CHAPTER XIII.
Not far from Scias is the tomb of Cynortas the son of Amyclas, and the monument of Castor, and a temple to him over it. Castor and Pollux were not they say reckoned gods till the fortieth year after the battle between Idas and Lynceus, whose tombs are exhibited at Scias, though a more probable tradition states that they were buried in Messenia. But the misfortunes of the Messenians, and the long time they were away from the Peloponnese, have made many of their old traditions unknown to posterity, and since they do not themselves know them for certain, any one who chooses can doubt. Right opposite the temple of Olympian Aphrodite the Lacedæmonians have a temple of Saviour Proserpine, erected some say by the Thracian Orpheus, others say by Abaris who came from the Hyperboreans. And Carneus, whom they surname Œcetes, had honours in Sparta even before the return of the Heraclidæ, and a statue was erected to him in the house of Crius, the son of Theocles the prophet. As the daughter of this Crius was drawing water, some Dorian spies met her and had a conversation with her, and went to Crius, and learnt of him the way to capture Sparta. And the worship of Carnean Apollo was established among all the Dorians by Carnus, an Acarnanian by race and the prophet of Apollo: and when he was slain by Hippotes the son of Phylas the heavy wrath of Apollo fell upon the camp of the Dorians, and Hippotes had to flee for this murder, and the Dorians determined to propitiate the Acarnanian prophet by sacred rites. But indeed it is not this Carnean Œcetes, but the son of the prophet Crius that was honoured while the Achæans still held Sparta. It has indeed been written by Praxilla in her verses that Carneus was the son of Europa, and that Apollo and Leto brought him up. But there is another tradition recorded of him, that the Greeks cut down on Trojan Ida some cornel trees that grew in the grove of Apollo to make the Wooden Horse: and when they learnt of the anger of the god against them for this sacrilege, they propitiated him with sacrifices and called him Carnean Apollo from these cornel trees, transposing the letter ρ according to ancient custom.[34]
And not far from Carnean Apollo is the statue of Aphetæus: where they say the suitors of Penelope started for their race. And there is a place which has porticoes forming a square, where nicknacks in old times used to be sold: at this place is an altar of Ambulian Zeus and Ambulian Athene, and also of Ambulian Castor and Pollux. And right opposite is what is called Colona (Hill), and a temple of Zeus of Colona, and near it the grove of the hero, who they say showed Dionysus the way to Sparta. And the women called Dionysiades and Leucippides sacrifice to this hero before they sacrifice to the god himself. But the other eleven women, whom they also call Dionysiades, have a race specially appointed for them: this custom came from Delphi. And not far from the temple of Dionysus is that of Zeus Euanemus, and on the right of this is the hero chapel of Pleuron. On the mother’s side the sons of Tyndareus were descended from Pleuron, for Areus says in his poems that Thestius, the father of Leda, was the son of Agenor and grandson of Pleuron. And not far from this hero chapel is a hill, and on the hill is a temple of Argive Hera, erected they say by Eurydice the daughter of Lacedæmon, and the wife of Acrisius the son of Abas. And the temple of Hyperchirian Hera was built according to the oracle, when the Eurotas overflowed a considerable part of the country. And the old wooden statue they call that of Aphrodite Hera, and when a daughter is married it is customary for mothers to sacrifice to that goddess. And on the road to the right of this hill is an effigy of Etœmocles. He and his father Hipposthenes won prizes for wrestling at Olympia, the father on eleven occasions, the son on twelve.