Listed 100 (total found 452) sub titles with search on: Ancient literary sources for wider area of: "PELOPONNISOS Region GREECE" .
DORION (Prehistoric settlement) TRIFYLIA
And I showed that each of these tribes has an equal vote, the greatest equal to the least: that the delegate from Dorion and Cytinion has equal authority with the Lacedaemonian delegates, for each tribe casts two votes; again, that of the Ionian delegates those from Eretria and Priene have equal authority with those from Athens and the rest in the same way.
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
Nevertheless we then proceeded, by means of an alliance, to detach Boeotia and Corinth from Sparta, and to resume friendly relations with Argos, thereby involving Sparta in the battle of Corinth.
MEGALOPOLIS (Ancient city) ARCADIA
But if the Lacedaemonians act unjustly and insist on fighting, then, on the one hand, if the only question to be decided is whether we shall abandon Megalopolis to them or not, just indeed it is not, but I for my part agree to allow it and to offer no opposition to the people who shared the same dangers with us; but, on the other hand, if you are all aware that the capture of Megalopolis will be followed by an attack on Messene, I ask any of those who are now so hard on the Megalopolitans to tell me what he will advise us to do then.
But I shall get no answer. Yet you all know that, whether these speakers advise it or not, you are bound to help the Messenians, both for the sake of your sworn agreement with them and for the advantage that you derive from the preservation of their city. Just ask yourselves at what point you would begin to make your stand against Lacedaemonian injustice with more honor and generosity--with the defence of Megalopolis or with the defence of Messene?
ARGOS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
In the city of Argos (390-369 BC) civil strife broke out accompanied
by slaughter of a greater number than is recorded ever to have occurred anywhere
else in Greece. Among the Greeks this revolutionary movement was called "Club-law,"
receiving this appellation on account of the manner of the execution. Now the
strife arose from the following causes: the city of Argos1 had a democratic form
of government, and certain demagogues instigated the populace against the outstanding
citizens of property and reputation. The victims of the hostile charges then got
together and decided to overthrow the democracy. When some of those who were thought
to be implicated were subjected to torture, all but one, fearing the agony of
torture, committed suicide, but this one came to terms under torture, received
a pledge of immunity, and as informer denounced thirty of the most distinguished
citizens, and the democracy without a thorough investigation put to death all
those who were accused and confiscated their property. But many others were under
suspicion, and as the demagogues supported false accusations, the mob was wrought
up to such a pitch of savagery that they condemned to death all the accused, who
were many and wealthy. When, however, more than twelve hundred influential men
had been removed, the populace did not spare the demagogues themselves. For because
of the magnitude of the calamity the demagogues were afraid that some unforeseen
turn of fortune might overtake them and therefore desisted from their accusation,
whereas the mob, now thinking that they had been left in the lurch by them, were
angry at this and put to death all the demagogues. So these men received the punishment
which fitted their crimes as if some divinity were visiting its just resentment
upon them, and the people, eased of their mad rage, were restored to their senses.
NEMEA (Ancient sanctuary) CORINTHIA
The battle took place along the river Nemea,1 lasting until nightfall, and parts of both armies had the advantage, but of the Lacedaemonians and their allies eleven hundred men fell, while of the Boeotians and their allies about twenty-eight hundred.
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
When Alexander did come back from India and put to death many of the satraps who had been charged with neglect of duty, Harpalus became alarmed at the punishment which might befall him. He packed up five thousand talents of silver, enrolled six thousand mercenaries, departed from Asia and sailed across to Attica. When no one there accepted him, he shipped his troops off to Taenarum in Laconia, and keeping some of the money with him threw himself on the mercy of the Athenians. Antipater and Olympias demanded his surrender, and although he had distributed large sums of money to those persons who spoke in his favour, he was compelled to slip away and repaired to Taenarum and his mercenaries.(Diod.,17.108.7)
During this period (324/3 B.C.) Greece was the scene of disturbances and revolutionary movements from which arose the war called Lamian. The reason was this. The king (Alexander the Great) had ordered all his satraps to dissolve their armies of mercenaries, and as they obeyed his instructions, all Asia was overrun with soldiers released from service and supporting themselves by plunder. Presently they began assembling from all directions at Taenarum in Laconia, whither came also such of the Persian satraps and generals as had survived, bringing their funds and their soldiers, so that they constituted a joint force. Ultimately they chose as supreme commander the Athenian Leosthenes, who was a man of unusually brilliant mind, and thoroughtly opposed to the cause of Alexander. He conferred secretly with the council at Athens and was granted fifty talents to pay the troops and a stock of weapons sufficient to meet pressing needs. He sent off an embassy to the Aetolians, who were unfriendly to the king, looking to the establishment of an alliance with them, and otherwise made every preparation for war. (Diod., 17.111.1)
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ARGOS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
The Spartans too were so eagerly desirous of winning Tisamenus that
they granted everything that he demanded. When they had granted him this also,
Tisamenus of Elis, now a Spartan, engaged in divination for them and aided them
to win five very great victories. No one on earth save Tisamenus and his brother
ever became citizens of Sparta. Now the five victories were these: one, the first,
this victory at Plataea; next, that which was won at Tegea over the Tegeans and
Argives; after that, over all the Arcadians save the Mantineans at Dipaea; next,
over the Messenians at Ithome; lastly, the victory at Tanagra over the Athenians
and Argives, which was the last won of the five victories. (Hdt. 9.35.1)
Commentary: from W. W. How, J. Wells
This brief summary is our earliest and most authentic record of an
anti-Spartan movement in the Peloponnese, which does much to explain the free
hand allowed to Athens in the Aegean after 476 B. C., and the rapid growth of
her power. The most certain point in the movement is the sunoikismos at Elis before
470 (Diodor. xi. 54; Strabo 337) with the democratic changes that accompanied
it, especially the formation of ten local tribes (Paus. v. 9. 5) and the establishment
of a boule of 500, later increased to 600 (Thuc. v. 47); cf. Busolt, iii. 116
f. The democratic constitution of Argos, with its popular assembly (Thuc. v. 28,
31), boule, and law court, may date from this time; certainly it is not later
than 460 B. C. On the other hand the sunoikismos (Strabo 337) and the democratic
movement at Mantinea (Ar. Pol. 1318 b 25-7), placed circ. 470 B. C. by Busolt,
should be dated ten years later, since Mantinea took no part in the battle of
Dipaea, and assisted Sparta in the Messenian war, i. e. at Ithome (Xen. Hell.
v. 2, 3).
H. must be taken to mean that Tisamenus and Hegias were the only foreigners
admitted to Spartan citizenship in historical times, a striking example of an
exclusiveness eventually fatal to the state; cf. Tac. Ann. xi. 24. H. clearly
knew nothing of the alleged grants to Tyrtaeus (Plato, Leg. 629 A; Plutarch, Mor.
