CHAP. 6. (5.)—ACHAIA.
The province called Achaia[1] begins at the Isthmus; from
the circumstance of its cities being ranged in regular succession on
its coast, it formerly had the name of Ægialos[2].
The first place there is Lecheæ, already mentioned, a port of
the Corinthians; next to which is Olyros[3], a fortress of the
people of Pellene[4]; then the former towns of Helice and
Bura[5], and the places in which their inhabitants took refuge
after their towns had been swallowed up by the sea, Sicyon[6]
namely, Ægira[7], Ægium, and Erineos[8]. In the interior are
Cleonæ and Hysiæ[9]; then come the port of Panormus[10], and
Rhium already mentioned; from which promontory, Patræ,
of which we have previously spoken, is distant five miles; and
then the place where Pheræ[11] stood. Of the nine mountains
of Achaia, Scioessa is the most famous; there is also the
Fountain of Cymothoë. Beyond Patræ we find the town of
Olenum[12], the colony of Dyme[13], the places where Bupra-
sium[14] and Hyrmine once stood, the Promontory of Araxus[15],
the Bay of Cyllene, and the Promontory of Chelonates, at five
miles' distance from Cyllene[16]. There is also the fortress of
Phlius[17]; the district around which was called by Homer
Aræthyrea[18], and, after his time, Asopis.
The territory of the Eleans then begins, who were formerly
called Epei, with the city of Elis[19] in the interior, and, at a
distance of twelve miles from Phlius, being also in the interior, the
temple of Olympian Jupiter, which by the universal celebrity of its
games, gives to Greece its mode of
reckoning[20]. Here too once stood the town of Pisa[21], the river
Alpheus flowing past it. On the coast there is the Promontory of
Ichthys[22]. The river Alpheus is navigable six miles,
nearly as far as the towns of Aulon[23] and Leprion. We next
come to the Promontory of Platanodes[24]. All these localities
lie to the west.
1. Originally a district in the south of Thessaly had this name; but to
distinguish it from that in the Peloponnesus, its people were called the
Phthiotian Achæi.
2. From the Greek word ai)gialo\s, "the sea-shore."
3. Situate on the coast, about five miles from the present Vostitza.
4. In the interior. The modern Trikala stands on its site.
5. Helice was the place of meeting of the Achæan league; when, in
B.C. 373, together with Bura, it was swallowed up by an
earthquake, and
their sites were covered by the sea. Such of the people as escaped fled to
the places mentioned above by Pliny. Pouqueville says that some remains
of these places may still be seen emerging from the sea.
6. The modern Basilico or Vasilika stands on its site.
7. The places called Paleo-Kastro and Vostitza are supposed to
occupy the sites of Ægira and Ægium. To the east of Vostitza
considerable ruins are still to be seen.
8. Supposed to be the present Artotina.
9. Towns of Roman Argolis. The ruins of the former are supposed to
be those at a spot still called Klenes, near the village of Curtesi. The
remains of Hysieæ, on the road from Argos to Tegea, stand on a hill
above the plain of Achladokampos.
10. Now called Tekieh; fifteen stadia from Rhium.
11. Or Pharæ; 150 stadia from Patre.
12. The modern Kato-Achaia.
13. Its remains are to be seen near the modern village of Karavostasi.
Pliny is mistaken probably in calling it a colony, as we know that it was
placed under the authority of the colony of Patræ, which alone was
allowed to enjoy the privilege of self-government.
14. Pouqueville thinks that it was situate on the river now called the
Verga. Leake supposes that the town of Hyrmine stood on the site of
the present Kastro Tornese on the peninsula of Khlemutzi; but Boblaye
and Curtius place it further north, at the modern harbour of Kunupeli,
where there are some ancient ruins.
15. Now Capo Papa.
16. The locality of Cyllene is doubtful. Most writers place it at
Glarentza, but Pouqueville suggests Andravida or Andravilla, and
Mannert
places it near Clarenza. Chelinates or Chelonatas was probably the
name originally of the whole peninsula of Khlemutzi, but the point here
mentioned was most probably the modern Cape Tornese.
17. It lay in the interior, south of Sicyonia, and north of Argos.
Pouqueville found its ruins on the banks of the Asopus.
18. Strabo says that this was the name of the most ancient town of
Phliasia, and that the inhabitants afterwards deserted it for Phlius.
19. Some small ruins of it are to be seen at the foot of the hill of
Kaloskopi, its ancient Acropolis.
20. By Olympiads, which were reckoned according to the order of
celebration of the Olympic games: they were established in the year
B.C. 776,
and were celebrated every fourth year.
21. It was destroyed in the year B.C. 572 by the Eleans, not a vestige
of it being left. The Alpheus retains the name of Alfio.
22. Or "the Fish," from its peculiar shape. It is now called Katakolo.
23. Probably situate in the valley between Elis and Messenia, which was
so called. It is not elsewhere mentioned; and its ruins are thought to
be those near the sea, on the right bank of the river Cyparissus. Leprion
is again mentioned in c. x.
24. Or Platamodes. Supposed to be the present Aja Kyriaki.