And first, we may observe how
frequently
Argos is mentioned by the
poet, both by itself and with the epithet designating it as Achæan
Argos, Argos Jasum, Argos Hippium, or Hippoboton, or Pelasgicum.
poet, both by itself and with the epithet designating it as Achæan
Argos, Argos Jasum, Argos Hippium, or Hippoboton, or Pelasgicum.
Strabo
The name of the country
was Messene. But the present city called Messene, the acropolis of which
was Ithome, was not then founded. After the death of Menelaus, when the
power of those who succeeded to the possession of Laconia was altogether
weakened, the Neleidæ governed Messenia. At the time of the return of
the Heracleidæ, and according to the partition of the country at that
time, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were a separate
community, but formerly subject to Menelaus. As a proof of this, in the
space from the Messenian Gulf and the continuous gulf, (called the
Asinæan from the Messenian Asine,) were situated the seven cities which
Agamemnon promised to Achilles;
“Cardamyle, Enope, the grassy Hira, the divine Pheræ,[99]
Antheia with rich meadows, the beautiful Æpeia, and Pedasus
abounding with vines. ”[100]
He certainly would not have promised what did not belong either to
himself or to his brother. The poet mentions those, who accompanied
Menelaus from Pheræ to the war,[101] and speaks of (Œtylus) in the
Laconian catalogue, a city situated on the Gulf of Messenia.
Messene follows next to Triphylia. The promontory, after which are the
Coryphasium and Cyparissia, is common to both. At the distance of 7
stadia is a mountain, the Ægaleum, situated above Coryphasium and the
sea.
2. The ancient Messenian Pylus was a city lying below the Ægaleum, and
after it was razed, some of the inhabitants settled under the
Coryphasium. But the Athenians in their second expedition against
Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Stratocles, got possession of
it, and used it as a stronghold against the Lacedæmonians. [102] Here
also is the Messenian Cyparissia, (and the island Prote,) lying close
[CAS. 359] to Pylus, the island Sphagia, called also Sphacteria. It was
here that the Lacedæmonians lost three hundred men,[103] who were
besieged by the Athenians and taken prisoners.
Two islands, called Strophades,[104] belonging to the Cyparissii, lie
off at sea in front of this coast, at the distance of about 400 stadia
from the continent, in the Libyan and southern sea. According to
Thucydides this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is
distant from Sparta 400 stadia.
3. Next is Methone. [105] This city, called by the poet Pedasus, was one
of the seven, it is said, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. There
Agrippa killed, in the Actian war, Bogus, the king of the Maurusii, a
partisan of Antony’s, having got possession of the place by an attack by
sea.
4. Continuous with Methone is Acritas,[106] where the Messenian Gulf
begins, which they call also Asinæus from Asine, a small city, the first
we meet with on the gulf, and having the same name as the Hermionic
Asine.
This is the commencement of the gulf towards the west. Towards the east
are the Thyrides,[107] as they are called, bordering upon the present
Laconia near Cænepolis,[108] and Tænarum.
In the intervening distance, if we begin from the Thyrides, we meet with
Œtylus,[109] by some called Beitylus; then Leuctrum, a colony of the
Leuctri in Bœotia; next, situated upon a steep rock, Cardamyle;[110]
then Pheræ, bordering upon Thuria, and Gerenia, from which place they
say Nestor had the epithet Gerenian, because he escaped thither, as we
have mentioned before. They show in the Gerenian territory a temple of
Æsculapius Triccæus, copied from that at the Thessalian Tricca. Pelops
is said to have founded Leuctrum, and Charadra, and Thalami, now called
the Bœotian Thalami, having brought with him, when he married his sister
Niobe to Amphion, some colonists from Bœotia.
The Nedon, a different river from the Neda, flows through Laconia, and
discharges its waters near Pheræ. It has upon its banks a remarkable
temple of the Nedusian Minerva. At Pœaessa also there is a temple of the
Nedusian Minerva, which derives its name from a place called Nedon,[111]
whence, they say, Teleclus colonized Pœaessa,[112] and Echeiæ, and
Tragium.
5. With respect to the seven cities promised to Achilles, we have
already spoken of Cardamyle, and Pheræ, and Pedasus. Enope, some say is
Pellana; others, some place near Cardamyle; others, Gerenia. [113] Hira
is pointed out near a mountain in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis[114]
in Arcadia, on the road to Andania, which we have said is called by the
poet Œchalia. Others say that the present Mesola was called Hira, which
extends to the bay situated between Taÿgetum and Messenia. Æpeia is now
called Thuria, which we said bordered upon Pheræ. It is situated upon a
lofty hill, whence its name. [115] The Thuriatic Gulf has its name from
Thuria; upon the gulf is a single city, named Rhium, opposite Tænarum.
Some say that Antheia is Thuria, and Æpeia Methone; others, that Antheia
is Asine, situated between Methone and Thuria, to which, of all the
Messenian cities, the description, “with its rich pastures,” is most
appropriate. Near it on the sea is Corone. There are some writers who
say that this town is called Pedasus by the poet. These cities are “all
near the sea;” Cardamyle close to it; Pheræ at the distance of 5 stadia,
having an anchorage, which is used in the summer. The rest are situated
at unequal distances from the sea.
6. Near Corone, about the middle of the gulf, the river Pamisus[116]
discharges itself, having, on the right hand, this city, and the rest in
succession, the last of which, towards the west, are Pylus and
Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some writers erroneously
suppose to be the ancient [CAS. 361] Arene; on the left hand it has
Thyria and Pheræ. It is the largest (in width) of the rivers within the
isthmus, although its course from its springs does not exceed 100 stadia
in length; it has an abundant supply of water, and traverses the
Messenian plain, and the district called Macaria. [117] It is distant
from the present city of the Messenians 50 stadia. [118] There is also
another Pamisus, a small torrent stream, running near Leuctrum of
Laconia, which was a subject of dispute between the Messenians and
Lacedæmonians in the time of Philip.
I have before said that some persons called the Pamisus, Amathus. [119]
7. Ephorus relates that Cresphontes, after he had taken Messene, divided
it into five cities, and chose Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of
this district, to be the royal seat of his kingdom. To the other cities,
Pylus, Rhium, (Mesola,) and Hyameitis, he appointed kings, and put all
the Messenians on an equal footing with the Dorians as to rights and
privileges. The Dorians, however, taking offence, he changed his
intention, and determined that Stenyclarus alone should have the rank of
a city, and here he assembled all the Dorians.
8. The city of the Messenians[120] resembles Corinth, for above each
city is a lofty and precipitous mountain, enclosed by a common wall in
such a manner as to be used as an acropolis; the Messenian mountain is
Ithome,[121] that near Corinth is Acrocorinthus. Demetrius of Pharos
seemed to have counselled Philip the son of Demetrius well, when he
advised him to make himself master of both cities, if he desired to get
possession of Peloponnesus; “for,” said he, “when you have seized both
horns, the cow will be your own;” meaning, by the horns, Ithome and
Acrocorinthus, and, by the cow, Peloponnesus. It was no doubt their
convenient situation which made these cities subjects of contention. The
Romans therefore razed Corinth, and again rebuilt it. The Lacedæmonians
destroyed Messene, and the Thebans, and subsequently Philip, the son of
Amyntas, restored it. The citadels however continued unoccupied.
9. The temple of Diana in Limnæ (in the Marshes), where the Messenians
are supposed to have violated the virgins who came there to offer
sacrifice, is on the confines of Laconia and Messenia, where the
inhabitants of both countries usually celebrated a common festival, and
performed sacrifices; but after the violation of the virgins, the
Messenians did not make any reparation, and war, it is said, ensued. The
Limnæan temple of Diana at Sparta is said to have its name from the
Limnæ here.
10. There were frequent wars (between the Lacedæmonians and Messenians)
on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtæus mentions, in his
poems, that their first subjugation was in the time of their
grandfathers;[122] the second, when in conjunction with their allies the
Eleians [Arcadians], Argives, and Pisatæ, they revolted; the leader of
the Arcadians was Aristocrates, king of Orchomenus, and of the Pisatæ,
Pantaleon, son of Omphalion. In this war, Tyrtæus says, he himself
commanded the Lacedæmonian army, for in his elegiac poem, entitled
Eunomia, he says he came from Erineum;
“for Jupiter himself, the son of Saturn, and husband of Juno
with the beautiful crown, gave this city to the Heracleidæ,
with whom we left the windy Erineum, and arrived at the
spacious island of Pelops. ”
Wherefore we must either invalidate the authority of the elegiac verses,
or we must disbelieve Philochorus, and Callisthenes, and many other
writers, who say that he came from Athens, or Aphidnæ, at the request of
the Lacedæmonians, whom an oracle had enjoined to receive a commander
from the Athenians.
The second war then occurred in the time of Tyrtæus. But they mention a
third, and even a fourth war, in which the Messenians were
destroyed. [123]
The [CAS. 362] whole voyage along the Messenian coast comprises about
800 stadia, including the measurement of the bays.
11. I have exceeded the limits of moderation in this description, by
attending to the multitude of facts which are related of a country, the
greatest part of which is deserted. Even Laconia itself is deficient in
population, if we compare its present state with its ancient
populousness. For, with the exception of Sparta, the remaining small
cities are about thirty; but, anciently, Laconia had the name of
Hecatompolis, and that for this reason hecatombs were annually
sacrificed.
CHAPTER V.
1. Next after the Messenian is the Laconian Gulf, situated between
Tænarum and Maleæ, declining a little from the south to the east.
Thyrides, a precipitous rock, beaten by the waves, is in the Messenian
Gulf, and distant from Tænarum 100 stadia. Above is Taÿgetum, a lofty
and perpendicular mountain, at a short distance from the sea,
approaching on the northern side close to the Arcadian mountains, so as
to leave between them a valley, where Messenia is continuous with
Laconia.
At the foot of Taÿgetum, in the inland parts, lie Sparta and
Amyclæ,[124] where is the temple of Apollo, and Pharis. The site of
Sparta is in rather a hollow, although it comprises mountains within it;
no part of it, however, is marshy, although, anciently, the suburbs were
so, which were called Limnæ. The temple of Bacchus, also in Limnæ, was
in a wet situation, but now stands on a dry ground.
In the bay on the coast is Tænarum, a promontory projecting into the
sea. [125] Upon it, in a grove, is the temple of Neptune, and near the
temple a cave, through which, according to the fable, Cerberus was
brought up by Hercules from Hades. Thence to the promontory Phycus in
Cyrenaica, is a passage across towards the south of 3000 stadia; and to
Pachynus, towards the west, the promontory of Sicily, 4600, or,
according to some writers, 4000 stadia; to Maleæ, towards the east,
including the measurement of the bays, 670 stadia; to Onugnathus,[126] a
low peninsula a little within Maleæ, 520 stadia. (In front of
Onugnathus, at the distance of 40 stadia, lies Cythera,[127] an island
with a good harbour, and a city of the same name, which was the private
property of Eurycles, the commander of the Lacedæmonians in our time. It
is surrounded by several small islands, some near it, others lying
somewhat farther off. ) To Corycus, a promontory of Crete, the nearest
passage by sea is 250 stadia. [128]
2. Next to Tænarum on the voyage to Onugnathus and to Maleæ[129] is
Amathus, (Psamathus,) a city; then follow Asine, and Gythium,[130] the
naval arsenal of Sparta, situated at an interval of 240 stadia. Its
station for vessels, they say, is excavated by art. Farther on, between
Gythium and Acræa, is the mouth of the Eurotas. [131] To this place the
voyage along the coast is about 240 stadia; then succeeds a marshy
tract, and a village, Helos, which formerly was a city, according to
Homer;
“They who occupied Amyclæ, and Helos, a small town on
the sea-coast. ”[132]
They say that it was founded by Helius the son of Perseus. There is a
plain also call Leuce; then Cyparissia,[133] a city upon a peninsula,
with a harbour; then Onugnathus with a harbour; next Bœa, a city; then
Maleæ. From these cities to Onugnathus are 150 stadia. There is also
Asopus,[134] a city in Laconia.
