CHAPTER XVII.
About fifteen stades from Mycenæ on the left is a temple of Hera. By the road flows the river Eleutherius. And the priestesses use it for lustrations and for private sacrifices. And this temple is on the more level part of Eubœa, for Eubœa is a mountain, and they say the daughters of the river god Asterion were Eubœa and Prosymna and Acræa, and that they were nurses of Hera. And Acræa gave her name to all the mountain opposite the temple of Hera, and Eubœa to the mountain near the temple, and Prosymna to the ground below the temple. And this Asterion flows above the temple of Hera and falls into a ravine and so disappears. And the flower called Asterion grows on its banks: they carry this flower to Hera and plait her crowns of its leaves. The architect of the temple was they say Eupolemus the Argive: and all the carved work above the pillars relates partly to the birth of Zeus and the gods and the battle with the Giants, and partly to the Trojan war and the capture of Ilium. And there are some statues in the porch, of the priestesses of Hera, and of Orestes and other heroes. For they say the one bearing the inscription that it is the Emperor Augustus is really Orestes. In the Ante-chapel are some old statues of The Graces, and on the right hand the bed of Hera, and a votive offering, the spear which Menelaus took from Euphorbus at Ilium. And there is a huge statue of Hera seated on a throne, in gold and ivory, the design of Polycletus. And she has a crown on her head composed of Graces and Seasons, and in one hand she has the fruit of the pomegranate, and in the other her sceptre. As to the pomegranate let me pass that over, for I am forbid to speak of it. But as to the cuckoo which sits on the sceptre, they say that Zeus, when he was enamoured of Hera while still a maid, changed himself into that bird, and that Hera chased the supposed cuckoo in sport. This tradition and similar ones about the gods I do not record because I believe them, but I record them just the same. And near Hera is a statue of Hebe said to be by Naucydes, this too in ivory and gold. And near it on a pillar is an old statue of Hera. But the oldest statue of Hera was made of wild pear tree, and was placed at Tiryns by Pirasus the son of Argus, and the Argives when they took Tiryns conveyed it to the temple of Hera, and I myself have seen it, a statue not very large seated. And the votive offerings worthy of record are a silver altar, with the legendary marriage of Hebe and Hercules carved upon it, and a peacock of gold and precious stones, an offering of the Emperor Adrian: he made this present because the peacock is sacred to Hera. There is also a golden crown and purple robe, the offerings of Nero. And there are above this temple the foundations of an older one and whatever the flames have spared. That temple was burnt by Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, falling asleep, and her lamp first setting fire to the decorations. And Chryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Alean Athene: and the Argives, although such a misfortune had befallen them, did not remove the effigy of Chryseis, but it is there to this day in front of the burnt temple.