And as you go from the sources of the Buphagus you will first come to
a place called Maratha, and next to Gortys, a village in our day but
formerly a town. There is there a temple of Æsculapius in Pentelican
marble, his statue has no beard, there is also a statue of Hygiea, both
statues are by Scopas. And the people of the place say that Alexander
the son of Philip offered his breastplate and spear to Æsculapius, in
my day the breastplate was still to be seen and the tip of the spear.
Gortys has a river called Lusius flowing by it, so called in the
neighbourhood from the tradition of Zeus being washed there after his
birth. But those who live at some distance call the river Gortynius
from the name of the village Gortys. This Gortynius is one of the
coldest of streams. The Ister, the Rhine, the Hypanis, the Borysthenes,
and other rivers that are congealed in winter, one might rightly call
in my opinion winter rivers: for they flow through country mostly lying
in snow, and the air in their neighbourhood is generally frosty. But
those rivers which flow in a temperate climate, and refresh men in
summer both in drinking and bathing, and in winter are not unpleasant,
these are the rivers which I should say furnish cold water. Cold is the
water of Cydnus that flows through the district of Tarsus, cold is the
water of Melas by Side in Pamphylia: while the coldness of the river
Ales near Colophon has been celebrated by elegiac poets. But Gortynius
is colder still especially in summer. It has its sources at Thisoa on
the borders of Methydrium, the place where it joins the Alpheus they
call Rhæteæ.
Near the district of Thisoa is a village called Teuthis, formerly a
town. In the war against Ilium it furnished a leader whose name was
Teuthis, or according to others Ornytus. But when the winds were
unfavourable to the Greeks at Aulis, and a contrary wind detained them
there some time, Teuthis had some quarrel with Agamemnon, and was going
to march back with his detachment of Arcadians. Then they say Athene
in the semblance of Melas the son of Ops tried to divert Teuthis from
his homeward march. But he in his boiling rage ran his spear into the
goddess’ thigh, and marched his army back from Aulis. And when he got
back home he thought the goddess shewed him her wounded thigh. And
from that time a wasting disease seized on Teuthis, and that was the
only part of Arcadia where the land produced no fruit. And some time
after several oracular responses were given from Dodona, shewing them
how to propitiate the goddess, and they made a statue of Athene with a
wound in her thigh. I have seen this statue with the thigh bound with
a purple bandage. In Teuthis there are also temples of Aphrodite and
Artemis. So much for Teuthis.
On the road from Gortys to Megalopolis is erected a monument to those
who fell in the battle against Cleomenes. This monument the people of
Megalopolis call the Treaty Violation, because Cleomenes violated the
treaty. Near this monument is a plain 60 stades in extent, and on the
right are the ruins of the town of Brenthe, and the river Brentheates
flows from thence, and joins the Alpheus about 5 stades further.