Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
History
Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.
Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
Greece -- Antiquities; Greece -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
And another road from the gates near the Ridge goes to Lyrceia. This
is the place to which Lynceus alone of all the 50 brothers is said to
have escaped, and when he got there safe, he held up a lighted torch
there. For it was no doubt agreed between Hypermnestra and him that he
should do so as a signal, if he should escape from Danaus and get to
a place of safety. And she also they say kindled another at Larissa,
manifestly to show that she too was in no danger. And in memory of
this the Argives every year have a torch procession. And in those
days the place was called Lynceia, but afterwards, because Lyrcus an
illegitimate son of Abas lived there, it got the name Lyrceia from him.
There is nothing very notable among the ruins but the effigy of Lyrcus
on a pillar. From Lyrceia to Argos is about 60 stades, and it is about
the same distance from Lyrceia to Orneæ. Homer has made no mention of
Lyrceia in his catalogue, as the city was already depopulated at the
time of the expedition to Ilium: but Orneæ, which was still inhabited,
Homer[27] has recorded before Phlius and Sicyon, according to its
geographical situation in Argolis. And it got its name from Orneus the
son of Erechtheus: and this Orneus had a son Peteos, and he had a son
Menestheus, who aided Agamemnon with a force from Athens to put down
the dominion of Priam. From Orneus then the city got its name, and the
Argives afterwards dispossessed the people of Orneæ; and when they were
dispossessed they were naturalized among the Argives. And there is at
Orneæ a temple of Artemis, and a wooden statue of the goddess in an
erect posture, and another temple to all the gods in common. And beyond
Orneæ are Sicyonia and Phliasia.
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