Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

There is also another temple: and there are statues all round it. This temple is opposite the temple of Chthonia, and is called the temple of Clymenus, to whom they sacrifice here. I don’t think Clymenus is the name of an Argive that came to Hermione, but the title of a god who according to the tradition was a king in the infernal regions. Hard by is another temple and statue of Ares. On the right of the temple of Chthonia is a porch, called by the natives Echo, as a man’s slightest whisper is repeated thrice. And behind the temple of Chthonia are some places which the people of Hermione call, one Clymenus’ place, and another Pluto’s place, and a third the Acherusian marsh. They are all fenced in with a wall of stone: and in Clymenus’ place there is a hole in the ground, through which Hercules brought up Cerberus according to the tradition of the people of Hermione. And near the gate from which the road leads straight to Mases, is a temple of Ilithyia within the walls. They propitiate the goddess Ilithyia in various ways every day with sacrifices and incense, and to her are most of the votive offerings given, but her statue no one may look at except her priestesses.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

About seven stades on the high road to Mases, as you turn to the left, is the road to Halice. Halice in our days is deserted, but it was formerly inhabited, and is mentioned on the pillars of the Epidaurians, which record the cures wrought by Æsculapius. I know of nothing else worthy of record, either of the place or its population. And the road that leads to it passes between Pron and another mountain that in old times was called Thornax. But because of the legendary change of Zeus into the cuckoo they say its name was changed to Coccygium (Cuckoo-mountain). And there are temples on the tops of both these mountains, one of Zeus on the top of Coccygium, and one of Hera on the top of Pron. That at Coccygium is at the end of the mountain, and it has neither doors nor roof, nor any statue in it, and it was said to be Apollo’s temple. And near it is a road to Mases as you take the turn to the right. And Mases was a town in old times, as Homer has mentioned it in his catalogue of the Argives, and the people of Hermione use it as their port now. And from Mases there is a road on the right to the promontory called Struthus, and it is about 250 stades from this promontory along the mountain passes to what is called Philanorium and to Bolei. Bolei consists of layers of unhewn stones. And another place which they call Didymi is 20 stades from Bolei. At Didymi there is a temple of Apollo, and another of Poseidon, and another of Demeter: and their statues are erect, in white stone.

As you go from thence you come to the district of the Argives formerly called Asinæa from its chief town Asine, the ruins of which are near the sea. And when the Lacedæmonians under their king Nicander, the son of Charillus, the son of Polydectes, the son of Eunomus, the son of Prytanis, the son of Eurypon, invaded Argolis with an army, the people of Asine joined them, and ravaged with them the territory of the Argives. But when the Lacedæmonian force went home again, then the Argives and their king Eratus marched against Asine. And for some time the people of Asine defended their walls, and slew several of the most valiant of the Argives and among them Lysistratus, but when their walls were carried, then they put their wives and children on shipboard and left the town, and the Argives razed it to the ground, and added it to their territory, but they left the temple of Apollo standing, and it is now to be seen, and they buried Lysistratus near it.

Now the sea at Lerna[29] is about 40 stades from Argos. And as you go down to Lerna you first come to the river Erasinus, which flows into the Phrixus, and the Phrixus into the sea between Temenium and Lerna. And as you turn from the Erasinus about 8 stades to the left there is a temple of the Dioscuri called the Kings: and their statues are of wood just like those in the city. And as you turn to the right you cross the Erasinus, and come to the river Chimarrus. And near it is a circle of stones, and here (so the story goes) Pluto, after the Rape of Proserpine the daughter of Demeter, descended to his supposed underground realms. Now Lerna is, as I have previously said, by the sea, and they have rites here to Demeter of Lerna. And there is a sacred grove beginning at the mountain which they call Pontinus. And this mountain Pontinus does not let the rain flow off, but absorbs it. Though the river Pontinus does indeed flow from it. And on the top of the mountain is the temple of Saitian Athene, only ruins now, and the foundations of the house of Hippomedon, who accompanied Polynices the son of Œdipus in his attempt against Thebes.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

