CHAPTER IV.

“but at sunrise she sets out to the magnanimous Caucones,”

to obtain payment of the debt, in a forward direction. How then are we to reconcile these opinions? for Nestor might say, “The Caucones are my subjects, and lie directly in the road of persons who are going to Lacedæmon; why then do you not accompany Telemachus and his friends on his journey, but take a road in an opposite direction?” Besides, it was natural for one, who was going to recover payment of a debt, and that a considerable sum, as she says, from a people under the command of Nestor, to request some assistance from him in case they should be so unjust, as usually happens, as to refuse to discharge it. But she did not do this.

If therefore the Caucones are to be found in one situation only, these absurdities would follow. But if one division of this tribe occupied the places in Elis near Dymē, Minerva might be said to direct her journey thither, and even the return to the ship would not be absurd, nor the separation from the company of Telemachus, when her road was in an opposite direction.

The question respecting Pylus may perhaps be resolved in a similar manner, when we come, as we proceed, to the description of the Messenian Pylus.64]

18. There is also, it is said, a nation, the Paroreatæ, who occupy, in the hilly district of Triphylia, the mountains, which extend from about Lepreum and Macistum to the sea near the Samian grove sacred to Neptune.

19. Below these people on the coast are two caves; one, of the nymphs Anigriades; the other, the scene of the adventures of the Atlantides,65and of the birth of Dardanus. There also are the groves, both the Ionæum and Eurycydeium.

Samicum is a fortress. Formerly there was a city of the name of Samos, which perhaps had its designation from itsheight, since they called heights Sami; perhaps also this was the acropolis of Arēnē, which the poet mentions in the Catalogue of the Ships;

“who inhabited Pylus, and the pleasant Arene;”66

for as the position of Arēnē has not been clearly discovered anywhere, it is conjectured, that it was most probably situated where the adjoining river Anigrus, formerly called Minyeius, empties itself. As no inconsiderable proof of this, Homer says,

“There is a river Minyeius, which empties itself into the sea, near Arene.”67

Now near the cave of the nymphs Anigriades is a fountain, by which the subjacent country is rendered marshy, and filled with pools of water. The Anigrus however receives the greater part of the water, being deep, but with so little current that it stagnates. The place is full of mud, emits an offensive smell perceptible at a distance of 26 stadia, and renders the fish unfit for food. Some writers give this fabulous account of these waters, and attribute the latter effect to the venom of the Hydra, which some of the Centaurs68washed from their wounds; others say, that Melampus used these cleansing waters for the purification of the Prœtades.69They are a cure for alphi, or leprous eruptions, and the white tetter, and the leichen. They say also that the Alpheus had its name from its property of curing the disease alphi.70

Since then the sluggishness of the Anigrus, and the recoil of the waters of the sea, produce a state of rest rather than a current, they say, that its former name was Minyeïus, but that some persons perverted the name and altered it to Minteïus. The etymology of the name may be derived from other sources; either from those who accompanied Chloris, the mother of Nestor, from the Minyeian Orchomenus; or,from the Minyæ descendants of the Argonauts, who were banished from Lemnos, and went to Lacedæmon, and thence to Triphylia, and settled about Arēnē, in the country now called Hypæsia, which however no longer contains places built by the Minyæ.

Some of these people, with Theras the son of Autesion, who was a descendant of Polynices, having set sail to the country between Cyrenæa and the island of Crete, “formerly Calliste, but afterwards called Thera,” according to Callimachus, founded Thera, the capital of Cyrene, and gave the same name to the city, and to the island.

20. Between the Anigrus and the mountain from which the Jardanes rises, a meadow and a sepulchre are shown, and the Achææ, which are rocks broken off from the same mountain, above which was situated, as I have said, the city Samos. Samos is not mentioned by any of the authors of Peripli, or Circumnavigations; because perhaps it had been long since destroyed, and perhaps also on account of its position. For the Poseidium is a grove, as I have said, near the sea, a lofty eminence rises above it, situated in front of the present Samicum, where Samos once stood, so that it cannot be seen from the sea.

Here also is the plain called Samicus, from which we may further conjecture that there was once a city Samos.

According to the poem Rhadinē, of which Stesichorus seems to have been the author, and which begins in this manner,

“Come, tuneful Muse, Erato, begin the melodious song, in praise of the lovely Samian youths, sounding the strings of the delightful lyre:”

these youths were natives of this Samos. For he says that Rhadinē being given in marriage to the tyrant, set sail from Samos to Corinth with a westerly wind, and therefore certainly not from the Ionian Samos. By the same wind her brother, who was archi-theorus, arrived at Delphi. Her cousin, who was in love with her, set out after her in a chariot to Corinth. The tyrant put both of them to death, and sent away the bodies in a chariot, but changing his mind, he recalled the chariot, and buried them.

