Pausanias, Greece, 2.1.1.-5.1 (2nd Century)
Introduction [2.1.1] The Corinthian land
is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Corinthus. That Corinthus
was a son of Zeus I have never known anybody say seriously except the
majority of the Corinthians. Eumelus, the son of Amphilytus, of
the family called Bacchidae, who is said to have composed the epic poem,
says in his Corinthian History (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra,
the daughter ofOceanus, dwelt first in this land; that afterwards Marathon,
the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of Helius (Sun), fleeing
from the lawless violence of his father migrated to the sea coast of
Attica; that on the death of Epopeus he came to Peloponnesus, divided
his kingdom among his sons, and returned to Attica; and that Asopia
was renamed after Sicyon, and Ephyraea after Corinthus. 2.1.2]
Corinth is no longer inhabited by any of the old Corinthians, but by
colonists sent out by the Romans. This change is due to the Achaean
League. The Corinthians, being members of it, joined in the war
against the Romans, which Critolaus, when appointed general of the Achaeans,
brought about by persuading to revolt both the Achaeans and the majority
of the Greeks outside the Peloponnesus. When the Romans won the war,
they carried out a general disarmament of the Greeks and dismantled
the walls of such cities as were fortified. Corinth was laid waste by
Mummius, who at that time commanded the Romans in the field, and it
is said that it was afterwards refounded by Caesar, who was the author
of the present constitution of Rome. Carthage, too, they say,
was refounded in his reign. The Isthmus [2.1.3] In the Corinthian
territory is also the place called Cromyon from Cromus the son of Poseidon.
Here they say that Phaea was bred; overcoming this sow was one of the
traditional achievements of Theseus. Farther on the pine still grew
by the shore at the time of my visit, and there was an altar of Melicertes.
At this place, they say, the boy was brought ashore by a dolphin; Sisyphus
found him lying and gave him burial on the Isthmus, establishing the
Isthmian games in his honor. [2.1.4]
At the beginning of the Isthmus is the place where the brigand Sinis
used to take hold of pine trees and draw them down. All those
whom he overcame in fight he used to tie to the trees, and then allow
them to swing up again. hereupon each of the pines used to drag to itself
the bound man, and as the bond gave way in neither direction but was
stretched equally in both, he was torn in two. his was the way
in which Sinis himself was slain by Theseus. or Theseus rid of
evildoers the road from Troezen to Athens, killing those whom I have
enumerated and, in sacred Epidaurus, Periphetes, thought to be the son
f Hephaestus, who used to fight with a bronze club. [2.1.5]
The Corinthian Isthmus stretches on the one hand to the sea at Cenchreae,
and on the other to the sea at Lechaeum. For this is what makes
the region to the south mainland. He who tried to make the Peloponnesus
an island gave up before digging through the Isthmus. Where they began
to dig is still to be seen, but into the rock they did not advance at
all. So it still is mainland as its nature is to be. Alexander
the son of Philip wished to dig through Mimas, and his attempt to do
this was his only unsuccessful project. The Cnidians began to
dig through their isthmus, but the Pythian priestess stopped them.
So difficult it is for man to alter by violence what Heaven has made.
[2.1.6] A legend of
the Corinthians about their land is not peculiar to them, for I believe
that the Athenians were the first to relate a similar story to glorify
Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helius
(Sun) about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning
to Poseidon the Isthmus and the parts adjoining, and giving to Helius
the height above the city. Ever since, they say, the Isthmus has
belonged to Poseidon. The Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia [2.1.7] Worth seeing
here are a theater and a white-marble race-course. Within the sanctuary
of the god stand on the one side portrait statues of athletes who have
won victories at the Isthmian games, on the other side pine trees growing
in a row, the greater number of them rising up straight. On the
temple, which is not very large, stand bronze Tritons. In the
fore-temple are images, two of Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and
a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside were dedicated
in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except for
the hoofs, which are of ivory, [2.1.8]
and two gold Tritons beside the horses, with the parts below the waist
of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and
there is the boy Palaemon upright upon a dolphin. These too are
made of ivory and gold. On the middle of the base on The Isthmian Games [2.2.2] The graves of Sisyphus
and of Neleus--for they say that Neleus came to Corinth, died of disease,
and was buried near the Isthmus--I do not think that anyone would look
for after reading Eumelus. For he says that not even to Nestor
did Sisyphus show the tomb of Neleus, because it must be kept unknown
to everybody alike, and that Sisyphus is indeed buried on the Isthmus,
but that few Corinthians, even those of his own day, knew where the
