On the right of Tricoloni is a steep road to a spring called Wells, as you descend about 30 stades you come to the tomb of Callisto, a high mound of earth, with many trees growing wild, and some planted. And on the top of this mound is a temple of Artemis called The Most Beautiful, and I think when Pamphus in his verses called Artemis The Most Beautiful he first learnt this epithet from the Arcadians. And twenty-five stades further, 100 from Tricolonus in the direction of the Helisson, on the high road to Methydrium, (which is the only town left to Tricoloni), is a place called Anemosa and the mountain Phalanthum, on which are ruins of a town of the same name, founded they say by Phalanthus, the son of Agelaus, and grandson of Stymphelus. Above it is a plain called Polus, and next to it is Schœnus, so called from the Bœotian Schœneus. And if Schœneus was a stranger in Arcadia, Atalanta’s Course near Schœnus may have taken its name from his daughter. And next is a place called I think * * *, and all agree that this is Arcadian soil.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Nothing now remains to be mentioned but Methydrium, which is 137 stades from Tricoloni. It was called Methydrium, because the high hill on which Orchomenus built the town was between the rivers Malœtas and Mylaon, and, before it was included in Megalopolis, inhabitants of Methydrium were victors at Olympia. There is at Methydrium a temple of Poseidon Hippius near the river Mylaon. And the mountain called Thaumasium lies above the river Malœtas, and the people of Methydrium wish it to be believed that Rhea when she was pregnant with Zeus came to this mountain, and got the protection of Hoplodamus and the other Giants with him, in case Cronos should attack her. They admit that Rhea bore Zeus on part of Mt Lycæeus, but they say that the cheating of Cronos and the offering him a stone instead of the child, (a legend universal amongst the Greeks), took place here. And on the top of the mountain is Rhea’s Cave, and into it only women sacred to the goddess may enter, nobody else.
About 30 stades from Methydrium is the well Nymphasia, and about 30 stades from Nymphasia is the joint boundary for the districts of Megalopolis Orchomenus and Caphya.
From Megalopolis, through what are called the gates to the marsh, is a way to Mænalus by the river Helisson. And on the left of the road is a temple of the Good God. And if the gods are the givers of good things to mortals, and Zeus is the chief of the gods, one would follow the tradition and conjecture that this is a title of Zeus. A little further is a mound of earth, the tomb of Aristodemus, who though a tyrant was not robbed of the title of Good, and a temple of Athene called Inventive, because she is a goddess who invents various contrivances. And on the right of the road is an enclosure sacred to the North Wind, to whom the people of Megalopolis sacrifice annually, and they hold no god in higher honour than Boreas, as he was their preserver from Agis and the Lacedæmonians.[38] And next is the tomb of Œcles the father of Amphiaraus, if indeed death seized him in Arcadia, and not when he was associated with Hercules in the expedition against Laomedon. Next to it is a temple and grove of Demeter called Demeter of the Marsh, five stades from the city, into which none but women may enter. And thirty stades further is the place called Paliscius. About 20 stades from Paliscius, leaving on the left the river Elaphus which is only a winter torrent, are the ruins of Peræthes and a temple of Pan. And if you cross the winter-torrent, about 15 stades from the river is a plain called Mænalium, and after having traversed this you come to a mountain of the same name. At the bottom of this mountain are traces of the town of Lycoa, and a temple and brazen statue of Artemis of Lycoa. And in the southern part of the mountain is the town of Sumetia. In this mountain are also the so-called Three Roads, whence the Mantineans, according to the bidding of the oracle at Delphi, removed the remains of Arcas the son of Callisto. There are also ruins of Mænalus, and traces of a temple of Athene, and a course for athletical contests, and another for horseraces. And the mountain Mænalium they consider sacred to Pan, insomuch that those who live near it say that they hear Pan making music with his pipes. Between the temple of Despœna and Megalopolis it is 40 stades, half of the road by the Alpheus, and when you have crossed it about 2 stades further are the ruins of Macaria, and seven stades further are the ruins of Dasea, and it is as many more from Dasea to the hill of Acacesius. Underneath this hill is the town of Acacesium, and there is a statue of Hermes (made of the stone of the hill) on the hill to this day, and they say Hermes was brought up there as a boy, and there is a tradition among the Arcadians that Acacus the son of Lycaon was his nurse. The Thebans have a different legend, and the people of Tanagra again have a different one to the Theban one.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