21. From this Pylus and the Lepreum to the Messenian Pylus71and the Coryphasium, fortresses situated upon the sea,and to the adjoining island Sphagia, is a distance of about 400 stadia, and from the Alpheius a distance of 750, and from the promontory Chelonatas 1030 stadia. In the intervening distance are the temple of the Macistian Hercules, and the river Acidon, which flows beside the tomb of Jardanus, and Chaa, a city which was once near Lepreum, where also is the Æpasian plain. It was for this Chaa, it is said, that the Arcadians and Pylians went to war with each other, which war Homer has mentioned, and it is thought that the verse ought to be written,

“Oh that I were young as when multitudes of Pylii, and of Arcades, handling the spear, fought together at the swift-flowing Acidon near the walls of Chaa,”72

not Celadon, nor Pheia, for this place is nearer the tomb of Jardanus and the Arcades than the other.

22. On the Triphylian Sea are situated Cyparissia, and Pyrgi, and the rivers Acidon and Neda. At present the boundary of Triphylia towards Messenia is the impetuous stream of the Neda descending from the Lycæus, a mountain of Arcadia, and rising from a source which, according to the fable, burst forth to furnish water in which Rhea was to wash herself after the birth of Jupiter. It flows near Phigalia, and empties itself into the sea where the Pyrgitæ, the extreme tribe of the Triphylii, approach the Cyparissenses, the first of the Messenian nation. But, anciently, the country had other boundaries, so that the dominions of Nestor included some places on the other side of the Neda, as the Cyparisseïs, and some others beyond that tract, in the same manner as the poet extends the Pylian sea as far as the seven cities, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles,

“All near the sea bordering upon the sandy Pylus,”73

which is equivalent to, near the Pylian sea.

23. Next in order to the Cyparisseïs in traversing the coast towards the Messenian Pylus and the Coryphasium, we meet with Erana, (Eranna,) which some writers incorrectly suppose was formerly called Arene, by the same name as the Pylian city, and the promontory Platamodes, from which to the Coryphasium, and to the place at present called Pylus, are100 stadia.74There is also a cenotaph and a small town in it both of the same name—Protē.

We ought not perhaps to carry our inquiries so far into antiquity, and it might be sufficient to describe the present state of each place, if certain reports about them had not been delivered down to us in childhood; but as different writers give different accounts, it is necessary to examine them. The most famous and the most ancient writers being the first in point of personal knowledge of the places, are, in general, persons of the most credit. Now as Homer surpasses all others in these respects, we must examine what he says, and compare his descriptions with the present state of places, as we have just said. We have already considered his description of the Hollow Elis and of Buprasium.

24. He describes the dominions of Nestor in these words:

“And they who inhabited Pylus, and the beautiful Arene, and Thryum, a passage across the Alpheius, and the well-built Æpy, and Cyparisseis, and Amphigeneia, and Pteleum, and Helos, and Dorium, where the Muses having met with Thamyris the Thracian, deprived him of the power of song, as he was coming from Œchalia, from the house of Eurytus the Œchalian.”75

It is Pylus, therefore, to which the question relates, and we shall soon treat of it. We have already spoken of Arene. The places, which he here calls Thryum, in another passage he calls Thryoessa,

“There is a city Thryoessa, lofty, situated on a hill,Far off, on the banks of the Alpheius.”76

“There is a city Thryoessa, lofty, situated on a hill,

Far off, on the banks of the Alpheius.”76

He calls it the ford or passage of the Alpheius, because, according to these verses, it seems as if it could be crossed at this place on foot. Thryum is at present called Epitalium, a village of Macistia.

With respect to εὔκτιτον Αἶπυ], “Æpy the well-built,” some writers ask which of these words is the epithet of the other, and what is the city, and whether it is the present Margalæ of Amphidolia, but this Margalæ is not a natural fortress, but another is meant, a natural stronghold in Macistia. Writers who suppose this place to be meant, say, that Æpy is the name of the city, and infer it from its natural properties, as in the example of Helos,77Ægialos,78and many others:those who suppose Margalæ to be meant here, will assert the contrary.

Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because all the country is θρυώδης, or sedgy, and particularly the banks of the rivers, but this appears more clearly at the fordable places of the stream. Perhaps Thryum is meant by the ford, and by “the well-built Æpy,” Epitalium, which is naturally strong, and in the other part of the passage he mentions a lofty hill;

“The city Thryoessa, a lofty hill,Far away by the Alpheus.”79

“The city Thryoessa, a lofty hill,

Far away by the Alpheus.”79

25. Cyparisseïs is near the old Macistia, which then extended even to the other side of the Neda, but it is not inhabited, as neither is Macistum. There is also another, the Messenian Cyparissia, not having quite the same name, but one like it. The city of Macistia is at present called Cyparissia, in the singular number, and feminine gender, but the name of the river is Cyparisseis.

Amphigeneia, also belonging to Macistia, is near Hypsoeis, where is the temple of Latona.

Pteleum was founded by the colony that came from Pteleum in Thessaly, for it is mentioned in this line,

“Antron on the sea-coast, and the grassy Pteleum.”80

It is a woody place, uninhabited, called Pteleasimum.

Some writers say, that Helos was some spot near the Alpheius; others, that it was a city like that in Laconia,

“and Helos, a small city on the sea;”81

others say that it is the marsh near Alorium, where is a temple of the Eleian Artemis, (Diana of the Marsh,) belonging to the Arcadians, for this people had the priesthood.

