No More Learning

II.

LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLVI.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY.




STRABO’S GEOGRAPHY.




BOOK VIII.

EUROPE CONTINUED. --GREECE.

SUMMARY.


The remaining parts of Macedonia are considered, and the whole
of Greece; on this the author dwells some time on account of
the great reputation of the country. He corrects minutely, and
clears up, the confused and vague accounts respecting the
cities contained therein, given by poets and historians, and
especially in the Catalogue and in many other parts of the
Poem.




CHAPTER I.


1. After having described as much of the western parts of Europe as is
comprised within the interior and exterior seas, and surveyed all the
barbarous nations which it contains, as far as the Don[1] and a small
part of Greece, [namely, Macedonia,][2] we propose to give an account of
the remainder of the Helladic geography. Homer was the first writer on
the subject of geography, and was followed by many others, some of whom
composed particular treatises, and entitled them “Harbours,” “Voyages,”
“Circuits of the Earth,”[3] or gave them some name of this kind, and
these comprised the description of the Helladic country. Some, as
Ephorus and Polybius, included in their general history a separate
topography of the continents; others, as Posidonius and Hipparchus,
introduced matter relating to geography in their writings on physical
and mathematical subjects.

It is easy to form an opinion of the other writers, but the poems of
Homer require critical consideration, both because he speaks as a poet,
and because he describes things not as [CAS. 333] they exist at present,
but as they existed anciently, and the greater part of which have been
rendered obscure by time.

We must however undertake this inquiry as far as we are able, beginning
from the point where our description ended.

It ended with an account of the Epirotic and Illyrian nations on the
west and north, and of Macedonia as far as Byzantium on the east.

After the Epirotæ and Illyrii follow the Acarnanes,[4] the Ætoli, the
Locri-Ozolæ, then the Phocæenses and Bœoti, Grecian nations. Opposite to
these on the other side of the strait is Peloponnesus, which comprises
the Gulf of Corinth,[5] interposed between, and determining the figure
of the latter, from which it also receives its own. Next to Macedonia[6]
are the Thessalians,[7] extending as far as the Malienses,[8] and the
other nations, situated on both sides of the isthmus.

2. There are many Greek tribes, but the chief people are equal in number
to the Greek dialects with which we are acquainted, namely, four. Of
these, the Ionic is the same as the ancient Attic; (for Iones was the
former name of the inhabitants of Attica; from thence came the Iones who
settled in Asia,[9] and use the dialect now called Ionic;) the Doric was
the same as the Æolic dialect, for all the people on the other side of
the isthmus except the Athenians, the Megareans, and the Dorians about
Parnassus, are even now called Æolians; it is probable that the Dorians,
from their being a small nation, and occupying a most rugged country,
and from want of intercourse [with the Æolians], no longer resemble that
people either in language or customs, and, although of the same race,
have lost all appearance of affinity. It was the same with the
Athenians, who inhabiting a rugged country with a light soil, escaped
the ravages of invaders. As they always occupied the same territory, and
no enemy attempted to expel them, nor had any desire to take possession
of it themselves, on this account they were, according to Thucydides,
regarded as Autochthones, or an indigenous race. This was probably the
reason, although they were a small nation, why they remained a distinct
people with a distinct dialect.

It was not in the parts only on the other side of the isthmus, that the
Æolian nation was powerful, but those on this side also were formerly
Æolians. They were afterwards intermixed first with Ionians who came
from Attica, and got possession of Ægialus,[10] and secondly with
Dorians, who under the conduct of the Heracleidæ founded Megara and many
of the cities in the Peloponnesus. The Iones were soon expelled by the
Achæi, an Æolian tribe; and there remained in Peloponnesus the two
nations, the Æolic and the Doric. Those nations then that had little
intercourse with the Dorians used the Æolian dialect. (This was the case
with the Arcadians and Eleians, the former of whom were altogether a
mountain tribe, and did not share in the partition of the Peloponnesus;
the latter were considered as dedicated to the service of the Olympian
Jupiter, and lived for a long period in peace, principally because they
were of Æolian descent, and had admitted into their country the army of
Oxylus, about the time of the return of the Heracleidæ. [11]) The rest
used a kind of dialect composed of both, some of them having more,
others less, of the Æolic dialect. Even at present the inhabitants of
different cities use different dialects, but all seem to Dorize, or use
the Doric dialect, on account of the ascendency of that nation.

Such then is the number of the Grecian nations, and thus in general are
they distinguished from each other.

I shall resume my account of them, and describe each nation in their
proper order.

3. According to Ephorus, Acarnania is the commencement of Greece on the
west, for it is the first country which lies contiguous to the Epirotic
nations. As this author follows the coast in his measurements, and
begins from thence, considering the sea the most important guide of
topographical description, (for otherwise he might have placed the
beginning of Greece in Macedonia and Thessaly,) so ought I, observing
[CAS. 334] the natural character of places, to keep in view the sea as
a mark by which I should direct the course of my description.

The sea coming from Sicily spreads itself on one side towards the
Corinthian Gulf, and on the other forms a large peninsula, the
Peloponnesus, united to the mainland by a narrow isthmus.

The two largest bodies of country in Greece are that within the isthmus,
and that without the isthmus, [extending to the mouths of the river
Peneius]. That within the isthmus is however larger, and more
celebrated. The Peloponnesus is, as it were, the acropolis or citadel of
all Greece; and all Greece in a manner holds the chief or leading
position in Europe. For independently of the fame and power of the
nations which inhabited it, the position itself of the places in it
suggests this superiority. One site succeeds another diversified with
numerous most remarkable bays, and large peninsulas. The first of these
peninsulas is the Peloponnesus, closed in by an isthmus of forty stadia
in extent. The second comprehends the first, and has an isthmus reaching
from Pagæ in Megaris to Nisæa, which is the naval arsenal of the
Megareans; the passage across the isthmus from sea to sea is 120 stadia.

The third peninsula also comprises the latter. Its isthmus extends from
the farthest recess of the Crissæan Gulf to Thermopylæ. The line
supposed to be drawn between these is about 508 stadia in length,
including within it the whole of Bœotia, and cutting Phocis and the
country of the Epicnemidii obliquely. The fourth peninsula has the
isthmus extending from the Ambracian Gulf through Mount Œta and
Traclinia to the Maliac Gulf and Thermopylæ, about 800 stadia.

There is another isthmus of more than 1000 stadia reaching from the same
Gulf of Ambracia, and passing through the country of the Thessalians and
Macedonians to the recess of the Thermæan Gulf.

