Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXI.

And the other part of the hippodrome is not an embankment, but a hill of no great size, on the top of which is a temple built to Demeter under the name of Chamyne. And some think that title of hers an ancient one, and that the earth opened there and took in the chariot of Pluto, and closed again. Others say that Chamynus of Pisa, (who opposed the dominion in Pisa of Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion, and stirred the people up to revolt from Elis), was slain by Pantaleon, and that it was out of his property that the temple to Demeter was built. And in lieu of the old ones new statues of Proserpine and Demeter were erected in Pentelican marble by the Athenian Herodes. And in the gymnasium at Olympia they practise for the pentathlum and the races. And in the open air there is a basement of stone, and originally on the basement there was a trophy for a victory over the Arcadians. On the left of the entrance to the gymnasium there is a smaller enclosure where the athletes practise wrestling. And at the Portico of the gymnasium facing East are some buildings for the Athletes facing South and West. And after you have crossed the river Cladeus you come to the tomb of Œnomaus, a mound piled up with stones, and above the tomb are some remains of buildings where they say the horses of Œnomaus were stabled. And here are the boundaries towards Arcadia, which now belong to the people of Elis, but formerly belonged to the people of Pisa.

After you have crossed the river Erymanthus, near the ridge called after Saurus, is the tomb of Saurus, and a temple of Hercules, ruins of which are to be seen in our day. Saurus they say used to molest wayfarers and the people of the country, till he was killed by Hercules. From the south side of the ridge called after this robber a river falls into the Alpheus nearly opposite Erymanthus. Its name is Diagon, and it divides the district of Pisa from Arcadia. And 40 stades onwards from the ridge of Saurus is the temple of Æsculapius, surnamed Demænetus from the name of the builder. It is in ruins too, and is built on the high ground along the Alpheus. And not far from it is the temple of Dionysus Lucyanites, hard by the river Lucyanias, which rises in Mount Pholoe, and flows into the Alpheus. When you have crossed the Alpheus you are in the district of Pisa.

Here you will see a hill with a steep acclivity, and on it are ruins of the town of Phrixa, and a temple of Athene Cydonia, not in my time in complete preservation, there is only an altar. They say Clymenus, a descendant of Idæan Hercules, erected the temple to the goddess. He came from Cydonia in Crete and from the river Iardanus. The people of Elis say also that Pelops sacrificed to Athene Cydonia before his race with Œnomaus. And as you advance a little further you come to the river Parthenia, on whose banks the horses of Marmax are buried. The story is that Marmax was the first suitor of Hippodamia, and that he was slain before the rest by Œnomaus, and the names of his horses were Parthenia and Eripha, and Œnomaus cut their throats and buried them with their master, and the river Parthenia got its name from one of them. There is also another river called Harpinates, and at no great distance from it some remains of a town Harpina especially altars: they say that Œnomaus built the town and gave it its name after his mother Harpina.

A little further is a lofty mound of earth, the tomb of the suitors of Hippodamia, Œnomaus did not (they say) bury them in the ground near one another as a mark of honour, but it was Pelops subsequently who gave them a common sepulchre, in honour to them and out of affection to Hippodamia, and I think also as a record to posterity how many worthy gentlemen Œnomaus had slain before he Pelops vanquished him. Indeed according to the poem called the Great Eœæ the following were killed by Œnomaus, Alcathous the son of Porthaon next to Marmax, and next to Alcathous Euryalus and Eurymachus and Crotalus. Their parents and native lands I could not ascertain. But Acrias, who was killed next, one would infer to have been a Lacedæmonian and the founder of Acriæ. And next to Acrias Œnomaus slew Capetus and Lycurgus and Lasius and Chalcodon and Tricolonus, who the Arcadians say was a descendant as well as namesake of Tricolonus the son of Lycaon. And after Tricolonus fate overtook in this fatal race Aristomachus and Prias and Pelagon and Æolius and Cronius. Some also add to the list I have given Erythras, the son of Leucon and grandson of Athamas, who gave his name to the town in Bœotia called Erythræ, and Eioneus, the son of Magnes and grandson of Æolus. Here then is the tomb of all these, and they say Pelops offered them funeral rites every year when he was king of Pisa.