregnant, for Philammon refused to take her into his house. Thamyris is called an Odrysian and Thracian on these grounds. The watercourses Leucasia and Amphitos unite to form one stream.

{4.33.4} When these are crossed, there is a plain called the plain of Stenyclerus. Stenyclerus was a hero, it is said. Facing the plain is a site anciently called Oechalia, in our time the Carnasian grove, thickly grown with cypresses. There are statues of the gods Apollo Karneios <and Hagne>, also Hermes carrying a ram. Hagne (the holy one) is a title of Kore the daughter of Demeter. Water rises from a spring close to the statue.

{4.33.5} I may not reveal the rites of the Great Goddesses, for it is their mysteries which they celebrate in the Carnasian grove, and I regard them as second only to the Eleusinian in sanctity. But my dream did not prevent me from making known to all that the bronze urn, discovered by the Argive general, and the bones of Eurytos the son of Melaneus were kept here. A river Kharadros flows past the grove;

{4.33.6} about eight stadium-lengths along the road to the left are the ruins of Andania. The guides agree that the city got its name from a woman Andania, but I can say nothing as to her parents or her husband. On the road from Andania towards Cyparissiae is Polichne, as it is called, and the streams of Electra and Coeus. The names perhaps are to be connected with Electra the daughter of Atlas and Coeus the father of Leto, or Electra and Coeus may be two local heroes.

{4.33.7} When the Electra is crossed, there is a spring called Achaea, and the ruins of a city Dorion. Homer states [313] that the misfortune of Thamyris took place here in Dorion, because he said that he would overcome the Muses themselves in song. But Prodicus of Phokaia, if the epic called the Minyad [314] is indeed his, says that Thamyris paid the penalty in Hades for his boast against the Muses. My view is that Thamyris lost his eyesight through disease, as happened later to Homer. Homer, however, continued making poetry all his life without giving way to his misfortune, while Thamyris forsook his art through stress of the trouble that afflicted him.

{4.34.1} From Messene to the mouth of the Pamisus is a journey of eighty stadium-lengths. The Pamisus is a pure stream flowing through cultivated lands, and is navigable some ten stadium-lengths from the sea. Sea-fish run up it, especially in spring, as they do up the Rhine and Maeander. The chief run of fish is up the stream of the Akhelōos, which discharges opposite the Echinades islands.

{4.34.2} But the fish that enter the Pamisus are of quite a different kind, as the water is pure and not muddy like the rivers which I have mentioned. The grey mullet, a fish that loves mud, frequents the more turbid streams. The rivers of Greece contain no creatures dangerous to men as do the Indus and the Egyptian Nile, or again the Rhine and Danube, the Euphrates and Phasis. These indeed produce man-eating creatures of the worst, in shape resembling the catfish of the Hermos and Maeander, but of darker color and stronger. In these respects the catfish is inferior.

{4.34.3} The Indus and Nile both contain crocodiles, and the Nile river-horses as well, as dangerous to man as the crocodile. But the rivers of Greece contain no terrors from wild beasts, for the sharks of the Aous, which flows through Thesprotia, are not river beasts but migrants from the sea.

{4.34.4} Corone is a city to the right of the Pamisus, on the sea-coast under Mount Mathia. On this road is a place on the coast regarded as sacred to Ino. For they say that she came up from the sea at this point, after her divinity had been accepted and her name changed from Ino to Leucothea. A short distance further the river Bias reaches the sea. The name is said to be derived from Bias the son of Amythaon. Twenty stadium-lengths off the road is the fountain of Plataniston, the water of which flows out of a broad plane tree, which is hollow inside. The breadth of the tree gives the impression of a small cave; from it the drinking water flows to Corone.

{4.34.5} The old name of Corone was Aepeia, but when the Messenians were restored to Peloponnese by the Thebans, it is said that Epimelides, who was sent as founder, named it Coroneia after his native town in Boeotia. The Messenians got the name wrong from the start, and the mistake which they made gradually prevailed in course of time. Another story is told to the effect that, when digging the foundations of the city wall, they came upon a bronze crow, in Greek corone.

{4.34.6} The gods who have temples here are Artemis, called the “Nurse of Children,” Dionysus and Asklepios. The statues of Asklepios and Dionysus are of stone, but there is a statue of Zeus the Savior in the marketplace made of bronze. The statue of Athena also on the acropolis is of bronze, and stands in the open air, holding a crow in her hand. I also saw the tomb of Epimelides. I do not know why they call the harbor “the harbor of the Achaeans.”

{4.34.7} Some eighty stadium-lengths beyond Corone is a sanctuary of Apollo on the coast, venerated because it is very ancient according to Messenian tradition, and the god cures illnesses. They call him Apollo Corynthus. His image is of wood, but the statue of Apollo Argeotas, said to have been dedicated by the Argonauts, is of bronze.

{4.34.8} The city of Corone is adjoined by Colonides. The inhabitants say that they are not Messenians but settlers from Attica brought by Kolainos, who followed a bird known as the crested lark to found the settlement in accordance with an oracle. They were, however, in the course of time to adopt the dialect and customs of the Dorians. The town of Colonides lies on high ground, a short distance from the sea.

{4.34.9} The people of Asine originally adjoined the Lycoritaion Parnassus. Their name, which they maintained after their arrival in Peloponnese, was Dryopes, from their founder. Two generations after Dryops, in the reign of Phylas, the Dryopes were conquered in battle by Hēraklēs and brought as an offering to Apollo at Delphi. When brought to Peloponnese according to the god’s instructions to Hēraklēs, they first occupied Asine by Hermion. They were driven thence by the Argives and lived in Messenia. This was the gift of the Lacedaemonians, and when in the course of time the Messenians were restored, they were not driven from their city by the Messenians.

{4.34.10} But the people of Asine give this account of themselves. They admit that they were conquered by Hēraklēs and their city in Parnassus captured, but they deny that they were made prisoners and brought to Apollo. But when the walls were carried by Hēraklēs, they deserted the town and fled to the heights of Parnassus, and afterwards crossed the sea to Peloponnese and appealed to Eurystheus. Being at feud with Hēraklēs, he gave them Asine in the Argolid.

{4.34.11} The men of Asine are the only members of the people known as the Dryopes to pride themselves on the name to this day. The case is very different with the Euboeans of Styra. They too are Dryopes in origin, who took no part in the battle with Hēraklēs, as they dwelled at some distance from the city. Yet the people of Styra disdain the name of Dryopes, just as the Delphians have refused to be called people of Phokis. But the men of Asine take the greatest pleasure in being called Dryopes, and clearly have made the most holy of their sanctuaries in memory of those which they once had, established on Parnassus. For they have both a temple of Apollo and again a temple and ancient statue of Dryops, whose mysteries they celebrate every year, saying that he is the son of Apollo.

{4.34.12} The town itself lies on the coast just as the old Asine in Argive territory. It is a journey of forty stadium-lengths from Colonides to Asine, and of an equal number from Asine to the promontory called Acritas. Acritas projects into the sea and has a deserted island, Theganussa, lying off it. After Acritas is the harbor Phoinikos and the Oenussae islands lying opposite.

{4.35.1} Before the mustering of the army for the Trojan war, and during the war, Mothone was called Pedasus. Later, as the people themselves say, it received a new name from the daughter of Oineus. They say that Mothone was born of a concubine to Oineus the son of Porthaon, when he had taken refuge with Diomede in Peloponnese after the fall of Troy. But in my view it was the rock Mothon that gave the place its name. It is this which forms their harbor. For projecting under water, it makes the entrance for ships more narrow and also serves as a breakwater against a heavy swell.

{4.35.2} I have shown in earlier passages [315] that, when the Nauplians in the reign of Damocratidas in Argos were expelled for their Laconian sympathies, the Lacedaemonians gave them Mothone, and that no change was made regarding them on the part of the Messenians when they returned. The Nauplians in my view were Egyptians originally, who came by sea with Danaos to the Argolid, and two generations later were settled in Nauplia by Nauplios the son of Amymone.

{4.35.3} The Emperor Trajan granted civic freedom and autonomy to the people of Mothone. In earlier days they were the only people of Messenia on the coast to suffer a disaster like the following: Thesprotian Epeiros was ruined by anarchy. For Deidameia the daughter of Pyrrhos, being without children, handed over the government to the people when she was on the point of death. She was the daughter of Pyrrhos, son of Ptolemy, son of Alexander, son of Pyrrhos.

{4.35.4} I have told the facts relating to Pyrrhos the son of Aiakidēs in my account of the Athenians. [316] Prokles the Carthaginian [317] indeed rated Alexander the son of Philip higher on account of his good fortune and for the brilliance of his achievements, but said that Pyrrhos was the better man in infantry and cavalry tactics and in the invention of stratagems of war.

{4.35.5} When the people of Epeiros were rid of their kings, the people threw off all control and disdained to listen to their magistrates, and the Illyrians who live on the Ionian sea above Epeiros reduced them by a raid. We have yet to hear of a democracy bringing prosperity to a nation other than the Athenians; the Athenians attained to greatness by its means, for they surpassed the Greek world in native wit, and least disregarded the established laws.

{4.35.6} Now the Illyrians, having tasted empire and being always desirous of more, built ships, and plundering others whom they fell in with, put in to the coast of Mothone and anchored as in a friendly port. Sending a messenger to the city they asked for wine to be brought to their ships. A few men came with it and they bought the wine at the price which the inhabitants asked, and themselves sold a part of their cargo.

{4.35.7} When on the following day a larger number arrived from the town, they allowed them also to make their profit. Finally women and men came down to the ships to sell wine and trade with the barbarians. Thereupon by a bold stroke the Illyrians carried off a number of men and still more of the women. Carrying them on board ship, they set sail for the Ionian sea, having desolated the city of the Mothonaeans.

{4.35.8} In Mothone is a temple of Athena Of the Winds, with a statue dedicated, it is said, by Diomede, who gave the goddess her name. The country being damaged by violent and unseasonable blasts, Diomede prayed to the goddess, and henceforward no disaster caused by the winds has visited their country. There is also a shrine of Artemis here and water in a well mixed with pitch, in appearance very like the iris-oil of Cyzicos. Water can assume every color and scent.

{4.35.9} The bluest that I know from personal experience is that at Thermopylae, not all of it, but that which flows into the swimming-baths, called locally the Women’s Pots. Red water, in color like blood, is found in the land of the Hebrews near the city of Joppa. The water is close to the sea, and the account which the natives give of the spring is that Perseus, after destroying the sea monster, to which the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, washed off the blood in the spring.

{4.35.10} I have myself seen water coming up black from springs at Astyra. Astyra opposite Lesbos is the name of the hot baths in the district called Atarneus. It was this Atarneus, which the Chians received as a reward from the Persians as a reward for surrendering the suppliant, Pactyas the Lydian. [318] This water then has a black color; but the Romans have a white water, above the city across the river called Anio. When a man enters it, he is at first attacked with cold and shivering, but after a little time it warms him like the hottest drug.

{4.35.11} All these springs that had something wonderful to show I have seen myself. For I pass over the less wonderful that I know, and it is no great marvel to find water that is salt and harsh. But there are two other kinds. The water in the White Plain, as it is called, in Caria, by the village with the name Dascylou Come, is warm and sweeter than milk to drink. I know that Herodotus says that a spring of bitter water flows into the river Hypanis. We can assuredly admit the truth of his statement, when in our days at Dicaearchia (Puteoli), in the land of the Tyrrhenians, a hot spring has been found, so acid that in a few years it dissolved the lead through which its water passed.

{4.36.1} It is a journey of about a hundred stadium-lengths from Mothone to the promontory of Coryphasium, on which Pylos lies. This was founded by Pylos the son of Kleson, bringing from the Megarid the Leleges who then occupied the country. But he did not enjoy it, as he was driven out by Neleus and the Pelasgians of Iolcos, on which he departed to the adjoining country and there occupied the Pylos in Elis. When Neleus became king, he raised Pylos to such renown that Homer in his epics calls it the city of Neleus. [319]

{4.36.2} It contains a sanctuary of Athena with the title Coryphasia, and a house called the house of Nestor, in which there is a painting of him. His tomb is inside the city; the tomb at a little distance from Pylos is said to be the tomb of Thrasymedes. There is a cave inside the town, in which it is said that the cattle belonging to Nestor and to Neleus before him were kept.

{4.36.3} These cattle must have been of Thessalian stock, having once belonged to Iphiklos the father of Protesilaos. Neleus demanded these cattle as bride gifts for his daughter from her suitors, and it was on their account that Melampos went to Thessaly to gratify his brother Bias. He was put in bonds by the herdsmen of Iphiklos, but received them as his reward for the prophecies which he gave to Iphiklos at his request. So it seems the men of those days made it their business to amass wealth of this kind, herds of horses and cattle, if it is the case that Nestor desired to get possession of the cattle of Iphiklos and that Eurystheus, in view of the reputation of the Iberian cattle, ordered Hēraklēs to drive off the herd of Geryones.

{4.36.4} Eryx too, who was reigning then in Sicily, plainly had so violent a desire for the cattle from Erytheia that he wrestled with Hēraklēs, staking his kingdom on the match against these cattle. As Homer says in the Iliad, [320] a hundred kine were the first of the bride gifts paid by Iphidamas the son of Antenor to his bride’s father. This confirms my argument that the men of those days took the greatest pleasure in cattle.

{4.36.5} But the cattle of Neleus were pastured for the most part across the border, I think. For the country of the Pylians in general is sandy and unable to provide so much grazing. Homer testifies to this, when he mentions Nestor, always adding that he was king of sandy Pylos.

{4.36.6} The island of Sphakteria lies in front of the harbor just as Rheneia off the anchorage at Delos. It seems that places hitherto unknown have been raised to fame by the fortunes of men. For Caphereus in Euboea is famous since the storm that here befell the Greeks with Agamemnon on their voyage from Troy. Psyttaleia by Salamis we know from the destruction of the Persians there. In like manner the Lacedaemonian reverse made Sphakteria known to all mankind. The Athenians dedicated a bronze statue of Victory also on the acropolis as a memorial of the events at Sphakteria.

{4.36.7} When Cyparissiae is reached from Pylos, there is a spring below the city near the sea, the water of which they say gushed forth for Dionysus when he struck he ground with a thyrsus. For this reason they call the spring Dionysias. There is a shrine of Apollo in Cyparissiae and of Athena with the title Cyparissia. In the depression called Aulon there is a temple and statue of Asklepios Aulonios. Here flows the river Neda, forming the boundary between Messenia and Elis.

[ back ]

{5.1.1} The Greeks who say that the Peloponnesus has five, and only five, divisions must agree that Arcadia contains both Arcadians and Eleians, that the second division belongs to the Achaeans, and the remaining three to the Dorians. Of the people dwelling in Peloponnesus the Arcadians and Achaeans are aborigines. When the Achaeans were driven from their land by the Dorians, they did not retire from Peloponnesus, but they cast out the Ionians and occupied the land called of old Aigialos, but now called Achaea from these Achaeans. The Arcadians, on the other hand, have from the beginning to the present time continued in possession of their own country.

{5.1.2} The rest of Peloponnesus belongs to immigrants. The modern Corinthians are the latest inhabitants of Peloponnesus, and in the era from my time to the time when they received their land from the Roman Emperor is two hundred and seventeen years. The Dryopians reached the Peloponnesus from Parnassus, the Dorians from Oitē.

{5.1.3} The Eleians we know crossed over from Calydon and Aetolia generally. Their earlier history I found to be as follows. The first to rule in this land, they say, was Aethlios, who was the son of Zeus and of Protogeneia, the daughter of Deukalion, and the father of Endymion.

{5.1.4} The Moon, they say, fell in love with this Endymion and bore him fifty daughters. Others with greater probability say that Endymion took a wife Asterodia—others say she was Kromia, the daughter of Itonos, the son of Amphiktyon; others again, Hyperippe, the daughter of Arkas—but all agree that Endymion begot Paion, Epeios, Aitolos, and also a daughter Eurukuda. Endymion set his sons to run a race at Olympia for the throne; Epeios won, and obtained the kingdom, and his subjects were then named Epeians for the first time.

{5.1.5} Of his brothers they say that Aitolos remained at home, while Paion, vexed at his defeat, went into the farthest exile possible and that the region beyond the river Axios was named after him Paionia. As to the death of Endymion, the people of Herakleia near Miletus do not agree with the Eleians for while the Eleians show a tomb of Endymion, the folk of Herakleia say that he retired to Mount Latmos and give him honor, there being a shrine of Endymion on Latmos.

{5.1.6} Epeios married Anaxirhoe, the daughter of Koronos, and begot a daughter Hyrmina, but no male issue. In the reign of Epeios the following events also occurred. Oinomaos was the son of Alxion (though poets proclaimed his father to be Ares, and the common report agrees with them), but while lord of the land of Pisa, he was put down by Pelops the Lydian, who crossed over from Asia.

{5.1.7} On the death of Oinomaos, Pelops took possession of the land of Pisa and its bordering country Olympia, separating it from the land of Epeios. The Eleians said that Pelops was the first to found a temple of Hermes in Peloponnesus and to sacrifice to the god, his purpose being to avert the wrath of the god for the death of Myrtilos.

{5.1.8} Aitolos, who came to the throne after Epeios, was made to flee from Peloponnesus, because the children of Apis tried and convicted him of unintentional homicide. For Apis, the son of Jason, from Pallantion in Arcadia, was run over and killed by the chariot of Aitolos at the Games held in honor of Azan. Aitolos, son of Endymion, gave to the dwellers around the Akhelōos their name, when he fled to this part of the mainland. But the kingdom of the Epeians fell to Eleios, the son of Eurukuda, daughter of Endymion and, believe the tale who will, of Poseidon. It was Eleios who gave the inhabitants their present name of Eleians in place of Epeians.

{5.1.9} Eleios had a son Augeias. Those who exaggerate his glory give a turn to the name Eleios and make Hēlios to be the father of Augeias. This Augeias had so many cattle and flocks of goats that actually most of his land remained uncultivated because of the manure produced by the animals. Now he persuaded Hēraklēs to purify for him the land from dung, either in return for a part of Elis or possibly for some other reward.

{5.1.10} Hēraklēs accomplished this feat too, turning aside the stream of the Menios into the manure. But because Hēraklēs had accomplished his task by cunning, without toil, Augeias refused to give him his reward and banished Phyleus, the elder of his two sons, for objecting that he was wronging a man who had been his benefactor. He made preparations himself to resist Hēraklēs, should he attack Elis; more particularly, he made friends with the sons of Aktor and with Amarynkeus. Amarynkeus, besides being a good soldier,

{5.1.11} had a father, Pyttios, of Thessalian descent, who came from Thessaly to Elis. To Amarynkeus, therefore, Augeias also gave a share in the government of Elis; Aktor and his sons had a share in the kingdom and were natives of the country. For the father of Aktor was Phorbas, son of Lapithos, and his mother was Hyrmina, daughter of Epeios. Aktor named after her the city of Hyrmina, which he founded in Elis.

{5.2.1} Hēraklēs accomplished no brilliant feat in the war with Augeias. For the sons of Aktor were in the prime of courageous manhood and always put to flight the allies under Hēraklēs, until the Corinthians proclaimed the Isthmian truce, and the sons of Aktor came as envoys to the meeting. Hēraklēs set an ambush for them at Kleonai and murdered them. As the murderer was unknown, Moline, more than any of the other children, devoted herself to detecting him.

{5.2.2} When she discovered him, the Eleians demanded satisfaction for the crime from the Argives, for at the time Hēraklēs had his home at Tiryns. When the Argives refused them satisfaction, the Eleians as an alternative pressed the Corinthians entirely to exclude the Argive people from the Isthmian Games. When they failed in this also, Moline is said to have laid curses on her countrymen, should they refuse to boycott the Isthmian festival. The curses of Moline are respected right down to the present day, and it is a custom that no athlete competes in the Isthmian Games.

{5.2.3} There are two other accounts differing from the one that I have given. According to one of them, Kypselos, the tyrant of Corinth, dedicated to Zeus a golden image at Olympia. As Kypselos died before inscribing his own name on the offering, the Corinthians asked of the Eleians leave to inscribe the name of Corinth on it but were refused. Angry with the Eleians, they proclaimed that they must keep away from the Isthmian Games. But how could the Corinthians themselves take part in the Olympic Games if the Eleians against their will were shut out by the Corinthians from the Isthmian Games?

{5.2.4} The other account is this. Prolaos, a distinguished Eleian, had two sons, Philanthos and Lampos, by his wife Lysippe. These two came to the Isthmian Games [321] to compete in the boys’ pankration, and one of them intended to wrestle. Before they entered the ring, they were strangled or done to death in some other way by their fellow competitors. Hence, the curses of Lysippe on the Eleians, should they not voluntarily keep away from the Isthmian Games. But this story too proves on examination to be silly.

{5.2.5} For Timon, a man of Elis, won victories in the pentathlon at the Greek Games, and at Olympia, there is even a statue of him, with an elegiac inscription giving the garlands he won and also the reason why he secured no Isthmian victory. The inscription sets forth the reason thus:

{5.3.1} Enough of my discussion of this question. Hēraklēs afterwards took Elis and sacked it, with an army he had raised of Argives, Thebans and Arcadians. The Eleians were aided by the men of Pisa and of Pylos in Elis. The men of Pylos were punished by Hēraklēs, but his expedition against Pisa was stopped by an oracle from Delphi that goes like this:

This oracle proved the salvation of Pisa. To Phyleus Hēraklēs gave up the land of Elis and all the rest, more out of respect for Phyleus than because he wanted to do so: he allowed him to keep the prisoners, and Augeias to escape punishment.

{5.3.2} The women of Elis, it is said, seeing that their land had been deprived of its vigorous manhood, prayed to Athena that they might conceive at their first union with their husbands. Their prayer was answered, and they set up a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Mother. Both wives and husbands were so delighted at their union that they named the place itself where they first met, Badu [sweet], and the river that runs thereby Badu Water, this being a word of their native dialect.

{5.3.3} When Phyleus had returned to Doulikhion after organizing the affairs of Elis, Augeias died at an advanced age, and the kingdom of Elis devolved on Agasthenes, the son of Augeias, and on Amphimakhos and Thalpios. For the sons of Aktor married twin sisters, the daughters of Dexamenos who was king at Olenos; Amphimakhos was born to one son and Theronikē, Thalpios to her sister Theraiphone and Eurytos.

{5.3.4} However, neither Amarynkeus himself nor his son Diores remained common people. Incidentally this is shown by Homer [323] in his list of the Eleians; he makes their whole fleet to consist of forty ships, half of them under the command of Amphimakhos and Thalpios, and of the remaining twenty he puts ten under Diores, the son of Amarynkeus, and ten under Polyxenos, the son of Agasthenes. Polyxenos came back safe from Troy and begot a son, Amphimakhos. This name I think Polyxenos gave his son because of his friendship with Amphimakhos, the son of Kteatos, who died at Troy.

{5.3.5} Amphimakhos begot Eleios, and it was while Eleios was king in Elis that the assembly of the Dorian army under the sons of Aristomakhos took place, with a view to returning to the Peloponnesus. To their kings was delivered this oracle, that they were to choose the “one with three eyes” to lead them on their return. When they were at a loss as to the meaning of the oracle, they were met by a man driving a mule, which was blind of one eye.

{5.3.6} Kresphontes inferred that this was the man indicated by the oracle, and so the Dorians made him one of themselves. He urged them to descend upon the Peloponnesus in ships, and not to attempt to go across the Isthmus with a land army. Such was his advice, and at the same time, he led them on the voyage from Naupaktos to Molykrion. In return, they agreed to give him at his request the land of Elis. The man was Oxylos, son of Haimon, the son of Thoas. This was the Thoas who helped the sons of Atreus to destroy the empire of Priam, and from Thoas to Aitolos the son of Endymion are six generations.

