by Pausanias
[5.3] The other stories about the river are current among both the Phliasians and the Sicyonians, for instance that its water is foreign and not native, in that the Maeander, descending from Celaenae through Phrygia and Caria, and emptying itself into the sea at Miletus, goes to the Peloponnesus and forms the Asopus. I remember hearing a similar story from the Delians, that the stream which they call Inopus comes to them from the Nile. Further, there is a story that the Nile itself is the Euphrates, which disappears into a marsh, rises again beyond Aethiopia and becomes the Nile.
[4] τραπεῖσι τὴν ὀρεινὴν πύλη τέ ἐστιν ἡ Τενεατικὴ καὶ Εἰληθυίας ἱερόν: ἑξήκοντα δὲ ἀπέχει μάλιστα στάδια ἡ καλουμένη Τενέα. οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποί φασιν οἱ ταύτῃ Τρῶες εἶναι, αἰχμάλωτοι δὲ ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἐκ Τενέδου γενόμενοι ἐνταῦθα Ἀγαμέμνονος δόντος οἰκῆσαι: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θεῶν μάλιστα Ἀπόλλωνα τιμῶσιν.
[5.4] Such is the account I heard of the Asopus. When you have turned from the Acrocorinthus into the mountain road you see the Teneatic gate and a sanctuary of Eilethyia. The town called Tenea is just about sixty stades distant. The inhabitants say that they are Trojans who were taken prisoners in Tenedos by the Greeks, and were permitted by Agamemnon to dwell in their present home. For this reason they honor Apollo more than any other god.
[5] ἐκ Κορίνθου δὲ οὐκ ἐς μεσόγαιαν ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα ἰοῦσι ναὸς ἐμπεπρησμένος ἐστὶν οὐ πόρρω τῆς πόλεως, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ. γεγόνασι μὲν δὴ καὶ ἄλλοι πόλεμοι περὶ τὴν Κορινθίαν καὶ πῦρ ἐπέλαβεν ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς καὶ οἰκίας καὶ ἱερὰ τὰ ἔξω τείχους: ἀλλὰ τοῦτόν γε τὸν ναὸν Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι λέγουσι καὶ ὅτι Πύρρος κατακαύσειεν ὁ Ἀχιλλέως αὐτόν. χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἤκουσα καὶ ἄλλο τοιόνδε, ὡς οἱ Κορίνθιοι Διὶ ποιήσαιντο Ὀλυμπίῳ τὸν ναὸν καὶ ὡς ἐξαίφνης πῦρ ποθὲν ἐμπεσὸν διαφθείρειεν αὐτόν.
[5.5] As you go from Corinth, not into the interior but along the road to Sicyon, there is on the left not far from the city a burnt temple. There have, of course, been many wars carried on in Corinthian territory, and naturally houses and sanctuaries outside the wall have been fired. But this temple, they say, was Apollo’s, and Pyrrhus the son of Achilles burned it down. Subsequently I heard another account, that the Corinthians built the temple for Olympian Zeus, and that suddenly fire from some quarter fell on it and destroyed it.
SICYON, MYTHICAL HISTORY
[6] Σικυώνιοι δὲ — οὗτοι γὰρ ταύτῃ Κορινθίοις εἰσὶν ὅμοροι — περὶ τῆς χώρας τῆς σφετέρας λέγουσιν ὡς Αἰγιαλεὺς αὐτόχθων πρῶτος ἐν αὐτῇ γένοιτο, καὶ Πελοποννήσου δὲ ὅσον ἔτι καλεῖται καὶ νῦν Αἰγιαλὸς ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου βασιλεύοντος ὀνομασθῆναι, καὶ Αἰγιάλειαν αὐτὸν οἰκίσαι πρῶτον ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ πόλιν: οὗ δέ ἐστι νῦν σφίσι τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, ἀκρόπολιν τοῦτο εἶναι. Αἰγιαλέως δὲ Εὔρωπα γενέσθαι φασίν, Εὔρωπος δὲ Τελχῖνα, Τελχῖνος δὲ Ἆπιν.
[5.6] The Sicyonians, the neighbours of the Corinthians at this part of the border, say about their own land that Aegialeus was its first and aboriginal inhabitant, that the district of the Peloponnesus still called Aegialus was named after him because he reigned over it, and that he founded the city Aegialea on the plain. Their citadel, they say, was where is now their sanctuary of Athena; further, that Aegialeus begat Europs, Europs Telchis, and Telchis Apis.
[7] οὗτος ὁ Ἆπις ἐς τοσόνδε ηὐξήθη δυνάμεως, πρὶν ἢ Πέλοπα ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ἀφικέσθαι, ὡς τὴν ἐντὸς Ἰσθμοῦ χώραν Ἀπίαν ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου καλεῖσθαι. Ἄπιδος δὲ ἦν Θελξίων, Θελξίονος δὲ Αἴγυρος, τοῦ δὲ Θουρίμαχος, Θουριμάχου δὲ Λεύκιππος: Λευκίππῳ δὲ ἄρρενες παῖδες οὐκ ἐγένοντο, θυγάτηρ δὲ Καλχινία. ταύτῃ τῇ Καλχινίᾳ Ποσειδῶνα συγγενέσθαι φασὶ καὶ τὸν τεχθέντα ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἔθρεψεν ὁ Λεύκιππος καὶ τελευτῶν παρέδωκέν οἱ τὴν ἀρχήν:
[5.7] This Apis reached such a height of power before Pelops came to Olympia that all the territory south of the Isthmus was called after him Apia. Apis begat Thelxion, Thelxion Aegyrus, the Thurimachus, and Thurimachus Leucippus. Leucippus had no male issue, only a daughter Calchinia. There is a story that this Calchinia mated with Poseidon; her child was reared by Leucippus, who at his death handed over to him the kingdom. His name was Peratus.
[8] ὄνομα δὲ ἦν Πέρατος τῷ παιδί. τὰ δὲ ἐς Πλημναῖον τὸν Περάτου μάλιστα ἐφαίνετό μοι θαύματος ἄξια: τὰ γάρ οἱ τικτόμενα ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτίκα ὁπότε πρῶτον κλαύσειεν ἠφίει τὴν ψυχήν, ἐς ὃ Δημήτηρ ἔλεον ἴσχει Πλημναίου, παραγενομένη δὲ ἐς τὴν Αἰγιάλειαν ὡς δὴ γυνὴ ξένη Πλημναίῳ παῖδα ἀνέθρεψεν Ὀρθόπολιν. Ὀρθοπόλιδι δὲ θυγάτηρ γίνεται Χρυσόρθη: ταύτην τεκεῖν νομίζουσιν ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ ὁ παῖς ὠνομάσθη Κόρωνος, Κορώνου δὲ γίνονται Κόραξ καὶ νεώτερος Λαμέδων.
[5.8] What is reported of Plemnaeus, the son of Peratus, seemed to me very wonderful. All the children borne to him by his wife died the very first time they wailed. At last Demeter took pity on Plemnaeus, came to Aegialea in the guise of a strange woman, and reared for Plemnaeus his son Orthopolis. Orthopolis had a daughter Chrysorthe, who is thought to have borne a son named Coronus to Apollo. Coronus had two sons, Corax and a younger one Lamedon.
6. Κόρακος δὲ ἀποθανόντος ἄπαιδος ὑπὸ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν Ἐπωπεὺς ἀφικόμενος ἐκ Θεσσαλίας ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν. ἐπὶ τούτου βασιλεύοντος στρατόν σφισι πολέμιον λέγουσιν ἐς τὴν χώραν τότε ἐλθεῖν πρῶτον, τὰ πρὸ τοῦ πάντα τὸν χρόνον διατελέσασιν ἐν εἰρήνῃ. αἰτία δὲ ἥδε: Ἀντιόπης ἐν Ἕλλησι τῆς Νυκτέως ὄνομα ἦν ἐπὶ κάλλει, καί οἱ καὶ φήμη προσῆν Ἀσωποῦ θυγατέρα, ὃς τὴν Θηβαΐδα καὶ Πλαταιίδα ὁρίζει, καὶ οὐ Νυκτέως εἶναι.
[6.1] VI. Corax died without issue, and at about this time came Epopeus from Thessaly and took the kingdom. In his reign the first hostile army is said to have invaded the land, which before this had enjoyed unbroken peace. The reason was this. Antiope, the daughter of Nycteus, had a name among the Greeks for beauty, and there was also a report that her father was not Nycteus but Asopus, the river that separates the territories of Thebes and Plataea.
[2] ταύτην οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε γυναῖκα αἰτήσας εἴτε θρασύτερα ἐξ ἀρχῆς βουλευσάμενος Ἐπωπεὺς ἁρπάζει: ὡς δὲ οἱ Θηβαῖοι σὺν ὅπλοις ἦλθον, ἐνταῦθα τιτρώσκεται μὲν Νυκτεύς, ἐτρώθη δὲ κρατῶν τῇ μάχῃ καὶ Ἐπωπεύς. Νυκτέα μ�
��ν δὴ κάμνοντα ὀπίσω κομίζουσιν ἐς Θήβας, καὶ ὡς ἔμελλε τελευτᾶν, Λύκον ἀδελφὸν ὄντα παραδίδωσι Θηβαίων ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἄρχειν: Λάβδακον γὰρ τὸν Πολυδώρου τοῦ Κάδμου παῖδα ἔτι αὐτός τε ἐπετρόπευεν ὁ Νυκτεὺς καὶ τότε ἀπέλιπεν ἐπιτροπεύειν ἐκείνῳ. τοῦτον οὖν τὸν Λύκον ἱκέτευσε στρατῷ μείζονι ἐπὶ τὴν Αἰγιάλειαν ἐλάσαντα τιμωρήσασθαι μὲν Ἐπωπέα, κακοῦν δὲ εἰ λάβοι καὶ αὐτὴν Ἀντιόπην.
[6.2] This woman Epopeus carried off but I do not know whether he asked for her hand or adopted a bolder policy from the beginning. The Thebans came against him in arms, and in the battle Nycteus was wounded. Epopeus also was wounded, but won the day. Nycteus they carried back ill to Thebes, and when he was about to die he appointed to be regent of Thebes his brother Lycus for Labdacus, the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus, being still a child, was the ward of Nycteus, who on this occasion entrusted the office of guardian to Lycus. He also besought him to attack Aegialea with a larger army and bring vengeance upon Epopeus; Antiope herself, if taken, was to be punished.
[3] Ἐπωπεὺς δὲ τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ἐπινίκια ἔθυε καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ᾠκοδόμει ναόν, ἐπ᾽ ἐξειργασμένῳ δὲ εὔξατο ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν θεὸν εἴ οἱ τετελεσμένος ἐστὶν ὁ ναὸς κατὰ γνώμην: μετὰ δὲ τὴν εὐχὴν ἔλαιον λέγουσι ῥυῆναι πρὸ τοῦ ναοῦ. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ Ἐπωπέα κατέλαβεν ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ τραύματος ἀμεληθέντος κατ᾽ ἀρχάς, ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι Λύκῳ δεῆσαι πολέμου: Λαμέδων γὰρ ὁ Κορώνου βασιλεύσας μετὰ Ἐπωπέα ἐξέδωκεν Ἀντιόπην. ἡ δὲ ὡς ἐς Θήβας ἤγετο τὴν ἐπ᾽ Ἐλευθερῶν, ἐνταῦθα καθ᾽ ὁδὸν τίκτει.
[6.3] As to Epopeus, he forthwith offered sacrifice for his victory and began a temple of Athena, and when this was complete he prayed the goddess to make known whether the temple was finished to her liking, and after the prayer they say that olive oil flowed before the temple. Afterwards Epopeus also died of his wound, which he had neglected at first, so that Lycus had now no need to wage war. For Lamedon, the son of Coronus, who became king after Epopeus, gave up Antiope. As she was being taken to Thebes by way of Eleutherae, she was delivered there on the road.
