§7.20.1τῷ θεῷ δὲ τῷ ἐντὸς τῆς λάρνακος ἐπίκλησις μέν ἐστιν Αἰσυμνήτης, οἱ δὲ αὐτὸν ἐς τὰ μάλιστα θεραπεύοντες ἐννέα τέ εἰσιν ἄνδρες, οὓς ἂν ἐκ πάντων ὁ δῆμος προέληται κατʼ ἀξίωμα, καὶ ἴσαι γυναῖκες τοῖς ἀνδράσι.
The god inside the chest has the surname Aisymnetes, and those who worship him most especially are nine men, whomever the people may choose from all according to dignity, and women equal in number to the men.
μιᾷ δὲ ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ νυκτὶ ἐς τὸ ἐκτὸς φέρει τὴν λάρνακα ὁ ἱερεύς.
On one night during the festival, the priest carries the chest outside.
αὕτη μὲν δὴ ἡ νὺξ γέρας τοῦτο εἴληφε, καταβαίνουσι δὲ καὶ ὁπόσοι δὴ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων παῖδες ἐπὶ τὸν Μείλιχον ἀστάχυσιν ἐστεφανωμένοι τὰς κεφαλάς· ἐκόσμουν δὲ οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον οὓς ἄγοιεν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι θύσοντες.
This night has indeed received this privilege, and all the local children go down to the Meilichos, crowned with ears of corn on their heads; in this way they also used to adorn in ancient times those whom they led to be sacrificed to Artemis.
§7.20.2τὰ δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν στεφάνους μὲν τῶν ἀσταχύων ἀποτίθενται παρὰ τῇ θεῷ, λουσάμενοι δὲ τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ αὖθις στεφάνους ἐπιθέμενοι κισσοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἱερὸν ἴασι τοῦ Αἰσυμνήτου.
In our time, they lay aside the crowns of ears of corn by the goddess, and having bathed in the river and put on crowns of ivy instead, they go to the temple of Aisymnetes.
ταῦτα μέν σφισιν οὕτω δρᾶν καθέστηκε, τοῦ περιβόλου δέ ἐστιν ἐντὸς τῆς Λαφρίας καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ναὸς ἐπίκλησιν Παναχαΐδος· ἐλέφαντος τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ χρυσοῦ.
It is established for them to act in this way, and within the enclosure of Laphria there is a temple of Athena, surnamed Panachais; the image is of ivory and gold.
§7.20.3ἐρχομένῳ δὲ ἐς τὴν κάτω πόλιν Μητρὸς Δινδυμήνης ἐστὶν ἱερόν, ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἄττης ἔχει τιμάς.
To one going down to the lower city, there is a temple of Mother Dindymene, in which Attis also has honors.
τούτου μὲν δὴ ἄγαλμα οὐδὲν ἀποφαίνουσι· τὸ δὲ τῆς Μητρὸς λίθου πεποίηται.
Of him they show no image, but that of the Mother is made of stone.
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ Διὸς ναὸς Ὀλυμπίου, αὐτός τε ἐπὶ θρόνου καὶ ἑστῶσα Ἀθηνᾶ παρὰ τὸν θρόνον, τῆς τε Ἥρας ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ὀλυμπίου πέραν ἱερόν τε Ἀπόλλωνος πεποίηται καὶ Ἀπόλλων χαλκοῦς, γυμνὸς ἐσθῆτος· ὑποδήματα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῖς ποσίν ἐστιν αὐτῷ, καὶ τῷ ἑτέρῳ ποδὶ ἐπὶ κρανίου βέβηκε βοός.
In the marketplace there is a temple of Olympian Zeus, himself on a throne and Athena standing beside the throne; and opposite the Olympian Zeus is an image of Hera, and a temple of Apollo has been made with a bronze Apollo, bare of clothing; he has shoes on his feet, and with one foot he stands upon the skull of an ox.
§7.20.4βουσὶ γὰρ χαίρειν μάλιστα Ἀπόλλωνα Ἀλκαῖός τε ἐδήλωσεν ἐν ὕμνῳ τῷ ἐς Ἑρμῆν, γράψας ὡς ὁ Ἑρμῆς βοῦς ὑφέλοιτο τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον ἢ Ἀλκαῖον γενέσθαι πεποιημένα ἦν Ὁμήρῳ βοῦς Ἀπόλλωνα Λαομέδοντος ἐπὶ μισθῷ νέμειν· Ποσειδῶνι περιέθηκεν ἐν Ἰλιάδι τὰ ἔπη, §7.20.5"
ἤτοι ἐγὼ Τρώεσσι πόλιν πέρι τεῖχος ἔδειμα,
εὐρύ τε καὶ μάλα καλόν, ἵνʼ ἄρρηκτος πόλις εἴη· Φοῖβε, σὺ δʼ εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς βουκολέεσκες. "
τὰ μὲν δὴ ἐς τὸ κρανίον τοῦ βοὸς ἐπὶ τοιῷδε ἄν τις εἰκάσειε πεποιῆσθαι· ἔστι δὲ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἄγαλμά τε Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Πατρέως τάφος.
For that Apollo rejoices especially in oxen Alcaeus showed in his hymn to Hermes, writing that Hermes stole the oxen of Apollo, and even before Alcaeus was born, it had been composed by Homer that Apollo pastured the oxen of Laomedon for hire; he put the verses in the mouth of Poseidon in the Iliad: "Verily I built a wall for the Trojans around their city, wide and very beautiful, that the city might be unbroken; and you, Phoebus, pastured the shambling, crook-horned oxen." One might guess that the matter of the ox's skull was made for some such reason; and in the open air of the marketplace there is an image of Athena, and before it the tomb of Patreus.
