Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Of the islands near Trœzen one is so close to the mainland, that you can wade over to it at low water. It was called Sphæria in former days, and Sacred for the following reason. It contains the tomb of Sphærus, who they say was the charioteer of Pelops. He had a dream from Athene, that Æthra crossed over into the island with offerings for the dead, and when she crossed over there ’tis said that Poseidon had an intrigue with her. Accordingly Æthra built a temple here to Injurious Athene, and called the island Sacred instead of Sphæria: she also imposed the custom on the maidens of Trœzen that they should before marriage dedicate their maiden-girdle to Injurious Athene. And they say the island Calaurea was in ancient days sacred to Apollo, when Delphi belonged to Poseidon, it is also said that they exchanged these places with one another. And they produce in support of their statement the following oracle,

“It is all one whether you dwell at Delos or Calaurea

At sacred Pytho or the wind-swept Tænarus.”

There is also at Calaurea a sacred temple to Poseidon, and the priestess is a maiden till the period for marriage. And within the precincts is the tomb of Demosthenes. Fortune seems to have shown especial malignity to Demosthenes as earlier to Homer, since Homer was not only blind but overwhelmed by such poverty that he was a strolling beggar on every soil, and Demosthenes in his old age had to taste the bitterness of exile, and came to a violent end. Much has been said about Demosthenes by others and by himself, by which it is clear that he had no share in the money which Harpalus brought from Asia, but what was said afterwards I will relate. Harpalus, after having fled from Athens and crossed over with the fleet to Crete, was murdered not long afterwards by some of his attendant slaves: but some say he was treacherously murdered by the Macedonian Pausanias. And the dispenser of the money fled to Rhodes, and was arrested by Philoxenus the Macedonian, who had also demanded the extradition of Harpalus from the Athenians. And getting this lad he cross-questioned him, until he obtained full intelligence of those who had had any money from Harpalus: and when he ascertained their names he sent letters to Athens. Although in those letters he enumerated the names of those who had had any money from Harpalus, and the precise sum which each of them had, he made no mention whatever of Demosthenes, though he was most bitterly hated by Alexander, and although Philoxenus himself was privately his enemy. Demosthenes had honours paid to him in other parts of Greece also as well as by the inhabitants of Calaurea.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

In the Trœzenian district there is an isthmus jutting out some way into the sea, and on it has been built a small town near the sea called Methana. And there is a temple of Isis there, and a statue in the market-place of Hermes, and another of Hercules. And at the distance of about 30 stades from this small town are some warm baths. And they say that water first appeared there when Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, was King of the Macedonians, and water did not first appear, but fire bubbled up from the ground, and when this burnt itself out then water began to flow, which bubbles up even to this day warm and very salt. And if one bathes here the water is not cold near the shore, but if you go well out to sea swimming is dangerous, for there are many kinds of sea-monsters and especially sea dogs. But the most wonderful thing at Methana I will now record. The South West Wind when the vines are growing blows upon them from the Saronic Gulf, and scorches them up. And when the wind is still sweeping down on them, two men take a cock with white feathers only, and tear it in half, and run round the vines in different directions, each with half the cock, and when they come back to the place where they started, they bury it there. This is their invention and contrivance against the South West Wind. The little islands, which lie just off the coast, 9 in number, they call the islands of Pelops, and they say when it rains rain never comes on one of them. Whether this is so I do not know, but the people about Methana say so, and I have heard of people trying to avert hail by sacrifices and incantations. Methana then is an Isthmus in the Peloponnese: and inside the Trœzenian Isthmus is the neighbouring town of Hermione. And the people of Hermione say that the founder of the old city was one Hermion the son of Europs. And this Europs, who was certainly the son of Phoroneus, was said by Herophanes of Trœzen to be illegitimate, on the ground that the kingdom of Argos would not have come to Argus the daughter’s son of Phoroneus, had Phoroneus had a legitimate son. But, even if Europs was legitimate and died before Phoroneus, I know very well that a son of his would not have been considered equal to Niobe’s son, who was reckoned to be the son of Zeus. And afterwards Dorians from Argos colonized Hermione, but amicably I think, for had there been a war it would have been mentioned by the Argives.

