ὀλίγον δὲ ἀπωτέρω Φαρῶν Ἀπόλλωνος ἄλσος ἐστὶ Καρνείου καὶ ὕδατος ἐν αὐτῷ πηγή· θαλάσσης δὲ ἕξ που στάδια ἀπέχουσιν αἱ Φαραί. ἐντεῦθεν πρὸς μεσόγαιαν τῆς Μεσσηνίας σταδίους προελθόντι ὀγδοήκοντα, ἔστιν ἡ Θουριατῶν πόλις, Ἄνθειαν δὲ αὐτὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ὠνομάσθαι τοῖς Ὁμήρου λέγουσι· Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ ἔχειν τοῖς ἐν Σπάρτῃ τὴν Θουρίαν ἔδωκεν Αὔγουστος. Αὐγούστῳ γὰρ βασιλεύοντι Ῥωμαίων ἐπολέμησεν Ἀντώνιος, γένει καὶ οὗτος Ῥωμαῖος· καί οἱ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἄλλοι τε καὶ οἱ Μεσσήνιοι προσέθεντο, ὅτι ἐφρόνουν Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὰ Αὐγούστου.
καὶ ὁ μὲν τούτων ἕνεκα Μεσσηνίοις καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀντιταξαμένων τοῖς μὲν αὐτῶν ἔλαττον, τοῖς δὲ καὶ ἐς πλέον ἐπεξῆλθε· Θουριᾶται δὲ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐν μετεώρῳ τὸ ἀρχαῖον οἰκουμένης ἐς τὸ πεδίον κατελθόντες οἰκοῦσιν. οὐ μὴν παντάπασί γε οὐδὲ τὴν ἄνω πόλιν ἐκλελοίπασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τείχους ἐρείπια καὶ ἱερόν ἐστιν αὐτόθι ὀνομαζόμενον θεοῦ Συρίας· τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ πόλιν ποταμὸς καλούμενος Ἄρις παρέξεισιν.
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ μεσογαίῳ κώμη Καλάμαι καὶ Λίμναι χωρίον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ Λιμνάτιδος ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδος, ἔνθα Τηλέκλῳ βασιλεύοντι ἐν Σπάρτῃ τὴν τελευτὴν συμβῆναι λέγουσιν.
ἰόντι δὲ ἐκ Θουρίας ὡς ἐπὶ Ἀρκαδίας εἰσὶν αἱ πηγαὶ τοῦ Παμίσου· καὶ ἐπʼ αὐταῖς παισὶ μικροῖς ἀκέσματα γίνεται. ἰοῦσι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ καὶ προελθόντι ὡς τεσσαράκοντα στάδια, ἔστι Μεσσηνίοις ἡ ὑπὸ τῇ Ἰθώμῃ πόλις· περιέχεται δὲ οὐ τῇ Ἰθώμῃ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Πάμισον τὰ τετραμμένα ὑπὸ τῆς Εὔας· τὸ δὲ ὄνομα γενέσθαι τῷ ὄρει φασὶ Βακχικόν τι ἐπίφθεγμα εὐοῖ Διονύσου πρῶτον ἐνταῦθα αὐτοῦ τε εἰπόντος καὶ τῶν ὁμοῦ τῷ Διονύσῳ γυναικῶν.
περὶ δὲ τὴν Μεσσήνην τεῖχος, κύκλος μὲν πᾶς λίθου πεποίηται, πύργοι δὲ καὶ ἐπάλξεις εἰσὶν ἐνῳκοδομημένοι. τὰ μὲν οὖν Βαβυλωνίων ἢ τὰ Μεμνόνεια τὰ ἐν Σούσοις τείχη τοῖς Περσικοῖς οὔτε εἶδον οὔτε ἄλλων περὶ αὐτῶν ἤκουσα αὐτοπτούντων· τὰ δὲ ἐν Ἀμβρόςςῳ τῇ Φωκικῇ ἔν τε Βυζαντίῳ καὶ Ῥόδῳ—ταῦτα γὰρ δὴ τετείχισται τὰ χωρία ἄριστα—τούτων Μεσσηνίοις ἐστὶν ἐχυρώτερον.
