προελθόντι δὲ αὐτόθεν σταδίους εἴκοσι τοῦ Εὐρώτα τὸ ῥεῦμα ἐγγυτάτω τῆς ὁδοῦ γίνεται, καὶ Λάδα μνῆμά ἐστιν ὠκύτητι ὑπερβαλομένου ποδῶν τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ· καὶ δὴ καὶ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐστεφανοῦτο δολίχῳ κρατῶν, δοκεῖν δέ μοι κάμνων αὐτίκα μετὰ τὴν νίκην ἐκομίζετο, καὶ συμβάσης ἐνταῦθά οἱ τελευτῆς ὁ τάφος ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τὴν λεωφόρον. τὸν δὲ ὁμώνυμον τούτῳ, νίκην καὶ αὐτὸν Ὀλυμπίασι, πλὴν οὐ δολίχου, σταδίου δὲ ἀνελόμενον, Ἀχαιὸν ἐξ Αἰγίου φησὶν εἶναι τὰ ἐς τοὺς Ὀλυμπιονίκας Ἠλείων γράμματα.
προϊόντι δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν Πελλάναν Χαράκωμά ἐστιν ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο Πελλάνα πόλις τὸ ἀρχαῖον. Τυνδάρεων δὲ οἰκῆσαί φασιν ἐνταῦθα, ὅτε Ἱπποκόωντα καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἔφευγεν ἐκ Σπάρτης. θέας δὲ ἄξια αὐτόθι ἰδὼν Ἀσκληπιοῦ τε οἶδα ἱερὸν καὶ τὴν πηγὴν Πελλανίδα. ἐς ταύτην λέγουσιν ὑδρευομένην ἐσπεσεῖν παρθένον, ἀφανισθείσης δὲ τὸ κάλυμμα ἀναφανῆναι τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐν ἑτέρᾳ πηγῇ Λαγκίᾳ.
Πελλάνας δὲ ἑκατὸν στάδια ἀπέχει Βελεμίνα καλουμένη· τῆς δὲ χώρας τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἡ Βελεμίνα μάλιστα ἄρδεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἥντινα διοδεύει μὲν τοῦ Εὐρώτα τὸ ὕδωρ, παρέχεται δὲ ἀφθόνους καὶ αὐτὴ πηγάς.
ἐπὶ θάλασσαν δὲ ἐς Γύθιον καταβαίνοντί ἐστι Λακεδαιμονίοις κώμη καλουμένη Κροκέαι καὶ λιθοτομία· μία μὲν πέτρα συνεχὴς οὐ διήκουσα, λίθοι δὲ ὀρύσσονται σχῆμα τοῖς ποταμίοις ἐοικότες, ἄλλως μὲν δυσεργεῖς, ἢν δὲ ἐπεργασθῶσιν, ἐπικοσμήσαιεν ἂν καὶ θεῶν ἱερά, κολυμβήθραις δὲ καὶ ὕδασι συντελοῦσι μάλιστα ἐς κάλλος. θεῶν δὲ αὐτόθι πρὸ μὲν τῆς κώμης Διὸς Κροκεάτα λίθου πεποιημένον ἄγαλμα ἕστηκε, Διόσκουροι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λιθοτομίᾳ χαλκοῖ.
μετὰ δὲ Κροκέας ἀποτραπεῖσιν ἐς δεξιὰν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐς Γύθιον εὐθείας ἐπὶ πόλισμα ἥξεις Αἰγίας· Ὅμηρον δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι τὸ πόλισμα τοῦτο ὀνομάζειν λέγουσιν Αὐγειάς. ἐνταῦθα ἔστι μὲν λίμνη καλουμένη Ποσειδῶνος, ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λίμνῃ ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα τοῦ θεοῦ. τοὺς δὲ ἰχθῦς δεδοίκασιν ἐξαιρεῖν, τὸν θηρεύσαντα ἁλιέα γενέσθαι λέγοντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπου.
Γύθιον δὲ ἀπέχει μὲν σταδίους τριάκοντα Αἰγιῶν, ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ δὲ ᾠκισμένον ἔστιν ἤδη τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων, οὓς βασιλεὺς Αὔγουστος δουλείας ἀφῆκε Λακεδαιμονίων τῶν ἐν Σπάρτῃ κατηκόους ὄντας. θαλάσσῃ μὲν δὴ πλὴν τοῦ Κορινθίων ἰσθμοῦ περιέχεται πᾶσα ἡ Πελοπόννησος· κόχλους δὲ ἐς βαφὴν πορφύρας παρέχεται τὰ ἐπιθαλάσσια τῆς Λακωνικῆς ἐπιτηδειοτάτας μετά γε τὴν Φοινίκων θάλασσαν.
ἀριθμὸς δὲ τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων ὀκτὼ πόλεις καὶ δέκα εἰσί, πρώτη μὲν καταβᾶσιν ἐξ Αἰγιῶν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν Γύθιον, μετὰ δὲ αὐτὴν Τευθρώνη τε καὶ Λᾶς καὶ Πύρριχος, ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ δὲ Καινήπολις Οἴτυλός τε καὶ Λεῦκτρα καὶ Θαλάμαι, πρὸς δὲ Ἀλαγονία τε καὶ Γερηνία· τὰ δὲ ἐπέκεινα Γυθίου πρὸς θαλάσσῃ Ἀσωπὸς Ἀκριαὶ Βοιαὶ Ζάραξ Ἐπίδαυρος ἡ Λιμηρὰ Βρασιαὶ Γερόνθραι Μαριός. αὗται μὲν οὖν εἰσιν αἱ λοιπαὶ τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων ἀπὸ τεσσάρων ποτὲ καὶ εἴκοσι πόλεων· τὰς δὲ ἄλλας, ἐφʼ ἃς ἂν καὶ αὐτὰς ὁ λόγος ἐπέλθῃ δή μοι, συντελούσας ἴστω τις ἐς Σπάρτην καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς προλεχθεῖσιν αὐτονόμους.
