CHAPTER IX

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And the Mantinæans have a double temple divided in the middle by a wall of partition, on one side is the statue of Æsculapius by Alcamenes, on the other is the temple of Leto and her children. Praxiteles made statues the third generation after Alcamenes. In the basement are the Muse and Marsyas with his pipe. There also on a pillar is Polybius the son of Lycortas, whom we shall mention hereafter. The Mantineans have also several other temples, as one to Zeus Soter, and another to Zeus surnamed Bountiful because he gives all good things to mankind, also one to Castor and Pollux, and in another part of the city one to Demeter and Proserpine. And they keep a fire continually burning here, taking great care that it does not go out through inadvertence. I also saw a temple of Hera near the theatre: the statues are by Praxiteles, Hera is seated on a throne, and standing by her are Athene and Hebe the daughter of Hera. And near the altar of Hera is the tomb of Arcas, the son of Callisto: his remains were brought from Mænalus in accordance with the oracle at Delphi.

“Cold is Mæenalia, where Arcas lies Who gave his name to all Arcadians. Go there I bid you, and with kindly mind Remove his body to the pleasant city, Where three and four and even five roads meet, There build a shrine and sacrifice to Arcas.”

And the place where the tomb of Arcas is they call the altars of the Sun. And not far from the theatre are some famous tombs, Vesta called Common a round figure, and they say Antinoe the daughter of Cepheus lies here. And there is a pillar above another tomb, and a man on horseback carved on the pillar, Gryllus the son of Xenophon. And behind the theatre are ruins of a temple of Aphrodite Symmachia and her statue, and the inscription on the basement of it states that Nicippe the daughter of Paseas offered it. And this temple was erected by the Mantineans as a record to posterity of the seafight off Actium fought by them in conjunction with the Romans. And they worship Athene Alea, and have a temple and statue of her. They also regard Antinous as a god, his temple is the latest in Mantinea, he was excessively beloved by the emperor Adrian. I never saw him alive but have seen statues and paintings of him. He has also honours elsewhere, and there is a city near the Nile in Egypt called after him, and the following is the reason why he was honoured at Mantinea. He belonged by birth to the town Bithynium in Bithynia beyond the river Sangarius, and the Bithynians were originally Arcadians from Mantinea. That is why the Emperor assigned him divine honours at Mantinea, and his rites are annual, and games are held to him every fifth year. And the Mantineans have a room in the Gymnasium which has statues of Antinous, and is in other respects well worth a visit for the precious stones with which it is adorned and the paintings, most of which are of Antinous and make him resemble young Dionysus. And moreover there is an imitation here of the painting at Ceramicus of the action of the Athenians at Mantinea. And in the market-place the Mantineans have the brazen image of a woman, who they say is Diomenea the daughter of Arcas, and they have also the hero-chapel of Podares, who they say fell in the battle against Epaminondas and the Thebans. But three generations before my time they changed the inscription on the tomb to suit a descendant and namesake of Podares, who lived at the period when one could become a Roman Citizen. But it was the old Podares that the Mantineans in my time honoured, saying that the bravest (whether of their own men or their allies) in the battle was Gryllus the son of Xenophon, and next Cephisodorus of Marathon, who was at that time the Commander of the Athenian Cavalry, and next Podares.

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