τῶν δʼ ἀπογόνων τοῦ Δαναοῦ διαδεξαμένων τὴν ἐν Ἄργει δυναστείαν, ἐπιμιχθέντων δὲ τούτοις τῶν Ἀμυθαονιδῶν ὡρμημένων ἐκ τῆς Πισάτιδος καὶ τῆς Τριφυλίας, οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειέ τις εἰ συγγενεῖς ὄντες οὕτω διείλοντο τὴν χώραν εἰς δύο βασιλείας τὸ πρῶτον, ὥστε τὰς ἡγεμονευούσας ἐν αὐταῖς δύο πόλεις ἀποδειχθῆναι πλησίον ἀλλήλων ἱδρυμένας ἐν ἐλάττοσιν ἢ πεντήκοντα σταδίοις, τό τε Ἄργος καὶ τὰς Μυκήνας, καὶ τὸ Ἡραῖον εἶναι κοινὸν ἱερὸν τὸ πρὸς ταῖς Μυκήναις ἀμφοῖν, ἐν ᾧ τὰ Πολυκλείτου ξόανα τῇ μὲν τέχνῃ κάλλιστα τῶν πάντων πολυτελείᾳ δὲ καὶ μεγέθει τῶν Φειδίου λειπόμενα. κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν οὖν τὸ Ἄργος ἐπεκράτει μᾶλλον, εἶθʼ αἱ Μυκῆναι μείζονα ἐπίδοσιν λαβοῦσαι διὰ τὴν τῶν Πελοπιδῶν εἰς αὐτὰς μεθίδρυσιν· περιστάντων γὰρ εἰς τοὺς Ἀτρέως παῖδας ἁπάντων, Ἀγαμέμνων ὢν πρεσβύτερος παραλαβὼν τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἅμα τύχῃ τε καὶ ἀρετῇ πρὸς τοῖς οὖσι πολλὴν προσεκτήσατο τῆς χώρας, καὶ δὴ καὶ τὴν Ἀργολικὴν τῇ Μυκηναίᾳ προσέθηκε. Μενέλαος μὲν δὴ τὴν Λακωνικὴν ἔσχε, Μυκήνας δὲ καὶ τὰ μέχρι Κορίνθου καὶ Σικυῶνος καὶ τῆς Ἰώνων μὲν τότε καὶ Αἰγιαλέων καλουμένης Ἀχαιῶν δὲ ὕστερον Ἀγαμέμνων παρέλαβε. μετὰ δὲ τὰ Τρωικὰ τῆς Ἀγαμέμνονος ἀρχῆς καταλυθείσης ταπεινωθῆναι Μυκήνας καὶ μάλιστα μετὰ τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον. κατασχόντες γὰρ οὗτοι τὴν Πελοπόννησον ἐξέβαλον τοὺς πρότερον κρατοῦντας ὥσθʼ οἱ τὸ Ἄργος ἔχοντες εἶχον καὶ τὰς Μυκήνας συντελούσας εἰς ἕν· χρόνοις δʼ ὕστερον κατεσκάφησαν ὑπʼ Ἀργείων ὥστε νῦν μηδʼ ἴχνος εὑρίσκεσθαι τῆς Μυκηναίων πόλεως. ὅπου δὲ Μυκῆναι τοιαῦτα πεπόνθασιν, οὐ δεῖ θαυμάζειν οὐδʼ εἴ τινες τῶν ὑπὸ τῷ Ἄργει καταλεγομένων ἀφανεῖς νῦν εἰσιν. ὁ μὲν δὴ κατάλογος ἔχει οὕτως οἳ δʼ Ἄργος τʼ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε τειχιόεσσαν / Ἑρμιόνην τʼ Ἀσίνην τε, ν κατὰ κόλπον ἐχούσας, / Τροιζῆνʼ Ἠιόνας τε καὶ ἀμπελόεντʼ Ἐπίδαυρον, / οἵ τʼ ἔχον Αἴγιναν Μάσητά τε, κοῦροι Ἀχαιῶν. / τούτων δὲ περὶ μὲν τοῦ Ἄργους εἴρηται, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων λεκτέον.