Dorium is said by some authors to be a mountain, by others a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; yet it is alleged, that the present Oluris, or Olura, situated in the Aulon, as it is called, of Messenia, is Dorium. Somewhere there also is Œchalia of Eurytus, the present Andania, a small Arcadian town of the same name as those in Thessaly and Eubœa, whence the poet says, Thamyris, the Thracian, came to Dorium, and was deprived by the Muses of the power of song.

26. Hence it is evident that the country under the command of Nestor is on each side of the Alpheius, all of which tracthe calls the country of the Pylians, but nowhere does the Alpheius touch Messenia, nor the Hollow Elis.82

It is in this district that we have the native country of Nestor, which we call the Triphylian, the Arcadian, and the Lepreatic Pylus. For we know that other places of the name of Pylus are pointed out, situated upon the sea, but this is distant more than 30 stadia from it, as appears from the poem. A messenger is sent to the vessel, to the companions of Telemachus,—to invite them to a hospitable entertainment. Telemachus, upon his return from Sparta, does not permit Peisistratus to go to the city, but diverts him from it, and prevails upon him to hasten to the ship, whence it appears that the same road did not lead both to the city and to the haven. The departure of Telemachus may in this manner be aptly understood:

“they went past Cruni, and the beautiful streams of Chalcis; the sun set, and all the villages were in shade and darkness; but the ship, exulting in the gales of Jove, arrived at Pheæ. She passed also the divine Elis, where the Epeii rule;”83

for to this place the direction of the vessel was towards the north, and thence it turns to the east. The vessel leaves its first and straight course in the direction of Ithaca, because the suitors had placed an ambush there,

“In the strait between Ithaca and Samos,And from thence he directed the vessel to the sharp-pointed islands, νήσοισι θοῇσι;”84

“In the strait between Ithaca and Samos,

And from thence he directed the vessel to the sharp-pointed islands, νήσοισι θοῇσι;”84

the sharp-pointed (ὀξείαι) he calls θοαὶ. They belong to the Echinades, and are near the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf and the mouths of the Achelous. After having sailed past Ithaca so as to leave the island behind him, he turns to the proper course between Acarnania and Ithaca, and disembarks on the other side of the island, not at the strait of Cephallenia, where the suitors were on the watch.

27. If any one therefore should suppose that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the ship would not properly be said, after setting off thence, to take its course along Cruni and Chalcis, as far as the west, then to arrive by night at Pheæ, and afterwards to sail along the territory of Eleia, forthese places are to the south of Eleia, first Pheæ, then Chalcis, then Cruni, then the Triphylian Pylus, and the Samicum. In sailing then to the south from the Eleian Pylus this would be the course. In sailing to the north, where Ithaca lies, all these places are left behind, but they must sail along Eleia itself, and before, although he says after, sunset. Again, on the other side, if any one should suppose the Messenian Pylus and the Coryphasium to be the commencement of the voyage after leaving the country of Nestor, the distance would be great, and would occupy more time. For the distance only to the Triphylian Pylus and the Samian Poseidium is 400 stadia, and the voyage would not be along Cruni, and Chalcis, and Pheæ, the names of obscure places and rivers, or rather of streams, but first along the Neda, then Acidon, next Alpheius, and the places and countries lying between these rivers, and lastly, if we must mention them, along the former, because the voyage was along the former places and rivers also.

28. Besides, Nestor’s account of the war between the Pylians and Eleians, which he relates to Patroclus, agrees with our arguments, if any one examines the lines. For he says there, that Hercules laid waste Pylus, and that all the youth were exterminated; that out of twelve sons of Neleus, he himself alone survived, and was a very young man, and that the Epeii, despising Neleus on account of his old age and destitute state, treated the Pylians with haughtiness and insult. Nestor therefore, in order to avenge this wrong, collected as large a body of his people as he was able, made an inroad into Eleia, and carried away a large quantity of booty;

“Fifty herds of oxen, as many flocks of sheep,As many herds of swine,”85

“Fifty herds of oxen, as many flocks of sheep,

As many herds of swine,”85

and as many flocks of goats, an hundred and fifty brood mares, bay-coloured, most of which had foals, and “these,” he says,

“We drove away to Pylus, belonging to Neleus,By night towards the city;”86

“We drove away to Pylus, belonging to Neleus,

By night towards the city;”86

so that the capture of the booty, and the flight of those who came to the assistance of people who were robbed, happened in the day-time, when, he says, he slew Itamon; and they returned by night, so that they arrived by night at thecity. When they were engaged in dividing the booty, and in sacrificing, the Epeii, having assembled in multitudes, on the third day marched against them with an army of horse and foot, and encamped about Thryum, which is situated on the Alpheius. The Pylians were no sooner informed of this than they immediately set out to the relief of this place, and having passed the night on the river Minyeius near Arene, thence arrive at the Alpheius at noon. After sacrificing to the gods, and passing the night on the banks of the river, they immediately, in the morning, engaged in battle. The rout of the enemy was complete, and they did not desist from the pursuit and slaughter, till they came to Buprasium,

“and the Olenian rock, where is a tumulus of Alesius, whence again Minerva repulsed the multitudes;”87

and adds below,

“but the AchæiTurned back their swift horses from Buprasium to Pylus.”

“but the Achæi

Turned back their swift horses from Buprasium to Pylus.”

