ἐς δὲ τὴν κορυφὴν ἐρχομένῳ τῆς Ἰθώμης, ἣ δὴ Μεσσηνίοις ἐστὶν ἀκρόπολις, πηγὴ Κλεψύδρα γίνεται. πάντας μὲν οὖν καταριθμήσασθαι καὶ προθυμηθέντι ἄπορον, ὁπόσοι θέλουσι γενέσθαι καὶ τραφῆναι παρὰ σφίσι Δία· μέτεστι δʼ οὖν καὶ Μεσσηνίοις τοῦ λόγου· φασὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι τραφῆναι παρὰ σφίσι τὸν θεόν, Ἰθώμην δὲ εἶναι καὶ Νέδαν τὰς θρεψαμένας, κεκλῆσθαι δὲ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Νέδας τὸν ποταμόν, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν τῷ ὄρει τὴν Ἰθώμην δεδωκέναι τὸ ὄνομα. ταύτας δὲ τὰς νύμφας τὸν Δία, κλαπέντα ὑπὸ Κουρήτων διὰ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς δεῖμα, ἐνταῦθα λοῦσαι λέγουσι καὶ τὸ ὄνομα εἶναι τῷ ὕδατι ἀπὸ τῶν Κουρήτων τῆς κλοπῆς· φέρουσί τε ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν ὕδωρ ἀπὸ τῆς πηγῆς ἐς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Ἰθωμάτα τὸ ἱερόν.
τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Διὸς Ἀγελάδα μέν ἐστιν ἔργον, ἐποιήθη δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῖς οἰκήσασιν ἐν Ναυπάκτῳ Μεσσηνίων· ἱερεὺς δὲ αἱρετὸς κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον ἔχει τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας. ἄγουσι δὲ καὶ ἑορτὴν ἐπέτειον Ἰθωμαῖα, τὸ δὲ ἀρχαῖον καὶ ἀγῶνα ἐτίθεσαν μουσικῆς· τεκμαίρεσθαι δʼ ἔστιν ἄλλοις τε καὶ Εὐμήλου τοῖς ἔπεσιν, ἐποίησε γοῦν καὶ τάδε ἐν τῷ προσοδίῳ τῷ ἐς Δῆλον· τῷ γὰρ Ἰθωμάτα καταθύμιος ἔπλετο μοῖσα / ἁ καθαρὰν κιθάραν καὶ ἐλεύθερα σάμβαλʼ ἔχοισα. / οὐκοῦν ποιῆσαί μοι δοκεῖ τὰ ἔπη καὶ μουσικῆς ἀγῶνα ἐπιστάμενος τιθέντας.
ἰόντι δὲ τὴν ἐπʼ Ἀρκαδίας ἐς Μεγάλην πόλιν ἐστὶν ἐν ταῖς πύλαις Ἑρμῆς τέχνης τῆς Ἀττικῆς· Ἀθηναίων γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τὸ τετράγωνόν ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἑρμαῖς, καὶ παρὰ τούτων μεμαθήκασιν οἱ ἄλλοι. σταδίους δὲ καταβάντι ἀπὸ τῶν πυλῶν τριάκοντα τὸ ῥεῦμά ἐστι τῆς Βαλύρας. γενέσθαι δὲ τὸ ὄνομα τῷ ποταμῷ λέγουσι Θαμύριδος τὴν λύραν ἐνταῦθα ἀποβαλόντος ἐπὶ τῇ πηρώσει· παῖδα δὲ αὐτὸν Φιλάμμωνος καὶ Ἀργιόπης τῆς νύμφης εἶναι. τὴν δὲ Ἀργιόπην τέως μὲν περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν οἰκεῖν, ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶχεν ἐν γαστρί, ἐς Ὀδρύσας λέγουσι μετοικῆσαι· Φιλάμμωνα γὰρ οὐκ ἐθέλειν ἐς τὸν οἶκον αὐτὴν ἄγεσθαι. καὶ Θάμυριν μὲν Ὀδρύσην τε καὶ Θρᾷκα ἐπὶ τούτῳ καλοῦσιν· ἡ δὲ Λευκασία καὶ Ἄμφιτος συμβάλλουσιν ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ τὰ ῥεύματα.