3. Among the places enumerated by Homer in the Catalogue of the Ships,
Messa, they say, is no longer to be found; and that Messoa is not a part
of Laconia, but a part of Sparta itself, as was the Limnæum near
Thornax. Some understand [CAS. 364] Messē to be a contraction of
Messene, for it is said that this was a part of Laconia. [They allege as
examples from the poet, the words “cri,” and “do,” and “maps,”[135] and
this passage also;
“The horses were yoked by Automedon and Alcimus,”[136]
instead of Alcimedon. And the words of Hesiod, who uses βρῖ for βριθὺ
and βριαρὸν; and Sophocles and Io, who have ῥᾳ for ῥᾴδιον; and
Epicharmus, λῖ for λίαν, and Συρακὼ for Συράκουσαι; Empedocles also has
ὂψ for ὄψις (μία γίγνεται ἀμφοτέρων ὄψ or ὄψις); and Antimachus,
Δήμητρός τοι Ἐλευσινίης ἱερὴ ὄψ, and ἄλφι for ἄλφιτον; Euphorion has ἧλ
for ἧλος; Philetes has δμωίδες εἰς ταλάρους λευκὸν ἄγουσιν ἔρι for
ἔριον; Aratus, εἰς ἄνεμον δὲ τὰ πηδά for τὰ πηδάλια; Simmias, Dodo for
Dodona. ][137]
Of the rest of the places mentioned by the poet, some are extinct; of
others traces remain, and of others the names are changed, as Augeiæ
into Ægææ: [the city] of that name in Locris exists no longer. With
respect to Las, the Dioscuri are said to have taken it by siege
formerly, whence they had the name of Lapersæ, (Destroyers of Las,) and
Sophocles says somewhere, “by the two Lapersæ, by Eurotas, by the gods
in Argos and Sparta. ”
4. Ephorus says that the Heracleidæ, Eurysthenes and Procles, having
obtained possession of Laconia, divided it into six parts, and founded
cities throughout the country, and assigned Amyclæ to him who betrayed
to them Laconia, and who prevailed upon the person that occupied it to
retire, on certain conditions, with the Achæi, into Ionia. Sparta they
retained themselves as the royal seat of the kingdom. To the other
cities they sent kings, permitting them to receive whatever strangers
might be disposed to settle there, on account of the scarcity of
inhabitants. Las was used as a naval station, because it had a
convenient harbour; Ægys, as a stronghold, from whence to attack
surrounding enemies; Pheræa, as a place to deposit treasure, because it
afforded security from[138] attempts from without. * * * * that all the
neighbouring people submitted to the Spartiatæ, but were to enjoy an
equality of rights, and to have a share in the government and in the
offices of state. They were called Heilotæ. But Agis, the son of
Eurysthenes, deprived them of the equality of rights, and ordered them
to pay tribute to Sparta. The rest submitted; but the Heleii, who
occupied Helos, revolted, and were made prisoners in the course of the
war; they were adjudged to be slaves, with the conditions, that the
owner should not be allowed to give them their liberty, nor sell them
beyond the boundaries of the country. This was called the war of the
Heilotæ. [139] The system of Heilote-slavery, which continued from that
time to the establishment of the dominion of the Romans, was almost
entirely the contrivance of Agis. They were a kind of public slaves, to
whom the Lacedæmonians assigned habitations, and required from them
peculiar services.
5. With respect to the government of the Lacones, and the changes which
have taken place among them, many things, as being well known, may be
passed over, but some it may be worth while to relate. It is said that
the Achæan Phthiotæ, who, with Pelops, made an irruption into
Peloponnesus, settled in Laconia, and were so much distinguished for
their valour, that Peloponnesus, which for a long period up to this time
had the name of Argos, was then called Achæan Argos; and not
Peloponnesus alone had this name, but Laconia also was thus peculiarly
designated. Some even understand the words of the poet,
“Where was Menelaus, was he not at Achæan Argos? ”[140]
as implying, was he not in Laconia? But about the time of the return of
the Heracleidæ, when Philonomus betrayed the country to the Dorians,
they removed from Laconia to the country of the Ionians, which at
present is called Achaia. We shall speak of them in our description of
Achaia.
Those who were in possession of Laconia, at first conducted themselves
with moderation, but after they had intrusted to Lycurgus the formation
of a political constitution, they acquired such a superiority over the
other Greeks, that they alone obtained the sovereignty both by sea and
land, and continued to be the chiefs of the Greeks, till the Thebans,
and soon afterwards the Macedonians, deprived them of this ascendency.
They [CAS. 365] did not however entirely submit even to these, but,
preserving their independence, were continually disputing the
sovereignty both with the other Greeks and with the Macedonian kings.
After the overthrow of the latter by the Romans, the Lacones living
under a bad government at that time, and under the power of tyrants, had
given some slight offence to the generals whom the Romans sent into the
province. They however recovered themselves, and were held in very great
honour. They remained free, and performed no other services but those
expected from allies. Lately however Eurycles[141] excited some
disturbances amongst them, having abused excessively, in the exercise of
his authority, the friendship of Cæsar. The government soon came to an
end by the death of Eurycles, and the son rejected all such friendships.
The Eleuthero-Lacones[142] however did obtain some regular form of
government, when the surrounding people, and especially the Heilotæ, at
the time that Sparta was governed by tyrants, were the first to attach
themselves to the Romans.
Hellanicus says that Eurysthenes and Procles regulated the form of
government, but Ephorus reproaches him with not mentioning Lycurgus at
all, and with ascribing the acts of the latter to persons who had no
concern in them; to Lycurgus only is a temple erected, and sacrifices
are annually performed in his honour, but to Eurysthenes and Procles,
although they were the founders of Sparta, yet not even these honours
were paid to them, that their descendants should bear the respective
appellations of Eurysthenidæ and Procleidæ. [143] [The descendants of
Agis, however, the son of Eurysthenes, were called Agides, and the
descendants of Eurypon, the son of Procles, were called Eurypontiadæ.
The former were legitimate princes; the others, having admitted
strangers as settlers, reigned by their means; whence they were not
regarded as original authors of the settlement, an honour usually
conferred upon all founders of cities. ]
6. As to the nature of the places in Laconia and Messenia, we may take
the description of Euripides;[144]
“Laconia has much land capable of tillage, but difficult to be
worked, for it is hollow, surrounded by mountains, rugged, and
difficult of access to an enemy. ”
Messenia he describes in this manner:
“It bears excellent fruit; is watered by innumerable streams;
it affords the finest pasture to herds and flocks; it is not
subject to the blasts of winter, nor too much heated by the
coursers of the sun;”
and a little farther on, speaking of the division of the country by the
Heracleidæ according to lot, the first was
“lord of the Lacænian land, a bad soil,”
the second was Messene,
“whose excellence no language could express;”
and Tyrtæus speaks of it in the same manner.
But we cannot admit that Laconia and Messenia are bounded, as Euripides
says,
“by the Pamisus,[145] which empties itself into the sea;”
this river flows through the middle of Messenia, and does not touch any
part of the present Laconia. Nor is he right, when he says that Messenia
is inaccessible to sailors, whereas it borders upon the sea, in the same
manner as Laconia.
Nor does he give the right boundaries of Elis;
“after passing the river is Elis, the neighbour of Jove;”
and he adduces a proof unnecessarily. For if he means the present Eleian
territory, which is on the confines of Messenia, this the Pamisus does
not touch, any more than it touches Laconia, for, as has been said
before, it flows through the middle of Messenia: or, if he meant the
ancient Eleia, called the Hollow, this is a still greater deviation from
the truth. For after crossing the Pamisus, there is a large tract of the
Messenian country, then the whole district of [the Lepreatæ], and of the
[Macistii], which is called Triphylia; then the Pisatis, and Olympia;
then at the distance of 300 stadia is Elis.
7. As some persons write the epithet applied by Homer to Lacedæmon,
κητώεσσαν, and others καιετάεσσαν, how are we to understand κητώεσσα,
whether it is derived from Cetos,[146] or [CAS. 367] whether it denotes
“large,” which is most probable. Some understand καιετάεσσα
to signify, “abounding with calaminthus;” others suppose, as
the fissures occasioned by earthquakes are called Cæeti, that this is
the origin of the epithet. Hence Cæietas also, the name of the prison
among the Lacedæmonians, which is a sort of cave. Some however say, that
such kind of hollows are rather called Coi, whence the expression of
Homer,[147] applied to wild beasts, φηρσὶν ὀρεσκῴοισιν, which live in
mountain caves. Laconia however is subject to earthquakes, and some
writers relate, that certain peaks of Taÿgetum have been broken off by
the shocks. [148]
Laconia contains also quarries of valuable marble. Those of the Tænarian
marble in Tænarum[149] are ancient, and certain persons, assisted by the
wealth of the Romans, lately opened a large quarry in Taÿgetum.
8. It appears from Homer, that both the country and the city had the
name of Lacedæmon; I mean the country together with Messenia. When he
speaks of the bow and quiver of Ulysses, he says,
“A present from Iphitus Eurytides, a stranger, who met him in
Lacedæmon,”[150]
and adds,
“They met at Messene in the house of Ortilochus. ”
He means the country which was a part of Messenia. [151] There was then
no difference whether he said “A stranger, whom he met at Lacedæmon,
gave him,” or, “they met at Messene;” for it is evident that Pheræ was
the home of Ortilochus:
“they arrived at Pheræ, and went to the house of Diocles the
son of Ortilochus,”[152]
namely, Telemachus and Pisistratus. Now Pheræ[153] belongs to Messenia.
But after saying, that Telemachus and his friend set out from Pheræ, and
were driving their two horses the whole day, he adds,
“The sun was setting; they came to the hollow Lacedæmon
(κητώεσσαν), and drove their chariot to the
palace of Menelaus. ”[154]
Here we must understand the city; and if we do not, the poet says, that
they journeyed from Lacedæmon to Lacedæmon. It is not otherwise
improbable that the palace of Menelaus should not be at Sparta; and if
it was not there, that Telemachus should say,
“for I am going to Sparta, and to Pylus,”[155]
for this seems to agree with the epithets applied to the country,[156]
unless indeed any one should allow this to be a poetical licence; for,
if Messenia was a part of Laconia, it would be a contradiction that
Messene should not be placed together with Laconia, or with Pylus,
(which was under the command of Nestor,) nor by itself in the Catalogue
of Ships, as though it had no part in the expedition.
CHAPTER VI.
1. After Maleæ follow the Argolic and Hermionic Gulfs; the former
extends as far as Scyllæum,[157] it looks to the east, and towards
the Cyclades;[158] the latter lies still more towards the east than
the former, reaching Ægina and the Epidaurian territory. [159] The
Laconians occupy the first part of the Argolic Gulf, and the Argives
the rest. Among the places occupied by the Laconians are Delium,[160]
a temple of Apollo, of [CAS. 368] the same name as that in Bœotia;
Minoa, a fortress of the same name as that in Megara; and according to
Artemidorus, Epidaurus Limera;[161] Apollodorus, however, places it
near Cythera,[162] and having a convenient harbour, (λιμὴν, limen,)
it was called Limenera, which was altered by contraction to Limera.
A great part of the coast of Laconia, beginning immediately from
Maleæ, is rugged. It has however shelters for vessels, and harbours.
The remainder of the coast has good ports; there are also many small
islands, not worthy of mention, lying in front of it.
2. To the Argives belong Prasiæ,[163] and Temenium[164] where Temenus
lies buried. Before coming to Temenium is the district through which the
river Lerna flows, that having the same name as the lake, where is laid
the scene of the fable of the Hydra. The Temenium is distant from Argos
26 stadia from the sea-coast; from Argos to Heræum are 40, and thence to
Mycenæ 10 stadia.
Next to Temenium is Nauplia, the naval station of the Argives. Its name
is derived from its being accessible to ships. Here they say the fiction
of the moderns originated respecting Nauplius and his sons, for Homer
would not have omitted to mention them, if Palamedes displayed so much
wisdom and intelligence, and was unjustly put to death; and if Nauplius
had destroyed so many people at Caphareus. [165] But the genealogy
offends both against the mythology, and against chronology. For if we
allow that he was the son of Neptune,[166] how could he be the son of
Amymone, and be still living in the Trojan times.