230 D) and to Alcman (Plut. Mor. 600 E).
The battle at Ithome was apparently in the third Messenian war; that
at Tanagra, in 457 B.C. (Thuc. 1.107). Nothing is known of the battles at Tegea
and Dipaea...for Tanagra (cf. Thuc. i. 107-8) the Athenians received aid from
Argos, Cleonae (Paus. i. 29. 5, 7), and other allies.
Dipaea (Paus. viii. 27. 3; Isocr. Arch. 6. 99), on the river Helison
(Paus. viii. 30. 1), in the district Maenalia (Paus. iii. 11. 7), perhaps the
modern Dabia. The Argives are believed to have been kept away from this battle
by the siege of Tiryns (cf. vi. 83. 2 n.), and the Mantineans stood aloof, doubtless
from hostility to Tegea (Meyer, iii, § 285). The Spartans, though greatly outnumbered
(Isocr. l. c.), gained a decisive victory, which restored their prestige in the
Peloponnese.
Commentary: from Reginald Walter Macan
The battle of Tegea, against the Tegeatai and Argives, like the two
which succeed it, was an episode in those polemoi oikeioi which, according to
Thuc. 1. 118. 2, preoccupied the Spartans, during the period of the growth of
the power of Athens, but of which unfortunately very few details have been preserved
for us. Cp. Strabo 377 meta de ten en Salamini naumachian Argeioi meta Kleonaion
kai Tegeaton epelthontes arden tas Mukenas aneilon kai ten choran dieneimanto.
This passage exhibits the Tegeatai in alliance with Argos, and of course opposed
to Sparta, at the time of the destruction of Mykenai; cp. c. 28 supra; but that
was after the outbreak of the Helot war (Busolt, III. i. 121 n.). The battle of
Tegea probably falls some years earlier, perhaps while the exiled Leotychidas
was in residence there, 6. 72 supra (and Themistokles already in Argos?). It was
evidently a victory, but not a decisive victory, for Sparta, as it was followed
by a second great battle in Arkadia. Busolt (l.c.) refers the Epigram of Simonides
(Bergk iii. 460, No. 102) to the Tegeatai who fell in this fight, and dates the
event 473 B.C.
Pansanias (who is the chief authority) makes Dipaia a town on the
river Helisson (8. 31. 1) in the Arkadian district of Mainalia (3. 11. 7. cp.
c. 11 l. 12 supra); it was one of the townships afterwards absorbed in Megalopolis
(8. 27. 3). No details of the battle have been preserved, but it was a contest
between the Spartans and all the Arkadians (less the Mantineians) and resulted
in a victory for Sparta. The Argives are this time conspicuous by their absence;
Busolt (III. i. 121 ff.) conjectnres that they were engaged in the war with Tiryns,
places the battle of Dipaia in 471 B C., and ascribes the union of Arkadia to
the intrigues of Themistokles.
The date of the battle is 457 B.C. (458-7). The regent Nikomedes was
in command of the Lakedaimonians and allies; hence the presence of Teisamenos.
The object of the expedition was the restoration of Theban power in Central Greece,
as a makeweight against Athens, but the expedition was not an unqualified success
from the Spartan point of view.
EPIDAVROS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
[...] Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
IREON (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOS - MYKINES
ISTHMUS KORINTHOS (Isthmus) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
That very night the land army of the barbarians began marching to
the Peloponnese. Yet every possible device had been used to prevent the barbarians
from invading by the mainland. As soon as the Peloponnesians learned that Leonidas
and his men at Thermopylae were dead, they ran together from their cities and
took up their position at the Isthmus. Their general was Cleombrotus son of Anaxandrides,
the brother of Leonidas. When they were in position at the Isthmus, they demolished
the Scironian road and then, after resolving in council, built a wall across the
Isthmus. Since there were many tens of thousands and everyone worked, the task
was completed, as they brought in stones and bricks and logs and baskets full
of sand. At no moment of the day or night did those who had marched out there
rest from their work.
These were the Hellenes who marched out in a body to the Isthmus:
the Lacedaemonians and all the Arcadians, the Eleans and Corinthians and Sicyonians
and Epidaurians and Phliasians and Troezenians and Hermioneans. These were the
ones who marched out and feared for Hellas in her peril. The rest of the Peloponnesians
cared nothing, though the Olympian and Carnean festivals were now past...
... Those at the Isthmus were involved in so great a labor, since all they had
was at stake and they did not expect the ships (at Salamis)to win distinction.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KYNOURIA (Province) ARCADIA
Seven nations inhabit the Peloponnese. Two of these are aboriginal and are now settled in the land where they lived in the old days, the Arcadians and Cynurians. One nation, the Achaean, has never left the Peloponnese, but it has left its own country and inhabits another nation's land. The four remaining nations of the seven are immigrants, the Dorians and Aetolians and Dryopians and Lemnians. The Dorians have many famous cities, the Aetolians only Elis, the Dryopians Hermione and Asine near Laconian Cardamyle, the Lemnians all the Paroreatae. The Cynurians are aboriginal and seem to be the only Ionians, but they have been Dorianized by time and by Argive rule. They are the Orneatae and the perioikoi. All the remaining cities of these seven nations, except those I enumerated, stayed neutral. If I may speak freely, by staying neutral they medized.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
THORNAX (Ancient city) SPARTI
For the Lacedaemonians had sent to Sardis to buy gold, intending to use it for the statue of Apollo which now stands on Thornax in Laconia; and Croesus, when they offered to buy it, made them a free gift of it.
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
First they passed by Malea, and then along the Laconian coast they came to Taenarum, sea-garlanded town and country of Helios who gladdens men, where the thick-fleeced sheep of the lord Helios feed continually and occupy a gladsome country. There they wished to put their ship to shore, and land and comprehend the great marvel and see with their eyes whether the monster would remain upon the deck of the hollow ship, or spring back into the briny deep where fishes shoal. But the well-built ship would not obey the helm, but went on its way all along Peloponnesus: and the lord, far-working Apollo, guided it easily with the breath of the breeze.
AVLON (Ancient city) TRIFYLIA
As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium.
DORION (Prehistoric settlement) TRIFYLIA
As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium.
EPIA (Ancient city) MESSINIA
Aepeia was the old name of Corone.
And Aepeia is now called Thuria.
Pausanias identifies Aepea with Corone and Pedasus, and claims that before the Trojan War it was called Mothone.
FLIASIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
Old name of Phliasia (Perseus Encyclopedia).
Araethyrea : Perseus Project Index
Old name of Phliasia and Phlius.
FLIOUS (Ancient city) NEMEA
Old name of Phliasia and Phlius.
GONOESSA (Ancient city) XYLOKASTRO
When Peisistratus collected the poems of Homer, which were scattered and handed down by tradition, some in one place and some in another, then either he or one of his colleagues perverted the name through ignorance.
