No More Learning

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. The temple was decorated
with abundance of offerings, the contributions of all Greece. Among
these offerings was a Jupiter of beaten gold, presented by Cypselus, the
tyrant of Corinth. The largest was a statue of Jupiter in ivory, the
workmanship of Phidias of Athens, the son of Charmides. Its height was
so great, that although the temple is very large, the artist seems to
have mistaken its proportions, and although he made the figure sitting,
yet the head nearly touches the roof, and presents the appearance that,
if it should rise, and stand upright, it would unroof the temple. Some
writers have given the measurement of the statue, and Callimachus has
expressed it in some iambic verses. Panænus, the painter, his nephew,
and joint labourer, afforded great assistance in the completion of the
statue with respect to the colours with which it was ornamented, and
particularly the drapery.

There are exhibited also many and admirable pictures around the temple,
the work of this painter. It is recorded of Phidias, that to Panænus,
who was inquiring after what model he intended to form the figure of
Jupiter, he replied, that it would be from that of Homer delineated in
these words;

“He spoke, and gave the nod with his sable brows, the
ambrosial hair shook on the immortal head of the king of gods,
and vast Olympus trembled. ”[89]

[This is well expressed, and the poet, as from other circumstances, so
particularly from the brows, suggests the thought that he is depicting
some grand conception, and great power worthy of Jupiter. So also in his
description of Juno, in both he preserves the peculiar decorum of each
character, for he says,

“she moved herself upon the throne, and shook vast Olympus:”[90]

this was effected by the motion of her whole body, but Olympus shakes
when Jupiter only nods with his brows, the hair of his head partaking of
the motion. It was elegantly said [of Homer] that he was the only person
who had seen and had made visible the figures of the gods. ][91]

To [CAS. 354] the Eleii above all other people is to be ascribed the
magnificence of the temple at Olympia, and the reverence in which it was
held. For about the Trojan times, and even before that period, they were
not in a flourishing state, having been reduced to a low condition by
war with the Pylii, and afterwards by Hercules, when Augeas their king
was overthrown. The proof is this. The Eleii sent forty ships to Troy,
but the Pylians and Nestor ninety; then after the return of the
Heracleidæ the contrary happened. For the Ætoli returning with the
Heracleidæ under the command of Oxylus, became joint settlers with the
Epeii, on the ground of ancient affinity. They extended the bounds of
Hollow Elis, got possession of a large portion of the Pisatis, and
subjected Olympia to their power. It was these people who invented the
Olympic games,[92] and instituted the first Olympiad. For we must reject
the ancient stories both respecting the foundation of the temple, and
the establishment of the games, some alleging that Hercules, one of the
Idæan Dactyli, was the founder; others, that the son of Alcmene and
Jupiter founded them, who also was the first combatant and victor. For
such things are variously reported, and not entitled to much credit. It
is more probable, that from the first Olympiad,[93] when Corœbus the
Eleian was the victor in the race in the stadium, to the twenty-sixth,
the Eleians presided over the temple, and at the games. But in the
Trojan times, either there were no games where a crown was awarded, or
they had not yet acquired any fame, neither these nor any of the games
which are now so renowned. Homer does not speak of these games, but of
others of a different kind, which were celebrated at funerals. Some
persons however are of opinion that he does mention the Olympic games,
when he says, that Augeas detained four victorious horses, which had
been sent to contend for the prize. It is also said that the Pisatæ did
not take any part in the Trojan war, being considered as consecrated to
the service of Jupiter. But neither was the Pisatis, the tract of
country in which Olympia is situated, subject at that time to Augeas,
but Eleia only, nor were the Olympic games celebrated even once in the
Eleian district, but always at Olympia. But the games, of which Homer
speaks, seem to have taken place in Elis, where the debt was owing,

“For a great debt was owing in the divine Elis,
Namely, four victorious horses. ”[94]

But it was not in these, but in the Olympic games, that the victor was
crowned, for here they were to contend for a tripod.

After the twenty-sixth Olympiad, the Pisatæ, having recovered their
territory, instituted games themselves, when they perceived that these
games were obtaining celebrity. But in after-times, when the territory
of the Pisatis reverted to the Eleii, the presidency and celebration of
the games reverted to them also. The Lacedæmonians too, after the last
defeat of the Messenians, co-operated with the Eleii as allies, contrary
to the conduct of the descendants of Nestor and of the Arcadians, who
were allies of the Messenians. And they assisted them so effectually
that all the country as far as Messene was called Eleia, and the name
continues even to the present time. But of the Pisatæ, and Triphylii,
and Caucones, not even the names remain. They united also Pylus
Emathoeis itself with Lepreum in order to gratify the Lepreatæ, who had
taken no part in the war. They razed many other towns, and imposed a
tribute upon as many as were inclined to maintain their independence.

31. The Pisatis obtained the highest celebrity from the great power of
its sovereigns, Œnomaus and his successor Pelops, and the number of
their children. Salmoneus is said to have reigned there, and one of the
eight cities, into which the Pisatis is divided, has the name of
Salmone. For these reasons, and on account of the temple at Olympia, the
fame of the country spread everywhere.

We must however receive ancient histories, as not entirely agreeing with
one another, for modern writers, entertaining different opinions, are
accustomed to contradict them frequently; as for example, according to
some writers, Augeas was king of the Pisatis, and Œnomaus and Salmoneus
kings of Eleia, while others consider the two nations as one. Still we
ought to follow in general what is received as true, since writers are
not agreed even upon the derivation of the word Pisatis. Some derive it
from Pisa, (Πῖσα,) a city of the same [CAS. 356] name as
the fountain, and say that the fountain had that name, as much as to say
Pistra, (Πίστρα,) which means Potistra, (ποτίστρα,) or “potable. ” The
city of Pisa is shown, situated on an eminence between two mountains,
which have the same names as those in Thessaly, Ossa and Olympus. Some
say, that there was no such city as Pisa, for it would have been one of
the eight, but a fountain only, which is now called Bisa, near Cicysium,
the largest of the eight cities. But Stesichorus calls the tract of
country named Pisa, a city, as the poet calls Lesbos, a city of Macar;
and Euripides in the play of Ion says

“Eubœa is a neighbour city to Athens,”

and so in the play of Rhadamanthus,

“they who occupy the land of Eubœa, an adjoining state;”

thus Sophocles also in the play of the Mysi,

“O stranger, all this country is called Asia,
But the state of the Mysi is called Mysia. ”

32. Salmonē is near the fountain of the same name, the source of the
Enipeus. It discharges itself into the Alpheius, [and at present it is
called Barnichius. [95]] Tyro, it is said, was enamoured of this river;

“who was enamoured of the river, the divine Enipeus. ”[96]

for there her father Salmoneus was king, as Euripides says in the play
of Æolus. [The river in Thessaly some call Eniseus, which, flowing from
the Othrys, receives the Apidanus, that descends from the mountain
Pharsalus. [97]] Near Salmonē is Heracleia, which is one of the eight
cities, distant about 40 stadia from Olympia on the river Cytherius,
where there is a temple of the nymphs, the Ioniades, who are believed to
heal diseases by means of the waters of the river.

Near Olympia is Arpīna, which also is one of the eight cities. The river
Parthenius runs through it in the direction of the road to Pheræa.
Pheræa belongs to Arcadia. [It is situated above Dymæa, Buprasium, and
Elis, which lie to the north of the Pisatis. [98]] There also is
Cicysium, one of the eight cities; and Dyspontium, on the road from Elis
to Olympia, situated in a plain. But it was razed, and the greatest
part of the inhabitants removed to Epidamnus and Apollonia.

Above and so very near Olympia, is Pholoe, an Arcadian mountain, that
the country at its foot belongs to the Pisatis. Indeed the whole of the
Pisatis and a great part of Triphylia border upon Arcadia. For this
reason, most of the places, which have the name of Pylian in the
Catalogue of the Ships, seem to be Arcadian. Persons, however, who are
well informed, say, that the river Erymanthus, one of those that empty
themselves into the Alpheius, is the boundary of Arcadia, and that the
places called Pylian are beyond the Erymanthus.

33. According to Ephorus, “Ætolus, being banished by Salmoneus, king of
the Epeii, and the Pisatæ, from Eleia to Ætolia, called the country
after his own name, and settled the cities there. His descendant Oxylus
was the friend of Temenus, and the Heracleidæ his companions, and was
their guide on their journey to Peloponnesus; he divided among them the
hostile territory, and suggested instructions relative to the
acquisition of the country. In return for these services he was to be
requited by the restoration of Elis, which had belonged to his
ancestors. He returned with an army collected out of Ætolia, for the
purpose of attacking the Epeii, who occupied Elis. On the approach of
the Epeii in arms, when the forces were drawn up in array against each
other, there advanced in front, and engaged in single combat according
to an ancient custom of the Greeks, Pyræchmes, an Ætolian, and Degmenus,
an Epeian: the latter was lightly armed with a bow, and thought to
vanquish easily from a distance a heavy-armed soldier; the former, when
he perceived the stratagem of his adversary, provided himself with a
sling, and a scrip filled with stones. The kind of sling also happened
to have been lately invented by the Ætolians. As a sling reaches its
object at a greater distance than a bow, Degmenus fell; the Ætolians
took possession of the country, and ejected the Epeii. They assumed also
the superintendence of the temple at Olympia, which the Epeii exercised;
and on account of the friendship which subsisted between Oxylus and the
Heracleidæ, it was generally agreed upon, and confirmed by an oath, that
the Eleian territory was sacred to Jupiter, and that any one who invaded
that country with an army, was a sacrilegious person: he also was to be
accounted sacrilegious, who did not [CAS. 358] defend it against the
invader to the utmost of his power. It was for this reason, that the
later founders of the city left it without walls, and those who are
passing through the country with an army, deliver up their arms and
receive them again upon quitting the borders. Iphitus instituted there
the Olympic games, because the Eleians were a sacred people. Hence it
was that they increased in numbers, for while other nations were
continually engaged in war with each other, they alone enjoyed profound
peace, and not themselves only, but strangers also, so that on this
account they were a more populous state than all the others. ”

