Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XVIII.

And as you go from Mycenæ to Argos there is on the left hand a hero-chapel of Perseus near the road. He has honours here from the people in the neighbourhood, but the greatest honours are paid him at Seriphus, and he has also a temple among the Athenians, and in it an altar to Dictys and Clymene, who are called the Saviours of Perseus. And as you advance on the road to Argos a little way from this hero-chapel is the tomb of Thyestes on the right hand: and on it is a ram in stone, for Thyestes stole the golden sheep, when he seduced his brother’s wife. And Atreus could not be satisfied with the law of Tit for Tat, but slaughtered the children of Thyestes and served them up to him at table. But afterwards I cannot pronounce decidedly whether Ægisthus began the injury, or whether it began with the murder of Tantalus the son of Thyestes by Agamemnon: for they say he married Clytæmnestra as her first husband having received her from Tyndareus. And I do not wish to accuse them of wickedness incarnate. But if the crime of Pelops and the ghost of Myrtilus haunted the family so ruthlessly, it reminds one of the answer of the Pythian Priestess to Glaucus the son of Epicydes the Spartan, when he purposed perjury, that punishment would come on his descendants.

As you go on a little to the left from the Rams, for so they call the tomb of Thyestes, is a place called Mysia, and a temple of Mysian Demeter, so called from a man called Mysius, who was as the Argives say a host of Demeter. It has no roof. And in it is a shrine of baked brick, and images of Proserpine and Pluto and Demeter. And a little further is the river Inachus, and on the other side of the river is an altar of the Sun. And you will go thence to the gate called from the neighbouring temple, the temple of Ilithyia.

The Argives are the only Greeks I know of who were divided into three kingdoms. For in the reign of Anaxagoras, the son of Argos, the son of Megapenthes, a madness came on the women, they went from their homes and wandered up and down the country, till Melampus the son of Amythaon cured them of that complaint, on condition that he and his brother Bias should share alike with Anaxagoras. And five kings of Bias’ race reigned for four generations to Cyanippus the son of Ægialeus, being all descended from Neleus on the mother’s side, and from Melampus six generations and six kings to Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus. But the native race, the descendants of Anaxagoras, reigned longer. For Iphis, the son of Alector, the son of Anaxagoras, left the kingdom to Sthenelus the son of his brother Capaneus: and Amphilochus after the capture of Ilium having migrated to what is now called Amphilochi, and Cyanippus dying childless, Cylarabes the son of Sthenelus had the kingdom alone. And he too had no children, and so Orestes the son of Agamemnon got Argos, as he was a near neighbour, and besides his hereditary sway had added to his dominions much Arcadian territory, and as he had also got the kingdom in Sparta, and had ever ready help in the alliance of the Phocians. And he was king of the Lacedæmonians at their own request. For they thought the sons of Tyndareus’ daughters better entitled to the kingdom than Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the sons of Menelaus by a bondmaid. And when Orestes died Tisamenus, the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the kingdom. And Penthilus, Orestes’ bastard son by Erigone the daughter of Ægisthus, is mentioned by Cinæthon in his Verses. It was in the reign of this Tisamenus that the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese, viz. Temenus and Cresphontes the sons of Aristomachus, and, as Aristodemus had died earlier, his sons came too. And they laid claim to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds, for Tisamenus was a descendant of Pelops, but the Heraclidæ derived from Perseus. And they represented that Tyndareus had been turned out by Hippocoon, and they said that Hercules had slain Hippocoon and his sons, and had given the country back to Tyndareus. Similarly they said about Messenia, that it was given to Nestor as a charge by Hercules when he took Pylos. They turned out therefore Tisamenus from Lacedæmon and Argos, and the descendants of Nestor from Messenia, viz. Alcmæon the son of Sillus the son of Thrasymedes, and Pisistratus the son of Pisistratus, and the sons of Pæon the son of Antilochus, and besides them Melanthus the son of Andropompus, the son of Borus, the son of Penthilus, the son of Periclymenus. So Tisamenus and his sons went to what is now called Achaia with his army: and all the other sons of Neleus but Pisistratus, (for I don’t know to what people he betook himself), went to Athens, and the Pæonidæ and the Alcmæonidæ were called after them. Melanthus also had the kingdom, after driving out Thymœtes, the son of Oxyntas, who was the last of the descendants of Theseus that reigned at Athens.

