by Pausanias
[7.21.11] They have also a grove by the sea, affording in summer weather very agreeable walks and a pleasant means generally of passing the time. In this grove are also two temples of divinities, one of Apollo, the other of Aphrodite. The images of these too are made of stone. Next to the grove is a sanctuary of Demeter; she and her daughter are standing, but the image of Earth is seated.
[7.21.12] Before the sanctuary of Demeter is a spring. On the side of this towards the temple stands a wall of stones, while on the outer side has been made a descent to the spring. Here there is an infallible oracle, not indeed for everything, but only in the case of sick folk. They tie a mirror to a fine cord and let it down, judging the distance so that it does not sink deep into the spring, but just far enough to touch the water with its rim. Then they pray to the goddess and burn incense, after which they look into the mirror, which shows them the patient either alive or dead.
[7.21.13] This water partakes to this extent of truth, but close to Cyaneae by Lycia, where there is an oracle of Apollo Thyrxeus, the water shows to him who looks into the spring all the things that he wants to behold. By the grove in Patrae are also two sanctuaries of Serapis. In one is the tomb of Aegyptus, the son of Belus. He is said by the people of Patrae to have fled to Aroe because of the misfortunes of his children and because he shuddered at the mere name of Argos, and even more through dread of Danaus.
[7.21.14] There is also at Patrae a sanctuary of Asclepius. This sanctuary is beyond the acropolis near the gate leading to Mesatis. The women of Patrae outnumber the men by two to one. These women are amongst the most charming in the world. Most of them gain a livelihood from the fine flax that grows in Elis, weaving from it nets for the head as well as dresses.
PHARAE
[7.22.1] XXII. Pharae, a city of the Achaeans, belongs to Patrae, having been given to it by Augustus. The road from the city of Patrae to Pharae is a hundred and fifty stades, while Pharae is about seventy stades inland from the coast. Near to Pharae runs the river Pierus, which in my opinion is the same as the one flowing past the ruins of Olenus, called by the men of the coast the Peirus. Near the river is a grove of plane-trees, most of which are hollow through age, and so huge that they actually feast in the holes, and those who have a mind to do so sleep there as well.
[7.22.2] The market-place of Pharae is of wide extent after the ancient fashion, and in the middle of it is an image of Hermes, made of stone and bearded. Standing right on the earth, it is of square shape, and of no great size. On it is an inscription, saying that it was dedicated by Simylus the Messenian. It is called Hermes of the Market, and by it is established an oracle. In front of the image is placed a hearth, which also is of stone, and to the hearth bronze lamps are fastened with lead.
[7.22.3] Coming at eventide, the inquirer of the god, having burnt incense upon the hearth, filled the lamps with oil and lighted them, puts on the altar on the right of the image a local coin, called a “copper,” and asks in the ear of the god the particular question he wishes to put to him. After that he stops his ears and leaves the marketplace. On coming outside he takes his hands from his ears, and whatever utterance he hears he considers oracular.
[7.22.4] There is a similar method of divination practised at the sanctuary of Apis in Egypt. At Pharae there is also a water sacred to Hermes. The name of the spring is Hermes’ stream, and the fish in it are not caught, being considered sacred to the god. Quite close to the image stand square stones, about thirty in number. These the people of Pharae adore, calling each by the name of some god. At a more remote period all the Greeks alike worshipped uncarved stones instead of images of the gods.
[7.22.5] About fifteen stades from Pharae is a grove of the Dioscuri. The trees in it are chiefly laurels; I saw in it neither temple nor images, the latter, according to the natives, having been carried away to Rome. In the grove at Pharae is an altar of unshaped stones. I could not discover whether the founder of Pharae was Phares, son of Phylodameia, daughter of Danais, or someone else with the same name.
TRITEIA
[7.22.6] Triteia, also a city of Achaia, is situated inland, but like Pharae belongs to Patrae, having been annexed by the emperor. The distance to Triteia from Pharae is a hundred and twenty stades. Before you enter the city is a tomb of white marble, well worth seeing, especially for the paintings on the grave, the work of Nicias. There is an ivory chair on which is a young and beautiful woman, by whose side is a handmaid carrying a sunshade. There is also a young man, who is standing.