The succession of peninsulas furnishes a convenient order to be followed
in describing the country.

We must begin from the smallest, as being also the most famous of these
peninsulas. [12]




CHAPTER II.


1. The Peloponnesus resembles in figure the leaf of a plane tree. [13]
Its length and breadth are nearly equal, each about 1400 stadia. The
former is reckoned from west to east, that is, from the promontory
Chelonatas through Olympia and the territory Megalopolitis to the
isthmus; the latter from south to north, or from Maliæ through Arcadia to
Ægium.

The circumference, according to Polybius, exclusive of the circuit of
the bays, is 4000 stadia. Artemidorus however adds to this 400 stadia,
and if we include the measure of the bays, it exceeds 5600 stadia. We
have already said that the isthmus at the road where they draw vessels
over-land from one sea to the other is 40 stadia across.

2. Eleians and Messenians occupy the western side of this peninsula.
Their territory is washed by the Sicilian Sea. They possess the coast
also on each side. Elis bends towards the north and the commencement of
the Corinthian Gulf as far as the promontory Araxus,[14] opposite to
which across the strait is Acarnania; the islands Zacynthus,[15]
Cephallenia,[16] Ithaca,[17] and the Echinades, to which belongs
Dulichium, lie in front of it. The greater part of Messenia is open to
the south and to the Libyan Sea as far as the islands Thyrides near
Tænarum. [18]

Next to Elis, is the nation of the Achæi looking towards the north, and
stretching along the Corinthian Gulf they terminate at Sicyonia. Then
follow Sicyon[19] and Corinth, extending as far as the isthmus. Next
after Messenia are [CAS. 335] Laconia and Argeia, which latter country
also reaches as far as the isthmus.

The bays of the Peloponnesus are the Messeniac,[20] the Laconian,[21] a
third the Argolic,[22] and a fourth the Hermionic,[23] or the
Saronic,[24] which some writers call the Salaminiac bay. Some of these
bays are supplied by the Libyan, others by the Cretan and Myrtoan Seas.
Some call even the Saronic Gulf a sea. In the middle of Peloponnesus is
Arcadia, lying contiguous to all the other nations.

3. The Corinthian Gulf begins from the mouths of the Evenus,[25] (some
say from the mouths of the Achelous,[26] which is the boundary between
the Acarnanes and Ætoli,) and from the promontory Araxus. For there the
shores on both sides first begin to contract, and have a considerable
inclination towards each other; as they advance farther onwards they
nearly meet at Rhium[27] and Antirrhium,[28] leaving a channel of only
about 5 stadia between them.

Rhium is a promontory of Achaia, it is low, and bends inwards like a
sickle, (indeed it has the name of Drepanum, or the Sickle,) and lies
between Patræ[29] and Ægium,[30] on it there is a temple of Neptune.
Antirrhium is situated on the confines of Ætolia and Locris. It is
called Rhium Molycrium. From this point the sea-shore again parts in a
moderate degree on each side, and advancing into the Crissæan Gulf,
terminates there, being shut in by the western boundaries of Bœotia and
Megaris.

The Corinthian Gulf is 2230 stadia in circuit from the river Evenus to
the promontory Araxus; and if we reckon from the Achelous, it would be
increased by about 100 stadia.

The tract from the Achelous to the Evenus is occupied by Acarnanians;
next are the Ætoli, reaching to the Cape Antirrhium. The remainder of
the country, as far as the isthmus, is occupied by Phocis, Bœotia, and
by Megaris, it extends 1118 stadia.

The sea from Cape Antirrhium as far as the isthmus is [the Crissæan
Gulf, but from the city Creusa it is called the Sea of] Alcyonis, and is
a portion of the Crissæan Gulf. [31]

From the isthmus to the promontory Araxus is a distance of 1030 stadia.

Such in general then is the nature and extent of the Peloponnesus, and
of the country on the other side of the strait up to the farther recess
of the gulf. Such also is the nature of the gulf between both.

We shall next describe each country in particular, beginning with Elis.




CHAPTER III.


1. At present the whole sea-coast lying between the Achæi and Messenii
is called Eleia, it stretches into the inland parts towards Arcadia at
Pholoe, and the Azanes, and Parrhasii. Anciently it was divided into
several states; afterwards into two, Elis of the Epeii, and Elis under
Nestor, the son of Neleus. As Homer says, who mentions Elis of the Epeii
by name,

“Sacred Elis, where the Epeii rule. ”[32]

The other he calls Pylus subject to Nestor, through which, he says, the
Alpheius flows:

“Alpheius, that flows in a straight line through the land
of the Pylians. ”[33]

The poet was also acquainted with a city Pylus;

“They arrived at Pylus, the well-built city of Neleus. ”[34]

The Alpheius however does not flow through nor beside the city, but
another river flows beside it, which some call Pamisus, others Amathus,
from which Pylus seems to be termed Emathöeis, but the Alpheius flows
through the Eleian territory.

2. Elis, the present city, was not yet founded in the time of Homer, but
the inhabitants of the country lived in villages. It was called Cœle [or
Hollow] Elis, from the accident of its locality, for the largest and
best part of it is situated in a hollow. It was at a late period, and
after the Persian war, that the people collected together out of many
demi, or [CAS. 337] burghs, into one city. And, with the exception of a
few, the other places in the Peloponnesus which the poet enumerates are
not to be called cities, but districts. Each contained several
assemblages of demi or burghs, out of which the famous cities were
afterwards formed, as Mantineia in Arcadia, which was furnished with
inhabitants from five burghs by Argives; Tegea from nine; Heræa from as
many during the reign of Cleombrotus, or Cleonymus; Ægium out of seven,
or eight; Patræ out of seven; Dyme out of eight; thus Elis also was
formed out of the surrounding burghs. The demus of the Agriades was one
of those added to it. The Peneius[35] flows through the city by the
Gymnasium, which the Eleii constructed long after the countries which
were subject to Nestor had passed into their possession.

3. These were the Pisatis, of which Olympia is a part, and Triphylia,
and the territory of the Caucones. The Triphylii had their name from the
accident of the union of three tribes; of the Epeii, the original
inhabitants; of the Minyæ, who afterwards settled there; and last of all
of the Eleii, who made themselves masters of the country. Instead of the
Minyæ some writers substitute Arcadians, who had frequently disputed the
possession of the territory, whence Pylus had the epithet Arcadian as
well as Triphylian. Homer calls all this tract as far as Messene by the
name of Pylus, the name of the city. The names of the chiefs, and of
their abodes in the Catalogue of the Ships, show that Cœle Elis, or the
Hollow Elis, was distinct from the country subject to Nestor.

