Past Lycosura in a westerly direction flows the river Plataniston,
which everyone must cross who is going to Phigalia, after which an
ascent of 30 stades or a little more takes you to that town. How
Phigalus was the son of Lycaon, and how he was the original founder of
the town, and how in process of time the name of the town got changed
into Phialia from Phialus the son of Bucolion, and afterwards got back
its old name, all this I have entered into already. There are other
traditions not worthy of credit, as that Phigalus was an Autochthon
and not the son of Lycaon, and some say that Phigalia was one of the
Nymphs called Dryads. When the Lacedæmonians attacked Arcadia and
invaded Phigalia, they defeated the inhabitants in a battle and laid
siege to the town, and as the town was nearly taken by storm the
Phigalians evacuated it, or the Lacedæmonians allowed them to leave it
upon conditions of war. And the capture of Phigalia and the flight of
the Phigalians from it took place when Miltiades was chief magistrate
at Athens, in the 2nd year of the 30th Olympiad, in which Chionis
the Laconian was victor for the third time. And it seemed good to
those Phigalians who had escaped to go to Delphi, and inquire of the
god as to their return. And the Pythian Priestess told them that if
they tried by themselves to return to Phigalia she foresaw no hope of
their return, but if they took a hundred picked men from Oresthasium,
and they were slain in battle, the Phigalians would get their return
through them. And when the people of Oresthasium heard of the oracular
message given to the Phigalians, they vied with one another in zeal who
should be one of the 100 picked men, and participate in the expedition
to Phigalia. And they engaged with the Lacedæmonian garrison and
fulfilled the oracle completely: for they all died fighting bravely,
and drove out the Spartans, and put it in the power of the Phigalians
to recover their native town. Phigalia lies on a hill which is mostly
precipitous, and its walls are built on the rocks, but as you go up to
the town there is a gentle and easy ascent. And there is a temple of
Artemis the Preserver, and her statue in stone in an erect position.
From this temple they usually conduct the processions. And in the
gymnasium there is a statue of Hermes with a cloak on, which does not
cease at his feet but covers the whole square figure. There is also a
temple of Dionysus called Acratophorus by the people of the place, the
lower parts of the statue are not visible being covered by leaves of
laurel and ivy. And all the statue that can be seen is coloured with
vermilion so as to look very gay. The Iberes find this vermilion with
their gold.
[41] Iliad, xxi. 194-197.
[42] Iliad, xxiv. 615-617.