The founder of Psophis was they say Psophis the son of Arrho, (the
son of Erymanthus, the son of Aristas, the son of Parthaon, the son
of Periphetes, the son of Nyctimus): others say Psophis the daughter
of Xanthus, the son of Erymanthus, the son of Arcas. This is the
Arcadian account. But the truest tradition is that Psophis was the
daughter of Eryx, the ruler in Sicania, who would not receive her
into his house as she was pregnant, but intrusted her to Lycortas,
a friend of his who dwelt at Phegia, which was called Erymanthus
before the reign of Phegeus: and Echephron and Promachus (her sons by
Hercules) who were brought up there changed the name of Phegia into
Psophis after their mother’s name. The citadel at Zacynthus is also
named Psophis, for the first settler who sailed over to that island
was from Psophis, Zacynthus the son of Dardanus. From Siræ Psophis is
about 30 stades, and the river Aroanius, and at a little distance the
Erymanthus, flow by the town. The Erymanthus has its sources in the
mountain Lampea, which is they say sacred to Pan, and may be a part
of Mount Erymanthus. Homer has represented Erymanthus as a hunter on
Taygetus and Erymanthus, and a lover of Lampea, and as passing through
Arcadia, (leaving the mountain Pholoe on the right and Thelpusa on the
left), and becoming a tributary of the Alpheus. And it is said that
Hercules at the orders of Eurystheus hunted the boar (which exceeded
all others in size and strength), on the banks of the Erymanthus. And
the people of Cumæ in the Opic territory say that some boar’s teeth
which they have stored up in the temple of Apollo are the teeth of this
Erymanthian boar, but their tradition has little probability in it.
And the people of Psophis have a temple of Aphrodite surnamed Erycina,
which is now only in ruins, and was built (so the story goes) by the
sons of Psophis, which is not improbable. For there is in Sicily in
the country near Mount Eryx a temple of Aphrodite Erycina, most holy
from its hoary antiquity and as wealthy as the temple at Paphos. And
there are still traces of hero-chapels of Promachus and Echephron
the sons of Psophis. And at Psophis Alcmæon the son of Amphiaraus is
buried, whose tomb is neither very large nor beautified, except by some
cypress trees which grow to such a height, that the hill near is shaded
by them. These trees are considered sacred to Alcmæon so that the
people will not cut them down, and the people of the place call them
Maidens. Alcmæon came to Psophis, when he fled from Argos after slaying
his mother, and there married Alphesibœa the daughter of Phegeus,
(from whom Psophis was still called Phegia), and gave her gifts as
was usual and among others the famous necklace. And as while he dwelt
in Arcadia his madness became no better, he consulted the oracle at
Delphi, and the Pythian Priestess informed him that the Avenger of
his mother Eriphyle would follow him to every place except to a spot
which was most recent, and made by the action of the sea since he had
stained himself with his mother’s blood. And he found a place which the
Achelous had made by silting and dwelt there, and married Callirhoe the
daughter of Achelous according to the tradition of the Acarnanians,
and had by her two sons Acarnan and Amphoterus, from the former of
whom the Acarnanians on the mainland got their present name, for they
were before called Curetes. And many men and still more women come to
grief through foolish desires. Callirhoe desired that the necklace of
Eriphyle should be hers, and so she sent Alcmæon against his will into
Phegia, where his death was treacherously compassed by Temenus and
Axion, the sons of Phegeus, who are said to have offered the necklace
to Apollo at Delphi. And it was during their reign in the town then
called Phegia that the Greeks went on the expedition against Troy, in
which the people of Psophis say they took no part, because the leaders
of the Argives had an hostility with their kings, as most of them
were relations of Alcmæon and had shared in his expedition against
Thebes. And the reason why the islands called the Echinades formed by
the Achelous got separated from the mainland, was because when the
Ætolians were driven out the land became deserted, and, as Ætolia was
uncultivated, the Achelous did not deposit as much mud as usual. What
confirms my account is that the Mæander, that flowed for so many
years through the arable parts of Phrygia and Caria, in a short time
converted the sea between Priene and Miletus into mainland. The people
of Psophis also have a temple and statue on the banks of the Erymanthus
to the River-God Erymanthus. Except the Nile in Egypt all River-Gods
have statues in white stone, but the Nile, as it flows through Ethiopia
to the sea, has its statues generally made of black stone.
The tradition that I have heard at Psophis about Aglaus, a native of
the town who was a contemporary of the Lydian Crœsus, that he was happy
all his life, I cannot credit. No doubt one man will have less trouble
than another, as one ship will suffer less from tempests than another
ship: but that a man should always stand aloof from misfortune, or
that a ship should never encounter a storm, is a thing which does not
answer to human experience. Even Homer has represented one jar placed
by Zeus full of blessings, and another full of woes,[31] instructed
by the oracle at Delphi, which had informed him that he would be both
unfortunate and fortunate, as born for both fortunes.
[31] Iliad, xxiv. 527-533.