Μεσσηνίοις δὲ πρὸς τὴν σφετέραν τὴν ἀπονεμηθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐς τὸ Λακωνικὸν ὅροι κατὰ τὴν Γερηνίαν εἰσὶν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἡ ὀνομαζομένη Χοίριος νάπη. ταύτην τὴν χώραν ἔρημον οὖσαν οὕτω σχεῖν τοὺς πρώτους λέγουσιν οἰκήτορας· ἀποθανόντος Λέλεγος, ὃς ἐβασίλευεν ἐν τῇ νῦν Λακωνικῇ, τότε δὲ ἀπʼ ἐκείνου Λελεγίᾳ καλουμένῃ, Μύλης μὲν πρεσβύτερος ὢν τῶν παίδων ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν, Πολυκάων δὲ νεώτερός τε ἦν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ ἰδιώτης, ἐς ὃ Μεσσήνην τὴν Τριόπα τοῦ Φόρβαντος ἔλαβε γυναῖκα ἐξ Ἄργους.
φρονοῦσα δὲ ἡ Μεσσήνη διὰ τὸν πατέρα, ἀξιώματι καὶ δυνάμει τῶν τότε προέχοντα Ἑλλήνων, οὐκ ἠξίου τὸν ἄνδρα ἰδιωτεύειν. ἀθροίσαντες δὲ ἔκ τε Ἄργους δύναμιν καὶ ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ἀφίκοντο ἐς ταύτην τὴν χώραν, καὶ συμπάσῃ μὲν ἐτέθη τῇ γῇ Μεσσήνη τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῆς Πολυκάονος γυναικός, πόλεις δὲ ἄλλαι τε ἐκτίσθησαν καὶ—ἔνθα τὰ βασίλεια κατεσκευάσθη σφίσιν—Ἀνδανία.
πρὸ δὲ τῆς μάχης, ἣν Θηβαῖοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐμαχέσαντο ἐν Λεύκτροις, καὶ τοῦ οἰκισμοῦ Μεσσήνης τῆς ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τῇ Ἰθώμῃ, πόλιν οὐδεμίαν πω κληθῆναι πρότερον δοκῶ Μεσσήνην· εἰκάζω δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα Ὁμήρου τοῖς ἔπεσιν. ἐν μὲν γὰρ καταλόγῳ τῶν ἐς Ἴλιον ἀφικομένων Πύλον καὶ Ἀρήνην καὶ ἄλλας καταλέγων οὐδεμίαν πόλιν Μεσσήνην ἐκάλεσεν· ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ δὲ δηλοῖ μὲν καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἔθνος καὶ οὐ πόλιν τοὺς Μεσσηνίους ὄντας, μῆλα γὰρ ἐξ Ἰθάκης Μεσσήνιοι ἄνδρες ἄειραν, /
σαφέστερον δὲ ἔτι περὶ τοῦ τόξου λέγων τοῦ Ἰφίτου τὼ δʼ ἐν Μεσσήνῃ ξυμβλήτην ἀλλήλοιιν / οἴκῳ ἐν Ὀρτιλόχοιο. / τοῦ γὰρ Ὀρτιλόχου τὸν οἶκον ἐν τῇ Μεσσήνῃ πόλισμα εἴρηκε τὰς Φηράς, καὶ τόδε ἐξηγήσατο αὐτὸς ἐν Πεισιστράτου παρὰ Μενέλαον ἀποδημίᾳ· ἐς Φηρὰς δʼ ἵκοντο Διοκλῆος ποτὶ δῶμα, / υἱέος Ὀρτιλόχοιο. /
πρῶτοι δʼ οὖν βασιλεύουσιν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ταύτῃ Πολυκάων τε ὁ Λέλεγος καὶ Μεσσήνη γυνὴ τοῦ Πολυκάονος. παρὰ ταύτην τὴν Μεσσήνην τὰ ὄργια κομίζων τῶν Μεγάλων θεῶν Καύκων ἦλθεν ἐξ Ἐλευσῖνος ὁ Κελαινοῦ τοῦ Φλύου. Φλῦον δὲ αὐτὸν Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσι παῖδα εἶναι Γῆς· ὁμολογεῖ δέ σφισι καὶ ὕμνος Μουσαίου Λυκομίδαις ποιηθεὶς ἐς Δήμητρα.
