§3.21.1προελθόντι δὲ αὐτόθεν σταδίους εἴκοσι τοῦ Εὐρώτα τὸ ῥεῦμα ἐγγυτάτω τῆς ὁδοῦ γίνεται, καὶ Λάδα μνῆμά ἐστιν ὠκύτητι ὑπερβαλομένου ποδῶν τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ·
For one going forward twenty stades from there, the stream of the Eurotas comes closest to the road, and there is the monument of Ladas, who surpassed his contemporaries in swiftness of foot.
καὶ δὴ καὶ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐστεφανοῦτο δολίχῳ κρατῶν, δοκεῖν δέ μοι κάμνων αὐτίκα μετὰ τὴν νίκην ἐκομίζετο, καὶ συμβάσης ἐνταῦθά οἱ τελευτῆς ὁ τάφος ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τὴν λεωφόρον.
Indeed, he was also crowned at Olympia, winning the long-distance race, but in my opinion, falling ill immediately after his victory, he was being carried home, and his death having occurred here, his tomb is above the highway.
τὸν δὲ ὁμώνυμον τούτῳ, νίκην καὶ αὐτὸν Ὀλυμπίασι, πλὴν οὐ δολίχου, σταδίου δὲ ἀνελόμενον, Ἀχαιὸν ἐξ Αἰγίου φησὶν εἶναι τὰ ἐς τοὺς Ὀλυμπιονίκας Ἠλείων γράμματα.
As for the one of the same name as this man, who himself also won a victory at Olympia, though not in the long-distance race but in the stade race, the records of the Eleans concerning the Olympic victors say that he was an Achaean from Aegium.
§3.21.2προϊόντι δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Πελλάναν Χαράκωμά ἐστιν ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο Πελλάνα πόλις τὸ ἀρχαῖον.
For one going on towards Pellana, there is a place called Characoma, and after this Pellana, anciently a city.
Τυνδάρεων δὲ οἰκῆσαί φασιν ἐνταῦθα, ὅτε Ἱπποκόωντα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἔφευγεν ἐκ Σπάρτης.
They say Tyndareus dwelt here when he was fleeing from Sparta from Hippocoon and his sons.
θέας δὲ ἄξια αὐτόθι ἰδὼν Ἀσκληπιοῦ τε οἶδα ἱερὸν καὶ τὴν πηγὴν Πελλανίδα.
Having seen things worthy of sight there, I know a sanctuary of Asclepius and the spring Pellanis.
ἐς ταύτην λέγουσιν ὑδρευομένην ἐσπεσεῖν παρθένον, ἀφανισθείσης δὲ τὸ κάλυμμα ἀναφανῆναι τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐν ἑτέρᾳ πηγῇ Λαγκίᾳ.
Into this they say a maiden fell while drawing water, and she having disappeared, her hair-veil appeared in another spring, Langia.
§3.21.3Πελλάνας δὲ ἑκατὸν στάδια ἀπέχει Βελεμίνα καλουμένη·
Belemina, as it is called, is a hundred stades distant from Pellana.
τῆς δὲ χώρας τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἡ Βελεμίνα μάλιστα ἄρδεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἥντινα διοδεύει μὲν τοῦ Εὐρώτα τὸ ὕδωρ, παρέχεται δὲ ἀφθόνους καὶ αὐτὴ πηγάς.
Of the Laconian territory, Belemina is by nature the most watered; the water of the Eurotas flows through it, and it also provides abundant springs of its own.
§3.21.4ἐπὶ θάλασσαν δὲ ἐς Γύθιον καταβαίνοντί ἐστι Λακεδαιμονίοις κώμη καλουμένη Κροκέαι καὶ λιθοτομία·
For those going down to the sea to Gythium, there is for the Lacedaemonians a village called Croceae and a quarry.
μία μὲν πέτρα συνεχὴς οὐ διήκουσα, λίθοι δὲ ὀρύσσονται σχῆμα τοῖς ποταμίοις ἐοικότες, ἄλλως μὲν δυσεργεῖς, ἢν δὲ ἐπεργασθῶσιν, ἐπικοσμήσαιεν ἂν καὶ θεῶν ἱερά, κολυμβήθραις δὲ καὶ ὕδασι συντελοῦσι μάλιστα ἐς κάλλος.
It is not a single continuous stretch of rock, but stones are dug up, in shape resembling river pebbles, difficult to work on the one hand, but if they are worked, they would adorn even the temples of the gods; and for swimming pools and waterworks they contribute especially to beauty.
θεῶν δὲ αὐτόθι πρὸ μὲν τῆς κώμης Διὸς Κροκεάτα λίθου πεποιημένον ἄγαλμα ἕστηκε, Διόσκουροι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λιθοτομίᾳ χαλκοῖ.
Of the gods there, before the village stands a statue of Zeus Croceatas made of stone, and the Dioscuri are in bronze at the quarry.
§3.21.5μετὰ δὲ Κροκέας ἀποτραπεῖσιν ἐς δεξιὰν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐς Γύθιον εὐθείας ἐπὶ πόλισμα ἥξεις Αἰγίας· Ὅμηρον δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι τὸ πόλισμα τοῦτο ὀνομάζειν λέγουσιν Αὐγειάς.
After Croceae, for those turning to the right from the straight road to Gythium, you will come to a town, Aegiae; they say Homer in his verses names this town Augeiae.
ἐνταῦθα ἔστι μὲν λίμνη καλουμένη Ποσειδῶνος, ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λίμνῃ ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα τοῦ θεοῦ.
There is here a lake called of Poseidon, and by the lake is a temple and statue of the god.