ICHALIA (Ancient city) MESSINIA
For if it was the Thessalian Oechalia, Demetrius of Scepsis is wrong again when he says that it was a certain Arcadian Oechalia, which is now called Andania; but if Demetrius is right, Arcadian Oechalia was also called "city of Eurytus," and therefore there was not merely one Oechalia; but Apollodorus says that there was one only.
City in Messenia, afterwards called Oechalia (Paus. 4,2,2)
To him, the Messenians say, came Melaneus, a good archer and considered for this reason to be a son of Apollo; Perieres assigned to him as a dwelling a part of the country now called the Carnasium, but which then received the name Oechalia, derived, as they say, from the wife of Melaneus.
Demetrius of Scepsis is wrong again when he says that it was a certain Arcadian Oechalia, which is now called Andania; but if Demetrius is right, Arcadian Oechalia was also called "city of Eurytus," and therefore there was not merely one Oechalia
Concerning the country that was subject to Nestor, Homer speaks as follows: "And those who dwelt in Pylus and lovely Arene and Thryum, fording-place of the Alpheius, and well-built Aepy, and also those who were inhabitants of Cyparisseeis and Amphigeneia and Pteleus and Helus and Dorium, at which place the Muses met Thamyris the Thracian, and put a stop to his singing while he was on his way from Oechalia from Eurytus the Oechalian."
As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium. And somewhere in this region is also the Oechalia of Eurytus (the Andania of today, a small Arcadian town, with the same name as the towns in Thessaly and Euboea), whence, according to the poet, Thamyris the Thracian came to Dorium and was deprived of the art of singing.
This extract is from: The Geography of Strabo, ed. H. L. Jones, Cambridge. Harvard University Press
Cited Aug 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KARNASSION (Ancient city) MELIGALAS
City in Messenia, afterwards called Oechalia (Paus. 4,2,2)
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
Old name of Corinth (Paus. 2,1,1, also see Il. 6.152).
KORONI (Ancient city) PETALIDI
Pausanias identifies Aepea with Corone and Pedasus, and claims that before the Trojan War it was called Mothone (Paus. 4,35,1).
Strabo also claims that it is the town Methone of his days (Strab. 8,4,3).
Eustathius mentions that Pedasus is the Corone of his time.
METHONI (Ancient city) MESSINIA
City of Messenia, formerly called Pedasus.
Pausanias identifies Aepea with Corone and Pedasus, and claims that before the Trojan War it was called Mothone.
Pausanias identifies Aepea with Corone and Pedasus, and claims that before the Trojan War it was called Mothone.
PARASSIA (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
The district of the Parrhasians was to the West of Megalopolis, towards Alpheus. Its capital was Lycosura. Some claim that Parrhasia was the ancient name of Lycosura, which means that they identify the two towns (Ekdotiki Athinon, Pausaniou Periegissis, vol. 5, p. 292, note 1).
Before the mustering of the army for the Trojan war, and during the war, Mothone was called Pedasus (Paus. 4,35,1). Next comes Methone. This, they say, is what the poet calls Pedasus (Strabo 8,4,3).
SIKYONIA (Ancient area) CORINTHIA
District of Peloponnese, afterwards called Sicyonia, old name of Achaia.
AKAKISSION (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
It was after this Acacus, according to the Arcadian account, that Homer made a surname for Hermes.
AKRIES (Ancient city) ELOS
About eighty stades beyond Trinasus I came to the ruins of Helos, and some thirty stades farther is Acriae, a city on the coast. Well worth seeing here are a temple and marble image of the Mother of the Gods. The people of Acriae say that this is the oldest sanctuary of this goddess in the Peloponnesus, although the Magnesians, who live to the north of Mount Sipylus, have on the rock Coddinus the most ancient of all the images of the Mother of the gods. The Magnesians say that it was made by Broteas the son of Tantalus. The people of Acriae once produced an Olympian victor, Nicocles, who at two Olympian festivals carried off five prizes for running. There has been raised to him a monument between the gymnasium and the wall by the harbor.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ARACHNEO (Mountain) ASKLIPIIO
On the straight road to Epidaurus is a village Lessa, in which is a temple of Athena with a wooden image exactly like the one on the citadel Larisa. Above Lessa is Mount Arachnaeus, which long ago, in the time of Inachus, was named Sapyselaton. On it are altars to Zeus and Hera. When rain is needed they sacrifice to them here. At Lessa the Argive territory joins that of Epidaurus(2.25.10-26.1)
ARGOLIS GULF (Gulf) PELOPONNISOS
ARINI (Ancient city) MESSINIA
As to the ruins of Arene, no Messenian and no Elean could point them out to me with certainty (Paus. 5.6.2).
ARTEMISSION (Mountain) LYRKIA
Above Oenoe is Mount Artemisius, with a sanctuary of Artemis on the top. On this mountain are also the springs of the river Inachus. For it really has springs, though the water does not run far. Here I found nothing else that is worth seeing. (Paus. 2.25.3)
ASKLEPIEION OF EPIDAURUS (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOLIS
The sacred grove of Asclepius is surrounded on all sides by boundary
marks. No death or birth takes place within the enclosure the same custom prevails
also in the island of Delos. All the offerings, whether the offerer be one of
the Epidaurians themselves or a stranger, are entirely consumed within the bounds.
At Titane too, I know, there is the same rule.
The image of Asclepius is, in size, half as big as the Olympian Zeus
at Athens, and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription tells us that the artist
was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotus. The god is sitting on a seat grasping
a staff; the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent; there is
also a figure of a dog lying by his side. On the seat are wrought in relief the
exploits of Argive heroes, that of Bellerophontes against the Chimaera, and Perseus,
who has cut off the head of Medusa. Over against the temple is the place where
the suppliants of the god sleep.
Near has been built a circular building of white marble, called Tholos
(Round House), which is worth seeing. In it is a picture by Pausias representing
Love, who has cast aside his bow and arrows, and is carrying instead of them a
lyre that he has taken up. Here there is also another work of Pausias, Drunkenness
drinking out of a crystal cup. You can see even in the painting a crystal cup
and a woman's face through it. Within the enclosure stood slabs; in my time six
remained, but of old there were more. On them are inscribed the names of both
the men and the women who have been healed by Asclepius, the disease also from
which each suffered, and the means of cure. The dialect is Doric.
Apart from the others is an old slab, which declares that Hippolytus
dedicated twenty horses to the god. The Aricians tell a tale that agrees with
the inscription on this slab, that when Hippolytus was killed, owing to the curses
of Theseus, Asclepius raised him from the dead. On coming to life again he refused
to forgive his father rejecting his prayers, he went to the Aricians in Italy.
There he became king and devoted a precinct to Artemis, where down to my time
the prize for the victor in single combat was the priesthood of the goddess. The
contest was open to no freeman, but only to slaves who had run away from their
masters.
