previous next

CHAP. 10. (6.)—ARCADIA.

Its interior is occupied for the greater part by Arcadia, which, remote from the sea on every side, was ori- ginally called Drymodes1, and at a later period Pelasgis. The cities of Arcadia are, Psophis2, Mantinea3, Stymphalus4, Tegea5, Antigonea6, Orchomenus7, Pheneum8, Palantium9 (from which the Palatium10 at Rome derives its name), Megalopolis11, Gortyna12, Bucolium, Carnion, Parrhasia13, Thelpusa14, Melænæ15, Heræa16, Pylæ17, Pallene, Agræ, Epium, Cynæthæ18, Lepreon of Arcadia19, Parthe- nium20, Alea, Methydrium21, Enispe, Macistum, Lampia, Clitorium22, and Cleonæ23; between which two last towns is the district of Nemea, commonly known as Bembinadia24.

The mountains of Arcadia are, Pholöe25, with a town of the same name, Cyllene26, Lycæus27, upon which is the temple of Lycæan Jupiter; Mænalus28, Artemisius29, Parthenius30, Lampeus31, and Nonacris32, besides eight others of no note. The rivers are the Ladon33, which rises in the marshes of Pheneus34, and the Erymanthus35, which springs from a mountain of the same name, and flows into the Alpheus.

The other cities of Achaia worthy of mention are those of the Aliphiræi36, the Abeatæ37, the Pyrgenses38, the Paro- reatæ39, the Paragenitæ, the Tortuni, the Typanei40, the Thriasii41, and the Tritienses42. Domitius Nero [the emperor] granted liberty to the whole of Achaia43. The Peloponnesus, from the Promontory of Malea to the town of Ægium44 on the Corinthian Gulf, is 190 miles in length, and 125 miles across from Elis to Epidaurus; the distance being, from Olympia to Argos, through Arcadia, sixty-eight miles. The distance from Olympia to Phlius has been already mentioned45. Throughout the whole of this region, as though nature had been desirous to compensate for the inroads of the sea, seventy-six mountains raise their lofty heads.

1 From δρυμωδὴς, "woody," it being filled with groves and forests.

2 Now called the Khan of Tripotamo.

3 Now called Paleopoli. Here Epaminondas fell, fighting against the Spartans, B.C. 362.

4 In the N.E. of Arcadia. Its ruins are supposed to be those seen near the modern Chionia. It was in the vicinity of the lake of the same name, the scene of one of the labours of Hercules.

5 An important city: the modern Piali marks its site.

6 Built upon the ruins of the ancient Mantinea.

7 An ancient town mentioned by Homer, N.W. of Mantinea. The modern Kalpaki stands on its site.

8 Or Pheneus, on the N.W. of Arcadia. Phonia stands on its site.

9 Near Tegea; said to have been the birth-place of Evander. On the foundation of Megalopolis, it was nearly deserted, but was restored by Antoninus Pius. Its ruins are supposed to be those seen near the modern village of Thana, according to Ansart.

10 It being said to have been so called in compliment to Evander, a native, as above stated, of Palantium.

11 Founded by the advice of Epaminondas, after the battle of Leuctra, B.C. 371, near the frontiers of Messenia. The ruins of its theatre, once the largest in Greece, are the only remains of it now to be seen, near the modern village of Sinano.

12 It contained a famous temple of Æsculapius. Its ruins are to be seen near the village of Atzikolo. The exact site of Bucolion, which was near Megalopolis, is probably unknown, though Ansart says that the spot is called Troupiais. Of Carnion nothing is known.

13 The town of Parrhasia, which is mentioned by Homer, seems to have given name to the Parrhasian district. Leake thinks it to be the same as Lycosura.

14 On the river Ladon: its ruins are seen near the modern Vanena.

15 In the west of Arcadia, on the river Alpheus.

16 Or "Juno's Town." It was a place of great importance, situate on the lower Alpheus. Its remains are to be seen on a hill west of the village of Aianni, or St. John. They are very inconsiderable. Its wine was highly esteemed, and still maintains its ancient celebrity.

17 Of Pylæ, Pallene, Agree, and Epium, nothing appears to be known.

18 Or Cynætha, in the north of Arcadia, upon the Aroanian mountains, beyond the natural boundaries of Arcadia. The modern village of Kalavryta occupies its site; but there are scarcely any traces of its remains.

19 Or Lepreum, so called to distinguish it from Lepreum in Elis.

20 Nothing seems to be known of this Parthenium. Alea lay between Orchomenus and Stymphalus. Its ruins have been discovered in the dark valley of Skotini, a mile to the N.E. of the village of Buyati.

21 Its site has the modern name of Palæopyrgos. The sites of Enispe, mentioned by Homer, and Macistum, are unknown.

22 Or Cleitor, a famous town of Arcadia. Its ruins are to be seen on the plain of Kalzana, or Katzanes. One of the rivulets that ran past it still retains the name of Clitora.

23 Its ruins, few in number, but testifying its importance, are found near the modern village of Kleves, not far from Kurtesi. The Nemean games were celebrated in honour of Hercules in the grove of Nemea, between Cieonæ and Phlius.

24 From the village of Bembina there, mentioned by Strabo, and on which Koutzomati probably now stands.

25 Now called Olono. It received its name from the Centaur Pholus, accidentally slain by one of the poisoned arrows of Hercules.

26 The modern Zyria.

27 Nomiai and Hellenitza are modern names given to this mountain.

28 In the south of Arcadia. It is now called Roinon.

29 Or Artemisium, forming the boundary between Argolis and Arcadia. It is now called Turniki.

30 The pass by this mountain from Argolis to Tegea is still called Partheni.

31 Now called Zembi, according to Ansart.

32 The town of Nonacris stood at its foot. The river Styx took its rise in these mountains.

33 Now called the Landona.

34 The town now called Fonia, already mentioned by Pliny. The waters of its marshes were discharged by a subterranean passage, said to have been made by Hercules.

35 Now called the Dogana. The two principal heights of Mount Erymanthus are Olonos and Kalefoni.

36 The people of Aliphira, a town of Arcadia, in the district of Cynura. Considerable remains of it are still to be seen on the hill of Nerovitza.

37 The people of Abea, in Messenia.

38 people of Pyrgos, in Arcadia.

39 The people of Parorea, in Arcadia. Of the two next, nothing appears to be known.

40 The inhabitants of Typaneæ, in Elis.

41 The people of Thrius, in Elis, near Patræ.

42 The people of Tritia, in Achaia, now Chalanthistra.

43 Nero abolished the institutions of the Roman province of Achaia, which had been assigned to the Roman senate, and governed by a proconsul, granting it its liberty. Vespasian, however, again established the provincial government, and compelled the Greeks to pay a yearly tribute.

44 Now Vostitza.

45 See p. 281.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
371 BC (1)
362 BC (1)
hide References (37 total)
  • Cross-references to this page (33):
    • The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, AIGINION Thessaly, Greece.
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ACROTHO´UM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AMA´NTIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AMPHI´POLIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), A´NTHEMUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ANTIGONEIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APILA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APOLLO´NIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARCA´DIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASSA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ATHOS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BALLA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BEROEA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BULLIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CANASTRAEUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CASSANDREIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CHALASTRA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CLEO´NAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), DIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), DOBE´RUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), EURO´PUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GALEPSUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GARESCUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HALIACMON
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MECYBERNA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MENDE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NYSA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PAROREIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SCYDRA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THESSALONI´CA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THYSSUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TYRISSA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), URANO´POLIS
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (4):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: