§3.22.1Γυθίου δὲ τρεῖς μάλιστα ἀπέχει σταδίους ἀργὸς λίθος· Ὀρέστην λέγουσι καθεσθέντα ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ παύσασθαι τῆς μανίας·
About three stades distant from Gythium is an unwrought stone; they say Orestes, having sat upon it, was relieved from his madness.
διὰ τοῦτο ὁ λίθος ὠνομάσθη Ζεὺς Καππώτας κατὰ γλῶσσαν τὴν Δωρίδα.
For this reason the stone was named Zeus Cappotas in the Doric dialect.
ἡ δὲ νῆσος ἡ Κρανάη πρόκειται Γυθίου, καὶ Ὅμηρος Ἀλέξανδρον ἁρπάσαντα Ἑλένην ἐνταῦθα ἔφη συγγενέσθαι οἱ πρῶτον.
The island of Cranae lies in front of Gythium, and Homer said that Alexander, having carried off Helen, first united with her here.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν νῆσον ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ Μιγωνίτιδος, καὶ ὁ τόπος οὗτος ἅπας καλεῖται Μιγώνιον.
Opposite the island on the mainland is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Migonitis, and this whole place is called Migonium.
§3.22.2τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τὸ ἱερὸν ποιῆσαι λέγουσιν Ἀλέξανδρον· Μενέλαος δὲ Ἴλιον ἑλὼν καὶ ἔτεσιν ὕστερον ὀκτὼ μετὰ Τροίας πόρθησιν οἴκαδε ἀνασωθεὶς ἄγαλμα Θέτιδος καὶ θεὰς Πραξιδίκας ἱδρύσατο ἐγγὺς τῆς Μιγωνίτιδος.
They say that Alexander made this sanctuary; but Menelaus, having taken Ilium and being saved back home eight years after the sack of Troy, dedicated a statue of Thetis and of the goddess Praxidice near the Migonitis.
Διονύσου δὲ ὄρος ἱερὸν Λαρύσιον καλούμενόν ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Μιγωνίου· καὶ ἦρος ἀρχομένου Διονύσῳ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγουσιν ἄλλα τε ἐς τὰ δρώμενα λέγοντες καὶ ὡς βότρυν ἐνταῦθα ἀνευρίσκουσιν ὡραῖον.
Above the Migonium is a holy mountain of Dionysus called Larysium; and at the beginning of spring they hold the festival for Dionysus, telling other things about the rituals and saying that they find a ripe cluster of grapes there.
§3.22.3ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ Γυθίου στάδια προελθόντι ὡς τριάκοντα ἔστιν ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ Τρινασοῦ καλουμένης τείχη, φρουρίου ποτὲ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν καὶ οὐ πόλεως.
For one going forward about thirty stades on the left of Gythium, there are on the mainland the walls of a place called Trinasus, in my opinion once a fort and not a city.
γενέσθαι δέ οἱ δοκῶ τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῶν νησίδων, αἳ ταύτῃ πρόκεινται τῆς ἠπείρου τρεῖς ἀριθμόν.
It seems to me that its name was derived from the islets, which lie in front of the mainland here, three in number.
προελθόντι δὲ ἀπὸ Τρινασοῦ στάδια ὡς ὀγδοήκοντα τοῦ Ἕλους τὰ ἐρείπια ὑπόλοιπα ἦν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τριάκοντα §3.22.4προελθόντι που σταδίους ἐπὶ θαλάσσης πόλις ἐστὶν Ἀκρίαι· θέας δὲ αὐτόθι ἄξια Μητρὸς θεῶν ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα λίθου.
For one going forward from Trinasus about eighty stades, there were left the ruins of Helos, and thirty after these stades or so further on by the sea is the city of Acriae; things worthy of sight there are a temple of the Mother of the Gods and a stone statue.