I say this on comparing the present places with Homer’s description of
them, for we must compare one with the other in consideration of the
fame of the poet, and our being bred up in an acquaintance with his
writings; and every one will conclude that our present inquiry is
rightly conducted, if nothing is found repugnant to his accounts of
places, which have been received with the fullest reliance on their
credibility and his veracity.

We must describe these places as they exist at present, and as they are
represented by the poet, comparing them together as far as is required
by the design of this work.

4. The Araxus is a promontory of Eleia situated on the north, 60 stadia
from Dyme, an Achæan city. This promontory we consider the commencement
of the coast of Eleia. Proceeding thence towards the west is
Cyllene,[36] the naval arsenal of the Eleii, from whence is an ascent of
120 stadia to the present city. This Cyllene Homer mentions in these
words,

“Cyllenian Otus, chief of the Epeii,”

for he would not have given the title of chief of Epeii to one who came
from the Arcadian mountain of this name. It is a village of moderate
size, in which is preserved the Æsculapius of Colotes, a statue of
ivory, of admirable workmanship.

Next to Cyllene is the promontory Chelonatas,[37] the most westerly
point of the Peloponnesus. In front of it there is a small island and
shoals on the confines of Hollow Elis, and the territory of the Pisatæ.
From hence [Cyllene] to Cephallenia is a voyage of not more than 80
stadia. Somewhere on the above-mentioned confines is the river Elisson,
or Elissa.

5. Between the Chelonatas and Cyllene the river Peneius empties itself,
and that also called by the poet Selleïs, which flows from the mountain
Pholoe. On this river is situated Ephyra, a city to be distinguished
from the Thesprotian, Thessalian, and Corinthian Ephyras; being a fourth
city of this name, situated on the road leading to the Lasion sea-coast,
and which may be either the same place as Bœonoa, (for it is the custom
to call Œnoe by this name,) or a city near this, distant from Elis 120
stadia. This Ephyra seems to be the reputed birth-place of Astyochea,
the mother of Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules,

“Whom Hercules brought from Ephyra, from the river Selleis;”[38]

(for this was the principal scene of the adventures of Hercules; at the
other places called Ephyra, there is no river Selleis;) hence came the
armour of Meges,

“Which Phyleus formerly brought from Ephyra, from the river
Selleis;”[39]

from this Ephyra came also mortal poisons. For Minerva says, that
Ulysses went to Ephyra

“In search of a mortal poison wherewith to anoint his arrows. ”[40]

And the suitors say of Telemachus;

“Or he will go to the rich country of Ephyra to bring back poison
destructive of our lives. ”[41]

[CAS. 338] And Nestor introduces the daughter of Augeas, king of the
Epeii, in his account of the war with that people, as one who
administered poisons:

“I first slew a man,[42] Mulius, a brave soldier. He was son-in-law of
Augeas; he had married his eldest daughter; she was acquainted with
all the poisons which the earth brings forth. ”

There is also near Sicyon a river, Selleis, and a village of the name of
Ephyra near it; and a village Ephyra in the territory of Agræa in
Ætolia, the people of which are called Ephyri. There are also other
Ephyri among the Perrhæbi near Macedonia, who are Crannonians,[43] and
the Thesprotic Ephyri of Cichyrus, which was formerly called Ephyra.

6. Apollodorus, when he informs us in what manner the poet usually
distinguishes places with the same names, as Orchomenus for instance,
designating that in Arcadia by the epithet, “abounding with sheep;” the
Bœotian Orchomenus, as “Minyeïus;” by applying to Samos the term
Thracian, and adds,

“Between Samos and Imbros,”[44]

to distinguish it from Ionian Samos; so he says the Thesprotic Ephyra is
distinguished from others by the words, “at a distance,” and “from the
river Selleis. ” This does not agree with what Demetrius of Scepsis says,
from whom he borrows most of his information. For Demetrius does not say
that there is a river Selleis in Thesprotia, but in Elis, near the
Thesprotic Ephyra, as I have said before.

What he says also about Œchalia requires examination, where he asserts
that the city of Eurytus of Œchalia is the only city, when there is more
than one city of that name. It is therefore evident that he means the
Thessalian city mentioned by Homer:

“And they who occupied Œchalia, the city of Eurytus,
the Œchalian. ”[45]

What city, then, is that on the road from which “Thamyris the Thracian
was met by the Muses, and deprived of the power of song,” for he says,

“Coming from Œchalia, from the dwelling of Eurytus,
the Œchalian. ”[46]

If this were the city in Thessaly, the Scepsian is mistaken in
mentioning some city in Arcadia, which is now called Andania. If he is
not mistaken, still the Arcadian Œchalia is said to be the city of
Eurytus, so that there is not one city only of that name, although
Apollodorus asserts that there is but one.

7. There existed between the mouths of the Peneius and the Selleis near
Scollis, a Pylus, not the city of Nestor, but another of that name,
having nothing in common with that on the Alpheius, nor even with that
on the Pamisus, or, if we must so call it, the Amathus. Some writers,
through their solicitude for the fame and noble descent of Nestor, give
a forced meaning to these words. Since there are three places in
Peloponnesus of the name of Pylus, (whence the saying originated,

“There is a Pylus in front of Pylus, and still there is
another Pylus,”)

namely, this and the Lepreatic Pylus in Triphylia, and a third, the
Messeniac near Coryphasium,[47] the advocates for each place endeavour
to show that the river in his own country is (Emathois) ἠμαθόεις,
or sandy, and declare that to be the country of Nestor.

The greater number of other writers, both historians and poets, say,
that Nestor was a Messenian, assigning as his birth-place the Pylus,
which continued to exist to their times. Those, however, who adhere to
Homer and follow his poem as their guide, say, that the Pylus of Nestor
is where the territory is traversed by the Alpheius. Now this river
passes through the Pisatis and Triphylia. The inhabitants of the Hollow
Elis were emulous of the same honour respecting the Pylus in their own
country, and point out distinctive marks, as a place called Gerenus, and
a river Geron, and another river Geranius, and endeavour to confirm this
opinion by pretending that Nestor had the epithet Gerenius from these
places.

The Messenians argue in the very same manner, but [CAS. 340] apparently
with more probability on their side. For they say, that in their
territory there is a place better known, called Gerena, and once well
inhabited.

