Description of Greece

​In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up Coronis; and inside it is an ancient wooden image of Athena, and this too was said to have been struck by lightning. For those who descend from this hill—for the sanctuary is built upon a hill—there is an altar of the winds, upon which the priest sacrifices to the winds on one night in every year. And he also performs other secret rites over four pits, taming the wildness of the blasts, and indeed, as they say, he chants the spells of Medea.

​For those arriving from Titane at Sicyon and descending to the sea, there is on the left of the road a temple of Hera, no longer having either an image or a roof; they say that Proetus the son of Abas dedicated it. For those who have descended to the so-called harbor of the Sicyonians and turned toward Aristonautae, the port of the Pelleneans, there is a little above the road on the left a sanctuary of Poseidon; and for those proceeding along the highway, there is the river called Elisson, and after it the Sythas, flowing out into the sea.

​Phliasia is adjacent to the land of the Sicyonians; and the city is about forty stades distant from Titane, and from Sicyon there is a straight road to it. And that the Phliasians have no connection with the Arcadians is shown by the catalogue of the Arcadians in the poetry of Homer, in that these too are not counted along with them; but that they were Argives from the beginning and later became Dorians when the Heracleidae returned to the Peloponnese, will become clear as the narrative proceeds. Although I know that many different things are said about the Phliasians, I shall use those which are most agreed upon among them.

​They say that Aras, an indigenous man, was first born in this land; and he founded a city around this hill, which is still called Arantinus even to our day, not far distant from the other hill on which the Phliasians have both their acropolis and the sanctuary of Hebe. Indeed, he founded a city here, and after him the land and the city were anciently called Arantia. While he was reigning, Asopus, said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon, discovered the water of the river, which the people of today call Asopus after the discoverer. The monument of Aras is in a place called Celeae, where indeed they say that Dysaules, an Eleusinian man, is also buried.

​To Aras were born a son Aoris and a daughter Araethyrea. These, the Phliasians say, became skilled in hunting and brave in matters of war. When Araethyrea died beforehand, Aoris renamed the country Araethyrea in memory of his sister; and concerning this Homer made the verse when cataloguing the subjects of Agamemnon: “And they dwelt in Orneae and lovely Araethyrea.” I believe that the graves of the children of Aras are nowhere else in the country but are on the Arantinus hill; and as a covering over them are conspicuous stele-monuments, and before the rite which they celebrate for Demeter, looking toward these monuments, they call upon Aras and his children to the libations.

​As for Phlias, who made this third name for the land after himself, I do not accept at all to begin with the Argive account that he was the son of Ceisus, the son of Temenus; but I know that he is called the son of Dionysus, and is said to have been one of those who sailed on the Argo. And the verses of the Rhodian poet also agree with me: “Phlias again after them came from Araethyrea, where he dwelt wealthy by the favor of Dionysus, his father, near the springs of Asopus.” And the mother of Phlias was Araethyrea, and not Chthonophyle; but Chthonophyle lived with him, and Androdamas was born to Phlias from her.