παλαιότατον δὲ τοῦτο εἶναί φασιν οἱ τὰς Ἀκρίας ἔχοντες, ὁπόσα τῆς θεοῦ ταύτης Πελοποννησίοις ἱερά ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ Μαγνησί γε, οἳ τὰ πρὸς Βορρᾶν νέμονται τοῦ Σιπύλου, τούτοις ἐπὶ Κοδδίνου πέτρᾳ Μητρός ἐστι θεῶν ἀρχαιότατον ἁπάντων ἄγαλμα· ποιῆσαι δὲ οἱ Μάγνητες αὐτὸ Βροτέαν λέγουσι τὸν Ταντάλου.
Those who hold Acriae say that this is the oldest of all the sanctuaries of this goddess that the Peloponnesians have, since for the Magnesians indeed, who dwell to the north of Sipylus, there is on the rock of Coddinus a statue of the Mother of the Gods, the oldest of all; and the Magnesians say that Broteas, the son of Tantalus, made it.
§3.22.5Ἀκριᾶται δὲ καὶ ἄνδρα ποτὲ Ὀλυμπιονίκην παρέσχοντο Νικοκλέα, Ὀλυμπιάσι δύο ἀνελόμενον δρόμου νίκας πέντε· πεποίηται δὲ καὶ μνῆμα τῷ Νικοκλεῖ τοῦ τε γυμνασίου μεταξὺ καὶ τοῦ τείχους τοῦ πρὸς τῷ λιμένι.
The Acriaeans also once provided an Olympic victor, Nicocles, who won five victories in racing at two Olympiads; and a monument has been made for Nicocles between the gymnasium and the wall by the harbor.
§3.22.6ἀπὸ θαλάσσης δὲ ἄνω Γερόνθραι σταδίους ἀπέχουσιν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν Ἀκριῶν.
Inland from the sea, Geronthrae is a hundred and twenty stades distant from Acriae.
ταύτας οἰκουμένας πρὶν Ἡρακλείδας ἐλθεῖν ἐς Πελοπόννησον, ἐποίησαν ἀναστάτους Δωριεῖς οἱ Λακεδαίμονα ἔχοντες, ἀναστήσαντες δὲ Γερονθρῶν τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς παρὰ σφῶν ἐποίκους ἀπέστειλαν· ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ Ἐλευθερολακώνων καὶ οὗτοι μοῖρα ἦσαν.
This city being inhabited before the Heracleidae came to Peloponnese, the Dorians who held Lacedaemon laid it waste, and having expelled the Achaeans from Geronthrae, they sent out colonists from themselves; and in my time these also were a part of the Free Laconians.
κατὰ μὲν δὴ τὴν ἐξ Ἀκριῶν ἐς Γερόνθρας ὁδὸν ἔστι Παλαιὰ καλουμένη κώμη, ἐν δὲ αὐταῖς Γερόνθραις Ἄρεως ναὸς καὶ ἄλσος· §3.22.7ἑορτὴν δὲ ἄγουσι τῷ θεῷ κατὰ ἔτος, ἐν ᾗ γυναιξίν ἐστιν ἀπηγορευμένον ἐσελθεῖν ἐς τὸ ἄλσος.
On the road from Acriae to Geronthrae there is a village called Palaea, and in Geronthrae itself there is a temple and grove of Ares; they hold a festival for the god every year, in which it is forbidden for women to enter the grove.
περὶ δὲ τὴν ἀγοράν σφισιν αἱ πηγαὶ τῶν ποτίμων εἰσὶν ὑδάτων.
Around their marketplace they have springs of drinking water.
ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀκροπόλει ναός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ ἀγάλματος ἐλέφαντος πεποιημένου κεφαλή· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τοῦ ἀγάλματος πῦρ ἠφάνισεν ὁμοῦ τῷ προτέρῳ ναῷ.
On the acropolis there is a temple of Apollo and the head of an image made of ivory; the rest of the image fire destroyed together with the former temple.