And the plain of Pheneus lies below Caryæ, and they say the old
Pheneus was destroyed by a deluge: even in our day there are marks
on the hills where the water rose to. And about 5 stades from Caryæ
are the mountains Oryxis and Sciathis, at the bottom of each of which
mountains is a pit which receives the water from the plain. And these
pits the people of Pheneus say are wrought by hand, for they were
made by Hercules when he lived at Pheneus with Laonome, the mother
of Amphitryon, for Amphitryon was the son of Alcæus by Laonome, the
daughter of Gyneus a woman of Pheneus, and not by Lysidice the daughter
of Pelops. And if Hercules really dwelt at Pheneus, one may easily
suppose that, when he was expelled from Tiryns by Eurystheus, he did
not go immediately to Thebes but first to Pheneus. Hercules also dug
through the middle of the plain of Pheneus a channel for the river
Olbius, which river some of the Arcadians call Aroanius and not Olbius.
The length of this canal is about 50 stades, and the depth where the
banks have not fallen in about 30 feet. The river however does not
now follow this channel, but has returned to its old channel, having
deserted Hercules’ canal.
And from the pits dug at the bottom of the mountains I have mentioned
to Pheneus is about 50 stades. The people of Pheneus say that Pheneus
an Autochthon was their founder. Their citadel is precipitous on all
sides, most of it is left undefended, but part of it is carefully
fortified. On the citadel is a temple of Athene Tritonia, but only in
ruins. And there is a brazen statue of Poseidon Hippius, an offering
they say of Odysseus. For he lost his horses and went all over Greece
in quest of them, and finding them on this spot in Pheneus he erected
a temple there to Artemis under the title of Heurippe, and offered the
statue of Poseidon Hippius. They say also that when Odysseus found
his horses here he thought he would keep them at Pheneus, as he kept
his oxen on the mainland opposite Ithaca. And the people of Pheneus
shew some letters written on the base of the statue, which are the
orders of Odysseus to those who looked after his horses. In all other
respects there seems probability in the tradition of the people of
Pheneus, but I cannot think that the brazen statue of Poseidon is an
offering of Odysseus, for they did not in those days know how to make
statues throughout in brass as you weave a garment. Their mode of
making statues in brass I have already shewn in my account of Sparta in
reference to the statue of Zeus Supreme. For the first who fused and
made statues of cast brass were Rhœcus the son of Philæus and Theodorus
the son of Telecles both of Samos. The most famous work of Theodorus
was the seal carved out of an Emerald, which Polycrates the tyrant of
Samos very frequently wore and was very proud of.
And as you descend about a stade from the citadel you come to the tomb
of Iphicles, the brother of Hercules and the father of Iolaus, on an
eminence. Iolaus according to the tradition of the Greeks assisted
Hercules in most of his Labours. And Iphicles the father of Iolaus,
when Hercules fought his first battle against Augeas and the people of
Elis, was wounded by the sons of Actor who were called Molinidæ from
their mother Moline, and his relations conveyed him to Pheneus in a
very bad condition, and there Buphagus (a native of Pheneus) and his
wife Promne took care of him, and buried him as he died of his wound.
And to this day they pay him the honours they pay to heroes. And of
the gods the people of Pheneus pay most regard to Hermes, and they
call their games Hermæa. And they have a temple of Hermes, and a stone
statue of the god made by the Athenian Euchir the son of Eubulides.
And behind the temple is the tomb of Myrtilus. This Myrtilus was, the
Greeks say, the son of Hermes, and charioteer to Œnomaus, and when
any one came to court the daughter of Œnomaus, Myrtilus ingeniously
spurred the horses of Œnomaus, and, whenever he caught up any suitor
in the race, he hurled a dart at him and so killed him. And Myrtilus
himself was enamoured of Hippodamia, but did not venture to compete
for her hand, but continued Œnomaus’ charioteer. But eventually they
say he betrayed Œnomaus, seduced by the oaths that Pelops made to him,
that if he won he would let Myrtilus enjoy Hippodamia one night. But
when he reminded Pelops of his oath he threw him out of a ship into the
sea. And the dead body of Myrtilus was washed ashore, and taken up and
buried by the people of Pheneus, so they say, and annually by night
they pay him honours. Clearly Pelops cannot have had much sea to sail
on, except from the mouth of the Alpheus to the seaport of Elis. The
Myrtoan Sea cannot therefore have been named after this Myrtilus, for
it begins at Eubœa and joins the Ægean by the desert island of Helene,
but those who seem to me to interpret best the antiquities of Eubœa say
that the Myrtoan Sea got its name from a woman called Myrto.