by Pausanias
[21.7] The Free Laconians have eighteen cities; the first as you go down from Aegiae to the sea is Gythium; after it come Teuthrone and Las and Pyrrhichus; on Taenarum are Caenepolis, Oetylus, Leuctra and Thalamae, and in addition Alagoma and Gerenia. On the other side of Clythium by the sea are Asopus, Acriae, Boeae, Larax, Epidaurus Limera, Brasiae, Geronthrae and Marius. These are all that are left to the Free Laconians out of twenty-four cities which once were theirs. All the other cities with which my narrative will deal belong, it must be remembered, to Sparta, and are not independent like those I have already mentioned.
[8] Γυθεᾶται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδένα οἰκιστὴν γενέσθαι λέγουσιν, Ἡρακλέα δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα ὑπὲρ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐς ἀγῶνα ἐλθόντας, ὡς διηλλάγησαν, μετὰ τὴν ἔριν οἰκίσαι κοινῇ τὴν πόλιν: καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ σφισιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἡρακλέους ἐστὶν ἀγάλματα, πλησίον δὲ αὐτῶν Διόνυσος. ἑτέρωθι δὲ Ἀπόλλων Κάρνειος καὶ ἱερὸν Ἄμμωνος καὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐπόντος ὀρόφου τῷ ναῷ, καὶ πηγὴ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἅγιον καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἄγαλμα Γαιαόχου.
[21.8] The people of Gythium say that their city had no human founder, but that Heracles and Apollo, when they were reconciled after their strife for the possession of the tripod, united to found the city. In the market-place they have images of Apollo and of Heracles, and a Dionysus stands near them. In another part of the city are Carnean Apollo, a sanctuary of Ammon and a bronze image of Asclepius, whose temple is roofless, a spring belonging to the god, a holy sanctuary of Demeter and an image of Poseidon Earth-embracer.
[9] ὃν δὲ ὀνομάζουσι Γυθεᾶται Γέροντα, οἰκεῖν ἐν θαλάσσῃ φάμενοι, Νηρέα ὄντα εὕρισκον: καί σφισι τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου παρέσχεν ἀρχὴν Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐν Θέτιδος λόγοις:”ὑμεῖς μὲν νῦν δῦτε θαλάσσης εὐρέα κόλπον,
ὀψόμεναί τε γέρονθ᾽ ἅλιον καὶ δώματα πατρός.
“Hom. Il 18.140-141καλοῦνται δὲ ἐνταῦθα καὶ πύλαι Καστορίδες, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα Ἀθηνᾶς πεποίηται.
[21.9] Him whom the people of Gythium name Old Man, saying that he lives in the sea, I found to be Nereus. They got this name originally from Homer, who says in a part of the Iliad, where Thetis is speaking:–
Into the broad expanse, and into the bosom of ocean
Plunge, to behold the old man of the sea and the home of your father. Hom. Il. 18.140-141
Here is also a gate called the Gate of Castor, and on the citadel have been built a temple and image of Athena.
22. Γυθίου δὲ τρεῖς μάλιστα ἀπέχει σταδίους ἀργὸς λίθος: Ὀρέστην λέγουσι καθεσθέντα ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ παύσασθαι τῆς μανίας: διὰ τοῦτο ὁ λίθος ὠνομάσθη Ζεὺς Καππώτας κατὰ γλῶσσαν τὴν Δωρίδα. ἡ δὲ νῆσος ἡ Κρανάη πρόκειται Γυθίου, καὶ Ὅμηρος Ἀλέξανδρον ἁρπάσαντα Ἑλένην ἐνταῦθα ἔφη συγγενέσθαι οἱ πρῶτον. κατὰ δὲ τὴν νῆσον ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ Μιγωνίτιδος, καὶ ὁ τόπος οὗτος ἅπας καλεῖται Μιγώνιον.
[22.1] XXII. Just about three stades from Gythium is an unwrought stone. Legend has it that when Orestes sat down upon it his madness left him. For this reason the stone was named in the Dorian tongue Zeus Cappotas.
CRANAE
Before Gythium lies the island Cranae, and Homer says that when Alexander had carried off Helen he had intercourse with her there for the first time. On the mainland opposite the island is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Migonitis (Union), and the whole place is called Migonium.
[2] τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τὸ ἱερὸν ποιῆσαι λέγουσιν Ἀλέξανδρον: Μενέλαος δὲ Ἴλιον ἑλὼν καὶ ἔτεσιν ὕστερον ὀκτὼ μετὰ Τροίας πόρθησιν οἴκαδε ἀνασωθεὶς ἄγαλμα Θέτιδος καὶ θεὰς Πραξιδίκας ἱδρύσατο ἐγγὺς τῆς Μιγωνίτιδος. Διονύσου δὲ ὄρος ἱερὸν Λαρύσιον καλούμενόν ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Μιγωνίου: καὶ ἦρος ἀρχομένου Διονύσῳ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν ἄλλα τε ἐς τὰ δρώμενα λέγοντες καὶ ὡς βότρυν ἐνταῦθα ἀνευρίσκουσιν ὡραῖον.
[22.2] This sanctuary, they say, was made by Alexander. But when Menelaus had taken Ilium and had returned safe home eight years after the sack of Troy, he set up near the sanctuary of Migonitis an image of Thetis and the goddesses Praxidicae (Exacters of Justice). Above Migonium is a mountain called Larysiumi sacred to Dionysus, and at the beginning of spring they hold a festival in honor of Dionysus, and among the things they say about the ritual is that they find here a ripe bunch of grapes.
TRINASUS & ACRIAE
[3] ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ Γυθίου στάδια προελθόντι ὡς τριάκοντα ἔστιν ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ Τρινασοῦ καλουμένης τείχη, φρουρίου ποτὲ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν καὶ οὐ πόλεως. γενέσθαι δέ οἱ δοκῶ τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῶν νησίδων, αἳ ταύτῃ πρόκεινται τῆς ἠπείρου τρεῖς ἀριθμόν. προελθόντι δὲ ἀπὸ Τρινασοῦ στάδια ὡς ὀγδοήκοντα τοῦ Ἕλους τὰ ἐρείπια ὑπόλοιπα ἦν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τριάκοντα
[22.3] Some thirty stades beyond Gythium on the left there are on the mainland walls of a place called Trinasus (Three Islands), which was in my opinion a fort and not a city. Its name I think is derived from the islets which lie off the coast here, three in number. About eighty stades beyond Trinasus I came to the ruins of Helos,
[4] προελθόντι που σταδίους ἐπὶ θαλάσσης πόλις ἐστὶν Ἀκρίαι: θέας δὲ αὐτόθι ἄξια Μητρὸς θεῶν ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα λίθου. παλαιότατον δὲ τοῦτο εἶναί φασιν οἱ τὰς Ἀκρίας ἔχοντες, ὁπόσα τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης Πελοποννησίοις ἱερά ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ Μαγνησί γε, οἳ τὰ πρὸς Βορρᾶν νέμονται τοῦ Σιπύλου, τούτοις ἐπὶ Κοδδίνου πέτρᾳ Μητρός ἐστι θεῶν ἀρχαιότατον ἁπάντων ἄγαλμα: ποιῆσαι δὲ οἱ Μάγνητες αὐτὸ Βροτέαν λέγουσι τὸν
Ταντάλου.
[22.4] 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.
[5] Ἀκριᾶται δὲ καὶ ἄνδρα ποτὲ Ὀλυμπιονίκην παρέσχοντο Νικοκλέα, Ὀλυμπιάσι δύο ἀνελόμενον δρόμου νίκας πέντε: πεποίηται δὲ καὶ μνῆμα τῷ Νικοκλεῖ τοῦ τε γυμνασίου μεταξὺ καὶ τοῦ τείχους τοῦ πρὸς τῷ λιμένι.
[22.5] The people of Acriae once produced an Olympian victor, Nicocles, w
ho 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.
GERONTHRAE & MARIUS
[6] ἀπὸ θαλάσσης δὲ ἄνω Γερόνθραι σταδίους ἀπέχουσιν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν Ἀκριῶν. ταύτας οἰκουμένας πρὶν Ἡρακλείδας ἐλθεῖν ἐς Πελοπόννησον, ἐποίησαν ἀναστάτους Δωριεῖς οἱ Λακεδαίμονα ἔχοντες, ἀναστήσαντες δὲ Γερονθρῶν τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς παρὰ σφῶν ἐποίκους ἀπέστειλαν: ἐπ᾽ ἐμοῦ δὲ Ἐλευθερολακώνων καὶ οὗτοι μοῖρα ἦσαν. κατὰ μὲν δὴ τὴν ἐξ Ἀκριῶν ἐς Γερόνθρας ὁδὸν ἔστι Παλαιὰ καλουμένη κώμη, ἐν δὲ αὐταῖς Γερόνθραις Ἄρεως ναὸς καὶ ἄλσος:
[22.6] 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.
