[10] Iliad xxiii. 144-148.
[11] The Greek is Megara. Hence the paronomasia.
[12] Herod. iv. 99, and 103.
BOOK II.—CORINTH.
CHAPTER I.
The Corinthian territory, a part of Argolis, gets its name from Corinthus, and that he was the son of Zeus I know of none who seriously assert but most Corinthians, for Eumelus the son of Amphilytus of the race called Bacchidæ, who is also said to have been a poet, says in his History of Corinth (if indeed he is the author of it), that Ephyre the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land, and that afterwards Marathon the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of the Sun, fled from the lawless insolence of his father, and took a colony into the maritime parts of Attica, and when Epopeus was dead returned to the Peloponnese, and after dividing the kingdom among his sons went back into Attica, and from his son Sicyon Asopia got the name of Sicyonia, and Ephyrea got called Corinth from his son Corinthus.
Now Corinth is inhabited by none of the ancient Corinthians, but by colonists who were sent there by the Romans. And this is owing to the Achæan confederacy. For the Corinthians joined it, and took their part in the war with the Romans which Critolaus, who had been appointed commander in chief of the Achæans, brought about, having persuaded the Achæans and most of the Greeks outside the Peloponnese to revolt against Rome. And the Romans, after conquering all the other Greeks in battle, took away from them their arms, and razed the fortifications of all the fortified cities: but they destroyed Corinth under Mummius the General of the Roman army, and they say it was rebuilt by Julius Cæsar, who instituted the present form of government at Rome, (the Imperial). Carthage also was rebuilt in his term of power.
Now the place called Crommyon in the Corinthian territory is so called from Cromus the son of Poseidon. Here they say was the haunt of the Phæan boar, and the scene of Theseus’ legendary exploits against Pityocamptes, (the Pinebender). As you go forward the famous pine was to be seen even in my time near the seashore; and there was an altar to Melicerta there, for it was here they say that he was conveyed by the dolphin: and Sisyphus, finding him lying dead on the shore, buried him at the Isthmus, and established the Isthmian games in honour of him. Now it is at the head of the Isthmus that the robber Sinis took two pine-trees and bent them down to the ground: and whoever he conquered in battle he tied to these pine-trees, and let the pines go up into the air again: and each of these pines dragged the poor fellow tied to it, and (neither yielding but pulling with equal vigour) the victim tied to them was torn asunder. In this way Sinis himself was killed by Theseus. For Theseus cleared all the road from Trœzen to Athens of evildoers, having killed those whom I mentioned before, and, at Epidaurus the Holy, Periphetes the putative son of Hephæstus, whose weapon in fighting was a brazen club. The Isthmus of Corinth extends in one direction to the sea near Cenchreæ, and in the other to the sea near Lechæum. This Isthmus makes the Peloponnese a Peninsula. And whoever attempted to make the Peloponnese an island died before the completion of a canal across the Isthmus. And where they began to dig is now plainly visible, but they didn’t make much progress because of the rock. The Peloponnese remains therefore what it was by nature main land. And when Alexander, the son of Philip, wished to make a canal through Mimas, the work was all but completed. But the oracle at Delphi forbade the navvies to complete the work. So difficult is it for man to oppose the divine ordinances. And the Corinthians are not alone in their boasting about their country, but it seems to me that the Athenians even earlier used tall talk in regard to Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a controversy with the Sun about their land, and that Briareus was the Arbitrator, awarding the Isthmus and all in that direction to Poseidon, and giving the height above the city to the Sun. From this time they say the Isthmus belongs to Poseidon.
The great sights at Corinth are the Theatre, and the Stadium of white stone. And as you approach the temple of the god, there are statues of the Athletes who have been conquerors in the Isthmian games on one side, and on the other pine-trees planted in a row, mostly in a straight line. And at the temple, which is not very large, there stand some Tritons in brass. And there are statues in the porch two of Poseidon, and one of Amphitrite, and a brazen Sea. And inside Herod an Athenian placed in our time 4 horses all gold except the hoofs, which are of ivory. And two golden Tritons are near the horses, ivory below the waist. And Amphitrite and Poseidon are standing in a chariot, and their son Palæmon is seated bolt upright on the dolphin’s back: and these are made of ivory and gold. And on the middle of the base, on which the chariot rests, is the Sea supporting the child Aphrodite rising from it, and on each side are the so-called Nereids, who have I know altars in other parts of Greece, and some have temples dedicated to them as Shepherdesses, in places where Achilles is also honoured. And at Doto among the Gabali there is a holy temple, where the peplus is still kept, which the Greeks say Eriphyle took for her son Alcmæon. And on the base of Poseidon’s statue are in bas relief the sons of Tyndareus, because they are the patron saints of ships and sailors. And the other statues are Calm and Sea, and a horse like a sea-monster below the waist, and Ino and Bellerophon and Pegasus.