ἔστι δὲ τῆς στοᾶς ὀπίσω τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν λαφύρων τῶν ἐκ Κορκύρας Ἀφροδίτης ναός, τὸ δὲ ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τέμενος οὐ πολὺ ἀφεστηκὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ ναοῦ. καὶ τὴν μὲν ἐν τῷ ναῷ καλοῦσιν Οὐρανίαν, ἐλέφαντος δέ ἐστι καὶ χρυσοῦ, τέχνη Φειδίου, τῷ δὲ ἑτέρῳ ποδὶ ἐπὶ χελώνης βέβηκε· τῆς δὲ περιέχεται μὲν τὸ τέμενος θριγκῷ, κρηπὶς δὲ ἐντὸς τοῦ τεμένους πεποίηται καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ κρηπῖδι ἄγαλμα Ἀφροδίτης χαλκοῦν ἐπὶ τράγῳ κάθηται χαλκῷ· Σκόπα τοῦτο ἔργον, Ἀφροδίτην δὲ Πάνδημον ὀνομάζουσι. τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ χελώνῃ τε καὶ ἐς τὸν τράγον παρίημι τοῖς θέλουσιν εἰκάζειν.
ὁ δὲ ἱερὸς τοῦ Ἅιδου περίβολός τε καὶ ναός—ἔστι γὰρ δὴ Ἠλείοις καὶ Ἅιδου περίβολός τε καὶ ναός— ἀνοίγνυται μὲν ἅπαξ κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον, ἐσελθεῖν δὲ οὐδὲ τότε ἐφεῖται πέρα γε τοῦ ἱερωμένου. ἀνθρώπων δὲ ὧν ἴσμεν μόνοι τιμῶσιν Ἅιδην Ἠλεῖοι κατὰ αἰτίαν τήνδε. Ἡρακλεῖ στρατιὰν ἄγοντι ἐπὶ Πύλον τὴν ἐν τῇ Ἤλιδι, παρεῖναί οἱ καὶ Ἀθηνᾶν συνεργὸν λέγουσιν· ἀφικέσθαι οὖν καὶ Πυλίοις τὸν Ἅιδην συμμαχήσοντα τῇ ἀπεχθείᾳ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἔχοντα ἐν τῇ Πύλῳ τιμάς.
ἐπάγονται δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρον τῷ λόγῳ μάρτυρα ποιήσαντα ἐν Ἰλιάδι τλῆ δʼ Ἀίδης ἐν τοῖσι πελώριος ὠκὺν ὀιστόν, / εὖτέ μιν ωὐτὸς ἀνὴρ υἱὸς Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο / ἐν Πύλῳ ἐν νεκύεσσι βαλὼν ὀδύνῃσιν ἔδωκεν· / εἰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἀγαμέμνονος καὶ Μενελάου στρατείαν ἐπὶ Ἴλιον Ποσειδῶν τῷ Ὁμήρου λόγῳ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπίκουρος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἄπο τοῦ εἰκότος οὐδὲ Ἅιδην εἴη δόξῃ γε τοῦ αὐτοῦ ποιητοῦ Πυλίοις ἀμῦναι. Ἠλεῖοι δʼ οὖν ὡς σφίσι τε εὔνῳ καὶ ἀπεχθανομένῳ πρὸς τὸν Ἡρακλέα ἐποιήσαντο τὸ ἱερὸν τῷ θεῷ· ἑκάστου δὲ ἅπαξ ἀνοίγειν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ νομίζουσιν, ὅτι οἶμαι καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἅπαξ ἡ κάθοδος ἡ ἐς τοῦ Ἅιδου γίνεται.
τοῖς δὲ Ἠλείοις καὶ Τύχης ἐστὶν ἱερὸν· ἐν στοᾷ δὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ μεγέθει μέγα ἄγαλμα ἀνάκειται, ξόανον ἐπίχρυσον πλὴν προσώπου καὶ χειρῶν τε ἄκρων καὶ ποδῶν, ταῦτα δέ οἵ ἐστι λίθου λευκοῦ. ἐνταῦθα ἔχει τιμὰς καὶ ὁ Σωσίπολις ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς Τύχης, ἐν οἰκήματι οὐ μεγάλῳ· κατὰ δὲ ὄψιν ὀνείρατος γραφῇ μεμιμημένος ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, παῖς μὲν ἡλικίαν, ἀμπέχεται δὲ χλαμύδα ποικίλην ὑπὸ ἀστέρων, τῇ χειρὶ δὲ ἔχει τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τὸ κέρας τῆς Ἀμαλθείας.