Μεσσηνίοις δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ Διός ἐστιν ἄγαλμα Σωτῆρος καὶ Ἀρσινόη κρήνη· τὸ μὲν δὴ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῆς Λευκίππου θυγατρὸς εἴληφεν, ὑπορρεῖ δὲ ἐς αὐτὴν ὕδωρ ἐκ πηγῆς καλουμένης Κλεψύδρας. θεῶν δὲ ἱερὰ Ποσειδῶνος, τὸ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης ἐστί· καὶ οὗ μάλιστα ἄξιον ποιήσασθαι μνήμην, ἄγαλμα Μητρὸς θεῶν λίθου Παρίου, Δαμοφῶντος δὲ ἔργον, ὃς καὶ τὸν Δία ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ διεστηκότος ἤδη τοῦ ἐλέφαντος συνήρμοσεν ἐς τὸ ἀκριβέστατον· καί οἱ δεδομέναι τιμαὶ παρὰ Ἠλείων εἰσί.
Δαμοφῶντος δέ ἐστι τούτου καὶ ἡ Λαφρία καλουμένη παρὰ Μεσσηνίοις· σέβεσθαι δέ σφισιν ἀπὸ τοιοῦδε αὐτὴν καθέστηκε. Καλυδωνίοις ἡ Ἄρτεμις—ταύτην γὰρ θεῶν μάλιστα ἔσεβον— ἐπίκλησιν εἶχε Λαφρία· Μεσσηνίων δὲ οἱ λαβόντες Ναύπακτον παρὰ Ἀθηναίων—τηνικαῦτα γὰρ Αἰτωλίας ἐγγύτατα ᾤκουν—παρὰ Καλυδωνίων ἔλαβον. τὸ σχῆμα ἑτέρωθι δηλώσω. τὸ μὲν δὴ τῆς Λαφρίας ἀφίκετο ὄνομα ἔς τε Μεσσηνίους καὶ ἐς Πατρεῖς Ἀχαιῶν μόνους, Ἐφεσίαν δὲ Ἄρτεμιν πόλεις τε νομίζουσιν αἱ
πᾶσαι καὶ ἄνδρες ἰδίᾳ θεῶν μάλιστα ἄγουσιν ἐν τιμῇ· τὰ δὲ αἴτια ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐστὶν Ἀμαζόνων τε κλέος, αἳ φήμην τὸ ἄγαλμα ἔχουσιν ἱδρύσασθαι, καὶ ὅτι ἐκ παλαιοτάτου τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο ἐποιήθη. τρία δὲ ἄλλα ἐπὶ τούτοις συνετέλεσεν ἐς δόξαν, μέγεθός τε τοῦ ναοῦ τὰ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κατασκευάσματα ὑπερηρκότος καὶ Ἐφεσίων τῆς πόλεως ἡ ἀκμὴ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ ἐπιφανὲς τῆς θεοῦ.
πεποίηται δὲ καὶ Εἰλειθυίας Μεσσηνίοις ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα λίθου, πλησίον δὲ Κουρήτων μέγαρον, ἔνθα ζῷα τὰ πάντα ὁμοίως καθαγίζουσιν· ἀρξάμενοι γὰρ ἀπὸ βοῶν τε καὶ αἰγῶν καταβαίνουσιν ἐς τοὺς ὄρνιθας ἀφιέντες ἐς τὴν φλόγα. καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν Μεσσηνίοις ἐστὶν ἅγιον καὶ Διοσκούρων ἀγάλματα φέροντες τὰς Λευκίππου· καί μοι καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς προτέροις ἐστὶν ἤδη δεδηλωμένα, ὡς οἱ Μεσσήνιοι τοὺς Τυνδάρεω παῖδας ἀμφισβητοῦσιν αὑτοῖς καὶ οὐ Λακεδαιμονίοις προσήκειν.
