CHAPTER XIII

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In the part belonging to Orchomenus, on the left of the road from Anchisia, on the slope of the mountain is a temple to Hymnian Artemis, in whose worship the Mantineans also share. The goddess has both a priestess and priest, who not only have no intercourse with one another by marriage, but all their life long keep separate in other respects. They have neither baths nor meals together as most people do, nor do they ever go into a stranger’s house. I know that similar habits are found among the priests of Ephesian Artemis, called by themselves Histiatores but by the citizens Essenes, but they are only kept up for one year and no longer. To Hymnian Artemis they also hold an annual festival.

The old town of Orchomenus was on the top of a hill, and there are still ruins of the walls and market-place. But the town in our day is under the circuit of the old walls. And among the notable sights are a well, from which they get their water, and temples of Poseidon and Aphrodite, and their statues in stone. And near the town is a wooden statue of Artemis in a large cedar-tree, whence the goddess is called Artemis of the Cedar-tree. And below the town are some heaps of stones apart from one another, which were erected to some men who fell in war, but who they fought against, whether Arcadians or any other Peloponnesians, neither do the inscriptions on the tombs nor any traditions of the people of Orchomenus record.

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.

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