Pausanias

“ Of the Lacedemonians who served at Thermopylae they consider that these men distinguished themselves in the fighting more than any save Leonidas himself. The sanctuary of Zeus Tropaeus (He who turns to flight) was made by the Dorians, when they had conquered in war the Amyclaeans, as well as the other Achaeans, who at that time occupied Laconia. The sanctuary of the Great Mother has paid to it the most extraordinary honors. After it come the hero-shrines of Hippolytus, son of Theseus, and of the Arcadian Aulon, son of Tlesimenes. ”

“ Pleistoanax had a son Pausanias; he was the Pausanias who invaded Attica, ostensibly to oppose Thrasybulus and the Athenians, but really to establish firmly the despotism of those to whom the government had been entrusted by Lysander. Although he won a battle against the Athenians holding the Peiraeus, yet immediately after the battle he resolved to lead his army back home, and not to bring upon Sparta the most disgraceful of reproaches by increasing the despotic power of wicked men. ”

“ For Tyndareus, having sacrificed a horse here, administered an oath to the suitors of Helen, making them stand upon the pieces of the horse. The oath was to defend Helen and him who might be chosen to marry her if ever they should be wronged. When he had sworn the suitors he buried the horse here. Seven pillars, which are not far from this tomb . . . in the ancient manner, I believe, which they say are images of the planets. On the road is a precinct of Cranius surnamed Stemmatias, and a sanctuary of Mysian Artemis. ”

“ Now if Leonidas had given way to impulse and retired, like Demaratus the son of Ariston, either to the king of Macedonia or to the Egyptian king, he would have profited nothing even by the Spartans changing their minds. But as it was, when the citizens sentenced him to exile, he went to Arcadia, whence not many years later he was recalled by the Lacedemonians, who made him king again.
3.6.9 Now how Cleomenes the son of Leonidas performed daring feats of valor, and how after him the Spartans ceased to be ruled by kings, I have already shown in my account of Aratus of Sicyon. ”

“ Too long then shalt thou lie in the clutches of desperate hardships; Turmoil of war shall arise, o'erwhelming men in its billows.” 3.8.10 Leotychides on this occasion said that these words pointed to Agesilaus, who was lame in one of his feet, while Agesilaus interpreted them as alluding to the illegitimacy of Leotychides. Although they might have done so, the Lacedemonians did not refer the disputed point to Delphi; the reason was in my opinion that Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, an active supporter of Agesilaus, would have him king at all costs. ”

“ The agnus is a willow like the thorn. Not far from Asclepius stands a trophy, raised, they say, by Polydeuces to celebrate his victory over Lynceus. This is one of the pieces of evidence that confirm my statement that the sons of Aphareus were not buried in Sparta. At the beginning of the Dromos are the Dioscuri Apheterioi (Starters) , and a little farther on a hero-shrine of Alcon, who they say was a son of Hippocoon. Beside the shrine of Alcon is a sanctuary of Poseidon, whom they surname Domatites (“of the House”) . ”

“ The gods are bringing gifts to the marriage of Harmonia. There is wrought also the single combat of Achilles and Memnon, and Heracles avenging himself upon Diomedes the Thracian, and upon Nessus at the river Euenus. Hermes is bringing the goddesses to Alexander to be judged. Adrastus and Tydeus are staying the fight between Amphiaraus and Lycurgus the son of Pronax. ”

“ It is not a continuous stretch of rock, but the stones they dig out are shaped like river pebbles; they are hard to work, but when worked sanctuaries of the gods might be adorned with them, while they are especially adapted for beautifying swimming-baths and fountains. ”

“ Everything that he saw in the smithy he compared with the oracle from Delphi, likening to the winds the bellows, for that they too sent forth a violent blast, the hammer to the “stroke,” the anvil to the “counterstroke” to it, while the iron is naturally a “woe to man,” because already men were using iron in warfare. In the time of those called heroes the god would have called bronze a woe to man.
3.3.7 Similar to the oracle about the bones of Orestes was the one afterwards given to the Athenians, that they were to bring back Theseus from Scyros to Athens otherwise they could not take Scyros. ”

“ The people of Elis replied that, when they saw the cities free that were neighbors of Sparta, they would without delay set free their own subjects; whereupon the Lacedemonians under king Agis invaded the territory of Elis. ”

“ If the fire receives and consumes them, they rejoice at the appearance of a good sign, but if it casts up what has been thrown in, they think misfortune will befall the man to whom this happens.
3.23.10 By the road leading from Boeae to Epidaurus Limera is a sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis in the country of the Epidaurians. The city lies on high ground, not far from the sea. Here the sanctuary of Artemis is worth seeing, also that of Asclepius with a standing statue of stone, a temple of Athena on the acropolis, and of Zeus with the title Saviour in front of the harbor. ”