{5.3.7} There were ties of kindred between the Herakleidai and the kings of Aetolia; in particular the mothers of Thoas, the son of Andraemon, and of Hyllos, the son of Hēraklēs, were sisters. It fell to the lot of Oxylos to be an outlaw from Aetolia. The story goes that as he was throwing the discus, he missed the mark and committed unintentional homicide. The man killed by the discus, according to one account, was Thermios, the brother of Oxylos; according to another, it was Alkidokos, the son of Skopios.

{5.4.1} The following story is also told of Oxylos. He suspected that, when the sons of Aristomakhos saw that the land of Elis was good and cultivated throughout, they would be no longer willing to give it to him. He accordingly led the Dorians through Arcadia and not through Elis. Oxylos was anxious to get the kingdom of Elis without a battle, but Dios would not give way; he proposed that, instead of their fighting a pitched battle with all their forces, a single soldier should be chosen from each army to fight as its champion.

{5.4.2} This proposal chanced to find favor with both sides, and the champions chosen were the Eleian Degmenos, an archer, and Pyraikhmes, a slinger, to represent the Aetolians. Pyraikhmes won, and Oxylos got the kingdom. He allowed the old inhabitants, the Epeians, to keep their possessions, except that he introduced among them Aetolian colonists, giving them a share in the land. He assigned privileges to Dios and kept up after the ancient manner the honors paid to heroes, especially the worship of Augeias, to whom even at the present day hero-sacrifice is offered.

{5.4.3} He is also said to have induced to come into the city the dwellers in the villages near the wall, and by increasing the number of the inhabitants to have made Elis larger and generally more prosperous. There also came to him an oracle from Delphi that he should bring in as cofounder “the descendant of Pelops.” Oxylos made diligent search, and in his search, he discovered Agorios, son of Damasios, son of Penthilos, son of Orestes. He brought Agorios himself from Helike in Achaea and with him a small body of Achaeans.

{5.4.4} The wife of Oxylos, they say, was called Pieria, but beyond this nothing more about her is recorded. Oxylos is said to have had two sons, Aitolos and Laias. Aitolos died before his parents, who buried him in a tomb which they caused to be made right in the gate leading to Olympia and the sanctuary of Zeus. That they buried him thus was due to an oracle forbidding the corpse to be laid either without the city or within it. Right down to our own day, the gymnasiarch sacrifices to Aitolos as to a hero every year.

{5.4.5} After Oxylos, the kingdom devolved on Laias, son of Oxylos. His descendants, however, I find did not reign, and so I pass them by, though I know who they were; my narrative must not descend to men of common rank. Later on Iphitos, of the line of Oxylos and contemporary with Lycurgus [Lykourgos], who drew up the code of laws for the Lacedaemonians, arranged the Games at Olympia and reestablished afresh the Olympic festival and truce after an interruption of uncertain length. The reason for this interruption I will set forth when my narrative deals with Olympia.

{5.4.6} At this time, Greece was grievously worn by internal strife and plague, and it occurred to Iphitos to ask the god at Delphi for deliverance from these evils. The story goes that the Pythian priestess ordained that Iphitos himself and that the Eleians must renew the Olympic Games. Iphitos also induced the Eleians to sacrifice to Hēraklēs as to a god, whom hitherto they had looked upon as their enemy. The inscription at Olympia calls Iphitos the son of Haimon, but most of the Greeks say that his father was Praxonides and not Haimon, while the ancient records of Elis traced him to a father of the same name.

{5.4.7} The Eleians played their part in the Trojan War and also in the battles of the Persian invasion of Greece. I pass over their struggles with the Pisans and Arcadians for the management of the Olympian Games. Against their will, they joined the Lacedaemonians in their invasion of Athenian territory, and shortly afterwards, they rose up with the Mantineians and Argives against the Lacedaemonians, inducing Athens too to join the alliance. [324]

{5.4.8} When Agis invaded the land and Xenias turned traitor, the Eleians won a battle near Olympia, routed the Lacedaemonians, and drove them out of the sacred enclosure; but shortly afterwards, the war was concluded by the treaty I have already spoken of in my account of the Lacedaemonians.

{5.4.9} When Philip the son of Amyntas would not let Greece alone, the Eleians, weakened by civil strife, joined the Macedonian alliance, but they could not bring themselves to fight against the Greeks at Khaironeia. They joined Philip’s attack on the Lacedaemonians [325] because of their old hatred of that people, but on the death of Alexander, they fought on the side of the Greeks against Antipatros and the Macedonians.

{5.5.1} Later on, Aristotīmos, the son of Damaretos, the son of Etymon, became despot of Elis, being aided in his attempt by Antigonos, the son of Demetrios, who was king in Macedonia. After a despotism of six months Aristotīmos was deposed, a rising against him having been organized by Khilon, Hellanikos, Lampis and Kylon; Kylon it was who with his own hand killed the despot when he had sought sanctuary at the altar of Zeus the Savior. Such were the wars of the Eleians, of which my present enumeration must serve as a summary.

{5.5.2} The land of Elis contains two marvels. Here, and here only in Greece, does fine flax grow; and secondly, only over the border, and not within it, can the mares be impregnated by asses. The cause of this is said to have been a curse. The fine flax of Elis is as fine as that of the Hebrews, but it is not so yellow.

{5.5.3} As you go from Elis, there is a district stretching down to the sea. It is called Samikon, and above it on the right is what is called Triphylia, in which is the city Lepreus. The citizens of this city wish to belong to the Arcadians, but it is plain that from the beginning, they have been subject to the Eleians. Those that have won Olympic victories have been announced by the herald as Eleians from Lepreus, and Aristophanes in a comedy calls Lepreus a town of the Eleians. Leaving the river Anigros, on the left there is a road leading to Lepreus; from Samikon, another leads to it from Olympia and a third from Elis. The longest of them is a day’s journey.

{5.5.4} The city got its name, they say, from its founder Lepreus, the son of Pyrgeus. There was also a story that Lepreus contended with Hēraklēs: that he was as good a trencherman. Each killed an ox at the same time and prepared it for the table. It turned out, even as Lepreus maintained, that he was as powerful a trencherman as Hēraklēs. Afterwards, he made bold to challenge him to a duel. Lepreus, they say, lost, was killed and was buried in the land of Phigaleia. The Phigalians, however, could not show a tomb of Lepreus.

{5.5.5} I have heard some who maintained that Lepreus was founded by Leprea, the daughter of Pyrgeus. Others say that the first dwellers in the land were afflicted with the disease leprosy and that the city received its name from the misfortune of the inhabitants. The Lepreans told me that in their city once was a temple of Zeus Leukaios (of the White Poplar), the tomb of Lycurgus [Lykourgos], son of Aleus, and the tomb of Kaukon, over which was the figure of a man holding a lyre.

{5.5.6} But as far as I could see they had no tomb of distinction and no sanctuary of any deity, save one of Demeter. Even this was built of unburned brick and contained no image. Not far from the city of the Lepreans is a spring called Arene, and they say that it derives its name from the wife of Aphareus.

{5.5.7} Returning again to Samikon, and passing through the district, we reach the mouth of the Anigros. The current of this river is often held back by violent gales, which carry the sand from the open sea against it and stop the onward flow of the water. So whenever the sand has become soaked on both sides, by the sea without and by the river within, beasts and still more travelers on foot are in danger of sinking into it.

{5.5.8} The Anigros descends from the mountain Lapithos in Arcadia, and right from its source, its water does not smell sweet but actually stinks horribly. Before it receives the tributary Akidas, it plainly cannot support fish life at all. After the rivers unite, the fish that come down into the Anigros with the water are uneatable, though before, if they are caught in the Akidas, they are eatable.

{5.5.9} I heard from an Ephesian that the Akidas was called Iardanos in ancient times. I repeat his statement, though I have nowhere found evidence in support of it. I am convinced that the peculiar odor of the Anigros is due to the earth through which the water springs up, just as those rivers beyond Ionia, the exhalation from which is deadly to man, owe their peculiarity to the same cause. Some Greeks say that Kheiron,

{5.5.10} others that Pylenor, another Centaur, when shot by Hēraklēs fled wounded to this river and washed his injury in it and that it was the hydra’s poison which gave the Anigros its nasty smell. Others again attribute the quality of the river to Melampos, the son of Amythaon, who threw into it the means he used to purify the daughters of Proitos.

{5.5.11} There is in Samikon a cave not far from the river and called the Cave of the Nymphs of Anigros. Whoever enters it suffering from alphos or leuke first has to pray to the nymphs and to promise some sacrifice or other, after which he wipes the unhealthy parts of his body. Then, swimming through the river, he leaves his old uncleanness in its water, coming up sound and of one color.

{5.6.1} Crossing the Anigros and going to Olympia by the straight road, not far away on the right of the road, you reach a high district with a city called Samia on it. This they say Polysperkhon the Aetolian used as a fortified post against the Arcadians.

{5.6.2} As to the ruins of Arene, no Messenian and no Eleian could point them out to me with certainty. Those who care to do so may make all sorts of different guesses about it, but the most plausible account seemed to me that of those who held that in the heroic age and even earlier, Samikon was called Arene. These quoted too the words of the Iliad:

{5.6.3} These ruins are very near to the Anigros; and although it might be questioned whether Samikon was called Arene, yet the Arcadians are agreed that of old the Anigros was called the Minyeios. One might well hold that the Neda near the sea was made the boundary between Elis and Messenia at the time of the return of the Herakleidai to the Peloponnesus.

{5.6.4} After the Anigros, if you travel for a considerable distance through a district that is generally sandy and grows wild pines, you will see behind you on the left the ruins of Skillos. It was one of the cities of Triphylia, but in the war between Pisa and Elis, the citizens of Skillos openly helped Pisa against her enemy, and for this reason, the Eleians utterly destroyed it.

{5.6.5} The Lacedaemonians afterwards separated Skillos from Elis and gave it to Xenophon, the son of Grylos, when he had been exiled from Athens. The reason for his banishment was that he had taken part in an expedition which Cyrus, the greatest enemy of the Athenian people, had organized against their friend, the king [basileus] of the Persians [Persai]. [326] Cyrus, in fact, with his seat at Sardis, had been providing Lysander, the son of Aristokritos, and the Lacedaemonians with money for their fleet. Xenophon, accordingly, was banished, and having made Skillos his home, he built in honor of Ephesian Artemis a temple with a sanctuary and a sacred enclosure.

{5.6.6} Skillos is also a hunting-ground for wild boars and deer, and the land is crossed by a river called the Selinous. The guides of Elis said that the Eleians recovered Skillos again, and that Xenophon was tried by the Olympic Council for accepting the land from the Lacedaemonians and, obtaining pardon from the Eleians, dwelled securely in Skillos. Moreover, at a little distance from the sanctuary was shown a tomb, and upon the tomb is a statue of marble from the Pentelic quarry. The neighbors say that it is the tomb of Xenophon.

{5.6.7} As you go from Skillos along the road to Olympia, before you cross the Alpheios, there is a mountain with high, precipitous cliffs. It is called Mount Typaion. It is a law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic Games or even on the other side of the Alpheios on the days prohibited to women. However, they say that no woman has been caught, except Kallipateira only; some, however, give the lady the name of Pherenikē and not Kallipateira.

{5.6.8} She, being a widow, disguised herself exactly like a gymnastic trainer, and brought her son to compete at Olympia. Peisirodos, so her son was called, was victorious, and Kallipateira, as she was jumping over the enclosure in which they keep the trainers shut up, bared her person. So her sex was discovered, but they let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, her brothers, and her son, all of whom had been victorious at Olympia. But a law was passed that in the future, trainers should strip before entering the arena.

{5.7.1} By the time you reach Olympia, the Alpheios is a large and very pleasant river to see, being fed by several tributaries, including seven very important ones. The Helisson joins the Alpheios passing through Megalopolis; the Brentheates comes out of the territory of that city; past Gortyna, where is a sanctuary of Asklepios, flows the Gortynios; from Melainai, between the territories of Megalopolis and Heraia, comes the Bouphagos; from the land of the Clitorians [people of Kleitor], the Ladon; from Mount Erymanthos, a stream with the same name as the mountain. These come down into the Alpheios from Arcadia; the Kladeos comes from Elis to join it. The source of the Alpheios itself is in Arcadia, and not in Elis.

{5.7.2} There is another thing told about the Alpheios. They say that there was a hunter called Alpheios, who fell in love with Arethousa, who was herself a huntress. Arethousa, unwilling to marry, crossed, they say, to the island opposite Syracuse called Ortygia,and there turned from a woman to a spring. Alpheios too was changed by his love into the river.

{5.7.3} This account of Alpheios to Ortygia. But that the Alpheios passes through the sea and mingles his waters with the spring at this place, I cannot disbelieve as I know that the god at Delphi confirms the story. For when he dispatched Arkhias the Corinthian to found Syracuse, he uttered this oracle:

For this reason, therefore, because the water of the Alpheios mingles with the Arethousa, I am convinced that the story arose of the river’s love-affair.

{5.7.4} Those Greeks or Egyptians who have gone up into Ethiopia beyond Syene as far as the Ethiopian city of Meroe all say that the Nile enters a lake, and passes through it as though it were dry land, and that after this, it flows through lower Ethiopia into Egypt before coming down into the sea at Pharos. And in the land of the Hebrews, as I can myself bear witness, the river Jordan passes through a lake called Tiberias, and then, entering another lake called the Dead Sea, it disappears in it.

{5.7.5} The Dead Sea has the opposite qualities to those of any other water. Living creatures float in it naturally without swimming; dying creatures sink to the bottom. Hence, the lake is barren of fish; their danger stares them in the face, and they flee back to the water which is their native element. The peculiarity of the Alpheios is shared by a river of Ionia. The source of it is on Mount Mykale, and having gone through the intervening sea, the river rises again opposite Brankhidai at the harbor called Panormos.

{5.7.6} These things then are as I have described them. As for the festival-of-competitions [agōn] named the Olympics, here is what is said by those people-of-Elis who commemorate [mnēmoneuein] the most ancient of all ancient  things. Kronos [the god] took possession of kingship in the sky [ouranos], in the beginning, and a temple [nāos] was built for him, in Olympia, by the humans who lived back then and who were named the Golden Generation. When Zeus was born, [his divine mother] Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Dactyls-of-Ida [Idaioi Daktuloi]—who were also called Kourētes. They came [to Olympia] from Ida-in-Crete, and they were Hēraklēs, Paiōnaios, Epimēdēs, Iasios, and Idas.

{5.7.7} Hēraklēs, being the eldest [of the Dactyls], had his brothers compete, as a game, in a footrace, and he garlanded the one of them who won. The garland was made  [of leaves] from a branch of wild olive [kotinos]. They had such an ample supply [of wild olive] that they slept on piles of its leaves while still green. [[GN 2024.07.20]]

{5.7.7} Hēraklēs, being the eldest [of the Dactyls], had his brothers compete, as a game, in a footrace, and he adorned the one of them who won with a garland [of leaves] from a branch of wild olive [kotinos]. They had such an ample supply [of wild olive] that they slept on piles of its leaves while still green. It is said to have been introduced into Greece by Hēraklēs from the land of the Hyperboreans, who live beyond the home of the North Wind. [[GN 2024.07.20]]

{5.7.8} Olen the Lycian, in his hymn to Akhaïia, was the first to say that from these Hyperboreans, Akhaïia came to Delos. When Melanopos of Cyme composed an ode to Opis and Hekaerge declaring that these, even before Akhaïia, came to Delos from the Hyperboreans.

{5.7.9} And Aristeas of Prokonnesos—for he too made mention of the Hyperboreans—may perhaps have learned even more about them from the Issedones, to whom he says in his poem that he came. Hēraklēs of Ida, therefore, has the reputation of being the first to have held, on the occasion I mentioned, the Games, and to have called them Olympic. So he established the custom of holding them every fifth [327] year, because he and his brothers were five in number.

{5.7.10} Now, some say that Zeus wrestled here with Kronos himself for the throne while others say that he held the Games in honor of his victory over Kronos. The record of victors includes Apollo, who outran Hermes and beat Ares at boxing. It is for this reason, they say, that the Pythian aulos song is played while the competitors in the pentathlon are jumping; for the aulos song is sacred to Apollo, and Apollo won Olympic victories.

{5.8.1} Later on there came (they say) from Crete Klymenos, the son of Kardys, about fifty years after the flood came upon the Greeks in the time of Deukalion. He was descended from Hēraklēs of Ida; he held the Games at Olympia and set up an altar in honor of Hēraklēs, his ancestor, and the other Kouretes, giving to Hēraklēs the surname of Parastates [‘the one who stands by’]. And Endymion, the son of Aethlios, deposed Klymenos and set his sons a race in Olympia with the kingdom as the prize.

{5.8.2} And about a generation later than Endymion, Pelops held the Games in honor of Olympian Zeus in a more splendid manner than any of his predecessors. When the sons of Pelops were scattered from Elis over all the rest of Peloponnesus, Amythaon, the son of Kretheus and cousin of Endymion on his father’s side (for they say that Aethlios too was the son of Aeolus, though he was supposed to be a son of Zeus), held the Olympian Games, and after him, Pelias and Neleus in common.

{5.8.3} Augeias too held them, and likewise Hēraklēs, the son of Amphitryon, after the conquest of Elis. The victors garlanded by Hēraklēs include Iolaos, who won with the mares of Hēraklēs. So of old a competitor was permitted to compete with mares which were not his own. Homer, [328] at any rate, in the Games held in honor of Patroklos, has told how Menelaos drove a pair, of which one was Aithra, a mare of Agamemnon, while the other was his own horse.

{5.8.4} Moreover, Iolaos used to be charioteer to Hēraklēs. So Iolaos won the chariot-race, and Iasios, an Arcadian, the horse race; while one of the sons of Tyndareus won the foot race and Polydeukes the boxing match. Of Hēraklēs himself, it is said that he won victories at wrestling and the pankration.

{5.8.5} After the reign of Oxylos, who also celebrated the Games, the Olympic festival was discontinued until the reign of Iphitos. When Iphitos, as I have already related, renewed the Games, men had by this time forgotten the ancient tradition, the memory of which revived bit by bit, and as it revived, they made additions to the Games.

{5.8.6} This I can prove; for when the unbroken tradition of the Olympiads began there was first the foot-race, and Koroibos, an Eleian, was victor. There is no statue of Koroibos at Olympia, but his tomb is on the borders of Elis. Afterwards, at the fourteenth Festival, [329] the double foot-race was added: Hypenus of Pisa won the prize of wild olive in the double race, and at the next Festival, Acanthus of Lacedaemon won in the long course.

{5.8.7} At the eighteenth Festival, they remembered the pentathlon and wrestling. Lampis won the first and Eurybatos the second, these also being Lacedaemonians. At the twenty-third Festival, they restored the prizes for boxing, and the victor was Onomastos of Smyrna, which already was a part of Ionia. At the twenty-fifth, they recognized the race of full grown horses, and Pagondas of Thebes was proclaimed “victor in the chariot race.”

{5.8.8} At the eighth Festival after this, they admitted the pankration for men and the horse race. The horse race was won by Krauxidas of Crannon, and Lygdamis of Syracuse overcame all who entered for the pankration. Lygdamis has his tomb near the quarries at Syracuse, and according to the Syracusans, he was as big as Hēraklēs of Thebes, though I cannot vouch for the statement.

{5.8.9} The contests for boys have no authority in old tradition but were established by the Eleians themselves because they approved of them. The prizes for running and wrestling open to boys were instituted at the thirty-seventh Festival; Hipposthenes of Lacedaemon won the prize for wrestling, and that for running was won by Polyneikes of Elis. At the forty-first Festival they introduced boxing for boys, and the winner out of those who entered was Philytas of Sybaris.

{5.8.10} The race for men in armor was approved at the sixty-fifth Festival, to provide, I suppose, military training; the first winner of the race with shields was Damaretos of Heraia. The race for two full grown horses, called synoris (chariot and pair), was instituted at the ninety-third Festival, and the winner was Euagoras of Elis. At the ninety-ninth Festival, they resolved to hold contests for chariots drawn by foals, and Sybariades of Lacedaemon won the garland with his chariot and foals.

{5.8.11} Afterwards, they added races for chariots and pairs of foals and for single foals with rider. It is said that the victors proclaimed were: for the chariot and pair, Belistikhe, a woman from the seaboard of Macedonia; for the ridden race, Tlepolemos of Lycia. Tlepolemos, they say, won at the hundred and thirty-first Festival, and Belistiche at the third before this. At the hundred and forty-fifth Festival, prizes were offered for boys in the pankration, the victory falling to Phaedimus, an Aeolian from the city Troas.

{5.9.1} Certain contests, too, have been dropped at Olympia, the Eleians resolving to discontinue them. The pentathlon for boys was instituted at the thirty-eighth Festival; but after Eutelidas of Lacedaemon had received the wild olive for it, the Eleians disapproved of boys entering for this competition. The races for mule carts and the trotting race, were instituted respectively at the seventieth Festival and the seventy-first but were both abolished by proclamation at the eighty-fourth. When they were first instituted, Thersios of Thessaly won the race for mule carts, while Pataikos, an Achaean from Dyme, won the trotting race.

{5.9.2} The trotting race was for mares, and in the last part of the course, the riders jumped off and ran beside the mares, holding on to the bridle, just as at the present day, those do who are called “mounters.” The mounters, however, differ from the riders in the trotting race by having different badges and by riding horses instead of mares. The cart race was neither of venerable antiquity nor yet a graceful performance. Moreover, each cart was drawn by a pair of mules, not horses, and there is an ancient curse on the Eleians if this animal is even born in Elis.

{5.9.3} The order of the Games in our own day, which places the sacrifices to the god for the pentathlon and chariot races second and those for the other competitions first, was fixed at the seventy-seventh Festival. Previously, the contests for men and for horses were held on the same day. But at the Festival, I mentioned the contestants in the pankration prolonged their contests till nightfall, because they were not summoned to the arena soon enough. The cause of the delay was partly the chariot race but still more the pentathlon. Kallias of Athens was champion of the pankration on this occasion, but never afterwards was the pankration to be interfered with by the pentathlon or the chariots.

{5.9.4} The rules for the presidents of the Games are not the same now as they were at the first institution of the festival. Iphitos acted as sole president, as likewise did the descendants of Oxylos after Iphitos. But at the fiftieth Festival, two men, appointed by lot from all the Eleians, were entrusted with the management of the Olympic Games, and for a long time after this, the number of the presidents continued to be two.

{5.9.5} But at the ninety-fifth Festival, nine umpires were appointed. To three of them were entrusted the chariot races; another three were to supervise the pentathlon; the rest superintended the remaining contests. At the second Festival after this, the tenth umpire was added. At the hundred and third Festival, the Eleians having twelve tribes [phulai], one umpire was chosen from each.

{5.9.6} But they were hard pressed in a war with the Arcadians and lost a portion of their territory, along with all the demes [dēmoi] included in the surrendered district, and so the number of tribes [phulai] was reduced to eight in the hundred and fourth Olympiad. Thereupon were chosen umpires equal in number to the tribes [phulai]. At the hundred and eighth Festival, they returned again to the number of ten umpires, which has continued unchanged down to the present day.

