Pausanias

“ In the territory of Dyme is also the grave of Oebotas the runner. Although this Oebotas was the first Achaean to win an Olympic victory, he yet received from them no special prize. Wherefore Oebotas pronounced a curse that no Achaean in future should win an Olympic victory. There must have been some god who was careful that the curse of Oebotas should be fulfilled, but the Achaeans by sending to Delphi at last learned why it was that they had been failing to win the Olympic crown. ”

“ In the reign of Philip, the son of Amyntas, Lacedemon is the only Greek city to be found that was not betrayed; the other cities in Greece were ruined more by treachery than they had been previously by the plague. Alexander, the son of Philip, was so favoured by fortune that he had little need worth mentioning of traitors.
7.10.4 But when the Greeks suffered defeat at Lamia, Antipater, in his eagerness to cross over to the war in Asia, wished to patch up a peace quickly, and it mattered nothing to him if he left free Athens and the whole of Greece. ”

“ Whosoever enters with the desire to see the sights, if he be guilty of bloodshed, defilement or impiety, is said at once to become insane with fright, and for this reason the right to enter is not given to all and sundry. ”

“ The journey of the envoys from Rome proved rather slow, giving Diaeus a fresh opportunity of deceiving the Achaeans and Menalcidas of deceiving the Lacedemonians. Diaeus misled the Achaeans into the belief that the Roman senate had decreed the complete subjection to them of the Lacedemonians; Menalcidas deceived the Lacedemonians into thinking that the Romans had entirely freed them from the Achaean League. ”

“ The sights of Aegeira worth recording include a sanctuary of Zeus with a sitting image of Pentelic marble, the work of Eucleides the Athenian. In this sanctuary there also stands an image of Athena. The face, hands and feet are of ivory, the rest is of wood, with ornamentation of gilt work and of colors.
7.26.5 There is also a temple of Artemis, with an image of the modern style of workmanship. The priestess is a maiden, who holds office until she reaches the age to marry. There stands here too an ancient image, which the folk of Aegeira say is Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. ”

“ Pharae 7.22.1 Pharae, a city of the Achaeans, belongs to Patrae, having been given to it by Augustus. The road from the city of Patrae to Pharae is a hundred and fifty stades, while Pharae is about seventy stades inland from the coast. Near to Pharae runs the river Pieros, which in my opinion is the same as the one flowing past the ruins of Olenus, called by the men of the coast the Peiros. Near the river is a grove of plane-trees, most of which are hollow through age, and so huge that they actually feast in the holes, and those who have a mind to do so sleep there as well. ”

“ Even today there is a slab on the top of the mound, with a figure of Heracles in relief. I was told that the natives also sacrifice to Sostratus as to a hero.
7.17.9 The people of Dyme have a temple of Athena with an extremely ancient image; they have as well a sanctuary built for the Dindymenian Mother and Attis. As to Attis, I could learn no secret about him, but Hermesianax, the elegiac poet, says in a poem that he was the son of Galaus the Phrygian, and that he was a eunuch from birth. ”

“ Consider the Areopagus, and the smoking altars Of the Eumenides, where the Lacedemonians are to be thy suppliants, When hard-pressed in war. Kill them not with the sword, And wrong not suppliants. For suppliants are sacred and holy. 7.25.2 The Greeks were reminded of these words when Peloponnesians arrived at Athens at the time when the Athenian king was Codrus, the son of Melanthus. Now the rest of the Peloponnesian army, on learning of the death of Codrus and of the manner of it, departed from Attica, the oracle from Delphi making them despair of success in the future ”

“ But when the festival is being held for Limnatis, one of the slaves of the goddess comes from Mesoa bringing the ancient xoanon to the precinct in the city.
7.20.9 Near this precinct the people of Patrae have other sanctuaries. These are not in the open, but there is an entrance to them through the porticoes. The image of Asclepius, save for the drapery, is of stone; Athena is made of ivory and gold. Before the sanctuary of Athena is the tomb of Preugenes. Every year they sacrifice to Preugenes as to a hero, and likewise to Patreus also, when the festival of Limnatis is being held. ”