After the descendants of Danaus had succeeded to the sovereignty at Argos, and the Amythaonidae, who came from Pisatis and Triphylia, were intermixed with them by marriages, it is not surprising that, being allied to one another, they at first divided the country into two kingdoms, in such a manner that the two cities, the intended capitals, Argos and Mycenae, were not distant from each other more than 50 stadia, and that the Heraeum at Mycenae should be a temple common to both. In this temple were the statues the workmanship of Polycletus. In display of art they surpassed all others, but in magnitude and cost they were inferior to those of Pheidias.
At first Argos was the most powerful of the two cities. Afterwards Mycenae received a great increase of inhabitants in consequence of the migration thither of the Pelopidae. For when everything had fallen under the power of the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon, the elder, assumed the sovereign authority, and by good fortune and valour annexed to his possessions a large tract of country. He also added the Laconian to the Mycenaean district. Menelaus had Laconia, and Agamemnon Mycenae, and the country as far as Corinth, and Sicyon, and the territory which was then said to be the country of Iones and Aegialians, and afterwards of Achaei.
After the Trojan war, when the dominion of Agamemnon was at an end, the declension of Mycenae ensued, and particularly after the return of the Heracleidae. For when these people got possession of Peloponnesus, they expelled its former masters, so that they who had Argos possessed Mycenae likewise, as composing one body. In subsequent times Mycenae was razed by the Argives, so that at present not even a trace is to be discovered of the city of the Mycenaeans. If Mycenae experienced this fate, it is not surprising that some of the cities mentioned in the Catalogue of the Ships, and said to be subject to Argos, have disappeared. These are the words of the Catalogue: They who occupied Argos, and Tiryns, with strong walls, and Hermione, and Asine situated on a deep bay, and Eïones, and Epidaurus with its vines, and the valiant Achaean youths who occupied Aegina, and Mases. Among these we have already spoken of Argos; we must now speak of the rest.
τῇ μὲν οὖν Τίρυνθι ὁρμητηρίῳ χρήσασθαι δοκεῖ Προῖτος καὶ τειχίσαι διὰ Κυκλώπων, οὓς ἑπτὰ μὲν εἶναι καλεῖσθαι δὲ γαστερόχειρας τρεφομένους ἐκ τῆς τέχνης, ἥκειν δὲ μεταπέμπτους ἐκ Λυκίας· καὶ ἴσως τὰ σπήλαια τὰ περὶ τὴν Ναυπλίαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔργα τούτων ἐπώνυμά ἐστιν. ἡ δὲ ἀκρόπολις Λίκυμνα ἐπώνυμος Λικυμνίου, διέχει δὲ τῆς Ναυπλίας περὶ δώδεκα σταδίους· ἔρημος δʼ ἐστὶ κἀκείνη καὶ ἡ πλησίον Μιδέα, ἑτέρα οὖσα τῆς Βοιωτικῆς· ἐκείνη γὰρ ἔστι Μίδεια ὡς πρόνοια, αὕτη δὲ Μιδέα ὡς Τεγέα· ταύτῃ δʼ ὅμορος Πρόσυμνα […] αὕτη ἱερὸν ἔχουσα Ἥρας· ἠρήμωσαν δὲ τὰς πλείστας οἱ Ἀργεῖοι ἀπειθούσας. οἱ δʼ οἰκήτορες οἱ μὲν ἐκ Τίρυνθος ἀπῆλθον εἰς Ἐπίδαυρον, οἱ δὲ ἐ εἰς τοὺς Ἁλιεῖς καλουμένους, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἀ αὕτη κώμη τῆς Ἀργείας πλησίον Ναυπλίας) ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων εἰς τὴν Μεσσηνίαν μετῳκίσθ καὶ ἡ ὁμώνυμος τῇ Ἀργολικῇ Ἀσίνῃ πολίχ. οἱ γὰρ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, φησὶν ὁ Θεόπομπος, πολλὴν κατακτησάμενοι τῆς ἀλλοτρίας εἰς ταύτην κατῴκιζον οὓς ἂν ὑποδέξαιντο τῶν φυγόντων ἐπʼ αὐτο ἐκ τῆς Ναυπλίας ἐκεῖσε ἀνεχώρησαν.