Pheidon the Argive was the tenth in descent from Temenus, and the most
powerful prince of his age; he was the inventor of the weights and
measures called Pheidonian, and stamped money, silver in particular. He
recovered the whole inheritance of Temenus, which had been severed into
many portions. He attacked also the cities which Hercules had formerly
taken, and claimed the privilege of celebrating the games which Hercules
had established, and among these the Olympian games. He entered their
country by force and celebrated the games, for the Eleians had no army
to prevent it, as they were in a state of peace, and the rest were
oppressed by his power. The Eleians however did not solemnly inscribe in
their records this celebration of the games, but on this occasion
procured arms, and began to defend themselves. The Lacedæmonians also
afforded assistance, either because they were jealous of the prosperity,
which was the effect of the peaceful state of the Eleians, or because
they supposed that they should have the aid of the Eleians in destroying
the power of Pheidon, who had deprived them of the sovereignty (ἡγεμονίαν)
of Peloponnesus, which they before possessed. They succeeded in their
joint attempt to overthrow Pheidon, and the Eleians with this assistance
obtained possession of Pisatis and Triphylia.

The whole of the coasting voyage along the present Eleian territory
comprises, with the exception of the bays, 1200 stadia.

So much then respecting the Eleian territory.




CHAPTER IV.


1. Messenia is continuous with the Eleian territory, inclining for the
most part towards the south, and the Libyan Sea. Being part of Laconia,
it was subject in the Trojan times to Menelaus. The name of the country
was Messene. But the present city called Messene, the acropolis of which
was Ithome, was not then founded. After the death of Menelaus, when the
power of those who succeeded to the possession of Laconia was altogether
weakened, the Neleidæ governed Messenia. At the time of the return of
the Heracleidæ, and according to the partition of the country at that
time, Melanthus was king of the Messenians, who were a separate
community, but formerly subject to Menelaus. As a proof of this, in the
space from the Messenian Gulf and the continuous gulf, (called the
Asinæan from the Messenian Asine,) were situated the seven cities which
Agamemnon promised to Achilles;

“Cardamyle, Enope, the grassy Hira, the divine Pheræ,[99]
Antheia with rich meadows, the beautiful Æpeia, and Pedasus
abounding with vines. ”[100]

He certainly would not have promised what did not belong either to
himself or to his brother. The poet mentions those, who accompanied
Menelaus from Pheræ to the war,[101] and speaks of (Œtylus) in the
Laconian catalogue, a city situated on the Gulf of Messenia.

Messene follows next to Triphylia. The promontory, after which are the
Coryphasium and Cyparissia, is common to both. At the distance of 7
stadia is a mountain, the Ægaleum, situated above Coryphasium and the
sea.

2. The ancient Messenian Pylus was a city lying below the Ægaleum, and
after it was razed, some of the inhabitants settled under the
Coryphasium. But the Athenians in their second expedition against
Sicily, under the command of Eurymedon and Stratocles, got possession of
it, and used it as a stronghold against the Lacedæmonians. [102] Here
also is the Messenian Cyparissia, (and the island Prote,) lying close
[CAS. 359] to Pylus, the island Sphagia, called also Sphacteria. It was
here that the Lacedæmonians lost three hundred men,[103] who were
besieged by the Athenians and taken prisoners.

Two islands, called Strophades,[104] belonging to the Cyparissii, lie
off at sea in front of this coast, at the distance of about 400 stadia
from the continent, in the Libyan and southern sea. According to
Thucydides this Pylus was the naval station of the Messenians. It is
distant from Sparta 400 stadia.

3. Next is Methone. [105] This city, called by the poet Pedasus, was one
of the seven, it is said, which Agamemnon promised to Achilles. There
Agrippa killed, in the Actian war, Bogus, the king of the Maurusii, a
partisan of Antony’s, having got possession of the place by an attack by
sea.