Next to Nauplia are caves, and labyrinths constructed in them, which
caves they call Cyclopeia.
3. Then follow other places, and after these the Hermionic Gulf. Since
the poet places this gulf in the Argive territory, we must not overlook
this division of the circumference of this country. It begins from the
small city Asine;[167] then follow Hermione,[168] and Trœzen. [169] In
the voyage along the coast the island Calauria[170] lies opposite; it
has a compass of 30 stadia, and is separated from the continent by a
strait of 4 stadia.
4. Then follows the Saronic Gulf; some call it a Pontus or sea, others a
Porus or passage, whence it is also termed the Saronic pelagos or deep.
The whole of the passage, or Porus, extending from the Hermionic Sea,
and the sea about the Isthmus (of Corinth) to the Myrtoan and Cretan
Seas, has this name.
To the Saronic Gulf belong Epidaurus,[171] and the island in front of
it, Ægina; then Cenchreæ, the naval station of the Corinthians towards
the eastern parts; then Schœnus,[172] a harbour at the distance of 45
stadia by sea; from Maleæ the whole number of stadia is about 1800.
At Schœnus is the Diolcus, or place where they draw the vessels across
the Isthmus: it is the narrowest part of it. Near Schœnus is the temple
of the Isthmian Neptune. At present, however, I shall not proceed with
the description of these places, for they are not situated within the
Argive territory, but resume the account of those which it contains.
5.
And first, we may observe how frequently Argos is mentioned by the
poet, both by itself and with the epithet designating it as Achæan
Argos, Argos Jasum, Argos Hippium, or Hippoboton, or Pelasgicum. The
city, too, is called Argos,
“Argos and Sparta”--[173]
those who occupied Argos
“and Tiryns;”[174]
and Peloponnesus is called Argos,
“at our house in Argos,”[175]
for the city could not be called his house; and he calls the whole of
Greece, Argos, for he calls all Argives, as he calls them Danai, and
Achæans.
He [CAS. 369] distinguishes the identity of name by epithets; he calls
Thessaly, Pelasgic Argos;
“all who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos;”[176]
and the Peloponnesus, the Achæan Argos;
“if we should return to Achæan Argos;”[177]
“was he not at Achæan Argos? ”[178]
intimating in these lines that the Peloponnesians were called peculiarly
Achæans according to another designation.
He calls also the Peloponnesus, Argos Jasum;
“if all the Achæans throughout Argos Jasum should see you,”[179]
meaning Penelope, she then would have a greater number of suitors; for
it is not probable that he means those from the whole of Greece, but
those from the neighbourhood of Ithaca. He applies also to Argos terms
common to other places,
“pasturing horses,” and “abounding with horses. ”
6. There is a controversy about the names Hellas and Hellenes.
Thucydides[180] says that Homer nowhere mentions Barbarians, because the
Greeks were not distinguished by any single name, which expressed its
opposite. Apollodorus also says, that the inhabitants of Thessaly alone
were called Hellenes, and alleges this verse of the poet,
“they were called Myrmidones, and Hellenes;”[181]
but Hesiod, and Archilochus, in their time knew that they were all
called Hellenes, and Panhellenes: the former calls them by this name in
speaking of the Prœtides, and says that Panhellenes were their suitors;
the latter, where he says
“that the calamities of the Panhellenes centred in Thasus. ”
But others oppose to this, that Homer does mention Barbarians, when he
says of the Carians, that they spoke a barbarous language, and that all
the Hellenes were comprised in the term Hellas;
“of the man, whose fame spread throughout Hellas and Argos. ”[182]
And again,
“but if you wish to turn aside and pass through Greece and the
midst of Argos. ”[183]
7. The greater part of the city of the Argives is situated in a plain.
It has a citadel called Larisa, a hill moderately fortified, and upon it
a temple of Jupiter. Near it flows the Inachus, a torrent river; its
source is in Lyrceium [the Arcadian mountain near Cynuria]. We have said
before that the fabulous stories about its sources are the inventions of
poets; it is a fiction also that Argos is without water--
“but the gods made Argos a land without water. ”
Now the ground consists of hollows, it is intersected by rivers, and is
full of marshes and lakes; the city also has a copious supply of water
from many wells, which rises near the surface.
They attribute the mistake to this verse,
“and I shall return disgraced to Argos (πολυδίψιον)
the very thirsty. ”[184]
This word is used for πολυπόθητον, or
“much longed after,”
or without the δ for πολυίψιον,
equivalent to the expression πολύφθορον in
Sophocles,
“this house of the Pelopidæ abounding in slaughter,”[185]
[for προϊάψαι and ἰάψαι and ἴψασθαι, denote some injury or destruction;
“at present he is making the attempt, and he will soon destroy
(ἴψεται) the sons of the Achæi;”[186]
and again, lest
“she should injure (ἰάψῃ) her beautiful skin;”[187]
and,
“has prematurely sent down, προΐαψεν, to Ades. ”[188]][189]
Besides, he does not mean the city Argos, for it was not thither that he
was about to return, but he meant Peloponnesus, which, certainly, is not
a thirsty land.
With respect to the letter δ, they introduce the conjunction
by the figure hyperbaton, and make an elision of the vowel, so that the
verse would run thus,
Καί κεν ἐλέγχιστος πολὺ δ’ ἴψιον Ἄργος ἱκοίμην,
that is, πολυίψιον Ἄργοσδε ἱκοίμην, instead of, εἰς Ἄργος. [189]
8. The Inachus[190] is one of the rivers, which flows through the Argive
territory; there is also another in Argia, the [CAS. 371] Erasīnus. It
has its source in Stymphalus in Arcadia, and in the lake there called
Stymphalis, where the scene is laid of the fable of the birds called
Stymphalides, which Hercules drove away by wounding them with arrows,
and by the noise of drums. It is said that this river passes
under-ground, and issues forth in the Argian territory, and waters the
plain. The Erasīnus is also called Arsīnus.
Another river of the same name flows out of Arcadia to the coast near
Buras. There is another Erasinus also in Eretria, and one in Attica near
Brauron.
Near Lerna a fountain is shown, called Amymone. The lake Lerna, the
haunt of the Hydra, according to the fable, belongs to the Argive and
Messenian districts. The expiatory purifications performed at this place
by persons guilty of crimes gave rise to the proverb, “A Lerna of
evils. ”
It is allowed that, although the city itself lies in a spot where there
are no running streams of water, there is an abundance of wells, which
are attributed to the Danaïdes as their invention; hence the line,
“the Danaïdes made waterless Argos, Argos the watered. ”
Four of the wells are esteemed sacred, and held in peculiar veneration.
Hence they occasioned a want of water, while they supplied it
abundantly.
9. Danaus is said to have built the citadel of the Argives. He seems to
have possessed so much more power than the former rulers of the country,
that, according to Euripides,
“he made a law that those who were formerly called Pelasgiotæ,
should be called Danai throughout Greece. ”
His tomb, called Palinthus, is in the middle of the market-place of the
Argives. I suppose that the celebrity of this city was the reason of all
the Greeks having the name of Pelasgiotæ, and Danai, as well as Argives.
Modern writers speak of Iasidæ, and Argos Iasum, and Apia, and Apidones.
Homer does not mention Apidones, and uses the word apia only to express
distance. That he means Peloponnesus by Argos we may conclude from these
lines,
“Argive Helen;”[191]
and,
“in the farthest part of Argos is a city Ephyra;”[192]
and,
“the middle of Argos;”[193]
and,
“to rule over many islands, and the whole of Argos. ”[194]
Argos, among modern writers, denotes a plain, but not once in Homer. It
seems rather a Macedonian and Thessalian use of the word.
10. After the descendants of Danaus had succeeded to the sovereignty at
Argos, and the Amythaonidæ, who came from Pisatis and Triphylia, were
intermixed with them by marriages, it is not surprising that, being
allied to one another, they at first divided the country into two
kingdoms, in such a manner that the two cities, the intended capitals,
Argos and Mycenæ, were not distant from each other more than 50 stadia,
and that the Heræum at Mycenæ should be a temple common to both. In this
temple were the statues the workmanship of Polycletus. In display of art
they surpassed all others, but in magnitude and cost they were inferior
to those of Pheidias.
At first Argos was the most powerful of the two cities. Afterwards
Mycenæ received a great increase of inhabitants in consequence of the
migration thither of the Pelopidæ. For when everything had fallen under
the power of the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, the elder, assumed the
sovereign authority, and by good fortune and valour annexed to his
possessions a large tract of country. He also added the Laconian to the
Mycenæan district. [195] Menelaus had Laconia, and Agamemnon Mycenæ, and
the country as far as Corinth, and Sicyon, and the territory which was
then said to be the country of Iones and Ægialians, and afterwards of
Achæi.
After the Trojan war, when the dominion of Agamemnon was at an end, the
declension of Mycenæ ensued, and particularly after the return of the
Heracleidæ. [196] For when these people got possession of Peloponnesus,
they expelled its former masters, so that they who had Argos possessed
Mycenæ likewise, as composing one body. In subsequent times Mycenæ was
razed by the Argives, so that at present not even a trace is to be
discovered of the city of the Mycenæans. [197]
If [CAS. 372] Mycenæ experienced this fate, it is not surprising that
some of the cities mentioned in the Catalogue of the Ships, and said to
be subject to Argos, have disappeared. These are the words of the
Catalogue:
“They who occupied Argos, and Tiryns, with strong walls, and
Hermione, and Asine situated on a deep bay, and Eïones, and
Epidaurus with its vines, and the valiant Achæan youths who
occupied Ægina, and Mases. ”[198]
Among these we have already spoken of Argos; we must now speak of the
rest.
11. Prœtus seems to have used Tiryns as a stronghold, and to have
fortified it by means of the Cyclopes. There were seven of them, and
were called Gasterocheires,[199] because they subsisted by their art.
They were sent for and came from Lycia. Perhaps the caverns about
Nauplia, and the works there, have their name from these people. The
citadel Licymna has its name from Licymnius. It is distant from Nauplia
about 12 stadia. This place is deserted, as well as the neighbouring
Midéa, which is different from the Bœotian Mídea, for that is
accentuated Mídea, like πρόνοια, but this is accentuated Midéa, like
Tegéa.
Prosymna borders upon Midéa; it has also a temple of Juno. The Argives
have depopulated most of these for their refusal to submit to their
authority. Of the inhabitants some went from Tiryns to Epidaurus; others
from Hermione to the Halieis (the Fishermen), as they are called; others
were transferred by the Lacedæmonians to Messenia from Asine, (which is
itself a village in the Argive territory near Nauplia,) and they built a
small city of the same name as the Argolic Asine. For the Lacedæmonians,
according to Theopompus, got possession of a large tract of country
belonging to other nations, and settled there whatever fugitives they
had received, who had taken refuge among them; and it was to this
country the Nauplians had retreated.
12. Hermione is one of the cities, not undistinguished. The coast is
occupied by Halieis, as they are called, a tribe who subsist by being
employed on the sea in fishing. There is a general opinion among the
Hermionenses that there is a short descent from their country to Hades,
and hence they do not place in the mouths of the dead the fare for
crossing the Styx.
13. It is said that Asine as well as Hermione was inhabited by Dryopes;
either Dryops the Arcadian having transferred them thither from the
places near the Spercheius, according to Aristotle; or, Hercules
expelled them from Doris near Parnassus.
Scyllæum near Hermione has its name, it is said, from Scylla, daughter
of Nisus. According to report, she was enamoured of Minos, and betrayed
to him Nisæa. She was drowned by order of her father, and her body was
thrown upon the shore, and buried here.
Eïones was a kind of village which the Mycenæi depopulated, and
converted into a station for vessels. It was afterwards destroyed, and
is no longer a naval station.