καθότι δὲ Ἠλείων ἡ πόλις πληθύει μάλιστα ἀνθρώποις, κατὰ τοῦτο ἀνδριάς σφισιν ἀνδρὸς οὐ μείζων μεγάλου χαλκοῦς ἐστιν οὐκ ἔχων πω γένεια τόν τε ἕτερον τῶν ποδῶν ἐπιπλέκων τῷ ἑτέρῳ καὶ ταῖς χερσὶν ἀμφοτέραις ἐπὶ δόρατι ἠρεισμένος· ἐσθῆτα δὲ ἐρεᾶν αὐτῷ καὶ ἀπὸ λίνου τε καὶ βύσσου περιβάλλουσι.
τοῦτο τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐλέγετο εἶναι Ποσειδῶνος, ἔχειν δὲ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐπὶ Σαμικῷ τῷ ἐν τῇ Τριφυλίᾳ τιμάς· μετακομισθὲν δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἦλιν τιμῆς μὲν καὶ ἐς πλέον ἔτι ἥκει, Σατράπην δὲ καὶ οὐ Ποσειδῶνα ὄνομα αὐτῷ τίθενται, μετὰ τὴν Πατρέων προσοίκησιν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Σατράπου διδαχθέντες· Κορύβαντός τε ἐπίκλησις ὁ Σατράπης ἐστί.
Adjoining the market-place is an old temple with a colonnade all round it. The roof had fallen in, and there was no image left: it is consecrated to the Roman emperors.
Behind the colonnade which is constructed from the spoils of Corcyra there is a temple of Aphrodite, and a precinct in the open air, not far from the temple. The Aphrodite in the temple is called Heavenly: the image is of ivory and gold, a work of Phidias; the goddess stands with one foot on a tortoise. The precinct of the other Aphrodite is surrounded by a wall, and within the precinct is a basement, and on the basement is a bronze image of Aphrodite seated on a bronze he-goat. The group is a work of Scopas, and this Aphrodite is surnamed Vulgar. I leave the curious to guess the meaning of the tortoise and the he-goat.
The sacred close and temple of Hades (for he has both at Elis) are opened once a year, but even then no one is allowed to enter save the officiating priest. The Eleans are the only people we know of who worship Hades, and they do so for the following reason. They say that when Hercules was leading an army against Pylus in Elis, Athena was with him to help him, and therefore Hades, who was worshipped at Pylus, came to fight for the Pylians because of the hatred he bore to Hercules. In proof of their story they quote Homer, who says in the Iliad :— And among the rest huge Hades put up with a wound from a swift arrow, When the same man, son of aegis-holding Zeus, Hit him with a shaft in Pylus among the dead, and delivered him to pangs. If in the expedition of Agamemnon and Menelaus against Ilium, Poseidon, according to Homer, was an ally of the Greeks, it cannot seem unnatural that in the opinion of the same poet Hades should have stood by the Pylians. At all events the Eleans made the sanctuary for the god, accounting him a friend of their own and an enemy of Hercules. Their reason for opening the sanctuary only once a year is, I suppose, that men only once go down to the mansion of Hades.
The Eleans have also a sanctuary of Fortune. In a colonnade of the sanctuary stands a colossal image made of gilt wood, except the face, hands, and feet, which are of white marble. Here, too, Sosipolis (‘saviour of the city’) is worshipped in a small chapel on the left of Fortune. The god is painted as he appeared in a dream, namely, as a boy clad in a star-spangled robe, and holding in one hand the horn of Amalthea.
In the most crowded part of the city there is a bronze statue, not larger than a tall man: it represents a beardless youth with his feet crossed, and leaning with both hands on a spear. They clothe it in a garment of wool, another of linen, and another of fine linen. The image was said to represent Poseidon, and to have been worshipped of old at Samicum in Triphylia. After its removal to Elis it was honoured still more, but the Eleans give it the name of Satrap, and not Poseidon: they learned the name of Satrap (which is a surname of Corybas) after the extension of Patrae.
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