grave was. The Isthmian games were not interrupted even when Corinth
had been laid waste by Mummius, but so long as it lay deserted the celebration
of the games was entrusted to the Sicyonians, and when it was rebuilt
the honor was restored to the present inhabitants. The Harbors of Corinth [2.2.3] The names of the
Corinthian harbors were given them by Leches and Cenchrias, said to
be the children of Poseidon and Peirene the daughter of Achelous, though
in the poem called The Great Eoeae Peirene is said to be a daughter
of Oebalus. In Lechaeum are a sanctuary and a bronze image of
Poseidon, and on the road leading from the Isthmus to Cenchreae a temple
and ancient wooden image of Artemis. In Cenchreae are a temple and a
stone statue of Aphrodite, after it on the mole running into the sea
a bronze image of Poseidon, and at the other end of the harbor sanctuaries
of Asclepius and of Isis. Right opposite Cenchreae is Helen's
Bath. It is a large stream of salt, tepid water, flowing from
a rock into the sea. The Road fron Cenchraea to Corinth [2.2.4] As one goes
up to Corinth are tombs, and by the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope,
whom the Greeks surname the Dog. Before the city is a grove of
cypresses called Craneum. Here are a precinct of Bellerophontes,
a temple of Aphrodite Melaenis and the grave of Lais, upon which is
set a lioness holding a ram in her fore-paws. [2.2.5] There is in Thessaly
another tomb which claims to be that of Lais, for she went to that country
also when she fell in love with Hippostratus. The story is that
originally she was of Hycara in Sicily. Taken captive while yet
a girl by Nicias and the Athenians, she was sold and brought to Corinth,
where she surpassed in beauty the courtesans of her time, and so won
the admiration of the Corinthians that even now they claim Lais as their
own. The Agora at Corinth [2.2.6] The things worthy
of mention in the city include the extant remains of antiquity, but
the greater number of them belong to the period of its second ascendancy.
On the market-place (agora), where most of the sanctuaries are, stand
Artemis surnamed Ephesian and wooden images of Dionysus, which are covered
with gold with the exception of their faces; these are ornamented with
red paint. They are called Lysius and Baccheus, [2.2.7] and I too give
the story told about them. They say that Pentheus treated Dionysus despitefully,
his crowning outrage being that he went to Cithaeron, to spy upon the
women, and climbing up a tree beheld what was done. When the women
detected Pentheus, they immediately dragged him down, and joined in
tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb. Afterwards, as
the Corinthians say, the Pythian priestess commanded them by an oracle
to discover that tree and to worship it equally with the god. For this
reason they have made these images from the tree. [2.2.8] There is also
a temple of Fortune, with a standing image of Parian marble. Beside
it is a sanctuary for all the gods. Hard by is built a fountain,
on which is a bronze Poseidon; under the feet of Poseidon is a dolphin
spouting water. There is also a bronze Apollo surnamed Clarius
and a statue of Aphrodite made by Hermogenes of Cythera. There
are two bronze, standing images of Hermes, for one of which a temple
has been made. The images of Zeus also are in the open; one had
not a surname, another they call Chthonius (of the Lower World) and
the third Most High. [2.3.1] In the middle of the market-place (agora)
is a bronze Athena, on the pedestal of which are wrought in relief figures
of the Muses. Above the market-place (agora) is a temple of Octavia
the sister of Augustus, who was emperor of the Romans after Caesar,
the founder of the modern Corinth. The Road to Lechaeum [2.3.2] On leaving
the market-place (agora) along the road to Lechaeum you come to a gateway,
on which are two gilded chariots, one carrying Phaethon the son of Helius
(Sun), the other Helius himself. A little farther away from the
gateway, on the right as you go in, is a bronze Heracles. After
this is the entrance to the water of Peirene. The legend about
Peirene is that she was a woman who became a spring because of her tears
shed in lamentation for her son Cenchrias, who was unintentionally killed
by Artemis. [2.3.3] The spring is ornamented with white marble, and
there have been made chambers like caves, out of which the water flows
into an open-air well. It is pleasant to drink, and they say that
the Corinthian bronze, when red-hot, is tempered by this water, since
bronze [ ] the Corinthians have not. Moreover
near Peirene are an image and a sacred enclosure of Apollo; in the latter
is a painting of the exploit of Odysseus against the suitors. [2.3.4]
Proceeding on the direct road to Lechaeum we see a bronze image of a
seated Hermes. By him stands a ram, for Hermes is the god who
is thought most to care for and to increase flocks, as Homer puts it
in the Iliad: “Son was he of Phorbas, the dearest of Trojans to
Hermes, Rich in flocks, for the god vouchsafed him wealth in abundance.”
The story told at the mysteries of the Mother about Hermes and the ram
I know but do not relate. After the image of Hermes come Poseidon,
Leucothea, and Palaemon on a dolphin. [2.3.5] The Corinthians have baths
in many parts of the city, some put up at the public charge and one
by the emperor Hadrian. The most famous of them is near the Poseidon.
It was made by the Spartan Eurycles,1 who beautified it with various
kinds of stone, especially the one quarried at Croceae in Laconia. On
the left of the entrance stands a Poseidon, and after him Artemis hunting.
Throughout the city are many wells, for the Corinthians have a copious
supply of flowing water, besides the water which the emperor Hadrian
brought from Lake Stymphalus, but the most noteworthy is the one by
the side of the image of Artemis. Over it is a Bellerophontes,
and the water flows through the hoof of the horse Pegasus. The Road to Sicyon [2.3.6] As you go along another
road from the market-place, which leads to Sicyon, you can see on the
right of the road a temple and bronze image of Apollo, and a little
farther on a well called the Well of Glauce. Into this they say
she threw herself in the belief that the water would be a cure for the
drugs of Medea. Above this well has been built what is called the Odeum
(Music Hall), beside which is the tomb of Medea's children. Their names
were Mermerus and Pheres, and they are said to have been stoned to death
by the Corinthians owing to the gifts which legend says they brought
to Glauce. [2.3.7] But as their death was violent and illegal, the young
babies of the Corinthians were destroyed by them until, at the command
of the oracle, yearly sacrifices were established in their honor and
a figure of Terror was set up. This figure still exists, being the likeness
of a woman frightful to look upon but after Corinth was laid waste by
the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers
broke the custom of offering those sacrifices to the sons of Medea,
nor do their children cut their hair for them or wear black clothes.
[2.3.8] On the occasion referred to Medea went to Athens and0 married
Aegeus, but subsequently she was detected plotting against Theseus and
fled from Athens also; coming to the land then called Aria she caused
its inhabitants to be named after her Medes. The son, whom she brought
with her in her flight to the Arii, they say she had by Aegeus, and
that his name was Medus. Hellanicus, however, calls him Polyxenus and
says that his father was Jason. [2.3.9] The Greeks have an epic poem
called Naupactia. In this Jason is represented as having removed
his home after the death of Pelias from Iolcus to Corcyra, and Mermerus,
the elder of his children, to have been killed by a lioness while hunting
on the mainland opposite. Of Pheres is recorded nothing. But Cinaethon1
of Lacedaemon, another writer of pedigrees in verse, said that Jason's
children by Medea were a son Medeus and a daughter Eriopis; he too,
however, gives no further information about these children. [2.3.10]
Eumelus said that Helius (Sun) gave the Asopian land to Aloeus and Epliyraea
to Aeetes. When Aeetes was departing for Colchis he entrusted his land
to Bunus, the son of Hermes and Alcidamea, and when Bunus died Epopeus
the son of Aloeus extended his kingdom to include the Ephyraeans.
Afterwards, when Corinthus, the son of Marathon, died childless, the
Corinthians sent for Medea from Iolcus and bestowed upon her the kingdom.
[2.3.11] Through her Jason was king in Corinth, and Medea, as her children
were born, carried each to the sanctuary of Hera and concealed them,
doing so in the belief that so they would be immortal. At last she learned
that her hopes were vain, and at the same time she was detected by Jason.
When she begged for pardon he refused it, and sailed away to Iolcus.
For these reasons Medea too departed, and handed over the kingdom to
Sisyphus. [2.4.1] This is the account that I read, and not far from
the tomb is the temple of Athena Chalinitis (Bridler). For Athena,
they say, was the divinity who gave most help to Bellerophontes, and
she delivered to him Pegasus, having herself broken in and bridled him.
The image of her is of wood, but face, hands and feet are of white marble.