“ The people of Pellene also say that a shrine of Athena sinks deep into the ground, that this shrine is under the pedestal of the image, and that the air from the shrine is damp, and consequently good for the ivory.
7.27.3 Above the temple of Athena is a grove, surrounded by a wall, of Artemis surnamed Saviour, by whom they swear their most solemn oaths. No man may enter the grove except the priests. These priests are natives, chosen chiefly because of their high birth. Opposite the grove of the Saviour is a sanctuary of Dionysus surnamed Torch. ”

“ Menalcidas promised half of the money to Callicrates, who on account of his friendship with the Romans had most influence among the Achaeans.
7.11.8 Callicrates was persuaded to adopt the plan of Menalcidas, and it was decided to help the Oropians against the Athenians. News of this was brought to the Athenians, who, with all the speed each could, came to Oropus, again dragged away anything they had overlooked in the previous raids, and brought away the garrison. As the Achaeans were too late to render help, Menalcidas and Callicrates urged them to invade Attica. ”

“ The boundary between Achaia and Elis is the river Larisus, and by the river is a temple of Larisaean Athena; about thirty stades distant from the Larisus is Dyme, an Achaean city. This was the only Achaean city that in his wars Philip the son of Demetrius made subject to him, and for this reason Sulpicius, another Roman governor, handed over Dyme to be sacked by his soldiery. Afterwards Augustus annexed it to Patrae. ”

“ None of the inhabitants could give the name of the artist, but anyone who has already seen the Heracles at Sicyon would be led to conjecture that the Apollo in Aegeira was also a work of the same artist, Laphaes the Phliasian.
7.26.7 There are in a temple standing images of Asclepius, and elsewhere images of Serapis and of Isis, these too being of Pentelic marble. They worship most devoutly the Heavenly Goddess, but human beings must not enter her sanctuary. ”

“ The leader of the Ionians was Procles, the son of Pityreus, Epidaurian himself like the greater part of his followers, who had been expelled from Epidauria by Deiphontes and the Argives. This Procles was descended from Ion, son of Xuthus. But the Ephesians under Androclus made war on Leogorus, the son of Procles, who reigned in Samos after his father, and after conquering them in a battle drove the Samians out of their island, accusing them of conspiring with the Carians against the Ionians. ”

“ It is still today a custom for the Achaeans who are going to compete at Olympia to sacrifice to Oebotas as to a hero, and, if they are successful, to place a wreath on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia.
7.18.1 Some forty stades from Dyme the river Peiros flows down into the sea; on the Peiros once stood the Achaean city of Olenus. The poets who have sung of Heracles and his labours have found a favorite subject in Dexamenus, king of Olenus, and the entertainment Heracles received at his court. ”

“ The infantry were depressed at the rout of their horse, but nevertheless received the onslaught of the Roman men-at-arms; overwhelmed by numbers and faint with their wounds they offered a spirited resistance, until a thousand picked Romans fell upon their flank and utterly routed them.
7.16.4 If after the battle Diaeus had boldly thrown himself into Corinth and received the fugitives within the walls, the Achaeans might have been able to get favorable terms from Mummius, by putting him to the trouble of a protracted siege. ”

“ The Lacedemonians too put to death men who had taken refuge in the sanctuary of Poseidon at Taenarum. Presently their city was shaken by an earthquake so continuous and violent that no house in Lacedemon could resist it.
7.25.4 The destruction of Helice occurred while Asteius was still archon at Athens, in the fourth year of the hundred and first Olympiad [373 BCE] , whereat Damon of Thurii was victorious for the first time. As none of the people of Helice were left alive, the land is occupied by the people of Aegium. ”

“ There are sanctuaries of Dionysus and of Artemis. The goddess is of bronze, and is taking an arrow from her quiver. The image of Dionysus is painted with vermilion. On going down from Aegeira to the port, and walking on again, we see on the right of the road the sanctuary of Agrotera, where they say the goat crouched.
Pellene 7.26.12 The territory of Aegeira is bounded by that of Pellene, which is the last city of Achaia in the direction of Sicyon and the Argolid. ”