The Epidaurians have a theater within the sanctuary, in my opinion
very well worth seeing. For while the Roman theaters are far superior to those
anywhere else in their splendor, and the Arcadian theater at Megalopolis is unequalled
for size, what architect could seriously rival Polycleitus in symmetry and beauty?
For it was Polycleitus who built both this theater and the circular building.
Within the grove are a temple of Artemis, an image of Epione, a sanctuary of Aphrodite
and Themis, a race-course consisting, like most Greek race-courses, of a bank
of earth, and a fountain worth seeing for its roof and general splendour.
A Roman senator, Antoninus, made in our own day a bath of Asclepius and a sanctuary
of the gods they call Bountiful. He made also a temple to Health, Asclepius, and
Apollo, the last two surnamed Egyptian. He moreover restored the portico that
was named the Portico of Cotys, which, as the brick of which it was made had been
unburnt, had fallen into utter ruin after it had lost its roof. As the Epidaurians
about the sanctuary were in great distress, because their women had no shelter
in which to be delivered and the sick breathed their last in the open, he provided
a dwelling, so that these grievances also were redressed. Here at last was a place
in which without sin a human being could die and a woman be delivered. (Paus. 2.27.1-6)
ASSOPOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
By the sea is a city Asopus, sixty stades distant from Acriae. In it is a temple of the Roman emperors, and about twelve stades inland from the city is a sanctuary of Asclepius. They call the god Philolaus, and the bones in the gymnasium, which they worship, are human, although of superhuman size. On the citadel is also a sanctuary of Athena, surnamed Cyparissia (Cypress Goddess ). At the foot of the citadel are the ruins of a city called the City of the Paracyparissian Achaeans. There is also in this district a sanctuary of Asclepius, about fifty stades from Asopus the place where the sanctuary is they name Hyperteleatum.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
CHAON (Mountain) ARGOS
A little farther on there is on the right of the road a mountain called Chaon. At its foot grow cultivated trees, and here the water of the Erasinus rises to the surface. (Paus. 2.24.6)
EGILA (Ancient city) ANATOLIKI MANI
There is a place Aegila in Laconia, where is a sanctuary sacred to Demeter. Aristomenes and his men knowing that the women were keeping festival there . . . the women were inspired by the goddess to defend themselves, and most of the Messenians were wounded with the knives with which the women sacrificed the victims and the spits on which they pierced and roasted the meat. Aristomenes was struck with the torches and taken alive. Nevertheless he escaped to Messenia during the same night. Archidameia, the priestess of Demeter, was charged with having released him, not for a bribe but because she had been in love with him before; but she maintained that Aristomenes had escaped by burning through his bonds.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ELEOUS (Ancient city) LERNA
It may well be too that the wrath of heroes and the wrath of gods united together to punish Cleomenes since it is a fact that for a personal wrong Protesilaus, a hero not a whit more illustrious than Argus, punished at Elaeus Artayctes, a Persian; while the Megarians never succeeded in propitiating the deities at Eleusis for having encroached upon the sacred land.
This extract is from: Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Harvard University Press
Cited Sept. 2002 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
EPIDAVROS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
At Lessa the Argive territory joins that of Epidaurus. But before
you reach Epidaurus itself you will come to the sanctuary of Asclepius. Who dwelt
in this land before Epidaurus came to it I do not know, nor could I discover from
the natives the descendants of Epidaurus either. But the last king before the
Dorians arrived in the Peloponnesus was, they say, Pityreus, a descendant of Ion,
son of Xuthus, and they relate that he handed over the land to Deiphontes and
the Argives without a struggle.
He went to Athens with his people and dwelt there, while Deiphontes
and the Argives took possession of Epidauria. These on the death of Temenus seceded
from the other Argives; Deiphontes and Hyrnetho through hatred of the sons of
Temenus, and the army with them, because it respected Deiphontes and Hyrnetho
more than Ceisus and his brothers. Epidaurus, who gave the land its name, was,
the Eleans say, a son of Pelops but, according to Argive opinion and the poem
the Great Eoeae,1 the father of Epidaurus was Argus, son of Zeus, while the Epidaurians
maintain that Epidaurus was the child of Apollo.
That the land is especially sacred to Asclepius is due to the following
reason. The Epidaurians say that Phlegyas came to the Peloponnesus, ostensibly
to see the land, but really to spy out the number of the inhabitants, and whether
the greater part of them was warlike. For Phlegyas was the greatest soldier of
his time, and making forays in all directions he carried off the crops and lifted
the cattle.
When he went to the Peloponnesus, he was accompanied by his daughter,
who all along had kept hidden from her father that she was with child by Apollo.
In the country of the Epidaurians she bore a son, and exposed him on the mountain
called Nipple at the present day, but then named Myrtium. As the child lay exposed
he was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the mountain, and was
guarded by the watch-dog of the herd. And when Aresthanas (for this was the herdsman's
name) discovered that the tale of the goats was not full, and that the watch-dog
also was absent from the herd, he left, they say, no stone unturned, and on finding
the child desired to take him up. As he drew near he saw lightning that flashed
from the child, and, thinking that it was something divine, as in fact it was,
he turned away. Presently it was reported over every land and sea that Asclepius
was discovering everything he wished to heal the sick, and that he was raising
dead men to life.
There is also another tradition concerning him. Coronis, they say,
when with child with Asclepius, had intercourse with Ischys, son of Elatus. She
was killed by Artemis to punish her for the insult done to Apollo, but when the
pyre was already lighted Hermes is said to have snatched the child from the flames.
The third account is, in my opinion, the farthest from the truth;
it makes Asclepius to be the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when
Apollophanes the Arcadian, came to Delphi and asked the god if Asclepius was the
son of Arsinoe and therefore a Messenian, the Pythian priestess gave this response:
Asclepius, born to bestow great joy upon mortals,
Pledge of the mutual love I enjoyed with Phlegyas' daughter,
Lovely Coronis, who bare thee in rugged land Epidaurus.
This oracle makes it quite certain that Asclepius was not a son of
Arsinoe, and that the story was a fiction invented by Hesiod, or by one of Hesiod's
interpolators, just to please the Messenians.
There is other evidence that the god was born in Epidaurus for I find
that the most famous sanctuaries of Asclepius had their origin from Epidaurus.
In the first place, the Athenians, who say that they gave a share of their mystic
rites to Asclepius, call this day of the festival Epidauria, and they allege that
their worship of Asclepius dates from then. Again, when Archias, son of Aristaechmus,
was healed in Epidauria after spraining himself while hunting about Pindasus,
he brought the cult to Pergamus.
From the one at Pergamus has been built in our own day the sanctuary
of Asclepius by the sea at Smyrna. Further, at Balagrae of the Cyreneans there
is an Asclepius called Healer, who like the others came from Epidaurus. From the
one at Cyrene was founded the sanctuary of Asclepius at Lebene, in Crete. There
is this difference between the Cyreneans and the Epidaurians, that whereas the
former sacrifice goats, it is against the custom of the Epidaurians to do so.