τὴν δὲ τελετὴν τῶν Μεγάλων θεῶν Λύκος ὁ Πανδίονος πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ὕστερον Καύκωνος προήγαγεν ἐς πλέον τιμῆς· καὶ Λύκου δρυμὸν ἔτι ὀνομάζουσιν ἔνθα ἐκάθηρε τοὺς μύστας. καὶ ὅτι μὲν δρυμός ἐστιν ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ Λύκου καλούμενος, Ῥιανῷ τῷ Κρητί ἐστι πεποιημένον πάρ τε τρηχὺν Ἐλαιὸν ὑπὲρ δρυμόν τε Λύκοιο· /
ὡς δὲ ὁ Πανδίονος οὗτος ἦν Λύκος, δηλοῖ τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ εἰκόνι ἔπη τῇ Μεθάπου. μετεκόσμησε γὰρ καὶ Μέθαπος τῆς τελετῆς ἔστιν ἅ· ὁ δὲ Μέθαπος γένος μὲν ἦν Ἀθηναῖος, τελεστὴς δὲ καὶ ὀργίων παντοίων συνθέτης. οὗτος καὶ Θηβαίοις τῶν Καβείρων τὴν τελετὴν κατεστήσατο, ἀνέθηκε δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸ κλίσιον τὸ Λυκομιδῶν εἰκόνα ἔχουσαν ἐπίγραμμα ἄλλα τε λέγον καὶ ὅσα ἡμῖν ἐς πίστιν συντελεῖ τοῦ λόγου·
ἥγνισα δʼ Ἑρμείαο δόμους σεμνῆς τε κέλευθα / Δάματρος καὶ πρωτογόνου Κούρας, ὅθι φασὶ / Μεσσήνην θεῖναι Μεγάλαισι θεαῖσιν ἀγῶνα / Φλυάδεω κλεινοῖο γόνου Καυκωνιάδαο. / θαύμασα δʼ ὡς σύμπαντα Λύκος Πανδιόνιος φὼς / Ἀτθίδος ἱερὰ ἔργα παρʼ Ἀνδανίῃ θέτο κεδνῇ. /
τοῦτο τὸ ἐπίγραμμα δηλοῖ μὲν ὡς παρὰ τὴν Μεσσήνην ἀφίκοιτο ὁ Καύκων ἀπόγονος ὢν Φλύου, δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐς τὸν Λύκον τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὡς ἡ τελετὴ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἦν ἐν Ἀνδανίᾳ. καί μοι καὶ τοῦτο εἰκὸς ἐφαίνετο, τὴν Μεσσήνην μὴ ἑτέρωθι, ἀλλὰ ἔνθα αὐτή τε καὶ Πολυκάων ᾤκουν, καταστήσασθαι τὴν τελετήν.
THE boundary between Messenia and that portion of its territory which was severed from it by the emperor and assigned to Laconia is constituted at present, in the direction of Gerenia, by the glen called Choerius (‘Sow-dale’).
They say that the land was once uninhabited, and that it received its first inhabitants in the following manner. Lelex reigned in the country which is now called Laconia, but which was then called after him Lelegia. When he died his elder son Myles succeeded to the kingdom. Polycaon was a younger son, and therefore remained in a private station, till he married an Argive wife, Messene, daughter of Triopas, son of Phorbas. Now Messene was proud, for her father was more illustrious and powerful than any Greek of the day ; and she thought scorn that her husband should remain a private man. So they gathered together a host from Argos and Lacedaemon and came to this country, and the whole land was named Messene after the wife of Polycaon.
Cities, too, were founded, and amongst others Andania, where they built their palace. But before the battle of Leuctra, fought between the Thebans and Lacedaemonians, and before the foundation of the present city of Messene at the foot of Ithome, I think that no city was as yet called Messene. I gather this especially from Homer. For in the list of the men who went to Ilium, while enumerating Pylus, Arene, and other cities, he mentions no city called Messene. And in the following passage in the Odyssey he shows that the Messenians were a people and not a city :— For Messenian men carried off sheep from Ithaca. But still more clearly, in speaking of the bow of Iphitus :— And they two met each other in Messene In the house of Ortilochus, For by the house of Ortilochus in Messene, Homer meant the town of Pherae, and this he himself explains in the visit of Pisistratus to Menelaus :— And to Pherae they came, to the house of Diocleus, son of Ortilochus. 4. However that may be, the first who reigned in this country were Polycaon, son of Lelex, and his wife Messene. It was to this Messene that Caucon, son of Celaenus, son of Phlyus, brought the orgies of the Great Goddesses from Eleusis. The Athenians say that Phlyus himself was a son of Earth, and they are supported by the hymn which Musaeus composed on Demeter for the Lycomids. But many years after the time of Caucon the mysteries of the Great Goddesses were raised to higher honour by Lycus, son of Pandion ; and the place where he purified the initiated is still named the oak-coppice of Lycus. And that there is an oak-coppice in this country called the oak-coppice of Lycus is mentioned by the Cretan poet Rhianus :— Beside the rugged Elaeus, and above the oak-coppice of Lycus. 5. And that this Lycus was the son of Pandion is shown by the verses inscribed on the statue of Methapus. For Methapus also made some changes in the mode of celebrating the mysteries. Methapus was an Athenian by descent, and he was a deviser of mysteries and all sorts of orgies. It was he who instituted the mysteries of the Cabiri for the Thebans; and he also set up in the chapel of the Lycomids a statue inscribed with an epigram, which contains a passage confirming what I have said :— - And I purified houses of Hermes . . . ,and paths Of Demeter and of the first-born Maid, where they say That Messene instituted for the Great Goddesses a rite Which she learned from Caucon, illustrious scion of Phlyus, And I marvelled how Lycus, son of Pandion, Established all the sacred rites of Atthis in dear Andania, This epigram shows that Caucon, a descendant of Phlyus, came to the house of Messene, and in regard to Lycus it shows, amongst other things, that the mysteries were anciently celebrated in Andania. It is natural to suppose that Messene established the mysteries in the place where she and Polycaon dwelt rather than anywhere else.
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