Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER III.

But when between the sons of Aphareus and Castor and Pollux (their uncles) a quarrel arose about cattle, and Lynceus was slain by Pollux, while Idas died smitten with lightning, the house of Aphareus was entirely deprived of male offspring, and upon Nestor the son of Neleus devolved the kingdom of the Messenians, over all whom Idas reigned over and others besides, except those who followed the sons of Æsculapius. For they say that the sons of Æsculapius that went on the expedition to Ilium were Messenians: for Æsculapius was the son of Arsinoe the daughter of Leucippus, and not the son of Coronis. And they call a deserted place in Messenia Tricca, it is mentioned by Homer in the passage where Nestor is consoling Machaon, who was wounded with an arrow. He would not have exhibited such kindness except to a neighbour and king of the same tribe. They confirm also greatly this account about the children of Æsculapius by showing at Gerenia the monument of Machaon, and at Pharæ the temple of the sons of Machaon.

And after the end of the war against Ilium, and the death of Nestor after his return home, the expedition of the Dorians and return of the Heraclidæ two generations afterwards drove out the descendants of Neleus from Messenia. And this was as it were the climax of the doings of Temenus which I have already described. But I will narrate this much more. When the Dorians assigned Argos to Temenus, Cresphontes asked of them Messenia, on the ground that he was older than Aristodemus, who had just died. But Theras the son of Autesion vehemently opposed Cresphontes; he was of Theban ancestry and fifth descendant of Polynices the son of Œdipus, and at this time Guardian of Aristodemus’ sons, as he was their uncle on the mother’s side, for Aristodemus had married the daughter of Autesion, whose name was Argia. But Cresphontes, for he was determined to have Messenia, begged of Temenus to decide the question by lots. And Temenus put into a water-pot which had water in it the lots of Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus separately, so that he whose lot came up first should have Messenia. Temenus prepared both the lots, the lot of the sons of Aristodemus he made of clay dried in the sun, and Cresphontes’ lot of clay that had been baked in the furnace: and the lot of the sons of Aristodemus melted, and stuck to the bottom of the water-pot, so that Cresphontes (for his lot came out) got possession in this way of Messenia. And the old Messenians were not turned out by the Dorians, but agreed to Cresphontes being their king, and to the partition of the land among the Dorians. And they were brought over to this compliance by suspicion of their former kings, because they were Minyæ who had originally sprung from Iolcus. And the wife of Cresphontes was Merope the daughter of Cypselus (who was at that time king of the Arcadians), by whom he had several children and the name of the youngest was Æpytus. And his palace, where he himself and his sons meant to live, he built at Stenyclerus: for in ancient times Perieres and the other kings lived at Andania, and after Aphareus had built Arene he and his sons lived there, and in the reign of Nestor and his descendants the Court lived at Pylos, but Cresphontes changed the royal residence to Stenyclerus. And, as he chiefly ingratiated himself with the people, the wealthy classes rose up in insurrection against him and killed him and all his sons except Æpytus, who being quite a boy was brought up by Cypselus, and alone survived of all the house, and when he grew to man’s estate the Arcadians restored him to Messene. And the other kings of the Dorians, the sons of Aristodemus, and Isthmius the son of Temenus, joined in bringing him back. And when Æpytus became king he punished his father’s murderers, and all those who had instigated the crime: and bringing over to his side by his attentions those who were in high position among the Messenians, and the populace by gifts, he arrived at such a pitch of honour that his descendants were called Æpytidæ instead of Heraclidæ.

And Glaucus the son of Æpytus, who succeeded his father, in all other respects imitated his father both in public and private, but far exceeded him in piety. For when the sacred enclosure of Zeus on the summit of Ithome did not receive honours among the Dorians, through the neglect of Polycaon and Messene, Glaucus restored his worship: and was the first to sacrifice to Machaon the son of Æsculapius at Gerenia, and awarded such gifts to Messene the daughter of Triopas as are usually bestowed on heroes. And Isthmius Glaucus’ son also built a temple to Gorgasus and Nicomachus at Pharæ. And the son of Isthmius was Dotadas, who, though Messenia had several other havens, constructed one at Mothone. And Sybotas the son of Dotadas decreed that annually the king should sacrifice by the river Pamisus, and offer victims to Eurytus the son of Melaneus in Œchalia, before the rites of the Great Goddesses that are still celebrated in Andania.