29. From these verses how can it be supposed that Eleian or Messenian Pylus is meant. I say the Eleian, because when this was destroyed by Hercules, the country of the Epeii also was ravaged at the same time, that is, Eleia. How then could those, who were of the same tribe, and who had been plundered at that time, show such pride and insult to persons, who were suffering under the same injuries? How could they overrun and ravage their own country? How could Augeas and Neleus be kings of the same people, and yet be mutual enemies; for to Neleus

“a great debt was owing at the divine Elis; four horses, which had won the prize; they came with their chariots to contend for prizes; they were about to run in the race for a tripod; and Augeas, king of men, detained them there, but dismissed the charioteer.”88

If Neleus lived there, there Nestor also lived. How then were there

“four chiefs of Eleians and Buprasians, with ten swift ships accompanying each, and with many Epeii embarked in them?”

The country also was divided into four parts, none of which was subject to Nestor, but those tribes were under his command,

“who lived at Pylus, and the pleasant Arēnē,”

and at the places that follow next as far as Messene.How came the Epeii, when marching against the Pylians, to set out towards the Alpheius and Thryum, and after being defeated there in battle, to fly to Buprasium? But on the other side, if Hercules laid waste the Messenian Pylus, how could they, who were at such a distance, treat the Pylians with insult, or have so much intercourse and traffic with them, and defraud them by refusing to discharge a debt, so that war should ensue on that account? How too could Nestor, after having got, in his marauding adventure, so large a quantity of booty, a prey of swine and sheep, none of which are swift-footed, nor able to go a long journey, accomplish a march of more than 1000 stadia to Pylus near Coryphasium? Yet all the Epeii arrive at Thryoessa and the river Alpheius on the third day, ready to lay siege to the stronghold. How also did these districts belong to the chiefs of Messenia, when the Caucones, and Triphylii, and Pisatæ occupied them? But the territory Gerena, or Gerenia, for it is written both ways, might have a name which some persons applied designedly, or which might have originated even in accident.

Since, however, Messenia was entirely under the dominion of Menelaus, to whom Laconia also was subject, as will be evident from what will be said hereafter, and since the rivers, the Pamisus and the Nedon, flow through this country, and not the Alpheius at all, which runs in a straight line through the country of the Pylians, of which Nestor was ruler, can that account be credible, by which it appears that one man takes possession by force of the dominion of another, and deprives him of the cities, which are said to be his property in the Catalogue of the Ships, and makes others subject to the usurper.

30. It remains that we speak of Olympia, and of the manner in which everything fell into the power of the Eleii.

The temple is in the district Pisatis, at the distance of less than 300 stadia from Elis. In front of it is a grove of wild olive trees, where is the stadium. The Alpheius flows beside it, taking its course out of Arcadia to the Triphylian Sea between the west and the south. The fame of the temple was originally owing to the oracle of the Olympian Jove; yet after that had ceased, the renown of the temple continued, and increased, as we know, to a high degree of celebrity, both on account of the assembly of the people of Greece,which was held there, and of the Olympic games, in which the victor was crowned. These games were esteemed sacred, and ranked above all others. The temple was decorated with abundance of offerings, the contributions of all Greece. Among these offerings was a Jupiter of beaten gold, presented by Cypselus, the tyrant of Corinth. The largest was a statue of Jupiter in ivory, the workmanship of Phidias of Athens, the son of Charmides. Its height was so great, that although the temple is very large, the artist seems to have mistaken its proportions, and although he made the figure sitting, yet the head nearly touches the roof, and presents the appearance that, if it should rise, and stand upright, it would unroof the temple. Some writers have given the measurement of the statue, and Callimachus has expressed it in some iambic verses. Panænus, the painter, his nephew, and joint labourer, afforded great assistance in the completion of the statue with respect to the colours with which it was ornamented, and particularly the drapery.

There are exhibited also many and admirable pictures around the temple, the work of this painter. It is recorded of Phidias, that to Panænus, who was inquiring after what model he intended to form the figure of Jupiter, he replied, that it would be from that of Homer delineated in these words;

“He spoke, and gave the nod with his sable brows, the ambrosial hair shook on the immortal head of the king of gods, and vast Olympus trembled.”89

[This is well expressed, and the poet, as from other circumstances, so particularly from the brows, suggests the thought that he is depicting some grand conception, and great power worthy of Jupiter. So also in his description of Juno, in both he preserves the peculiar decorum of each character, for he says,

“she moved herself upon the throne, and shook vast Olympus:”90

this was effected by the motion of her whole body, but Olympus shakes when Jupiter only nods with his brows, the hair of his head partaking of the motion. It was elegantly said [of Homer] that he was the only person who had seen and had made visible the figures of the gods.]91

