τὰ δὲ ἐπίλοιπα ἡμῖν τοῦ Ἀρκαδικοῦ λόγου ἔστιν ἐκ Μεγάλης πόλεως ἐς Παλλάντιον ὁδὸς καὶ ἐς Τεγέαν, ἄγουσα αὕτη μέχρι τοῦ καλουμένου Χώματος. κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ὁδὸν Λαδόκειά σφισιν ὠνόμασται τὰ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως ἀπὸ Λαδόκου τοῦ Ἐχέμου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Αἱμονιαὶ πόλις ἦσαν τὸ ἀρχαῖον· οἰκιστὴς δὲ Αἵμων ἐγένετο αὐταῖς ὁ Λυκάονος, διαμεμένηκε δὲ καὶ ἐς τόδε Αἱμονιὰς τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο ὀνομάζεσθαι.
μετὰ δὲ Αἱμονιὰς ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ πόλεώς ἐστιν Ὀρεσθασίου καὶ ἄλλα ὑπολειπόμενα ἐς μνήμην καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος ἱεροῦ κίονες ἔτι· ἐπίκλησις δὲ Ἱέρεια τῇ Ἀρτέμιδί ἐστι. τὴν δὲ εὐθεῖαν ἰόντι ἐξ Αἱμονιῶν Ἀφροδίσιόν τέ ἐστιν ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ μετʼ αὐτὸ ἄλλο χωρίον τὸ Ἀθήναιον· τούτου δὲ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐν αὐτῷ λίθου.
τοῦ Ἀθηναίου δὲ μάλιστα εἴκοσιν ἀπωτέρω σταδίοις ἐρείπια Ἀσέας ἐστί, καὶ ὁ λόφος ἀκρόπολις τότε οὖσα τείχους σημεῖα ἔχει καὶ ἐς τόδε. σταδίους δὲ ὅσον πέντε ἀπὸ Ἀσέας τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ μὲν ὀλίγον ἄπο τῆς ὁδοῦ, τοῦ δὲ Εὐρώτα παρʼ αὐτήν ἐστιν ἡ πηγὴ τὴν ὁδόν· πρός τε τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ τῇ πηγῇ ναός τε Μητρὸς θεῶν ἐστιν οὐκ ἔχων ὄροφον καὶ λέοντες λίθου δύο πεποιημένοι.
τοῦ δὲ Εὐρώτα τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνακεράννυταί τε πρὸς τὸν Ἀλφειὸν καὶ ὅσον ἐπὶ εἴκοσι σταδίους κοινῷ προΐασι τῷ ῥεύματι· κατελθόντες δὲ ἐς χάσμα ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἄνεισιν αὖθις ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ Λακεδαιμονίων ὁ Εὐρώτας, ὁ δὲ Ἀλφειὸς ἐν Πηγαῖς τῆς Μεγαλοπολίτιδος. ἔστι δὲ ἄνοδος ἐξ Ἀσέας ἐς τὸ ὄρος τὸ Βόρειον καλούμενον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ ὄρους σημεῖά ἐστιν ἱεροῦ· ποιῆσαι δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν Ἀθηνᾷ τε Σωτείρᾳ καὶ Ποσειδῶνι Ὀδυσσέα ἐλέγετο ἀνακομισθέντα ἐξ Ἰλίου.
τὸ δὲ ὀνομαζόμενον Χῶμα ὅροι Μεγαλοπολίταις τῆς γῆς πρὸς Τεγεάτας καὶ Παλλαντιεῖς εἰσι· καὶ τὸ Παλλαντικὸν πεδίον ἐστὶν ἐκτραπεῖσιν ἐς ἀριστερὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ Χώματος. ἐν δὲ Παλλαντίῳ ναός τε καὶ ἀγάλματα λίθου Πάλλαντος, τὸ δὲ ἕτερόν ἐστιν Εὐάνδρου· καὶ Κόρης τε τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερὸν καὶ οὐ πολὺ ἀπωτέρω Πολυβίου σφίσιν ἀνδριάς ἐστι. τῷ λόφῳ δὲ τῷ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ὅσα ἀκροπόλει τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐχρῶντο· λείπεται δὲ καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἐπὶ κορυφῇ τοῦ λόφου θεῶν ἱερόν.
ἐπίκλησις μὲν δή ἐστιν αὐτοῖς Καθαροί, περὶ μεγίστων δὲ αὐτόθι καθεστήκασιν οἱ ὅρκοι· καὶ ὀνόματα μὲν τῶν θεῶν οὐκ ἴσασιν ἢ καὶ εἰδότες οὐ θέλουσιν ἐξαγορεύειν, Καθαροὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τοιῷδε ἄν τις κληθῆναι τεκμαίροιτο, ὅτι αὐτοῖς οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὁ Πάλλας ἔθυσε καθὰ καὶ ὁ πατήρ οἱ τῷ Λυκαίῳ Διί.
