§8.41.1Φιγαλεῦσι δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς καὶ πολυάνδριον τῶν λογάδων τῶν Ὀρεσθασίων ἐστί, καὶ ὡς ἥρωσιν αὐτοῖς ἐναγίζουσιν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος.
For the Phigalians, there is also in the marketplace a common grave of the chosen men of Oresthasium, and they offer sacrifices to them every year as to heroes.
§8.41.2ποταμὸς δὲ ὁ καλούμενος Λύμαξ ἐκδίδωσι μὲν ἐς τὴν Νέδαν παρʼ αὐτὴν ῥέων Φιγαλίαν, γενέσθαι δὲ τοὔνομά φασι τῷ ποταμῷ καθαρσίων τῶν Ῥέας ἕνεκα.
The river called Lymax flows past Phigalia itself and empties into the Neda, and they say that the name of the river arose because of the purification of Rhea.
ὡς γὰρ δὴ τεκοῦσαν τὸν Δία ἐκάθηραν ἐπὶ ταῖς ὠδῖσιν αἱ Νύμφαι, τὰ καθάρματα ἐς τοῦτον ἐμβάλλουσι τὸν ποταμόν· ὠνόμαζον δὲ ἄρα οἱ ἀρχαῖοι αὐτὰ λύματα.
For when the nymphs purified her after her labor when she had given birth to Zeus, they threw the purifications into this river; and the ancients, it seems, called these purifications "lymata".
μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος, ἀπολυμαίνεσθαί τε ἐπὶ λύσει τοῦ λοιμοῦ τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ ἐμβάλλειν τὰ λύματα εἰπὼν σφᾶς ἐς θάλασσαν.
Homer also bears witness to this, saying that the Greeks purified themselves for the removal of the plague and threw the "lymata" into the sea.
§8.41.3εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ πηγαὶ τῆς Νέδας ἐν ὄρει τῷ Κεραυσίῳ· τοῦ Λυκαίου δὲ μοῖρά ἐστι.
The springs of the Neda are on Mount Cerausium, which is a part of Lycaeum.
καθότι δὲ ἐγγύτατα ἡ Νέδα Φιγαλέων τῆς πόλεως γίνεται, κατὰ τοῦτο οἱ Φιγαλέων παῖδες ἀποκείρονται τῷ ποταμῷ τὰς κόμας· τὰ δὲ πρὸς θαλάσσῃ καὶ ἀναπλεῖται ναυσὶν οὐ μεγάλαις ἡ Νέδα.
Where the Neda comes closest to the city of the Phigalians, at this point the Phigalian boys cut off their hair for the river; and the parts of the Neda near the sea are navigable by vessels of no great size.
ποταμῶν δὲ ὁπόσους ἴσμεν Μαίανδρος μὲν σκολιῷ μάλιστα κάτεισι τῷ ῥεύματι, ἔς τε τὸ ἄνω καμπὰς καὶ αὖθις ἐπιστροφὰς παρεχόμενος πλείστας· δεύτερα δὲ ἑλιγμῶν γε ἕνεκα φέροιτο ἂν ἡ Νέδα.
Of all the rivers we know, the Maeander indeed flows down with the most winding current, presenting very many bends upstream and turnings back again; and the Neda would be ranked second in terms of its windings.
§8.41.4σταδίοις δὲ ὅσον δώδεκα ἀνωτέρω Φιγαλίας θερμά τέ ἐστι λουτρὰ καὶ τούτων οὐ πόρρω κάτεισιν ὁ Λύμαξ ἐς τὴν Νέδαν· ᾗ δὲ συμβάλλουσι τὰ ῥεύματα, ἔστι τῆς Εὐρυνόμης τὸ ἱερόν, ἅγιόν τε ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ τραχύτητος τοῦ χωρίου δυσπρόσοδον· περὶ αὐτὸ καὶ κυπάρισσοι πεφύκασι πολλαί τε καὶ ἀλλήλαις συνεχεῖς.
