Description of Greece

​When the Heracleidae returned, the whole of the Peloponnese was thrown into confusion except for the Arcadians, so that many of the cities received fellow-inhabitants from the Doric stock, and the changes for the inhabitants became still more numerous. The affairs of Phlius are as follows. Rhegnidas, the Dorian, son of Phalces, son of Temenus, marched against it both from Argos and from Sicyonia. To some of the Phliasians, the proposals which Rhegnidas made seemed acceptable: that, remaining on their own land, they should receive Rhegnidas as king and the Dorians with him on the basis of a redistribution of the land.

​But Hippasus and his party urged them to defend themselves and not to surrender many advantages without a fight to the Dorians. When the people, however, accepted the opposite opinion, Hippasus thus fled to Samos with those who were willing. Pythagoras, who is said to have become a wise man, was the fourth descendant of this Hippasus; for Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphron, the son of Hippasus. These things the Phliasians say about themselves, and the Sicyonians also agree with them in most respects.

​To my narrative will now be added also the most noteworthy of those things which are of interest for sightseers. For in the acropolis of the Phliasians there is a grove of cypresses and a sanctuary most holy from of old; the goddess to whom the sanctuary belongs is named Ganymeda by the most ancient of the Phliasians, but Hebe by those of later times. Homer also made mention of her in the duel of Menelaus against Alexander, saying that she was the cup-bearer of the gods, and again in the descent of Odysseus to Hades he said that she was the wife of Heracles. In Olen’s hymn to Hera it is composed that Hera was reared by the Seasons, and that her children were Ares and Hebe.

​Among the Phliasians, this goddess has other honors, and the greatest is that which relates to suppliants; for they have indeed granted immunity to those who supplicate here, and the prisoners, when released, dedicate their fetters to the trees in the grove. An annual festival is also celebrated by them, which they call Cissotomi. They keep no image in secret, nor is there any shown in public—as to why they have this custom, there is a sacred story for them—, since for Hera, at least, there is a temple on the left of those who go out, having an image of Parian marble.

​On the acropolis there is also another sacred enclosure of Demeter, and in it a temple and an image of Demeter and her daughter; but that of Artemis—for there is also a bronze image of Artemis here—seemed to me to be ancient. For those descending from the acropolis there is on the right a temple of Asclepius and an image not yet having a beard. Under this temple a theater has been built; and not far from this is a sanctuary of Demeter and ancient seated images.

​Dedicated in the marketplace is a bronze goat, gilded for the most part; and among the Phliasians it has received honors for the following reason. The constellation which they name the Goat, when rising, continuously damages the vines; in order that nothing unpleasant may come from it, they honor the bronze goat in the marketplace with other offerings and by decorating the image with gold. Here is also the monument of Aristias, the son of Pratinas; the satyr-plays composed by this Aristias and his father Pratinas are, except for those of Aeschylus, the most highly esteemed.

​Behind the marketplace is a building named by the Phliasians the Prophetic House. Having gone into this and slept inside for the night, Amphiaraus then first began to prophesy, as the Phliasians say; before then, according to their account, Amphiaraus was a private person and not a prophet. And from that time the room has been kept closed for all time since. Not far off is the so-called Omphalos, the center of the whole Peloponnese, if indeed they have spoken the truth. For those proceeding from the Omphalos, there is an ancient sanctuary of Dionysus, and there is also one of Apollo, and another of Isis. The image of Dionysus is visible to all, and likewise that of Apollo; but that of Isis it is permitted only for the priests to behold.

​The following story is also told by the Phliasians. Heracles, when he returned safely from Libya bringing the apples called those of the Hesperides, came to Phlius for some private business; and while he was staying here, Oeneus arrived to him from Aetolia. He had already previously become a kinsman to Heracles, and having arrived then, he either entertained Heracles or was himself entertained by him. At any rate, not being pleased with the drink given to him, Heracles struck Cyathus, a boy who was the cup-bearer of Oeneus, with one of his fingers on the head; and since he died immediately from the blow, there is a building for the Phliasians in memory. This has been built beside the sanctuary of Apollo, and has images made of stone, representing Cyathus offering a cup to Heracles.