[7.22.7] He is too young for a beard, and wears a tunic with a purple cloak over it. By his side is a servant carrying javelins and leading hounds. I could not discover their names, but anyone can conjecture that here man and wife share a common grave.
[7.22.8] The founder of Triteia is said by some to have been Celbidas, who came from Cumae in the country of the Opici. Others say that Ares mated with Triteia the daughter of Triton, that this maiden was priestess to Athena, and that Melanippus, the son of Ares and Triteia, founded the city when he grew up, naming it after his mother.
[7.22.9] In Triteia is a sanctuary of the gods called Almighty, and their images are made of clay. In honor of these every year they celebrate a festival, exactly the same sort of festival as the Greeks hold in honor of Dionysus. There is also a temple of Athena, and the modern image is of stone. The ancient image, as the folk of Triteia say, was carried to Rome. The people here are accustomed to sacrifice both to Ares and to Triteia.
AEGIUM TO PATRAE COAST
[7.22.10] These cities are at some distance from the sea and completely inland. As you sail to Aegium from Patrae you come first to the cape called Rhium, fifty stades from Patrae, the harbor of Panormus being fifteen stades farther from the cape. It is another fifteen stades from Panormus to what is known as the Fort of Athena. From the Fort of Athena to the harbor of Erineus is a coastal voyage of ninety stades, and from Erineus to Aegium is sixty. But the land route is about forty stades less than the number here given.
RIVERS MEILICHUS & CHARADRUS
[7.22.11] Not far from the city of Patrae is the river Meilichus, and the sanctuary of Triclaria, which no longer has an image. This is on the right. Advancing from the Meilichus you come to another river, the name of which is the Charadrus. The flocks and herds that drink of this river in spring are bound to have male young ones for the most part, and for this reason the herdsmen remove all except the cows to another part of the country. The cows they leave behind by the river, because for sacrifices and for agriculture bulls are more suitable than cows, but in the case of other cattle the females are preferred.
ARGYRA
[7.23.1] XXIII. After the Charadrus you come to some ruins, not at all remarkable, of the city Argyra, to the spring Argyra, on the right of the high road, and to the river Selemnus going down to the sea. The local legend about Selemnus is that he was a handsome lad who used to feed his flocks here. Argyra, they say, was a sea-nymph, who fell in love with Selemnus and used to come up out of the sea to visit him, sleeping by his side.
[7.23.2] After no long while Selemnus no longer seemed so handsome, and the nymph would not visit him. So Selemnus, deserted by Argyra, died of love, and Aphrodite turned him into a river. This is what the people of Patrae say. As Selemnus continued to love Argyra even when he was turned into water, just as Alpheius in the legend continued to love Arethusa, Aphrodite bestowed on him a further gift, by blotting out the memory of Argyra.
[7.23.3] I heard too another tale about the water, how that it is a useful remedy for both men and women when in love; if they wash in the river they forget their passion. If there is any truth in the story the water of the Selemnus is of more value to mankind than great wealth.
BOLINA
[7.23.4] At some distance from Argyra is a river named Bolinaeus, and by it once stood a city Bolina. Apollo, says a legend, fell in love with a maiden called Bolina, who fleeing to the sea here threw herself into it, and by the favour of Apollo became an immortal. Next to it a cape j
uts out into the sea, and of it is told a story how Cronus threw into the sea here the sickle with which he mutilated his father Uranus. For this reason they call the cape Drepanum. Beyond the high road are the ruins of Rhypes. Aegium is about thirty stades distant from Rhypes.
AEGIUM
[7.23.5] The territory of Aegium is crossed by a river Phoenix, and by another called Meiganitas, both of which flow into the sea. A portico near the city was made for Straton, an athlete who won at Olympia on the same day victories in the pancratium and in wrestling. The portico was built that this man might exercise himself in it. At Aegium is an ancient sanctuary of Eileithyia, and her image is covered from head to foot with finely-woven drapery; it is of wood except the face, hands and feet,
[7.23.6] which are made of Pentelic marble. One hand is stretched out straight; the other holds up a torch. One might conjecture that torches are an attribute of Eileithyia because the pangs of women are just like fire. The torches might also be explained by the fact that it is Eileithyia who brings children to the light. The image is a work of Damophon the Messenian.