That Asclepius was considered a god from the first, and did not receive
the title only in course of time, I infer from several signs, including the evidence
of Homer, who makes Agamemnon say about Machaon:
Talthybius, with all speed go summon me hither Machaon,
Mortal son of Asclepius. (Hom. Il. 4.193)
As who should say, "human son of a god." (Paus. 2.26.1-10)
ERASSINOS (River) ARGOS - MYKINES
A little farther on there is on the right of the road a mountain called Chaon. At its foot grow cultivated trees, and here the water of the Erasinus rises to the surface. Up to this point it flows from Stymphalus in Arcadia, just as the Rheiti, near the sea at Eleusis, flow from the Euripus. At the places where the Erasinus gushes forth from the mountain they sacrifice to Dionysus and to Pan, and to Dionysus they also hold a festival called Tyrbe (Throng). (Paus. 2.24.6)
GERINIA (Ancient city) AVIA
For they say that the sons of Asclepius who went to Troy were Messenians, Asclepius being the son of Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus, not the son of Coronis, and they call a desolate spot in Messenia by the name Tricca and quote the lines of Homer, in which Nestor tends Machaon kindly, when he has been wounded by the arrow. He would not have shown such readiness except to a neighbor and king of a kindred people. But the surest warrant for their account of the Asclepiadae is that they point to a tomb of Machaon in Gerenia and to the sanctuary of his sons at Pharae.
This extract is from: Pausanias, Description of Greece, Harvard University Press
Cited Aug 2002 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks
GERONTHRES (Ancient city) LACONIA
A hundred and twenty stades inland from Acriae is Geronthrae. It was inhabited before the Heracleidae came to Peloponnesus, but the Dorians of Lacedaemon expelled the Achaean inhabitants and afterwards sent to it settlers of their own; but in my time it belonged to the Free Laconians. On the road from Acriae to Geronthrae is a village called Palaea (Old ), and in Geronthrae itself are a temple and grove of Ares. Every year they hold a festival in honor of the God, at which women are forbidden to enter the grove. Around the market-place are their springs of drinking-water. On the citadel is a temple of Apollo with the head of an ivory image. The rest of the image was destroyed by fire along with the former temple.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ILEI (Ancient city) ERMIONI
As you go, then, along a mountain road by way of this rock, you reach a temple of Apollo surnamed Platanistius (God of the Plane-tree Grove), and a place called Eilei, where are sanctuaries of Demeter and of her daughter Core (Maid).
IREON (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOS - MYKINES
Fifteen stades distant from Mycenae is on the left the Heraeum. Beside
the road flows the brook called Water of Freedom. The priestesses use it in purifications
and for such sacrifices as are secret. The sanctuary itself is on a lower part
of Euboea. Euboea is the name they give to the hill here, saying that Asterion
the river had three daughters, Euboea, Prosymna, and Acraea, and that they were
nurses of Hera.
The hill opposite the Heraeum they name after Acraea, the environs
of the sanctuary they name after Euboea, and the land beneath the Heraeum after
Prosymna. This Asterion flows above the Heraeum, and falling into a cleft disappears.
On its banks grows a plant, which also is called asterion. They offer the plant
itself to Hera, and from its leaves weave her garlands.
It is said that the architect of the temple was Eupolemus, an Argive.
The sculptures carved above the pillars refer either to the birth of Zeus and
the battle between the gods and the giants, or to the Trojan war and the capture
of Ilium. Before the entrance stand statues of women who have been priestesses
to Hera and of various heroes, including Orestes. They say that Orestes is the
one with the inscription, that it represents the Emperor Augustus. In the fore-temple
are on the one side ancient statues of the Graces, and on the right a couch of
Hera and a votive offering, the shield which Menelaus once took from Euphorbus
at Troy.
The statue of Hera is seated on a throne; it is huge, made of gold
and ivory, and is a work of Polycleitus. She is wearing a crown with Graces and
Seasons worked upon it, and in one hand she carries a pomegranate and in the other
a sceptre. About the pomegranate I must say nothing, for its story is somewhat
of a holy mystery. The presence of a cuckoo seated on the sceptre they explain
by the story that when Zeus was in love with Hera in her maidenhood he changed
himself into this bird, and she caught it to be her pet. This tale and similar
legends about the gods I relate without believing them, but I relate them nevertheless.
By the side of Hera stands what is said to be an image of Hebe fashioned
by Naucydes; it, too, is of ivory and gold. By its side is an old image of Hera
on a pillar. The oldest image is made of wild-pear wood, and was dedicated in
Tiryns by Peirasus, son of Argus, and when the Argives destroyed Tiryns they carried
it away to the Heraeum. I myself saw it, a small, seated image. [
Of the votive offerings the following are noteworthy. There is an
altar upon which is wrought in relief the fabled marriage of Hebe and Heracles.
This is of silver, but the peacock dedicated by the Emperor Hadrian is of gold
and gleaming stones. He dedicated it because they hold the bird to be sacred to
Hera. There lie here a golden crown and a purple robe, offerings of Nero.
Above this temple are the foundations of the earlier temple and such
parts of it as were spared by the flames. It was burnt down because sleep overpowered
Chryseis, the priestess of Hera, when the lamp before the wreaths set fire to
them. Chryseis went to Tegea and supplicated Athena Alea. Although so great a
disaster had befallen them the Argives did not take down the statue of Chryseis;
it is still in position in front of the burnt temple. (2.16.1-7)
ISTHMUS KORINTHOS (Isthmus) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
The Corinthian Isthmus stretches on the one hand to the sea at Cenchreae, and on the other to the sea at Lechaeum. For this is what makes the region to the south mainland. He who tried to make the Peloponnesus an island gave up before digging through the Isthmus. Where they began to dig is still to be seen, but into the rock they did not advance at all. So it still is mainland as its nature is to be. Alexander the son of Philip wished to dig through Mimas, and his attempt to do this was his only unsuccessful project. The Cnidians began to dig through their isthmus, but the Pythian priestess stopped them. So difficult it is for man to alter by violence what Heaven has made.
ITHOMI (Mountain) MESSINIA
On the ascent to the summit of Ithome, which is the Messenian acropolis, is a spring Clepsydra.
Water is carried every day from the spring to the sanctuary of Zeus of Ithome.
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
The Lacedaemonians resolved to cross with a fleet to Asia in order to put down Artaxerxes. Agesilaus, who was appointed to lead the expedition across to Asia and to be in command of the land forces, sent round to all parts of the Peloponnesus, except Argos, and to the Greeks north of the Isthmus, asking for allies. Now the Corinthians were most eager to take part in the expedition to Asia, but considering it a bad omen that their temple of Zeus surnamed Olympian had been suddenly burnt down, they reluctantly remained behind.
This extract is from: Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Harvard University Press
Cited Sept 2002 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KORONI (Ancient city) PETALIDI
Corone is a city to the right of the Pamisus, on the sea-coast under Mount Mathia.
