Pausanias Analysis

The land of the Locrians, called Ozolian, lies adjacent to Phocis near Cirrha. Concerning the epithet given to these Locrians, I have heard various explanations, all of which I shall equally relate. They say that in the reign of Orestheus, son of Deucalion, a dog gave birth not to a puppy but to a log of wood. Orestheus buried this log, and in the spring a vine grew forth from it. From this wood (ξύλον) and its branches (ὄζοι), it is said, the people derived their name, Ozolian.

Others consider that Nessus, after being wounded by Heracles while ferrying across the river Evenus, did not die immediately, but escaped instead to this land, and that when he died here his body rotted unburied and imparted a foul stench to the air there. The third and fourth accounts—one states that the unpleasant vapor and water itself come from a nearby river, whereas the other attributes the smell to a great quantity of blooming asphodel growing there.

It is also said that the first inhabitants of this place were autochthonous, who, not yet knowing how to weave garments, fashioned for protection against the cold coverings made from the skins of animals, unprepared by tanning, turning the hairy side outward for appearance's sake. Consequently, their bodies must have become as malodorous as the skins themselves.

Twenty stades and one hundred beyond Delphi lies Amphissa, the greatest and most famous city of the Locrians. Due to their shame at the name of the Ozolian Locrians, the inhabitants associate themselves rather with the Aetolian nation. Indeed, the story has a degree of plausibility, because when the emperor of the Romans removed the Aetolians and resettled them in his new foundation of Nicopolis, a large portion of the population withdrew to Amphissa. Yet originally they descend from the Locrian people. They say the city derived its name from Amphissa, daughter of Macareus, son of Aeolus, and Apollo was said to have been Amphissa's lover.

The city is adorned both in its general construction and especially with things most memorable; there is a tomb of Amphissa and one of Andraimon. With him, they say, was buried Gorge, daughter of Oineus, who had become the wife of Andraimon. On the acropolis is a temple of Athena, with a bronze statue set upright; they claim that Thoas brought the image from Ilium, and that it formed part of the spoils from Troy.

However, at any rate, they did not persuade me. I mentioned earlier in my account that the Samians Rhoecus, son of Philaeus, and Theodorus, son of Telecles, were the first to discover how to melt bronze with the utmost precision; and these men were the first who cast statues. Of Theodorus, indeed, I know of no other invented works that survive today, at least ones made of bronze. But at Ephesus, as one approaches the temple-building of Artemis, there is a stone cornice above the altar of Artemis, called Protothronia, on the structure where inscriptions are displayed. On this cornice stand several statues, and at the far end is the likeness of a woman, a work executed by Rhoecus. The Ephesians call this figure Night.

This statue of Athena in Amphissa can be seen to be ancient in appearance and crude in its workmanship. The people of Amphissa also hold a rite dedicated to those called the Anaktes ("the Lords") children. But as to whose children among the gods these Anaktes might be, accounts differ: some say they are the Dioskouroi, others the Kouretes, and others, believing they have superior knowledge, call them the Kabeiroi.

Of these Locrians, there are also the following other cities: above Amphissa, toward the interior, is Myonia, thirty stades distant from Amphissa. It is these Myonians who dedicated the shield at Olympia to Zeus. Their town is situated upon high ground, and they have a grove and an altar of the Meilichian gods. To these Meilichian gods they offer sacrifice by night, and their custom requires them to consume the sacrificial meat on the spot before sunrise. Above the city there is also a sacred precinct of Poseidon, called the Poseidonion, in which stands a temple of Poseidon; but at the time of my visit there was no image within it.

These then are the peoples living beyond Amphissa. On the coast lies Oiantheia, and bordering upon it is Naupaktos. Except for Amphissa, the remaining cities were placed under the authority of the people of Patrae by Augustus, who gave them a governor. In Oiantheia there is a sanctuary of Aphrodite, and a little way above the city is a grove of cypress trees intermingled with pines, as well as a temple and statue of Artemis within the grove. The paintings on the walls had been effaced by time, and nothing of them remained now to be seen.

I infer that the city took its name from a woman or nymph, since concerning Naupaktos, at least, I know it is said that the Dorians who were with the sons of Aristomachos built ships there, by means of which they crossed over into the Peloponnese; and for this reason, they say, the place received its name. As to the history of the inhabitants of Naupaktos—that the Athenians settled here those who had revolted to Ithome at the time of the earthquake in Lakedaimon, having taken Naupaktos away from the Lokrians; and that afterward, when the Athenians suffered their defeat at Aigospotamoi, the Spartans drove the Messenians out of Naupaktos as well—all these matters I have fully related in my account of Messene. When the Messenians were thus forced to abandon the city, the Lokrians once more regained possession of Naupaktos.

Now the verses called by the Greeks the "Naupactian poem" most people ascribe to a Milesian poet. But Charon, son of Pytheas, says that they were composed by the Naupactian Carcinus. We also follow the opinion of the Lampsacene, for what sense would there be in naming poems composed by a Milesian poet after women from Naupactus?

Here by the sea is a temple of Poseidon and an upright bronze statue. There is also a sanctuary of Artemis and a statue made of white stone; it is represented in the attitude of throwing a javelin, and it bears the surname Aetolian. Aphrodite is honored within a cave; people pray to this goddess concerning various matters, but especially women—particularly widows—who beg her for marriage.

The sanctuary of Asclepius lay in ruins. Originally, a private citizen named Phalysios had built it; for when he had become afflicted in his eyes and was almost blind, the god at Epidaurus sent to him Anyte, the poetess, carrying a sealed tablet. This appeared to the woman as a dream vision; nevertheless, it proved instantly real. She found in her hands a sealed tablet, and sailing to Naupactus, she instructed Phalysios to break the seal and read what had been written. Now, because of the condition of his eyes, it seemed impossible that he could clearly see the writing. But hoping for some benefit from Asclepius, he removed the seal, and immediately, as soon as he looked upon the wax, he became healthy. He then gave to Anyte what had been written upon the tablet, two thousand gold staters.