{5.10.1}There are many things to be seen and to be heard in the Greek world [= among the Hellēnes] that are worthy of wonder [thauma]; but  the greatest share [of all these wondrous things]—from the standpoint of a given god’s way-of-thinking [phrontis]—goes to  the rituals [drōmena] at Eleusis and to the competition [agōn] at Olympia. The sacred [hieron] grove [alsos] of Zeus has been called, ever since ancient times,Altis, by way of deforming the word [alsos].  Likewise in a song [āisma] that Pindar made [poieîn] composed for an Olympic victor, the place is called Altis [Pindar Olympian 10.45].

{5.10.2} The temple and the statue [agalma] were made for Zeus from spoils, when Pisa was crushed in war by the Eleians, [330] and along with Pisa, those of the subject population who were fellow conspirators. The statue [agalma] itself was made by Pheidias, as is testified by an inscription written under the feet of Zeus: Pheidias, son of Kharmides, an Athenian, made me. The temple is in the Doric style, and the outside has columns all around it. It is built of native stone.

{5.10.3} Its height up to the pediment is sixty-eight feet, its width is ninety-five, its length two hundred and thirty. The architect was Libon, a native. The tiles are not of baked earth, but of Pentelic marble cut into the shape of tiles. The invention is said to be that of Byzes of Naxos, who they say made the images in Naxos, on which is the inscription: To the offspring of Leto was I dedicated by Euergos, a Naxian, son of Byzes, who first made tiles of stone. This Byzes lived about the time of Alyattes the Lydian, [331] when Astyages, the son of Kyaxares, reigned over the Medes.

{5.10.4} At Olympia, a gilded caldron stands on each end of the roof, and a Nike, also gilded, is set in about the middle of the pediment. Under the image of Nike has been dedicated a golden shield with Medusa the Gorgon in relief. The inscription on the shield declares who dedicated it and the reason why they did so. It runs thus:

This battle I also mentioned in my write-up [sun-graphē] of Attica. Then I described the tombs that are in Athens.

{5.10.5} On the outside of the frieze that runs round the temple at Olympia, above the columns, are gilded shields twenty-one in number, an offering made by the Roman general Mummius when he had conquered the Achaeans in war, captured Corinth, and driven out its Dorian inhabitants.

{5.10.6} To come to the pediments: in the front [= east] pediment there is the yet-to-happen chariot race between Pelops and Oinomaos, and preparation for the running [of the race] is being made by both. A sculpture [agalma] of Zeus has been made [pe-poiēmenon] at the middle of the pediment; on the right of Zeus is Oinomaos with a helmet on his head, and, next to him, is Sterope his wife, who was one of the daughters of Atlas. Myrtilos is there also, the charioteer of Oinomaos, and he is sitting in front of the horses, which are four in number. Behind him are two men. They have no names, but they too must be under orders from Oinomaos to attend to the horses.

{5.10.7} At the very edge is situated Kladeos, the river which, in other ways also, gets the most honors [tīmai]—after the Alpheios—from the people of Elis. On the left of Zeus are Pelops, then Hippodameia, then the charioteer [hēniokhos] of Pelops, then the horses, and then two men, who are apparently grooms of Pelops. Then the pediment narrows again, and in this part of it is made [pe-poiētai] the Alpheios. The name of the man who was-the-chariot-driver [hēniokheîn] for Pelops is, according to the narrative [logos] of the people of Troizen, Sphairos, but the guide [ex-hēgētēs] at Olympia was saying that he was Killas.

{5.10.8} The sculptures in the front [= east] pediment are by Paionios, who came from Mende in Thrace; those in the back [= west] pediment are by Alkamenes, a contemporary of Pheidias, ranking next after him for skill [sophiā] in the making [poiēsis] of statues [agalmata]. What he [= Alkamenes] had on the pediment is the fight [makhē] between the Lapithai and the Centaurs at the wedding of Peirithoös. In the center of the pediment is Peirithoös. Next to him on one side is Eurytion [the Centaur], who has seized [harpazein] the wife of Peirithoös, and then there is Kaineus [= one of the Lapithai], who is coming up to help Peirithoös, and, on the other side is Theseus defending himself against the Centaurs with an axe [pelekus]. One Centaur has just seized [harpazein] a girl [parthenos], another a boy [pais] in-the-prime-of-youth [hōraios]. Alkamenes, I think, made [poieîn] these things this way because he had learned from the verses [epē] of Homer that Peirithoös was a son of Zeus, and because he knew that Theseus was the fourth [inclusive] generation removed from Pelops.

{5.10.9} Most of the labors [erga] of Hēraklēs are represented at Olympia. Above the doors of the temple is carved the hunting of the Arcadian boar, his exploit against Diomedes the Thracian and that against Geryones at Erytheia; he is also about to receive the burden of Atlas, and he cleanses the land from dung for the Eleians. Above the doors of the rear chamber, he is taking the waistband from the Amazon; and there are the stories of the deer, of the bull at Knossos, of the Stymphalian birds, of the hydra, and of the Argive lion.

{5.10.10} As you enter the bronze doors you see on the right, before the column, Iphitos being garlanded by a woman, Ekhekheiria [‘Truce’], as the elegiac couplet on the statue says. Within the temple stand columns, and inside also are porticoes above, with an approach through them to the statue [agalma]. There has also been constructed a winding ascent to the roof.

{5.11.1} The god sits on a throne, and he is made of gold and ivory. On his head is placed a garland, which is an imitation of olive shoots. In his right hand, he holds a Nike, which, like the statue, is of ivory and gold; she wears a ribbon and—on her head—a garland. In the left hand of the god is a scepter, ornamented with every kind of metal, and the bird sitting on the scepter is the eagle. The sandals also of the god are of gold, as is likewise his robe. Worked into the robe [himation] are figures of animals and the flowers of the lily.

{5.11.2} The throne is adorned with gold and with jewels, to say nothing of ebony and ivory. Upon it are painted figures and worked images. There are four Victories, represented as dancing women, one at each foot of the throne, and two others at the base of each foot. On each of the two front feet are set Theban children ravished by sphinxes, while under the sphinxes Apollo and Artemis are shooting down the children of Niobe.

{5.11.3} Between the feet of the throne are four rods, each one stretching from foot to foot. The rod straight opposite the entrance has on it seven images; how the eighth of them disappeared nobody knows. These must be intended to be representations [mīmēmata] of ancient contests [agōnismata], since in the time of Pheidias, contests for boys had not yet been introduced. The figure of one binding his own head with a ribbon is said to resemble in appearance Pantarkes, a boy of Elis said to have been the love of Pheidias. Pantarkes too won the wrestling bout for boys at the eighty-sixth Festival.

{5.11.4} On the other rods is the band that with Hēraklēs fights against the Amazons. The number of figures in the two parties is twenty-nine, and Theseus too is ranged among the allies of Hēraklēs. The throne is supported not only by the feet, but also by an equal number of columns standing between the feet. It is impossible to go under the throne, in the way we enter the inner part of the throne at Amyklai. At Olympia, there are screens constructed like walls which keep people out.

{5.11.5} Of these screens the part opposite the doors is only covered with dark blue paint; the other parts show pictures by Panainos. Among them is Atlas, supporting sky [ouranos] and earth, by whose side stands Hēraklēs ready to receive the load of Atlas, along with Theseus; Peirithoös, Hellas, and Salamis carrying in her hand the ornament made for the top of a ship’s bows; then Hēraklēs’ exploit against the Nemean lion, the outrage committed by Ajax on Cassandra,

{5.11.6} Hippodameia, the daughter of Oinomaos with her mother, and Prometheus still held by his chains, though Hēraklēs has been raised up to him. For among the stories told about Hēraklēs is one that he killed the eagle which tormented Prometheus in the Caucasus, and set free Prometheus himself from his chains. Last in the picture come Penthesileia giving up her breath-of-life [psūkhē] and Achilles supporting her; two Hesperides are carrying the apples, the keeping of which, it is said, had been entrusted to them. This Panainos was a brother of Pheidias; he also painted the picture of the battle of Marathon in the painted portico in Athens.

{5.11.7} On the uppermost parts of the throne Pheidias has made, above the head of the statue [agalma], three Graces on one side and three Seasons on the other. These in epic poetry are included among the daughters of Zeus. Homer too in the Iliad [332] says that the Seasons have been entrusted with the sky, just like guards of a king’s court. The footstool of Zeus, called by the Athenians thranion, has golden lions and, in relief, the fight of Theseus against the Amazons, the first brave deed of the Athenians against barbarians [barbaroi].

{5.11.8} On the pedestal supporting the throne and Zeus with all his adornments are works in gold: the Sun mounted on a chariot, Zeus and Hērā, Hephaistos, and by his side Grace. Close to her comes Hermes, and close to Hermes, Hestia. After Hestia is Eros receiving Aphrodite as she rises from the sea, and Aphrodite is being garlanded by Persuasion. There are also reliefs of Apollo with Artemis, of Athena and of Hēraklēs; and near the end of the pedestal, Amphitrite and Poseidon, while the Moon is driving what I think is a horse. Some have said that the steed of the goddess is a mule, not a horse, and they tell a naïve [eu-ēthēs] story about the mule.

{5.11.9} I know that the height and width of the Olympian Zeus have been measured and recorded; but I shall not make a citation [ep-ainos] of those who made the measurements, for even their records fall far short of the impression made by a sight of the statue [agalma]. No, the god himself according to what is said bore witness to the artistic skill of Pheidias. For when the statue [agalma] was quite finished Pheidias prayed the god to show by a sign whether the work was to his liking. Immediately, according to what is said, a thunderbolt fell on that part of the floor where down to the present day the bronze jar stood to cover the place.

{5.11.10} All the floor in front of the statue [agalma] is paved, not with white, but with black tiles. In a circle around the black stone runs a raised rim of Parian marble, to keep in the olive oil that is poured out. For olive oil is beneficial to the statue [agalma] at Olympia, and it is olive oil that keeps the ivory from being harmed by the marshiness of the Altis. On the Athenian Acropolis, the ivory of the statue [agalma] they call the Maiden [Parthénos] is benefited not by olive oil but by water. For the Acropolis, owing to its great height, is over-dry, so that the statue [agalma], being made of ivory, needs water or dampness.

{5.11.11} When I asked at Epidaurus why they pour neither water nor olive oil on [the statue [agalma] of] Asklepios, the attendants at the sanctuary informed me that both the statue [agalma] of the god and the throne were built over a cistern.

{5.12.1} Those who think that the projections from the mouth of an elephant are not horns but teeth of the animal should consider both the elk, a beast of the Celtic land, and also the Ethiopian bull. Male elks have horns on their brows, but the female does not grow them at all. Ethiopian bulls grow their horns on their noses. Who therefore would be greatly surprised at horns growing out of an animal’s mouth?

{5.12.2} They may also correct their error from the following considerations. Horns drop off animals each year and grow again; the deer and the antelope undergo this experience, and so likewise does the elephant. But a tooth will never be found to grow again, at least after the animal is full-grown. So if the projections through the mouth were teeth and not horns, how could they grow up again? Again, a tooth refuses to yield to fire; but fire turns the horns of oxen and elephants from round to flat and also into other shapes. However, the hippopotamus and the boar have tusks growing out of the lower jaw, but we do not see horns growing out of jaws.

{5.12.3} So, be assured that an elephant’s horns descend through the temples from above, and so bend outwards. My statement is not hearsay; I once saw an elephant’s skull in the sanctuary of Artemis in Campania. The sanctuary is about thirty stadium-lengths from Capua, which is the capital of Campania. So the elephant differs from all other animals in the way its horns grow, just as its size and shape are peculiar to itself. And the Greeks in my opinion showed an unsurpassed zeal and generosity in honoring the gods, in that they imported ivory from India and Ethiopia to make images.

{5.12.4} In Olympia, there is a woolen curtain, adorned with Assyrian weaving and Phoenician purple, which was dedicated by Antiokhos, who also gave as offerings the golden aegis with the Gorgon on it above the theater in Athens. This curtain is not drawn upwards to the roof as is that in the temple of Artemis at Ephesos, but it is let down to the ground by cords.

{5.12.5} The offerings inside, or in the front part of the temple include: a throne of Arimnestos, king of Etruria, who was the first barbarian to present an offering to the Olympic Zeus, and bronze horses of Kyniska, tokens of an Olympic victory. These are not as large as real horses and stand in the front part of the temple on the right as you enter. There is also a tripod, plated with bronze, upon which, before the table was made, were displayed the garlands for the victors.

{5.12.6} There are statues of ‘Kings’ [basileis]: Hadrian, of Parian marble dedicated by the cities of the Achaean confederacy, and Trajan, dedicated by all the Greeks. This King [basileus] subdued the Getai beyond Thrace, and made war on Osroes, the descendant of Arsaces and on the Parthians. Of his architectural achievements, the most remarkable are baths called after him, a large circular theater, a building for horse races which is actually two stadium-lengths long, and the Forum at Rome, worth seeing not only for its general beauty but especially for its roof made of bronze.

{5.12.7} Of the statues set up in the round buildings, the amber one represents Augustus the Roman emperor, the ivory one they told me was a portrait of Nikomedes, king of Bithynia. After him, the greatest city in Bithynia was renamed Nikomedeia; [333] before him, it was called Astakos, and its first founder was Zypoetes, a Thracian by birth to judge from his name. This amber of which the statue of Augustus is made, when found native in the sand of the Eridanos, is very rare and precious to men for many reasons; the other “amber” is an alloy of gold and silver.

{5.12.8} In the temple at Olympia are four offerings of Nero—three garlands representing wild olive leaves, and one representing oak leaves. Here too are laid twenty-five bronze shields, which are for the armed men to carry in the race. Tablets too are set up, including one on which is written the oath sworn by the Eleians to the Athenians, the Argives, and the Mantineians that they would be their allies for a hundred years. [334]

{5.13.1} Within the Altis, there is also a sacred enclosure consecrated to Pelops, whom the Eleians as much prefer in honor above the heroes of Olympia as they prefer Zeus over the other gods. To the right of the entrance of the temple of Zeus, on the north side, lies the Pelopion. It is far enough removed from the temple for statues and other offerings to stand in the intervening space, and beginning at about the middle of the temple, it extends as far as the rear chamber. It is surrounded by a stone fence, within which trees grow and statues have been dedicated.

{5.13.2} The entrance is on the west. The sanctuary is said to have been set apart to Pelops by Hēraklēs the son of Amphitryon. Hēraklēs too was a great-grandson of Pelops, and he is also said to have sacrificed to him into the pit [bothros]. Right down to the present day, the magistrates of the year sacrifice to him, and the victim is a black ram. No portion of this sacrifice goes to the soothsayer, only the neck of the ram it is usual to give to the ‘woodman’ [xuleús], as he is called.

{5.13.3} The woodman [xuleús] is one of the servants [oikétai] of Zeus, and the task assigned to him is to supply cities and private individuals with wood for sacrifices at a fixed rate, wood of the white poplar, but of no other tree, being allowed. If anybody, whether Eleian or stranger, eats of the meat of the victim sacrificed to Pelops, he may not enter the temple of Zeus. The same rule applies to those who sacrifice to Telephos at Pergamon on the river Kaïkos; these too may not go up to the temple of Asklepios before they have bathed.

{5.13.4} The following tale too is told. When the war of the Greeks against Troy was prolonged, the soothsayers prophesied to them that they would not take the city until they had fetched the bow and arrows of Hēraklēs and a bone of Pelops. So it is said that they sent for Philoctetes to the camp, and from Pisa was brought to them a bone of Pelops—a shoulder blade. As they were returning home, the ship carrying the bone of Pelops was wrecked off Euboea in the storm.

{5.13.5} Many years later than the capture of Troy, Damarmenos, a fisherman from Eretria, cast a net into the sea and drew up the bone. Marveling at its size, he kept it hidden in the sand. At last, he went to Delphi to inquire whose the bone was and what he ought to do with it.

{5.13.6} It happened that by the providence of the god [theos] there was then at Delphi an Eleian embassy praying for deliverance from a pestilence. So the Pythian priestess ordered the Eleians to recover the bones of Pelops, and Damarmenos to give back to the Eleians what he had found. He did so, and the Eleians repaid him by appointing him and his descendants to be guardians of the bone. The shoulder blade of Pelops had disappeared by my time because, I suppose, it had been hidden in the depths so long, and besides its age, it was greatly decayed through the salt water.

{5.13.7} There are signs, surviving right down to the present day, that Pelops and Tantalos once dwelled in my own native land. There is a lake called after Tantalos and a famous tomb, and on a peak of Mount Sipylos, there is a throne of Pelops beyond the sanctuary of Plastene the Mother. If you cross the river Hermos, you see a statue [agalma] of Aphrodite in Temnus made of a living myrtle tree. It is a tradition among us that it was dedicated by Pelops when he was propitiating the goddess and asking for Hippodameia to be his bride.

{5.13.8} The altar of Olympic Zeus is about equally distant from the Pelopion and the sanctuary of Hērā, but it is in front of both. Some say that it was built by Idaean Hēraklēs, others by the local heroes two generations later than Hēraklēs. It has been made from the ash of the thighs of the victims sacrificed to Zeus, as is also the altar at Pergamon. There is an ashen altar of Samian Hērā not a bit grander than what in Attica the Athenians call ‘improvised hearths’ [eskharai].

{5.13.9} The first stage of the altar at Olympia called prothysis has a circumference of one hundred and twenty-five feet; the circumference of the stage on the prothysis is thirty-two feet; the total height of the altar reaches to twenty-two feet. The victims themselves it is the custom to sacrifice on the lower stage, the prothysis. But the thighs they carry up to the highest part of the altar and burn them there.

{5.13.10} The steps that lead up to the prothysis from either side are made of stone, but those leading from the prothysis to the upper part of the altar are, like the altar itself, composed of ashes. The ascent to the prothysis may be made by girls, and likewise by women, when they are not shut out from Olympia, but men only can ascend from the prothysis to the highest part of the altar. Even when the festival is not being held, sacrifice is offered to Zeus by private individuals and daily by the Eleians.

{5.13.11} Every year, the soothsayers, keeping carefully to the nineteenth day of the month Elaphios, bring the ash from the town hall, and making it into a paste with the water of the Alpheios, they daub the altar with it. But never may the ash be made into paste with other water, and for this reason, the Alpheios is thought to be of all rivers the dearest to Olympic Zeus. There is also an altar at Didyma of the Milesians, which Hēraklēs the Theban is said by the Milesians to have made from the blood of the victims. But in later times, the blood of the sacrifices has not made the altar excessively large.

{5.14.1} The altar at Olympia shows another strange peculiarity, which is this. The kite, the bird of prey with the most rapacious nature, never harms those who are sacrificing at Olympia. Should ever a kite seize the entrails or some of the flesh, it is regarded as an unfavorable sign for the sacrificer. There is a story that when Hēraklēs, the son of Alkmene, was sacrificing at Olympia, he was much worried by the flies. So either on his own initiative or at somebody’s suggestion, he sacrificed to Zeus Averter of Flies, and thus, the flies were diverted to the other side of the Alpheios. It is said that in the same way, the Eleians too sacrifice to Zeus, Averter of Flies, to drive the flies out of Olympia.

{5.14.2} The Eleians are accustomed to use for the sacrifices to Zeus the wood of the white poplar and of no other tree, preferring the white poplar, I think, simply and solely because Hēraklēs brought it into Greece from Thesprotia. And it is my opinion that when Hēraklēs sacrificed to Zeus at Olympia, he himself burned the thigh bones of the victims upon wood of the white poplar. Hēraklēs found the white poplar growing on the banks of the Acheron, the river in Thesprotia, and for this reason, Homer [335] calls it ‘Acherōïs’.

{5.14.3} So, from the first down to the present, all rivers have not been equally suited for the growth of plants and trees. Tamarisks grow best and in the greatest numbers by the Maeander; the Boeotian Asopos can produce the tallest reeds; the persea tree flourishes only in the water of the Nile. So it is no wonder that the white poplar grew first by the Acheron and the wild olive by the Alpheios and that the dark poplar is a nursling of the Celtic land of the Celtic Eridanos.

{5.14.4} Now that I have finished my account of the greatest altar, let me proceed to describe all the altars in Olympia. My narrative will follow in dealing with them the order in which the Eleians are accustomed to sacrifice on the altars. They sacrifice to Hestia first, secondly to Olympic Zeus, going to the altar within the temple, thirdly to Zeus Laoitas and to Poseidon Laoitas. This sacrifice too it is usual to offer on one altar. Fourthly and fifthly, they sacrifice to Artemis and to Athena, Goddess of Plunder,

{5.14.5} sixthly to the Worker Goddess. The descendants of Pheidias, called Cleansers, have received from the Eleians the privilege of cleaning the statue [agalma] of Zeus from the dirt that settles on it, and they sacrifice to the Worker Goddess before they begin to polish the. There is another altar of Athena near the temple, and by it, a square altar of Artemis rising gently to a height.

{5.14.6} After the altars I have enumerated, there is one on which they sacrifice to Alpheios and Artemis together. The cause of this Pindar, I think, intimates in an ode, and I give it in my account of Letrini. Not far from it stands another altar of Alpheios, and by it, one of Hephaistos. This altar of Hephaistos some Eleians call the altar of Warlike Zeus. These same Eleians also say that Oinomaos used to sacrifice to Warlike Zeus on this altar whenever he was about to begin a chariot race with one of the suitors of Hippodameia.

{5.14.7} After this stands an altar of Hēraklēs surnamed Parastates (Assistant); there are also altars of the brothers of Hēraklēs—Epimedes, Idas, Paionaios, and Iasos; I am aware, however, that the altar of Idas is called by others the altar of Acesidas. At the place where are the foundations of the house of Oinomaos stand two altars: one is of Zeus of the Courtyard, which Oinomaos appears to have had built himself, and the other of Zeus of the Thunderbolt, which I believe they built later, when the thunderbolt had struck the house of Oinomaos.

{5.14.8} An account of the great altar I gave a little way back; it is called the altar of Olympian Zeus. By it is an altar of Unknown Gods, and after this, an altar of Zeus Purifier, one of Nike, and another of Zeus—this time surnamed Underground. There are also altars of all gods, and of Hērā surnamed Olympian, this too being made of ashes. They say that it was dedicated by Klymenos. After this comes an altar of Apollo and Hermes in common, because the Greeks have a story about them that Hermes invented the lyre and Apollo the lute.

{5.14.9} Next come an altar of Concord, another of Athena, and the altar of the Mother of the gods. Quite close to the entrance to the stadium are two altars; one they call the altar of Hermes of the Games, the other the altar of Opportunity. I know that a hymn to Opportunity is one of the poems of Ion of Chios; in the hymn, Opportunity is made out to be the youngest child of Zeus. Near the treasury of the Sikyonians is an altar of Hēraklēs, either one of the Kouretes or the son of Alkmene, for both accounts are given.

{5.14.10} On what is called the Gaion (sanctuary of Earth) is an altar of Earth; it too is of ashes. In more ancient days, they say that there was an oracle also of Earth in this place. On what is called the Stomion (Mouth), the altar to Themis has been built. All around the altar of Zeus, Descender runs a fence; this altar is near the great altar made of the ashes. The reader must remember that the altars have not been enumerated in the order in which they stand, but the order followed by my narrative is that followed by the Eleians in their sacrifices. By the sacred enclosure of Pelops is an altar of Dionysus and the Graces in common; between them is an altar of the Muses, and next to these, an altar of the Nymphs.

{5.15.1} Outside the Altis there is a building called the workshop of Pheidias, where he made the statue [agalma] of Zeus piece by piece. In the building is an altar to all the gods in common. Now return back again to the Altis opposite the Leonidaion.

