Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXII.

And about 3 stades from Gythium is the White Stone, where they say Orestes sat to cure himself of his madness. In the Doric tongue the stone was called Zeus Cappotas. And opposite Gythium lies the island Cranae, where according to Homer Paris first carried off Helen. Facing this island on the mainland is the temple of Aphrodite Migonitis, and the whole place is called Migonium. The temple they say was built by Paris. And Menelaus, returning home safe 8 years after the capture of Ilium, placed near the temple of Aphrodite Migonitis statues of Thetis and Praxidice. There is a mountain too above Migonium sacred to Dionysus, which they call Larysium: and here at the commencement of spring they have a feast to Dionysus, alleging among other reasons for the festival that they found here a ripe cluster of grapes.

On the left of Gythium about 30 stades’ distance you will see on the mainland the walls of Trinasus, which seems to me to have been a fort and not a town. And I think it got its name from the three small islands which lie here near the mainland. And about 80 stades from Trinasus you come to the ruins of Helus, and 30 stades further to Acriæ a city on the sea, where is a handsome temple of the Mother of the Gods, and her statue in stone. And the inhabitants of Acriæ say that this is the oldest of all the temples of this goddess in the Peloponnese: though the Magnesians who live north of Sipylus have on a rock called Coddinus the most ancient statue of the Mother of the Gods; and the Magnesians say it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalus. Acriæ once produced a victor at Olympia in Nicocles, who carried off at two Olympiads five victories in the chariot race. His tomb is between the gymnasium and the walls near the harbour. It is about 120 stades from Acriæ to Geronthræ. Geronthræ was inhabited before the Heraclidæ came to the Peloponnese, and the inhabitants were driven out by the Dorians of Lacedæmon, who, when they had driven out the Achæans from Geronthræ, put in colonists of their own. But Geronthræ now belongs to the Eleutherolacones. On the road from Acriæ to Geronthræ there is a village called Palæa, and at Geronthræ there is a temple and grove of Ares, whose festival they celebrate annually, when women are forbidden to enter the grove. And near the market-place are fountains of drinkable water. And in the citadel there is a temple of Apollo, and the head of his image in ivory: all the rest of the image was destroyed by fire when the old temple was burnt. Another town belonging to the Eleutherolacones is Marius, 100 stades from Geronthræ. There is an old temple there common to all the gods, and round it a grove with fountains, there are also fountains in the temple of Artemis. Marius indeed has plenty of water if any place. And above Marius is a village called Glyptia in the interior of the country. And there is another village called Selinus about 20 stades from Geronthræ.

So much for the interior of Laconia from Acriæ. And the town Asopus on the sea is about 60 stades from Acriæ. In it is a temple of the Roman Emperors, and inland from Asopus about 12 stades is a temple of Æsculapius, they call the god Philolaus there. And the bones that are honoured in the gymnasium are exceedingly large, but not too big for a mortal. And there is a temple of Athene called Cyparissia in the citadel: and at the foot of the citadel there some ruins of a town called the town of the Paracyparissian Achæans. There is also in this district a temple of Æsculapius about 50 stades from Asopus, and they call the place in which this temple is Hyperteleatum. And there is a promontory jutting out into the sea about 200 stades from Asopus, which they call Ass’ jawbone. This promontory has a temple of Athene, without either statue or roof, said to have been built by Agamemnon. There is also a monument of Cinadus, who was the pilot of Menelaus’ ship. And next to this promontory is what is called the Bay of Bœæ, and the city Bœæ is at the head of the bay. It was built by Bœus, one of the sons of Hercules who is said to have peopled it from the three towns Etis, Aphrodisias, and Sida. Two of these ancient towns are reputed to have been built by Æneas, when he was fleeing to Italy and driven into this bay by storms, his daughter Etias gave her name to Etis, and the third town was they say called after Sida the daughter of Danaus. Those who were driven out of these towns enquired where they should dwell: and the oracle told them that Artemis would shew them where to dwell. On their starting their journey a hare sprung in view, this hare they made their guide: and as it hid in a myrtle tree they built their city on the site of the myrtle tree, and they still venerate the myrtle tree, and call Artemis their Saviour. There is also a temple of Apollo in the market-place of Bœæ, and in another part of the city temples of Æsculapius and Serapis and Isis. The ruins of the three towns are not more than 7 stades from Bœæ, and on the road you see a stone statue of Hermes on the left, and among the ruins can trace temples of Æsculapius and Hygiea.