CHAPTER XIX

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On this high-road is a place called Teumessus, where they say Europa was hidden by Zeus. And there is also a tradition about a fox of Teumessus, that it was brought up to hurt the Thebans through the wrath of Dionysus, and that, when it was about to be taken by the dog which Artemis gave to Procris the daughter of Erechtheus, both dog and fox were turned into stone. There is also at Teumessus a temple of Athene Telchinia without a statue: as to her title Telchinia one may infer that some of the Telchinians, who formerly dwelt at Cyprus and who migrated into Bœotia, erected this temple to her under that title.

On the left of Teumessus about 7 stades further you come to the ruins of Glisas, and before them on the right of the road is a small mound shaded by a wild wood, and some trees have been planted there. It is the tomb of those that went with Ægialeus the son of Adrastus on the expedition against Thebes, and of several noble Argives, and among them Promachus the son of Parthenopæus. The tomb of Ægialeus is at Pagæ, as I have previously shown in my account about Megara. As you go on the high road from Thebes to Glisas is a place, surrounded by unhewn stones, which the Thebans call the head of the serpent. They say this serpent lifted its head out of its hole, and Tiresias passing by chopped its head off with his sword. That is how the place got its name. And above Glisas is a mountain called Highest, and on it is the temple and altar of Highest Zeus. And the torrent here they call Thermodon. And as you turn towards Teumessus on the road to Chalcis is the tomb of Chalcodon, who was slain by Amphitryon in the battle fought by the Eubœans against the Thebans. And next come the ruins of the towns of Harma and Mycalessus, the former was so called according to the tradition of the people of Tanagra because the chariot of Amphiaraus disappeared here, and not where the Thebans say it did. And Mycalessus was so called they state because the cow that led Cadmus and his army to Thebes lowed here.

I have described in my account of Attica how Mycalessus was depopulated. In it near the sea is a temple of Mycalessian Demeter: which they say is shut and opened again every night by Hercules, who they say is one of the Idæan Dactyli. The following miracle takes place here. At the feet of the statue of Demeter they put some of the fruits of Autumn, and they remain fresh all the year.

At the place where the Euripus parts Eubœa from Bœotia, as you go forward a little on the right of the temple of Mycalessian Demeter you come to Aulis, so called they say from the daughter of Ogygus. There is here a temple of Artemis and two stone statues of her, one holding torches, and the other like an archer. They say that when the Greeks in accordance with the oracle of Calchas were about to sacrifice Iphigenia, the goddess caused a doe to be sacrificed instead. And they keep in the temple the remains of the plane-tree which Homer has mentioned in the Iliad.[57] It is also said that the wind at Aulis was not favourable to the Greeks, but when at last a favourable wind appeared then everyone sacrificed to Artemis what each had, male and female victims, and since then it has been customary at Aulis to accept all kinds of victims. There are shown here too the well near which the plane-tree grows, and on a hill near the tent of Agamemnon a brazen threshold. And some palm trees grow before the temple, the fruit of which is not throughout good to eat as in Palestine, but they are more mellow than the fruit of the palm-trees in Ionia. There are not many inhabitants at Aulis, and all of them are potters. The people of Tanagra inhabit this district, and all about Mycalessus and Harma.

[57] Iliad, ii. 307, 310.

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