{5.15.2} The Leonidaion is outside the sacred enclosure but at the processional entrance to the Altis, which is the only way open to those who take part in the processions. It was dedicated by Leonidas, a native, but in my time, the Roman governors of Greece used it as their lodging. Between the processional entrance and the Leonidaion is a street, for the Eleians call streets what the Athenians call lanes.

{5.15.3} Well, there is in the Altis, when you are about to pass to the left of the Leonidaion, an altar of Aphrodite, and after it, one of the Seasons. About opposite the rear chamber, a wild olive is growing on the right. It is called the olive of the Beautiful Crown, and from its leaves are made the garlands which it is customary to give to winners of Olympic contests. Near this wild olive stands an altar of Nymphs; these too are styled Nymphs of the Beautiful Crowns.

{5.15.4} Outside the Altis, but on the right of the Leonidaion, is an altar of Artemis of the Market, and one has also been built for Mistresses, and in my account of Arcadia, I will tell you about the goddess they call Mistress. After this is an altar of Zeus of the Market, and before what is called the Front Seats stands an altar of Apollo surnamed Pythian, and after it, one of Dionysus. The last altar is said to be not old and to have been dedicated by private individuals.

{5.15.5} As you go to the starting point for the chariot race there is an altar with an inscription “to the Bringer of Fate.” This is plainly a surname of Zeus, who knows the affairs of men, all that the Fates give them, and all that is not destined for them. Near there is also an oblong altar of Fates, after it, one of Hermes, and the next two are of Zeus Most High. At the starting point for the chariot race, just about opposite the middle of it, there are in the open altars of Poseidon god of horses and Hērā goddess of horses, and near the column, an altar of the Dioskouroi.

{5.15.6} At the entrance to what is called the Wedge, there is on one side an altar of Ares god of horses, on the other one of Athena goddess of horses. On entering the Wedge itself, you see altars of Good Luck, Pan, and Aphrodite; at the innermost part of the Wedge, an altar of the Nymphs called Blooming. An altar of Artemis stands on the right as you return from the Portico that the Eleians call the Portico of Agnaptos, giving to the building the name of its architect.

{5.15.7} After re-entering the Altis by the processional gate, there are behind the Hēraion altars of the river Kladeos and of Artemis; the one after them is Apollo’s, the fourth is of Artemis surnamed Coccoca, and the fifth is of Apollo Thermios. As to the Eleian surname Thermios, the conjecture occurred to me that in the Attic dialect it would be thesmios (god of laws), but why Artemis is surnamed Coccoca, I could not discover.

{5.15.8} Before what is called Theakleon is a building, in a corner of which has been set up an altar of Pan. The Town Hall of the Eleians is within the Altis, and it has been built beside the exit beyond the gymnasium. In this gymnasium are the running tracks and the wrestling grounds for the athletes. In front of the door of the Town Hall is an altar of Artemis the Hunter.

{5.15.9} In the Town Hall itself, on the right as you enter the room where they have the hearth, is an altar of Pan. This hearth too is made of ashes, and on it, fire burns every day and likewise every night. The ashes from this hearth, according to the account I have already given, they bring to the altar of Olympian Zeus, and what is brought from the hearth contributes a great deal to the size of the altar.

{5.15.10} Each month the Eleians sacrifice once on all the altars I have enumerated. They sacrifice in an ancient manner; for they burn on the altars incense with wheat which has been kneaded with honey, placing also on the altars twigs of olive, and using wine for a libation. Only to the Nymphs and the Mistresses are they not accustomed to pour wine in libation, nor do they pour it on the altar common to all the gods. The care of the sacrifices is given to a priest, holding office for one month, to soothsayers and libation bearers, and also to a guide, an aulos player, and the woodman.

{5.15.11} The traditional words spoken by them in the Town Hall at the libations, and the hymns which they sing, it was not right for me to introduce into my narrative. They pour libations, not only to the Greek gods, but also to the god in Libya, to Hērā Ammonia and to Parammon, which is a surname of Hermes. From very early times, it is plain that they used the oracle in Libya, and in the temple of Ammon are altars which the Eleians dedicated. On them are engraved the questions of the Eleians, the replies of the god, and the names of the men who came to Ammon from Elis. These are in the temple of Ammon.

{5.15.12} The Eleians also pour libations to all heroes and wives of heroes who are honored either in Elis or among the Aetolians. The songs sung in the Town Hall are in the Doric dialect, but they do not say who it was that composed them. The Eleians also have a banqueting room. This too is in the Town Hall, opposite the chamber where stands the hearth. In this room, they entertain the winners in the Olympic Games.

{5.16.1} It remains after this for me to describe the temple of Hērā and the noteworthy objects contained in it. The Eleian account says that it was the people of Skillos, one of the cities in Triphylia, who built the temple about eight years after Oxylos came to the throne of Elis. The style of the temple is Doric, and columns stand all round it. In the rear chamber, one of the two columns is of oak. The length of the temple is one hundred and sixty-nine feet, the width sixty-three feet, the height not short of fifty feet. Who the architect was they do not relate.

{5.16.2} Every fourth year there is woven for Hērā a robe by the Sixteen women, and the same also hold Games called Heraia. The Games consist of foot races for girls. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the girls. They run in the following way:

{5.16.3} Their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium reserved for their Games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning girls they give garlands of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hērā. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the Games, married women.

{5.16.4} The Games of the girls too are traced back to ancient times; they say that, out of gratitude to Hērā for her marriage with Pelops, Hippodameia assembled the Sixteen Women, and with them, inaugurated the Heraia. They relate too that a victory was won by Chloris, the only surviving daughter of the house of Amphion, though with her, they say, survived one of her brothers. As to the children of Niobe, what I myself chanced to learn about them, I have set forth in my account of Argos.

{5.16.5} Besides the account already given, they tell another story about the Sixteen Women as follows. Damophon, it is said, when tyrant of Pisa did much grievous harm to the Eleians. But when he died, since the people of Pisa refused to participate as a people in their tyrant’s sins, and the Eleians too became quite ready to lay aside their grievances, they chose a woman from each of the sixteen cities of Elis still inhabited at that time to settle their differences; this woman to be the oldest, the most noble, and the most esteemed of all the women.

{5.16.6} The cities from which they chose the women were Elis.The women from these cities made peace between Pisa and Elis. Later on, they were entrusted with the management of the Games called Heraia, and with the weaving of the robe for Hērā. The Sixteen Women also arrange two choral dances, one called that of Physkoa and the other that of Hippodameia. This Physkoa they say came from Elis in the Hollow, and the name of the deme [dēmos] where she lived was Orthia.

{5.16.7} She mated, they say, with Dionysus and bore him a son called Narkaios. When he grew up, he made war against the neighboring folk and rose to great power, setting up moreover a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Narkaia. They say too that Narkaios and Physkoa were the first to pay worship to Dionysus. So various honors are paid to Physkoa, especially that of the choral dance, named after her and managed by the Sixteen Women. The Eleians still adhere to the other ancient customs, even though some of the cities have been destroyed. For they are now divided into eight tribes [phulai], and they choose two women from each.

{5.16.8} Whatever ritual it is the duty of either the Sixteen Women or the Eleian umpires to perform, they do not perform before they have purified themselves by sacrificing a pig that is ritually appropriate for purification and with water. Their purification takes place at the spring Piera. You reach this spring as you go along the flat road from Olympia to Elis.

{5.17.1} These things, then, are as I have already described. In the temple of Hērā is a statue [agalma] of Zeus, and the statue [agalma] of Hērā is sitting on a throne with Zeus standing by her, bearded and with a helmet on his head. They are crude works of art. The figures of Seasons next to them, seated upon thrones, were made by the Aeginetan Smilis. [336] Beside them stands a statue [agalma] of Themis, as being mother of the Seasons. It is the work of Dorykleidas, a Lacedaemonian by birth and a disciple of Dipoinos and Skyllis.

{5.17.2} The Hesperides, five in number, were made by Theokles, who like Dorykleidas was a Lacedaemonian, the son of Hegylus; he too, they say, was a student under Skyllis and Dipoinos. The Athena wearing a helmet and carrying a spear and shield is, it is said, a work of Medon, a Lacedaemonian, brother of Dorykleidas, and a pupil of the same masters.

{5.17.3} Then the Maiden and Demeter sit opposite each other, while Apollo and Artemis stand opposite each other. Here too have been dedicated Leto, Fortune, Dionysus and a winged Nike. I cannot say who the artists were, but these figures too are in my opinion very ancient. The figures I have enumerated are of ivory and gold, but at a later date other statues [agalmata] were dedicated in the Hēraion, including a marble Hermes carrying the baby Dionysus, a work of Praxiteles, and a bronze Aphrodite made by Kleon of Sikyon. [337]

{5.17.4} The master of this Kleon, called Antiphanes, was a pupil of Periklytos, who himself was a pupil of Polycleitus of Argos. A nude gilded child is seated before Aphrodite, a work fashioned by Boethus of Calchedon. There were also brought here from what is called the Philippeion other statues [agalmata] of gold and ivory, Eurydikē, the wife of Aridaios, and Olympias, the wife of Philip.

{5.17.5} There is also a chest made of cedar with figures on it, some of ivory, some of gold, others carved out of the cedar-wood itself. It was in this chest that Kypselos, the tyrant of Corinth, was hidden by his mother when the Bakkhidai were anxious to discover him after his birth. In gratitude for the saving of Kypselos, his descendants, the Kypselidai as they are called, dedicated the chest at Olympia. The Corinthians of that age called chests kypselai, and from this word, they say, the child received his name of Kypselos.

{5.17.6} On most of the figures on the chest, there are inscriptions, written in the ancient characters. In some cases the letters read straight on, but in others, the form of the writing is what the Greeks call. [338] It is like this: at the end of the line the second line turns back, as runners do when running the double race. Moreover, the inscriptions on the chest are written in winding characters difficult to decipher. Beginning our survey at the bottom, we see in the first space of the chest the following scenes.

{5.17.7} Oinomaos is chasing Pelops, who is holding Hippodameia. Each of them has two horses, but those of Pelops have wings. The next thing that is worked in is the house of Amphiaraos, and baby Amphilokhos is being carried by some old woman or other. In front of the house stands Eriphyle with the necklace, and by her are her daughters, Eurydikē and Demonassa, and the boy, Alkmaion, naked.

{5.17.8} Asios in his poem makes out Alkmene also to be a daughter of Amphiaraos and Eriphyle. Baton is driving the chariot of Amphiaraos, holding the reins in one hand and a spear in the other. Amphiaraos already has one foot on the chariot and his sword drawn; he is turned towards Eriphyle in such a transport of anger that he can scarcely refrain from striking her.

{5.17.9} After the house of Amphiaraos come the Games at the funeral of Pelias, with the spectators looking at the competitors. Hēraklēs is seated on a throne, and behind him is a woman. There is no inscription saying who the woman is, but she is playing on a Phrygian, not a Greek, aulos [‘double-reed’]. Driving chariots drawn by pairs of horses are Pisos, son of Perieres, and Asterion, son of Cometas (Asterion is said to have been one of the Argonauts), Polydeukes, Admetos, and Euphemos. The poets declare that the last was a son of Poseidon and a companion of Jason on his voyage to Kolkhis. He it is who is winning the chariot race.

{5.17.10} Those who have boldly ventured to box are Admetos and Mopsos, the son of Ampyx. Between them stands a man playing the aulos [‘double-reed’], as in our day they are accustomed to play the aulos [‘double-reed’] when the competitors in the pentathlon are jumping. The wrestling bout between Jason and Peleus is an even one. Eurybotas is shown throwing the discus; he must be some famous discus thrower. Those engaged in a running race are Melanion, Neotheus, and Phalareus; the fourth runner is Argeios, and the fifth is Iphiklos. Iphiklos is the winner, and Akastos is holding out the garland to him. He is probably the father of the Protesilaos, who joined in the war against Troy.

{5.17.11} Tripods too are set here, prizes, of course, for the winners; and there are the daughters of Pelias, though the only one with her name inscribed is Alcestis. Iolaos, who voluntarily helped Hēraklēs in his labors, is shown as a victor in the chariot race. At this point, the funeral Games of Pelias come to an end, and Hēraklēs, with Athena standing beside him, is shooting at the hydra, the beast in the river Amymone. Hēraklēs can be easily recognized by his exploit and his attitude, so his name is not inscribed by him. There is also Phineus, the Thracian, and the sons of Boreas are chasing the harpies away from him.

{5.18.1} Now I come to the second space on the chest, and in going round it, I had better begin from the left. There is a figure of a woman holding on her right arm a white child asleep, and on her left she has a black child like one who is asleep. Each has his feet turned different ways. The inscriptions declare, as one could infer without inscriptions, that the figures are Death and Sleep, with Night the nurse of both.

{5.18.2} A beautiful woman is punishing an ugly one, choking her with one hand and with the other striking her with a staff. It is Justice who thus treats Injustice. Two other women are pounding in mortars with pestles; they are supposed to be wise in the lore of medicine, though there is no inscription to them. Who the man is who is followed by a woman is made plain by the hexameter verses, which run thus:

{5.18.3} A man wearing a tunic is holding in his right hand a cup, and in his left, a necklace; Alkmene is taking hold of them. This scene represents the Greek story how Zeus in the likeness of Amphitryon had intercourse with Alkmene. Menelaos, wearing a breastplate and carrying a sword, is advancing to kill Helen, so it is plain that Troy has been captured. Medea is seated upon a throne, while Jason stands on her right and Aphrodite on her left. On them is an inscription: Jason weds Medea, as Aphrodite bids.

{5.18.4} There are also figures of Muses singing, with Apollo leading the song; these too have an inscription: This is Leto’s son, Prince Apollo, far-shooting; Around him are the Muses, a graceful choir, whom he is leading. Atlas too is supporting, just as the story has it, sky [ouranos] and earth upon his shoulders; he is also carrying the apples of the Hesperides. A man holding a sword is coming towards Atlas. This everybody can see is Hēraklēs, though he is not mentioned specially in the inscription, which reads:

{5.18.5} There is also Ares clad in armor and leading Aphrodite. The inscription by him is “Enyalios.” There is also a figure of Thetis as a maid; Peleus is taking hold of her, and from the hand of Thetis, a snake is darting at Peleus. The sisters of Medusa, with wings, are chasing Perseus, who is flying. Only Perseus has his name inscribed on him.

{5.18.6} On the third space of the chest are military scenes. The greater number of the figures is on foot, though there are some knights in two-horse chariots. About the soldiers one may infer that they are advancing to battle, but that they will recognize and greet each other. Two different accounts of them are given by the guides. Some have said that they are the Aetolians with Oxylos and the ancient Eleians and that they are meeting in remembrance of their original descent and as a sign of their mutual good will. Others declare that the soldiers are meeting in battle, and that they are Pylians and Arcadians about to fight by the city Pheia and the river Iardanos.

{5.18.7} But it cannot for a moment be admitted that the ancestor of Kypselos, a Corinthian, having the chest made as a possession for himself, of his own accord passed over all Corinthian story, and had carved on the chest foreign events which were not famous. The following interpretation suggested itself to me. Kypselos and his ancestors came originally from Gonoussa above Sikyon, and one of their ancestors was Melas, the son of Antasus.

{5.18.8} But, as I have already related in my account of Corinth, Aletes refused to admit as settlers Melas and the host with him, being nervous about an oracle which had been given him from Delphi; but at last Melas, using every art of winning favors, and returning with entreaties every time he was driven away, persuaded Aletes however reluctantly to receive them. One might infer that this army is represented by the figures that are worked in upon the chest.

{5.19.1} In the fourth space on the chest as you go round from the left is Boreas, who has carried off Oreithyia; instead of feet, he has serpents’ tails. Then comes the combat between Hēraklēs and Geryones, who is represented as three men joined to one another. There is Theseus holding a lyre, and by his side is Ariadne gripping a garland. Achilles and Memnon are fighting; their mothers stand by their side.

{5.19.2} There is also Melanion by whom is Atalanta holding a young deer. Ajax is fighting a duel with Hector, according to the challenge, [339] and between the pair stands Strife in the form of a most repulsive woman. Another figure of Strife is in the sanctuary of Ephesian Artemis; Kalliphon of Samos included it in his picture of the battle at the ships of the Greeks. On the chest are also the Dioskouroi, one of them a beardless youth, and between them is Helen.

{5.19.3} Aithra, the daughter of Pittheus, lies thrown to the ground under the feet at Helen. She is clothed in black, and the inscription upon the group is an hexameter line with the addition of a single word:

{5.19.4} Such is the way this line is constructed. Iphidamas, the son of Antenor, is lying, and Koön is fighting for him against Agamemnon. On the shield of Agamemnon is Fear, whose head is a lion’s. The inscription above the corpse of Iphidamas runs: Iphidamas, and this is Koön fighting for him. The inscription on the shield of Agamemnon runs:

There is also Hermes bringing to Alexander the son of Priam the goddesses of whose beauty he is to judge, the inscription on them being:

On what account Artemis has wings on her shoulders I do not know; in her right hand she grips a leopard, in her left a lion. Ajax too is represented dragging Cassandra from the statue [agalma] of Athena, and by him is also an inscription: Ajax of Lokris is dragging Cassandra from Athena.

{5.19.6} Polyneikes, the son of Oedipus, has fallen on his knee, and Eteokles, the other son of Oedipus, is rushing on him. Behind Polyneikes stands a woman with teeth as cruel as those of a beast, and her fingernails are bent like talons. An inscription by her calls her Doom, implying that Polyneikes has been carried off by fate, and that Eteokles fully deserved his end. Dionysus is lying down in a cave, a bearded figure holding a golden cup, and clad in a tunic reaching to the feet. Around him are vines, apple trees and pomegranate trees.

{5.19.7} The highest space—the spaces are five in number—shows no inscription, so that we can only conjecture what the reliefs mean. Well, there is a grotto and in it a woman sleeping with a man upon a couch. I was of opinion that they were Odysseus and Circe, basing my view upon the number of the handmaidens in front of the grotto and upon what they are doing. For the women are four, and they are engaged on the tasks which Homer mentions in his poetry. [340] There is a Centaur with only two of his legs those of a horse; his forelegs are human.

{5.19.8} Next come two-horse chariots with women standing in them. The horses have golden wings, and a man is giving armor to one of the women. I conjecture that this scene refers to the death of Patroklos; the women in the chariots, I take it, are Nereids, and Thetis is receiving the armor from Hephaistos. And moreover, he who is giving the armor is not strong upon his feet, and a slave follows him behind, holding a pair of fire-tongs.

{5.19.9} An account also is given of the Centaur, that he is Kheiron, freed by this time from human affairs and held worthy to share the home of the gods, who has come to assuage the grief of Achilles. Two maidens in a mule-cart, one holding the reins and the other wearing a veil upon her head, are thought to be Nausikaa, the daughter of Alkinoos, and her handmaiden, driving to the washing-pits. The man shooting at Centaurs, some of which he has killed, is plainly Hēraklēs, and the exploit is one of his.

{5.19.10} As to the maker of the chest, I found it impossible to form any conjecture. But the inscriptions upon it, though possibly composed by some other poet, are, as I was on the whole inclined to hold, the work of Eumēlos of Corinth. My main reason for this view is the processional hymn he wrote for Delos.

{5.20.1} There are here other offerings also: a couch of no great size and for the most part adorned with ivory; the discus of Iphitos; a table on which are set out the garlands for the victors. The couch is said to have been a toy of Hippodameia. The discus of Iphitos has inscribed upon it the truce which the Eleians proclaim at the Olympic festivals; the inscription is not written in a straight line, but the letters run in a circle round the discus.

{5.20.2} The table is made of ivory and gold, and is the work of Kolotes. Kolotes is said to have been a native of Herakleia, but specialists in the history of sculpture maintain that he was a Parian, a pupil of Pasiteles, who himself was a pupil of There are figures of Hērā, Zeus, the Mother of the gods, Hermes, and Apollo with Artemis. Behind is the disposition of the Games.

{5.20.3} On one side are Asklepios and Hygieia, one of his daughters; Ares too and Contest by his side; on the other are Pluto [Ploutōn], Dionysus, Persephone and nymphs, one of them carrying a ball. As to the key (Pluto [Ploutōn] holds a key) they say that what is called Hades has been locked up by Pluto [Ploutōn], and that nobody will return back again therefrom.

{5.20.4} I must not omit the story told by Aristarkhos, the guide to the sights at Olympia. He said that in his day the roof of the Hēraion had fallen into decay. When the Eleians were repairing it, the corpse of a foot soldier with wounds was discovered between the roof supporting the tiles and the ornamented ceiling. This soldier took part in the battle in the Altis between the Eleians and the Lacedaemonians. [341]

{5.20.5} The Eleians in fact climbed to defend themselves on to all high places alike, including the sanctuaries of the gods. At any rate, this soldier seemed to us to have crept under here after growing faint with his wounds, and so died. Lying in a completely sheltered spot, the corpse would suffer harm neither from the heat of summer nor from the frost of winter. Aristarkhos said further that they carried the corpse outside the Altis and buried him in the earth along with his armor.

{5.20.6} What the Eleians call the column of Oinomaos is in the direction of the sanctuary of Zeus as you go from the great altar. On the left are four columns with a roof on them, the whole constructed to protect a wooden column which has decayed through age, being for the most part held together by bands. This column, so runs the tale, stood in the house of Oinomaos. Struck by lightning the rest of the house was destroyed by the fire; of all the building only this column was left.

{5.20.7} A bronze tablet in front of it has the following elegiac inscription:

{5.20.8} A Roman senator won an Olympic victory. Wishing to leave behind, as a memorial of his victory, a bronze statue with an inscription, he proceeded to dig, so as to make a foundation. When his excavation came very close to the column of Oinomaos, the diggers found there fragments of armor, bridles and curbs.

{5.20.9} These I saw myself as they were being dug out. A temple of no great size in the Doric style they have called down to the present day Mētrōon, [342] keeping its ancient name. No image lies in it of the Mother of the gods, but there stand in it statues of Roman emperors. The Mētrōon is within the Altis, and so is a round building called the Philippeion. On the roof of the Philippeion is a bronze poppy which binds the beams together.

{5.20.10} This building is on the left of the exit over against the Town Hall. It is made of burned brick and is surrounded by columns. It was built by Philip after the fall of Greece at Khairōneia. Here are set statues of Philip and Alexander, and with them is Amyntas, Philip’s father. These works too are by Leokhares and are of ivory and gold, as are the statues of Olympias and Eurydikē.

{5.21.1} From this point my account will proceed to a description of the statues and votive offerings; but I think that it would be wrong to mix up the accounts of them. For whereas on the Athenian Acropolis statues are votive offerings like everything else, in the Altis some things only are dedicated in honor of the gods, and statues are merely part of the prizes awarded to the victors. The statues I will mention later; I will turn first to the votive offerings, and go over the most noteworthy of them.

{5.21.2} As you go to the stadium along the road from the Mētrōon, there is on the left at the base of the mountain [oros] named Kronion a platform of stone, right by the very mountain [oros], with steps through it. By the platform have been set up bronze statues [agalmata] of Zeus. These have been made from the fines inflicted on athletes who have wantonly broken the rules of the contests, and they are called Zanes [figures of Zeus] by the natives.

{5.21.3} The first, six in number, were set up in the ninety-eighth Olympiad. For Eupolos of Thessaly bribed the boxers who entered the competition, Agenor the Arcadian and Prytanis of Kyzikos, and with them also Phormion of Halicarnassus, who had won at the preceding Festival. This is said to have been the first time that an athlete violated the rules of the Games, and the first to be fined by the Eleians were Eupolos and those who accepted bribes from Eupolos. Two of these images are the work of Kleon of Sikyon; who made the next four, I do not know.