Such then is the present state of the Hollow Elis. [48]

8. The poet however, after having divided the country into four parts,
and mentioned the four chiefs, does not clearly express himself, when he
says:

“those who inhabit Buprasium and the sacred Elis, all whom
Hyrminē and Myrsinus, situated at the extremity of the
territory and the Olenian rock, and Aleisium contain, these
were led by four chiefs; ten swift vessels accompanied each,
and multitudes of Epeii were embarked in them. ”[49]

For, by applying the name Epeii to both people, the Buprasians and the
Eleii, and by never applying the name Eleii to the Buprasians, he may
seem to divide, not Eleia, but the country of the Epeii, into four
parts, which he had before divided into two; nor would Buprasium then be
a part of Elis, but rather of the country of the Epeii. For that he
terms the Buprasians Epeii, is evident from these words:

“As when the Epeii were burying King Amarynces at
Buprasium. ”[50]

Again, by enumerating together “Buprasium and sacred Elis,” and then by
making a fourfold division, he seems to arrange these very four
divisions in common under both Buprasium and Elis.

Buprasium, it is probable, was a considerable settlement in Eleia, which
does not exist at present. But the territory only has this name, which
lies on the road to Dyme from Elis the present city. It might be
supposed that Buprasium had at that time some superiority over Elis, as
the Epeii had over the Eleii, but afterwards they had the name of Eleii
instead of Epeii.

Buprasium then was a part of Elis, and they say, that Homer, by a
poetical figure, speaks of the whole and of the part together, as in
these lines:

“through Greece and the middle of Argos;”[51] “through Greece
and Phthia;”[52] “the Curetes and the Ætoli were fighting;”[53]
“those from Dulichium and the sacred Echinades;”[54]

for Dulichium is one of the Echinades. Modern writers also use this
figure, as Hipponax,

“they eat the bread of the Cyprians and the wheat of the
Amathusii;”

for the Amathusii are Cyprians: and Alcman;

“leaving the beloved Cyprus, and Paphos, washed on all sides
by the sea:”

and Æschylus;

“possessing as your share by lot the whole of Cyprus and Paphos. ”

If Homer has not called the Buprasii by the name of Eleii, we shall
reply, nor has he mentioned many other places and things which exist.
For this is not a proof that they did not exist, but only that he has
not mentioned them.

9. But Hecatæus of Miletus says, that the Epeii are a different people
from the Eleii; that the Epeii accompanied Hercules in his expedition
against Augeas, and joined him in destroying Elis, and defeating Augeas.
He also says, that Dyme was both an Epeian and an Achæan city.

The ancient historians, accustomed from childhood to falsehood through
the tales of mythologists, speak of many things that never existed.
Hence they do not even agree with one another, in their accounts of the
same things. Not that it is improbable that the Epeii, although a
different people and at variance with the Eleii, when they had gained
the ascendency, united together, forming a common state, and their power
extended even as far as Dyme. The poet does not mention Dyme, but it is
not improbable that at that time it was subject to the Epeii, and
afterwards to the Iones, or perhaps not even to this people, but to the
Achæi, who were in possession of the country of the Iones.

Of the four portions, which include Buprasium, Hyrminē and Myrsinus
belong to the territory of Eleia. The rest, according to the opinion of
some writers, are situated close on the borders of the Pisatis.

10. Hyrminē was a small town, which exists no longer, but there is a
mountainous promontory near Cyllene, called Hormina or Hyrmina.

Myrsinus is the present Myrtuntium, a settlement extending to the sea,
and situated on the road from Dyme to Elis, at the distance of 70 stadia
from the city of the Eleii.

It is conjectured that the Olenian rock is the present Scollis. For we
might mention probable conjectures, since both places and names have
undergone changes, and the poet himself does not explain his meaning
clearly in many passages.

Scollis [CAS. 341] is a rocky mountain, common to the Dymæi, and
Tritæenses, and Eleii, situated close to Lampeia, another mountain in
Arcadia, which is distant from Elis 130 stadia, from Tritæa 100, and an
equal number [from Dyme] Achæan cities.

Aleisium is the present Alesiæum, a place near Amphidolis, where the
neighbouring people hold a market every month. It is situated upon the
mountain road leading from Elis to Olympia. Formerly, it was a city of
the Pisatis, the boundaries of the country being different at different
times on account of the change of masters. The poet also calls Aleisium,
the hill of Aleisius, when he says,

“Till we brought our horses to Buprasium rich in grain, and to
the Olenian rock, and to the place which is called the hill of
Aleisium,”[55]

for we must understand the words by the figure hyperbaton. Some also
point out a river Aleisius.

11. Since a tribe of Caucones is mentioned in Triphylia near Messenia,
and as Dyme is called by some writers Cauconis, and since between Dyme
and Tritæa in the Dymæan district there is also a river called Caucon, a
question arises respecting the Caucones, whether there are two nations
of this name, one situate about Triphylia, and another about Dyme, Elis,
and Caucon. This river empties itself into another which is called
Teutheas, in the masculine gender, and is the name of a small town that
was one of those that composed Dyme; except that the town is of the
feminine gender, and is pronounced Teuthea, without the s, and the last
syllable is long.

There is a temple of Diana Nemydia (Nemeæa? ).
The Teutheas discharges
itself into the Achelous, which runs by Dyme, and has the same name as
that in Acarnania, and the name also of Peirus. In the lines of Hesiod,

“he lived near the Olenian rock on the banks of the broad
Peirus,”

some change the last word Πείροιο to Πώροιο, but improperly. [56] [But
it is the opinion of some writers, who make the Caucones a subject of
inquiry, that when Minerva in the Odyssey, who has assumed the form of
Mentor, says to Nestor;

“At sunrise I go to the magnanimous Caucones, where a debt
neither of a late date nor of small amount is owing to me. [57]
When Telemachus comes to thy house send him with thy son, thy
chariot, and thy horses;”

a certain district in the territory of the Epeii appears to be
designated, which the Caucones, a different nation from that in
Triphylia, possessed, and who perhaps extended even as far as the Dymean
territory. ] But it was not proper to omit, whence Dyme had the name
Cauconitis, nor why the river was called Caucon, because the question
is, who the Caucones[58] were, to whom Minerva says, she is going to
recover a debt. For if we understand the poet to mean those in Triphylia
about Lepreum, I know not how this is probable; whence some persons even
write the passage,

“where a large debt is owing to me in the sacred Elis. ”

This will appear more clearly, when we describe the Pisatis, and after
it Triphylia as far as the confines of Messenia.

12. Next to the Chelonatas is the long tract of coast of the Pisatæ;
then follows a promontory, Pheia; there was also a small town of this
name;

“by the walls of Pheia about the stream of the Jardanes,”[59]

for there is a small river near it.

