ἐκ Λέρνης δὲ ἰοῦσιν ἐς Τημένιον—τὸ δὲ Τημένιόν ἐστιν Ἀργείων, ὠνομάσθη δὲ ἀπὸ Τημένου τοῦ Ἀριστομάχου· καταλαβὼν γὰρ καὶ ἐχυρωσάμενος τὸ χωρίον ἐπολέμει σὺν τοῖς Δωριεῦσιν αὐτόθεν τὸν πρὸς Τισαμενὸν καὶ Ἀχαιοὺς πόλεμον—ἐς τοῦτο οὖν τὸ Τημένιον ἰοῦσιν ὅ τε Φρίξος ποταμὸς ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς θάλασσαν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν ἐν Τημενίῳ πεποίηται καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ἕτερον καὶ μνῆμά ἐστι Τημένου τιμὰς ἔχον παρὰ Δωριέων τῶν ἐν Ἄργει.
Τημενίου δὲ ἀπέχει Ναυπλία πεντήκοντα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν σταδίους, τὰ μὲν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔρημος, οἰκιστὴς δὲ ἐγένετο αὐτῆς Ναύπλιος Ποσειδῶνος λεγόμενος καὶ Ἀμυμώνης εἶναι. λείπεται δὲ καὶ τειχῶν ἔτι ἐρείπια, καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν καὶ λιμένες εἰσὶν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ καὶ πηγὴ Κάναθος καλουμένη· ἐνταῦθα τὴν Ἥραν φασὶν Ἀργεῖοι κατὰ ἔτος λουμένην παρθένον γίνεσθαι.
οὗτος μὲν δή σφισιν ἐκ τελετῆς, ἣν ἄγουσι τῇ Ἥρᾳ, λόγος τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἐστίν· τὰ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ λεγόμενα ἐς τὸν ὄνον, ὡς ἐπιφαγὼν ἀμπέλου κλῆμα ἀφθονώτερον ἐς τὸ μέλλον ἀπέφηνε τὸν καρπόν—καὶ ὄνος σφίσιν ἐν πέτρᾳ πεποιημένος διὰ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἅτε ἀμπέλων διδάξας τομήν—, παρίημι οὐκ ἀξιόλογα ἡγούμενος.
ἔστι δὲ ἐκ Λέρνης καὶ ἑτέρα παρʼ αὐτὴν ὁδὸς τὴν θάλασσαν ἐπὶ χωρίον ὃ Γενέσιον ὀνομάζουσι· πρὸς θαλάσσῃ δὲ τοῦ Γενεσίου Ποσειδῶνος ἱερόν ἐστιν οὐ μέγα. τούτου δʼ ἔχεται χωρίον ἄλλο Ἀπόβαθμοι· γῆς δὲ ἐνταῦθα πρῶτον τῆς Ἀργολίδος Δαναὸν σὺν ταῖς παισὶν ἀποβῆναι λέγουσιν. ἐντεῦθεν διελθοῦσιν Ἀνιγραῖα καλούμενα ὁδὸν καὶ στενὴν καὶ ἄλλως δύσβατον, ἔστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ μὲν καθήκουσα ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καὶ δένδρα—ἐλαίας μάλιστα—ἀγαθὴ τρέφειν γῆ, ἰόντι
δὲ ἄνω πρὸς τὴν ἤπειρον ἀπʼ αὐτῆς χωρίον ἐστίν, ἔνθα δὴ ἐμαχέσαντο ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς ταύτης λογάδες Ἀργείων τριακόσιοι πρὸς ἄνδρας Λακεδαιμονίων ἀριθμόν τε ἴσους καὶ ἐπιλέκτους ὁμοίως. ἀποθανόντων δὲ ἁπάντων πλὴν ἑνὸς Σπαρτιάτου καὶ δυοῖν Ἀργείων, τοῖς μὲν ἀποθανοῦσιν ἐχώσθησαν ἐνταῦθα οἱ τάφοι, τὴν χώραν δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι γενομένου πανδημεί σφισιν ἀγῶνος πρὸς Ἀργείους κρατήσαντες βεβαίως αὐτοί τε παραυτίκα ἐκαρποῦντο καὶ ὕστερον Αἰγινήταις ἔδοσαν ἐκπεσοῦσιν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἐκ τῆς νήσου. τὰ δὲ ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ τὴν Θυρεᾶτιν ἐνέμοντο Ἀργεῖοι· φασὶ δὲ ἀνασώσασθαι δίκῃ νικήσαντες.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν πολυανδρίων ἰόντι Ἀνθήνη τέ ἐστιν, ἣν Αἰγινῆταί ποτε ᾤκησαν, καὶ ἑτέρα κώμη Νηρίς, τρίτη δὲ Εὔα μεγίστη τῶν κωμῶν· καὶ ἱερὸν τοῦ Πολεμοκράτους ἐστὶν ἐν ταύτῃ. ὁ δὲ Πολεμοκράτης ἐστὶ καὶ οὗτος Μαχάονος υἱός, ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ἀλεξάνορος, καὶ ἰᾶται τοὺς ταύτῃ καὶ τιμὰς παρὰ τῶν προσοίκων ἔχει.
