Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

On the road from Corinth to Argos you come to the small town of Cleonæ. Some say Cleone was the daughter of Pelops, others that she was one of the daughters of Asopus, the river that flows by Sicyon: however the town got its name from her. There is a temple of Athene there, and a statue of the goddess by Scyllis and Dipœnus, pupils of Dædalus. But some say that Dædalus took a wife from Gortyns, and that Dipœnus and Scyllis were his sons by her. At Cleonæ beside this temple is the tomb of Eurytus and Cteatus, who had gone from Elis to be spectators of the Isthmian games, and whom Hercules shot with arrows there, charging them with having fought against him in the battle with Augeas.

From Cleonæ there are two roads to Argos, one convenient for rapid walkers and the shorter route, the other called Tretus (Bored), more convenient for a carriage, though it too is narrow and has mountains on both sides. Among these mountains is still shown the lair of the Nemean lion, for Nemea is only about 15 stades distant.

At Nemea is a temple well worth seeing of Nemean Zeus, only the roof has tumbled in, and there is no longer any statue there: but there is a cypress grove near the temple, where they say that Opheltes, placed on the grass there by his nurse, was devoured by a dragon. The Argives also sacrifice to Zeus at Nemea, and select the priest of Nemean Zeus, and have a contest in running for men in armour at the winter meeting at Nemea. Here too is the tomb of Opheltes, and round it a wall of stones, and altars within the precincts: and there is a piled up mound of earth as a monument to Lycurgus the father of Opheltes. And the fountain they call Adrastea, whether for some other reason or because Adrastus discovered it. And they say the name Nemea was given to the place by Nemea the daughter of Asopus. And above Nemea is the Mountain Apesas, where they say Perseus sacrificed first to Apesantian Zeus. And as you go up to Argos by the road called Tretus you will see on the left hand the ruins of Mycenæ. All Greeks know that Perseus founded Mycenæ, and I shall relate the circumstances of the founding, and why the Argives afterwards dispossessed the old inhabitants. For in what is now called Argolis they mention no older town, and they say that Inachus the king gave his name to the river, and sacrificed to Hera. They also say that Phoroneus was the first mortal in this land, and that Inachus his father was not a man but a river: and that he and Cephisus and Asterion were the arbitrators between Poseidon and Hera in their dispute about the land: and when they judged that it was Hera’s, then Poseidon took away all their water. And this is the reason why neither Inachus nor any other of these rivers mentioned have any water except after rain. And in summer their streams are dry except at Lerna. And Phoroneus the son of Inachus first gathered men together in communities, who before lived scattered and solitary: so the city in which they were first gathered together was called Phoronicum.

CHAPTER XVI.

And Argos his daughter’s son, who reigned after Phoroneus, gave Argos his own name. And to Argos were born Pirasus and Phorbas, and to Phorbas Triopas, and to Triopas Iasus and Agenor. Io the daughter of Iasus went to Egypt, either as Herodotus tells the story or as the Greeks tell the story, and Crotopus the son of Agenor had the rule after Iasus, and the son of Crotopus was Sthenelas. And Danaus sailed from Egypt against Gelanor the son of Sthenelas, and expelled from the kingdom the descendants of Agenor. All the world knows the history, how his daughters acted to their cousins, and how after his death Lynceus had the kingdom. And his grandsons, the sons of Abas, divided the kingdom, Acrisius remained at Argos, and Prœtus had Heræum and Midea and Tiryns and all the maritime parts of Argolis: and there are to this day remains of Prœtus’ palace at Tiryns. And some time afterwards Acrisius, hearing that Perseus was alive and a mighty man of valour, retired to Larissa by the river Peneus. And Perseus, as he wished excessively to see his mother’s father and greet him with kind words and deeds, went to him to Larissa. And being in the prime of life, and rejoicing in the invention of the game of quoits, he displayed his prowess to all, and by fatality Acrisius was unintentionally killed by the throw of his quoit. Thus was the prophecy of the god fulfilled to Acrisius, nor did his contrivances against his daughter and her son turn away his fate. But when Perseus returned to Argos, for he was ashamed of the infamy of this murder of his grandfather, he persuaded Megapenthes the son of Prœtus to exchange kingdoms with him, and founded Mycenæ, where the scabbard of his sword fell off, for he thought this an indication that he should build a city there. Another tradition is that when thirsty he took up a fungus from the ground, and when some water flowed from it he drank it and was pleased, and called the name of the place Mycenæ [which means both scabbard and fungus.] Homer indeed in the Odyssey[20] has recorded the lady Mycene in the following line,

“Tyro and Alcmene and Mycene adorned with garlands;”

and the poem called the Great Eœæ, by Hesiod, represents her as the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor: and from her some say the city got its name. But the tradition of Acusilaus which they also add, that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton the son of Phoroneus, I could not accept, far less would the Lacedæmonians. For they have at Amyclæ the image of a woman called Sparta, and if they heard that Sparton was the son of Phoroneus they would marvel at once.

Now the Argives destroyed Mycenæ in jealousy. For though they took no part against the Medes, the people of Mycenæ sent to Thermopylæ 80 men, who shared in the glory of the famous 300. This public spirit brought about their destruction, by provoking the Argives to jealousy. But there are still some remains of the precincts and the gate, and there are some lions on it: which were they say executed by the Cyclopes, who built the wall at Tiryns for Prœtus. And among the ruins at Mycenæ is a fountain called Perseus’, and some underground buildings belonging to Atreus and his sons, where their treasures were. And there is the tomb of Atreus, and of those whom Ægisthus slew at a banquet on their return from Ilium with Agamemnon. As to Cassandra’s tomb the Lacedæmonians of Amyclæ claim that they have it. And there is the tomb of Agamemnon there, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint-tomb of Teledamus and Pelops, who were twins of Cassandra, and were butchered by Ægisthus (while still babes) after their parents. There is also the tomb of Electra, who married Pylades, and Orestes gave her away. And Hellanicus has recorded that Medon and Strophius were the issue of the marriage. And Clytæmnestra and Ægisthus were buried a little outside the walls, for they were thought unworthy to lie within the city, and mingle their ashes with Agamemnon and those who were murdered with him.

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.