{5.21.4} Except for the third and the fourth, these images have elegiac inscriptions on them. The first of the inscriptions is intended to make plain that an Olympic victory is to be won, not by money, but by swiftness of foot and strength of body. The inscription on the second image declares that the image stands to the glory of the deity, through the piety of the Eleians, and to be a terror to law-breaking athletes. The purport of the inscription on the fifth image is praise of the Eleians, especially for their fining the boxers; that of the sixth and last is that the images are a warning to all the Greeks not to give bribes to obtain an Olympic victory.

{5.21.5} Next after Eupolos they say that Kallippos of Athens, who had entered for the pentathlon, bought off his fellow-competitors by bribes, and that this offence occurred at tie hundred and twelfth Festival. When the fine had been imposed by the Eleians on Kallippos and his antagonists, the Athenians commissioned Hypereides to persuade the Eleians to remit them the fine. The Eleians refused this favor, and the Athenians were disdainful enough not to pay the money and to boycott the Olympic Games, until finally the god at Delphi declared that he would deliver no oracle on any matter to the Athenians before they had paid the Eleians the fine.

{5.21.6} So when it was paid, images, also six in number, were made in honor of Zeus; on them are inscribed elegiac verses not a bit more elegant than those relating the fine of Eupolos. The gist of the first inscription is that the images were dedicated because the god by an oracle expressed his approval of the Eleian decision against the pentathletes; on the second image and likewise on the third are praises of the Eleians for their fining the competitors in the pentathlon.

{5.21.7} The fourth purports to say that the contest at Olympia is one of merit and not of wealth; the inscription on the fifth declares the reason for dedicating the images, while that on the sixth commemorates the oracle given to the Athenians by Delphi.

{5.21.8} The images next to those I have enumerated are two in number, and they were dedicated from a fine imposed on wrestlers. As to their names, neither I nor the guides of the Eleians knew them. On these images too are inscriptions; one says that the Rhodians paid money to Olympian Zeus for the wrongdoing of a wrestler; the other that certain men wrestled for bribes and that the image was made from the fines imposed upon them.

{5.21.9} The rest of the information about these athletes comes from the guides of the Eleians, who say that it was at the hundred and seventy-eighth Festival that Eudelos accepted a bribe from Philostratus, and that this Philostratus was a Rhodian. This account I found was at variance with the Eleian record of Olympic victories. In this record, it is stated that Straton of Alexandria at the hundred and seventy-eighth Festival won on the same day the victory in the pankration and the victory at wrestling. Alexandria on the Canopic mouth of the Nile was founded by Alexander the son of Philip, but it is said that previously there was on the site a small Egyptian town called Rakotis.

{5.21.10} Three competitors before the time of this Straton, and three others after him, are known to have received the wild-olive for winning the pankration and the wrestling: Kapros from Elis itself, and of the Greeks on the other side of the Aegean, Aristomenes of Rhodes and Protophanes of Magnesia on the Lethaios, were earlier than Straton; after him came Marion his compatriot, Aristeas of Stratonikia (anciently both land and city were called Khrysaoris), and the seventh was Nikostratos, from Cilicia on the coast, though he was in no way a Cilician except in name.

{5.21.11} This Nikostratos while still a baby was stolen from Prymnessus in Phrygia by robbers, being a child of a noble family. Conveyed to Aigeai, he was bought by somebody or other, who some time afterwards dreamed a dream. He thought that a lion’s whelp lay beneath the pallet-bed on which Nikostratos was sleeping. Now Nikostratos, when he grew up, won other victories elsewhere, besides in the pankration and wrestling at Olympia.

{5.21.12} Afterwards, others were fined by the Eleians, among whom was an Alexandrian boxer at the two hundred and eighteenth Festival. The name of the man fined was Apollonios, with the surname of Rhantes—it is a sort of national characteristic for Alexandrians to have a surname. This man was the first Egyptian to be convicted by the Eleians of a misdemeanor.

{5.21.13} It was not for giving or taking a bribe that he was condemned, but for the following outrageous conduct in connection with the Games. He did not arrive by the prescribed time, and the Eleians, if they followed their rule, had no option but to exclude him from the Games. For his excuse, that he had been kept back among the Cyclades islands by contrary winds, was proved to be an untruth by Hērakleidēs, himself an Alexandrian by birth. He showed that Apollonios was late because he had been picking up some money at the Ionian Games.

{5.21.14} In these circumstances, the Eleians shut out from the Games Apollonios with any other boxer who came after the prescribed time, and let the garland go to Hērakleidēs without a contest. Whereupon Apollonios put on his gloves for a fight, rushed at Hērakleidēs, and began to pummel him, though he had already put the wild-olive on his head and had taken refuge with the umpires. For this light-headed folly he was to pay dearly.

{5.21.15} There are also two other images of modern workmanship. For at the two hundred and twenty-sixth Festival, they detected that two boxing men, in a fight for victory only, had agreed about the issue for a sum of money. For this misconduct a fine was inflicted, and of the images of Zeus that were made, one stands on the left of the entrance to the stadium and the other on the right. Of the boxers, the one bribed was called Didas, and the briber was Sarapammon. They were from the same district, the newest in Egypt, called Arsinoites.

{5.21.16} It is a wonder in any case if a man has so little respect for the god of Olympia as to take or give a bribe in the contests; it is an even greater wonder that one of the Eleians themselves has fallen so low. But it is said that the Eleian Damonikos did so fall at the hundred and ninety second Festival. They say that collusion occurred between Polyktor the son of Damonikos and Sosandros of Smyrna, of the same name as his father; these were competitors for the wrestling prize of wild-olive. Damonikos, it is alleged, being exceedingly ambitious that his son should win, bribed the father of Sosandros.

{5.21.17} When the transaction became known, the umpires imposed a fine, but instead of imposing it on the sons, they directed their anger against the fathers, for that they were the real sinners. From this fine, images were made. One is set up in the Eleian gymnasium; the other is in the Altis in front of what is called the Painted Portico, because anciently there were pictures on the walls. Some call this Portico “the Echo Portico,” because when a man has shouted, his voice is repeated by the echo seven or even more times.

{5.21.18} They say that a competitor in the pankration, a man from Alexandria by the name of Sarapion, at the two hundred and first Festival, was so afraid of his antagonists that on the day before the pankration was to be called on he ran away. This is the only occasion on record when any man, not to say a man of Egypt, was fined for cowardice.

{5.22.1} These were the causes for which I found that these images were made. There are also images of Zeus dedicated by States and by individuals. There is in the Altis an altar near the entrance leading to the stadium. On it the Eleians do not sacrifice to any of the gods, but it is customary for the trumpeters and heralds to stand upon it when they compete. By the side of this altar has been built a pedestal of bronze, and on it is an image of Zeus, about six cubits in height, with a thunderbolt in either hand. It was dedicated by the people of Kynaitha. The figure of Zeus as a boy wearing the necklace is the votive offering of Kleolas, a Phliasian.

{5.22.2} By the side of what is called the Hippodamion is a semicircular stone pedestal, and on it are Zeus, Thetis, and Day entreating Zeus on behalf of her children. These are on the middle of the pedestal. There are Achilles and Memnon, one at either edge of the pedestal, representing a pair of combatants in position. There are other pairs similarly opposed, barbarian against Greek: Odysseus opposed to Helenos, reputed to be the cleverest men in the respective armies; Alexander and Menelaos, in virtue of their ancient feud; Aeneas and Diomedes, and Deiphobos and Ajax son of Telamon.

{5.22.3} These are the work of Lykios, the son of Myron, and were dedicated by the people of Apollonia on the Ionian sea. There are also elegiac verses written in ancient characters under the feet of Zeus:

The land called Abantis and the town of Thronion in it were a part of the Thesprotian mainland over against the Ceraunian mountains.

{5.22.4} When the Greek fleet was scattered on the voyage home from Troy, men of Lokris who originated from Thronion, a city on the river Boagrios, and Abantes from Euboea, with eight ships altogether, were driven on the Ceraunian mountains. Settling here and founding the city of Thronion by common agreement, they gave the name of Abantis to the land as far as they occupied it. Afterwards, however, they were conquered in war and expelled by the people of Apollonia, their neighbors. Apollonia was a colony of Corcyra, they say, and Corcyra of Corinth, and the Corinthians had their share of the spoils.

{5.22.5} A little farther on is a Zeus turned towards the rising sun; he holds an eagle in one hand and in the other a thunderbolt. On him are set spring flowers, with a garland of them on his head. It is an offering of the people of Metaponton. The artist was Aristonous of Aegina, but we do not know when he lived nor who his teacher was.

{5.22.6} The Phliasians also dedicated a Zeus, the daughters of Asopos, and Asopos himself. Their images have been ordered thus: Nemeā is the first of the sisters, and after her comes Zeus seizing Aegina; by Aegina stands Harpina, who, according to the tradition of the Eleians and Phliasians, mated with Ares and was the mother of Oinomaos, king around Pisa; after her is Corcyra, with Thebe next; last of all comes Aesopus. It is said about Corcyra that she mated with Poseidon, and the same thing is said by Pindar of Thebe and Zeus.

{5.22.7} Men of Leontinoi have set up a Zeus, not at public expense but out of their private purse. The height of the image is seven cubits, and in its hands are an eagle and the bolt of Zeus, in accordance with the poets’ tales. It was dedicated by Hippagoras, Phrynon, and Ainesidemos, who in my opinion was some other Ainesidemos and not the tyrant of Leontinoi.

{5.23.1} As you pass by the entrance to the Council Chamber, you see an image of Zeus standing with no inscription on it, and then on turning to the north, another image of Zeus. This is turned towards the rising sun, and was dedicated by those Greeks who at Plataea fought against the Persians under Mardonios. [343] On the right of the pedestal are inscribed the cities which took part in the engagement: first the Lacedaemonians, after them the Athenians, third the Corinthians, fourth the Sikyonians,

{5.23.2} fifth the Aeginetans; after the Aeginetans, the Megarians and Epidaurians, of the Arcadians the people of Tegea and Orkhomenos, after them the dwellers in Phleious, Troizen and Hermion, the Tirynthians from the Argolid, the Plataeans alone of the Boeotians, the Argives of Mycenae, the islanders of Ceos and Mēlos, Ambraciots of the Thesprotian mainland, the Tenians and the Lepreans, who were the only people from Triphylia, but from the Aegean and the Cyclades there came not only the Tenians but also the Naxians and Cythnians, Styrians too from Euboea, after them Eleians, Potidaeans, Anaktorioi, and lastly the people of Khalkis-on-the-Euripos.

{5.23.3} Of these cities the following are at the present day uninhabited: Mycenae and Tiryns were destroyed by the Argives after the Persian wars. The Ambraciots and Anaktorioi, colonists of Corinth, were taken away by the Roman emperor [344] to help to found Nikopolis near Actium. The Potidaeans twice suffered removal from their city, once at the hands of Philip, the son of Amyntas [345] , and once before this at the hands of the Athenians. [346] Afterwards, however, Kassandros restored the Potidaeans to their homes, but the name of the city was changed from Potidaea to Kassandreia after the name of its founder. [347] The image at Olympia dedicated by the Greeks was made by Anaxagoras of Aegina. The name of this artist is omitted by the historians of Plataea.

{5.23.4} In front of this Zeus, there is a bronze slab, on which are the terms of the Thirty-years Peace between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians. The Athenians made this peace after they had reduced Euboea for the second time, in the third year of the eighty-third Olympiad, when Crison of Himera won the foot-race [348] . One of the articles of the treaty is to the effect that although Argos has no part in the treaty between Athens and Sparta, yet the Athenians and the Argives may privately, if they wish, be at peace with each other. Such are the terms of this treaty.

{5.23.5} There is yet another image of Zeus dedicated beside the chariot of Kleosthenes. This chariot I will describe later; the image of Zeus was dedicated by the Megarians, and made by the brothers Psylakos and Onaithos with the help of their sons. About their date, their nation and their master, I can tell you nothing.

{5.23.6} By the chariot of Gelon stands an ancient Zeus holding a scepter which is said to be an offering of the Hyblaeans. There were two cities in Sicily called Hybla, one surnamed Gereatis and the other Greater, it being in fact the greater of the two. They still retain their old names, and are in the district of Catana. Greater Hybla is entirely uninhabited, but Gereatis is a village of Catana, with a sanctuary of the goddess Hyblaea which is held in honor by the Sicilians. The people of Gereatis, I think, brought the image to Olympia. For Philistos, the son of Arkhomenides, says that they were interpreters of portents and dreams, and more given to devotions than any other barbarians in Sicily.

{5.23.7} Near the offering of the Hyblaeans has been made a pedestal of bronze with a Zeus upon it, which I conjecture to be about eighteen feet high. The donors and sculptors are set forth in elegiac verse: The Clitorians [people of Kleitor] dedicated this image to the god, a tithe from many cities that they had reduced by force. The sculptors were Ariston and Telestas, Own brothers and Laconians. I do not think that these Laconians were famous all over Greece, for had they been so the Eleians would have had something to say about them, and the Lacedaemonians more still, seeing that they were their fellow citizens.

{5.24.1} By the side of the altar of Zeus Laoitas and Poseidon Laoitas is a Zeus on a bronze pedestal. The people of Corinth gave it and Musus made it, whoever this Musus may have been. As you go from the Council Chamber to the great temple, there stands on the left an image of Zeus, garlanded as it were with flowers, and with a thunderbolt set in his right hand. It is the work of Ascarus of Thebes, a pupil of Kanakhos of Sikyon. The inscription on it says that it is a tithe from the war between Phokis and Thessaly.

{5.24.2} If the Thessalians went to war with Phokis and dedicated the offering from plunder taken from Phokis, this could not have been the so-called “Sacred War,” [349] but must have been a war between the two States previous to the invasion of Greece by the Persians under their king. Not far from this is a Zeus, which, as is declared by the verse inscribed on it, was dedicated by the Psophidians for a success in war.

{5.24.3} On the right of the great temple is a Zeus facing the rising of the sun, twelve feet high and dedicated, they say, by the Lacedaemonians, when they entered on a war with the Messenians after their second revolt. On it is an elegiac couplet: Accept, king, son of Kronos, Olympian Zeus, a lovely image, And have a heart propitious to the Lacedaemonians.

{5.24.4} We know of no Roman, either commoner or senator, who gave a votive offering to a Greek sanctuary before Mummius, and he dedicated at Olympia a bronze Zeus from the spoils of Achaea [350] . It stands on the left of the offering of the Lacedaemonians by the side of the first column on this side of the temple. The largest of the bronze images of Zeus in the Altis is twenty-seven feet high, and was dedicated by the Eleians themselves from the plunder of the war with the Arcadians.

{5.24.5} Beside the Pelopion is a column of no great height with a small image of Zeus on it; one hand is outstretched. Opposite this are other offerings in a row, and likewise images of Zeus and Ganymedes. Homer’s poem [351] tells how Ganymedes was carried off by the gods to be wine-bearer to Zeus, and how horses were given to Tros in exchange for him. This offering was dedicated by the Thessalian Gnathis and made by Aristokles, pupil and son of Kleoitas.

{5.24.6} There is also another Zeus represented as a beardless youth, which is among offerings of Mikythos. The history of Mikythos, his family, and why he dedicated so many offerings at Olympia, my narrative will presently set forth. A little farther on in a straight line from the image I have mentioned is another beardless image of Zeus. It was dedicated by the people of Elaea, who live in the first city of Aeolis you reach on descending from the plain of the Kaïkos to the sea.

{5.24.7} Yet another image of Zeus comes next, and the inscription on it says that it was dedicated by the Chersonesians of Knidos from enemy spoils. On either side of the image of Zeus, they have dedicated images of Pelops and of the river Alpheios respectively. The greater part of the city of Knidos is built on the Carian mainland, where are their most noteworthy possessions, but what is called Chersonnesus is an island lying near the mainland, to which it is joined by a bridge.

{5.24.8} It is the inhabitants of this quarter who dedicated to Zeus the offerings at Olympia, just as if Ephesians living in what is called Koresos were to say that they had dedicated an offering independently of the Ephesians as a body. There is also by the wall of the Altis a Zeus turned towards the setting of the sun; it bears no inscription, but is said to be another offering of Mummius made from the plunder of the Achaean war.

{5.24.9} But the Zeus in the Council Chamber is of all the images of Zeus the one most likely to strike terror into the hearts of sinners. He is surnamed Oath-god, and in each hand, he holds a thunderbolt. Beside this image it is the custom for athletes, their fathers and their brothers, as well as their trainers, to swear an oath upon slices of boar’s flesh that in nothing will they sin against the Olympic Games. The athletes take this further oath also, that for ten successive months they have strictly followed the regulations for training.

{5.24.10} An oath is also taken by those who examine the boys, or the foals entering for races, that they will decide fairly and without taking bribes, and that they will keep secret what they learn about a candidate, whether accepted or not. I forgot to inquire what it is customary to do with the boar after the oath of the athletes, though the ancient custom about victims was that no human being might eat of that on which an oath had been sworn.

{5.24.11} Homer proves this point clearly. For the boar, on the slices of which Agamemnon swore that Briseis had not lain with him, Homer says was thrown by the herald into the sea:

Such was the ancient custom. Before the feet of the Oath-god is a bronze plate, with elegiac verses inscribed upon it, the object of which is to strike fear into those who take false oaths.

{5.25.1} I have enumerated the images of Zeus within the Altis with the greatest accuracy. For the offering near the great temple, though supposed to be a likeness of Zeus, is really Alexander, the son of Philip. It was set up by a Corinthian, not one of the old Corinthians, but one of those settlers whom the Emperor planted in the city. I shall also mention those offerings which are of a different kind, and not representations of Zeus. The statues which have been set up, not to honor a deity, but to reward mere men, I shall include in my account of the athletes.

{5.25.2} The Messenians on the Strait in accordance with an old custom used to send to Rhēgion a chorus of thirty-five boys, and with it a trainer and an aulos-player, to a local festival of Rhēgion. On one occasion, a disaster befell them for not one of those sent out returned home alive, but the ship with the boys on board went to the bottom.

{5.25.3} The sea in fact at this strait is the stormiest of seas; it is made rough by winds bringing waves from both sides, from the Adriatic and the other sea, which is called the Tyrrhenian, and even if there be no gale blowing, even then the strait of itself produces a very violent swell and strong currents. So many monsters swarm in the water that even the air over the sea is infected with their stench. Accordingly, a shipwrecked man has not even a hope left of getting out of the strait alive. If it was here that disaster overtook the ship of Odysseus, nobody could believe that he swam out alive to Italy, were it not that the benevolence of the gods makes all things easy.

{5.25.4} On this occasion the Messenians mourned for the loss of the boys, and one of the honors bestowed upon them was the dedication of bronze statues at Olympia, the group including the trainer of the chorus and the aulos-player. The old inscription declared that the offerings were those of the Messenians at the strait; but afterwards Hippias, called “a sage” by the Greeks, [352] composed the elegiac verses on them. The artist of the statues was Kallon of Elis.

{5.25.5} At the headland of Sicily that looks towards Libya and the south, called Pakhynon, there stands the city Motye, inhabited by Libyans and Phoenicians. Against these barbarians of Motye war was waged by the men of Akragas, who, having taken from them plunder and spoils, dedicated at Olympia the bronze boys, who are stretching out their right hands in an attitude of prayer to the god. They are placed on the wall of the Altis, and I conjectured that the artist was Kalamis, a conjecture in accordance with the tradition about them. [353] Sicily is inhabited by the following ethnic-groupings [ethnē]:

{5.25.6} Sicanians, Sicels, and Phrygians; the first two crossed into it from Italy, while the Phrygians came from the river Skamandros and the land of the Troad. The Phoenicians and Libyans came to the island on a joint expedition, and are settlers from Carthage. Such are the barbarian ethnic-groupings [ethnē] in Sicily. The Greeks settled there include Dorians and Ionians, with a small proportion of people from Phokis and from Attica.

{5.25.7} On the same wall as the offerings of the People of Akragas are two nude statues of Hēraklēs as a boy. One represents him shooting the lion at Nemeā. This Hēraklēs and the lion with him were dedicated by Hippotion of Tarentum, the artist being Nikodamos of Mainalos. The other image was dedicated by Anaxippos of Mende, and was transferred to this place by the Eleians. Previously it stood at the end of the road that leads from Elis to Olympia, called the Sacred Road.

{5.25.8} There are also offerings dedicated by all the Achaean people in common; they represent those who, when Hector challenged any Greek to meet him in single combat, dared to cast lots to choose the champion. They stand, armed with spears and shields, near the great temple. Right opposite, on a second pedestal, is a figure of Nestor, who has thrown the lot of each into the helmet. The number of those casting lots to meet Hector is now only eight, for the ninth, the statue of Odysseus, they say that Nero carried to Rome,

{5.25.9} but Agamemnon’s statue is the only one of the eight to have his name inscribed upon it; the writing is from right to left. The figure with the rooster emblazoned on the shield is Idomeneus the descendant of Minos. The story goes that Idomeneus was descended from the Sun, the father of Pasiphae, and that the rooster is sacred to the Sun and proclaims when he is about to rise.

{5.25.10} An inscription too is written on the pedestal:

Such is the inscription on the pedestal, but the name of the artist is written on the shield of Idomeneus:

{5.25.11} Not far from the offering of the Achaeans, there is also a Hēraklēs fighting with the Amazon, a woman on horseback, for her waistband. It was dedicated by Euagoras, a Zanclaean by descent, and made by Aristokles of Kydonia. Aristokles should be included amongst the most ancient sculptors, and though his date is uncertain, he was clearly born before Zancle took its present name of Messene.

{5.25.12} The Thasians, who are Phoenicians by descent and sailed from Tyre, and from Phoenicia generally, together with Thasos, the son of Agenor, in search of Europa, dedicated at Olympia a Hēraklēs, the pedestal as well as the image being of bronze. The height of the image is ten cubits, and he holds a club in his right hand and a bow in his left. They told me in Thasos that they used to worship the same Hēraklēs as the Tyrians, but that afterwards, when they were included among the Greeks, they adopted the worship of Hēraklēs the son of Amphitryon.

{5.25.13} On the offering of the Thasians at Olympia there is an elegiac couplet:

This Onatas, though belonging to the Aeginetan school of sculpture, I shall place after none of the successors of Daidalos or of the Attic school.

{5.26.1} The Dorian Messenian who received Naupaktos from the Athenians dedicated at Olympia the image of Nike upon the column. It is the work of Paionios of Mende, and was made from the proceeds of enemy spoils, [355] I think from the war with the Arcarnanians and Oiniadai. The Messenians themselves declare that their offering came from their exploit with the Athenians in the island of Sphakteria, [356] and that the name of their enemy was omitted through dread of the Lacedaemonians; for, they say, they are not in the least afraid of Oiniadai and the Acarnanians.

{5.26.2} The offerings of Mikythos I found were numerous and not together. Next after Iphitos of Elis, and Ekhekheiria garlanding Iphitos, come the following offerings of Mikythos: Amphitrite, Poseidon, and Hestia; the artist was Glaukos the Argive. [357] Along the left side of the great temple Mikythos dedicated other offerings: the Maiden, daughter of Demeter, Aphrodite, Ganymedes, and Artemis, the poets Homer and Hesiod, then again deities, Asklepios and Hygieia.

{5.26.3} Among the offerings of Mikythos is Struggle carrying jumping-weights, the shape of which is as follows. They are half of a circle, not an exact circle but elliptical, and made so that the fingers pass through as they do through the handle of a shield. Such are the fashion of them. By the statue of Struggle are Dionysus, Orpheus the Thracian, and an image of Zeus which I mentioned just now. They are the works of Dionysius of Argos. [358] They say that Mikythos set up other offerings also in addition to these, and that they formed part of the treasures taken away by Nero.