On this road is a place on the coast regarded as sacred to Ino. For they say that
she came up from the sea at this point, after her divinity had been accepted and
her name changed from Ino to Leucothea. A short distance further the river Bias
reaches the sea. The name is said to be derived from Bias the son of Amythaon.
Twenty stades off the road is the fountain of Plataniston, the water of which
flows out of a broad plane tree, which is hollow inside. The breadth of the tree
gives the impression of a small cave; from it the drinking water flows to Corone.
The old name of Corone was Aepeia, but when the Messenians were restored to Peloponnese
by the Thebans, it is said that Epimelides, who was sent as founder, named it
Coroneia after his native town in Boeotia. The Messenians got the name wrong from
the start, and the mistake which they made gradually prevailed in course of time.
Another story is told to the effect that, when digging the foundations of the
city wall, they came upon a bronze crow, in Greek corone. The gods who have temples
here are Artemis, called the ?Nurse of Children,? Dionysus and Asclepius. The
statues of Asclepius and Dionysus are of stone, but there is a statue of Zeus
the Saviour in the market-place made of bronze. The statue of Athena also on the
acropolis is of bronze, and stands in the open air, holding a crow in her hand.
I also saw the tomb of Epimelides. I do not know why they call the harbor ?the
harbor of the Achaeans.?
Some eighty stades beyond Corone is a sanctuary of Apollo on the coast, venerated
because it is very ancient according to Messenian tradition, and the god cures
illnesses. They call him Apollo Corynthus. His image is of wood, but the statue
of Apollo Argeotas, said to have been dedicated by the Argonauts, is of bronze.
The city of Corone is adjoined by Colonides.
KROKEES (Ancient city) LACONIA
As you go down to the sea towards Gythium you come to a village called Croceae and a quarry. It is not a continuous stretch of rock, but the stones they dig out are shaped like river pebbles; they are hard to work, but when worked sanctuaries of the gods might be adorned with them, while they are especially adapted for beautifying swimming-baths and fountains. Here before the village stands an image of Zeus of Croceae in marble, and the Dioscuri in bronze are at the quarry.
LADON (River) ARCADIA
Among the fish in the Aroanius is one called the dappled fish. These dappled fish, it is said, utter a cry like that of the thrush. I have seen fish that have been caught, but I never heard their cry, though I waited by the river even until sunset, at which time the fish were said to cry most.
LARISSA (Acropolis) ARGOS
On the top of Larisa is a temple of Zeus, surnamed Larisaean, which has no roof;
the wooden image I found no longer standing upon its pedestal. There is also a
temple of Athena worth seeing. Here are placed votive offerings, including a wooden
image of Zeus, which has two eyes in the natural place and a third on its forehead.
This Zeus, they say, was a paternal god of Priam, the son of Laomedon, set up
in the uncovered part of his court, and when Troy was taken by the Greeks Priam
took sanctuary at the altar of this god. When the spoils were divided, Sthenelus,
the son of Capaneus, received the image, and for this reason it has been dedicated
here. The reason for its three eyes one might infer to be this. That Zeus is king
in heaven is a saying common to all men. As for him who is said to rule under
the earth, there is a verse of Homer which calls him, too, Zeus:
Zeus of the Underworld, and the august Persephonea.
(Hom. Il. 9.457)
The god in the sea, also, is called Zeus by Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion. So
whoever made the image made it with three eyes, as signifying that this same god
rules in all the three "allotments" of the Universe, as they are called. (Paus. 2.24.3-4)
LOUTRA (Village) IREA
The founder of Heraea was Heraeeus the son of Lycaon, and the city lies on the right of the Alpheius, mostly upon a gentle slope, though a part descends right to the Alpheius. Walks have been made along the river, separated by myrtles and other cultivated trees; the baths are there, as are also two temples to Dionysus.
LYKEON (Mountain) ARCADIA
Mount, called also Olympus and Sacred Peak.
LYKOSSOURA (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
Of all the cities that earth has ever shown, whether on mainland or on islands, Lycosura is the oldest, and was the first that the sun beheld; from it the rest of mankind have learned how to make them cities.
City of Arcadia, built by Lycaon, oldest city on earth, residence of Clitor and of Arcesilaus, Lycosurians refuse to abandon their city and settle at Megalopolis.
LYRKIA (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
Above Oenoe is Mount
Artemisius, with a sanctuary of Artemis on the top. On this mountain are also
the springs of the river Inachus.
For it really has springs, though the water does not run far. Here I found nothing
else that is worth seeing. There is another road, that leads to Lyrcea from the
gate at the Ridge. The story is that to this place came Lynceus, being the only
one of the fifty brothers to escape death, and that on his escape he raised a
beacon here. Now to raise the beacon was the signal he had agreed with Hypermnestra
to give if he should escape Danaus and reach a place of safety. She also, they
say, lighted a beacon on Larisa
as a sign that she too was now out of danger. For this reason the Argives hold
every year a beacon festival. At the first the place was called Lyncea; its present
name is derived from Lyrcus, a bastard son of Abas, who afterwards dwelt there.
Among the ruins are several things not worth mentioning, besides a figure of Lyrcus
upon a slab. The distance from Argos
to Lyrcea is about sixty stades, and the distance from Lyrcea to Orneae
is the same. Homer in the Catalogue makes no mention of the city Lyrcea, because
at the time of the Greek expedition against Troy
it already lay deserted
MYCENAE (Mycenean palace) ARGOLIS
Ascending (from Nemea) to Tretus, and again going along the road to
Argos, you see on the left the ruins of Mycenae. The Greeks are aware that the
founder of Mycenae was Perseus, so I will narrate the cause of its foundation
and the reason why the Argives afterwards laid Mycenae waste...(2.15.3)
...the sons of Abas, the son of Lynceus, divided the kingdom (of Argos) between
themselves; Acrisius remained where he was at Argos, and Proetus took over the
Heraeum, Mideia, Tiryns, and the Argive coast region. Traces of the residence
of Proetus in Tiryns remain to the present day. Afterwards Acrisius, learning
that Perseus himself was not only alive but accomplishing great achievements,
retired to Larisa on the Peneus. And Perseus, wishing at all costs to see the
father of his mother and to greet him with fair words and deeds, visited him at
Larisa. Being in the prime of life and proud of his inventing the quoit, he gave
displays before all, and Acrisius, as luck would have it, stepped unnoticed into
the path of the quoit.
So the prediction of the god to Acrisius found its fulfillment, nor
was his fate prevented by his precautions against his daughter and grandson. Perseus,
ashamed because of the gossip about the homicide, on his return to Argos induced
Megapenthes, the son of Proetus, to make an exchange of kingdoms; taking over
himself that of Megapenthes, he founded Mycenae. For on its site the cap (myces)
fell from his scabbard, and he regarded this as a sign to found a city. I have
also heard the following account. He was thirsty, and the thought occurred to
him to pick up a mushroom (myces) from the ground. Drinking with joy water that
flowed from it, he gave to the place the name of Mycenae.