τοῦ δὲ καλουμένου Χώματος ἐν δεξιᾷ πεδίον ἐστὶ τὸ Μανθουρικόν· ἔστι δὲ ἐν ὅροις ἤδη Τεγεατῶν τὸ πεδίον, ὂν σταδίων που πεντήκοντα μάλιστα ἄχρι Τεγέας. ἔστι δὲ ὄρος οὐ μέγα ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ καλούμενον Κρήσιον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀφνειοῦ πεποίηται. Ἀερόπῃ γὰρ Κηφέως τοῦ Ἀλέου συνεγένετο Ἄρης, καθὰ οἱ Τεγεᾶται λέγουσι· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀφίησιν ἐν ταῖς ὠδῖσι τὴν ψυχήν, ὁ δὲ παῖς καὶ τεθνηκυίας
εἴχετο ἔτι τῆς μητρὸς καὶ ἐκ τῶν μαστῶν εἷλκεν αὐτῆς γάλα πολὺ καὶ ἄφθονον, καὶ—ἦν γὰρ τοῦ Ἄρεως γνώμῃ τὰ γινόμενα—τούτων ἕνεκα Ἀφνειὸν τὸν θεὸν ὀνομάζουσι· τῷ δὲ παιδίῳ ὄνομα τεθῆναί φασιν Ἀέροπον. ἔστι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐς Τεγέαν ὁδὸν Λευκώνιος καλουμένη κρήνη· θυγατέρα δὲ Ἀφείδαντος λέγουσιν εἶναι τὴν Λευκώνην, καὶ οὐ πόρρω τοῦ Τεγεατῶν οἱ ἄστεως μνῆμά ἐστιν.
To complete my account of Arcadia, I have to describe the road from Megalopolis to Pallantium and Tegea, the same road which leads to the so-called Dyke. On this road there is the suburb of Ladocea, named after Ladocus, son of Echemus.
After it there was of old a city called Haemoniae: its founder was Haemon, son of Lycaon: the place has retained the name of Haemoniae to this day. After Haemoniae there are on the right of the road some notable remains of the city of Oresthasium, including columns of a sanctuary of Artemis, who is here surnamed Priestess. Keeping the straight road from Haemoniae you come to a place called Aphrodisium, and after it to another place Athenaeum. On the left of the latter is a temple of Athena with a stone image in it. Just twenty furlongs from Athenaeum are ruins of Asea: on the hill, which was then the acropolis, there are still vestiges of the wall.
About five furlongs from Asea are the sources of the Alpheus and Eurotas: the source of the Alpheus is a little way from the road, the source of the Eurotas is just beside the road. At the source of the Alpheus there is a roofless temple of the Mother of the Gods, and two lions made of stone. The water of the Eurotas mingles with the Alpheus, and the two streams flow together for about twenty furlongs ; then they descend into a chasm and come up again, the Eurotas in the land of Lacedaemon, and the Alpheus at Pegae in the district of Megalopolis.
From Asea there is a way up Mount Boreus. On the top of the mountain are traces of a sanctuary: it is said that Ulysses made the sanctuary in honour of Saviour Athena and Poseidon after his return from Ilium. What is called the Dyke forms the boundary between the territory of Megalopolis on the one side and the territories of Tegea and Pallantium on the other. The plain of Pallantium is reached by turning off to the left from the Dyke.
In Pallantium there is a temple with two images of stone; one represents Pallas, and the other Evander. And there is a sanctuary of the Maid, the daughter of Demeter, and not far off is a statue of Polybius. The hill above the city was formerly used as an acropolis: on the top of the hill there remains to this day a sanctuary of certain gods. Their surname is Pure, and here it is customary to take the most solemn oaths. The people either do not know or will not divulge the names of these gods. We may conjecture that they were called Pure because Pallas did not sacrifice to them in the same way that his father sacrificed to Lycaean Zeus. 6. On the right of the Dyke is the Manthuric plain. The plain is on the borders of the Tegean territory, and extends for just about fifty furlongs as far as Tegea. There is a small mountain on the right of the road called Mount Cresius: on it stands the sanctuary of Aphneus. According to the Tegeans, Ares loved Aerope, daughter of Cepheus, who was the son of Aleus: she expired in childbed, but the babe clung to his dead mother, and sucked abundance of milk from her breasts. Now this happened by the will of Ares, therefore they name the god Aphneus (‘abundant’); but the name given to the child, they say, was Aeropus.
On the road to Tegea there is a fountain called the Leuconian fountain. They say that Leucone was a daughter of Aphidas, and her tomb is not far from the city of Tegea.
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