{5.26.4} The artists are said to have been Dionysius and Glaukos, who were Argives by birth, but the name of their teacher is not recorded. Their date is fixed by that of Mikythos, who dedicated the works of art at Olympia. For Herodotus in his Histories says that this Mikythos, when Anaxilas was despot of Rhēgion, became his slave and steward of his property afterwards, on the death of Anaxilas, he went away to Tegea.

{5.26.5} The inscriptions on the offerings give Choerus as the father of Mikythos, and as his fatherland the Greek cities of Rhēgion and Messene on the Strait. The inscriptions say that he lived at Tegea, and he dedicated the offerings at Olympia in fulfillment of a vow made for the recovery of a son, who fell ill of a wasting disease.

{5.26.6} Near to the greater offerings of Mikythos, which were made by the Argive Glaukos, stands an image of Athena with a helmet on her head and clad in an aegis. Nikodamos of Mainalos was the artist, but it was dedicated by the Eleians. Beside the Athena has been set up a Nike. The Mantineians dedicated it, but they do not mention the war in the inscription. Kalamis is said to have made it without wings in imitation of the wooden image in Athens called Wingless Nike.

{5.26.7} By the smaller offerings of Mikythos, that were made by Dionysius, are some of the exploits of Hēraklēs, including what he did to the Nemean lion, the Hydra, the Hound of Hades, and the boar by the river Erymanthos. These were brought to Olympia by the people of Herakleia when they had overrun the land of the Mariandynians, their barbarian neighbors. Herakleia is a city built on the Euxine Sea, a colony of Megara, though the people of Tanagra in Boeotia joined in the settlement.

{5.27.1} Opposite the offerings I have enumerated are others in a row; they face towards the south, and are very near to that part of the precinct which is sacred to Pelops. Among them are those dedicated by the Maenalian Phormis. He crossed to Sicily from Mainalos to serve Gelon the son of Deinomenes. Distinguishing himself in the campaigns of Gelon and afterwards of his brother Hieron, he reached such a pitch of prosperity that he dedicated not only these offerings at Olympia, but also others dedicated to Apollo at Delphi.

{5.27.2} The offerings at Olympia are two horses and two charioteers, a charioteer standing by the side of each of the horses. The first horse and man are by Dionysius of Argos, the second are the work of Simon of Aegina. [359] On the side of the first of the horses is an inscription, the first part of which is not metrical. It runs thus:

{5.27.3} This is the horse in which is, say the Eleians, the hippomanes (what maddens horses). It is plain to all that the quality of the horse is the result of magic skill. It is much inferior in size and beauty to all the horses standing within the Altis. Moreover, its tail has been cut off which makes the figure uglier still. But male horses, not only in spring but on any day, are at heat towards it.

{5.27.4} In fact, they rush into the Altis, breaking their tethers or escaping from their grooms, and they leap upon it much more madly than upon a living brood mare, even the most beautiful of them. Their hoofs slip off, but nevertheless they keep on neighing more and more and leap with a yet more violent passion, until they are driven away by whips and sheer force. In no other way can they be separated from the bronze horse.

{5.27.5} There is another marvel I know of, having seen it in Lydia; it is different from the horse of Phormis, but like it not innocent of the magic art. The Lydians with the surname [epiklēsis] of Persian [Persikoi] have sanctuaries in the city named Hierocaesareia and at Hypaepa. In each sanctuary is a chamber, and in the chamber are ashes upon an altar. But the color of these ashes is not the usual color of ashes.

{5.27.6} Entering the chamber, a magician piles dry wood upon the altar; he first places a tiara upon his head and then sings to some god or other an invocation in a barbarian tongue unintelligible to Greeks, reciting the invocation from a book. So it is without fire that the wood must catch, and bright flames dart from it.

{5.27.7} So much for this subject. Among these offerings is Phormis himself opposed to an enemy, and next are figures of him fighting a second and again a third. On them it is written that the soldier fighting is Phormis of Mainalos, and that he who dedicated the offerings was Lykortas of Syracuse. Clearly, this Lykortas dedicated them out of friendship for Phormis. These offerings of Lykortas are also called by the Greeks offerings of Phormis.

{5.27.8} The Hermes carrying the ram under his arm, with a helmet on his head, and clad in tunic and cloak, is not one of the offerings of Phormis, but has been given to the god by the Arcadians of Pheneus. The inscription says that the artist was Onatas of Aegina helped by Kalliteles, who I think was a pupil or son of Onatas. Not far from the offering of the Pheneatians is another image, Hermes with a herald’s wand. An inscription on it says that Glaukias, a Rhegian by descent, dedicated it, and Gallon of Elis made it.

{5.27.9} Of the bronze oxen one was dedicated by the Corcyraeans and the other by the Eretrians. Philesios of Eretria was the artist. Why the Corcyraeans dedicated the ox at Olympia and another at Delphi will be explained in my account of Phokis. About the offering at Olympia, I heard the following story.

{5.27.10} Sitting under this ox a little boy was playing with his head bent towards the ground. Suddenly lifting his head, he broke it against the bronze and died a few days later from the wound. So the Eleians were purposing to remove the ox from out the Altis as being guilty of bloodshed. But the god at Delphi gave an oracle that they were to let the offering stay where it was, after performing upon it the purificatory rites that are customary among the Greeks for unintentional shedding of blood.

{5.27.11} Under the plane trees in the Altis, just about in the center of the enclosure, there is a bronze trophy, with an inscription upon the shield of the trophy, to the effect that the Eleians raised it as a sign that they had beaten the Lacedaemonians. It was in this battle that the warrior lost his life who was found lying in his armor when the roof of the Hēraion was being repaired in my time.

{5.27.12} The offering of the Mendeans in Thrace came very near to beguiling me into the belief that it was a representation of a competitor in the pentathlon. It stands by the side of Anauchidas of Elis, and it holds ancient jumping-weights. An elegiac couplet is written on its thigh:

Sipte seems to be a Thracian fortress and city. The Mendeans themselves are of Greek descent, coming from Ionia, and they live inland at some distance from the sea that is by the city of Ainos.

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{6.1.1} After my description of the votive offerings, I must now go on to mention the statues of race-horses and those of men, whether athletes or ordinary folk. Not all the Olympic victors have had their statues erected; some, in fact, who have distinguished themselves, either at the Games or by other exploits, have had no statue.

{6.1.2} These I am forced to omit by the nature of my work, which is not a list of athletes who have won Olympic victories, but an account of statues and of votive offerings generally. I shall not even record all those whose statues have been set up, as I know how many have before now won the garland of wild olive not by strength but by the chance of the lot. [360] Those only will be mentioned who themselves gained some distinction, or whose statues happened to be better made than others.

{6.1.3} On the right of the temple of Hērā is the statue of a wrestler, Symmakhos, the son of Aeschylus. He was an Eleian by birth. Beside him is Neolaidas, son of Proxenos, from Pheneus in Arcadia, who won a victory in the boys’ boxing match. Next comes Arkhedamos, son of Xenios, another Eleian by birth, who like Symmakhos overthrew wrestlers in the contest for boys. The statues of the athletes mentioned above were made by Alypos of Sikyon, a pupil of Naukydes of Argos.

{6.1.4} The inscription on Kleogenes the son of Silenus declares that he was a native and that he won a prize with a ridinghorse from his own private stable. Hard by Kleogenes are set up Deinolokhos, son of Pyrrhos, and Troilos, son of Alkinoos. They also were both Eleians by birth, though their victories were not the same. Troilos, at the time that he was umpire, succeeded in winning victories in the chariot-races, one for a chariot drawn by a full-grown pair and another for a chariot drawn by foals. The date of his victories was the hundred and second Festival. [361]

{6.1.5} After this, the Eleians passed a law that in the future, no umpire was to compete in the chariotraces. The statue of Troilos was made by Lysippos. The mother of Deinolokhos had a dream, in which she thought that the son she clasped in her bosom had a garland on his head. For this reason, Deinolokhos was trained to compete in the Games and outran the boys. The artist was Kleon of Sikyon.

{6.1.6} As for Kyniska, daughter of Arkhidamos, her ancestry and Olympic victories, I have given an account thereof in my history of the Lacedaemonian kings. [362] By the side of the statue of Troilos at Olympia has been made a basement of stone, on which are a chariot and horses, a charioteer, and a statue of Kyniska herself, made by Apelles; there are also inscriptions relating to Kyniska.

{6.1.7} Next to her also have been erected statues of Lacedaemonians. They gained victories in chariot-races. Anaxandros was the first of his family to be proclaimed victor with a chariot, but the inscription on him declares that previously his paternal grandfather received the garland for the pentathlon. Anaxandros is represented in an attitude of prayer to the god, while Polykles, who gained the surname of Polykhalkos, likewise won a victory with a four-horse chariot, and his statue holds a ribbon in the right hand. Beside him are two children; one holds a wheel and the other is asking for the ribbon. Polykles, as the inscription on him says, also won the chariot-race at Pythō, the Isthmus and Nemeā.

{6.2.1} The statue of a competitor in the pankration was made by Lysippos. The athlete was the first to win the pankration not only from Stratos itself but from the whole of Acarnania, and his name was Xenarkes, the son of Philandrides. Now, after the Persian invasion, the Lacedaemonians became keener breeders of horses than any other Greeks. For beside those I have already mentioned, the following horse-breeders from Sparta have their statues set up after that of the Acarnanian athlete Xenarkes, [363] Lykinos, Arkesilaos, and Lichas, his son.

{6.2.2} Xenarkes succeeded in winning other victories, at Delphi, at Argos and at Corinth. Lykinos brought foals to Olympia, and when one of them was disqualified, entered his foals for the race for full-grown horses, winning with them. He also dedicated two statues at Olympia, works of Myron [364] the Athenian. As for Arkesilaos and his son Lichas, the father won two Olympic victories; his son, because in his time the Lacedaemonians were excluded from the Games, entered his chariot in the name of the Theban people, and with his own hands bound the victorious charioteer with a ribbon. For this offense, he was scourged by the umpires,

{6.2.3} and on account of this Lichas, the Lacedaemonians invaded Elis in the reign of King Agis, when a battle took place within the Altis. When the war was over, Lichas set up the statue in this place, but the Eleian records of Olympic victors give as the name of the victor, not Lichas, but the Theban people.

{6.2.4} Near Lichas stands an Eleian diviner, Thrasyboulos, son of Aeneas of the Iamid family, who divined for the Mantineians in their struggle against the Lacedaemonians under Agis, son of Eudamidas, their king. I shall have more to say about this in my account of the Arcadians. [365] On the statue of Thrasyboulos is a spotted lizard crawling towards his right shoulder, and by his side lies a dog, obviously a sacrificial victim, cut open and with his liver exposed.

{6.2.5} Divination by kids, lambs, or calves has, we all know, been established among men from ancient times, and the Cyprians have even discovered how to practice the art by means of pigs; but no peoples are accustomed to make any use of dogs in divining. So Thrasyboulos apparently established a method of divination peculiar to himself, by means of the entrails of dogs. The diviners called Iamidai are descended from Iamos, who, Pindar says in an ode, [366] was a son of Apollo and received the gift of divination from him.

{6.2.6} By the statue of Thrasyboulos stands Tīmosthenes of Elis, winner of the foot-race for boys, and Antipatros of Miletus, son of Kleinopater, conqueror of the boy boxers. Men of Syracuse, who were bringing a sacrifice from Dionysius to Olympia, tried to bribe the father of Antipatros to have his son proclaimed as a Syracusan. But Antipatros, thinking nothing of the tyrant’s gifts, proclaimed himself a Milesian and wrote upon his statue that he was of Milesian descent and the first Ionian to dedicate his statue at Olympia.

{6.2.7} The artist who made this statue was Polycleitus, while that of Tīmosthenes was made by Eutykhides of Sikyon, a pupil of Lysippos. This Eutykhides made for the Syrians on the Orontes an image of Fortune, which is highly valued by the natives.

{6.2.8} In the Altis by the side of Tīmosthenes are statues of Timon and of his son Aesypus, who is represented as a child seated on a horse. In fact, the boy won the horserace, while Timon was proclaimed victor in the chariotrace. The statues of Timon and of his son were made by Daidalos of Sikyon, who also made for the Eleians the trophy in the Altis commemorating the victory over the Spartans.

{6.2.9} The inscription on the Samian boxer says that his trainer Mycon dedicated the statue and that the Samians are best among the Ionians for athletes and at naval warfare; this is what the inscription says, but it tells us nothing at all about the boxer himself.

{6.2.10} Beside this is the Messenian Damiskos, who won an Olympic victory at the age of twelve. I was exceedingly surprised to learn that while the Messenians were in exile from the Peloponnesus, their luck at the Olympic Games failed. For with the exception of Leontiskos and Symmakhos, who came from Messene on the Strait, we know of no Messenian, either from Sicily or from Naupaktos, who won a victory at Olympia. Even these two are said by the Sicilians to have been not Messenians but of old Zanclean blood.

{6.2.11} However, when the Messenians came back to the Peloponnesus, their luck in the Olympic Games came with them. For at the festival celebrated by the Eleians in the year after the settlement of Messene, the foot-race for boys was won by this Damiskos, who afterwards won in the pentathlon both at Nemeā and at the Isthmus.

{6.3.1} Nearest to Damiskos stands a statue of somebody; they do not give his name, but it was Ptolemy, son of Lagos, who set up the offering. In the inscription, Ptolemy calls himself a Macedonian, though he was king of Egypt. On Khaireas of Sikyon, a boy boxer, is an inscription that he won a victory when a young man, and that his father was Khairemon; the name of the artist who made the statue is also written, Asterion, son of Aeschylus.

{6.3.2} After Khaireas are statues of a Messenian boy Sophios and of Stomios, a man of Elis. Sophios outran his boy competitors, and Stomios won a victory in the pentathlon at Olympia and three at the Nemean Games. The inscription on his statue adds that, when commander of the Eleian cavalry, he set up trophies and killed in single combat the general of the enemy, who had challenged him.

{6.3.3} The Eleians say that the dead general was a native of Sikyon in command of Sikyonian troops, and that they themselves with the force from Boeotia attacked Sikyon out of friendship to the Thebans. So the attack of the Eleians and Thebans against Sikyon apparently took place after the Lacedaemonian disaster at Leuktra.

{6.3.4} Next stands the statue of a boxer from Lepreus in Elis, whose name was Labax, son of Euphron, and also that of Aristodemos, son of Thrasis, a boxer from Elis itself, who also won two victories at Pythō. The statue of Aristodemos is the work of Daidalos of Sikyon, the pupil and son of Patrokles.

{6.3.5} The statue of Hippos of Elis, who won the boys’ boxing-match, was made by Damokritos of Sikyon, of the school of Attic Critias, being removed from him by four generations of teachers. For Critias himself taught Ptolikhos of Corcyra, Amphion was the pupil of Ptolikhos, and taught Pison of Kalaureia, who was the teacher of Damokritos.

{6.3.6} Kratinos of Aigeira in Achaea was the most handsome man of his time and the most skillful wrestler, and when he won the wrestling-match for boys, the Eleians allowed him to set up a statue of his trainer as well. The statue was made by Kantharos of Sikyon, whose father was Alexis, while his teacher was Eutykhides.

{6.3.7} The statue of Eupolemos of Elis was made by Daidalos of Sikyon. The inscription on it informs us that Eupolemos won the foot-race for men at Olympia, and that he also received two Pythian garlands for the pentathlon and another at the Nemean Games. It is also said of Eupolemos that three umpires stood on the course, of whom two gave their verdict in favor of Eupolemos and one declared the winner to be Leon the Ambraciot. Leon, they say, got the Olympic Council to fine each of the umpires who had decided in favor of Eupolemos.

{6.3.8} The statue of Oibotas was set up by the Achaeans by the command of the Delphic Apollo in the eightieth Olympiad, [367] but Oibotas won his victory in the foot-race at the sixth Festival. [368] How, therefore, could Oibotas have taken part in the Greek victory at Plataea? For it was in the seventy-fifth Olympiad [369] that the Persians under Mardonios suffered their disaster at Plataea. Now I am obliged to report the statements made by the Greeks, though I am not obliged to believe them all. The other incidents in the life of Oibotas I will add to my history of Achaea. [370]

{6.3.9} The statue of Antiokhos was made by Nikodamos. A native of Lepreus, Antiokhos won once at Olympia the pankration for men, and the pentathlon twice at the Isthmian Games and twice at the Nemean. For the Lepreans are not afraid of the Isthmian Games as the Eleians themselves are. For example, Hysmon of Elis, whose statue stands near that of Antiokhos, competed successfully in the pentathlon both at Olympia and at Nemeā, but clearly kept away, just like other Eleians, from the Isthmian Games.

{6.3.10} It is said that when Hysmon was still a boy, he was attacked by a flux in his muscles, and it was in order that by hard exercise, he might be a healthy man free from disease that he practiced the pentathlon. So his training was also to make him win famous victories in the Games. His statue is the work of Kleon, and he holds jumping-weights of old pattern.

{6.3.11} After Hysmon comes the statue of a boy wrestler from Heraia in Arcadia, Nikostratos, the son of Xenokleides. Pantias was the artist, and if you count the teachers, you will find five between him and Aristokles of Sikyon. Dikon, the son of Kallibrotos, won five foot-races at Pythō, three at the Isthmian Games, four at Nemeā, and one at Olympia in the race for boys besides two in the men’s race. Statues of him have been set up at Olympia equal in number to the races he won. When he was a boy, he was proclaimed a native of Kaulonia, as in fact he was. But afterwards, he was bribed to proclaim himself a Syracusan.

{6.3.12} Kaulonia was a colony in Italy founded by Achaeans, and its founder was Typhon of Aigion. When Pyrrhos son of Aiakidēs and the people of Tarentum were at war with the Romans, several cities in Italy were destroyed, either by the Romans or by the people of Epeiros, and these included Kaulonia, whose fate it was to be utterly laid waste, having been taken by the Campanians, who formed the largest contingent of allies on the Roman side.

{6.3.13} Close to Dikon is a statue of a man who won in the pankration: he was Xenophon, the son of Menephylos, from Aigion in Achaea; there was likewise a statue of Pyrilampes of Ephesos after winning the long foot-race. Olympus made the statue of Xenophon; that of Pyrilampes was made by a sculptor of the same name, a native, not of Sikyon, but of Messene beneath Ithome.

{6.3.14} A statue of Lysander, son of Aristokritos, a Spartan, was dedicated in Olympia by the Samians, and the first of their inscriptions runs:

So this inscription informs us who dedicated the statue; the next is in praise of Lysander himself:

{6.3.15} So plainly “the Samians and the rest of the Ionians,” as the Ionians themselves phrase it, painted both the walls. For when Alcibiades had a strong fleet of Athenian triremes along the coast of Ionia, most of the Ionians paid court to him, and there is a bronze statue of Alcibiades dedicated by the Samians in the temple of Hērā. But when the Attic ships were captured at Aigospotamoi, [371] the Samians set up a statue of Lysander at Olympia, and the Ephesians set up in the sanctuary of Artemis not only a statue of Lysander himself but also statues of Eteonikos, Pharax, and other Spartans quite unknown to the Greek world generally.

{6.3.16} But when fortune changed again, and Konon had won the naval action off Knidos and the mountain called Dorion, [372] the Ionians likewise changed their views, and there are to be seen statues in bronze of Konon and of Timotheus both in the sanctuary of Hērā in Samos and also in the sanctuary of the Ephesian goddess at Ephesos. It is always the same; the Ionians merely follow the example of all the world in deferring to power .

{6.4.1} Next to the statue of Lysander is an Ephesian boxer who beat the other boys, his competitors—his name was Athenaios,—and also a man of Sikyon who was a competitor in the pankration, Sostratos, surnamed Akrokhersites. He got that surname because he used to grip his antagonist by the fingers and bend them, and would not let go until he saw that his opponent had given in.

{6.4.2} He won at the Nemean and Isthmian Games combined twelve victories, three victories at Olympia, and two at Pythō. The hundred and fourth Festival, when Sostratos won his first victory, is not reckoned by the Eleians, because the Games were held by the Pisans and Arcadians and not by themselves.

{6.4.3} Beside Sostratos is a statue of Leontiskos, a man wrestler, a native of Sicily from Messene on the Strait. He was garlanded, they say, by the Amphiktyones and twice by the Eleians, and his mode of wrestling was similar to the pankration of Sostratos the Sikyonian. For they say that Leontiskos did not know how to throw his opponents, but won by bending their fingers.

{6.4.4} The statue was made by Pythagoras of Rhēgion, an excellent sculptor if ever there was one. They say that he studied under Klearkhos, who was likewise a native of Rhēgion and a pupil of Eukheiros. Eukheiros, it is said, was a Corinthian, and attended the school of Syadras and Khartas, men of Sparta.

{6.4.5} The boy who is binding his head with a fillet must be mentioned in my account because of Pheidias and his great skill as a sculptor, but we do not know whose portrait the statue is that Pheidias made. Satyros of Elis, son of Lysianax, of the clan of the Iamidai, won five victories at Nemeā for boxing, two at Pythō, and two at Olympia. The artist who made the statue was Silanion, an Athenian. Polykles, another sculptor of the Attic school, a pupil of Stadieus the Athenian, has made the statue of an Ephesian boy who competed in the pankration, Amyntas the son of Hellanikos.

{6.4.6} Khilon, an Achaean of Patrai, won two prizes for men wrestlers at Olympia, one at Delphi, four at the Isthmus, and three at the Nemean Games. He was buried at the public expense by the Achaeans, and his fate it was to lose his life on the field of battle. My statement is borne out by the inscription at Olympia:

{6.4.7} Thus much is plain from the inscription. But the date of Lysippos, who made the statue, leads me to infer about the war in which Khilon fell, that plainly either he marched to Khaironeia with the whole of the Achaeans, [373] or else his personal courage and daring led him alone of the Achaeans to fight against the Macedonians under Antipatros at the battle of Lamia in Thessaly. [374]

{6.4.8} Next to Khilon two statues have been set up. One is that of a man named Molpion, who, says the inscription, was garlanded by the Eleians. The other statue bears no inscription, but tradition says that it represents Aristotle from Stageira in Thrace, and that it was set up either by a pupil or else by some soldier aware of Aristotle’s influence with Antipatros and at an earlier date with Alexander. Sodamas from Assos in the Troad,

{6.4.9} a city at the foot of Ida, was the first of the Aeolians in this district to win at Olympia the foot-race for boys. By the side of Sodamas stands Arkhidamos, son of Agesilaos, king of the Lacedaemonians. Before this Arkhidamos, no king, so far as I could learn, had his statue set up by the Lacedaemonians, at least outside the boundaries of the country. They sent the statue of Arkhidamos to Olympia chiefly, in my opinion, on account of his death, because he met his end in a barbarian land, and is the only king in Sparta who is known to have missed burial.

{6.4.10} I have spoken at greater length on this matter in my account of Sparta. [375]

Euanthes of Kyzikos won prizes for boxing, one among the men at Olympia, and also among the boys at the Nemean and at the Isthmian Games. By the side of Euanthes is the statue of a horse-breeder and his chariot; mounted on the chariot is a young maid. The man’s name is Lampos, and his native city was the last to be founded in Macedonia, named after its founder Philip, son of Amyntas.