Proetus seems to have used Tiryns as a stronghold, and to have fortified it by means of the Cyclopes. There were seven of them, and were called Gasterocheires, because they subsisted by their art. They were sent for and came from Lycia. Perhaps the caverns about Nauplia, and the works there, have their name from these people. The citadel Licymna has its name from Licymnius. It is distant from Nauplia about 12 stadia. This place is deserted, as well as the neighbouring Midéa, which is different from the Boeotian Mídea, for that is accentuated Mídea, like πρὸνια, but this is accentuated Midéa, like Tegéa.
Prosylmna borders upon Midéa; it has also a temple of Juno. The Argives have depopulated most of these for their refusal to submit to their authority. Of the inhabitants some went from Tiryns to Epidaurus; others from Hermione to the Ialieis (the Fishermen), as they are called; others were transferred by the Lacedaemonians to Messenia from Asine, (which is itself a village in the Argive territory near Nauplia,) and they built a small city of the same name as the Argolic Asine. For the Lacedaemonians, according to Theopompus, got possession of a large tract of country belonging to other nations, and settled there whatever fugitives they had received, who had taken refuge among them; and it was to this country the Nauplians had retreated.
Ἑρμιόνη δʼ ἐστὶ τῶν οὐκ ἀσήμων πόλεων, ἧς τὴν παραλίαν ἔχουσιν Ἁλιεῖς λεγόμενοι θαλαττουργοί τινες ἄνδρες. παρʼ Ἑρμιονεῦσι δὲ τεθρύληται τὴν εἰς Ἅιδου κατάβασιν σύντομον εἶναι· διόπερ οὐκ ἐντιθέασιν ἐνταῦθα τοῖς νεκροῖς ναῦλον.
Hermione is one of the cities, not undistinguished. The coast is occupied by Halieis, as they are called, a tribe who subsist by being employed on the sea in fishing. There is a general opinion among the Hermionenses that there is a short descent from their country to Hades, and hence they do not place in the mouths of the dead the fare for crossing the Styx.
Δρυόπων δʼ οἰκητήριόν φασι καὶ τὴν Ἀσίνην, εἴτʼ ἐκ τῶν περὶ Σπερχειὸν τόπων ὄντας αὐτοὺς Δρύοπος τοῦ Ἀρκάδος κατοικίσαντος ἐνταῦθα, ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης φησίν, εἴθʼ Ἡρακλέους ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν Δωρίδος ἐξελάσαντος αὐτούς. τὸ δὲ Σκύλλαιον τὸ ἐν Ἑρμιόνῃ ὠνομάσθαι φασὶν ἀπὸ Σκύλλης τῆς Νίσου θυγατρός, ἣν ἐξ ἔρωτος προδοῦσαν Μίνῳ τὴν Νίσαιαν καταποντωθῆναί φασιν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, δεῦρο δʼ ἐκκυμανθεῖσαν ταφῆς τυχεῖν. ἠιόνες δὲ κώμη τις ἦν, ἣν ἐρημώσαντες Μυκηναῖοι ναύσταθμον ἐποίησαν, ἀφαν οὐδὲ ναύσταθμόν ἐστιν.
It is said that Asine as well as Hermione was inhabited by Dryopes; either Dryops the Arcadian having transferred them thither from the places near the Spercheius, according to Aristotle; or, Hercules expelled them from Doris near Parnassus.
Scyllaeum near Hermione has its name, it is said, from Scylla, daughter of Nisus. According to report, she was enamoured of Minos, and betrayed to him Nisaea. She was drowned by order of her father, and her body was thrown upon the shore, and buried here.
Eïones was a kind of village which the Mycenaei depopulated, and converted into a station for vessels. It was afterwards destroyed, and is no longer a naval station.
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