Son of Arcas, funeral games of, image.
Azan, a son of Arcas and the nymph Erato, was the brother of Apheidas and Elatus,
and father of Cleitor. The part of Arcadia which he received from his father was
called, after him, Azania. After his death, funeral games, which were believed
to have been the first in Greece, were celebrated in his honour. (Paus. viii.4.2,
3, v. 1.6; Steph. Byz. s. v. Azania)
When his sons grew up, Arcas divided the land between them into three parts, and one district was named Azania after Azan; from Azania, it is said, settled the colonists who dwell about the cave in Phrygia called Steunos and the river Pencalas. ( Paus. 8.4.3)
The Phrygians on the river Pencelas, and those who came to this land originally from the Azanians in Arcadia, show visitors a cave called Steunos, which is round, and handsome in its loftiness. It is sacred to the Mother, and there is an image of her. (Paus. 10.32.3)
It is an ancient saying about the environment being the cause of one's poverty, since Azania was a place poor and barren.
The Arcadian tribes "the Azanes, the Parrhasians, and other such peoples" are reputed to be the most ancient tribes of the Greeks
Stefanos Byzantios; "Azania has seventeen towns".
District of Arcadia.
Aetolus, who came to the throne after Epeius, was made to flee from Peloponnesus, because the children of Apis tried and convicted him of unintentional homicide. For Apis, the son of Jason, from Pallantium in Arcadia, was run over and killed by the chariot of Aetolus at the games held in honor of Azan.
An Azanian, Olympic victor. 86th Olympiad, 436 BC.
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