CHAPTER XXVI

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The founder of Heræa was Heræus the son of Lycaon, and the town lies on the right of the Alpheus, most of it on a gentle eminence, but part of it extending to the river. Near the river are race-courses separated from each other by myrtle trees and other planted trees, and there are baths, and two temples of Dionysus, one called Polites, and the other Auxites. And they have a building where they celebrate the orgies of Dionysus. There is also at Heræa a temple of Pan, who was a native of Arcadia. And there are some ruins of a temple of Hera, of which the pillars still remain. And of all the Arcadian athletes Damaretus of Heræa was the foremost, and the first who conquered at Olympia in the race in heavy armour. And as you go from Heræa to Elis, you will cross the Ladon about 15 stades from Heræa, and from thence to Erymanthus is about 20 stades. And the boundary between Heræa and Elis is according to the Arcadian account the Erymanthus, but the people of Elis say that the boundary is the tomb of Corœbus, who was victor when Iphitus restored the Olympian games that had been for a long time discontinued, and offered prizes only for racing. And there is an inscription on his tomb that he was the first victor at Olympia, and that his tomb was erected on the borders of Elis.

There is a small town also called Aliphera, which was abandoned by many of its inhabitants at the time the Arcadian colony was formed at Megalopolis. To get to Aliphera from Heræa you cross the Alpheus, and when you have gone along the plain about 10 stades you arrive at a mountain, and about 30 stades further you will get to Aliphera over the mountain. The town got its name from Alipherus the son of Lycaon, and has temples of Æsculapius and Athene. The latter they worship most, and say that she was born and reared among them; they have also built an altar here to Zeus Lecheates, so called because he gave birth to Athene here. And they call their fountain Tritonis, adopting as their own the tradition about the river Triton. And there is a statue of Athene in bronze, the work of Hypatodorus, notable both for its size and artistic merit. They have also a public festival to one of the gods, who I think must be Athene. In this public festival they sacrifice first of all to Muiagrus (_Flycatcher_), and offer to him vows and call upon him, and when they have done this they think they will no longer be troubled by flies. And on the road from Heræa to Megalopolis is Melæneæ, which was founded by Melæneus the son of Lycaon, but is deserted in our day, being swamped with water. And 40 stades higher is Buphagium, where the river Buphagus rises, which falls into the Alpheus. And the sources of the Buphagus are the boundary between the districts of Megalopolis and Heræa.

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