πλεῖστα δέ σφισι καὶ θέας μάλιστα ἀγάλματα ἄξια τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ παρέχεται τὸ ἱερόν· χωρὶς μὲν γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν παίδων ἐστὶν ἀγάλματα, χωρὶς δὲ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Μουσῶν καὶ Ἡρακλέους· πόλις τε ἡ Θηβαίων καὶ Ἐπαμινώνδας ὁ Κλεόμμιδος Τύχη τε καὶ Ἄρτεμις Φωσφόρος, τὰ μὲν δὴ τοῦ λίθου Δαμοφῶν αὐτοῖς εἰργάσατο—Μεσσήνιον δὲ ὅτι μὴ τοῦτον ἄλλον γε οὐδένα λόγου ποιήσαντα ἀξίως οἶδα ἀγάλματα—, ἡ δὲ εἰκὼν τοῦ Ἐπαμινώνδου ἐκ σιδήρου τέ ἐστι καὶ ἔργον ἄλλου, οὐ τούτου.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Μεσσήνης τῆς Τριόπα ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα χρυσοῦ καὶ λίθου Παρίου· γραφαὶ δὲ κατὰ τοῦ ναοῦ τὸ ὄπισθεν αἱ βασιλεύσαντές εἰσι Μεσσήνης, πρὶν μὲν ἢ στόλον ἀφικέσθαι τὸν Δωριέων ἐς Πελοπόννησον Ἀφαρεὺς καὶ οἱ παῖδες, κατελθόντων δὲ Ἡρακλειδῶν Κρεσφόντης ἐστίν, ἡγεμὼν καὶ οὗτος τοῦ Δωρικοῦ, τῶν δὲ οἰκησάντων ἐν Πύλῳ Νέστωρ καὶ Θρασυμήδης καὶ Ἀντίλοχος, προτετιμημένοι παίδων τῶν Νέστορος ἡλικίᾳ καὶ ἐπὶ Τροίαν μετεσχηκότες τῆς στρατείας.
Λεύκιππός τε Ἀφαρέως ἀδελφὸς καὶ Ἱλάειρά ἐστι καὶ Φοίβη, σὺν δέ σφισιν Ἀρσινόη. γέγραπται δὲ καὶ Ἀσκληπιός, Ἀρσινόης ὢν λόγῳ τῷ Μεσσηνίων, καὶ Μαχάων καὶ Ποδαλείριος, ὅτι ἔργου τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ καὶ τούτοις μέτεστι. ταύτας τὰς γραφὰς ἔγραψεν Ὀμφαλίων, Νικίου τοῦ Νικομήδους μαθητής· οἱ δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ δουλεῦσαι παρὰ τῷ Νικίᾳ καὶ παιδικὰ γενέσθαι φασὶν αὐτοῦ.
A little way from Pharae is a grove of Carnean Apollo and a spring of water in it. Pharae is about six furlongs from the sea.
Eighty furlongs inland from Pharae you come to Thuria: they say that Thuria is the town named Anthea in Homer. Augustus gave Thuria to the Lacedaemonians of Sparta. For Antony, a Roman, made war on Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, and amongst other Greeks the Messenians sided with Antony, because the Lacedaemonians adhered to Augustus. Therefore Augustus visited with various degrees of displeasure those who had sided against him. The old town of Thuria stood on a height : the present town is in the plain. However, the upper town is not entirely deserted: there are some remains of the town wall, and there is also a sanctuary of the Syrian goddess. The river Aris flows past the town which stands in the plain.
In the interior is a village Calamae, and a place Limnae (‘lakes’), in which there is a sanctuary of Artemis of the Lake (Limnatis), where they say that Teleclus, king of Sparta, met his end. Going from Thuria in the direction of Arcadia you come to the springs of the Pamisus: at these springs there are cures for little children.