[7.23.7] Not far from Eileithyia is a precinct of Asclepius, with images of him and of Health. An iambic line on the pedestal says that the artist was Damophon the Messenian. In this sanctuary of Asclepius a man of Sidon entered upon an argument with me. He declared that the Phoenicians had better notions about the gods than the Greeks, giving as an instance that to Asclepius they assign Apollo as father, but no mortal woman as his mother.
[7.23.8] Asclepius, he went on, is air, bringing health to mankind and to all animals likewise; Apollo is the sun, and most rightly is he named the father of Asclepius, because the sun, by adapting his course to the seasons, imparts to the air its healthfulness. I replied that I accepted his statements, but that the argument was as much Greek as Phoenician for at Titane in Sicyonia the same image is called both Health and . . . thus clearly showing that it is the course of the sun that brings health to mankind.
[7.23.9] At Aegium you find a temple of Athena and a grove of Hera. Of Athena there are two images of white marble; the image of Hera may be seen by nobody except the woman who happens to hold the office of priestess to the goddess. Near the theater they have a sanctuary of Dionysus with an image of the god as a beardless youth. There is also in the market-place a precinct of Zeus surnamed Saviour, with two images, both of bronze, on the left as you go in; the one without a beard seemed to me the more ancient.
[7.23.10] In a building right in front of the entrance are images, of bronze like the others, representing Poseidon, Heracles, Zeus and Athena. They are called gods from Argos. The Argives say it is because they were made in Argos; the people of Aegium themselves say that the images were deposited by the Argives with them on trust.
[7.23.11] They say further that they were ordered to sacrifice each day to the images. But bethinking themselves of a trick they sacrificed a vast number of animals, but the victims they ate up at public feasts, so that they were not put to any expense. At last the Argives asked for the images to be returned, whereupon the people of Aegium asked for the cost of the sacrifices. As the Argives had not the means to pay, they left the images at Aegium.
[7.24.1] XXIV. By the market-place at Aegium is a temple shared by Apollo and Artemis in common; and in the market-place there is a sanctuary of Artemis, who is represented in the act of shooting an arrow, and also the grave of Talthybius the herald. There is also at Sparta a barrow serving as a tomb to Talthybius, and both cities sacrifice to him as to a hero.
[7.24.2] By the sea at Aegium is a sanctuary of Aphrodite, and after it one of Poseidon; there is also one of the Maiden, daughter of Demeter, and one to Zeus Homagyrius (Assembler). Here are images of Zeus, of Aphrodite and of Athena. The surname Assembler was given to Zeus because in this place Agamemnon assembled the most eminent men in Greece, in order that they might consult together how to make war on the empire of Priam. Among the claims of Agamemnon to renown is that he destroyed Troy and the cities around her with the forces that followed him originally, without any later reinforcements.
[7.24.3] Adjoining Zeus the Assembler is a sanctuary of Demeter Panachaean. The beach, on which the people of Aegium have the sanctuaries I have mentioned, affords a plentiful supply of water from a spring; it is pleasing both to the eye and to the taste. They have also a sanctuary of Safety. Her image may be seen by none but the priests, and the following ritual is performed. They take cakes of the district from the goddess and throw them into the sea, saying that they send them to Arethusa at Syracuse.
[7.24.4] There are at Aegium other images made of bronze, Zeus as a boy and Heracles as a beardless youth, the work of Ageladas of Argos. Priests are elected for them every year, and each of the two images remains at the house of the priest. In a more remote age there was chosen to be priest for Zeus from the boys he who won the prize for beauty. When his beard began to grow the honor for beauty passed to another boy. Such were the customs. Even in my time the Achaean assembly still meets at Aegium, just as the Amphictyons do at Thermopylae and at Delphi.
HELICE
[7.24.5] Going on further you come to the river Selinus, and forty stades away from Aegium is a place on the sea called Helice. Here used to be situated a city Helice, where the Ionians had a very holy sanctuary of Heliconian Poseidon. Their worship of Heliconian Poseidon has remained, even after their expulsion by the Achaeans to Athens, and subsequently from Athens to the coasts of Asia. At Miletus too on the way to the spring Biblis there is before the city an altar of Heliconian Poseidon, and in Teos likewise the Heliconian has a precinct and an altar, well worth seeing.