From Acacesium it is four stades to the temple of Despœna. There was first there a temple of Artemis the Leader, and a brazen statue of the goddess with torches, about 6 feet high I conjecture. From thence there is an entrance to the sacred enclosure of Despœna. As you approach the temple there is a portico on the right, and on the wall figures in white stone, the Fates and Zeus as Master of the Fates, and Hercules robbing Apollo of his tripod. All that I could discover about them I will relate, when in my account of Phocis I come to Delphi. And in the portico near the temple of Despœna, between the figures I have mentioned, is a tablet painted with representations of the mysteries. On a third figure are some Nymphs and Pans, and on a fourth Polybius the son of Lycortas. And the inscription on him is that Greece would not have been ruined at all had it taken his advice in all things, and when it made mistakes he alone could have retrieved them. And in front of the temple is an altar to Demeter and another to Despœna, and next one to the Great Mother. And the statues of the Goddesses Despœna and Demeter, and the throne on which they sit, and the footstool under their feet, are all of one piece of stone: and neither about the dress nor on the throne is any portion of another stone dove-tailed in, but everything is one block of stone. This stone was not fetched from a distance, they say, but, in consequence of a vision in a dream, found and dug up in the temple precincts. And the size of each of the statues is about the size of the statue at Athens of the Mother. They are by Damophon. Demeter has a torch in her right hand, and has laid her left hand upon Despœna: and Despœna has her sceptre, and on her knees what is called a cist, which she has her right hand upon. And on one side of the throne stands Artemis by Demeter, clad in the skin of a deer and with her quiver on her shoulders, in one hand she holds a lamp, and in the other two dragons. And at her feet lies a dog, such as are used for hunting. And on the other side of the throne near Despœna stands Anytus in armour: they say Despœna was brought up near the temple by him. He was one of the Titans. Homer first introduced the Titans into poetry, as gods in what is called Tartarus, in the lines about the oath of Hera.[39] And Onomacritus borrowed the name of the Titans from Homer when he wrote his poem about the orgies of Dionysus, and represented the Titans as contributing to the sufferings of Dionysus. Such is the Arcadian tradition about Anytus. It was Æschylus the son of Euphorion that taught the Greeks the Egyptian legend, that Artemis was the daughter of Demeter and not of Leto. As to the Curetes, for they too are carved under the statues, and the Corybantes, a different race from the Curetes who are carved on the base, though I know all about them I purposely pass it by. And the Arcadians bring into the temple all wood except that of the pomegranate. On the right hand as you go out of the temple is a mirror fixed to the wall: if any one looks into this mirror, he will see himself very obscurely or not at all, but the statues of the goddesses and the throne he will see quite clearly. And by the temple of Despœna as you ascend a little to the right is the Hall, where the Arcadians perform her Mystic rites, and sacrifice to her victims in abundance. Each sacrifices what animal he has got: nor do they cut the throats of the victims as in other sacrifices, but each cuts off whatever limb of the victim he lights on. The Arcadians worship Despœna more than any of the gods, and say that she was the daughter of Poseidon and Demeter. Her general appellation is Despœna, a name they also give to the Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, but her private name is Persephone, as Homer[40] and still earlier Pamphus have given it, but that name of Despœna I feared to write down for the uninitiated. And beyond the Hall is a grove sacred to Despœna surrounded by a stone wall: in the grove are several kinds of trees, as olives and oak from one root, which is something above the gardener’s art. And beyond the grove are altars of Poseidon Hippius as the father of Despœna, and of several other of the gods. And the inscription on the last altar is that it is common to all the gods.
From thence you ascend by a staircase to the temple of Pan, which has a portico and a not very large statue. To Pan as to all the most powerful gods belongs the property of answering prayer and of punishing the wicked. In his temple a never ceasing fire burns. It is said that in ancient times Pan gave oracular responses, and that his interpreter was the Nymph Erato, who married Arcas the son of Callisto. They also quote some of Erato’s lines, which I have myself perused. There too is an altar to Ares, and two statues of Aphrodite in a temple, one of white marble, the more ancient one of wood. There are also wooden statues of Apollo and Athene, Athene has also a temple.
[39] Iliad, xiv. 277-279.