Description of Greece

The sacrifice to Artemis of human beings is said to have ceased in this way. An oracle had been given from Delphi to the Patraeans even before this, to the effect that a strange king would come to the land, bringing with him a strange divinity, and this king would put an end to the sacrifice to Triclaria. When Troy was captured, and the Greeks divided the spoils, Eurypylus the son of Euaemon got a chest. In it was an image of Dionysus, the work, so they say, of Hephaestus, and given as a gift by Zeus to Dardanus.

But there are two other accounts of it. One is that this chest was left by Aeneas when he fled; the other that it was thrown away by Cassandra to be a curse to the Greek who found it. Be this as it may, Eurypylus opened the chest, saw the image, and forthwith on seeing it went mad. He continued to be insane for the greater part of the time, with rare lucid intervals. Being in this condition he did not proceed on his voyage to Thessaly, but made for the town and gulf of Cirrha. Going up to Delphi he inquired of the oracle about his illness.

They say that the oracle given him was to the effect that where he should come across a people offering a strange sacrifice, there he was to set down the chest and make his home. Now the ships of Eurypylus were carried down by the wind to the sea off Aroe. On landing he came across a youth and a maiden who had been brought to the altar of Triclaria. So Eurypylus found it easy to understand about the sacrifice, while the people of the place remembered their oracle seeing a king whom they had never seen before, they also suspected that the chest had some god inside it.

And so the malady of Eurypylus and the sacrifice of these people came to an end, and the river was given its present name Meilichus. Certain writers have said that the events I have related happened not to the Thessalian Eurypylus, but to Eurypylus the son of Dexamenus who was king in Olenus, holding that this man joined Heracles in his campaign against Troy and received the chest from Heracles. The rest of their story is the same as mine.

But I cannot bring myself to believe that Heracles did not know the facts about the chest, if they were as described, nor, if he were aware of them, do I think that he would ever have given it to an ally as a gift. Further, the people of Patrae have no tradition of a Eurypylus save the son of Euaemon, and to him every year they sacrifice as to a hero, when they celebrate the festival in honor of Dionysus.

The surname of the god inside the chest is Aesymnetes ( Dictator), and his chief attendants are nine men, elected by the people from all the citizens for their reputation, and women equal in number to the men. On one night of the festival the priest carries the chest outside. Now this is a privilege that this night has received, and there go down to the river Meilichus a certain number of the native children, wearing on their heads garlands of corn-ears. It was in this way that they used to array of old those whom they led to be sacrificed to Artemis.

But at the present day they lay aside the garlands of corn-ears by the goddess, and after bathing in the river and putting on fresh garlands, this time made of ivy, they go to the sanctuary of the Dictator. This then is their established ritual, and within the precincts of Laphria is a temple of Athena surnamed Panachaean. The image is of ivory and gold.

On the way to the lower city there is a sanctuary of the Dindymenian Mother, and in it Attis too is worshipped. Of him they have no image to show; that of the Mother is of stone. In the marketplace is a temple of Olympian Zeus; the god himself is on a throne with Athena standing by it. Beyond the Olympian is an image of Hera and a sanctuary of Apollo. The god is of bronze, and naked. On his feet are sandals, and one foot stands upon the skull of an ox.

That Apollo takes great pleasure in oxen is shown by Alcaeus[*](Alcaeus Fr. 7 (Bergk).) in his hymn to Hermes, who writes how Hermes stole cows of Apollo, and even before Alcaeus was born Homer made Apollo tend cows of Laomedon for a wage. In the Iliad he puts these verses in the mouth of Poseidon:—

1. Verily I built a wall for the Trojans about their city,
2. A wide wall and very beautiful, that the city might be impregnable;
3. And thou, Phoebus, didst tend the shambling cows with crumpled horns.

Next to the market-place is the Music Hall, where has been dedicated an Apollo well worth seeing. It was made from the spoils taken when alone of the Achaeans the people of Patrae helped the Aetolians against the army of the Gauls. The Music Hall is in every way the finest in Greece, except, of course, the one at Athens. This is unrivalled in size and magnificence, and was built by Herodes, an Athenian,in memory of his dead wife. The reason why I omitted to mention this Music Hall in my history of Attica is that my account of the Athenians was finished before Herodes began the building.

As you leave the market-place of Patrae, where the sanctuary of Apollo is, at this exit is a gate, upon which stand gilt statues, Patreus, Preugenes, and Atherion; the two latter are represented as boys, because Patreus is a boy in age. Opposite the marketplace by this exit is a precinct and temple of Artemis, the Lady of the Lake.

When the Dorians were now in possession of Lacedaemon and Argos, it is said that Preugenes, in obedience to a dream, stole from Sparta the image of our Lady of the Lake, and that he had as partner in his exploit the most devoted of his slaves. The image from Lacedaemon is usually kept at Mesoa, because it was to this place that it was originally brought by Preugenes. But when the festival of our Lady is being held, one of the slaves of the goddess comes from Mesoa bringing the ancient wooden image to the precinct in the city.

Near this precinct the people of Patrae have other sanctuaries. These are not in the open, but there is an entrance to them through the porticoes. The image of Asclepius, save for the drapery, is of stone; Athena is made of ivory and gold. Before the sanctuary of Athena is the tomb of Preugenes. Every year they sacrifice to Preugenes as to a hero, and likewise to Patreus also, when the festival of our Lady is being held. Not far from the theater is a temple of Nemesis, and another of Aphrodite. The images are colossal and of white marble.