τοὺς δὲ ἰχθῦς δεδοίκασιν ἐξαιρεῖν, τὸν θηρεύσαντα ἁλιέα γενέσθαι λέγοντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπου.
They are afraid to catch the fish, saying that the fisherman who caught them was turned from a man into a fisherman-fish.
§3.21.6Γύθιον δὲ ἀπέχει μὲν σταδίους τριάκοντα Αἰγιῶν, ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ δὲ ᾠκισμένον ἔστιν ἤδη τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων, οὓς βασιλεὺς Αὔγουστος δουλείας ἀφῆκε Λακεδαιμονίων τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ κατηκόους ὄντας.
Gythium is thirty stades distant from Aegiae, and being situated on the sea, it belongs now to the Free Laconians, whom the Emperor Augustus released from slavery to the Lacedaemonians in Sparta, whose subjects they had been.
θαλάσσῃ μὲν δὴ πλὴν τοῦ Κορινθίων ἰσθμοῦ περιέχεται πᾶσα ἡ Πελοπόννησος· κόχλους δὲ ἐς βαφὴν πορφύρας παρέχεται τὰ ἐπιθαλάσσια τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐπιτηδειοτάτας μετά γε τὴν Φοινίκων θάλασσαν.
Indeed, the whole Peloponnese is surrounded by the sea except for the Isthmus of the Corinthians; and the coastal waters of Laconia provide shellfish for dyeing purple, most suitable after the Phoenician sea.
§3.21.7ἀριθμὸς δὲ τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων ὀκτὼ πόλεις καὶ δέκα εἰσί, πρώτη μὲν καταβᾶσιν ἐξ Αἰγιῶν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν Γύθιον, μετὰ δὲ αὐτὴν Τευθρώνη τε καὶ Λᾶς καὶ Πύρριχος, ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ δὲ Καινήπολις Οἴτυλός τε καὶ Λεῦκτρα καὶ Θαλάμαι, πρὸς δὲ Ἀλαγονία τε καὶ Γερηνία· τὰ δὲ ἐπέκεινα Γυθίου πρὸς θαλάσσῃ Ἀσωπὸς Ἀκριαὶ Βοιαὶ Ζάραξ Ἐπίδαυρος ἡ Λιμηρὰ Βρασιαὶ Γερόνθραι Μαριός.
The number of the Free Laconians is eighteen cities; first for those going down from Aegiae to the sea is Gythium, and after it Teuthrone and Las and Pyrrhichus, and on Taenarum, Caenepolis and Oetylus and Leuctra and Thalamae, and in addition Alagonia and Gerenia; and those beyond Gythium on the sea: Asopus, Acriae, Boeae, Zarax, Epidaurus Limera, Brasiae, Geronthrae, Marios.
αὗται μὲν οὖν εἰσιν αἱ λοιπαὶ τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων ἀπὸ τεσσάρων ποτὲ καὶ εἴκοσι πόλεων· τὰς δὲ ἄλλας, ἐφʼ ἃς ἂν καὶ αὐτὰς ὁ λόγος ἐπέλθῃ δή μοι, συντελούσας ἴστω τις ἐς Σπάρτην καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς προλεχθεῖσιν αὐτονόμους.
These then are the remaining of the Free Laconians, out of once twenty-four cities; and the others, upon which my account may also come, let one know that they contribute to Sparta and are not autonomous like those mentioned before.
§3.21.8Γυθεᾶται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδένα οἰκιστὴν γενέσθαι λέγουσιν, Ἡρακλέα δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα ὑπὲρ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐς ἀγῶνα ἐλθόντας, ὡς διηλλάγησαν, μετὰ τὴν ἔριν οἰκίσαι κοινῇ τὴν πόλιν· καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ σφισιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἡρακλέους ἐστὶν ἀγάλματα, πλησίον δὲ αὐτῶν Διόνυσος.
The Gytheates say that no human was the founder of their city, but that Heracles and Apollo, having come into conflict over the tripod, when they were reconciled, founded the city in common after their strife; and in their marketplace there are statues of Apollo and Heracles, and near them Dionysus.
ἑτέρωθι δὲ Ἀπόλλων Κάρνειος καὶ ἱερὸν Ἄμμωνος καὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐπόντος ὀρόφου τῷ ναῷ, καὶ πηγὴ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἅγιον καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἄγαλμα Γαιαόχου.
Elsewhere is Apollo Carneios, and a sanctuary of Ammon, and a bronze statue of Asclepius, there being no roof on the temple, and a spring of the god, and a holy sanctuary of Demeter, and a statue of Poseidon Earth-holder.
§3.21.9ὃν δὲ ὀνομάζουσι Γυθεᾶται Γέροντα, οἰκεῖν ἐν θαλάσσῃ φάμενοι, Νηρέα ὄντα εὕρισκον· καί σφισι τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου παρέσχεν ἀρχὴν Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐν Θέτιδος λόγοις· "
ὑμεῖς μὲν νῦν δῦτε θαλάσσης εὐρέα κόλπον,
ὀψόμεναί τε γέρονθʼ ἅλιον καὶ δώματα πατρός.
The one whom the Gytheates name the Old Man, saying that he dwells in the sea, I found to be Nereus; and Homer provided them with the origin of this name in the Iliad, in the words of Thetis: "Plunge now into the wide bosom of the sea, to see the old man of the sea and the dwellings of our father.
"
καλοῦνται δὲ ἐνταῦθα καὶ πύλαι Καστορίδες, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα Ἀθηνᾶς πεποίηται.
"And there are also gates called Castorides here, and in the acropolis a temple and statue of Athena have been made.