Description of Greece

​Another exit from the gymnasium leads both to the marketplace (agora) and to the place called the Hellanodikaion, and it is above the tomb of Achilles; and it is established for the Hellanodikai to go to the gymnasium by this way. They enter before the sun rises to match the runners, and at midday for the pentathlon and all those which they call the heavy contests.

​For the Eleans, the marketplace is not made in the manner of those of the Ionians and of all the cities of the Greeks that are near Ionia, but in the more ancient way with porticoes standing apart from one another and streets running through them. The name of the marketplace in our time is the Hippodrome, and the locals train their horses there. Of the porticoes, the one facing south is of Doric workmanship, and columns divide it into three parts; in this portico the Hellanodikai spend most of the day.

​They also make altars for Zeus near them, and the altars in the open air of the marketplace are not many in number; for they are demolished without difficulty as they are built off-hand. For one going to the marketplace along this portico, on the left near the end of the portico is the Hellanodikaion; and it is a street that separates it from the marketplace. In this Hellanodikaion live for ten consecutive months those who have been chosen to be Hellanodikai, and they are taught by the guardians of the laws all that they must do for the games.

​Near the portico where the Hellanodikai spend the day there is another portico; between them is a single street. This the Eleans call the Corcyraean Portico; for they say that when the Corcyraeans came with ships to their land and carried off a portion of the booty, they themselves took in return many times as much from the land of the Corcyraeans and built the portico from the tenth part of the spoils.

​The construction of the portico is Doric and double, having columns on one side facing the marketplace, and on the other facing the area beyond the marketplace; in the middle of it there are no columns, but a wall which supports the roof there, and portraits are dedicated on both sides against the wall. By the side of the portico facing the marketplace stands a statue of Pyrrho, the son of Pistocrates, a wise man and one who came to a firm agreement on no account. There is also a tomb of Pyrrho not far from the city of the Eleans; Petra is the name of the place, and it is said that Petra was anciently a deme.

​For the Eleans, the most conspicuous objects in the open air of the marketplace are a temple and a statue of Apollo Acesius; the name would signify nothing different from what is called Alexicacus (averter of evil) by the Athenians. In another place stone statues are made for Helios and Selene, and from her head horns project, while from his the rays stand out. There is also a sanctuary of the Graces (Charites) and wooden images (xoana) with gilded garments, while their faces, hands, and feet are of white stone; one of them holds a rose, the middle one a die (astragalos), and the third a small branch of myrtle.

​One might conjecture that they hold the mentioned objects for the following reason: that the rose and the myrtle are sacred to Aphrodite and appropriate to the story of Adonis, and the Graces are of all deities the dearest to Aphrodite; while the die is the plaything of youths and maidens, to whom nothing unpleasant from old age yet belongs. On the right of the Graces is a statue of Eros; it stands on the same pedestal.

​There is also a temple of Silenus here, built for Silenus alone and not together with Dionysus; and Methe (Drunkenness) is giving him wine in a cup. One might conjecture that the race of Sileni is mortal especially from their tombs; for in the land of the Hebrews there is a tomb of a Silenus, and another Silenus has a tomb among the Pergamenes.

​In the marketplace of the Eleans I also saw another object of this kind, having the form of a temple ; it is not high, and there are no walls, but columns of worked oak support the roof. The locals agree that this is a tomb, but whose they do not remember; if the old man whom I asked spoke the truth, this would be the tomb of Oxylus.

​In the marketplace there is also built a building for the women called the Sixteen, where they weave the robe (peplos) for Hera. Adjacent to the marketplace is an ancient temple surrounded by porticoes in a circle, but the roof of the temple has fallen in and no statue was left; it is set apart for the Roman emperors.