“ Zeuxidamus, the son of Leotychides, died of disease while Leotychides was still alive and before he retired into exile so his son Archidamus succeeded to the throne after the departure of Leotychides for Tegea. This Archidamus did terrible damage to the land of the Athenians, invading Attica with an army every year, on each occasion carrying destruction from end to end ”

“ They cast lots during the night to decide by which entrance each band is to go in. In fighting they use their hands, kick with their feet, bite, and gouge out the eyes of their opponents. Man to man they fight in the way I have described, but in the melee they charge violently and push one another into the water.
3.15.1 At Platanistas there is also a hero-shrine of Cynisca, daughter of Archidamus king of the Spartans. She was the first woman to breed horses, and the first to win a chariot race at Olympia. ”

“ But in the reign of Anaxander, son of Eurycrates — for destiny was by this time driving the Messenians out of all the Peloponnesus — the Messenians revolted from the Lacedemonians. For a time they held out by force of arms, but at last they were overcome and retired from the Peloponnesus under a truce. The remnant of them left behind in the land became the slaves of the Lacedemonians, with the exception of those in the towns on the coast. ”

“ On this occasion Lysander came to Phocis, took along with him the entire Phocian army, and without any further delay entered Boeotia and began assaults upon the wall of Haliartus, the citizens of which refused to revolt from Thebes. Already a band of Thebans and Athenians had secretly entered the city; these came out and offered battle before the wall, and there fell here several Lacedemonians, including Lysander himself. ”

“ These are those who are just passing from youth to manhood. In the Dromos are two gymnastic schools, one being a votive gift of Eurycles, a Spartan. Outside the Dromos, over against the image of Heracles, there is a house belonging now to a private individual, but in olden times to Menelaus. Farther away from the Dromos are sanctuaries of the Dioscuri, of the Graces, of Eileithyia, of Apollo Carneus, and of Artemis Leader.
3.14.7 The sanctuary of Agnitas has been made on the right of the Dromos; Agnitas is a surname of Asclepius, because the god had a xoanon of agnus castus. ”

“ Lacedemon was wedded to Sparta, a daughter of Eurotas. When he came to the throne, he first changed the names of the land and its inhabitants, calling them after himself, and next he founded and named after his wife a city, which even down to our own day has been called Sparta.
3.1.3 Amyclas, too, son of Lacedemon, wished to leave some memorial behind him, and built a town in Laconia. Hyacinthus, the youngest and most beautiful of his sons, died before his father, and his tomb is in Amyclae below the image of Apollo. On the death of Amyclas the empire came to Argalus [Aegalus?] ”

“ Here before the village stands an image of Zeus Krokeatas (of Croceae) in stone, and the Dioscuri in bronze are at the quarry.
3.21.5 After Croceae, turning away to the right from the straight road to Gythium, you will reach a city Aegiae. They say that this is the city which Homer [53] in his poem calls Augeae. Here is a lake called Poseidon's, and by the lake is a temple with an image of the god. They are afraid to take out the fish, saying that a fisherman in these waters turns into the fish called the fisher. ”

“ The natives worship the Amyclaean god and Dionysus, surnaming the latter, quite correctly I think, Psilax. For psila is Doric for wings, and wine uplifts men and lightens their spirit no less than wings do birds. Such I found were the things worth mentioning about Amyclae.
Therapne 3.19.7 Another road from the city leads to Therapne, and on this road is a xoanon of Athena Alea. Before the Eurotas is crossed, a little above the bank is shown a sanctuary of Zeus Plousios (Wealthy) . Across the river is a temple of Asclepius Cotyleus (of the Hip-joint) ”

“ For they were informed by several of their magistrates, especially by Lysander, that it was not Artaxerxes but Cyrus who had been supplying the pay for the fleet during the war with Athens. Agesilaus, who was appointed to lead the expedition across to Asia and to be in command of the land forces, sent round to all parts of the Peloponnesus, except Argos, and to the Greeks north of the Isthmus, asking for allies. ”

“ We know that Theseus carried off Helen, so that it is quite impossible that Achilles could have been her suitor.
3.25.1 Beyond the tomb a river named Scyras enters the sea. Formerly it was without a name, but was so called, because Pyrrhus the son of Achilles put in here when he sailed from Scyros to wed Hermione. Across the river is an ancient shrine . . . further from an altar of Zeus. Inland, forty stades from the river, lies Pyrrhichus, the name of which is said to be derived from Pyrrhus the son of Achilles ”