CHAPTER XIX.

As to Cresphontes and the sons of Aristodemus there is nothing pressing to narrate about them. But Temenus openly made use of Deiphontes (the son of Antimachus, the son of Thrasyanor, the son of Ctesippus, the son of Hercules) as general for his battles instead of his sons, and made him his associate in all things, and gave him as wife his daughter Hyrnetho whom he loved more than all his children, and was suspected of intending to make her and Deiphontes his heirs in the kingdom. And for these reasons he was slain by his sons, and Cisus the eldest of them became king. But the Argives, who had from the most ancient times loved equality and home rule, reduced the kingly power so low, that Medon, the son of Cisus, and his descendants were left the royal title only. And Meltas the son of Lacedas, the 10th descendant of Medon, the people sentenced to deprivation of his kingdom altogether.

Of the temples in the city of the Argives the most notable is that of Lycian (Wolf-God) Apollo. The statue in our day was the work of an Athenian, Attalus, but originally the temple and wooden statue was the offering of Danaus. I think all statues were wooden in those days, and especially Egyptian ones. Now Danaus built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God for the following reason. When he came to Argos, he and Gelanor the son of Sthenelas were rival competitors for the kingdom. And many ingratiating words having been spoken by both of them to the people, and Gelanor’s speech seeming rather the best, the people, they say, put off the decision to the next day. And at break of day a wolf attacked a herd of cattle that were feeding near the walls, and had a fierce encounter with the bull, the leader of the herd. And it occurred to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull, Danaus like the wolf, for just as this animal does not live with human beings so Danaus had not up to that time lived with them. And as the wolf mastered the bull, so Danaus got the kingdom. And he thinking that Apollo had sent that wolf against the herd, built a temple to Apollo the Wolf-God. In it is the throne of Danaus, and an image of Biton, the man who carried a bull on his shoulders (as Lyceas has represented), for, when the Argives were sacrificing to Zeus at Nemea, Biton took up a bull by sheer strength and carried it to the altar. And they light the fire close to this image, and they call it the fire of Phoroneus: for they do not admit that Prometheus gave fire to men, but they attribute the invention of fire to Phoroneus. Here also are wooden statues of Aphrodite and Hermes, the latter the work of Epeus, and the former the offering of Hypermnestra. For she, the only one of his daughters who disobeyed his cruel order, was brought to trial by Danaus, partly because he thought his own safety compromised by that of Lynceus, and partly because her not joining with her sisters in their atrocious deed augmented the disgrace of the contriver of the deed. And, being acquitted by the Argives, she erected as a votive offering in this temple a statue of Victorious Aphrodite. And there is inside the temple a statue of Ladas, who excelled all his contemporaries in fleetness of foot, and one of Hermes making a lyre out of a tortoise. And there is in front of the temple an amphitheatre with a representation of the fight between the bull and the wolf, and a maiden throwing a stone at the bull. They think this maiden represents Artemis. Danaus had all this constructed, and some pillars near, and wooden statues of Zeus and Artemis.

Here also are the tombs of Linus the son of Apollo, and of Psamathe the daughter of Crotopus, and this is that Linus they say who wrote poetry. I pass him by now as more meet to be discussed in another place, and as regards Psamathe I have already given a full account of her in what I have written about Megara. Next is a statue of Apollo the Guardian of the Streets, and the altar of Rainy Zeus, where those who conspired the return of Polynices to Thebes swore that they would die if unsuccessful in taking Thebes. As to the sepulchre of Prometheus, the Argives seem to me to give a less credible account than the Opuntians, but they stick to their account all the same.

CHAPTER XX.