To the Eleii above all other people is to be ascribed the magnificence of the temple at Olympia, and the reverence in which it was held. For about the Trojan times, and even before that period, they were not in a flourishing state, having been reduced to a low condition by war with the Pylii, and afterwards by Hercules, when Augeas their king was overthrown. The proof is this. The Eleii sent forty ships to Troy, but the Pylians and Nestor ninety; then after the return of the Heracleidæ the contrary happened. For the Ætoli returning with the Heracleidæ under the command of Oxylus, became joint settlers with the Epeii, on the ground of ancient affinity. They extended the bounds of Hollow Elis, got possession of a large portion of the Pisatis, and subjected Olympia to their power. It was these people who invented the Olympic games,92and instituted the first Olympiad. For we must reject the ancient stories both respecting the foundation of the temple, and the establishment of the games, some alleging that Hercules, one of the Idæan Dactyli, was the founder; others, that the son of Alcmene and Jupiter founded them, who also was the first combatant and victor. For such things are variously reported, and not entitled to much credit. It is more probable, that from the first Olympiad,93when Corœbus the Eleian was the victor in the race in the stadium, to the twenty-sixth, the Eleians presided over the temple, and at the games. But in the Trojan times, either there were no games where a crown was awarded, or they had not yet acquired any fame, neither these nor any of the games which are now so renowned. Homer does not speak of these games, but of others of a different kind, which were celebrated at funerals. Some persons however are of opinion that he does mention the Olympic games, when he says, that Augeas detained four victorious horses, which had been sent to contend for the prize. It is also said that the Pisatæ did not take any part in the Trojan war, being considered as consecrated to the service of Jupiter. But neither was the Pisatis, the tract of country in which Olympia is situated, subject at that time to Augeas, but Eleia only, nor were the Olympic games celebratedeven once in the Eleian district, but always at Olympia. But the games, of which Homer speaks, seem to have taken place in Elis, where the debt was owing,

“For a great debt was owing in the divine Elis,Namely, four victorious horses.”94

“For a great debt was owing in the divine Elis,

Namely, four victorious horses.”94

But it was not in these, but in the Olympic games, that the victor was crowned, for here they were to contend for a tripod.

After the twenty-sixth Olympiad, the Pisatæ, having recovered their territory, instituted games themselves, when they perceived that these games were obtaining celebrity. But in after-times, when the territory of the Pisatis reverted to the Eleii, the presidency and celebration of the games reverted to them also. The Lacedæmonians too, after the last defeat of the Messenians, co-operated with the Eleii as allies, contrary to the conduct of the descendants of Nestor and of the Arcadians, who were allies of the Messenians. And they assisted them so effectually that all the country as far as Messene was called Eleia, and the name continues even to the present time. But of the Pisatæ, and Triphylii, and Caucones, not even the names remain. They united also Pylus Emathoeis itself with Lepreum in order to gratify the Lepreatæ, who had taken no part in the war. They razed many other towns, and imposed a tribute upon as many as were inclined to maintain their independence.

31. The Pisatis obtained the highest celebrity from the great power of its sovereigns, Œnomaus and his successor Pelops, and the number of their children. Salmoneus is said to have reigned there, and one of the eight cities, into which the Pisatis is divided, has the name of Salmone. For these reasons, and on account of the temple at Olympia, the fame of the country spread everywhere.

We must however receive ancient histories, as not entirely agreeing with one another, for modern writers, entertaining different opinions, are accustomed to contradict them frequently; as for example, according to some writers, Augeas was king of the Pisatis, and Œnomaus and Salmoneus kings of Eleia, while others consider the two nations as one. Still we ought to follow in general what is received as true, since writers are not agreed even upon the derivation of the word Pisatis. Some derive it from Pisa, (Πῖσα) a city of the samename as the fountain, and say that the fountain had that name, as much as to say Pistra, (Πίστρα) which means Potistra, (ποτίστρα,) or “potable.” The city of Pisa is shown, situated on an eminence between two mountains, which have the same names as those in Thessaly, Ossa and Olympus. Some say, that there was no such city as Pisa, for it would have been one of the eight, but a fountain only, which is now called Bisa, near Cicysium, the largest of the eight cities. But Stesichorus calls the tract of country named Pisa, a city, as the poet calls Lesbos, a city of Macar; and Euripides in the play of Ion says

“Eubœa is a neighbour city to Athens,”

and so in the play of Rhadamanthus,

“they who occupy the land of Eubœa, an adjoining state;”

thus Sophocles also in the play of the Mysi,

“O stranger, all this country is called Asia,But the state of the Mysi is called Mysia.”

“O stranger, all this country is called Asia,

But the state of the Mysi is called Mysia.”

32. Salmonē is near the fountain of the same name, the source of the Enipeus. It discharges itself into the Alpheius, [and at present it is called Barnichius.95] Tyro, it is said, was enamoured of this river;

“who was enamoured of the river, the divine Enipeus.”96

for there her father Salmoneus was king, as Euripides says in the play of Æolus. [The river in Thessaly some call Eniseus, which, flowing from the Othrys, receives the Apidanus, that descends from the mountain Pharsalus.97] Near Salmonē is Heracleia, which is one of the eight cities, distant about 40 stadia from Olympia on the river Cytherius, where there is a temple of the nymphs, the Ioniades, who are believed to heal diseases by means of the waters of the river.

Near Olympia is Arpīna, which also is one of the eight cities. The river Parthenius runs through it in the direction of the road to Pheræa. Pheræa belongs to Arcadia. [It is situated above Dymæa, Buprasium, and Elis, which lie to the north of the Pisatis.98] There also is Cicysium, one of the eight cities; and Dyspontium, on the road from Elis to Olympia, situated in a plain. But it was razed, and thegreatest part of the inhabitants removed to Epidamnus and Apollonia.