Some writers say, that Pheia is the commencement of the Pisatis. In
front of Pheia is a small island and a harbour; thence to Olympia by
sea, which is the shortest way, is 120 stadia. Then immediately follows
another promontory, [Icthys,] projecting very far towards the west, like
the Chelonatas; from this promontory to Cephallenia are 120 stadia. Next
the Alpheius discharges itself, at the distance from the Chelonatas of
280, and from the Araxus of 545, stadia. It flows from the same places
as the Eurotas. There is a village of the name of Asea in the
Megalopolitis, where the two sources, whence the above-mentioned rivers
issue, are near to one another. After running under the earth the
distance of many stadia, they then rise to the surface, when one takes
its course to Laconia, the other to the Pisatis. The Eurotas reappears
at the commencement of the district Bleminates, flowing close beside
Sparta, and passing through a long valley near Helos, which the poet
mentions, empties itself between Gythium, the naval arsenal of Sparta,
and Acræa. But the Alpheius, after receiving the Celadon, (Ladon? ) and
Erymanthus, and other obscure streams, pursues its course through
Phrixa, and the Pisatis, and Triphylia, close to Olympia, [CAS. 343]
and discharges itself into the Sicilian Sea between Pheia and Epitalium.
At its mouth, and at the distance of 80 stadia from Olympia, is situated
the grove of Artemis Alpheionia, or Alpheiusa, for both words are in
use. At Olympia an annual festival, to which multitudes resort, is
celebrated in honour of this goddess, as well as of Diana Elaphia and
Diana Daphnia. The whole country is full of temples dedicated to Diana,
and Aphrodite, and the Nymphs, which are situated amidst flowery groves,
and generally where there is abundance of water. Hermeia, or images of
Mercury, are frequently met with on the road, and on the sea-shore,
temples dedicated to Neptune. In the temple of Diana Alpheionia are
pictures by Cleanthes and Aregon, Corinthian painters; the former has
depicted the taking of Troy, and the birth of Minerva; the latter, Diana
borne upon a griffin; which are highly esteemed.

13. Next is the mountain, which separates Macistia in Triphylia from the
Pisatis; then follows another river Chalcis, and a spring called Cruni,
and Chalcis a village, and next to these the Samicum, where is the
temple of the Samian Neptune, which is held in the highest honour. There
is also a grove full of wild olive trees. It was intrusted to the care
of the Macistii, whose business it was to announce the Samian truce as
it is called. All the Triphylii contribute to the temple.

[The temple of the Scilluntian Minerva at Scillus in the neighbourhood
of Olympia, opposite the Phellon, is among the celebrated temples. ][60]

14. Near these temples, at the distance of 30 stadia, or a little more,
above the sea-coast, is situated the Triphyliac, or Lepreatic, Pylus,
which the poet calls Emathoeis, or Sandy, and transmits to us as the
native country of Nestor, as may be collected from his poetry. It had
the epithet Emathoeis either from the river, which flows by the city
towards the north, and was formerly called Amathus, but now Mamaus, or
Arcadicus; or because this river was called Pamisus, the same name as
that of two rivers in Messenia, while with respect to the city, the
epithet Emathoeis, or sandy, is of uncertain origin, since it is not the
fact, it is said, that either the river or the country abounds with
sand.

Towards the east is a mountain near Pylus, named after Minthe, who,
according to the fable, was the mistress of Hades, and being deluded by
Proserpine, was transformed into the garden mint, which some call
hedyosmus, or the sweet-smelling mint. There is also near the mountain
an enclosure, sacred to Hades, held in great veneration by the Macistii;
and a grove dedicated to Ceres, situated above the Pyliac plain. This
plain is fertile, and situated close to the sea-coast; it extends along
the interval between the Samicum and the river Neda. The sea-shore is
sandy and narrow, so that no one could be censured for asserting that
Pylus was called “sandy” from this tract.

15. Towards the north there were two small Triphyliac towns, Hypana and
Typaneæ, bordering upon Pylus; the former of which was incorporated with
Elis, the other remained separate. Two rivers flow near, the Dalion and
the Acheron, and empty themselves into the Alpheius. The Acheron has its
name from its relation to Hades. For at that place were held in
extraordinary reverence the temples of Ceres, Proserpine, and Hades,
perhaps on account of the contrariety of the properties of the country,
which Demetrius of Scepsis mentions. For Triphylia is fertile, but the
soil is subject to mildew, and produces rushes,[61] whence in these
places, instead of the product being large, there is frequently no crop
whatever.

16. Towards the south of Pylus is Lepreum. This also was a city,
situated 40 stadia above the sea-coast. Between the Lepreum and the
Annius (Anigrus? Alphæus? ) is the temple of the Samian Neptune. These
places are distant 100 stadia from each other. This is the temple in
which the poet says that the Pylii were found by Telemachus engaged in
offering sacrifice:

“They came to Pylus, the well-built city of Neleus; the people
were sacrificing on the sea-shore bulls, entirely black, to
Neptune, the god of the dark locks, who shakes the earth. ”[62]

For the poet was at liberty to feign things which did not exist, but
when it is possible to adapt poetry to reality, and [CAS. 345] preserve
the narrative . . . it is better to abstain from fiction.

The Lepreatæ possessed a fertile country, on the confines of which were
situated the Cyparissenses. But Caucones were masters of both these
tracts, and even of the Macistus, which some call Platanistus. The town
has the same name as the territory. It is said, that in the Lepreatis
there is even a monument of a Caucon, who had the name of the nation,
either because he was a chief, or for some other reason.

17. There are many accounts respecting the Caucones. They are said to be
an Arcadian tribe, like the Pelasgi, and also, like them, a wandering
people. Thus the poet relates, that they came as auxiliaries to the
Trojans, but from what country he does not mention, but it is supposed
from Paphlagonia. For in that country there is a tribe of the name of
Cauconiatæ, that border upon the Mariandyni, who are themselves
Paphlagonians. We shall say more of them when we describe that
country. [63]

At present I must add some remarks concerning the Caucones in Triphylia.
For some writers say, that the whole of the present Elis, from Messenia
to Dyme, was called Cauconia. Antimachus calls them all Epeii and
Caucones. But some writers say that they did not possess the whole
country, but inhabited it when they were divided into two bodies, one of
which settled in Triphylia towards Messenia, the other in the Buprasian
district towards Dyme, and in the Hollow Elis. And there, and not in any
other place, Aristotle considered them to be situated. The last opinion
agrees better with the language of Homer, and the preceding question is
resolved. For Nestor is supposed to have lived at the Triphyliac Pylus,
the parts of which towards the south and the east (and these coincide
towards Messenia and Laconia) was the country subject to Nestor, but the
Caucones now occupy it, so that those who are going from Pylus to
Lacedæmon must necessarily take the road through the Caucones. The
temple of the Samian Neptune, and the naval station near it, where
Telemachus landed, incline to the west and to the north. If then the
Caucones lived there only, the account of the poet must be erroneous.