About twelve stades above Phigalia there are warm baths, and not far from these the Lymax flows down into the Neda; and where their streams meet, there is the temple of Eurynome, holy from of old and difficult of approach because of the ruggedness of the place; around it grow many cypresses, dense and continuous with one another.
§8.41.5τὴν δὲ Εὐρυνόμην ὁ μὲν τῶν Φιγαλέων δῆμος ἐπίκλησιν εἶναι πεπίστευκεν Ἀρτέμιδος· ὅσοι δὲ αὐτῶν παρειλήφασιν ὑπομνήματα ἀρχαῖα, θυγατέρα Ὠκεανοῦ φασιν εἶναι τὴν Εὐρυνόμην, ἧς δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐποιήσατο μνήμην ὡς ὁμοῦ Θέτιδι ὑποδέξαιτο Ἥφαιστον.
As for Eurynome, the common people of the Phigalians believe that it is a surname of Artemis; but those of them who have received ancient records say that Eurynome is a daughter of Ocean, of whom Homer also made mention in the Iliad, saying that she, together with Thetis, received Hephaestus.
ἡμέρᾳ δὲ τῇ αὐτῇ κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον τὸ ἱερὸν ἀνοιγνύουσι τῆς Εὐρυνόμης, τὸν δὲ ἄλλον χρόνον οὔ σφισιν ἀνοιγνύναι καθέστηκε·
On the same day every year they open the temple of Eurynome, but at other times it is established as their custom not to open it.
§8.41.6τηνικαῦτα δὲ καὶ θυσίας δημοσίᾳ τε καὶ ἰδιῶται θύουσιν.
At this time both public bodies and private individuals offer sacrifices.
ἀφικέσθαι μὲν δή μοι τῆς ἑορτῆς οὐκ ἐξεγένετο ἐς καιρὸν οὐδὲ τῆς Εὐρυνόμης τὸ ἄγαλμα εἶδον· τῶν Φιγαλέων δʼ ἤκουσα ὡς χρυσαῖ τε τὸ ξόανον συνδέουσιν ἁλύσεις καὶ εἰκὼν γυναικὸς τὰ ἄχρι τῶν γλουτῶν, τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου δέ ἐστιν ἰχθύς.
It was not my fortune to arrive in time for the festival, nor did I see the statue of Eurynome; but I heard from the Phigalians that golden chains bind the wooden image, and that it is an image of a woman as far as the buttocks, and from there on it is a fish.
θυγατρὶ μὲν δὴ Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ ἐν βυθῷ τῆς θαλάσσης ὁμοῦ Θέτιδι οἰκούσῃ παρέχοιτο ἄν τι ἐς γνώρισμα αὐτῆς ὁ ἰχθύς· Ἀρτέμιδι δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως ἂν μετά γε τοῦ εἰκότος λόγου μετείη τοιούτου σχήματος.
To a daughter of Ocean who dwells with Thetis in the depths of the sea, the fish might indeed offer something as her token; but for Artemis, there is no way that she could, with any reasonable justification, share in such a shape.
§8.41.7περιέχεται δὲ ἡ Φιγαλία ὄρεσιν, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ καλουμένου Κωτιλίου, τὰ δὲ ἐς δεξιὰν ἕτερον προβεβλημένον ἐστὶν αὐτῆς ὄρος τὸ Ἐλάιον.
Phigalia is surrounded by mountains, on the left by the one called Cotylium, while on the right another mountain, Elaeum, stands projecting in front of it.
ἀπέχει δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐς τεσσαράκοντα τὸ Κωτίλιον μάλιστα σταδίους· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ χωρίον τέ ἐστι καλούμενον Βᾶσσαι καὶ ὁ ναὸς τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Ἐπικουρίου, λίθου καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ὁ ὄροφος.
Cotylium is about forty stades distant from the city; and on it there is a place called Bassae, and the temple of Apollo Epicurius, both the temple itself and its roof being of stone.
