CHAPTER XXXII

.

The part of the city on the other side of the river faces south, and has one of the most remarkable theatres in Greece, and in it is a perennial spring. And not far from the theatre are the foundations of a council-chamber, which was built for 10,000 Arcadians, and called from its builder Thersilium. And next is a house which in my time belonged to a private man, but was originally built for Alexander the son of Philip. And there is a statue of Ammon near it, like the square Hermæ, with ram’s horns on its head. And there is a temple built in common for the Muses and Apollo and Hermes, of which a few foundations only remain. There are also statues of one of the Muses, and of Apollo, like the square Hermæ. There are also ruins of a temple of Aphrodite, of which nothing remains but the vestibule and three statues of the goddess, one called the Celestial, the second the Common, the third has no title. And at no great distance is an altar of Ares, who had also it is said a temple there originally. There is also a racecourse beyond the temple of Aphrodite, in one direction extending towards the theatre, (and there is a spring of water there which they hold sacred to Dionysus,) and in another part of it there was said to be a temple of Dionysus, struck with lightning by the god two generations before my time, and there are still a few vestiges of it. But a joint-temple to Hercules and Hermes is no longer in existence, except the Altar. And in this direction there is a hill towards the east, and on it a temple of the Huntress Artemis, the votive offering of Aristodemus, and on the right are precincts sacred to the Huntress Artemis. Here too are a temple and statues of Æsculapius and Hygiea, and as you descend a little there are gods in a square shape called Workers, as Athene Ergane and Apollo Agyieus. And Hermes, Hercules, and Ilithyia, have special fame from Homer, for Hermes is the messenger of Zeus and conveys the souls of the departed to Hades, and Hercules is famous for the accomplishment of his many Labours, and Ilithyia is represented in the Iliad as presiding over childbirth. There is also another temple under this hill, of Æsculapius as a Boy, the statue of the god is erect and about a cubit in height, and there is also an Apollo seated on a throne about six feet high. There are here also stored up some bones too large to belong to a man, they are said to have belonged to one of the giants, whom Hopladamus called in to aid Rhea, the circumstances I shall narrate later on. And near this temple is a well, which contributes its water to the Helisson.

##