[4] καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ πεποίηκεν Ἄσιος ὁ Ἀμφιπτολέμου: “Ἀντιόπη δ᾽ ἔτεκε Ζῆθον καὶ Ἀμφίονα δῖον
Ἀσωποῦ κούρη ποταμοῦ βαθυδινήεντος,
Ζηνί τε κυσαμένη καὶ Ἐπωπέι ποιμένι λαῶν.
“Asius, unknown workὍμηρος δὲ σφᾶς ἀνήγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότερον τοῦ γένους καὶ Θήβας φησὶν οἰκίσαι πρώτους, ἀποκρίνων τὴν κάτω πόλιν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς Καδμείας.
[6.4] On this matter Asius the son of Amphiptolemus says in his poem:–
Zethus and Amphion had Antiope for their mother,
Daughter of Asopus, the swift, deep-eddying river,
Having conceived of Zeus and Epopeus, shepherd of peoples. Asius, unknown work
Homer traces their descent to the more august side of their family, and says that they were the first founders of Thebes, in my opinion distinguishing the lower city from the Cadmea.
[5] Λαμέδων δὲ βασιλεύσας ἔγημεν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν γυναῖκα Φηνὼ Κλυτίου: καὶ ὕστερον γενομένου οἱ πολέμου πρὸς Ἄρχανδρον καὶ Ἀρχιτέλην τοὺς Ἀχαιοῦ συμμαχήσοντα ἐπηγάγετο Σικυῶνα ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, καὶ θυγατέρα τε συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ Ζευξίππην καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου βασιλεύσαντος ἡ γῆ Σικυωνία καὶ Σικυὼν ἀντὶ Αἰγιάλης ἡ πόλις ὠνομάσθη. Σικυῶνα δὲ οὐ Μαραθῶνος τοῦ Ἐπωπέως, Μητίονος δὲ εἶναι τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως φασίν. ὁμολογεῖ δέ σφισι καὶ Ἄσιος, ἐπεὶ Ἡσίοδός γε καὶ Ἴβυκος, ὁ μὲν ἐποίησεν ὡς Ἐρεχθέως εἴη Σικυών, Ἴβυκος δὲ εἶναι Πέλοπός φησιν αὐτόν.
[6.5] When Lamedon became king he took to wife an Athenian woman, Pheno, the daughter of Clytius. Afterwards also, when war had arisen between him and Archander and Architeles, the sons of Achaeus, he brought in as his ally Sicyon from Attica, and gave him Zeuxippe his daughter to wife. This man became king, and the land was named after him Sicyonia, and the city Sicyon instead of Aegiale. But they say that Sicyon was not the son of Marathon, the son of Epopeus, but of Metion the son of Erechtheus. Asius confirms their statement, while Hesiod makes Sicyon the son of Erechtheus, and Ibycus says that his father was Pelops.
[6] Σικυῶνος δὲ γίνεται Χθονοφύλη, Χθονοφύλης δὲ καὶ Ἑρμοῦ Πόλυβον γενέσθαι λέγουσιν: ὕστερον δὲ αὐτὴν Φλίας ὁ Διονύσου γαμεῖ, καί οἱ παῖς Ἀνδροδάμας γίνεται. Πόλυβος δὲ Ταλαῷ τῷ Βίαντος βασιλεύοντι Ἀργείων Λυσιάνασσαν τὴν θυγατέρα ἔδωκε: καὶ ὅτε Ἄδραστος ἔφευγεν ἐξ Ἄργους, παρὰ Πόλυβον ἦλθεν ἐς Σικυῶνα καὶ ὕστερον ἀποθανόντος Πολύβου τὴν ἐν Σικυῶνι ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν. Ἀδράστου δὲ ἐς Ἄργος κατελθόντος Ἰανίσκος ἀπόγονος Κλυτίου τοῦ Λαμέδοντι
κηδεύσαντος ἐλθὼν ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀποθανόντος δὲ Ἰανίσκου Φαῖστος τῶν Ἡρακλέους λεγόμενος παίδων καὶ οὗτος εἶναι.