[For, according to Sotades, Minerva enjoins Nestor to send his son with
Telemachus in a chariot to Lacedæmon towards the east, while she herself
returns back to the west, to pass the night in the vessel;

“but at sunrise she sets out to the magnanimous Caucones,”

to obtain payment of the debt, in a forward direction. How then are we
to reconcile these opinions? for Nestor might say, “The Caucones are my
subjects, and lie directly in the road of persons who are going to
Lacedæmon; why then do you not accompany Telemachus and his friends on
his journey, but take a road in an opposite direction? ” Besides, it was
natural for one, who was going to recover payment of a debt, and that a
considerable sum, as she says, from a people under the command of
Nestor, to request some assistance from him in case they should be so
unjust, as usually happens, as to refuse to discharge it. But she did
not do this.

If therefore the Caucones are to be found in one situation only, these
absurdities would follow. But if one division of this tribe occupied the
places in Elis near Dymē, Minerva might be said to direct her journey
thither, and even the return to the ship would not be absurd, nor the
separation from the company of Telemachus, when her road was in an
opposite direction.

The question respecting Pylus may perhaps be resolved in a similar
manner, when we come, as we proceed, to the description of the Messenian
Pylus. [64]]

18. There is also, it is said, a nation, the Paroreatæ, who occupy, in
the hilly district of Triphylia, the mountains, which extend from about
Lepreum and Macistum to the sea near the Samian grove sacred to Neptune.

19. Below these people on the coast are two caves; one, of the nymphs
Anigriades; the other, the scene of the adventures of the
Atlantides,[65] and of the birth of Dardanus. There also are the groves,
both the Ionæum and Eurycydeium.

Samicum is a fortress. Formerly there was a city of the name of Samos,
which perhaps had its designation from its [CAS. 336] height, since
they called heights Sami; perhaps also this was the acropolis of Arēnē,
which the poet mentions in the Catalogue of the Ships;

“who inhabited Pylus, and the pleasant Arene;”[66]

for as the position of Arēnē has not been clearly discovered anywhere,
it is conjectured, that it was most probably situated where the
adjoining river Anigrus, formerly called Minyeius, empties itself. As no
inconsiderable proof of this, Homer says,

“There is a river Minyeius, which empties itself into the sea, near
Arene. ”[67]

Now near the cave of the nymphs Anigriades is a fountain, by which the
subjacent country is rendered marshy, and filled with pools of water.
The Anigrus however receives the greater part of the water, being deep,
but with so little current that it stagnates. The place is full of mud,
emits an offensive smell perceptible at a distance of 26 stadia, and
renders the fish unfit for food. Some writers give this fabulous account
of these waters, and attribute the latter effect to the venom of the
Hydra, which some of the Centaurs[68] washed from their wounds; others
say, that Melampus used these cleansing waters for the purification of
the Prœtades. [69] They are a cure for alphi, or leprous eruptions, and
the white tetter, and the leichen. They say also that the Alpheus had
its name from its property of curing the disease alphi. [70]

Since then the sluggishness of the Anigrus, and the recoil of the waters
of the sea, produce a state of rest rather than a current, they say,
that its former name was Minyeïus, but that some persons perverted the
name and altered it to Minteïus. The etymology of the name may be
derived from other sources; either from those who accompanied Chloris,
the mother of Nestor, from the Minyeian Orchomenus; or, from the Minyæ
descendants of the Argonauts, who were banished from Lemnos, and went to
Lacedæmon, and thence to Triphylia, and settled about Arēnē, in the
country now called Hypæsia, which however no longer contains places
built by the Minyæ.

Some of these people, with Theras the son of Autesion, who was a
descendant of Polynices, having set sail to the country between Cyrenæa
and the island of Crete, “formerly Calliste, but afterwards called
Thera,” according to Callimachus, founded Thera, the capital of Cyrene,
and gave the same name to the city, and to the island.

20. Between the Anigrus and the mountain from which the Jardanes rises,
a meadow and a sepulchre are shown, and the Achææ, which are rocks
broken off from the same mountain, above which was situated, as I have
said, the city Samos. Samos is not mentioned by any of the authors of
Peripli, or Circumnavigations; because perhaps it had been long since
destroyed, and perhaps also on account of its position. For the
Poseidium is a grove, as I have said, near the sea, a lofty eminence
rises above it, situated in front of the present Samicum, where Samos
once stood, so that it cannot be seen from the sea.

Here also is the plain called Samicus, from which we may further
conjecture that there was once a city Samos.

According to the poem Rhadinē, of which Stesichorus seems to have been
the author, and which begins in this manner,

“Come, tuneful Muse, Erato, begin the melodious song, in
praise of the lovely Samian youths, sounding the strings of
the delightful lyre:”

these youths were natives of this Samos. For he says that Rhadinē being
given in marriage to the tyrant, set sail from Samos to Corinth with a
westerly wind, and therefore certainly not from the Ionian Samos. By the
same wind her brother, who was archi-theorus, arrived at Delphi. Her
cousin, who was in love with her, set out after her in a chariot to
Corinth. The tyrant put both of them to death, and sent away the bodies
in a chariot, but changing his mind, he recalled the chariot, and buried
them.

21. From this Pylus and the Lepreum to the Messenian Pylus[71] and the
Coryphasium, fortresses situated upon the sea, [CAS. 348] and to the
adjoining island Sphagia, is a distance of about 400 stadia, and from
the Alpheius a distance of 750, and from the promontory Chelonatas 1030
stadia. In the intervening distance are the temple of the Macistian
Hercules, and the river Acidon, which flows beside the tomb of Jardanus,
and Chaa, a city which was once near Lepreum, where also is the Æpasian
plain. It was for this Chaa, it is said, that the Arcadians and Pylians
went to war with each other, which war Homer has mentioned, and it is
thought that the verse ought to be written,

“Oh that I were young as when multitudes of Pylii, and of
Arcades, handling the spear, fought together at the
swift-flowing Acidon near the walls of Chaa,”[72]

not Celadon, nor Pheia, for this place is nearer the tomb of Jardanus
and the Arcades than the other.