Γυθεᾶται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδένα οἰκιστὴν γενέσθαι λέγουσιν, Ἡρακλέα δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα ὑπὲρ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐς ἀγῶνα ἐλθόντας, ὡς διηλλάγησαν, μετὰ τὴν ἔριν οἰκίσαι κοινῇ τὴν πόλιν· καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ σφισιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἡρακλέους ἐστὶν ἀγάλματα, πλησίον δὲ αὐτῶν Διόνυσος. ἑτέρωθι δὲ Ἀπόλλων Κάρνειος καὶ ἱερὸν Ἄμμωνος καὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμά ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐπόντος ὀρόφου τῷ ναῷ, καὶ πηγὴ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἅγιον καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἄγαλμα Γαιαόχου.
ὃν δὲ ὀνομάζουσι Γυθεᾶται Γέροντα, οἰκεῖν ἐν θαλάσσῃ φάμενοι, Νηρέα ὄντα εὕρισκον· καί σφισι τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου παρέσχεν ἀρχὴν Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐν Θέτιδος λόγοις· ὑμεῖς μὲν νῦν δῦτε θαλάσσης εὐρέα κόλπον, / ὀψόμεναί τε γέρονθʼ ἅλιον καὶ δώματα πατρός. / καλοῦνται δὲ ἐνταῦθα καὶ πύλαι Καστορίδες, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα Ἀθηνᾶς πεποίηται.
Twenty furlongs farther on the stream of the Eurotas approaches very near the road, and here is the tomb of Ladas, the fleetest runner of his day. He was crowned at Olympia for a victory in the long race; and being taken ill, I suppose, immediately after the victory, he was on his way home, but died here, and his grave is above the high road. His namesake, who also won a victory at Olympia, but in the short race, not the long, was a native of Aegium in Achaia, according to the Elean register of Olympic victors.
Farther on in the direction of Pellana is the Characoma (‘entrenchment’), as it is called ; and after it is Pellana, which was a city in days of old. They say that Tyndareus dwelt here when he fled from Sparta before Hippocoon and his sons. The objects of interest which I here observed were a sanctuary of Aesculapius and the Pellanian spring. They say that, drawing water at this spring, a girl fell into it and vanished ; but the hood that she wore on her head appeared in another spring called Lancea.
A hundred furlongs distant from Pellana is Belemina, the best watered place in Laconia ; for it is traversed by the river Eurotas, and is abundantly supplied with springs of its own.
Going down to the sea in the direction of Gythium, we come to the Lacedaemonian village of Croceae. The stone quarry is not one continuous mass of rock, but the stones are dug out in the shape of pebbles. They are hard to work, but once worked they might grace sanctuaries of the gods, and they are especially fitted to adorn swimming-baths and fountains. In front of the village stands a stone image of Croceatian Zeus, and at the quarry there are bronze images of the Dioscuri.
After Croceae, turning off to the right from the straight road to Gythium, you will come to the town of Aegiae : they say that this is the town which Homer names Augeae. Here is a lake called the Lake of Poseidon, and at the lake is a temple with an image of the god. But they fear to fish in the lake, for they say that he who catches fish in it is turned into the fish called the Fisher.
Gythium is thirty furlongs from Aegiae: it is built beside the sea, and now belongs to the Free Laconians, whom the Emperor Augustus released from the relation of serfdom in which they had stood to the Lacedaemonians of Sparta. The whole of Peloponnese, except the Isthmus of Corinth, is surrounded by sea; but the finest shell-fish for the manufacture of the purple dye, next to the shell-fish of the Phoenician Sea, are furnished by the coast of Laconia. The Free Laconians have eighteen cities. The first, which we reach by descending from Aegiae to the sea, is Gythium ; after it are Teuthrone and Las and Pyrrhichus; and on Taenarum are Caenepolis, Oetylus, Leuctra, Thalamae, also Alagonia and Gerenia. On the farther side of Gythium, on the sea-coast, are Asopus, Acriae, Boeae, Zarax, Epidaurus Limera, Brasiae, Geronthrae, Marius. These are all that are left out of what were once the four-and-twenty cities of the Free Laconians. The reader will please to remember that all the other cities mentioned by me in this book belong to Sparta, and are not, like the foregoing, independent.
The people of Gythium say that their city was founded by no mortal man, but that Hercules and Apollo, after contending for the possession of the tripod, and making it up again between them, jointly founded the city. In the market-place of Gythium there are images of Apollo and Hercules, and near them is an image of Dionysus. In another part of the town is Carnean Apollo, and a sanctuary of Ammon, and a bronze image of Aesculapius (the temple is roofless), and a spring of water belonging to the god, and a holy sanctuary of Demeter, and an image of Earth-holding Poseidon.
The people of Gythium talk of an Old Man who lives in the sea. I found that he was no other than Nereus. Their name for him was suggested by the passage in Homer's Iliad, where Thetis is speaking :— Go you now down into the sea’s broad bosom To see the old man of the sea and your father’s house. In Gythium there is a gate called the gate of Castor, and in the acropolis there is a temple of Athena with an image of the goddess.
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