It was Lichas, one of these men, who found the tomb in Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea by a combination of luck and skill. At that time there was free access to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea, so he went into a blacksmith's shop and watched iron being forged, standing there in amazement at what he saw done.

The smith perceived that he was amazed, so he stopped what he was doing and said, “My Laconian guest, if you had seen what I saw, then you would really be amazed, since you marvel so at ironworking.

I wanted to dig a well in the courtyard here, and in my digging I hit upon a coffin twelve feet long. I could not believe that there had ever been men taller than now, so I opened it and saw that the corpse was just as long as the coffin. I measured it and then reburied it.” So the smith told what he had seen, and Lichas thought about what was said and reckoned that this was Orestes, according to the oracle.

In the smith's two bellows he found the winds, hammer and anvil were blow upon blow, and the forging of iron was woe upon woe, since he figured that iron was discovered as an evil for the human race.

After reasoning this out, he went back to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta and told the Lacedaemonians everything. They made a pretence of bringing a charge against him and banishing him. Coming to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea, he explained his misfortune to the smith and tried to rent the courtyard, but the smith did not want to lease it.

Finally he persuaded him and set up residence there. He dug up the grave and collected the bones, then hurried off to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta with them. Ever since then the Spartans were far superior to the Tegeans whenever they met each other in battle. By the time of Croesus' inquiry, the Spartans had subdued most of the Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, EuropePeloponnese.