“ Just before the time of the festival they construct a smooth ascent to the altar, piling earth upon the altar steps.
7.18.12 The festival begins with a most splendid procession in honor of Artemis, and the maiden officiating as priestess rides last in the procession upon a car yoked to deer. It is, however, not till the next day that the sacrifice is offered, and the festival is not only a state function but also quite a popular general holiday. For the people throw alive upon the altar edible birds and every kind of victim as well; there are wild boars, deer and gazelles ”

“ But later on the Achaeans of the place removed some suppliants from the sanctuary and killed them. But the wrath of Poseidon visited them without delay; an earthquake promptly struck their land and swallowed up, without leaving a trace for posterity to see, both the buildings and the very site on which the city stood.
7.24.7 Warnings, usually the same in all cases, are wont to be sent by the god before violent and far-reaching earthquakes. Either continuous storms of rain or else continuous droughts occur before earthquakes for an unusual length of time, and the weather is unseasonable. ”

“ He said that Menalcidas, when on an embassy to Rome, had worked against the Achaeans and had done all he could to separate Sparta from the Achaean League.
7.12.3 Thereupon, as the danger he ran was extreme, Menalcidas gave three of the talents he received from Oropus to Diaeus of Megalopolis, who had succeeded him as general of the Achaeans, and on this occasion was so active, because of the bribe, that he succeeded in saving Menalcidas in spite of the opposition of the Achaeans. ”

“ A short time before, the Romans had sent a force ostensibly to help the Aetolians against Philip, but really more to spy on the condition of Macedonia.
7.7.8 At the appeal of Athens the Romans despatched an army under Otilius, to give him the name by which he was best known. For the Romans differ from the Greeks in their being called, not by the names of their fathers, but by three names at least, if not more, given to each man. Otilius had received orders from the Romans to protect Athenians and Aetolians from war with Philip. ”

“ But into the sanctuary of the goddess they surname Syrian they enter on stated days, but they must submit beforehand to certain customary purifications, especially in the matter of diet.
7.26.8 I remember observing at Aegeira a building in which was an image of Fortune carrying the horn of Amaltheia. By her side is a winged Eros, the moral of which is that even success in love depends for mankind on fortune rather than on beauty. ”

“ The land around Lebedus is a happy one; in particular its hot baths are more numerous and more pleasant than any others on the coast. Originally Lebedus also was inhabited by the Carians, until they were driven out by Andraemon the son of Codrus and the Ionians. ”

“ But those who threw them in drag them back again to the pyre. It is not remembered that anybody has ever been wounded by the beasts.
7.19.1 Between the temple of Laphria and the altar stands the tomb of Eurypylus. Who he was and for what reason he came to this land I shall set forth presently; but I must first describe what the condition of affairs was at his arrival. The Ionians who lived in Aroe, Antheia and Mesatis had in common a precinct and a temple of Artemis surnamed Triclaria, and in her honor the Ionians used to celebrate every year a festival and an all-night vigil. ”

“ The Ephesians carried off his body and buried it in their own land, at the spot where his tomb is pointed out at the present day, on the road leading from the sanctuary past the Olympieum to the Magnesian gate. On the tomb is a statue of an armed man.
7.2.10 The Ionians who settled at Myus and Priene, they too took the cities from Carians. The founder of Myus was Cyaretus the son of Codrus, but the people of Priene, half Theban and half Ionian, had as their founders Philotas, the descendant of Peneleus, and Aepytus, the son of Neileus. ”

“ In winter it turns too hot, and in summer along with a tendency to haze the orb of the sun presents an unusual color, slightly inclining to red or else to black.
7.24.8 Springs of water generally dry up; blasts of wind sometimes swoop upon the land and overturn the trees; occasionally great flames dart across the sky; the shapes of stars too appear such as have never been witnessed before, producing consternation in those that witness them ”