διαβάντι δὲ τούτους πεδίον ἐστὶν ὀνομαζόμενον Στενυκληρικόν· εἶναι δὲ ἥρωα Στενύκληρον λέγουσι. τοῦ πεδίου δέ ἐστιν ἀπαντικρὺ καλουμένη τὸ ἀρχαῖον Οἰχαλία, τὸ δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν Καρνάσιον ἄλσος, κυπαρίσσων μάλιστα πλῆρες. θεῶν δὲ ἀγάλματα Ἀπόλλωνός ἐστι Καρνείου καὶ Ἁγνῆς καὶ Ἑρμῆς φέρων κριόν. ἡ δὲ Ἁγνὴ Κόρης τῆς Δήμητρός ἐστιν ἐπίκλησις· ὕδωρ δὲ ἄνεισιν ἐκ πηγῆς παρʼ αὐτὸ τὸ ἄγαλμα.
τὰ δὲ ἐς τὰς θεὰς τὰς Μεγάλας—δρῶσι γὰρ καὶ ταύταις ἐν Καρνασίῳ τὴν τελετήν—ἀπόρρητα ἔστω μοι· δεύτερα γάρ σφισι νέμω σεμνότητος μετά γε Ἐλευσίνια. ὅτι δʼ ὑδρία τε ἡ χαλκῆ, τὸ εὕρημα τοῦ Ἀργείου στρατηγοῦ, καὶ Εὐρύτου τοῦ Μελανέως τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐφυλάσσετο ἐνταῦθα, δηλῶσαί με καὶ ἐς ἅπαντας οὐκ ἀπεῖργε τὸ ὄνειρον. ῥεῖ δὲ ποταμὸς παρὰ τὸ Καρνάσιον Χάραδρος, καὶ προελθόντι ἐν ἀριστερᾷ σταδίους ὀκτὼ
μάλιστα ἐρείπιά ἐστιν Ἀνδανίας. καὶ ὅτι μὲν τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ γυναικὸς γέγονεν Ἀνδανίας, ὁμολογεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν· οὐ μὴν τά γε ἐς τοὺς γονέας αὐτῆς οὐδὲ τῷ συνῴκησεν ἔχω λέγειν. ἰόντων δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ Κυπαρισσιὰς ἀπὸ Ἀνδανίας Πολίχνη τέ ἐστι καλουμένη καὶ ποταμὸς Ἠλέκτρα καὶ Κοῖος ῥέουσι· τάχα δʼ ἄν τινα καὶ λόγον ἐς Ἠλέκτραν τὴν Ἄτλαντος λέγοιεν καὶ ἐς Κοῖον τὸν Λητοῦς πατέρα, ἢ καὶ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἡρώων εἶεν Ἠλέκτρα τε καὶ Κοῖος.
διαβάντων δὲ Ἠλέκτραν Ἀχαΐα τε ὀνομαζομένη πηγὴ καὶ πόλεώς ἐστιν ἐρείπια Δωρίου. πεποίηκε δὲ Ὅμηρος μὲν Θαμύριδι ἐνταῦθα ἐν τῷ Δωρίῳ γενέσθαι τὴν συμφοράν, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὰς Μούσας νικήσειν ἔφασκεν ᾀδούσας· Πρόδικος δὲ Φωκαεὺς—εἰ δὴ τούτου τὰ ἐς τὴν Μινυάδα ἔπη—προσκεῖσθαί φησι Θαμύριδι ἐν Ἅιδου δίκην τοῦ ἐς τὰς Μούσας αὐχήματος. διεφθάρη δὲ ὁ Θάμυρις ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ὑπὸ νόσου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ συνέπεσεν ὕστερον· ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν καὶ ἐς ἅπαν διετέλει ποιῶν, οὐ γάρ τι εἶκε τῇ συμφορᾷ, Θάμυρις δὲ καὶ τὴν ᾠδὴν ὑπὸ κακοῦ τοῦ παρόντος ἐξέλιπεν.