Homer in the Odyssey mentions a woman Mycene in the following verse:
Tyro and Alcmene and the
fair-crowned lady Mycene. Hom. Od., unknown line
She is said to have been the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor
in the poem which the Greeks call the Great Eoeae. So they say that this lady
has given her name to the city. But the account which is attributed to Acusilaus,
that Myceneus was the son of Sparton, and Sparton of Phoroneus, I cannot accept,
because the Lacedaemonians themselves do not accept it either. For the Lacedaemonians
have at Amyclae a portrait statue of a woman named Sparte, but they would be amazed
at the mere mention of a Sparton, son of Phoroneus.
It was jealousy which caused the Argives to destroy Mycenae. For at the
time of the Persian invasion the Argives made no move, but the Mycenaeans sent
eighty men to Thermopylae who shared in the achievement of the Lacedaemonians.
This eagerness for distinction brought ruin upon them by exasperating the Argives.
There still remain, however, parts of the city wall, including the gate, upon
which stand lions. These, too, are said to be the work of the Cyclopes, who made
for Proetus the wall at Tiryns. (2.15.2-5)
In the ruins of Mycenae is a fountain called Persea; there are also
underground chambers of Atreus and his children, in which were stored their treasures.
There is the grave of Atreus, along with the graves of such as returned with Agamemnon
from Troy, and were murdered by Aegisthus after he had given them a banquet. As
for the tomb of Cassandra, it is claimed by the Lacedaemonians who dwell around
Amyclae. Agamemnon has his tomb, and so has Eurymedon the charioteer, while another
is shared by Teledamus and Pelops, twin sons, they say, of Cassandra, whom while
yet babies Aegisthus slew after their parents. Electra has her tomb, for Orestes
married her to Pylades. Hellanicus adds that the children of Pylades by Electra
were Medon and Strophius. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus were buried at some little
distance from the wall. They were thought unworthy of a place within it, where
lay Agamemnon himself and those who were murdered with him. (2.15.2-75)
Fifteen stades distant from Mycenae is on the left the Heraeum. Beside the road
flows the brook called Water of Freedom...(2.17.1)
NAFPLIA (Ancient city) NAFPLIO
Fifty stades, I conjecture, from Temenium is Nauplia, which at the present day is uninhabited; its founder was Nauplius, reputed to be a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Of the walls, too, ruins still remain and in Nauplia are a sanctuary of Poseidon, harbors, and a spring called Canathus. Here, say the Argives, Hera bathes every year and recovers her maidenhood.
This is one of the sayings told as a holy secret at the mysteries which they celebrate in honor of Hera. The story told by the people in Nauplia about the ass, how by nibbling down the shoots of a vine he caused a more plenteous crop of grapes in the future, and how for this reason they have carved an ass on a rock, because he taught the pruning of vines--all this I pass over as trivial. (Paus. 2.38.2)
NYMFEON (Ancient port) VOION
On the voyage from Boeae towards the point of Malea is a harbor called Nymphaeum, with a statue of Poseidon standing, and a cave close to the sea; in it is a spring of sweet water. There is a large population in the district.
ORNIES (Ancient city) NEMEA
The distance from Argos to Lyrcea is about sixty stades, and the distance
from Lyrcea to Orneae is the same. Homer in the Catalogue makes no mention of
the city Lyrcea, because at the time of the Greek expedition against Troy it already
lay deserted; Omeae, however, was inhabited, and in his poem he places it1 on
the list before Phlius and Sicyon, which order corresponds to the position of
the towns in the Argive territory.
The name is derived from Orneus, the son of Erechtheus. This Orneus
begat Peteos, and Peteos begat Menestheus, who, with a body of Athenians, helped
Agamemnon to destroy the kingdom of Priam. From him then did Omeae get its name,
and afterwards the Argives removed all its citizens, who thereupon came to live
at Argos. At Orneae are a sanctuary and an upright wooden image of Artemis; there
is besides a temple devoted to all the gods in common. On the further side of
Orneae are Sicyonia and Phliasia. (2.25.5-6)
PONTION (Mountain) LERNA
There is a sacred grove beginning on the mountain they call Pontinus. Now Mount Pontinus does not let the rain-water flow away, but absorbs it into itself. From it flows a river, also called Pontinus. Upon the top of the mountain is a sanctuary of Athena Saitis, now merely a ruin; there are also the foundations of a house of Hippomedon, who went to Thebes to redress the wrongs of Polyneices, son of Oedipus.
At this mountain begins the grove, which consists chiefly of plane trees, and reaches down to the sea. Its boundaries are, on the one side the river Pantinus, on the other side another river, called Amymane, after the daughter of Danaus. Within the grave are images of Demeter Prosymne and of Dionysus. Of Demeter there is a seated image of no great size.
Both are of stone, but in another temple is a seated wooden image of Dionysus Saotes (Savior), while by the sea is a stone image of Aphrodite. They say that the daughters of Danaus dedicated it, while Danaus himself made the sanctuary of Athena by the Pontinus. The mysteries of the Lernaeans were established, they say, by Philammon. Now the words which accompany the ritual are evidently of no antiquity. (Paus. 2.36.6-27.2)
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
On the promontory is a temple like a cave, with a statue of Poseidon
in front of it. Some of the Greek poets state that Heracles brought up the hound
of Hades here, though there is no road that leads underground through the cave,
and it is not easy to believe that the gods possess any underground dwelling where
the souls collect. But Hecataeus of Miletus gave a plausible explanation, stating
that a terrible serpent lived on Taenarum, and was called the hound of Hades,
because any one bitten was bound to die of the poison at once, and it was this
snake, he said, that was brought by Heracles to Eurystheus. But Homer, who was
the first to call the creature brought by Heracles the hound of Hades, did not
give it a name or describe it as of manifold form, as he did in the case of the
Chimaera. Later poets gave the name Cerberus, and though in other respects they
made him resemble a dog, they say that he had three heads. Homer, however, does
not imply that he was a dog, the friend of man, any more than if he had called
a real serpent the hound of Hades. Among other offerings on Taenarum is a bronze
statue of Arion the harper on a dolphin. Herodotus has told the story of Arion
and the dolphin, as he heard it, in his history of Lydia. I have seen the dolphin
at Poroselene that rewards the boy for saving his life. It had been damaged by
fishermen and he cured it.I saw this dolphin obeying his call and carrying him
whenever he wanted to ride on it. There is a spring also on Taenarum but now it
possesses nothing marvellous. Formerly, as they say, it showed harbors and ships
to those who looked into the water. These sights in the water were brought to
an end for good and all by a woman washing dirty clothes in it.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Certain Lacedaemonians who had been condemned to death on some charge fled as suppliants to Taenarum but the board of ephors dragged them from the altar there and put them to death. As the Spartans paid no heed to their being suppliants, the wrath of Poseidon came upon them, and the god razed all their city to the ground. (Paus. 4,24,5)
The Lacedaemonians put to death men who had taken refuge in the sanctuary of Poseidon at Taenarum. Presently their city was shaken by an earthquake so continuous and violent that no house in Lacedaemon could resist it. (Paus. 7,25,3)
TEFTHIS (Ancient city) DIMITSANA
Adjoining the land of Theisoa is a village called Teuthis, which in old days was a town. In the Trojan war the inhabitants supplied a general of their own. His name according to some was Teuthis, according to others Ornytus. When the Greeks failed to secure favorable winds to take them from Aulis, but were shut in for a long time by a violent gale, Teuthis quarrelled with Agamemnon and was about to lead the Arcadians under his command back home again. Whereupon, they say, Athena in the guise of Melas, the son of Ops, tried to turn Teuthis aside from his journey home. But Teuthis, his wrath swelling within him, struck with his spear the thigh of the goddess, and actually did lead his army back from Aulis. On his return to his native land the goddess appeared to him in a vision with a wound in her thigh. After this a wasting disease fell on Teuthis, and its people, alone of the Arcadians, suffered from famine. Later, oracles were delivered to them from Dodona, telling them what to do to appease the goddess, and in particular they had an image of Athena made with a wound in the thigh. This image I have myself seen, with its thigh swathed in a purple bandage. There are also at Teuthis sanctuaries of Aphrodite and Artemis.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited April 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
TIMENION (Ancient port) ARGOS
Temenium is in Argive territory, and was named after Temenus, the
son of Aristomachus. For, having seized and strengthened the position, he waged
therefrom with the Dorians the war against Tisamenus and the Achaeans. On the
way to Temenium from Lerna
the river Phrixus empties itself into the sea, and in Temenium is built a sanctuary
of Poseidon, as well as one of Aphrodite; there is also the tomb of Temenus, which
is worshipped by the Dorians in Argos.