14. Trœzen is sacred to Neptune,[200] from whom it was formerly called
Poseidonia. It is situated 15 stadia from the sea. Nor is this an
obscure city. In front of its harbour, called Pogon,[201] lies Calauria,
a small island, of about 30 stadia in compass. Here was a temple of
Neptune, which served as an asylum for fugitives. It is said that this
god exchanged Delos for Calauria with Latona, and Tænarum for Pytho with
Apollo. Ephorus mentions the oracle respecting it:
“It is the same thing to possess Delos, or Calauria,
The divine Pytho, or the windy Tænarum. ”
There was a sort of Amphictyonic body to whom the concerns of this
temple belonged, consisting of seven cities, which performed sacrifices
in common. These were Hermon, Epidaurus, Ægina, Athenæ, Prasiæ, Nauplia,
and Orchomenus Minyeius. The Argives contributed in behalf of Nauplia,
and the Lacedæmonians in behalf of Prasiæ. The veneration for this god
prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when
masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time
the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging
away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria. Archias even, with a
body of soldiers, did not dare to use force to [CAS. 374] Demosthenes,
although he had received orders from Antipater to bring him alive, and
all other orators he could find, who were accused of the same crimes. He
attempted persuasion, but in vain, for Demosthenes deprived himself of
life by taking poison in the temple. [202]
Trœzen and Pittheus, the sons of Pelops, having set out from Pisatis to
Argos, the former left behind him a city of his own name; Pittheus
succeeded him, and became king. Anthes, who occupied the territory
before, set sail, and founded Halicarnassus. We shall speak of him in
our account of Caria and the Troad.
15. Epidaurus was called Epitaurus [Epicarus? ]. Aristotle says, that
Carians occupied both this place and Hermione, but upon the return of
the Heracleidæ those Ionians, who had accompanied them from the Athenian
Tetrapolis to Argos, settled there together with the Carians.
Epidaurus[203] was a distinguished city, remarkable particularly on
account of the fame of Æsculapius, who was supposed to cure every kind
of disease, and whose temple is crowded constantly with sick persons,
and its walls covered with votive tablets, which are hung upon the
walls, and contain accounts of the cures, in the same manner as is
practised at Cos, and at Tricca. The city lies in the recess of the
Saronic Gulf, with a coasting navigation of 15 stadia, and its aspect is
towards the point of summer sunrise. It is surrounded with lofty
mountains, which extend to the coast, so that it is strongly fortified
by nature on all sides.
Between Trœzen and Epidaurus, there was a fortress Methana,[204] and a
peninsula of the same name. In some copies of Thucydides Methone is the
common reading,[205] a place of the same name with the Macedonian city,
at the siege of which Philip lost an eye. Hence Demetrius of Scepsis is
of opinion, that some persons were led into error by the name, and
supposed that it was Methone near Trœzen. It was against this town, it
is said, that the persons sent by Agamemnon to levy sailors, uttered the
imprecation, that
“they might never cease to build walls,”
but it was not these people; but the Macedonians, according to
Theopompus, who refused the levy of men; besides it is not probable that
those, who were in the neighbourhood of Agamemnon, would disobey his
orders.
16. Ægina is a place in the territory of Epidaurus. There is in front of
this continent, an island, of which the poet means to speak in the lines
before cited. Wherefore some write,
“and the island Ægina,”
instead of
“and they who occupied Ægina,”
making a distinction between the places of the same name.
It is unnecessary to remark, that this island is among the most
celebrated. It was the country of Æacus and his descendants. It was this
island which once possessed so much power at sea, and formerly disputed
the superiority with the Athenians in the sea-fight at Salamis during
the Persian war. [206] The circuit of the island is said to be about 180
stadia. It has a city of the same name on the south-west. Around it are
Attica, and Megara, and the parts of Peloponnesus as far as Epidaurus.
It is distant from each about 100 stadia. The eastern and southern sides
are washed by the Myrtoan and Cretan seas. Many small islands surround
it on the side towards the continent, but Belbina is situated on the
side towards the open sea. The land has soil at a certain depth, but it
is stony at the surface, particularly the plain country, whence the
whole has a bare appearance, but yields large crops of barley. It is
said that the Æginetæ were called Myrmidones, not as the fable accounts
for the name, when the ants were metamorphosed into men, at the time of
a great famine, by the prayer of Æacus; but because by digging, like
ants, they threw up the earth upon the rocks, and were thus made able to
cultivate the ground, and because they lived in excavations
under-ground, abstaining from the use of bricks and sparing of the soil
for this purpose.
Its ancient name was Œnone, which is the name of two of the demi in
Attica, one near Eleutheræ;
“to inhabit the plains close to Œnone, (Œnoe,) and Eleutheræ;”
and another, one of the cities of the Tetrapolis near Marathon, to which
the proverb is applied,
“Œnone (Œnoe? ) and its torrent. ”
Its [CAS. 375] inhabitants were in succession Argives, Cretans,
Epidaurians, and Dorians. At last the Athenians divided the island by
lot among settlers of their own. The Lacedæmonians, however, deprived
the Athenians of it, and restored it to the ancient inhabitants.
The Æginetæ sent out colonists to Cydonia[207] in Crete, and to the
Ombrici. According to Ephorus, silver was first struck as money by
Pheidon. The island became a mart, the inhabitants, on account of the
fertility of its soil, employing themselves at sea as traders; whence
goods of a small kind had the name of “Ægina wares. ”
17. The poet frequently speaks of places in succession as they are
situated;
“they who inhabited Hyria, and Aulis;”[208]
“and they who occupied Argos, and Tiryns,
Hermione, and Asine,
Trœzen, and Eïones. ”[209]
At other times he does not observe any order;
“Schœnus, and Scolus,
Thespeia, and Græa. ”[210]
He also mentions together places on the continent and islands
“they who held Ithaca,
and inhabited Crocyleia,”[211]
for Crocyleia is in Acarnania. Thus he here joins with Ægina Mases,
which belongs to the continent of Argolis.
Homer does not mention Thyreæ, but other writers speak of it as well
known. It was the occasion of a contest between the three hundred
Argives against the same number of Lacedæmonians; the latter were
conquerors by means of a stratagem of Othryadas. Thucydides places
Thyreæ in Cynuria, on the confines of Argia and Laconia. [212]
Hysiæ also is a celebrated place in Argolica; and Cenchreæ, which lies
on the road from Tegea to Argos, over the mountain Parthenius, and the
Creopolus. [213] But Homer was not acquainted with either of these
places, [nor with the Lyrceium, nor Orneæ, and yet they are villages in
the Argian territory; the former of the same name as the mountain there;
the latter of the same name as the Orneæ, situated between Corinth and
Sicyon]. [214]
18. Among the cities of the Peloponnesus, the most celebrated were, and
are at this time, Argos and Sparta, and as their renown is spread
everywhere, it is not necessary to describe them at length, for if we
did so, we should seem to repeat what is said by all writers.
Anciently, Argos was the most celebrated, but afterwards the
Lacedæmonians obtained the superiority, and continued to maintain their
independence, except during some short interval, when they experienced a
reverse of fortune.
The Argives did not admit Pyrrhus within the city. He fell before the
walls, an old woman having let a tile drop from a house upon his head.
They were, however, under the sway of other kings. When they belonged to
the Achæan league they were subjected, together with the other members
of that confederacy, to the power of the Romans. The city subsists at
present, and is second in rank to Sparta.
19. We shall next speak of those places which are said, in the Catalogue
of the Ships, to be under the government of Mycenæ and Agamemnon: the
lines are these:
“Those who inhabited Mycenæ, a well-built city,
and the wealthy Corinth, and Cleonæ well built,
and Orneiæ, and the lovely Aræthyrea,
and Sicyon, where Adrastus first reigned,
and they who inhabited Hyperesia, and the lofty Gonoessa,
and Pellene, and Ægium,
and the whole range of the coast, and those who
lived near the spacious Helice. ”[215]
Mycenæ exists no longer. It was founded by Perseus. Sthenelus succeeded
Perseus; and Eurystheus, Sthenelus. These same persons were kings of
Argos also. It is said that Eurystheus, having engaged, with the
assistance of the Athenians, in an expedition to Marathon against the
descendants of Hercules and Iolaus, fell in battle, and that the
remainder of his body was buried at Gargettus, but his head apart from
it at Tricorythus[216] (Corinth? ), Iolaus having severed it from the
body near the fountain Macaria, close to the chariot-road. The spot
itself has the name of “Eurystheus’-head. ”
Mycenæ then passed into the possession of the Pelopidæ, who had left the
Pisatis, then into that of the Heracleidæ, [CAS. 377] who were also
masters of Argos. But after the sea-fight at Salamis, the Argives,
together with the Cleonæi, and the Tegetæ, invaded Mycenæ, and razed it,
and divided the territory among themselves. The tragic writers, on
account of the proximity of the two cities, speak of them as one, and
use the name of one for the other. Euripides in the same play calls the
same city in one place Mycenæ, and in another Argos, as in the
Iphigeneia,[217] and in the Orestes. [218]
Cleonæ is a town situated upon the road leading from Argos to Corinth,
on an eminence, which is surrounded on all sides by dwellings, and well
fortified, whence, in my opinion, Cleonæ was properly described as “well
built. ” There also, between Cleonæ and Phlius, is Nemea, and the grove
where it was the custom of the Argives to celebrate the Nemean games:
here is the scene of the fable of the Nemean Lion, and here also the
village Bembina. Cleonæ is distant from Argos 120 stadia, and 80 from
Corinth. And we have ourselves beheld the city from the Acrocorinthus.
20. Corinth is said to be opulent from its mart. It is situated upon the
isthmus. It commands two harbours, one near Asia, the other near Italy,
and facilitates, by reason of so short a distance between them, an
exchange of commodities on each side.
As the Sicilian strait, so formerly these seas were of difficult
navigation, and particularly the sea above Maleæ, on account of the
prevalence of contrary winds; whence the common proverb,
“When you double Maleæ forget your home. ”
It was a desirable thing for the merchants coming from Asia, and from
Italy, to discharge their lading at Corinth without being obliged to
double Cape Maleæ. For goods exported from Peloponnesus, or imported by
land, a toll was paid to those who had the keys of the country. This
continued afterwards for ever. In after-times they enjoyed even
additional advantages, for the Isthmian games, which were celebrated
there, brought thither great multitudes of people. The Bacchiadæ, a rich
and numerous family, and of illustrious descent, were their rulers,
governed the state for nearly two hundred years, and peaceably enjoyed
the profits of the mart. Their power was destroyed by Cypselus, who
became king himself, and his descendants continued to exist for three
generations. A proof of the wealth of this family is the offering which
Cypselus dedicated at Olympia, a statue of Jupiter of beaten gold.
Demaratus, one of those who had been tyrant at Corinth, flying from the
seditions which prevailed there, carried with him from his home to
Tyrrhenia so much wealth, that he became sovereign of the city which had
received him, and his son became even king of the Romans.
The temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that it had more than a
thousand women consecrated to the service of the goddess, courtesans,
whom both men and women had dedicated as offerings to the goddess. The
city was frequented and enriched by the multitudes who resorted thither
on account of these women. Masters of ships freely squandered all their
money, and hence the proverb,
“It is not in every man’s power to go to Corinth. ”[219]
The answer is related of a courtesan to a woman who was reproaching her
with disliking work, and not employing herself in spinning;
“Although I am what you see, yet, in this short time, I have
already finished three distaffs. ”[220]
21. The position of the city as it is described by Hieronymus, and
Eudoxus, and others, and from our own observation, since its restoration
by the Romans, is as follows.