And the grove of plane-trees beginning at this mountain extends most of the way to the sea, bounded on one side by the river Pontinus, and on the other by the river Amymone, which gets its name from the daughter of Danaus. And inside the grove are statues of Demeter Prosymne and Dionysus, and the statue of Demeter is seated and not a large one. These are of stone: but in another temple there is a wooden one of Dionysus the Saviour seated; and a stone statue of Aphrodite near the sea, which they say was a votive offering of the daughters of Danaus, and Danaus himself erected the temple of Athene near the Pontinus. And they say that Philhammon was the founder of the rites at Lerna. The traditions about these mysteries are manifestly not very ancient. And what I have heard was written on a heart made of orichalcum; this Arriphon could not have got from Philhammon, for Arriphon was a native of Triconium in Ætolia, and held in most repute of all the Lycians in our time, and a clever fellow at finding out what nobody before knew, and who no doubt found this out for himself. The verses and all the prose mixed up with the verses were in Doric: but before the return of the Heraclidæ to the Peloponnese the Argives used the same dialect as the Athenians. And in the days of Philhammon I do not believe that even the name of Dorians was known throughout all Greece. This proves my case.

And near the source of the Amymone grows a plane-tree, under which they say the hydra was reared. I believe that this beast was larger in size than other water-snakes, and that its poison was so venomous that Hercules dipped the points of his arrows in its gall, but I cannot help thinking it had only one head and not more. But Pisander of Camirus, that the beast might appear more formidable and so add lustre to his poem, described it as having many heads. I have seen also the well of Amphiaraus and the Alcyonian marsh, by which the Argives say Dionysus descended to Hades to fetch up Semele, for Polymnus shewed him the descent. There is indeed no end to the depth of the Alcyonian marsh, nor do I know of any man who by any device ever got to the bottom of it, since even Nero, though he got and fastened together ropes many stades long, and put a piece of lead and other apparatus for sounding at the end, never could arrive at an accurate knowledge of its depth. I have also heard that though the water of the marsh, as you would infer from looking at it, is calm and quiet, if anyone ventures to swim in it, it is sure to drag him down and suck him underneath to the bottom. The circuit of the lake is not large, only about a third of a stade, and on its banks are grass and reeds. But the nightly rites which take place near it annually I am not permitted to write for public reading.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

And as you go from Lerna to Temenium—now Temenium belongs to the Argives, and gets its name from Temenus the son of Aristomachus: for he occupied and fortified the place, when he fought with the Dorians against Tisamenus and the Achæans from this base—the river Phrixus has its outlet into the sea, and there is a temple of Poseidon at Temenium and another of Aphrodite, and there is a monument of Temenus which is honoured by the Dorians at Argos. And about 50 stades I should say from Temenium is Nauplia, deserted in our day, it was founded by Nauplius who is reputed to have been the son of Poseidon and Amymone. And there are still some remains of walls at Nauplia, and a temple of Poseidon and a harbour, and a well called Canathus: in which the Argives say Hera bathes every year and becomes a virgin again. This is a tradition in connection with the secret rites which they perform to Hera. And the traditions of the people of Nauplia about the ass, that by gnawing twigs off the vine it makes the produce more abundant, (and consequently they have an ass carved on the rock as having taught the art of pruning vines), I pass over deeming them unworthy of mention. There is also another road going from Lerna by the seaside to a place which they call Genesium: and near the sea close to Genesium there is a small temple of Poseidon. And close to this is another place called Landing-place: for according to tradition this was the first place in Argolis where Danaus and his sons landed. And as you go on from thence is a place called Anigræa, on a road narrow and difficult of access. It is on the left hand and extends to the sea, and is a good soil for trees especially olive trees. And as you go up to the mainland there is a place called Thyrea, where 300 picked men of the Argives fought with 300 picked men of the Lacedæmonians for the possession of the land. And as they were all killed except one Spartan and two Argives, the tombs of those that fell in the action were piled up here, but the Lacedæmonians afterwards got a firm footing at the place, as they fought in full force with the Argives, and enjoyed it themselves for a time, and afterwards gave it to the Æginetans who had been driven out of Ægina by the Athenians. And in my day the Argives inhabited the district of Thyrea, and they say that they recovered it justly by conquest. Next to that burial-ground you come to Athene, where those Æginetans dwelt, and another village Neris, and a third Eua, the largest of the three villages, and Polemocrates has a temple in it. He was the son of Machaon, and brother of Alexanor, and he heals the people here, and has divine honours from the inhabitants. And beyond these villages extends Mount Parnon, which is the boundary between the Lacedæmonians and Argives and people of Tegea. And some stone Hermæ stand as border stones to mark the boundaries, and the place gets its name from them. And there is a river called Tanaus, the only river which flows from Mount Parnon. It flows through Argive territory into the Thyreatic gulf.