[7.24.6] There are also passages in Homer referring to Helice and the Heliconian Poseidon. But later on the Achaeans of the place removed some suppliants from the sanctuary and killed them.
EARTHQUAKES OF HELICE, HISTORY
But the wrath of Poseidon visited them without delay; an earthquake promptly struck their land and swallowed up, without leaving a trace for posterity to see, both the buildings and the very site on which the city stood.
[7.24.7] Warnings, usually the same in all cases, are wont to be sent by the god before violent and far-reaching earthquakes. Either continuous storms of rain or else continuous droughts occur before earthquakes for an unusual length of time, and the weather is unseasonable. In winter it turns too hot, and in summer along with a tendency to haze the orb of the sun presents an unusual color, slightly inclining to red or else to black.
[7.24.8] Springs of water generally dry up; blasts of wind sometimes swoop upon the land and overturn the trees; occasionally great flames dart across the sky; the shapes of stars too appear such as have never been witnessed before, producing consternation in those that witness them; furthermore there is a violent rumbling of winds beneath the earth – these and many other warnings is the god wont to send before violent earthquakes occur.
[7.24.9] The shock itself is not of one fixed type, but the original inquirers into such matters and their pupils have been able to discover the following forms of earthquake. The mildest form – that is, if such a calamity admits of mitigation – is when there coincides with the original shock, which levels the buildings with the ground, a shock in the opposite direction, counteracting the first and raising up the buildings already knocked over.
[7.24.10] In this form of’ earthquake pillars may be seen righting themselves which have been almost entirely uprooted, split walls coming together to their original position; beams, dislocated by the shock, go back to their places, and likewise channels, and such-like means of furthering the flow of water, have their cracks cemented better than they could be by human craftsmen. Now the second form of earthquake brings destruction to anything liable to it, and it throws over at once, as it were by a battering-ram, whatever meets the force of its impact.
[7.24.11] The most destructive kind of earthquake the experts are wont to liken to the symptoms of a man suffering from a non-intermittent fever, the breathing of such a patient being rapid an
d laboured. There are symptoms of this to be found in many parts of the body, especially at each wrist. In the same way, they say, the earthquake dives directly under buildings and shakes up their foundations, just as molehills come up from the bowels of the earth. It is this sort of shock alone that leaves no trace on the ground that men ever dwelt there.
[7.24.12] This was the type of earthquake, they say, that on the occasion referred to levelled Helice to the ground, and that it was accompanied by another disaster in the season of winter. The sea flooded a great part of the land, and covered up the whole of Helice all round. Moreover, the tide was so deep in the grove of Poseidon that only the tops of the trees remained visible. What with the sudden earthquake, and the invasion of the sea that accompanied it, the tidal wave swallowed up Helice and every man in it.
[7.24.13] A similar fate, though different in type, came upon a city on Mount Sipylus, so that it vanished into a chasm. The mountain split, water welled up from the fissure, and the chasm became a lake called Saloe. The ruins of the city were to be seen in the lake, until the water of the torrent hid them from view. The ruins of Helice too are visible, but not so plainly now as they were once, because they are corroded by the salt water.
[7.25.1] XXV. The disaster that befell Helice is but one of the many proofs that the wrath of the God of Suppliants is inexorable. The god at Dodona too manifestly advises us to respect suppliants. For about the time of Apheidas the Athenians received from Zeus of Dodona the following verses:–
Consider the Areopagus, and the smoking altars
Of the Eumenides, where the Lacedaemonians are to be thy suppliants,
When hard-pressed in war. Kill them not with the sword,
And wrong not suppliants. For suppliants are sacred and holy.
[7.25.2] The Greeks were reminded of these words when Peloponnesians arrived at Athens at the time when the Athenian king was Codrus, the son of Melanthus. Now the rest of the Peloponnesian army, on learning of the death of Codrus and of the manner of it, departed from Attica, the oracle from Delphi making them despair of success in the future; but certain Lacedaemonians, who got unnoticed within the walls in the night, perceived at daybreak that their friends had gone, and when the Athenians gathered against them, they took refuge in the Areopagus at the altars of the goddesses called August.