4. Continuous with Methone is Acritas,[106] where the Messenian Gulf
begins, which they call also Asinæus from Asine, a small city, the first
we meet with on the gulf, and having the same name as the Hermionic
Asine.

This is the commencement of the gulf towards the west. Towards the east
are the Thyrides,[107] as they are called, bordering upon the present
Laconia near Cænepolis,[108] and Tænarum.

In the intervening distance, if we begin from the Thyrides, we meet with
Œtylus,[109] by some called Beitylus; then Leuctrum, a colony of the
Leuctri in Bœotia; next, situated upon a steep rock, Cardamyle;[110]
then Pheræ, bordering upon Thuria, and Gerenia, from which place they
say Nestor had the epithet Gerenian, because he escaped thither, as we
have mentioned before. They show in the Gerenian territory a temple of
Æsculapius Triccæus, copied from that at the Thessalian Tricca. Pelops
is said to have founded Leuctrum, and Charadra, and Thalami, now called
the Bœotian Thalami, having brought with him, when he married his sister
Niobe to Amphion, some colonists from Bœotia.

The Nedon, a different river from the Neda, flows through Laconia, and
discharges its waters near Pheræ. It has upon its banks a remarkable
temple of the Nedusian Minerva. At Pœaessa also there is a temple of the
Nedusian Minerva, which derives its name from a place called Nedon,[111]
whence, they say, Teleclus colonized Pœaessa,[112] and Echeiæ, and
Tragium.

5. With respect to the seven cities promised to Achilles, we have
already spoken of Cardamyle, and Pheræ, and Pedasus. Enope, some say is
Pellana; others, some place near Cardamyle; others, Gerenia. [113] Hira
is pointed out near a mountain in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis[114]
in Arcadia, on the road to Andania, which we have said is called by the
poet Œchalia. Others say that the present Mesola was called Hira, which
extends to the bay situated between Taÿgetum and Messenia. Æpeia is now
called Thuria, which we said bordered upon Pheræ. It is situated upon a
lofty hill, whence its name. [115] The Thuriatic Gulf has its name from
Thuria; upon the gulf is a single city, named Rhium, opposite Tænarum.
Some say that Antheia is Thuria, and Æpeia Methone; others, that Antheia
is Asine, situated between Methone and Thuria, to which, of all the
Messenian cities, the description, “with its rich pastures,” is most
appropriate. Near it on the sea is Corone. There are some writers who
say that this town is called Pedasus by the poet. These cities are “all
near the sea;” Cardamyle close to it; Pheræ at the distance of 5 stadia,
having an anchorage, which is used in the summer. The rest are situated
at unequal distances from the sea.

6. Near Corone, about the middle of the gulf, the river Pamisus[116]
discharges itself, having, on the right hand, this city, and the rest in
succession, the last of which, towards the west, are Pylus and
Cyparissia, and between these is Erana, which some writers erroneously
suppose to be the ancient [CAS. 361] Arene; on the left hand it has
Thyria and Pheræ. It is the largest (in width) of the rivers within the
isthmus, although its course from its springs does not exceed 100 stadia
in length; it has an abundant supply of water, and traverses the
Messenian plain, and the district called Macaria. [117] It is distant
from the present city of the Messenians 50 stadia. [118] There is also
another Pamisus, a small torrent stream, running near Leuctrum of
Laconia, which was a subject of dispute between the Messenians and
Lacedæmonians in the time of Philip.

I have before said that some persons called the Pamisus, Amathus. [119]

7. Ephorus relates that Cresphontes, after he had taken Messene, divided
it into five cities, and chose Stenyclarus, situated in the middle of
this district, to be the royal seat of his kingdom. To the other cities,
Pylus, Rhium, (Mesola,) and Hyameitis, he appointed kings, and put all
the Messenians on an equal footing with the Dorians as to rights and
privileges. The Dorians, however, taking offence, he changed his
intention, and determined that Stenyclarus alone should have the rank of
a city, and here he assembled all the Dorians.

8. The city of the Messenians[120] resembles Corinth, for above each
city is a lofty and precipitous mountain, enclosed by a common wall in
such a manner as to be used as an acropolis; the Messenian mountain is
Ithome,[121] that near Corinth is Acrocorinthus. Demetrius of Pharos
seemed to have counselled Philip the son of Demetrius well, when he
advised him to make himself master of both cities, if he desired to get
possession of Peloponnesus; “for,” said he, “when you have seized both
horns, the cow will be your own;” meaning, by the horns, Ithome and
Acrocorinthus, and, by the cow, Peloponnesus. It was no doubt their
convenient situation which made these cities subjects of contention. The
Romans therefore razed Corinth, and again rebuilt it.