Fifty stades, I conjecture, from Temenium is Nauplia,
which at the present day is uninhabited...(Paus.2.38.1)
TIRYNS (Mycenean palace) ARGOLIS
On the way from Argos to Epidauria there is on the right a building
made very like a pyramid, and on it in relief are wrought shields of the Argive
shape. Here took place a fight for the throne between Proetus and Acrisius; the
contest, they say, ended in a draw, and a reconciliation resulted afterwards,
as neither could gain a decisive victory. The story is that they and their hosts
were armed with shields, which were first used in this battle. For those that
fell on either side was built here a common tomb, as they were fellow citizens
and kinsmen.
Going on from here and turning to the right, you come to the ruins
of Tiryns. The Tirynthians also were removed by the Argives, who wished to make
Argos more powerful by adding to the population. The hero Tiryns, from whom the
city derived its name, is said to have been a son of Argus, a son of Zeus. The
wall, which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the Cyclopes
made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not
move the smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones
were so inserted that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together.
Going down seawards, you come to the chambers of the daughters of
Proetus. On returning to the highway you will reach Medea on the left hand.(2.25.7-8)
TRACHY OROS (Mountain) ALEA
Opposite the city is Mount Trachy (Rough). The rain-water, flowing through a deep gully between the city and Mount Trachy, descends to another Orchomenian plain, which is very considerable in extent, but the greater part of it is a lake. As you go out of Orchomenus, after about three stades, the straight road leads you to the city Caphya, along the side of the gully and afterwards along the water of the lake on the left. The other road, after you have crossed the water flowing through the gully, goes under Mount Trachy. (Paus. 8.13.4)
TRIKOLONI (Ancient city) TRIKOLONES
Once Tricoloni also was a city, and even to-day there still remains on a
hill a sanctuary of Poseidon with a square image, and around the sanctuary stands
a grove of trees. These cities had as founders the sons of Lycaon; but Zoetia,
some fifteen stades from Tricoloni, not lying on the straight road but to the
left of Tricoloni, was founded, they say, by Zoeteus, the son of Tricolonus. Paroreus,
the younger of the sons of Tricolonus, also founded a city, in this case Paroria,
ten stades distant from Zoetia. To-day both towns are without inhabitants. In
Zoetia, however, there still remains a temple of Demeter and Artemis. There are
also other ruins of cities: of Thyraeum, fifteen stades from Paroria, and of Hypsus,
lying above the plain on a mountain which is also called Hypsus. The district
between Thyraeum and Hypsus is all mountainous and full of wild beasts. My narrative
has already pointed out that Thyraeus and Hypsus were sons of Lycaon.
VIES (Ancient city) VOION
. . there runs into the land the Gulf of Boeae, and the city of Boeae is at the head of the gulf. This was founded by Boeus, one of the Heracleidae, and he is said to have collected inhabitants for it from three cities, Etis, Aphrodisias and Side. Of the ancient cities two are said to have been founded by Aeneas when he was fleeing to Italy and had been driven into this gulf by storms. Etias, they allege, was a daughter of Aeneas. The third city they say was named after Side, daughter of Danaus. When the inhabitants of these cities were expelled, they were anxious to know where they ought to settle, and an oracle was given them that Artemis would show them where they were to dwell. When therefore they had gone on shore, and a hare appeared to them, they looked upon the hare as their guide on the way. When it dived into a myrtle tree, they built a city on the site of the myrtle, and down to this day they worship that myrtle tree, and name Artemis Saviour. In the market-place of Boeae is a temple of Apollo, and in another part of the town are temples of Asclepius, of Serapis, and of Isis. The ruins of Etis are not more than seven stades distant from Boeae. On the way to them there stands on the left a stone image of Hermes. Among the ruins is a not insignificant sanctuary of Asclepius and Health.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
YSSIES (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
There is a pass into Arcadia on the Argive side in the direction of Hysiae and over Mount Parthenius into Tegean territory.
ACHEROUSSIA (Ancient small town) ERMIONI
Lake at Hermion.
AFIDANTES (Ancient city) TEGEA
Township of Tegea.
AFRODISSIAS (Ancient city) VOION
City of Laconia.
AFRODISSION (Ancient small town) MEGALOPOLIS
Place in Arcadia near Asea.
AKAKISSION (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
City of Arcadia.
AKONTION (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLIS
City of Arcadia.
AKRIES (Ancient city) ELOS
City of Free Laconians.
AKROKORINTHOS (Castle) KORINTHOS
Mountain above Corinth, sacred to the Sun, afterwards to Aphrodite, Macedonian garrison expelled by Aratus.
ALAGONIA (Ancient city) AVIA
City of Free Laconians.
ALEA (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
City of Arcadia, now belongs to Argolis. (Paus. 8.23.1, Paus. 8.27.3)
ALESSIA (Ancient city) LACONIA
Place in Laconia.
ALOUS (Ancient city) KLITORAS
Place(s) in Arcadia.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