ἀνατείνει δὲ ὑπὲρ τὰς κώμας ὄρος Πάρνων, καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ πρὸς Ἀργείους ὅροι καὶ Τεγεάτας εἰσίν· ἑστήκασι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅροις Ἑρμαῖ λίθου, καὶ τοῦ χωρίου τὸ ὄνομά ἐστιν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν. ποταμὸς δὲ καλούμενος Τάναος—εἷς γὰρ δὴ οὗτος ἐκ τοῦ Πάρνωνος κάτεισι—ῥέων διὰ τῆς Ἀργείας ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς τὸν Θυρεάτην κόλπον.
On the way from Lerna to Temenium we pass the mouth of the River Phrixus. Temenium belongs to Argos, and was named after Temenus, the son of Aristomachus, because in the war with the Achaeans, under Tisamenus, the place was seized and fortified by Temenus and the Dorians, who used it as a base of operations. In Temenium there is a sanctuary of Poseidon, another of Aphrodite, and the tomb of Temenus, at which the Dorians of Argos pay their devotions.
From Temenium to Nauplia I judge the distance to be fifty furlongs. Nauplia is now uninhabited. Its founder was Nauplius, said to be a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Some remains of walls are still left, and there is a sanctuary of Poseidon, also harbours, and a spring called Canathus. The Argives say that every year Hera recovers her virginity by bathing in this spring. This story is a secret one and is borrowed from a mystery, which they celebrate in honour of Hera.
The people of Nauplia tell a tale about an ass, how, by browsing on a vine-shoot, it made the grapes more plentiful ever after; and therefore they have an ass carved on a rock, because that animal taught them to prune the vines. But the story is not worth repeating, so I omit it.
From Lerna another road runs by the seaside to a place which they name Genesium. Beside the sea is a small sanctuary of Genesian Poseidon. Adjoining Genesium is another place, named Apobathmi (‘landing- place’), where they say Danaus and his daughters first landed in Argolis. From here we pass through what is called Anigraea by a rough and narrow road, and come to a tract of country on the left, reaching down to the sea, where trees, especially olives, thrive well.
Going up inland . . . we reach a place where a battle was fought between three hundred picked Argives and as many picked Lacedaemonians for the possession of the district. All fell, save one Spartan and two Argives ; and the earth was heaped over the slain on this spot. But the Lacedaemonians took the field with their whole forces, and, gaining a decisive victory over the Argives, possessed themselves of the district. Afterwards they assigned it to the Aeginetans, who had been driven from their island by the Athenians. In my time Thyreatis belonged to the Argives, who say that they recovered it by the award of an arbitration.
Leaving the graves in which so many men are buried together, we come to Athene, once an Aeginetan settlement, and to another village, Neris, and to a third, Eva, the largest of all. In this last village there is a sanctuary of Polemocrates. Polemocrates is one of the sons of Machaon, and brother of Alexanor. He heals the people here and is worshipped by the neighbourhood.
Above the villages rises Mount Parnon. On it the Lacedaemonian boundary meets the boundaries of Argolis and Tegea. Stone images of Hermes stand on the frontier, and the place gets its name from them. A river called Tanaus flows through Argolis into the Gulf of Thyrea: it is the only stream that comes down from Mount Parnon.
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