The Early History of Corinth [2.4.2] That Bellerophontes
was not an absolute king, but was subject to Proetus and the Argives
is the belief of myself and of all who have read carefully the Homeric
poems. When Bellerophontes migrated to Lycia it is clear that
the Corinthians none the less were subject to the despots at Argos or
Mycenae. By themselves they provided no leader for the campaign
against Troy, but shared in the expedition as part of the forces, Mycenaean
and other, led by Agamemnon. [2.4.3] Sisyphus had other sons besides
Glaucus, the father of Bellerophontes a second was Ornytion, and besides
him there were Thersander and Almus. Ornytion had a son Phocus,
reputed to have been begotten by Poseidon. He migrated to Tithorea
in what is now called Phocis, but Thoas, the younger son of Ornytion,
remained behind at Corinth. Thoas begat Damophon, Damophon begat
Propodas, and Propodas begat Doridas and Hyanthidas. While these
were kings the Dorians took the field against Corinth, their leader
being Aletes, the son of Hippotas, the son of Phylas, the son of Antiochus,
the son of Heracles. So Doridas and Hyanthidas gave up the kingship
to Aletes and remained at Corinth, but the Corinthian people were conquered
in battle and expelled by the Dorians. [2.4.4] Aletes himself and his
descendants reigned for five generations to Bacchis, the son of Prumnis,
and, named after him, the Bacchidae reigned for five more generations
to Telestes, the son of Aristodemus. Telestes was killed in hate by
Arieus and Perantas, and there were no more kings, but Prytanes (Presidents)
taken from the Bacchidae and ruling for one year, until Cypselus, the
son of Eetion, became tyrant and expelled the Bacchidae. Cypselus
was a descendant of Melas, the son of Antasus. Melas from Gonussa above
Sicyon joined the Dorians in the expedition against Corinth. When the
god expressed disapproval Aletes at first ordered Melas to withdraw
to other Greeks, but afterwards, mistaking the oracle, he received him
as a settler. Such I found to be the history of the Corinthian
kings. The Road to Sicyon (cont.) [2.4.5] Now the sanctuary
of Athena Chalinitis is by their theater, and near is a naked wooden
image of Heracles, said to be a work of Daedalus. All the works
of this artist, although rather uncouth to look at, are nevertheless
distinguished by a kind of inspiration. Above the theater is a
sanctuary of Zeus surnamed in the Latin tongue Capitolinus, which might
be rendered into Greek "Coryphaeos". Not far from this theater
is the ancient gymnasium, and a spring called Lerna. Pillars stand around
it, and seats have been made to refresh in summer time those who have
entered it. By this gymnasium are temples of Zeus and Asclepius.
The images of Asclepius and of Health are of white marble, that of Zeus
is of bronze. The Road to the Acrocorinth [2.4.6] The Acrocorinthus
is a mountain peak above the city, assigned to Helius by Briareos when
he acted as adjudicator, and handed over, the Corinthians say, by Helius
to Aphrodite. As you go up this Acrocorinthus you see two precincts
of Isis, one if Isis surnamed Pelagian (Marine) and the other of Egyptian
Isis, and two of Serapis, one of them being of Serapis called "in Canopus."
After these are altars to Helius, and a sanctuary of Necessity and Force,
into which it is not customary to enter. [2.4.7] Above it are a temple
of the Mother of the gods and a throne; the image and the throne are
made of stone. The temple of the Fates and that of Demeter and
the Maid have images that are not exposed to view. Here, too,
is the temple of Hera Bunaea set up by Bunus the son of Hermes.
It is for this reason that the goddess is called Bunaea. The Summit of the Acrocorinth 2.5.1] On the summit of the
Acrocorinthus is a temple of Aphrodite. The images are Aphrodite
armed, Helius, and Eros with a bow. The spring, which is behind
the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter
knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had ravished Aegina, the daughter
of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had
a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus. When Asopus granted this request
Sisyphus turned informer, and on this account he receives--if anyone
believes the story--punishment in Hades. I have heard people say
that this spring and Peirene are the same, the water in the city flowing
hence under-ground. [2.5.2] This Asopus rises in the Phliasian territory,
flows through the Sicyonian, and empties itself into the sea here. His
daughters, say the Phliasians, were Corcyra, Aegina, and Thebe. Corcyra
and Aegina gave new names to the islands called Scheria and Oenone,
while from Thebe is named the city below the Cadmea. The Thebans
do not agree, but say that Thebe was the daughter of the Boeotian, and
not of the Phliasian, Asopus. [2.5.3] The other stories about the river
are current among both the Phliasians and the Sicyonians, for instance
that its water is foreign and not native, in that the Maeander, descending
from Celaenae through Phrygia and Caria, and emptying itself into the
sea at Miletus, goes to the Peloponnesus and forms the Asopus. I remember
hearing a similar story from the Delians, that the stream which they
call Inopus comes to them from the Nile. Further, there is a story that
the Nile itself is the Euphrates, which disappears into a marsh, rises
again beyond Aethiopia and becomes the Nile. Outside of Corinth [2.5.4] Such is the account I heard of the Asopus. When you have turned from the Acrocorinthus into the mountain road you see the Teneatic gate and a sanctuary of Eilethyia. The town called Tenea is just about sixty stades distant. The inhabitants say that they are Trojans who were taken prisoners in Tenedos by the Greeks, and were permitted by Agamemnon to dwell in their present home. For this reason they honor Apollo more than any other god. [2.5.5] As you go from Corinth, not into the interior but along the road to Sicyon, there is on the left not far from the city a burnt temple. There have, of course, been many wars carried on in Corinthian territory, and naturally houses and sanctuaries outside the wall have been fired. But this temple, they say, was Apollo's, and Pyrrhus the son of Achilles burned it down. Subsequently I heard another account, that the Corinthians built the temple for Olympian Zeus, and that suddenly fire from some quarter fell on it and destroyed it. |