[7] ἑορτὴν δὲ ἄγουσι τῷ θεῷ κατὰ ἔτος, ἐν ᾗ γυναιξίν ἐστιν ἀπηγορευμένον ἐσελθεῖν ἐς τὸ ἄλσος. περὶ δὲ τὴν ἀγοράν σφισιν αἱ πηγαὶ τῶν ποτίμων εἰσὶν ὑδάτων. ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀκροπόλει ναός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ ἀγάλματος ἐλέφαντος πεποιημένου κεφαλή: τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τοῦ ἀγάλματος πῦρ ἠφάνισεν ὁμοῦ τῷ προτέρῳ ναῷ.
[22.7] 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.
[8] Μαριὸς δὲ ἄλλο Ἐλευθερολακώνων πόλισμα, ὃ ἀπὸ Γερονθρῶν στάδια ἑκατὸν ἀφέστηκεν. ἱερόν ἐστιν αὐτόθι ἀρχαῖον κοινὸν θεῶν ἁπάντων καὶ περὶ αὐτὸ ἄλσος παρεχόμενον πηγάς, εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερῷ πηγαί: ὕδωρ δὲ ἄφθονον εἴπερ ἄλλο τι χωρίον παρέχεται καὶ Μαριός. κώμη δὲ ὑπὲρ τὸ πόλισμά ἐστιν ἐν μεσογαίᾳ καὶ αὐτή, Γλυππία: καὶ ἐς κώμην ἑτέραν Σελινοῦντα ἐκ Γερονθρῶν ἐστιν ὁδὸς σταδίων εἴκοσι.
[22.8] Marius is another town of the Free Laconians, distant from Geronthrae one hundred stades. Here is an ancient sanctuary common to all the gods, and around it is a grove containing springs. In a sanctuary of Artemis also there are springs. In fact Marius has an unsurpassed supply of water. Above the town, and like it in the interior, is a village, Glyppia. From Geronthrae to another village, Selinus, is a journey of twenty stades.
ASOPUS
[9] τάδε μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀκριῶν ἄνω πρὸς ἤπειρον: τὰ δὲ πρὸς θαλάσσῃ, πόλις Ἀσωπὸς Ἀκριῶν ἀπέχει σταδίους ἑξήκοντα. ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ ναός τε Ῥωμαίων βασιλέων καὶ ἀνωτέρω τῆς πόλεως ὅσον τε σταδίους δώδεκα καὶ ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀσκληπιοῦ: Φιλόλαον τὸν θεὸν ὀνομάζουσι. τὰ δὲ ὀστᾶ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ τὰ τιμώμενα μεγέθει μὲν ὑπερβάλλοντα, ἀνθρώπου δὲ ὅμως ἐστί. καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει Κυπαρισσίας ἐπίκλησιν. τῆς δὲ ἀκροπόλεως πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶ πόλεως ἐρείπια καλουμένης Ἀχαιῶν τῶν Παρακυπαρισσίων.
[22.9] These places are inland from Acriae. 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.
[10] ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ καὶ ἱερὸν Ἀσκληπιοῦ στάδια ἀπέχον ὡς πεντήκοντα Ἀσωποῦ: τὸ δὲ χωρίον, ἔνθα τὸ Ἀσκληπιεῖον, Ὑπερτελέατον ὀνομάζουσιν. ἄκρα δὲ ἀνέχουσα ἐς θάλασσαν ἀφέστηκεν Ἀσωποῦ διακόσια στάδια: καλοῦσι δὲ Ὄνου γνάθον τὴν ἄκραν. ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν ἄγαλμα οὐκ ἔχον, οὐδὲ ὄροφος ἔπεστιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ: λέγεται δὲ ὡς ὑπὸ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐποιήθη. ἔστι δὲ καὶ μνῆμα Κινάδου: νεὼς τῆς Μενελάου καὶ οὗτος κυβερνήτης ἦν.