{6.4.11} The statue of Kyniskos, the boy boxer from Mantineia, was made by Polycleitus. Ergoteles, the son of Philanor, won two victories in the long foot-race at Olympia, and two at Pythō, the Isthmus, and Nemeā. The inscription on the statue states that he came originally from Himera, but it is said that this is incorrect, and that he was a Cretan from Knossos. Expelled from Knossos by a political party, he came to Himera, was given citizenship, and won many honors besides. It was accordingly natural for him to be proclaimed at the Games as a native of Himera.

{6.5.1} The statue on the high pedestal is the work of Lysippos, and it represents the tallest of all men except those called heroes and any other lineage of mortals that may have existed before the heroes. But this man, Poulydamas the son of Nikias, is the tallest of our own era.

{6.5.2} Skotoussa, the native city of Poulydamas, has now no inhabitants, for Alexander the tyrant of Pherai seized it in time of truce. It happened that an assembly of the citizens was being held, and those who were assembled in the theater the tyrant surrounded with targeteers and archers, and shot them all down; all the other grown men he massacred, selling the women and children as slaves in order to pay his mercenaries.

{6.5.3} This disaster befell Skotoussa when Phrasikleides was archon [arkhōn] in Athens, [376] in the hundred and second Olympiad, when Damon of Thourioi was victor for the second time and in the second year of this Olympiad. The people that escaped remained but for a while, for later they too were forced by their destitution to leave the city, when the superhuman force [daimōn] brought a second calamity in the war with Macedonia.

{6.5.4} Others have won glorious victories in the pankration, but Poulydamas, besides his prizes for the pankration, has to his credit the following exploits of a different kind. The mountainous part of Thrace, on this side the river Nestos, which runs through the land of Abdera, breeds among other wild beasts lions, which once attacked the army of Xerxes and mauled the camels carrying his supplies.

{6.5.5} These lions often roam right into the land around Mount Olympus, one side of which is turned towards Macedonia, and the other towards Thessaly and the river Peneios. Here on Mount Olympus, Poulydamas slew a lion, a huge and powerful beast, without the help of any weapon. To this exploit he was impelled by an ambition to rival the labors of Hēraklēs, because Hēraklēs also, it is said, overthrew the lion at Nemeā.

{6.5.6} In addition to this, Poulydamas is remembered for another wonderful performance. He went among a herd of cattle and seized the biggest and fiercest bull by one of its hind feet, holding fast the hoof in spite of the bull’s leaps and struggles, until at last it put forth all its strength and escaped, leaving the hoof in the grasp of Poulydamas. It is also said of him that he stopped a charioteer who was driving his chariot onwards at a great speed. Seizing with one hand the back of the chariot, he kept a tight hold on both horses and driver.

{6.5.7} Dareios, the bastard son of Artaxerxes, who with the support of the common-people [dēmos] of the Persians [Persai] put down Sogdios, the legitimate son of Artaxerxes, and ascended the throne in his stead, learning when he was king of the exploits of Poulydamas, sent messengers with the promise of gifts and persuaded him to come before his presence at Susa. There he challenged three of the Persians [Persai] called Immortals to fight him—one against three— and killed them. Of his exploits enumerated, some are represented on the pedestal of the statue at Olympia, and others are set forth in the inscription.

{6.5.8} But after all, the prophecy of Homer [377] respecting those who glory in their strength was to be fulfilled also in the case of Poulydamas, and he too was fated to perish through his own might. For Poulydamas entered a cave with the rest of his boon companions. It was summer-time, and as ill-luck would have it, the roof of the cave began to crack. It was obvious that it would quickly fall in, and could not hold out much longer.

{6.5.9} Realizing the disaster that was coming, the others turned and ran away; but Poulydamas resolved to remain, holding up his hands in the belief that he could prevent the falling in of the cave and would not be crushed by the mountain. Here Poulydamas met his end.

{6.6.1} Beside the statue of Poulydamas at Olympia stand two Arcadians and one Attic athlete. The statue of the Mantineian, Protolaos, the son of Dialkes, who won the boxing match for boys, was made by Pythagoras of Rhēgion; that of Narykidas, son of Damaretos, a wrestler from Phigalia, was made by Daidalos of Sikyon; that of the Athenian Kallias, a competitor in the pankration, is by the Athenian painter Mikon. Nikodamos the Maenalian made the statue of the Maenalian Androsthenes, the son of Lokhaios, a competitor in the pankration, who won two victories among the men.

{6.2.2} Next to them is set up a statue of Eukles, son of Kallianax, a native of Rhodes and of the lineage of the Diagoridai. For he was the son of the daughter of Diagoras, and won an Olympic victory in the boxing match for men. His statue is by Naukydes. Polycleitus of Argos, not the artist who made the image of Hērā, but a pupil of Naukydes, made the statue of a boy wrestler, Agenor of Thebes. The statue was dedicated by the Commonwealth of Phokis, for Theopompos, the father of Agenor, was a state friend [378] of their nation.

{6.6.3} Nikodamos, the sculptor from Mainalos, made the statue of the boxer Damoxenidas of Mainalos. There stands also the statue of the Eleian boy Lastratidas, who won the garland for wrestling. He won a victory at Nemeā also among the boys, and another among the beardless youths. Paraballon, the father of Lastratidas, was first in the double foot-race, and he left to those coming after an object of ambition, by writing up in the gymnasium at Olympia the names of those who won Olympic victories.

{6.6.4} So much for these. But it would not be right for me to pass over the boxer Euthymos, his victories, and his other glories. Euthymos was by birth one of the people of Italian Lokris, who dwell in the region near the headland called the West Point, and he was called son of Astykles. According to what is said by the local people [epikhōrioi], however, he is the son not of this man, but of the river Kaikinos, which divides Lokris from the land of Rhēgion and produces the marvel of the grasshoppers. For the grasshoppers within Lokris as far as the Kaikinos sing just like others, but across the Kaikinos in the territory of Rhēgion, they do not utter a sound.

{6.6.5} This river then, according to tradition, was the father of Euthymos, who, though he won the prize for boxing at the seventy-fourth Olympic Festival, [379] was not to be so successful at the next. For Theagenes of Thasos, wishing to win the prizes for boxing and for the pankration at the same Festival, overcame Euthymos at boxing, though he had not the strength to gain the wild olive in the pankration, because he was already exhausted in his fight with Euthymos.

{6.6.6} Then, the umpires fined Theagenes a talent, to be sacred to the god, and a talent for the harm done to Euthymos, holding that it was merely to spite him that he entered for the boxing competition. For this reason, they condemned him to pay an extra fine privately to Euthymos. At the seventy-sixth Festival, Theagenes paid in full the money owed to the god, […] and as compensation to Euthymos did not enter for the boxing match. At this Festival, and also at the next following, Euthymos won the garland for boxing. His statue is the handiwork of Pythagoras, and is very well worth seeing.

{6.6.7} On his return to Italy, Euthymos fought against the Hero, the story about whom is as follows. Odysseus, so they say, in his wanderings after the capture of Troy was carried down by gales to various cities of Italy and Sicily, and among them he came with his ships to Temesa. Here one of his sailors got drunk and violated a girl, for which offense he was stoned to death by the natives.

{6.6.8} Now Odysseus, it is said, cared nothing about his loss and sailed away. But the ghost of the stoned man never ceased killing without distinction the people of Temesa, attacking both old and young, until, when the inhabitants had resolved to flee from Italy for good, the Pythian priestess forbade them to leave Temesa, and ordered them to propitiate the Hero, setting him a sanctuary apart and building a temple, and to give him every year as wife the fairest maiden in Temesa.

{6.6.9} So they performed the commands of the god and suffered no more terrors from the ghost. But Euthymos happened to come to Temesa just at the time when the ghost was being propitiated in the usual way; learning what was going on, he had a strong desire to enter the temple, and not only to enter it but also to look at the girl. When he saw her, he first felt pity and afterwards love for her. The girl swore to marry him if he saved her, and so Euthymos with his armor on awaited the onslaught of the ghost.

{6.6.10} He won the fight, and the Hero was driven out of the land and disappeared, sinking into the depth of the sea. Euthymos had a distinguished wedding, and the inhabitants were freed from the ghost forever. I heard another story also about Euthymos, how he reached extreme old age and escaping again from death, departed from among men in another way. Temesa is still inhabited, as I heard from a man who sailed there as a merchant.

{6.6.11} This I heard, and I also saw by chance a picture dealing with the subject. It was a copy of an ancient picture. There were a youth, Sybaris, a river, Kalabros, and a spring, Lyka. Besides, there were a hero-shrine and the city of Temesa, and in the midst was the ghost that Euthymos cast out. Horribly black in color, and exceedingly dreadful in all his appearance, he had a wolf’s skin thrown round him as a garment. The letters on the picture gave his name as Lycas.

{6.7.1} So much for the story of Euthymos. After his statue stands a runner in the foot-race, Pytharkhos of Mantineia, and a boxer, Kharmides of Elis, both of whom won prizes in the contests for boys. When you have looked at these also, you will reach the statues of the Rhodian athletes, Diagoras and his family. These were dedicated one after the other in the following order. Acusilaus [Akousilaos], who received a garland for boxing in the men’s class; Dorieus, the youngest, who won the pankration at Olympia on three successive occasions. Even before Dorieus, Damagetos beat all those who had entered for the pankration.

{6.7.2} These were brothers, being sons of Diagoras, and by them is set up also a statue of Diagoras himself, who won a victory for boxing in the men’s class. The statue of Diagoras was made by the Megarian Kallikles, the son of the Theokosmos who made the image of Zeus at Megara. The sons too of the daughters of Diagoras practiced boxing and won Olympic victories: in the men’s class, Eukles, son of Kallianax and Kallipateira, daughter of Diagoras; in the boys’ class, Peisirodos, whose mother dressed herself as a man and a trainer, and took her son herself to the Olympic Games.

{6.7.3} This Peisirodos is one of the statues in the Altis, and stands by the father of his mother. The story goes that Diagoras came to Olympia in the company of his sons Acusilaus [Akousilaos] and Damagetos. The youths, on defeating their father, proceeded to carry him through the crowd, while the Greeks pelted him with flowers and congratulated him on his sons. The lineage of Diagoras was originally, through the female line, Messenian, as he was descended from the daughter of Aristomenes.

{6.7.4} Dorieus, son of Diagoras, besides his Olympian victories, won eight at the Isthmian and seven at the Nemean Games. He is also said to have won a Pythian victory without a contest. He and Peisirodos were proclaimed by the herald as of Thourioi, for they had been pursued by their political enemies from Rhodes to Thourioi in Italy. Dorieus subsequently returned to Rhodes. Of all men, he most obviously showed his friendship with Sparta, for he actually fought against the Athenians with his own ships, until he was taken prisoner by Attic men-of-war and brought alive to Athens.

{6.7.5} Before he was brought to them, the Athenians were angry with Dorieus and used threats against him; but when they met in the assembly and beheld a man so great and famous in the guise of a prisoner, their feeling towards him changed, and they let him go away without doing him any hurt, even though they might with justice have punished him severely.

{6.7.6} The death of Dorieus is told by Androtion in his Attic history. He says that the great King’s fleet was then at Kaunos, with Konon in command, who persuaded the Rhodian people to leave the Lacedaemonian alliance and to join the great King and the Athenians. Dorieus, he goes on to say, was at the time away from home in the interior of the Peloponnesus, and having been caught by some Lacedaemonians, he was brought to Sparta, convicted of treachery by the Lacedaemonians, and sentenced to death.

{6.7.7} If Androtion tells the truth, he appears to me to wish to put the Lacedaemonians on a level with the Athenians, because they too are open to the charge of precipitous action in their treatment of Thrasyllos and his fellow admirals at the battle of Arginoussai. [380] Such was the fame won by Diagoras and his family.

{6.7.8} Alkainetos too, son of Theantos, a Leprean, himself and his sons won Olympian victories. Alkainetos was successful in the boxing contest for men, as at an earlier date, he had been in the contest for boys. His sons, Helianikos and Theantos, were proclaimed winners of the boys’ boxing match, Hellanikos at the eighty-ninth Festival [381] and Theantos at the next. All have their statues set up at Olympia.

{6.7.9} Next to the sons of Alkainetos stand Gnathon, a Maenalian of Dipaia, and Lukinos of Elis. They too succeeded in beating the boys at boxing at Olympia. The inscription on his statue says that Gnathon was very young indeed when he won his victory. The artist who made the statue was Kallikles of Megara.

{6.7.10} A man from Stymphalos, by name Dromeus [Runner], proved true to it in the long race, for he won two victories at Olympia, two at Pythō, three at the Isthmus, and five at Nemeā. He is said to have also conceived the idea of a flesh diet; up to this time, athletes had fed on cheese from the basket. The statue of this athlete is by Pythagoras; the one next to it, representing Pythokles, a pentathlete of Elis, was made by Polycleitus.

{6.8.1} Socrates of Pellene won the boys’ race, and Amertes of Elis the wrestlers’ match for boys at Olympia, besides beating all competitors in the men’s wrestling match at Pythō. It is not said who made the statue of Socrates, but that of Amertes is from the band of Phradmon of Argos. Euanoridas of Elis won the boys’ wrestling match both at Olympia and at Nemeā. When he was made an umpire, he joined the ranks of those who have recorded at Olympia the names of the victors.

{6.8.2} As to the boxer, by name Damarkhos, an Arcadian of Parrhasia, I cannot believe (except, of course, his Olympic victory) what romancers say about him, how he changed his shape into that of a wolf at the sacrifice of Lycaean [Wolf] Zeus, and how nine years after he became a man again. Nor do I think that the Arcadians either record this of him, otherwise it would have been recorded as well in the inscription at Olympia, which runs:

{6.8.3} Here the inscription ends. Eubotas of Cyrene, when the Libyan oracle foretold to him his coming Olympic victory for running, had his portrait statue made beforehand, and so was proclaimed victor and dedicated the statue on the same day. He is also said to have won the chariot-race at that Festival which, according to the account of the Eleians, was not genuine because the Arcadians presided at it.

{6.8.4} The statue of Timanthes of Kleonai, who won the garland in the pankration for men, was made by Myron of Athens, but Naukydes made that of Baukis of Troizen, who overthrew the men wrestlers. Timanthes, they say, met his end through the following cause. On retiring from athletics, he continued to test his strength by drawing a great bow every day. His practice with the bow was interrupted during a period when he was away from home. On his return, finding that he was no longer able to bend the bow, he lit a fire and threw himself alive on to it. In my view all such deeds, whether they have already occurred among men or will take place hereafter, ought to be regarded as acts of madness rather than of courage.

{6.8.5} After Baukis are statues of Arcadian athletes: Euthymenes from Mainalos itself, who won the men’s and previously the boys’ wrestling match; Philip, an Azanian from Pellana, who beat the boys at boxing, and Kritodamos from Kleitor, who like Philip was proclaimed victor in the boys’ boxing match. The statue of Euthymenes for his victory over the boys was made by Alypos; the statue of Damokritos was made by Kleon, and that of Philip the Azanian by Myron. The story of a competitor in the pankration who was named Promakhos, son of Dryon, from Pellene, will be included in my account of the Achaeans. [382]

{6.8.6} Not far from Promakhos is set up the statue of Timasitheos, a Delphian by birth, the work of Ageladas of Argos. This athlete won in the pankration two victories at Olympia and three at Pythō. His achievements in war too are distinguished by their daring and by the good luck which attended all but the last, which caused his death. For when Isagoras the Athenian captured the Acropolis of the Athenians with a view of setting up a tyranny, Timasitheus took part in the affair, and, on being taken prisoner on the Acropolis, was put to death by the Athenians for his sin against them.

{6.9.1} Theognetos of Aegina succeeded in winning the garland for the boys’ wrestling match, and Ptolikhos of Aegina made his statue. Ptolikhos was a pupil of his father Synnoön, and he of Aristokles the Sikyonian, a brother of Kanakhos and almost as famous an artist. Why Theognetos carries a cone of the cultivated pine and a pomegranate I could not conjecture; perhaps some of the Aeginetans may have a local story about it.

{6.9.2} After the statue of the man who the Eleians say had not his name recorded with the others because he was proclaimed winner of the trotting-race, stand Xenokles of Mainalos, who overthrew the boys at wrestling, and Alketos, son of Alkinoos, victor in the boys’ boxing match, who also was an Arcadian from Kleitor. Kleon made the statue of Alketos; that of Xenokles is by Polycleitus.

{6.9.3} Aristeus of Argos himself won a victory in the long-race, while his father Kheimon won the wrestling match. They stand near to each other, the statue of Aristeus being by Pantias of Chios, the pupil of his father, Sostratos. Besides the statue of Kheimon at Olympia, there is another in the temple of Peace at Rome, brought there from Argos. Both are in my opinion among the most glorious works of Naukydes. It is also told how Kheimon overthrew at wrestling Taurosthenes of Aegina, how Taurosthenes at the next Festival overthrew all who entered for the wrestling match, and how an apparition that looked like Taurosthenes appeared on that day in Aegina and announced the victory.

{6.9.4} The statue of Philles of Elis, who won the boys’ wrestling match, was made by the Spartan Kratinos. As regards the chariot of Gelon, I did not come to the same opinion about it as my predecessors, who hold that the chariot is an offering of the Gelon who became tyrant in Sicily. Now there is an inscription on the chariot that it was dedicated by Gelon of Gela, son of Deinomenes, and the date of the victory of this Gelon is the seventy-third Festival. [383]

{6.9.5} But the Gelon who was tyrant of Sicily took possession of Syracuse when Hybrilides was archon [arkhōn] in Athens, in the second year of the seventy-second Olympiad, [384] when Tisikrates of Croton won the foot-race. Plainly, therefore, he would have announced himself as of Syracuse, not Gela. The fact is that this Gelon must be a private person, of the same name as the tyrant, whose father had the same name as the tyrant’s father. It was Glaukias of Aegina who made both the chariot and the portrait-statue of Gelon.

{6.9.6} At the Festival previous to this, it is said that Kleomedes of Astypalaia killed Ikkos of Epidaurus during a boxing match. On being convicted by the umpires of foul play and being deprived of the prize, he became mad through grief and returned to Astypalaia. Attacking a school there of about sixty children, he pulled down the pillar which held up the roof.

{6.9.7} This fell upon the children, and Kleomedes, pelted with stones by the citizens, took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena. He entered a chest standing in the sanctuary and drew down the lid. The Astypalaians toiled in vain in their attempts to open the chest. At last, however, they broke open the boards of the chest, but found no Kleomedes, either alive or dead. So they sent envoys to Delphi to ask what had happened to Kleomedes.

{6.9.8} The response given by the Pythian priestess was, they say, as follows:

So from this time have the Astypalaians paid honors to Kleomedes as to a hero.

{6.9.9} By the side of the chariot of Gelon is dedicated a statue of Philon, the work of the Aeginetan Glaukias. About this, Philon Simonides, the son of Leoprepes composed a very neat elegiac couplet:

{6.10.1}Next to those that I have enumerated stands Glaukos of Karystos. It is said that he was by birth from Anthedon in Boeotia, being descended from Glaukos the sea deity. This Carystian was a son of Demylos, and they say that to begin with he worked as a farmer. The ploughshare one day fell out of the plough, and he fitted it into its place, using his hand as a hammer.

{6.10.2} Demylos happened to be a spectator of his son’s performance, and thereupon brought him to Olympia to box. There Glaukos, inexperienced in boxing, was wounded by his antagonists, and when he was boxing with the last of them, he was thought to be fainting from the number of his wounds. Then they say that his father called out to him, “Son, the plough touch.” So he dealt his opponent a more violent blow which right away brought him the victory.

{6.10.3} He is said to have won other garlands besides, two at Pythō, eight at the Nemean and eight at the Isthmian Games. The statue of Glaukos was set up by his son, while Glaukias of Aegina made it. The statue represents a figure sparring, as Glaukos was the best exponent of the art of all his contemporaries. When he died the people of Karystos, they say, buried him in the island still called the island of Glaukos.

{6.10.4} Damaretos of Heraia, his son, and his grandson, each won two victories at Olympia. Those of Damaretos were gained at the sixty-fifth Festival [385] (at which the race in full armor was instituted) and also at the one succeeding. His statue shows him, not only carrying the shield that modern competitors have, but also wearing a helmet on his head and greaves on his legs. In course of time, the helmet and greaves were taken from the armor of competitors by both the Eleians and the Greeks generally. Theopompos, son of Damaretos, won his victories in the pentathlon, and his son Theopompos the second, named after his father, won his in the wrestling match.

{6.10.5} Who made the statue of Theopompos the wrestler we do not know, but those of his father and grandfather are said by the inscription to be by Eutelidas and Khrysothemis, who were Argives. It does not, however, declare the name of their teacher, but runs as follows:

Ikkos, the son of Nikolaidas of Tarentum, won the Olympic garland in the pentathlon and afterwards is said to have become the best trainer of his day.

{6.10.6} After Ikkos stands Pantarkes the Eleian, beloved of Pheidias, who beat the boys at wrestling. Next to Pantarkes is the chariot of Kleosthenes, a man of Epidamnus. This is the work of Ageladas, and it stands behind the Zeus dedicated by the Greeks from the spoil of the battle of Plataea. Kleosthenes’ victory occurred at the sixty-sixth Festival, and together with the statues of his horses, he dedicated a statue of himself and one of his charioteer.

{6.10.7} There are inscribed the names of the horses, Phoenix and Korax, and on either side are the horses by the yoke, on the right Knakias, on the left Samos. This inscription in elegiac verse is on the chariot:

{6.10.8} This Kleosthenes was the first of those who bred horses in Greece to dedicate his statue at Olympia. For the offering of agoras the Laconian consists of the chariot without a figure of agoras himself; the offerings of Miltiades the Athenian, which he dedicated at Olympia, I will describe in another part of my story. [386] The Epidamnians occupy the same territory today as they did at first, but the modern city is not the ancient one, being at a short distance from it. The modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder.

{6.10.9} Lykinos of Heraia, Epikradios of Mantineia, Tellon of Oresthas, and Agiadas of Elis won victories in boys’ matches; Lykinos for running, the rest of them for boxing. The artist who made the statue of iosEpikradios was Ptolikhos of Aegina; that of Agiadas was made by Serambos, also a native of Aegina. The statue of Lykinos is the work of Kleon. Who made the statue of Tellon is not related.

{6.11.1} Next to these are offerings of Eleians, representing Philip, the son of Amyntas, Alexander, the son of Philip, Seleukos, and Antigonos. Antigonos is on foot; the rest are on horseback.

{6.11.2} Not far from the kings mentioned stands a Thasian, Theagenes the son of Tīmosthenes. The Thasians say that Tīmosthenes was not the father of Theagenes, but a priest of the Thasian Hēraklēs, a phantom of whom in the likeness of Tīmosthenes had intercourse with the mother of Theagenes. In his ninth year, they say, as he was going home from school, he was attracted by a bronze image of some god or other in the marketplace; so he caught up the image, placed it on one of his shoulders, and carried it home.

{6.11.3} The citizens were enraged at what he had done, but one of them, a respected man of advanced years, ordered them not to kill the boy, and ordered him to carry the image from his home back again to the marketplace. This he did, and at once became famous for his strength, his feat being talked about abroad throughout Greece.

{6.11.4} The achievements of Theagenes at the Olympian Games have already—the most famous of them—been described [387] in my story, how he beat Euthymos the boxer, and how he was fined by the Eleians. On this occasion, the pankration, it is said, was for the first time on record won without a contest, the victor being Dromeus of Mantineia. At the Festival following this, Theagenes was the winner in the pankration.