And passing by the effigy of Creux the boxer, and the trophy erected over the Corinthians, you come to the statue of Milichian Zeus seated, the work of Polycletus in white stone. I ascertained that the following was the reason why it was made. When the Lacedæmonians began the war with the Argives, they continued hostilities till Philip the son of Amyntas compelled them to remain within their original boundaries. For during all previous time the Lacedæmonians never interfered outside the Peloponnese, but were always cutting a slice off Argolis, or the Argives, if the Lacedæmonians were engaged in war, would at such a time make a swoop on their borders. And when their mutual animosity was at its height, the Argives resolved to keep a standing army of 1000 picked men, and their captain was Bryas the Argive, who in other respects was insolent to the people, and outraged a maiden, who was being led in procession to her bridegroom’s house, tearing her away from her escort. But during the night catching him asleep she blinded Bryas: and being arrested at daybreak implored protection from the people. As they would not abandon her to the vengeance of the thousand, there ensued a fight, and the people were victorious, and in the heat of victory left not one of the 1000 alive. But afterwards they made expiation for this shedding of kinsmen’s blood, and erected a statue to Milichian Zeus. And near are statues in stone of Cleobis and Bito, who themselves drew the car with their mother in it to the temple of Hera.[21] And opposite these is the temple of Nemean Zeus, and in it a brazen statue of the god erect, the design of Lysippus. And next to it, as you go forward, on the right hand, is the tomb of Phoroneus: to whom they still offer victims. And opposite the temple of Nemean Zeus is a temple of Fortune of most ancient date, since Palamedes the inventor of dice made a votive offering of his dice to this temple. And the tomb near they call that of the Mænad Chorea, who they say with the other women accompanied Dionysus to Argos, and Perseus being victorious in the battle slew most of the women: the others they buried all together, but for her they had a tomb separately, as she excelled the others in merit. And at a little distance is a temple of the Seasons. And as you go on there are some full-length statues of Polynices, the son of Œdipus, and all the chief warriors that died with him in battle fighting against Thebes. These men Æschylus has described as only seven in number, though more must have come from Argos and Messene and Arcadia. And near these seven, (for the Argives also follow the description of Æschylus), are the statues of those that took Thebes, Ægialeus the son of Adrastus, and Promachus the son of Parthenopæus the son of Talaus, and Polydorus the son of Hippomedon, and Thersander, and Alcmæon and Amphilochus the sons of Amphiaraus, and Diomede and Sthenelus: also Euryalus the son of Mecisteus, and Adrastus and Timeas, the sons of Polynices. And not far from these statues is exhibited the sepulchre of Danaus, and a cenotaph of the Argives whom fate seized in Ilium or on the journey home. And there is here also a temple of Zeus Soter, at a little distance from which is a building where the Argive women bewail Adonis. And on the right hand of the entrance a temple has been built to the river Cephisus: the water of this river they say was not altogether dried up by Poseidon, but flowed under ground on the site of the temple. And near the temple of the Cephisus is a head of the Medusa in stone: this also they say is the work of the Cyclopes. And the place behind they call to this day Judgement Hall, because they say that Hypermnestra was put upon her trial there by Danaus. And not far distant is a theatre: and in it among other things well worth seeing is Perilaus the Argive, the son of Alcenor, slaying Othryades the Spartan. Perilaus before this had had the good luck to carry off the prize for wrestling in the Nemean games. And beyond the theatre is a temple of Aphrodite, in front of which is a statue of Telesilla the poetess on a pillar: at her feet lie her volumes of poetry, and she herself is looking at a helmet, which she holds in her hand and is about to put on her head. This Telesilla was otherwise remarkable among women, besides being honoured for her poetic gifts. For when upon the Argives fell disaster untold at the hands of Cleomenes (the son of Anaxandrides) and the Lacedæmonians, and most of them perished in the battle, and when all that fled for refuge to the grove at Argos perished also, at first coming out for quarter, but when they found that the promised quarter was not granted, setting themselves and the grove on fire together, then Cleomenes led the Lacedæmonians to an Argos stript of men. Then it was that Telesilla manned the walls with all the slaves who through youth or age were reckoned unfit to carry arms, and herself getting together all the arms which were left in the houses or the temples, and mustering all the women in the prime of life, armed them, and drew them up in battle array where she knew the enemy would approach. And when the Lacedæmonians came up, and the women so far from being dismayed at their war cry received their attack stoutly, then the Lacedæmonians considering that if they killed all the women their victory would be discreditable, and if they themselves were beaten their reverse would be disgraceful, yielded to the women. Now the Pythian Priestess had foretold this, and Herodotus, whether understanding the oracle or not, had recorded it as follows.[22] “But when the female conquering the male shall drive him out and win fame for the Argives, then shall the god make many of the Argive women wretched.” These words of the oracle describe the action of the women.