Description of Greece

​On this highway is a place called Teumessus; and they say that Europa was hidden here by Zeus. There is another story concerning the so-called Teumessian fox, to the effect that because of the wrath of Dionysus the beast was reared to the destruction of the Thebans, and when it was about to be caught by the dog which Artemis gave to Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, both the fox itself and this dog became stones. And in Teumessus there is a sanctuary of Athena Telchinia without an image; as to her surname, one may conjecture that a portion of the Telchines who once dwelt in Cyprus arrived among the Boeotians and founded the sanctuary of Athena Telchinia.

​If you go forward seven stades to the left of Teumessus, there are the ruins of Glisas, and before them on the right of the road is a small mound shaded by wild wood and cultivated trees. Buried there are those who made the expedition to Thebes with Aegialeus the son of Adrastus, namely, some of the leading men of the Argives and Promachus the son of Parthenopaeus; and that the monument to Aegialeus was erected at Pagae I have already shown before in my account of Megaris.

​Along the straight road from Thebes to Glisas is a place surrounded by selected stones, which the Thebans call the Snake’s Head, saying that this snake—whoever it was—raised its head here out of its hole, and Teiresias, happening upon it, cut it off with a knife. This place, then, is called so on account of such a story; and above Glisas is a mountain called Hypatus, and upon it is a temple and image of Zeus Hypatus; and they name the torrent river Thermodon. If you turn back to Teumessus and the road to Chalcis, there is the tomb of Chalcodon, who died at the hands of Amphitryon in a battle of the Euboeans against the Thebans.

​Next are the ruins of the cities Harma and Mycalessus; and the former got its name, as the Tanagraeans say, because the chariot of Amphiaraus disappeared here, and not where the Thebans say; and they agree that Mycalessus was named because the cow which was leading Cadmus and the army with him to Thebes lowed here. In what manner Mycalessus was laid waste has been shown in the part of my account relating to the Athenians.

​Towards the sea from Mycalessus is a sanctuary of Mycalessian Demeter; and they say that it is closed and opened again every night by Heracles, and that this Heracles is one of those called Idaean Dactyls. There is also shown there a wonder of this kind: before the feet of the image they place all such things as grow in autumn, and these remain fresh throughout the whole year.

​As the Euripus at this point divides Euboea from Boeotia, on the right of the sanctuary of Mycalessian Demeter, and going on a little way from it, is Aulis; they say that it was named after the daughter of Ogygus. There is a temple of Artemis here and images of white stone, one carrying torches, and the other is like one shooting an arrow. And they say that when the Greeks, in accordance with the oracle of Calchas, were about to sacrifice Iphigenia upon the altar, the goddess made a hind the victim in her place.

​Of the plane tree, which Homer also made mention of in the Iliad, they keep what still remains of the wood in the temple. And it is said that in Aulis a favorable wind did not come to the Greeks, but when a fair wind suddenly appeared for them, they sacrificed to Artemis whatever each one had, female victims and male victims alike; and from that time it has remained the custom in Aulis that all victims are acceptable. There is also shown the spring by which the plane tree used to grow, and on a hill near Agamemnon’s tent, a bronze threshold;

​and in front of the sanctuary palm trees grow, which do not yield fruit that is entirely edible like those in Palestine, but is riper than the fruit of the palms in Ionia. The people who inhabit Aulis are not many, and these are potters of the earth; and the Tanagraeans cultivate both this territory and all that is around Mycalessus and Harma.