22. On the Triphylian Sea are situated Cyparissia, and Pyrgi, and the
rivers Acidon and Neda. At present the boundary of Triphylia towards
Messenia is the impetuous stream of the Neda descending from the Lycæus,
a mountain of Arcadia, and rising from a source which, according to the
fable, burst forth to furnish water in which Rhea was to wash herself
after the birth of Jupiter. It flows near Phigalia, and empties itself
into the sea where the Pyrgitæ, the extreme tribe of the Triphylii,
approach the Cyparissenses, the first of the Messenian nation. But,
anciently, the country had other boundaries, so that the dominions of
Nestor included some places on the other side of the Neda, as the
Cyparisseïs, and some others beyond that tract, in the same manner as
the poet extends the Pylian sea as far as the seven cities, which
Agamemnon promised to Achilles,

“All near the sea bordering upon the sandy Pylus,”[73]

which is equivalent to, near the Pylian sea.

23. Next in order to the Cyparisseïs in traversing the coast towards the
Messenian Pylus and the Coryphasium, we meet with Erana, (Eranna,) which
some writers incorrectly suppose was formerly called Arene, by the same
name as the Pylian city, and the promontory Platamodes, from which to
the Coryphasium, and to the place at present called Pylus, are 100
stadia. [74] There is also a cenotaph and a small town in it both of the
same name--Protē.

We ought not perhaps to carry our inquiries so far into antiquity, and
it might be sufficient to describe the present state of each place, if
certain reports about them had not been delivered down to us in
childhood; but as different writers give different accounts, it is
necessary to examine them. The most famous and the most ancient writers
being the first in point of personal knowledge of the places, are, in
general, persons of the most credit. Now as Homer surpasses all others
in these respects, we must examine what he says, and compare his
descriptions with the present state of places, as we have just said. We
have already considered his description of the Hollow Elis and of
Buprasium.

24. He describes the dominions of Nestor in these words:

“And they who inhabited Pylus, and the beautiful Arene, and
Thryum, a passage across the Alpheius, and the well-built Æpy,
and Cyparisseis, and Amphigeneia, and Pteleum, and Helos, and
Dorium, where the Muses having met with Thamyris the Thracian,
deprived him of the power of song, as he was coming from
Œchalia, from the house of Eurytus the Œchalian. ”[75]

It is Pylus, therefore, to which the question relates, and we shall soon
treat of it. We have already spoken of Arene. The places, which he here
calls Thryum, in another passage he calls Thryoessa,

“There is a city Thryoessa, lofty, situated on a hill,
Far off, on the banks of the Alpheius. ”[76]

He calls it the ford or passage of the Alpheius, because, according to
these verses, it seems as if it could be crossed at this place on foot.
Thryum is at present called Epitalium, a village of Macistia.

With respect to εὔκτιτον Αἶπυ, “Æpy the
well-built,” some writers ask which of these words is the epithet of the
other, and what is the city, and whether it is the present Margalæ of
Amphidolia, but this Margalæ is not a natural fortress, but another is
meant, a natural stronghold in Macistia. Writers who suppose this place
to be meant, say, that Æpy is the name of the city, and infer it from
its natural properties, as in the example of Helos,[77] Ægialos,[78] and
many others: [CAS. 349] those who suppose Margalæ to be meant here,
will assert the contrary.

Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because all the country
is θρυώδης, or sedgy, and particularly the banks of the rivers, but
this appears more clearly at the fordable places of the stream. Perhaps
Thryum is meant by the ford, and by “the well-built Æpy,” Epitalium,
which is naturally strong, and in the other part of the passage he
mentions a lofty hill;

“The city Thryoessa, a lofty hill,
Far away by the Alpheus. ”[79]

25. Cyparisseïs is near the old Macistia, which then extended even to
the other side of the Neda, but it is not inhabited, as neither is
Macistum. There is also another, the Messenian Cyparissia, not having
quite the same name, but one like it. The city of Macistia is at present
called Cyparissia, in the singular number, and feminine gender, but the
name of the river is Cyparisseis.

Amphigeneia, also belonging to Macistia, is near Hypsoeis, where is the
temple of Latona.

Pteleum was founded by the colony that came from Pteleum in Thessaly,
for it is mentioned in this line,

“Antron on the sea-coast, and the grassy Pteleum. ”[80]

It is a woody place, uninhabited, called Pteleasimum.

Some writers say, that Helos was some spot near the Alpheius; others,
that it was a city like that in Laconia,

“and Helos, a small city on the sea;”[81]

others say that it is the marsh near Alorium, where is a temple of the
Eleian Artemis, (Diana of the Marsh,) belonging to the Arcadians, for
this people had the priesthood.

Dorium is said by some authors to be a mountain, by others a plain, but
nothing is now to be seen; yet it is alleged, that the present Oluris,
or Olura, situated in the Aulon, as it is called, of Messenia, is
Dorium. Somewhere there also is Œchalia of Eurytus, the present Andania,
a small Arcadian town of the same name as those in Thessaly and Eubœa,
whence the poet says, Thamyris, the Thracian, came to Dorium, and was
deprived by the Muses of the power of song.

26. Hence it is evident that the country under the command of Nestor is
on each side of the Alpheius, all of which tract he calls the country
of the Pylians, but nowhere does the Alpheius touch Messenia, nor the
Hollow Elis. [82]

It is in this district that we have the native country of Nestor, which
we call the Triphylian, the Arcadian, and the Lepreatic Pylus. For we
know that other places of the name of Pylus are pointed out, situated
upon the sea, but this is distant more than 30 stadia from it, as
appears from the poem. A messenger is sent to the vessel, to the
companions of Telemachus,--to invite them to a hospitable entertainment.
Telemachus, upon his return from Sparta, does not permit Peisistratus to
go to the city, but diverts him from it, and prevails upon him to hasten
to the ship, whence it appears that the same road did not lead both to
the city and to the haven. The departure of Telemachus may in this
manner be aptly understood:

“they went past Cruni, and the beautiful streams of Chalcis;
the sun set, and all the villages were in shade and darkness;
but the ship, exulting in the gales of Jove, arrived at Pheæ.
She passed also the divine Elis, where the Epeii rule;”[83]

for to this place the direction of the vessel was towards the north, and
thence it turns to the east. The vessel leaves its first and straight
course in the direction of Ithaca, because the suitors had placed an
ambush there,

“In the strait between Ithaca and Samos,
And from thence he directed the vessel to the sharp-pointed islands,
νήσοισι θοῇσι;”[84]

the sharp-pointed (ὀξείαι) he calls θοαὶ.
They belong to the Echinades, and are near the commencement of the
Corinthian Gulf and the mouths of the Achelous. After having sailed past
Ithaca so as to leave the island behind him, he turns to the proper
course between Acarnania and Ithaca, and disembarks on the other side of
the island, not at the strait of Cephallenia, where the suitors were on
the watch.