Above and so very near Olympia, is Pholoe, an Arcadian mountain, that the country at its foot belongs to the Pisatis. Indeed the whole of the Pisatis and a great part of Triphylia border upon Arcadia. For this reason, most of the places, which have the name of Pylian in the Catalogue of the Ships, seem to be Arcadian. Persons, however, who are well informed, say, that the river Erymanthus, one of those that empty themselves into the Alpheius, is the boundary of Arcadia, and that the places called Pylian are beyond the Erymanthus.

33. According to Ephorus, “Ætolus, being banished by Salmoneus, king of the Epeii, and the Pisatæ, from Eleia to Ætolia, called the country after his own name, and settled the cities there. His descendant Oxylus was the friend of Temenus, and the Heracleidæ his companions, and was their guide on their journey to Peloponnesus; he divided among them the hostile territory, and suggested instructions relative to the acquisition of the country. In return for these services he was to be requited by the restoration of Elis, which had belonged to his ancestors. He returned with an army collected out of Ætolia, for the purpose of attacking the Epeii, who occupied Elis. On the approach of the Epeii in arms, when the forces were drawn up in array against each other, there advanced in front, and engaged in single combat according to an ancient custom of the Greeks, Pyræchmes, an Ætolian, and Degmenus, an Epeian: the latter was lightly armed with a bow, and thought to vanquish easily from a distance a heavy-armed soldier; the former, when he perceived the stratagem of his adversary, provided himself with a sling, and a scrip filled with stones. The kind of sling also happened to have been lately invented by the Ætolians. As a sling reaches its object at a greater distance than a bow, Degmenus fell; the Ætolians took possession of the country, and ejected the Epeii. They assumed also the superintendence of the temple at Olympia, which the Epeii exercised; and on account of the friendship which subsisted between Oxylus and the Heracleidæ, it was generally agreed upon, and confirmed by an oath, that the Eleian territory was sacred to Jupiter, and that any one who invaded that country with an army, was a sacrilegious person: he also was to be accounted sacrilegious, who did notdefend it against the invader to the utmost of his power. It was for this reason, that the later founders of the city left it without walls, and those who are passing through the country with an army, deliver up their arms and receive them again upon quitting the borders. Iphitus instituted there the Olympic games, because the Eleians were a sacred people. Hence it was that they increased in numbers, for while other nations were continually engaged in war with each other, they alone enjoyed profound peace, and not themselves only, but strangers also, so that on this account they were a more populous state than all the others.”

Pheidon the Argive was the tenth in descent from Temenus, and the most powerful prince of his age; he was the inventor of the weights and measures called Pheidonian, and stamped money, silver in particular. He recovered the whole inheritance of Temenus, which had been severed into many portions. He attacked also the cities which Hercules had formerly taken, and claimed the privilege of celebrating the games which Hercules had established, and among these the Olympian games. He entered their country by force and celebrated the games, for the Eleians had no army to prevent it, as they were in a state of peace, and the rest were oppressed by his power. The Eleians however did not solemnly inscribe in their records this celebration of the games, but on this occasion procured arms, and began to defend themselves. The Lacedæmonians also afforded assistance, either because they were jealous of the prosperity, which was the effect of the peaceful state of the Eleians, or because they supposed that they should have the aid of the Eleians in destroying the power of Pheidon, who had deprived them of the sovereignty ἡγεμονίαν of Peloponnesus, which they before possessed. They succeeded in their joint attempt to overthrow Pheidon, and the Eleians with this assistance obtained possession of Pisatis and Triphylia.

The whole of the coasting voyage along the present Eleian territory comprises, with the exception of the bays, 1200 stadia.

So much then respecting the Eleian territory.

1.Messeniais continuous with the Eleian territory, inclining for the most part towards the south, and the Libyan Sea. Being part of Laconia, it was subject in the Trojan times to Menelaus. The name of the country was Messene. But the present city called Messene, the acropolis of which was Ithome, was not then founded. After the death of Menelaus, when the power of those who succeeded to the possession of Laconia was altogether weakened, the Neleidæ governed Messenia. At the time of the return of the Heracleidæ, and according to the partition of the country at that time, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were a separate community, but formerly subject to Menelaus. As a proof of this, in the space from the Messenian Gulf and the continuous gulf, (called the Asinæan from the Messenian Asine,) were situated the seven cities which Agamemnon promised to Achilles;

“Cardamyle, Enope, the grassy Hira, the divine Pheræ,99Antheia with rich meadows, the beautiful Æpeia, and Pedasus abounding with vines.”100

He certainly would not have promised what did not belong either to himself or to his brother. The poet mentions those, who accompanied Menelaus from Pheræ to the war,101and speaks of (Œtylus) in the Laconian catalogue, a city situated on the Gulf of Messenia.

Messene follows next to Triphylia. The promontory, after which are the Coryphasium and Cyparissia, is common to both. At the distance of 7 stadia is a mountain, the Ægaleum, situated above Coryphasium and the sea.

