CHAPTER XXXVI

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Nothing now remains to be mentioned but Methydrium, which is 137 stades from Tricoloni. It was called Methydrium, because the high hill on which Orchomenus built the town was between the rivers Malœtas and Mylaon, and, before it was included in Megalopolis, inhabitants of Methydrium were victors at Olympia. There is at Methydrium a temple of Poseidon Hippius near the river Mylaon. And the mountain called Thaumasium lies above the river Malœtas, and the people of Methydrium wish it to be believed that Rhea when she was pregnant with Zeus came to this mountain, and got the protection of Hoplodamus and the other Giants with him, in case Cronos should attack her. They admit that Rhea bore Zeus on part of Mt Lycæeus, but they say that the cheating of Cronos and the offering him a stone instead of the child, (a legend universal amongst the Greeks), took place here. And on the top of the mountain is Rhea’s Cave, and into it only women sacred to the goddess may enter, nobody else.

About 30 stades from Methydrium is the well Nymphasia, and about 30 stades from Nymphasia is the joint boundary for the districts of Megalopolis Orchomenus and Caphya.

From Megalopolis, through what are called the gates to the marsh, is a way to Mænalus by the river Helisson. And on the left of the road is a temple of the Good God. And if the gods are the givers of good things to mortals, and Zeus is the chief of the gods, one would follow the tradition and conjecture that this is a title of Zeus. A little further is a mound of earth, the tomb of Aristodemus, who though a tyrant was not robbed of the title of Good, and a temple of Athene called Inventive, because she is a goddess who invents various contrivances. And on the right of the road is an enclosure sacred to the North Wind, to whom the people of Megalopolis sacrifice annually, and they hold no god in higher honour than Boreas, as he was their preserver from Agis and the Lacedæmonians.[38] And next is the tomb of Œcles the father of Amphiaraus, if indeed death seized him in Arcadia, and not when he was associated with Hercules in the expedition against Laomedon. Next to it is a temple and grove of Demeter called Demeter of the Marsh, five stades from the city, into which none but women may enter. And thirty stades further is the place called Paliscius. About 20 stades from Paliscius, leaving on the left the river Elaphus which is only a winter torrent, are the ruins of Peræthes and a temple of Pan. And if you cross the winter-torrent, about 15 stades from the river is a plain called Mænalium, and after having traversed this you come to a mountain of the same name. At the bottom of this mountain are traces of the town of Lycoa, and a temple and brazen statue of Artemis of Lycoa. And in the southern part of the mountain is the town of Sumetia. In this mountain are also the so-called Three Roads, whence the Mantineans, according to the bidding of the oracle at Delphi, removed the remains of Arcas the son of Callisto. There are also ruins of Mænalus, and traces of a temple of Athene, and a course for athletical contests, and another for horseraces. And the mountain Mænalium they consider sacred to Pan, insomuch that those who live near it say that they hear Pan making music with his pipes. Between the temple of Despœna and Megalopolis it is 40 stades, half of the road by the Alpheus, and when you have crossed it about 2 stades further are the ruins of Macaria, and seven stades further are the ruins of Dasea, and it is as many more from Dasea to the hill of Acacesius. Underneath this hill is the town of Acacesium, and there is a statue of Hermes (made of the stone of the hill) on the hill to this day, and they say Hermes was brought up there as a boy, and there is a tradition among the Arcadians that Acacus the son of Lycaon was his nurse. The Thebans have a different legend, and the people of Tanagra again have a different one to the Theban one.

[38] See ch. 27.

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