[22.10] There is also in this district a sanctuary of Asclepius, about fifty stades from Asopus the place where the sanctuary is they name Hyperteleatum. Two hundred stades from Asopus there juts out into the sea a headland, which they call Onugnathus (Jaw of an Ass). Here is a sanctuary of Athena, having neither image nor roof. Agamemnon is said to have made it. There is also the tomb of Cinadus, one of the pilots of the ship of Menelaus.
BOEAE
[11] ἐσέχει δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἄκραν Βοιατικὸς καλούμενος κόλπος, καὶ Βοιαὶ πόλις πρὸς τῷ πέρατί ἐστι τοῦ κόλπου. ταύτην ᾤκισε μὲν Βοιὸς τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν, συναγαγεῖν δὲ ἄνδρας ἀπὸ τριῶν ἐς αὐτὴν λέγεται πόλεων, Ἤτιδος καὶ Ἀφροδισιάδος καὶ Σίδης. τῶν δὲ πόλεων τῶν ἀρχαίων τὰς μὲν δύο ἐς Ἰταλίαν φεύγοντα Αἰνείαν καὶ ὑπὸ πνευμάτων ἀπενεχθέντα ἐς τοῦτον τὸν κόλπον οἰκίσαι φασί, τὴν Ἠτιάδα Αἰνείου θυγατέρα λέγοντες εἶναι: τὴν τρίτην δὲ κληθῆναι τῶν πόλεων λέγουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς Δαναοῦ Σίδης.
[22.11] After the peak 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.
[12] ἀπὸ δὴ τούτων τῶν πόλεων ἀναστάντες ἐζήτουν ἔνθα οἰκῆσαι σφᾶς χρεὼν εἴη: καί τι καὶ μάντευμα ἦν αὐτοῖς Ἄρτεμιν ἔνθα οἰκήσουσιν ἐπιδείξειν. ὡς οὖν ἐκβᾶσιν ἐς τὴν γῆν λαγὼς ἐπιφαίνεται, τὸν λαγὼν ἐποιήσαντο ἡγεμόνα τῆς ὁδοῦ: καταδύντος δὲ ἐς μυρσίνην πόλιν τε οἰκίζουσιν ἐνταῦθα, οὗπερ ἡ μυρσίνη ἦν, καὶ τὸ δένδρον ἔτι ἐκείνην σέβουσι τὴν μυρσίνην καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ὀνομάζουσι Σώτειραν.
[22.12] 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 Artem
is 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.
[13] καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος ναὸς ἐν τῇ Βοιατῶν ἀγορᾷ ἐστι καὶ ἑτέρωθι Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ Σαράπιδός τε καὶ Ἴσιδος. Ἤτιδος δ᾽ ἐρείπια ἀπέχει μὲν Βοιῶν οὐ πλέον ἢ σταδίους ἑπτά: ἰόντι δὲ ἐς αὐτὰ ἄγαλμα Ἑρμοῦ λίθινον ἕστηκεν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐρειπίοις ἱερὸν Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ Ὑγείας ἐστὶν οὐκ ἀφανές.
[22.13] 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.
CYTHERA
23. Κύθηρα δὲ κεῖται μὲν ἀπαντικρὺ Βοιῶν, ἐς δὲ Πλατανιστοῦντα — ἐλάχιστον γὰρ τῆς ἠπείρου ταύτῃ διέστηκεν ἡ νῆσος — ἐς ταύτην τὴν ἄκραν τὸν Πλατανιστοῦντα ἀπὸ ἄκρας τῆς ἠπείρου, καλουμένης δὲ Ὄνου γνάθου, σταδίων πλοῦς τεσσαράκοντά ἐστιν. ἐν Κυθήροις δὲ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης Σκάνδειά ἐστιν ἐπίνειον, Κύθηρα δὲ ἡ πόλις ἀναβάντι ἀπὸ Σκανδείας στάδια ὡς δέκα. τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τῆς Οὐρανίας ἁγιώτατον καὶ ἱερῶν ὁπόσα Ἀφροδίτης παρ᾽ Ἕλλησίν ἐστιν ἀρχαιότατον: αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ θεὸς ξόανον ὡπλισμένον.