{6.11.5} He also won three victories at Pythō. These were for boxing, while nine prizes at Nemeā and ten at the Isthmus were won in some cases for the pankration and in others for boxing. At Phthia in Thessaly, he gave up training for boxing and the pankration. He devoted himself to winning fame among the Greeks for his running also, and beat those who entered for the long race. His ambition was, I think, to rival Achilles by winning a prize for running in the fatherland of the swiftest of those who are called heroes. The total number of garlands that he won was one thousand four hundred.

{6.11.6} When he departed this life, one of those who were his enemies while he lived came every night to the statue of Theagenes and flogged the bronze as though he were ill-treating Theagenes himself. The statue put an end to the outrage by falling on him, but the sons of the dead man prosecuted the statue for murder. So the Thasians dropped the statue to the bottom of the sea, adopting the principle of Draco, who, when he framed for the Athenians laws to deal with homicide, inflicted banishment even on lifeless things, should one of them fall and kill a man.

{6.11.7} But in course of time, when the earth yielded no crop to the Thasians, they sent envoys to Delphi, and the god instructed them to receive back the exiles. At this command, they received them back, but their restoration brought no remedy of the famine. So for the second time, they went to the Pythian priestess, saying that although they had obeyed her instructions, the wrath of the gods still abode with them.

{6.11.8} Whereupon the Pythian priestess replied to them:

And when they could not think of a contrivance to recover the statue of Theagenes, fishermen, they say, after putting out to sea for a catch of fish caught the statue in their net and brought it back to land. The Thasians set it up in its original position, and are accustomed to sacrifice to him as to a god.

{6.11.9} There are many other places that I know of, both among Greeks and among barbarians, where images of Theagenes have been set up, who cures diseases and receives honors from the natives. The statue of Theagenes is in the Altis, being the work of Glaukias of Aegina.

{6.12.1} Hard by is a bronze chariot with a man mounted upon it; race-horses, one on each side, stand beside the chariot, and on the horses are seated boys. They are memorials of Olympic victories won by Hieron, the son of Deinomenes, who was tyrant of Syracuse after his brother Gelo. But the offerings were not sent by Hieron; it was Hieron’s son Deinomenes who gave them to the god, Onatas the Aeginetan who made the chariot, and Kalamis who made the horses on either side and the boys on them.

{6.12.2} By the chariot of Hieron is a man of the same name as the son of Deinomenes. He too was tyrant of Syracuse, and was called Hieron, the son of Hierokles. After the death of Agathokles, a former tyrant, tyranny again sprung up at Syracuse in the person of this Hieron, who came to power in the second year of the hundred and twenty-sixth Olympiad, [388] at which Festival Idaios of Cyrene won the foot race.

{6.12.3} This Hieron made an alliance with Pyrrhos the son of Aiakidēs, sealing it by the marriage of Gelo, his son, and Nereis, the daughter of Pyrrhos. When the Romans went to war with Carthage for the possession of Sicily, the Carthaginians held more than half the island, and Hieron sided with them at the beginning of the war. Shortly after, however, he changed over to the Romans, thinking that they were stronger, and firmer and more reliable friends.

{6.12.4} He met his end at the hands of Deinomenes, a Syracusan by birth and an inveterate enemy of tyranny, who afterwards, when Hippokrates the brother of Epikydes had just come from Erbessus to Syracuse and was beginning to harangue the multitude, rushed at him with intent to kill him. But Hippokrates withstood him, and certain of the bodyguard overpowered and slew Deinomenes. The statues of Hieron at Olympia, one on horseback and the other on foot, were dedicated by the sons of Hieron, the artist being Mikon, a Syracusan, the son of Nikeratos.

{6.12.5} After the likenesses of Hieron stand Areus the Lacedaemonian king, the son of Akrotatos, and Aratos, the son of Kleinias with another statue of Areus on horseback. The statue of Aratos was dedicated by the Corinthians, that of Areus by the people of Elis.

{6.12.6} I have already given some account of both Aratos and Areus, [389] and Aratos was also proclaimed at Olympia as victor in the chariot race. Timon, an Eleian, the son of Aisypos, entered a four-horse chariot for the Olympic races […] this is of bronze, and on it is mounted a maiden, who, in my opinion, is Victory. Kallon, the son of Harmodios, and Hippomakhos, the son of Moschion, Eleian by lineage, were victors in the boys’ boxing match. The statue of Kallon was made by Daippos; who made that of Hippomakhos I do not know, but it is said that he overcame three antagonists without receiving a blow or any physical injury.

{6.12.7} Theokhrestos of Cyrene bred horses after the traditional Libyan manner; he himself and before him his paternal grandfather of the same name won victories at Olympia with the four-horse chariot, while the father of Theokhrestos won a victory at the Isthmus. So declares the inscription on the chariot.

{6.12.8} The elegiac verses bear witness that Agesarkhos of Triteia, the son of Haimostratos, won the boxing match for men at Olympia, Nemeā, Pythō, and the Isthmus; they also declare that the Tritaeans are Arcadians, but I found this statement to be untrue. For the founders of the Arcadian cities that attained to fame have well-known histories; while those that had all along been obscure because of their weakness were surely absorbed for this very reason into Megalopolis, being included in the decree then made by the Arcadian confederacy;

{6.12.9} no other city Triteia, except the one in Achaea, is to be found in Greece. However, one may assume that at the time of the inscription, the Tritaeans were reckoned as Arcadians, just as nowadays too certain of the Arcadians themselves are reckoned as Argives. The statue of Agesarkhos is the work of the sons of Polykles, of whom we shall give some account later on. [390]

{6.13.1} The statue of Astylos of Kroton is the work of Pythagoras; this athlete won three successive victories at Olympia, in the short race and in the double race. But because on the two latter occasions he proclaimed himself a Syracusan, in order to please Hieron, the son of Deinomenes, the people of Kroton for this condemned his house to be a prison, and pulled down his statue set up by the temple of Lacinian Hērā.

{6.13.2} There is also set up in Olympia a slab recording the victories of Khionis the Lacedaemonian. They show simplicity who have supposed that Khionis himself dedicated the slab, and not the Lacedaemonian people. Let us assume that, as the slab says, the race in armor had not yet been introduced; how could Khionis know whether the Eleians would at some future time add it to the list of events? But those are simpler still who say that the statue standing by the slab is a portrait of Khionis, it being the work of the Athenian Myron.

{6.13.3} Similar in renown to Khionis was Hermogenes of Xanthos, a Lydian, who won the wild olive eight times at three Olympic festivals, and was surnamed Horse by the Greeks. Polites also you will consider a great marvel. This Polites was from Keramos in Caria, and showed at Olympia every excellence in running. For from the longest race, demanding the greatest stamina, he changed, after the shortest interval, to the shortest and quickest, and after winning a victory in the long race and immediately afterwards in the short race, he added on the same day a third victory in the double course.

{6.13.4} Polites then in the second […] and four, as they are grouped together by lot, and they do not start them all together for the race. The victors in each heat run again for the prize. So he who is garlanded in the foot race will be victorious twice. However, the most famous runner was Leonidas of Rhodes. He maintained his speed at its prime for four Olympiads, and won twelve victories for running.

{6.13.5} Not far from the slab of Khionis at Olympia stands Scaios, the son of Douris, a Samian, victor in the boys’ boxing match. The statue is the work of Hippias, the son of […] and the inscription on it states that Scaios won his victory at the time when the people of Samos were in exile from the island, but the occasion […] the people to their own.

{6.13.6} By the side of the tyrant is a statue of Diallos, the son of Pollis, a Smyrnean by descent, and this Diallos declares that he was the first Ionian to receive at Olympia a garland for the boys’ pankration. There are statues of Thersilokhos of Corcyra and of Aristion of Epidaurus, the son of Theophiles, made by Polycleitus the Argive; Aristion won a garland for the men’s boxing, Thersilokhos for the boys’.

{6.13.7} Bykelos, the first Sikyonian to win the boys’ boxing match, had his statue made by Kanakhos of Sikyon, a pupil of the Argive Polycleitus. By the side of Bykelos stands the statue of a man-at-arms, Mnaseas of Cyrene, surnamed the Libyan; Pythagoras of Rhēgion made the statue. To Agemakhos of Kyzikos from the mainland of Asia […] the inscription on it shows that he was born at Argos.

{6.13.8} Naxos was founded in Sicily by the people of Khalkis-on-the-Euripos. Of the city not even the ruins are now to be seen, and that the name of Naxos has survived to after ages must be attributed to Tisandros, the son of Kleokritos. He won the men’s boxing match at Olympia four times; he had the same number of victories at Pythō, but at this time, neither the Corinthians nor the Argives kept complete records of the victors at Nemeā and the Isthmus.

{6.13.9} The mare of the Corinthian Pheidolas was called, the Corinthians relate, Aura ‘breeze’, and at the beginning of the race, she chanced to throw her rider. But nevertheless, she went on running properly, turned round the post, and, when she heard the trumpet, quickened her pace, reached the umpires first, realized that she had won, and stopped running. The Eleians proclaimed Pheidolas the winner and allowed him to dedicate a statue of this mare.

{6.13.10} The sons also of Pheidolas were winners in the horse race, and the horse is represented on a slab with this inscription:

But the inscription is at variance with the Eleian records of Olympic victors. These records give a victory to the sons of Pheidolas at the sixty-eighth Festival but at no other. You may take my statements as accurate.

{6.13.11} There are statues to Agathinos, son of Thrasyboulos, and to Telemakhos, both men of Elis. Telemakhos won the race for four-horse chariots; the statue of Agathinos was dedicated by the Achaeans of Pellene. The Athenian people dedicated a statue of Aristophon, the son of Lysinos, who won the men’s pankration at Olympia.

{6.14.1} Pherias of Aegina, whose statue stands by the side of Aristophon the Athenian, at the seventy-eighth Festival was considered very young, and, being judged to be as yet unfit to wrestle, was debarred from the contest. Out at the next Festival, he was admitted to the boys’ wrestling match and won it. What happened to this Pherias was different, in fact the exact opposite of what happened at Olympia to Nicasylus of Rhodes.

{6.14.2} Being eighteen years of age, he was not allowed by the Eleians to compete in the boys’ wrestling match, but won the men’s match and was proclaimed victor. He was afterwards proclaimed victor at Nemeā also and at the Isthmus. But when he was twenty years old, he met his death before he returned home to Rhodes. The feat of the Rhodian wrestler at Olympia was in my opinion surpassed by Artemidoros of Tralles. He failed in the boys’ pankration at Olympia, the reason of his failure being his extreme youth.

{6.14.3} When, however, the time arrived for the contest held by the Ionians of Smyrna, his strength had so increased that he beat in the pankration on the same day those who had competed with him at Olympia, after the boys the beardless youths as they are called, and thirdly the pick of the men. His match with the beardless youths was the outcome, they say, of a trainer’s encouragement; he fought the men because of the insult of a man who was a competitor at the pankration. Artemidoros won an Olympic victory among the men at the two hundred and twelfth Festival. [391]

{6.14.4} Next to the statue of Nicasylus is a small bronze horse, which Crocon of Eretria dedicated when he won a garland with a race-horse. Near the horse is Telestas of Messene, who won the boys’ boxing match. The artist who represented Telestas was Silanion.

{6.14.5} The statue of Milo, the son of Diotīmos, was made by Dameas, also a native of Kroton. Milo won six victories for wrestling at Olympia, one of them among the boys; at Pythō, he won six among the men and one among the boys. He came to Olympia to wrestle for the seventh time, but did not succeed in mastering Timasitheus, a fellow citizen who was also a young man, and who refused, moreover, to come to close quarters with him.

{6.14.6} It is further stated that Milo carried his own statue into the Altis. His feats with the pomegranate and the discus are also remembered by tradition. He would grasp a pomegranate so firmly that nobody could wrest it from him by force, and yet he did not damage it by pressure. He would stand upon a greased discus, and make fools of those who charged him and tried to push him from the discus. He used to perform also the following exhibition feats.

{6.14.7} He would tie a cord around his forehead as though it were a ribbon or a garland. Holding his breath and filling with blood the veins on his head, he would break the cord by the strength of these veins. It is said that he would let down by his side his right arm from the shoulder to the elbow, and stretch out straight the arm below the elbow, turning the thumb upwards, while the other fingers lay in a row. In this position, then, the little finger was lowest, but nobody could bend it back by pressure.

{6.14.8} They say that he was killed by wild beasts. The story has it that he came across in the land of Kroton a tree-trunk that was drying up; wedges were inserted to keep the trunk apart. Milo in his pride thrust his hands into the trunk, the wedges slipped, and Milo was held fast by the trunk until the wolves—beasts that roves in vast packs in the land of Kroton—made him their prey.

{6.14.9} Such was the fate that overtook Milo. Pyrrhos, the son of Aiakidēs, who was king on the Thesprotian mainland and performed many remarkable deeds, as I have related in my account of the Athenians, [392] had his statue dedicated by Thrasyboulos of Elis. Beside Pyrrhos is a little man holding an aulos [‘double-reed’], carved in relief upon a slab. This man won Pythian victories next after Sacadas of Argos.

{6.14.10} For Sacadas won in the Games introduced by the Amphiktyones before a garland was awarded for success, and after this victory two others for which garlands were given, but at the next six Pythian Festivals Pythokritos of Sikyon was victor, being the only aulos player so to distinguish himself. It is also clear that at the Olympic Festival, he fluted six times for the pentathlon. For these reasons, the slab at Olympia was erected in honor of Pythokritos, with the inscription on it:

{6.14.11} The Aetolian League dedicated a statue of Kylon, who delivered the Eleians from the tyranny of Aristotīmos. The statue of Gorgos, the son of Eukletos, a Messenian who won a victory in the pentathlon, was made by the Boeotian Theron; that of Damaretos, another Messenian, who won the boys’ boxing match, was made by the Athenian Silanion. Anauchidas, the son of Philys, an Eleian, won a garland in the boys’ wrestling match and afterwards in the match for men. Who made his statue is not known, but Ageladas of Argos made the statue of Anochus of Tarentum, the son of Adamatas, who won victories in the short and double foot race.

{6.14.12} A boy seated on a horse and a man standing by the horse the inscription declares to be Xenombrotos of Meropian Kos, who was proclaimed victor in the horse race, and Xenodikos, who was announced a winner in the boys’ boxing match. The statue of the latter is by Pantias, that of the former is by Philotīmos the Aeginetan. The two statues of Pythes, the son of Andromakhos, a native of Abdera, were made by Lysippos, and were dedicated by his soldiers. Pythes seems to have been a captain of mercenaries or some sort of distinguished soldier.

{6.14.13} There are statues of winners of the boys’ race, namely, Meneptolemos of Apollonia on the Ionian Gulf and Philo of Corcyra; also Hieronymos of Andros, who defeated in the pentathlon at Olympia Tisamenus of Elis, who afterwards served as soothsayer in the Greek army that fought against Mardonios and the Persians at Plataea. By the side of this Hieronymos is a statue of a boy wrestler, also of Andros, Prokles, the son of Lycastidas. The sculptor who made the statue of Lycastidas was named Stomios, while Somis made the statue of Prokles. Aeschines of Elis won two victories in the pentathlon, and his statues are also two in number.

{6.15.1} Arkhippos of Mitylene overcame his competitors in the men’s boxing match, and his fellow-townsmen hold that he added to his fame by winning the garland when he was not more than twenty years old, at Olympia, at Pythō, at Nemeā, and at the Isthmus. The statue of the boy runner Xenon, son of Kalliteles from Lepreus in Triphylia, was made by Pyrilampes the Messenan; who made the statue of Kleinomakhos of Elis, I do not know, but Kleinomakhos was proclaimed victor in the pentathlon.

{6.15.2} The inscription on the statue of Pantarkes of Elis states that it was dedicated by Achaeans, because he made peace between them and the Eleians and procured the release of those who had been made prisoners by both sides during the war. This Pantarkes also won a victory with a race-horse, and there is a memorial of his victory also at Olympia. The statue of Olidas, of Elis, was dedicated by the Aetolian nation, and Kharinos of Elis is represented in a statue dedicated for a victory in the double race and in the race in armor. By his side is Ageles of Chios, victorious in the boys’ boxing match, the artist being Theomnestos of Sardes.

{6.15.3} The statue of Kleitomakhos of Thebes was dedicated by his father Hermokrates, and his famous deeds are these. At the Isthmus, he won the men’s wrestling match, and on the same day, he overcame all competitors in the boxing match and in the pankration. His victories at Pythō were all in the pankration, three in number. At Olympia, this Kleitomakhos was the first after Theagenes of Thasos to be proclaimed victor in both boxing and the pankration.

{6.15.4} He won his victory in the pankration at the hundred and forty-first Olympic Festival. [393] The next Festival saw this Kleitomakhos a competitor in the pankration and in boxing, while Kapros of Elis was minded both to wrestle and to compete in the pankration on the same day.

{6.15.5} After Kapros had won in the wrestling match, Kleitomakhos put it to the umpires that it would be fair if they were to bring in the pankration before he received wounds in the boxing. His request seemed reasonable, and so the pankration was brought in. Although Kleitomakhos was defeated by Kapros, he tackled the boxers with sturdy spirit and unwearied vigor.

{6.15.6} The Ionians of Erythraidedicated a statue of Epitherses, son of Metrodoros, who won two boxing prizes at Olympia, two at Pythō, and also victories at Nemeā and the Isthmus; the Syracusans dedicated two statues of Hieron at the public charge, while a third is the gift of Hieron’s sons. I pointed out in a recent chapter [394] how this Hieron had the same name as the son of Deinomenes, and, like him, was despot of Syracuse.

{6.15.7} The Paleans, who form one of the four divisions of the Cephallenians, dedicated a statue of Timoptolis, an Eleian, the son of Lampis. These Paleans were of old called Dulichians. There is also a statue set up of Arkhidamos, the son of Agesilaos, and of some man or other representing a hunter. There is a statue of Demetrios, who made an expedition against Seleukos and was taken prisoner in the battle, and one of Antigonos, the son of Demetrios; they are offerings, you may be sure, of the Byzantines.

{6.15.8} At the thirty-eighth Festival, [395] Eutelidas the Spartan won two victories among the boys, one for wrestling and one for the pentathlon, this being the first and last occasion when boys were allowed to enter for the pentathlon. The statue of Eutelidas is old, and the letters on the pedestal are worn dim with age.

{6.15.9} After Eutelidas is another statue of Areus the Lacedaemonian king, and beside it is a statue of Gorgos the Eleian. Gorgos is the only man down to my time who has won four victories at Olympia for the pentathlon, beside a victory in the double race and a victory in the race in armor.

{6.15.10} The man with the boys standing beside him they say is Ptolemy, son of Lagos. [396] Beside him are two statues of the Eleian Kapros, the son of Pythagoras, who received on the same day a garland for wrestling and a garland for the pankration. This Kapros was the first man to win the two victories. His victim overcome in the pankration I have already mentioned; [397] in wrestling, the man he overcame was the Eleian Paeanios, who at the previous Festival had won a victory for wrestling, while at the Pythian Games, he won a garland in the boys’ boxing match, and again in the men’s wrestling match and in the men’s boxing match on one and the same day.

{6.16.1} The victories of Kapros were not achieved without great toils and strong effort. There are also at Olympia statues to Anauchidas and Pherenikos, Eleians by lineage who won garlands for wrestling among the boys. Pleistainos, the son of the Eurydamos who commanded the Aetolians against the Gauls, had his statue dedicated by the Thespians.

{6.16.2} The statue of Antigonos the father of Demetrios and the statue of Seleukos were dedicated by Tydeus the Eleian. The fame of Seleukos became great among all men especially because of the capture of Demetrios. Timon won victories for the pentathlon at all the Greek Games except the Isthmian, at which he, like other Eleians, abstained from competing. The inscription on his statue adds that he joined the Aetolians in their expedition against the Thessalians and became leader of the garrison at Naupaktos because of his friendship with the Aetolians.

{6.16.3} Not far from the statue of Timon stands Hellas, and by Hellas stands Elis; Hellas is garlanding with one hand Antigonos, the guardian of Philip, the son of Demetrios, with the other, Philip himself; Elis is garlanding Demetrios, who marched against Seleukos, and Ptolemy, the son of Lagos.

{6.16.4} Aristeides of Elis won at Olympia (so the inscription on his statue declares) a victory in the race run in armor, at Pythō a victory in the double race, and at Nemeā, in the race for boys in the horse course. The length of the horse-course is twice that of the double course; the event had been omitted from the Nemean and Isthmian Games but was restored to the Argives for their winter Nemean Games by ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian.

{6.16.5} Quite close to the statue of Aristeides stands Menalkes of Elis, proclaimed victor at Olympia in the pentathlon, along with Philonides son of Zotes, who was a native of Chersonesus in Crete, and a courier of Alexander the son of Philip. After him comes Brimias of Elis, victor in the men’s boxing match, Leonidas from Naxos in the Aegean, a statue dedicated by the Arcadians of Psophis, a statue of Asamon, victor in the men’s boxing match, and a statue of Nikandros, who won two victories at Olympia in the double course and six victories in foot-races of various kinds at the Nemean Games. [398] Asamon and Nikandros were Eleians, the statue of the latter was made by Daippos, that of Asamon by the Messenian Pyrilampes.

{6.16.6} Eualkidas of Elis won victories in the boys’ boxing match, Seleadas the Lacedaemonian in the men’s wrestling-match. Here too is dedicated a small chariot of the Laconian Polypeithes, and on the same slab Kalliteles, the father of Polypeithes, a wrestler. Polypeithes was victorious with his four-horse chariot, Kalliteles in wrestling.

{6.16.7} There are private Eleians, Lampos the son of Arniskos and […] of Aristarkhos; these the Psophidians dedicated, either because they were their public friends or because they had shown them some good will. Between them stands Lysippos of Elis, who beat his competitors in the boys’ wrestling match; his statue was made by Andreas of Argos.

{6.16.8} Demosthenes the Lacedaemonian won an Olympic victory in the men’s foot-race, and he dedicated in the Altis a slab by the side of his statue. The inscription declares that the distance from Olympia to another slab at Lacedaemon is six hundred and sixty furlongs. Theodoros gained a victory in the pentathlon; Pyttalos the son of Lampis won the boys’ boxing match, and Neolaidas received a garland for the foot race and the race in armor; all were, I may tell you, Eleians. About Pyttaloss, it is further related that, when a dispute about boundaries occurred between the Arcadians and the Eleians, he delivered judgment on the matter. His statue is the work of Sthennis the Olynthian.

{6.16.9} Next is Ptolemy, mounted on a horse, and by his side is an Eleian athlete, Paeanios, the son of Damatrios, who won at Olympia a victory in wrestling besides two Pythian victories. There is also Klearetos of Elis, who received a garland in the pentathlon, and a chariot of an Athenian, Glaukon, the son of Eteokles. This Glaukon was proclaimed victor in a chariot-race for full-grown horses.

{6.17.1} These are the most remarkable sights that meet a man who goes over the Altis according to the instructions I have given. But if you will go to the right from the Leonidaion to the great altar, you will come across the following notable objects. There is Demokrates of Tenedos, who won the men’s wrestling match, and Kriannios of Elis, who won a victory in the race in armor. The statue of Demokrates was made by Dionysikles of Miletus, that of Kriannios by Lysos of Macedonia.

{6.17.2} The statues of Herodotus of Klazomenai and of Philinos, son of Hegepolis, of Kos, were dedicated by their respective cities. The people of Klazomenai dedicated a statue of Herodotus because he was the first person from Klazomenai to be proclaimed victor at Olympia, his victory being in the boys’ foot race. The people of Kos dedicated a statue of Philinos because of his great renown, for he won at Olympia five victories in running, at Pythō four victories, at Nemeā four, and at the Isthmus eleve