[6.6] Sicyon had a daughter Chthonophyle, and they say that she and Hermes were the parents of Polybus. Afterwards she married Phlias, the son of Dionysus, and gave birth to Androdamas. Polybus gave his daughter Lysianassa to Talaus the son of Bias, king of the Argives; and when Adrastus fled from Argos he came to Polybus at Sicyon, and afterwards on the death of Polybus he became king at Sicyon. When Adrastus returned to Argos, Ianiscus, a descendant of Clytius the father-in-law of Lamedon, came from Attica and was made king, and when Ianiscus died he was succeeded by Phaestus, said to have been one of the children of Heracles.
[7] Φαίστου δὲ κατὰ μαντείαν μετοικήσαντος ἐς Κρήτην βασιλεῦσαι λέγεται Ζεύξιππος Ἀπόλλωνος υἱὸς καὶ νύμφης Συλλίδος. μετὰ δὲ Ζεύξιππον τελευτήσαντα Ἀγαμέμνων στρατὸν ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ Σικυῶνα καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ἱππόλυτον Ῥοπάλου παῖδα τοῦ Φαίστου: δείσας δὲ τὸν στρατὸν ἐπιόντα Ἱππόλυτος συνεχώρησεν Ἀγαμέμνονος κατήκοος καὶ Μυκηναίων εἶναι. Ἱππολύτου δὲ ἦν τούτου Λακεστάδης. Φάλκης ταμφάλκης δὲ ὁ Τημένου καταλαβὼν νύκτωρ Σικυῶνα σὺν Δωριεῦσι κακὸν μὲν ἅτε Ἡρακλείδην καὶ αὐτὸν ἐποίησεν οὐδέν, κοινωνὸν δὲ ἔσχε τῆς ἀρχῆς.
[6.7] After Phaestus in obedience to an oracle migrated to Crete, the next king is said to have been Zeuxippus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Syllis. On the death of Zeuxippus, Agamemnon led an army against Sicyon and king Hippolytus, the son of Rhopalus, the son of Phaestus
. In terror of the army that was attacking him, Hippolytus agreed to become subject to Agamemnon and the Mycenaeans. This Hippolytus was the father of Lacestades. Phalces the son of Temenus, with the Dorians, surprised Sicyon by night, but did Lacestades no harm, because he too was one of the Heracleidae, and made him partner in the kingdom.
7. καὶ Δωριεῖς μὲν Σικυώνιοι γεγόνασιν ἀπὸ τούτου καὶ μοῖρα τῆς Ἀργείας: τὴν δὲ τοῦ Αἰγιαλέως ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ πόλιν Δημήτριος καθελὼν ὁ Ἀντιγόνου τῇ πάλαι ποτὲ ἀκροπόλει προσῴκισε τὴν νῦν πόλιν. ἐχόντων δὲ ἀσθενῶς ἤδη τῶν Σικυωνίων — αἰτίαν δὲ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ποιοῖ τις ἂν ζητῶν, ἀποχρῷτο δὲ τῷ Ὁμήρῳ λεγομένῳ περὶ Διός, “ὃς δὴ πολλάων πολίων κατέλυσε κάρηνα — ,
“Homerδιακειμένοις οὖν ἀδυνάτως ἐπιγενόμενος σεισμὸς ὀλίγου τὴν πόλιν ἐποίησεν ἀνδρῶν ἔρημον, πολλὰ δὲ σφᾶς καὶ τῶν ἐς ἐπίδειξιν ἀφείλετο. ἐκάκωσε δὲ καὶ περὶ Καρίαν καὶ Λυκίαν τὰς πόλεις καὶ Ῥοδίοις ἐσείσθη μάλιστα ἡ νῆσος, ὥστε καὶ τὸ λόγιον τετελέσθαι Σιβύλλῃ τὸ ἐς τὴν Ῥόδον ἔδοξεν.
[7.1] VII. From that time the Sicyonians became Dorians and their land a part of the Argive territory. The city built by Aegialeus on the plain was destroyed by Demetrius the son of Antigonus, who founded the modern city near what was once the ancient citadel. The reason why the Sicyonians grew weak it would be wrong to seek; we must be content with Homer’s saying about Zeus:–