And there is a road to Hermione from Trœzen along the rock which was formerly called the altar of Zeus Sthenius, but after Theseus removed the shoes and sword of Ægeus, it was called Theseus’ rock. As you go by this rock on the mountain side, you come to the temple of Apollo called The God of the Plane-Trees, and the hamlet is called Ilei, and in it are temples of Demeter and her daughter Proserpine. And near the sea, on the border of the territory of Hermione, is a temple of Demeter under the title Thermasia. And at the distance of about eighty stades is the promontory called Scyllæum from Scylla, the daughter of Nisus. For after Minos took Nisæa and Megara through her treason, he refused to marry her though he had promised, and even ordered the Cretans to throw her overboard, and the tide washed her dead body on to this promontory. And they exhibit no tomb of her, for they say that her body was neglected, and carried away by sea birds bit by bit. And as you sail from Scyllæum in the direction of the city is another promontory called Bucephala, and next to it 3 islands, of which the first is Haliusa, which affords a convenient harbour for ships to ride at anchor, and next is Pityusa, and the third they call Aristeræ. And as you coast along by these islands, there is another promontory called Colyergia jutting out from the mainland, and next it an island called Tricrana, and a mountain Buporthmus jutting out into the sea from the Peloponnese. And at Buporthmus is a temple of Demeter and Proserpine, and also one of Athene under the title Promachorma. And in front of Buporthmus lies an island called Aperopia. And at no great distance from Aperopia is another island called Hydrea. And the shore on the mainland opposite these islands extends in a crescent shape, and is rocky from the easterly direction close to the sea as far as the temple of Poseidon, but slopes at the westerly end of the bay, where it has its harbours. The length of this rocky headland is about seven stades, and the breadth in the broadest part about three stades or a little more. Here was the old town of Hermione. And even now there are several temples there, one of Poseidon at the commencement of the headland, and as you go from the sea to the heights a temple of Athene, and near it some remains of a race-course, where they say the sons of Tyndareus used to practise. There is also another small temple of Athene, but the roof has fallen in. And there is a temple to the Sun, and another to the Graces, and another to Serapis and Isis. And there is a circle of huge unhewn stones, and inside this circle they perform the sacred rites of Demeter. Such are the objects to be seen at the old town of Hermione. But the new town is at about four stades’ distance from the promontory on which there is the temple of Poseidon, and it lies on a gentle slope as you ascend the hill called Pron, for that is its name. There is a wall all round Hermione. And it has various objects of interest, but what I select as most worthy of record are the temple of Marine Aphrodite and Aphrodite of the Harbour, and a statue of white stone of huge size, and a work of art. And there is another temple of Aphrodite, which has other honours from the people of Hermione and this special one, that maidens or widows intending to marry must all sacrifice here before their marriage. And Thermasian Demeter has two temples, one on the borders of Trœzen as I have before said, and one in new Hermione.

CHAPTER XXXV.

And next is a temple of Dionysus Melanægis, in whose honour they have a musical contest every year, and give prizes for diving and rowing. And there is a temple of Artemis under the name of Iphigenia, and a statue of Poseidon in bronze with one foot on a dolphin. And as you proceed to the temple of Vesta, you find no statue, but an altar on which they sacrifice to Vesta. And there are three temples and three statues of Apollo: one has no title, the second is called Pythæan Apollo, and the third Apollo of the Borders. The name Pythæan they borrowed from the Argives: for Telesilla says that to their country first of all the Greeks came Pythæus the son of Apollo. But why they call the god Apollo of the Borders I cannot precisely tell, but I conjecture that having obtained victory either by war or litigation in reference to the borders, they honoured for this Apollo of the Borders. And the temple of Fortune is they say the latest one that the people of Hermione have, the statue is colossal in Parian marble. And they have two wells, one an old one into which the water flows by a hidden channel, but it would never grow dry, not even if all the population were to come and drink of it: and another dug in our day, and the name of the place from which the water flows into it is Meadow. But the temple most worthy of notice is that of Demeter on the Pron. This temple the people of Hermione say was built by Clymenus, the son of Phoroneus, and by Chthonia the sister of Clymenus. And the Argives say, when Demeter came to Argolis, that Atheras and Mysius offered the goddess hospitality, but Colontas would neither receive her into his house, nor pay her any other attention: and in this he acted very much against the wish of his daughter Chthonia. And Colontas they say for this conduct was burnt house and all, but Chthonia was conveyed to Hermione by Demeter, and built the temple there to Demeter. And Demeter is called Chthonia there, and the annual festival held in her honour in the season of summer is called Chthonia too. And they keep the festival in this wise. The priests of the gods and all the town authorities for the year lead the procession, and the women and men follow. It is customary for boys too to honour the goddess by a procession, in which they take part clothed in white, and with garlands on their heads plaited of the flower which they call here cosmosandalum, but which seems to me from size and colour to resemble the hyacinth, it has also on its petals the same mournful letters. And the procession is followed by some people who lead a full grown heifer from the herd, tightly bound with ropes and curvetting wildly. Some drag this heifer to the temple and unfasten the ropes so as to let it inside, while others keep the doors open till they see the heifer inside, and then shut them. And four old women are waiting inside, and they finish the heifer. For whoever can get the chance cuts its throat with a sickle. And afterwards the doors are opened, and those who have this duty drive up a second, third, and even fourth heifer. The women finish them all off in the same way, and then this fresh wonder is added to the sacrifice: on whichever side the first heifer falls all must fall. This is the way in which the sacrifice is performed by the people of Hermione. And in front of the temple there are a few statues of women who have been priestesses of Demeter, and as you enter in there are seats on which the old women sit, waiting for each heifer to be driven in, and there are some statues not very old of Athene and Demeter. But the special object of their worship neither have I seen nor any man, whether stranger or native of Hermione. These old women only know what it is.