2. The ancient Messenian Pylus was a city lying below the Ægaleum, and after it was razed, some of the inhabitants settled under the Coryphasium. But the Athenians in their second expedition against Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Stratocles, got possession of it, and used it as a stronghold against the Lacedæmonians.102Here also is the Messenian Cyparissia, (and the island Prote,) lying closeto Pylus, the island Sphagia, called also Sphacteria. It was here that the Lacedæmonians lost three hundred men,103who were besieged by the Athenians and taken prisoners.

Two islands, called Strophades,104belonging to the Cyparissii, lie off at sea in front of this coast, at the distance of about 400 stadia from the continent, in the Libyan and southern sea. According to Thucydides this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is distant from Sparta 400 stadia.

3. Next is Methone.105This city, called by the poet Pedasus, was one of the seven, it is said, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. There Agrippa killed, in the Actian war, Bogus, the king of the Maurusii, a partisan of Antony’s, having got possession of the place by an attack by sea.

4. Continuous with Methone is Acritas,106where the Messenian Gulf begins, which they call also Asinæus from Asine, a small city, the first we meet with on the gulf, and having the same name as the Hermionic Asine.

This is the commencement of the gulf towards the west. Towards the east are the Thyrides,107as they are called, bordering upon the present Laconia near Cænepolis,108and Tænarum.

In the intervening distance, if we begin from the Thyrides, we meet with Œtylus,109by some called Beitylus; then Leuctrum, a colony of the Leuctri in Bœotia; next, situated upon a steep rock, Cardamyle;110then Pheræ, bordering upon Thuria, and Gerenia, from which place they say Nestor had the epithet Gerenian, because he escaped thither, as we have mentioned before. They show in the Gerenian territory a temple of Æsculapius Triccæus, copied from that at the Thessalian Tricca. Pelops is said to have founded Leuctrum, and Charadra, and Thalami, now called the Bœotian Thalami, having brought with him, when he married his sister Niobe to Amphion, some colonists from Bœotia.

The Nedon, a different river from the Neda, flows through Laconia, and discharges its waters near Pheræ. It has upon its banks a remarkable temple of the Nedusian Minerva. At Pœaessa also there is a temple of the Nedusian Minerva, which derives its name from a place called Nedon,111whence, they say, Teleclus colonized Pœaessa,112and Echeiæ, and Tragium.

5. With respect to the seven cities promised to Achilles, we have already spoken of Cardamyle, and Pheræ, and Pedasus. Enope, some say is Pellana; others, some place near Cardamyle; others, Gerenia.113Hira is pointed out near a mountain in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis114in Arcadia, on the road to Andania, which we have said is called by the poet Œchalia. Others say that the present Mesola was called Hira, which extends to the bay situated between Taÿgetum and Messenia. Æpeia is now called Thuria, which we said bordered upon Pheræ. It is situated upon a lofty hill, whence its name.115The Thuriatic Gulf has its name from Thuria; upon the gulf is a single city, named Rhium, opposite Tænarum. Some say that Antheia is Thuria, and Æpeia Methone; others, that Antheia is Asine, situated between Methone and Thuria, to which, of all the Messenian cities, the description, “with its rich pastures,” is most appropriate. Near it on the sea is Corone. There are some writers who say that this town is called Pedasus by the poet. These cities are “all near the sea;” Cardamyle close to it; Pheræ at the distance of 5 stadia, having an anchorage, which is used in the summer. The rest are situated at unequal distances from the sea.

6. Near Corone, about the middle of the gulf, the river Pamisus116discharges itself, having, on the right hand, this city, and the rest in succession, the last of which, towards the west, are Pylus and Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some writers erroneously suppose to be the ancientArene; on the left hand it has Thyria and Pheræ. It is the largest (in width) of the rivers within the isthmus, although its course from its springs does not exceed 100 stadia in length; it has an abundant supply of water, and traverses the Messenian plain, and the district called Macaria.117It is distant from the present city of the Messenians 50 stadia.118There is also another Pamisus, a small torrent stream, running near Leuctrum of Laconia, which was a subject of dispute between the Messenians and Lacedæmonians in the time of Philip.

I have before said that some persons called the Pamisus, Amathus.119

7. Ephorus relates that Cresphontes, after he had taken Messene, divided it into five cities, and chose Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of this district, to be the royal seat of his kingdom. To the other cities, Pylus, Rhium, (Mesola,) and Hyameitis, he appointed kings, and put all the Messenians on an equal footing with the Dorians as to rights and privileges. The Dorians, however, taking offence, he changed his intention, and determined that Stenyclarus alone should have the rank of a city, and here he assembled all the Dorians.

8. The city of the Messenians120resembles Corinth, for above each city is a lofty and precipitous mountain, enclosed by a common wall in such a manner as to be used as an acropolis; the Messenian mountain is Ithome,121that near Corinth is Acrocorinthus. Demetrius of Pharos seemed to have counselled Philip the son of Demetrius well, when he advised him to make himself master of both cities, if he desired to get possession of Peloponnesus; “for,” said he, “when you have seized both horns, the cow will be your own;” meaning, by the horns, Ithome and Acrocorinthus, and, by the cow, Peloponnesus. It was no doubt their convenient situation which made these cities subjects of contention. The Romans therefore razed Corinth, and again rebuilt it. The Lacedæmoniansdestroyed Messene, and the Thebans, and subsequently Philip, the son of Amyntas, restored it. The citadels however continued unoccupied.