27. If any one therefore should suppose that the Eleian Pylus is the
Pylus of Nestor, the ship would not properly be said, after setting off
thence, to take its course along Cruni and Chalcis, as far as the west,
then to arrive by night at Pheæ, and afterwards to sail along the
territory of Eleia, for [CAS. 351] these places are to the south of
Eleia, first Pheæ, then Chalcis, then Cruni, then the Triphylian Pylus,
and the Samicum. In sailing then to the south from the Eleian Pylus this
would be the course. In sailing to the north, where Ithaca lies, all
these places are left behind, but they must sail along Eleia itself, and
before, although he says after, sunset. Again, on the other side, if
any one should suppose the Messenian Pylus and the Coryphasium to be the
commencement of the voyage after leaving the country of Nestor, the
distance would be great, and would occupy more time. For the distance
only to the Triphylian Pylus and the Samian Poseidium is 400 stadia, and
the voyage would not be along Cruni, and Chalcis, and Pheæ, the names of
obscure places and rivers, or rather of streams, but first along the
Neda, then Acidon, next Alpheius, and the places and countries lying
between these rivers, and lastly, if we must mention them, along the
former, because the voyage was along the former places and rivers also.

28. Besides, Nestor’s account of the war between the Pylians and
Eleians, which he relates to Patroclus, agrees with our arguments, if
any one examines the lines. For he says there, that Hercules laid waste
Pylus, and that all the youth were exterminated; that out of twelve sons
of Neleus, he himself alone survived, and was a very young man, and that
the Epeii, despising Neleus on account of his old age and destitute
state, treated the Pylians with haughtiness and insult. Nestor
therefore, in order to avenge this wrong, collected as large a body of
his people as he was able, made an inroad into Eleia, and carried away a
large quantity of booty;

“Fifty herds of oxen, as many flocks of sheep,
As many herds of swine,”[85]

and as many flocks of goats, an hundred and fifty brood mares,
bay-coloured, most of which had foals, and “these,” he says,

“We drove away to Pylus, belonging to Neleus,
By night towards the city;”[86]

so that the capture of the booty, and the flight of those who came to
the assistance of people who were robbed, happened in the day-time,
when, he says, he slew Itamon; and they returned by night, so that they
arrived by night at the city. When they were engaged in dividing the
booty, and in sacrificing, the Epeii, having assembled in multitudes, on
the third day marched against them with an army of horse and foot, and
encamped about Thryum, which is situated on the Alpheius. The Pylians
were no sooner informed of this than they immediately set out to the
relief of this place, and having passed the night on the river Minyeius
near Arene, thence arrive at the Alpheius at noon. After sacrificing to
the gods, and passing the night on the banks of the river, they
immediately, in the morning, engaged in battle. The rout of the enemy
was complete, and they did not desist from the pursuit and slaughter,
till they came to Buprasium,

“and the Olenian rock, where is a tumulus of Alesius, whence
again Minerva repulsed the multitudes;”[87]

and adds below,

“but the Achæi
Turned back their swift horses from Buprasium to Pylus. ”

29. From these verses how can it be supposed that Eleian or Messenian
Pylus is meant. I say the Eleian, because when this was destroyed by
Hercules, the country of the Epeii also was ravaged at the same time,
that is, Eleia. How then could those, who were of the same tribe, and
who had been plundered at that time, show such pride and insult to
persons, who were suffering under the same injuries? How could they
overrun and ravage their own country? How could Augeas and Neleus be
kings of the same people, and yet be mutual enemies; for to Neleus

“a great debt was owing at the divine Elis; four horses, which
had won the prize; they came with their chariots to contend
for prizes; they were about to run in the race for a tripod;
and Augeas, king of men, detained them there, but dismissed
the charioteer. ”[88]

If Neleus lived there, there Nestor also lived. How then were there

“four chiefs of Eleians and Buprasians, with ten swift ships
accompanying each, and with many Epeii embarked in them? ”

The country also was divided into four parts, none of which was subject
to Nestor, but those tribes were under his command,

“who lived at Pylus, and the pleasant Arēnē,”

and at the places that follow next as far as Messene. [CAS. 352] How
came the Epeii, when marching against the Pylians, to set out towards
the Alpheius and Thryum, and after being defeated there in battle, to
fly to Buprasium? But on the other side, if Hercules laid waste the
Messenian Pylus, how could they, who were at such a distance, treat the
Pylians with insult, or have so much intercourse and traffic with them,
and defraud them by refusing to discharge a debt, so that war should
ensue on that account? How too could Nestor, after having got, in his
marauding adventure, so large a quantity of booty, a prey of swine and
sheep, none of which are swift-footed, nor able to go a long journey,
accomplish a march of more than 1000 stadia to Pylus near Coryphasium?
Yet all the Epeii arrive at Thryoessa and the river Alpheius on the
third day, ready to lay siege to the stronghold. How also did these
districts belong to the chiefs of Messenia, when the Caucones, and
Triphylii, and Pisatæ occupied them? But the territory Gerena, or
Gerenia, for it is written both ways, might have a name which some
persons applied designedly, or which might have originated even in
accident.

Since, however, Messenia was entirely under the dominion of Menelaus, to
whom Laconia also was subject, as will be evident from what will be said
hereafter, and since the rivers, the Pamisus and the Nedon, flow through
this country, and not the Alpheius at all, which runs in a straight line
through the country of the Pylians, of which Nestor was ruler, can that
account be credible, by which it appears that one man takes possession
by force of the dominion of another, and deprives him of the cities,
which are said to be his property in the Catalogue of the Ships, and
makes others subject to the usurper.

30. It remains that we speak of Olympia, and of the manner in which
everything fell into the power of the Eleii.

The temple is in the district Pisatis, at the distance of less than 300
stadia from Elis. In front of it is a grove of wild olive trees, where
is the stadium. The Alpheius flows beside it, taking its course out of
Arcadia to the Triphylian Sea between the west and the south. The fame
of the temple was originally owing to the oracle of the Olympian Jove;
yet after that had ceased, the renown of the temple continued, and
increased, as we know, to a high degree of celebrity, both on account of
the assembly of the people of Greece, which was held there, and of the
Olympic games, in which the victor was crowned. These games were
esteemed sacred, and ranked above all others.