§8.41.8ναῶν δὲ ὅσοι Πελοποννησίοις εἰσί, μετά γε τὸν ἐν Τεγέᾳ προτιμῷτο οὗτος ἂν τοῦ λίθου τε ἐς κάλλος καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας ἕνεκα.
Of all the temples in the Peloponnese, this one, after the one in Tegea, would be preferred for the beauty of its stone and the harmony of its construction.
τὸ δὲ ὄνομα ἐγένετο τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ἐπικουρήσαντι ἐπὶ νόσῳ λοιμώδει, καθότι καὶ παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις ἐπωνυμίαν ἔλαβεν Ἀλεξίκακος ἀποτρέψας καὶ τούτοις τὴν νόσον.
The name was given to Apollo because he brought help in a pestilential disease, just as among the Athenians he received the title of "Averter of Evil" because he turned away the disease from them as well.
§8.41.9ἔπαυσε δὲ ὑπὸ τὸν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς Φιγαλέας καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἑτέρῳ καιρῷ· μαρτύρια δὲ αἵ τε ἐπικλήσεις ἀμφότεραι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐοικός τι ὑποσημαίνουσαι καὶ Ἰκτῖνος ὁ ἀρχιτέκτων τοῦ ἐν Φιγαλίᾳ ναοῦ γεγονὼς τῇ ἡλικίᾳ κατὰ Περικλέα καὶ Ἀθηναίοις τὸν Παρθενῶνα καλούμενον κατασκευάσας.
And he stopped the plague for the Phigalians also during the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, and at no other time; the proofs are both of the surnames of Apollo, which signify something similar, and Ictinus the architect of the temple in Phigalia, who was a contemporary of Pericles in age and built for the Athenians the temple called the Parthenon.
ἐδίδαξε δὲ ὁ λόγος ἤδη μοι τὸ ἄγαλμα εἶναι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος Μεγαλοπολιτῶν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ.
My account has already shown that the statue of Apollo is in the marketplace of Megalopolis.
§8.41.10ἔστι δὲ ὕδατος ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ Κωτιλίῳ πηγή, καὶ ὅπου συνέγραψεν ἤδη τις ἀπὸ ταύτης τῷ ποταμῷ τὸ ῥεῦμα τῷ Λύμακι ἄρχεσθαι, συνέγραψεν οὔτε αὐτὸς θεασάμενος οὔτε ἀνδρὸς ἀκοὴν ἰδόντος· ἃ καὶ ἀμφότερα παρῆσαν ἐμοί· τὸ μὲν ποταμοῦ ῥεῦμα ὂν ἑωρῶμεν, τῆς δὲ ἐν τῷ Κωτιλίῳ πηγῆς οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐξικνούμενον τὸ ὕδωρ ἀλλὰ ἐντὸς ὀλίγου παντάπασιν ἀφανὲς γινόμενον.
On Mount Cotylium there is a spring of water, and if anyone has already written that the stream of the river Lymax begins from this spring, he wrote without either seeing it himself or hearing of it from a man who had seen it; both of which facts were present to me: we saw the stream of the river indeed, but the water of the spring on Cotylium does not go very far, but within a short distance becomes altogether invisible.
οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ὅπου τῆς Ἀρκάδων ἐστὶν ἡ πηγὴ τῷ Λύμακι, ἐπῆλθε πολυπραγμονῆσαί μοι.
However, it did not occur to me to investigate further where the spring of the Lymax is in Arcadia.
ἔστι δὲ ὑπὲρ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Ἐπικουρίου χωρίον Κώτιλον μὲν ἐπίκλησιν, Ἀφροδίτη δέ ἐστιν ἐν Κωτίλῳ· καὶ αὐτῇ ναός τε ἦν οὐκ ἔχων ἔτι ὄροφον καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐπεποίητο.
Above the temple of Apollo Epicurius is a place called Cotylum, and there is an Aphrodite in Cotylum; and she had a temple which no longer has a roof, and an image had been made of her.