§7.20.6ἔχεται δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς τὸ Ὠιδεῖον, καὶ Ἀπόλλων ἐνταῦθα ἀνάκειται θέας ἄξιος· ἐποιήθη δὲ ἀπὸ λαφύρων, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τὸν στρατὸν τῶν Γαλατῶν οἱ Πατρεῖς ἤμυναν Αἰτωλοῖς Ἀχαιῶν μόνοι.
Adjoining the marketplace is the Odeum, and here is dedicated an Apollo well worth seeing; it was made from spoils when the people of Patrae, alone of the Achaeans, helped the Aetolians against the army of the Gauls.
κεκόσμηται δὲ καὶ ἐς ἄλλα τὸ Ὠιδεῖον ἀξιολογώτατα τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι, πλήν γε δὴ τοῦ Ἀθήνῃσι· τοῦτο γὰρ μεγέθει τε καὶ ἐς τὴν πᾶσαν ὑπερῆρκε κατασκευήν, ἀνὴρ δὲ Ἀθηναῖος ἐποίησεν Ἡρώδης ἐς μνήμην ἀποθανούσης γυναικός.
The Odeum is adorned in other respects most remarkably of those in Greece, except indeed for that at Athens; for this latter surpassed in size and in all its construction, and an Athenian man, Herodes, built it in memory of his deceased wife.
ἐμοὶ δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἀτθίδι συγγραφῇ τὸ ἐς τοῦτο παρείθη τὸ Ὠιδεῖον, ὅτι πρότερον ἔτι ἐξείργαστό μοι τὰ ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἢ ὑπῆρκτο Ἡρώδης τοῦ οἰκοδομήματος.
In my Attica narrative this Odeum was omitted, because my work on the Athenians was already finished before Herodes began the building.
§7.20.7ἐν Πάτραις δὲ ἰόντι ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ᾗ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, πύλη κατὰ τὴν ἔξοδόν ἐστι ταύτην, καὶ ἐπιθήματα ἐπὶ τῆς πύλης ἀνδριάντες εἰσὶν ἐπίχρυσοι, Πατρεύς τε καὶ Πρευγένης καὶ Ἀθερίων, οἳ Πατρέως ἡλικίαν παιδὸς ἔχοντος καὶ αὐτοὶ παῖδές εἰσι.
In Patrae, as you go from the marketplace where the temple of Apollo is, there is a gate at this exit, and as ornaments upon the gate are gilded statues, Patreus, Preugenes, and Atherion, who are represented as boys of the same age as Patreus when he was a boy.
τῆς δὲ ἀγορᾶς ἄντικρυς κατὰ ταύτην τὴν διέξοδον τέμενός ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ ναὸς Λιμνάτιδος.
Opposite the marketplace, at this passage, is a precinct of Artemis and a temple of Limnatis.
§7.20.8ἐχόντων δὲ ἤδη Λακεδαίμονα καὶ Ἄργος Δωριέων, ὑφελέσθαι Πρευγένην τῆς Λιμνάτιδος τὸ ἄγαλμα κατὰ ὄψιν ὀνείρατος λέγουσιν ἐκ Σπάρτης, κοινωνῆσαι δὲ αὐτῷ τοῦ ἐγχειρήματος τῶν δούλων τὸν εὐνούστατον.
When the Dorians already held Lacedaemon and Argos, they say that Preugenes stole the image of Limnatis from Sparta in accordance with a vision in a dream, and that the most faithful of his slaves shared in the enterprise.
τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα τὸ ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον ἔχουσιν ἐν Μεσόᾳ, ὅτι καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ Πρευγένους ἐς τοῦτο ἐκομίσθη τὸ χωρίον· ἐπειδὰν δὲ τῇ Λιμνάτιδι τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγωσι, τῆς θεοῦ τις τῶν οἰκετῶν ἐκ Μεσόας ἔρχεται τὸ ξόανον κομίζων τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐς τὸ τέμενος τὸ ἐν τῇ πόλει.
The image from Lacedaemon they keep at other times in Mesoa, because from the beginning it was brought to this place by Preugenes; but when they celebrate the festival to Limnatis, one of the servants of the goddess comes from Mesoa bringing the ancient wooden image to the precinct in the city.
§7.20.9τούτου δὲ τοῦ τεμένους ἐστὶ καὶ ἄλλα τοῖς Πατρεῦσιν ἱερά· πεποίηται δὲ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ, ἀλλὰ ἔσοδος ἐς αὐτὰ διὰ τῶν στοῶν ἐστι.
Inside this precinct there are also other temples for the people of Patrae; these are made not in the open air, but the entrance to them is through the porticoes.
τὸ μὲν δὴ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ, πλὴν ἐσθῆτος, λίθου τὰ ἄλλα· Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ ἐλέφαντος εἴργασται καὶ χρυσοῦ.
The image of Asclepius, except for the clothing, is in other respects of stone; Athena is worked in ivory and gold.
πρὸ δὲ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τοῦ ἱεροῦ Πρευγένους μνῆμά ἐστιν· ἐναγίζουσι δὲ καὶ τῷ Πρευγένει κατὰ ἔτος, ὡσαύτω; δὲ καὶ Πατρεῖ, τὴν ἑορτὴν τῇ Λιμνάτιδι ἄγοντες.
Before the temple of Athena is the tomb of Preugenes; and they also sacrifice to Preugenes every year as to a hero, and in the same way to Patreus, when they celebrate the festival to Limnatis.
τοῦ θεάτρου δὲ οὐ πόρρω Νεμέσεως ναὸς καὶ ἕτερός ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης· μεγέθει μεγάλα λίθου λευκοῦ τὰ ἀγάλματα.
Not far from the theatre is a temple of Nemesis, and another of Aphrodite; the images are of great size and made of white stone.