That which is called the Acrocorinthus is a lofty mountain,
perpendicular, and about three stadia and a half in height. There is an
ascent of 30 stadia, and it terminates in a sharp point. The steepest
part is towards the north. Below it lies the city in a plain of the form
of a trapezium, at the very foot of the Acrocorinthus. The compass of
the city itself was 40 stadia, and all that part which was not protected
by the mountain was fortified by a wall. Even the mountain itself, the
Acrocorinthus, was comprehended within this wall, wherever it would
admit of fortification. As I ascended it, the ruins of the circuit of
the foundation were apparent, which gave a circumference of about 85
stadia.
was Messene. But the present city called Messene, the acropolis of which
was Ithome, was not then founded. After the death of Menelaus, when the
power of those who succeeded to the possession of Laconia was altogether
weakened, the Neleidæ governed Messenia. At the time of the return of
the Heracleidæ, and according to the partition of the country at that
time, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were a separate
community, but formerly subject to Menelaus. As a proof of this, in the
space from the Messenian Gulf and the continuous gulf, (called the
Asinæan from the Messenian Asine,) were situated the seven cities which
Agamemnon promised to Achilles;
“Cardamyle, Enope, the grassy Hira, the divine Pheræ,[99]
Antheia with rich meadows, the beautiful Æpeia, and Pedasus
abounding with vines. ”[100]
He certainly would not have promised what did not belong either to
himself or to his brother. The poet mentions those, who accompanied
Menelaus from Pheræ to the war,[101] and speaks of (Œtylus) in the
Laconian catalogue, a city situated on the Gulf of Messenia.
Messene follows next to Triphylia. The promontory, after which are the
Coryphasium and Cyparissia, is common to both. At the distance of 7
stadia is a mountain, the Ægaleum, situated above Coryphasium and the
sea.
2. The ancient Messenian Pylus was a city lying below the Ægaleum, and
after it was razed, some of the inhabitants settled under the
Coryphasium. But the Athenians in their second expedition against
Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Stratocles, got possession of
it, and used it as a stronghold against the Lacedæmonians. [102] Here
also is the Messenian Cyparissia, (and the island Prote,) lying close
[CAS. 359] to Pylus, the island Sphagia, called also Sphacteria. It was
here that the Lacedæmonians lost three hundred men,[103] who were
besieged by the Athenians and taken prisoners.
Two islands, called Strophades,[104] belonging to the Cyparissii, lie
off at sea in front of this coast, at the distance of about 400 stadia
from the continent, in the Libyan and southern sea. According to
Thucydides this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is
distant from Sparta 400 stadia.
3. Next is Methone. [105] This city, called by the poet Pedasus, was one
of the seven, it is said, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. There
Agrippa killed, in the Actian war, Bogus, the king of the Maurusii, a
partisan of Antony’s, having got possession of the place by an attack by
sea.
4. Continuous with Methone is Acritas,[106] where the Messenian Gulf
begins, which they call also Asinæus from Asine, a small city, the first
we meet with on the gulf, and having the same name as the Hermionic
Asine.
This is the commencement of the gulf towards the west. Towards the east
are the Thyrides,[107] as they are called, bordering upon the present
Laconia near Cænepolis,[108] and Tænarum.
In the intervening distance, if we begin from the Thyrides, we meet with
Œtylus,[109] by some called Beitylus; then Leuctrum, a colony of the
Leuctri in Bœotia; next, situated upon a steep rock, Cardamyle;[110]
then Pheræ, bordering upon Thuria, and Gerenia, from which place they
say Nestor had the epithet Gerenian, because he escaped thither, as we
have mentioned before. They show in the Gerenian territory a temple of
Æsculapius Triccæus, copied from that at the Thessalian Tricca. Pelops
is said to have founded Leuctrum, and Charadra, and Thalami, now called
the Bœotian Thalami, having brought with him, when he married his sister
Niobe to Amphion, some colonists from Bœotia.
The Nedon, a different river from the Neda, flows through Laconia, and
discharges its waters near Pheræ. It has upon its banks a remarkable
temple of the Nedusian Minerva. At Pœaessa also there is a temple of the
Nedusian Minerva, which derives its name from a place called Nedon,[111]
whence, they say, Teleclus colonized Pœaessa,[112] and Echeiæ, and
Tragium.
5. With respect to the seven cities promised to Achilles, we have
already spoken of Cardamyle, and Pheræ, and Pedasus. Enope, some say is
Pellana; others, some place near Cardamyle; others, Gerenia. [113] Hira
is pointed out near a mountain in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis[114]
in Arcadia, on the road to Andania, which we have said is called by the
poet Œchalia. Others say that the present Mesola was called Hira, which
extends to the bay situated between Taÿgetum and Messenia. Æpeia is now
called Thuria, which we said bordered upon Pheræ. It is situated upon a
lofty hill, whence its name. [115] The Thuriatic Gulf has its name from
Thuria; upon the gulf is a single city, named Rhium, opposite Tænarum.
Some say that Antheia is Thuria, and Æpeia Methone; others, that Antheia
is Asine, situated between Methone and Thuria, to which, of all the
Messenian cities, the description, “with its rich pastures,” is most
appropriate. Near it on the sea is Corone. There are some writers who
say that this town is called Pedasus by the poet. These cities are “all
near the sea;” Cardamyle close to it; Pheræ at the distance of 5 stadia,
having an anchorage, which is used in the summer. The rest are situated
at unequal distances from the sea.
6. Near Corone, about the middle of the gulf, the river Pamisus[116]
discharges itself, having, on the right hand, this city, and the rest in
succession, the last of which, towards the west, are Pylus and
Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some writers erroneously
suppose to be the ancient [CAS. 361] Arene; on the left hand it has
Thyria and Pheræ. It is the largest (in width) of the rivers within the
isthmus, although its course from its springs does not exceed 100 stadia
in length; it has an abundant supply of water, and traverses the
Messenian plain, and the district called Macaria. [117] It is distant
from the present city of the Messenians 50 stadia. [118] There is also
another Pamisus, a small torrent stream, running near Leuctrum of
Laconia, which was a subject of dispute between the Messenians and
Lacedæmonians in the time of Philip.
I have before said that some persons called the Pamisus, Amathus. [119]
7. Ephorus relates that Cresphontes, after he had taken Messene, divided
it into five cities, and chose Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of
this district, to be the royal seat of his kingdom. To the other cities,
Pylus, Rhium, (Mesola,) and Hyameitis, he appointed kings, and put all
the Messenians on an equal footing with the Dorians as to rights and
privileges. The Dorians, however, taking offence, he changed his
intention, and determined that Stenyclarus alone should have the rank of
a city, and here he assembled all the Dorians.
8. The city of the Messenians[120] resembles Corinth, for above each
city is a lofty and precipitous mountain, enclosed by a common wall in
such a manner as to be used as an acropolis; the Messenian mountain is
Ithome,[121] that near Corinth is Acrocorinthus. Demetrius of Pharos
seemed to have counselled Philip the son of Demetrius well, when he
advised him to make himself master of both cities, if he desired to get
possession of Peloponnesus; “for,” said he, “when you have seized both
horns, the cow will be your own;” meaning, by the horns, Ithome and
Acrocorinthus, and, by the cow, Peloponnesus. It was no doubt their
convenient situation which made these cities subjects of contention. The
Romans therefore razed Corinth, and again rebuilt it. The Lacedæmonians
destroyed Messene, and the Thebans, and subsequently Philip, the son of
Amyntas, restored it. The citadels however continued unoccupied.
9. The temple of Diana in Limnæ (in the Marshes), where the Messenians
are supposed to have violated the virgins who came there to offer
sacrifice, is on the confines of Laconia and Messenia, where the
inhabitants of both countries usually celebrated a common festival, and
performed sacrifices; but after the violation of the virgins, the
Messenians did not make any reparation, and war, it is said, ensued. The
Limnæan temple of Diana at Sparta is said to have its name from the
Limnæ here.
10. There were frequent wars (between the Lacedæmonians and Messenians)
on account of the revolts of the Messenians. Tyrtæus mentions, in his
poems, that their first subjugation was in the time of their
grandfathers;[122] the second, when in conjunction with their allies the
Eleians [Arcadians], Argives, and Pisatæ, they revolted; the leader of
the Arcadians was Aristocrates, king of Orchomenus, and of the Pisatæ,
Pantaleon, son of Omphalion. In this war, Tyrtæus says, he himself
commanded the Lacedæmonian army, for in his elegiac poem, entitled
Eunomia, he says he came from Erineum;
“for Jupiter himself, the son of Saturn, and husband of Juno
with the beautiful crown, gave this city to the Heracleidæ,
with whom we left the windy Erineum, and arrived at the
spacious island of Pelops. ”
Wherefore we must either invalidate the authority of the elegiac verses,
or we must disbelieve Philochorus, and Callisthenes, and many other
writers, who say that he came from Athens, or Aphidnæ, at the request of
the Lacedæmonians, whom an oracle had enjoined to receive a commander
from the Athenians.
The second war then occurred in the time of Tyrtæus. But they mention a
third, and even a fourth war, in which the Messenians were
destroyed. [123]
The [CAS. 362] whole voyage along the Messenian coast comprises about
800 stadia, including the measurement of the bays.
11. I have exceeded the limits of moderation in this description, by
attending to the multitude of facts which are related of a country, the
greatest part of which is deserted. Even Laconia itself is deficient in
population, if we compare its present state with its ancient
populousness. For, with the exception of Sparta, the remaining small
cities are about thirty; but, anciently, Laconia had the name of
Hecatompolis, and that for this reason hecatombs were annually
sacrificed.
CHAPTER V.
1. Next after the Messenian is the Laconian Gulf, situated between
Tænarum and Maleæ, declining a little from the south to the east.
Thyrides, a precipitous rock, beaten by the waves, is in the Messenian
Gulf, and distant from Tænarum 100 stadia. Above is Taÿgetum, a lofty
and perpendicular mountain, at a short distance from the sea,
approaching on the northern side close to the Arcadian mountains, so as
to leave between them a valley, where Messenia is continuous with
Laconia.
At the foot of Taÿgetum, in the inland parts, lie Sparta and
Amyclæ,[124] where is the temple of Apollo, and Pharis. The site of
Sparta is in rather a hollow, although it comprises mountains within it;
no part of it, however, is marshy, although, anciently, the suburbs were
so, which were called Limnæ. The temple of Bacchus, also in Limnæ, was
in a wet situation, but now stands on a dry ground.
In the bay on the coast is Tænarum, a promontory projecting into the
sea. [125] Upon it, in a grove, is the temple of Neptune, and near the
temple a cave, through which, according to the fable, Cerberus was
brought up by Hercules from Hades. Thence to the promontory Phycus in
Cyrenaica, is a passage across towards the south of 3000 stadia; and to
Pachynus, towards the west, the promontory of Sicily, 4600, or,
according to some writers, 4000 stadia; to Maleæ, towards the east,
including the measurement of the bays, 670 stadia; to Onugnathus,[126] a
low peninsula a little within Maleæ, 520 stadia. (In front of
Onugnathus, at the distance of 40 stadia, lies Cythera,[127] an island
with a good harbour, and a city of the same name, which was the private
property of Eurycles, the commander of the Lacedæmonians in our time. It
is surrounded by several small islands, some near it, others lying
somewhat farther off. ) To Corycus, a promontory of Crete, the nearest
passage by sea is 250 stadia. [128]
2. Next to Tænarum on the voyage to Onugnathus and to Maleæ[129] is
Amathus, (Psamathus,) a city; then follow Asine, and Gythium,[130] the
naval arsenal of Sparta, situated at an interval of 240 stadia. Its
station for vessels, they say, is excavated by art. Farther on, between
Gythium and Acræa, is the mouth of the Eurotas. [131] To this place the
voyage along the coast is about 240 stadia; then succeeds a marshy
tract, and a village, Helos, which formerly was a city, according to
Homer;
“They who occupied Amyclæ, and Helos, a small town on
the sea-coast. ”[132]
They say that it was founded by Helius the son of Perseus. There is a
plain also call Leuce; then Cyparissia,[133] a city upon a peninsula,
with a harbour; then Onugnathus with a harbour; next Bœa, a city; then
Maleæ. From these cities to Onugnathus are 150 stadia. There is also
Asopus,[134] a city in Laconia.
