Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
History
Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.
Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
Greece -- Antiquities; Greece -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
And opposite the town is the mountain called Trachys. And rainwater
flows through a hollow ravine between Orchomenus and Mount Trachys,
and descends into another plain belonging to Orchomenus. This plain
is not very large, and most of it is marsh. And as you go on about
three stades from Orchomenus, a straight road takes you to the town
of Caphya by the ravine, and after that on the left hand by the marsh.
And another road, after you have crossed the water that flows through
the ravine, takes you under the mountain Trachys. And on this road the
first thing you come to is the tomb of Aristocrates, who violated the
priestess of Artemis Hymnia. And next to the tomb of Aristocrates are
the wells called Teneæ, and about 7 stades further is a place called
Amilus, which they say was formerly a town. At this place the road
branches off into two directions, one towards Stymphelus, and the
other towards Pheneus. And as you go to Pheneus a mountain will lie
before you, which is the joint boundary for Orchomenus and Pheneus and
Caphya. And a lofty precipice called the Caphyatic rock projects from
the mountain. Next to the boundary I have mentioned is a ravine, and a
road leads through it to Pheneus. And in the middle of this ravine some
water comes out from a fountain, and at the end of the ravine is the
town of Caryæ.
CHAPTER XIV.
And the plain of Pheneus lies below Caryæ, and they say the old
Pheneus was destroyed by a deluge: even in our day there are marks
on the hills where the water rose to. And about 5 stades from Caryæ
are the mountains Oryxis and Sciathis, at the bottom of each of which
mountains is a pit which receives the water from the plain. And these
pits the people of Pheneus say are wrought by hand, for they were
made by Hercules when he lived at Pheneus with Laonome, the mother
of Amphitryon, for Amphitryon was the son of Alcæus by Laonome, the
daughter of Gyneus a woman of Pheneus, and not by Lysidice the daughter
of Pelops. And if Hercules really dwelt at Pheneus, one may easily
suppose that, when he was expelled from Tiryns by Eurystheus, he did
not go immediately to Thebes but first to Pheneus. Hercules also dug
through the middle of the plain of Pheneus a channel for the river
Olbius, which river some of the Arcadians call Aroanius and not Olbius.
The length of this canal is about 50 stades, and the depth where the
banks have not fallen in about 30 feet. The river however does not
now follow this channel, but has returned to its old channel, having
deserted Hercules’ canal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account