CHAPTER XIV

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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.

And from the pits dug at the bottom of the mountains I have mentioned to Pheneus is about 50 stades. The people of Pheneus say that Pheneus an Autochthon was their founder. Their citadel is precipitous on all sides, most of it is left undefended, but part of it is carefully fortified. On the citadel is a temple of Athene Tritonia, but only in ruins. And there is a brazen statue of Poseidon Hippius, an offering they say of Odysseus. For he lost his horses and went all over Greece in quest of them, and finding them on this spot in Pheneus he erected a temple there to Artemis under the title of Heurippe, and offered the statue of Poseidon Hippius. They say also that when Odysseus found his horses here he thought he would keep them at Pheneus, as he kept his oxen on the mainland opposite Ithaca. And the people of Pheneus shew some letters written on the base of the statue, which are the orders of Odysseus to those who looked after his horses. In all other respects there seems probability in the tradition of the people of Pheneus, but I cannot think that the brazen statue of Poseidon is an offering of Odysseus, for they did not in those days know how to make statues throughout in brass as you weave a garment. Their mode of making statues in brass I have already shewn in my account of Sparta in reference to the statue of Zeus Supreme. For the first who fused and made statues of cast brass were Rhœcus the son of Philæus and Theodorus the son of Telecles both of Samos. The most famous work of Theodorus was the seal carved out of an Emerald, which Polycrates the tyrant of Samos very frequently wore and was very proud of.

And as you descend about a stade from the citadel you come to the tomb of Iphicles, the brother of Hercules and the father of Iolaus, on an eminence. Iolaus according to the tradition of the Greeks assisted Hercules in most of his Labours. And Iphicles the father of Iolaus, when Hercules fought his first battle against Augeas and the people of Elis, was wounded by the sons of Actor who were called Molinidæ from their mother Moline, and his relations conveyed him to Pheneus in a very bad condition, and there Buphagus (a native of Pheneus) and his wife Promne took care of him, and buried him as he died of his wound. And to this day they pay him the honours they pay to heroes. And of the gods the people of Pheneus pay most regard to Hermes, and they call their games Hermæa. And they have a temple of Hermes, and a stone statue of the god made by the Athenian Euchir the son of Eubulides. And behind the temple is the tomb of Myrtilus. This Myrtilus was, the Greeks say, the son of Hermes, and charioteer to Œnomaus, and when any one came to court the daughter of Œnomaus, Myrtilus ingeniously spurred the horses of Œnomaus, and, whenever he caught up any suitor in the race, he hurled a dart at him and so killed him. And Myrtilus himself was enamoured of Hippodamia, but did not venture to compete for her hand, but continued Œnomaus’ charioteer. But eventually they say he betrayed Œnomaus, seduced by the oaths that Pelops made to him, that if he won he would let Myrtilus enjoy Hippodamia one night. But when he reminded Pelops of his oath he threw him out of a ship into the sea. And the dead body of Myrtilus was washed ashore, and taken up and buried by the people of Pheneus, so they say, and annually by night they pay him honours. Clearly Pelops cannot have had much sea to sail on, except from the mouth of the Alpheus to the seaport of Elis. The Myrtoan Sea cannot therefore have been named after this Myrtilus, for it begins at Eubœa and joins the Ægean by the desert island of Helene, but those who seem to me to interpret best the antiquities of Eubœa say that the Myrtoan Sea got its name from a woman called Myrto.

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