3. Among the places enumerated by Homer in the Catalogue of the Ships,
Messa, they say, is no longer to be found; and that Messoa is not a part
of Laconia, but a part of Sparta itself, as was the Limnæum near
Thornax. Some understand [CAS. 364] Messē to be a contraction of
Messene, for it is said that this was a part of Laconia. [They allege as
examples from the poet, the words “cri,” and “do,” and “maps,”[135] and
this passage also;
“The horses were yoked by Automedon and Alcimus,”[136]
instead of Alcimedon. And the words of Hesiod, who uses βρῖ for βριθὺ
and βριαρὸν; and Sophocles and Io, who have ῥᾳ for ῥᾴδιον; and
Epicharmus, λῖ for λίαν, and Συρακὼ for Συράκουσαι; Empedocles also has
ὂψ for ὄψις (μία γίγνεται ἀμφοτέρων ὄψ or ὄψις); and Antimachus,
Δήμητρός τοι Ἐλευσινίης ἱερὴ ὄψ, and ἄλφι for ἄλφιτον; Euphorion has ἧλ
for ἧλος; Philetes has δμωίδες εἰς ταλάρους λευκὸν ἄγουσιν ἔρι for
ἔριον; Aratus, εἰς ἄνεμον δὲ τὰ πηδά for τὰ πηδάλια; Simmias, Dodo for
Dodona. ][137]
Of the rest of the places mentioned by the poet, some are extinct; of
others traces remain, and of others the names are changed, as Augeiæ
into Ægææ: [the city] of that name in Locris exists no longer. With
respect to Las, the Dioscuri are said to have taken it by siege
formerly, whence they had the name of Lapersæ, (Destroyers of Las,) and
Sophocles says somewhere, “by the two Lapersæ, by Eurotas, by the gods
in Argos and Sparta. ”
4. Ephorus says that the Heracleidæ, Eurysthenes and Procles, having
obtained possession of Laconia, divided it into six parts, and founded
cities throughout the country, and assigned Amyclæ to him who betrayed
to them Laconia, and who prevailed upon the person that occupied it to
retire, on certain conditions, with the Achæi, into Ionia. Sparta they
retained themselves as the royal seat of the kingdom. To the other
cities they sent kings, permitting them to receive whatever strangers
might be disposed to settle there, on account of the scarcity of
inhabitants. Las was used as a naval station, because it had a
convenient harbour; Ægys, as a stronghold, from whence to attack
surrounding enemies; Pheræa, as a place to deposit treasure, because it
afforded security from[138] attempts from without. * * * * that all the
neighbouring people submitted to the Spartiatæ, but were to enjoy an
equality of rights, and to have a share in the government and in the
offices of state. They were called Heilotæ. But Agis, the son of
Eurysthenes, deprived them of the equality of rights, and ordered them
to pay tribute to Sparta. The rest submitted; but the Heleii, who
occupied Helos, revolted, and were made prisoners in the course of the
war; they were adjudged to be slaves, with the conditions, that the
owner should not be allowed to give them their liberty, nor sell them
beyond the boundaries of the country. This was called the war of the
Heilotæ. [139] The system of Heilote-slavery, which continued from that
time to the establishment of the dominion of the Romans, was almost
entirely the contrivance of Agis. They were a kind of public slaves, to
whom the Lacedæmonians assigned habitations, and required from them
peculiar services.
5. With respect to the government of the Lacones, and the changes which
have taken place among them, many things, as being well known, may be
passed over, but some it may be worth while to relate. It is said that
the Achæan Phthiotæ, who, with Pelops, made an irruption into
Peloponnesus, settled in Laconia, and were so much distinguished for
their valour, that Peloponnesus, which for a long period up to this time
had the name of Argos, was then called Achæan Argos; and not
Peloponnesus alone had this name, but Laconia also was thus peculiarly
designated. Some even understand the words of the poet,
“Where was Menelaus, was he not at Achæan Argos? ”[140]
as implying, was he not in Laconia? But about the time of the return of
the Heracleidæ, when Philonomus betrayed the country to the Dorians,
they removed from Laconia to the country of the Ionians, which at
present is called Achaia. We shall speak of them in our description of
Achaia.
Those who were in possession of Laconia, at first conducted themselves
with moderation, but after they had intrusted to Lycurgus the formation
of a political constitution, they acquired such a superiority over the
other Greeks, that they alone obtained the sovereignty both by sea and
land, and continued to be the chiefs of the Greeks, till the Thebans,
and soon afterwards the Macedonians, deprived them of this ascendency.
They [CAS. 365] did not however entirely submit even to these, but,
preserving their independence, were continually disputing the
sovereignty both with the other Greeks and with the Macedonian kings.
After the overthrow of the latter by the Romans, the Lacones living
under a bad government at that time, and under the power of tyrants, had
given some slight offence to the generals whom the Romans sent into the
province. They however recovered themselves, and were held in very great
honour. They remained free, and performed no other services but those
expected from allies. Lately however Eurycles[141] excited some
disturbances amongst them, having abused excessively, in the exercise of
his authority, the friendship of Cæsar. The government soon came to an
end by the death of Eurycles, and the son rejected all such friendships.
The Eleuthero-Lacones[142] however did obtain some regular form of
government, when the surrounding people, and especially the Heilotæ, at
the time that Sparta was governed by tyrants, were the first to attach
themselves to the Romans.
Hellanicus says that Eurysthenes and Procles regulated the form of
government, but Ephorus reproaches him with not mentioning Lycurgus at
all, and with ascribing the acts of the latter to persons who had no
concern in them; to Lycurgus only is a temple erected, and sacrifices
are annually performed in his honour, but to Eurysthenes and Procles,
although they were the founders of Sparta, yet not even these honours
were paid to them, that their descendants should bear the respective
appellations of Eurysthenidæ and Procleidæ. [143] [The descendants of
Agis, however, the son of Eurysthenes, were called Agides, and the
descendants of Eurypon, the son of Procles, were called Eurypontiadæ.
The former were legitimate princes; the others, having admitted
strangers as settlers, reigned by their means; whence they were not
regarded as original authors of the settlement, an honour usually
conferred upon all founders of cities. ]
6. As to the nature of the places in Laconia and Messenia, we may take
the description of Euripides;[144]
“Laconia has much land capable of tillage, but difficult to be
worked, for it is hollow, surrounded by mountains, rugged, and
difficult of access to an enemy. ”
Messenia he describes in this manner:
“It bears excellent fruit; is watered by innumerable streams;
it affords the finest pasture to herds and flocks; it is not
subject to the blasts of winter, nor too much heated by the
coursers of the sun;”
and a little farther on, speaking of the division of the country by the
Heracleidæ according to lot, the first was
“lord of the Lacænian land, a bad soil,”
the second was Messene,
“whose excellence no language could express;”
and Tyrtæus speaks of it in the same manner.
But we cannot admit that Laconia and Messenia are bounded, as Euripides
says,
“by the Pamisus,[145] which empties itself into the sea;”
this river flows through the middle of Messenia, and does not touch any
part of the present Laconia. Nor is he right, when he says that Messenia
is inaccessible to sailors, whereas it borders upon the sea, in the same
manner as Laconia.
Nor does he give the right boundaries of Elis;
“after passing the river is Elis, the neighbour of Jove;”
and he adduces a proof unnecessarily. For if he means the present Eleian
territory, which is on the confines of Messenia, this the Pamisus does
not touch, any more than it touches Laconia, for, as has been said
before, it flows through the middle of Messenia: or, if he meant the
ancient Eleia, called the Hollow, this is a still greater deviation from
the truth. For after crossing the Pamisus, there is a large tract of the
Messenian country, then the whole district of [the Lepreatæ], and of the
[Macistii], which is called Triphylia; then the Pisatis, and Olympia;
then at the distance of 300 stadia is Elis.
7. As some persons write the epithet applied by Homer to Lacedæmon,
κητώεσσαν, and others καιετάεσσαν, how are we to understand κητώεσσα,
whether it is derived from Cetos,[146] or [CAS. 367] whether it denotes
“large,” which is most probable. Some understand καιετάεσσα
to signify, “abounding with calaminthus;” others suppose, as
the fissures occasioned by earthquakes are called Cæeti, that this is
the origin of the epithet. Hence Cæietas also, the name of the prison
among the Lacedæmonians, which is a sort of cave. Some however say, that
such kind of hollows are rather called Coi, whence the expression of
Homer,[147] applied to wild beasts, φηρσὶν ὀρεσκῴοισιν, which live in
mountain caves. Laconia however is subject to earthquakes, and some
writers relate, that certain peaks of Taÿgetum have been broken off by
the shocks. [148]
Laconia contains also quarries of valuable marble. Those of the Tænarian
marble in Tænarum[149] are ancient, and certain persons, assisted by the
wealth of the Romans, lately opened a large quarry in Taÿgetum.
8. It appears from Homer, that both the country and the city had the
name of Lacedæmon; I mean the country together with Messenia. When he
speaks of the bow and quiver of Ulysses, he says,
“A present from Iphitus Eurytides, a stranger, who met him in
Lacedæmon,”[150]
and adds,
“They met at Messene in the house of Ortilochus. ”
He means the country which was a part of Messenia. [151] There was then
no difference whether he said “A stranger, whom he met at Lacedæmon,
gave him,” or, “they met at Messene;” for it is evident that Pheræ was
the home of Ortilochus:
“they arrived at Pheræ, and went to the house of Diocles the
son of Ortilochus,”[152]
namely, Telemachus and Pisistratus. Now Pheræ[153] belongs to Messenia.
But after saying, that Telemachus and his friend set out from Pheræ, and
were driving their two horses the whole day, he adds,
“The sun was setting; they came to the hollow Lacedæmon
(κητώεσσαν), and drove their chariot to the
palace of Menelaus. ”[154]
Here we must understand the city; and if we do not, the poet says, that
they journeyed from Lacedæmon to Lacedæmon. It is not otherwise
improbable that the palace of Menelaus should not be at Sparta; and if
it was not there, that Telemachus should say,
“for I am going to Sparta, and to Pylus,”[155]
for this seems to agree with the epithets applied to the country,[156]
unless indeed any one should allow this to be a poetical licence; for,
if Messenia was a part of Laconia, it would be a contradiction that
Messene should not be placed together with Laconia, or with Pylus,
(which was under the command of Nestor,) nor by itself in the Catalogue
of Ships, as though it had no part in the expedition.
CHAPTER VI.
1. After Maleæ follow the Argolic and Hermionic Gulfs; the former
extends as far as Scyllæum,[157] it looks to the east, and towards
the Cyclades;[158] the latter lies still more towards the east than
the former, reaching Ægina and the Epidaurian territory. [159] The
Laconians occupy the first part of the Argolic Gulf, and the Argives
the rest. Among the places occupied by the Laconians are Delium,[160]
a temple of Apollo, of [CAS. 368] the same name as that in Bœotia;
Minoa, a fortress of the same name as that in Megara; and according to
Artemidorus, Epidaurus Limera;[161] Apollodorus, however, places it
near Cythera,[162] and having a convenient harbour, (λιμὴν, limen,)
it was called Limenera, which was altered by contraction to Limera.
A great part of the coast of Laconia, beginning immediately from
Maleæ, is rugged. It has however shelters for vessels, and harbours.
The remainder of the coast has good ports; there are also many small
islands, not worthy of mention, lying in front of it.
2. To the Argives belong Prasiæ,[163] and Temenium[164] where Temenus
lies buried. Before coming to Temenium is the district through which the
river Lerna flows, that having the same name as the lake, where is laid
the scene of the fable of the Hydra. The Temenium is distant from Argos
26 stadia from the sea-coast; from Argos to Heræum are 40, and thence to
Mycenæ 10 stadia.
Next to Temenium is Nauplia, the naval station of the Argives. Its name
is derived from its being accessible to ships. Here they say the fiction
of the moderns originated respecting Nauplius and his sons, for Homer
would not have omitted to mention them, if Palamedes displayed so much
wisdom and intelligence, and was unjustly put to death; and if Nauplius
had destroyed so many people at Caphareus. [165] But the genealogy
offends both against the mythology, and against chronology. For if we
allow that he was the son of Neptune,[166] how could he be the son of
Amymone, and be still living in the Trojan times.