On the way to the summit of Ithome, where is the acropolis of Messene, there is a spring called Clepsydra.
To enumerate all the peoples who claim that Zeus was born and brought up among them would be impracticable even if the attempt were seriously made. But, however that may be, the Messenians are one of the peoples who advance the claim; for they say that the god was brought up amongst them, and that the women who brought him up were Ithome and Neda; Neda, so they say, gave her name to the river, and Ithome gave hers to the mountain. They relate that when Zeus was stolen by the Curetes for fear of his father, these nymphs washed him here, and that the water has its name from the theft which the Curetes committed (Clepsydra, ‘stolen water’). Every day they carry water from the spring to the sanctuary of Zeus of Ithome.
The image of Zeus is a work of Ageladas, and was originally made for the Messenians of Naupactus. A priest annually chosen keeps the image in his house. They also celebrate an annual festival called Ithomaea. Anciently they also held a musical competition. This may be inferred from the verses of Eumelus, amongst other evidence. For Eumelus in the hymn for the procession at Delos writes as follows :— To the god of Ithome was acceptable the muse That hath clean and free sandals. In writing these verses he seems to be aware that they held a musical competition also.
Following the Arcadian road that leads to Megalopolis, you see at the gate a Hermes of Attic workmanship. For the use of square-shaped images of Hermes is Athenian, and from Athens the usage has passed to the rest of the world. Going down thirty furlongs from the gate you come to the stream of the Balyra. They say that the river got its name because here Thamyris threw away (apobalein) his lyre when he lost his sight: he was the son (they say) of Philammon and the nymph Argiope. They say that Argiope had previously dwelt at Parnassus, but that when she was with child she removed to the land of the Odrysians; for Philammon would not take her into his house. Therefore they call Thamyris an Odrysian and a Thracian. The Leucasia and the Amphitus unite their streams in one.
Crossing them you come to a plain named the Stenyclerian plain: they say there was a hero Stenyclerus. Opposite the plain is what was anciently called Oechalia, but is now called the Carnasian grove: it is mostly filled with cypresses. There is an image of Carnean Apollo, and another of Hermes carrying a ram. Hagne (‘holy’) is a surname of the Maid, the daughter of Demeter: a spring of water rises beside her image. With regard to the rites of the Great Goddesses (for their mysteries are celebrated in the Carnasian grove) I am resolved to be silent; for in point of sanctity I regard them as second only to the Eleusinian mysteries. However, my dream did not debar me from proclaiming to all and sundry that in the Carnasian grove were preserved the bronze urn found by the Argive general and the bones of Eurytus, son of Melaneus.
Past the Carnasian grove flows a river, the Charadrus ; and going on towards the left for just eight furlongs you reach the ruins of Andania. The guides agree that the city got its name from a woman Andania; but I am not able to say who her parents were or whom she married. Going from Andania, in the direction of Cyparissiae, we come to Polichna as it is called, and to the rivers Electra and Coeus. The names may refer to Electra, daughter of Atlas, and Coeus, father of Latona; or perhaps Electra and Coeus may be local heroes.
Having crossed the Electra we come to a spring named Achaia, and to the ruins of a city called Dorium. According to Homer, it was here in Dorium that Thamyris met with his misfortune for asserting that he would vanquish the Muses themselves in singing. But Prodicus the Phocaean (if the epic poem called the Minyad is really by him) says that Thamyris is punished in hell for his boastfulness touching the Muses. But my opinion is that Thamyris lost the sight of his eyes by disease. The same thing happened to Homer afterwards. But whereas Homer bore up against his misfortune and continued to compose poetry to the last, Thamyris yielded to the pressure of his haunting calamity and sang no more.
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