9. The temple of Diana in Limnæ (in the Marshes), where the Messenians are supposed to have violated the virgins who came there to offer sacrifice, is on the confines of Laconia and Messenia, where the inhabitants of both countries usually celebrated a common festival, and performed sacrifices; but after the violation of the virgins, the Messenians did not make any reparation, and war, it is said, ensued. The Limnæan temple of Diana at Sparta is said to have its name from the Limnæ here.

10. There were frequent wars (between the Lacedæmonians and Messenians) on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtæus mentions, in his poems, that their first subjugation was in the time of their grandfathers;122the second, when in conjunction with their allies the Eleians [Arcadians], Argives, and Pisatæ, they revolted; the leader of the Arcadians was Aristocrates, king of Orchomenus, and of the Pisatæ, Pantaleon, son of Omphalion. In this war, Tyrtæus says, he himself commanded the Lacedæmonian army, for in his elegiac poem, entitled Eunomia, he says he came from Erineum;

“for Jupiter himself, the son of Saturn, and husband of Juno with the beautiful crown, gave this city to the Heracleidæ, with whom we left the windy Erineum, and arrived at the spacious island of Pelops.”

Wherefore we must either invalidate the authority of the elegiac verses, or we must disbelieve Philochorus, and Callisthenes, and many other writers, who say that he came from Athens, or Aphidnæ, at the request of the Lacedæmonians, whom an oracle had enjoined to receive a commander from the Athenians.

The second war then occurred in the time of Tyrtæus. But they mention a third, and even a fourth war, in which the Messenians were destroyed.123

The whole voyage along the Messenian coast comprises about 800 stadia, including the measurement of the bays.

11. I have exceeded the limits of moderation in this description, by attending to the multitude of facts which are related of a country, the greatest part of which is deserted. Even Laconia itself is deficient in population, if we compare its present state with its ancient populousness. For, with the exception of Sparta, the remaining small cities are about thirty; but, anciently, Laconia had the name of Hecatompolis, and that for this reason hecatombs were annually sacrificed.

1.Nextafter the Messenian is the Laconian Gulf, situated between Tænarum and Maleæ, declining a little from the south to the east. Thyrides, a precipitous rock, beaten by the waves, is in the Messenian Gulf, and distant from Tænarum 100 stadia. Above is Taÿgetum, a lofty and perpendicular mountain, at a short distance from the sea, approaching on the northern side close to the Arcadian mountains, so as to leave between them a valley, where Messenia is continuous with Laconia.

At the foot of Taÿgetum, in the inland parts, lie Sparta and Amyclæ,124where is the temple of Apollo, and Pharis. The site of Sparta is in rather a hollow, although it comprises mountains within it; no part of it, however, is marshy, although, anciently, the suburbs were so, which were called Limnæ. The temple of Bacchus, also in Limnæ, was in a wet situation, but now stands on a dry ground.

In the bay on the coast is Tænarum, a promontory projecting into the sea.125Upon it, in a grove, is the temple of Neptune, and near the temple a cave, through which, according to the fable, Cerberus was brought up by Hercules fromHades. Thence to the promontory Phycus in Cyrenaica, is a passage across towards the south of 3000 stadia; and to Pachynus, towards the west, the promontory of Sicily, 4600, or, according to some writers, 4000 stadia; to Maleæ, towards the east, including the measurement of the bays, 670 stadia; to Onugnathus,126a low peninsula a little within Maleæ, 520 stadia. (In front of Onugnathus, at the distance of 40 stadia, lies Cythera,127an island with a good harbour, and a city of the same name, which was the private property of Eurycles, the commander of the Lacedæmonians in our time. It is surrounded by several small islands, some near it, others lying somewhat farther off.) To Corycus, a promontory of Crete, the nearest passage by sea is 250 stadia.128

2. Next to Tænarum on the voyage to Onugnathus and to Maleæ129is Amathus, (Psamathus,) a city; then follow Asine, and Gythium,130the naval arsenal of Sparta, situated at an interval of 240 stadia. Its station for vessels, they say, is excavated by art. Farther on, between Gythium and Acræa, is the mouth of the Eurotas.131To this place the voyage along the coast is about 240 stadia; then succeeds a marshy tract, and a village, Helos, which formerly was a city, according to Homer;

“They who occupied Amyclæ, and Helos, a small town on the sea-coast.”132

They say that it was founded by Helius the son of Perseus. There is a plain also call Leuce; then Cyparissia,133a city upon a peninsula, with a harbour; then Onugnathus with a harbour; next Bœa, a city; then Maleæ. From these cities to Onugnathus are 150 stadia. There is also Asopus,134a city in Laconia.

3. Among the places enumerated by Homer in the Catalogue of the Ships, Messa, they say, is no longer to be found; and that Messoa is not a part of Laconia, but a part of Sparta itself, as was the Limnæum near Thornax. Some understandMessē to be a contraction of Messene, for it is said that this was a part of Laconia. [They allege as examples from the poet, the words “cri,” and “do,” and “maps,”135and this passage also;

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