Next to Nauplia are caves, and labyrinths constructed in them, which
caves they call Cyclopeia.
3. Then follow other places, and after these the Hermionic Gulf. Since
the poet places this gulf in the Argive territory, we must not overlook
this division of the circumference of this country. It begins from the
small city Asine;[167] then follow Hermione,[168] and Trœzen. [169] In
the voyage along the coast the island Calauria[170] lies opposite; it
has a compass of 30 stadia, and is separated from the continent by a
strait of 4 stadia.
4. Then follows the Saronic Gulf; some call it a Pontus or sea, others a
Porus or passage, whence it is also termed the Saronic pelagos or deep.
The whole of the passage, or Porus, extending from the Hermionic Sea,
and the sea about the Isthmus (of Corinth) to the Myrtoan and Cretan
Seas, has this name.
To the Saronic Gulf belong Epidaurus,[171] and the island in front of
it, Ægina; then Cenchreæ, the naval station of the Corinthians towards
the eastern parts; then Schœnus,[172] a harbour at the distance of 45
stadia by sea; from Maleæ the whole number of stadia is about 1800.
At Schœnus is the Diolcus, or place where they draw the vessels across
the Isthmus: it is the narrowest part of it. Near Schœnus is the temple
of the Isthmian Neptune. At present, however, I shall not proceed with
the description of these places, for they are not situated within the
Argive territory, but resume the account of those which it contains.
5.
And first, we may observe how frequently Argos is mentioned by the
poet, both by itself and with the epithet designating it as Achæan
Argos, Argos Jasum, Argos Hippium, or Hippoboton, or Pelasgicum. The
city, too, is called Argos,
“Argos and Sparta”--[173]
those who occupied Argos
“and Tiryns;”[174]
and Peloponnesus is called Argos,
“at our house in Argos,”[175]
for the city could not be called his house; and he calls the whole of
Greece, Argos, for he calls all Argives, as he calls them Danai, and
Achæans.
He [CAS. 369] distinguishes the identity of name by epithets; he calls
Thessaly, Pelasgic Argos;
“all who dwelt in Pelasgic Argos;”[176]
and the Peloponnesus, the Achæan Argos;
“if we should return to Achæan Argos;”[177]
“was he not at Achæan Argos? ”[178]
intimating in these lines that the Peloponnesians were called peculiarly
Achæans according to another designation.
He calls also the Peloponnesus, Argos Jasum;
“if all the Achæans throughout Argos Jasum should see you,”[179]
meaning Penelope, she then would have a greater number of suitors; for
it is not probable that he means those from the whole of Greece, but
those from the neighbourhood of Ithaca. He applies also to Argos terms
common to other places,
“pasturing horses,” and “abounding with horses. ”
6. There is a controversy about the names Hellas and Hellenes.
Thucydides[180] says that Homer nowhere mentions Barbarians, because the
Greeks were not distinguished by any single name, which expressed its
opposite. Apollodorus also says, that the inhabitants of Thessaly alone
were called Hellenes, and alleges this verse of the poet,
“they were called Myrmidones, and Hellenes;”[181]
but Hesiod, and Archilochus, in their time knew that they were all
called Hellenes, and Panhellenes: the former calls them by this name in
speaking of the Prœtides, and says that Panhellenes were their suitors;
the latter, where he says
“that the calamities of the Panhellenes centred in Thasus. ”
But others oppose to this, that Homer does mention Barbarians, when he
says of the Carians, that they spoke a barbarous language, and that all
the Hellenes were comprised in the term Hellas;
“of the man, whose fame spread throughout Hellas and Argos. ”[182]
And again,
“but if you wish to turn aside and pass through Greece and the
midst of Argos. ”[183]
7. The greater part of the city of the Argives is situated in a plain.
It has a citadel called Larisa, a hill moderately fortified, and upon it
a temple of Jupiter. Near it flows the Inachus, a torrent river; its
source is in Lyrceium [the Arcadian mountain near Cynuria]. We have said
before that the fabulous stories about its sources are the inventions of
poets; it is a fiction also that Argos is without water--
“but the gods made Argos a land without water. ”
Now the ground consists of hollows, it is intersected by rivers, and is
full of marshes and lakes; the city also has a copious supply of water
from many wells, which rises near the surface.
They attribute the mistake to this verse,
“and I shall return disgraced to Argos (πολυδίψιον)
the very thirsty. ”[184]
This word is used for πολυπόθητον, or
“much longed after,”
or without the δ for πολυίψιον,
equivalent to the expression πολύφθορον in
Sophocles,
“this house of the Pelopidæ abounding in slaughter,”[185]
[for προϊάψαι and ἰάψαι and ἴψασθαι, denote some injury or destruction;
“at present he is making the attempt, and he will soon destroy
(ἴψεται) the sons of the Achæi;”[186]
and again, lest
“she should injure (ἰάψῃ) her beautiful skin;”[187]
and,
“has prematurely sent down, προΐαψεν, to Ades. ”[188]][189]
Besides, he does not mean the city Argos, for it was not thither that he
was about to return, but he meant Peloponnesus, which, certainly, is not
a thirsty land.
With respect to the letter δ, they introduce the conjunction
by the figure hyperbaton, and make an elision of the vowel, so that the
verse would run thus,
Καί κεν ἐλέγχιστος πολὺ δ’ ἴψιον Ἄργος ἱκοίμην,
that is, πολυίψιον Ἄργοσδε ἱκοίμην, instead of, εἰς Ἄργος. [189]
8. The Inachus[190] is one of the rivers, which flows through the Argive
territory; there is also another in Argia, the [CAS. 371] Erasīnus. It
has its source in Stymphalus in Arcadia, and in the lake there called
Stymphalis, where the scene is laid of the fable of the birds called
Stymphalides, which Hercules drove away by wounding them with arrows,
and by the noise of drums. It is said that this river passes
under-ground, and issues forth in the Argian territory, and waters the
plain. The Erasīnus is also called Arsīnus.
Another river of the same name flows out of Arcadia to the coast near
Buras. There is another Erasinus also in Eretria, and one in Attica near
Brauron.
Near Lerna a fountain is shown, called Amymone. The lake Lerna, the
haunt of the Hydra, according to the fable, belongs to the Argive and
Messenian districts. The expiatory purifications performed at this place
by persons guilty of crimes gave rise to the proverb, “A Lerna of
evils. ”
It is allowed that, although the city itself lies in a spot where there
are no running streams of water, there is an abundance of wells, which
are attributed to the Danaïdes as their invention; hence the line,
“the Danaïdes made waterless Argos, Argos the watered. ”
Four of the wells are esteemed sacred, and held in peculiar veneration.
Hence they occasioned a want of water, while they supplied it
abundantly.
9. Danaus is said to have built the citadel of the Argives. He seems to
have possessed so much more power than the former rulers of the country,
that, according to Euripides,
“he made a law that those who were formerly called Pelasgiotæ,
should be called Danai throughout Greece. ”
His tomb, called Palinthus, is in the middle of the market-place of the
Argives. I suppose that the celebrity of this city was the reason of all
the Greeks having the name of Pelasgiotæ, and Danai, as well as Argives.
Modern writers speak of Iasidæ, and Argos Iasum, and Apia, and Apidones.
Homer does not mention Apidones, and uses the word apia only to express
distance. That he means Peloponnesus by Argos we may conclude from these
lines,
“Argive Helen;”[191]
and,
“in the farthest part of Argos is a city Ephyra;”[192]
and,
“the middle of Argos;”[193]
and,
“to rule over many islands, and the whole of Argos. ”[194]
Argos, among modern writers, denotes a plain, but not once in Homer. It
seems rather a Macedonian and Thessalian use of the word.
10. After the descendants of Danaus had succeeded to the sovereignty at
Argos, and the Amythaonidæ, who came from Pisatis and Triphylia, were
intermixed with them by marriages, it is not surprising that, being
allied to one another, they at first divided the country into two
kingdoms, in such a manner that the two cities, the intended capitals,
Argos and Mycenæ, were not distant from each other more than 50 stadia,
and that the Heræum at Mycenæ should be a temple common to both. In this
temple were the statues the workmanship of Polycletus. In display of art
they surpassed all others, but in magnitude and cost they were inferior
to those of Pheidias.
At first Argos was the most powerful of the two cities. Afterwards
Mycenæ received a great increase of inhabitants in consequence of the
migration thither of the Pelopidæ. For when everything had fallen under
the power of the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, the elder, assumed the
sovereign authority, and by good fortune and valour annexed to his
possessions a large tract of country. He also added the Laconian to the
Mycenæan district. [195] Menelaus had Laconia, and Agamemnon Mycenæ, and
the country as far as Corinth, and Sicyon, and the territory which was
then said to be the country of Iones and Ægialians, and afterwards of
Achæi.
After the Trojan war, when the dominion of Agamemnon was at an end, the
declension of Mycenæ ensued, and particularly after the return of the
Heracleidæ. [196] For when these people got possession of Peloponnesus,
they expelled its former masters, so that they who had Argos possessed
Mycenæ likewise, as composing one body. In subsequent times Mycenæ was
razed by the Argives, so that at present not even a trace is to be
discovered of the city of the Mycenæans. [197]
If [CAS. 372] Mycenæ experienced this fate, it is not surprising that
some of the cities mentioned in the Catalogue of the Ships, and said to
be subject to Argos, have disappeared. These are the words of the
Catalogue:
“They who occupied Argos, and Tiryns, with strong walls, and
Hermione, and Asine situated on a deep bay, and Eïones, and
Epidaurus with its vines, and the valiant Achæan youths who
occupied Ægina, and Mases. ”[198]
Among these we have already spoken of Argos; we must now speak of the
rest.
11. Prœtus seems to have used Tiryns as a stronghold, and to have
fortified it by means of the Cyclopes. There were seven of them, and
were called Gasterocheires,[199] because they subsisted by their art.
They were sent for and came from Lycia. Perhaps the caverns about
Nauplia, and the works there, have their name from these people. The
citadel Licymna has its name from Licymnius. It is distant from Nauplia
about 12 stadia. This place is deserted, as well as the neighbouring
Midéa, which is different from the Bœotian Mídea, for that is
accentuated Mídea, like πρόνοια, but this is accentuated Midéa, like
Tegéa.
Prosymna borders upon Midéa; it has also a temple of Juno. The Argives
have depopulated most of these for their refusal to submit to their
authority. Of the inhabitants some went from Tiryns to Epidaurus; others
from Hermione to the Halieis (the Fishermen), as they are called; others
were transferred by the Lacedæmonians to Messenia from Asine, (which is
itself a village in the Argive territory near Nauplia,) and they built a
small city of the same name as the Argolic Asine. For the Lacedæmonians,
according to Theopompus, got possession of a large tract of country
belonging to other nations, and settled there whatever fugitives they
had received, who had taken refuge among them; and it was to this
country the Nauplians had retreated.
12. Hermione is one of the cities, not undistinguished. The coast is
occupied by Halieis, as they are called, a tribe who subsist by being
employed on the sea in fishing. There is a general opinion among the
Hermionenses that there is a short descent from their country to Hades,
and hence they do not place in the mouths of the dead the fare for
crossing the Styx.
13. It is said that Asine as well as Hermione was inhabited by Dryopes;
either Dryops the Arcadian having transferred them thither from the
places near the Spercheius, according to Aristotle; or, Hercules
expelled them from Doris near Parnassus.
Scyllæum near Hermione has its name, it is said, from Scylla, daughter
of Nisus. According to report, she was enamoured of Minos, and betrayed
to him Nisæa. She was drowned by order of her father, and her body was
thrown upon the shore, and buried here.
Eïones was a kind of village which the Mycenæi depopulated, and
converted into a station for vessels. It was afterwards destroyed, and
is no longer a naval station.