Turning to the left from the springs, and going on about forty furlongs, you come to the city of the Messenians under Mount Ithome. It is enclosed not by Mount Ithome only; the part of it towards the Pamisus is enclosed also by Mount Eva. They say that this mountain got its name because Dionysus and the women with him first uttered here the Bacchic exclamation, Evoe. 5. Messene is surrounded by a wall, the whole circuit of which is built of stone, and there are towers and battlements on it. I have not seen the walls of Babylon, or the Memnonian walls at Susa in Persia, nor have I heard of them from people who have seen them; but Ambrosus in Phocis, Byzantium, and Rhodes are fortified in the best style, and yet the walls of Messene are stronger than theirs. In the market-place of Messene is an image of Saviour Zeus and a water-basin called Arsinoe, which takes its name from the daughter of Leucippus : water flows underground into it from a spring called Clepsydra. There is a sanctuary of Poseidon and another of Aphrodite. Most noteworthy of all is an image of the Mother of the Gods, in Parian marble, a work of Damophon, who, when the ivory in the image of Zeus at Olympia had cracked, fitted it together with the utmost accuracy: honours are paid to Damophon by the Eleans.
Damophon also made the Laphria, as it is called, at Messene. The Messenian worship of her arose as follows :—The Calydonians worship Artemis above all the gods, and surname her Laphria ; and from them the Messenians, who received Naupactus from the Athenians, and consequently dwelt close to Aetolia, borrowed the name. The form of the image I will describe elsewhere. The name of Laphria has reached only the Messenians and the Patreans of Achaia. But all cities recognise Ephesian Artemis, and some persons worship her privately above all the gods. The causes of this are, in my opinion, primarily two: first, the fame of the Amazons who are reputed to have set up the image ; and, second, the vast antiquity of the sanctuary. With these causes three others have co-operated to spread the renown of the Ephesian Artemis: the size of the temple, which is the largest building in the world, the prosperity of the city of Ephesus, and the distinction which the goddess there enjoys.
There is also a temple of Ilithyia at Messene with a stone image. Near it is a hall of the Curetes, where they sacrifice all animals alike: they begin with oxen and goats, and end with birds, throwing all of them into the flames. There is also a holy sanctuary of Demeter at Messene, and images of the Dioscuri carrying the daughters of Leucippus. I have shown above how the Messenians claim that the sons of Tyndareus belong to them and not to the Lacedaemonians.
But the images in the sanctuary of Aesculapius are at once the most numerous and the best worth seeing. For besides images of the god and his sons, and images of Apollo, the Muses, and Hercules, the sanctuary contains an image of the City of Thebes, a statue of Epaminondas, son of Cleommis, an image of Fortune, and one of Artemis, Bringer of Light. The marble images are the works of Damophon, the only Messenian sculptor of note that I know of. The statue of Epaminondas is of iron, and is the work of some other artist.
There is also a temple of Messene, daughter of Triopas, with an image of gold and Parian marble. At the back of the temple are paintings of the kings of Messene. First there are portraits of Aphareus and his sons, who reigned before the arrival of the Dorian expedition in Peloponnese. Next there are portraits of those who reigned after the return of the Heraclids, including a painting of Cresphontes, one of the leaders of the Dorians, and paintings of Nestor, Thrasymedes, and Antilochus, three members of the royal house that dwelt in Pylus, Thrasymedes and Antilochus being preferred to the other sons of Nestor on account of their age, and because they shared in the expedition against Troy. Leucippus, brother of Aphareus, is also painted, and Hilaira, Phoebe, and Arsinoe. There is also a painting of Aesculapius, who, according to the Messenians, was a son of Arsinoe ; and paintings of Machaon and Podalirius, because they also took part in the Trojan war. These paintings are by Omphalion, a pupil of Nicias, son of Nicomedes. Some say that he was also Nicias’s slave and favourite.
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