14. Trœzen is sacred to Neptune,[200] from whom it was formerly called
Poseidonia. It is situated 15 stadia from the sea. Nor is this an
obscure city. In front of its harbour, called Pogon,[201] lies Calauria,
a small island, of about 30 stadia in compass. Here was a temple of
Neptune, which served as an asylum for fugitives. It is said that this
god exchanged Delos for Calauria with Latona, and Tænarum for Pytho with
Apollo. Ephorus mentions the oracle respecting it:
“It is the same thing to possess Delos, or Calauria,
The divine Pytho, or the windy Tænarum. ”
There was a sort of Amphictyonic body to whom the concerns of this
temple belonged, consisting of seven cities, which performed sacrifices
in common. These were Hermon, Epidaurus, Ægina, Athenæ, Prasiæ, Nauplia,
and Orchomenus Minyeius. The Argives contributed in behalf of Nauplia,
and the Lacedæmonians in behalf of Prasiæ. The veneration for this god
prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when
masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time
the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging
away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria. Archias even, with a
body of soldiers, did not dare to use force to [CAS. 374] Demosthenes,
although he had received orders from Antipater to bring him alive, and
all other orators he could find, who were accused of the same crimes. He
attempted persuasion, but in vain, for Demosthenes deprived himself of
life by taking poison in the temple. [202]
Trœzen and Pittheus, the sons of Pelops, having set out from Pisatis to
Argos, the former left behind him a city of his own name; Pittheus
succeeded him, and became king. Anthes, who occupied the territory
before, set sail, and founded Halicarnassus. We shall speak of him in
our account of Caria and the Troad.
15. Epidaurus was called Epitaurus [Epicarus? ]. Aristotle says, that
Carians occupied both this place and Hermione, but upon the return of
the Heracleidæ those Ionians, who had accompanied them from the Athenian
Tetrapolis to Argos, settled there together with the Carians.
Epidaurus[203] was a distinguished city, remarkable particularly on
account of the fame of Æsculapius, who was supposed to cure every kind
of disease, and whose temple is crowded constantly with sick persons,
and its walls covered with votive tablets, which are hung upon the
walls, and contain accounts of the cures, in the same manner as is
practised at Cos, and at Tricca. The city lies in the recess of the
Saronic Gulf, with a coasting navigation of 15 stadia, and its aspect is
towards the point of summer sunrise. It is surrounded with lofty
mountains, which extend to the coast, so that it is strongly fortified
by nature on all sides.
Between Trœzen and Epidaurus, there was a fortress Methana,[204] and a
peninsula of the same name. In some copies of Thucydides Methone is the
common reading,[205] a place of the same name with the Macedonian city,
at the siege of which Philip lost an eye. Hence Demetrius of Scepsis is
of opinion, that some persons were led into error by the name, and
supposed that it was Methone near Trœzen. It was against this town, it
is said, that the persons sent by Agamemnon to levy sailors, uttered the
imprecation, that
“they might never cease to build walls,”
but it was not these people; but the Macedonians, according to
Theopompus, who refused the levy of men; besides it is not probable that
those, who were in the neighbourhood of Agamemnon, would disobey his
orders.
16. Ægina is a place in the territory of Epidaurus. There is in front of
this continent, an island, of which the poet means to speak in the lines
before cited. Wherefore some write,
“and the island Ægina,”
instead of
“and they who occupied Ægina,”
making a distinction between the places of the same name.
It is unnecessary to remark, that this island is among the most
celebrated. It was the country of Æacus and his descendants. It was this
island which once possessed so much power at sea, and formerly disputed
the superiority with the Athenians in the sea-fight at Salamis during
the Persian war. [206] The circuit of the island is said to be about 180
stadia. It has a city of the same name on the south-west. Around it are
Attica, and Megara, and the parts of Peloponnesus as far as Epidaurus.
It is distant from each about 100 stadia. The eastern and southern sides
are washed by the Myrtoan and Cretan seas. Many small islands surround
it on the side towards the continent, but Belbina is situated on the
side towards the open sea. The land has soil at a certain depth, but it
is stony at the surface, particularly the plain country, whence the
whole has a bare appearance, but yields large crops of barley. It is
said that the Æginetæ were called Myrmidones, not as the fable accounts
for the name, when the ants were metamorphosed into men, at the time of
a great famine, by the prayer of Æacus; but because by digging, like
ants, they threw up the earth upon the rocks, and were thus made able to
cultivate the ground, and because they lived in excavations
under-ground, abstaining from the use of bricks and sparing of the soil
for this purpose.
Its ancient name was Œnone, which is the name of two of the demi in
Attica, one near Eleutheræ;
“to inhabit the plains close to Œnone, (Œnoe,) and Eleutheræ;”
and another, one of the cities of the Tetrapolis near Marathon, to which
the proverb is applied,
“Œnone (Œnoe? ) and its torrent. ”
Its [CAS. 375] inhabitants were in succession Argives, Cretans,
Epidaurians, and Dorians. At last the Athenians divided the island by
lot among settlers of their own. The Lacedæmonians, however, deprived
the Athenians of it, and restored it to the ancient inhabitants.
The Æginetæ sent out colonists to Cydonia[207] in Crete, and to the
Ombrici. According to Ephorus, silver was first struck as money by
Pheidon. The island became a mart, the inhabitants, on account of the
fertility of its soil, employing themselves at sea as traders; whence
goods of a small kind had the name of “Ægina wares. ”
17. The poet frequently speaks of places in succession as they are
situated;
“they who inhabited Hyria, and Aulis;”[208]
“and they who occupied Argos, and Tiryns,
Hermione, and Asine,
Trœzen, and Eïones. ”[209]
At other times he does not observe any order;
“Schœnus, and Scolus,
Thespeia, and Græa. ”[210]
He also mentions together places on the continent and islands
“they who held Ithaca,
and inhabited Crocyleia,”[211]
for Crocyleia is in Acarnania. Thus he here joins with Ægina Mases,
which belongs to the continent of Argolis.
Homer does not mention Thyreæ, but other writers speak of it as well
known. It was the occasion of a contest between the three hundred
Argives against the same number of Lacedæmonians; the latter were
conquerors by means of a stratagem of Othryadas. Thucydides places
Thyreæ in Cynuria, on the confines of Argia and Laconia. [212]
Hysiæ also is a celebrated place in Argolica; and Cenchreæ, which lies
on the road from Tegea to Argos, over the mountain Parthenius, and the
Creopolus. [213] But Homer was not acquainted with either of these
places, [nor with the Lyrceium, nor Orneæ, and yet they are villages in
the Argian territory; the former of the same name as the mountain there;
the latter of the same name as the Orneæ, situated between Corinth and
Sicyon]. [214]
18. Among the cities of the Peloponnesus, the most celebrated were, and
are at this time, Argos and Sparta, and as their renown is spread
everywhere, it is not necessary to describe them at length, for if we
did so, we should seem to repeat what is said by all writers.
Anciently, Argos was the most celebrated, but afterwards the
Lacedæmonians obtained the superiority, and continued to maintain their
independence, except during some short interval, when they experienced a
reverse of fortune.
The Argives did not admit Pyrrhus within the city. He fell before the
walls, an old woman having let a tile drop from a house upon his head.
They were, however, under the sway of other kings. When they belonged to
the Achæan league they were subjected, together with the other members
of that confederacy, to the power of the Romans. The city subsists at
present, and is second in rank to Sparta.
19. We shall next speak of those places which are said, in the Catalogue
of the Ships, to be under the government of Mycenæ and Agamemnon: the
lines are these:
“Those who inhabited Mycenæ, a well-built city,
and the wealthy Corinth, and Cleonæ well built,
and Orneiæ, and the lovely Aræthyrea,
and Sicyon, where Adrastus first reigned,
and they who inhabited Hyperesia, and the lofty Gonoessa,
and Pellene, and Ægium,
and the whole range of the coast, and those who
lived near the spacious Helice. ”[215]
Mycenæ exists no longer. It was founded by Perseus. Sthenelus succeeded
Perseus; and Eurystheus, Sthenelus. These same persons were kings of
Argos also. It is said that Eurystheus, having engaged, with the
assistance of the Athenians, in an expedition to Marathon against the
descendants of Hercules and Iolaus, fell in battle, and that the
remainder of his body was buried at Gargettus, but his head apart from
it at Tricorythus[216] (Corinth? ), Iolaus having severed it from the
body near the fountain Macaria, close to the chariot-road. The spot
itself has the name of “Eurystheus’-head. ”
Mycenæ then passed into the possession of the Pelopidæ, who had left the
Pisatis, then into that of the Heracleidæ, [CAS. 377] who were also
masters of Argos. But after the sea-fight at Salamis, the Argives,
together with the Cleonæi, and the Tegetæ, invaded Mycenæ, and razed it,
and divided the territory among themselves. The tragic writers, on
account of the proximity of the two cities, speak of them as one, and
use the name of one for the other. Euripides in the same play calls the
same city in one place Mycenæ, and in another Argos, as in the
Iphigeneia,[217] and in the Orestes. [218]
Cleonæ is a town situated upon the road leading from Argos to Corinth,
on an eminence, which is surrounded on all sides by dwellings, and well
fortified, whence, in my opinion, Cleonæ was properly described as “well
built. ” There also, between Cleonæ and Phlius, is Nemea, and the grove
where it was the custom of the Argives to celebrate the Nemean games:
here is the scene of the fable of the Nemean Lion, and here also the
village Bembina. Cleonæ is distant from Argos 120 stadia, and 80 from
Corinth. And we have ourselves beheld the city from the Acrocorinthus.
20. Corinth is said to be opulent from its mart. It is situated upon the
isthmus. It commands two harbours, one near Asia, the other near Italy,
and facilitates, by reason of so short a distance between them, an
exchange of commodities on each side.
As the Sicilian strait, so formerly these seas were of difficult
navigation, and particularly the sea above Maleæ, on account of the
prevalence of contrary winds; whence the common proverb,
“When you double Maleæ forget your home. ”
It was a desirable thing for the merchants coming from Asia, and from
Italy, to discharge their lading at Corinth without being obliged to
double Cape Maleæ. For goods exported from Peloponnesus, or imported by
land, a toll was paid to those who had the keys of the country. This
continued afterwards for ever. In after-times they enjoyed even
additional advantages, for the Isthmian games, which were celebrated
there, brought thither great multitudes of people. The Bacchiadæ, a rich
and numerous family, and of illustrious descent, were their rulers,
governed the state for nearly two hundred years, and peaceably enjoyed
the profits of the mart. Their power was destroyed by Cypselus, who
became king himself, and his descendants continued to exist for three
generations. A proof of the wealth of this family is the offering which
Cypselus dedicated at Olympia, a statue of Jupiter of beaten gold.
Demaratus, one of those who had been tyrant at Corinth, flying from the
seditions which prevailed there, carried with him from his home to
Tyrrhenia so much wealth, that he became sovereign of the city which had
received him, and his son became even king of the Romans.
The temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that it had more than a
thousand women consecrated to the service of the goddess, courtesans,
whom both men and women had dedicated as offerings to the goddess. The
city was frequented and enriched by the multitudes who resorted thither
on account of these women. Masters of ships freely squandered all their
money, and hence the proverb,
“It is not in every man’s power to go to Corinth. ”[219]
The answer is related of a courtesan to a woman who was reproaching her
with disliking work, and not employing herself in spinning;
“Although I am what you see, yet, in this short time, I have
already finished three distaffs. ”[220]
21. The position of the city as it is described by Hieronymus, and
Eudoxus, and others, and from our own observation, since its restoration
by the Romans, is as follows.
That which is called the Acrocorinthus is a lofty mountain,
perpendicular, and about three stadia and a half in height. There is an
ascent of 30 stadia, and it terminates in a sharp point. The steepest
part is towards the north. Below it lies the city in a plain of the form
of a trapezium, at the very foot of the Acrocorinthus. The compass of
the city itself was 40 stadia, and all that part which was not protected
by the mountain was fortified by a wall. Even the mountain itself, the
Acrocorinthus, was comprehended within this wall, wherever it would
admit of fortification. As I ascended it, the ruins of the circuit of
the foundation were apparent, which gave a circumference of about 85
stadia.
