Pausanias Analysis

My narrative now brings me to Stymphalos and to the frontier between the Pheneatians and Stymphalians, to a place called Geronteion. The Stymphalians are no longer arranged among the Arcadians, but have willingly transferred themselves into Argolis and are counted part of that region. Nevertheless, their Arcadian origin is testified by the verses of Homer, and Stymphalos, their founder, was the third descendant from Arkas, the son of Callisto. It is said that in the beginning their city was founded elsewhere in the region, and not in the location of the present city.

In ancient Stymphalos, they say Temenos, son of Pelasgos, lived, and that Hera was raised by this Temenos; he himself established three sanctuaries for the goddess, assigning three titles to her. While she was still a maiden, he named her Child (Pais); after she married Zeus, he called her Perfected (Teleia); and when she quarreled for some reason with Zeus and returned to Stymphalos, Temenos called her Widow (Chēra). Such are the stories about the goddess as reported by the Stymphalians, as far as I am aware.

In my time, the city possessed nothing of what I have just described, but had instead the following features. In the land of the Stymphalians there is a spring, and from this spring the emperor Hadrian brought water to Corinth, conducting it into the city. In Stymphalos, during wintertime, this spring forms a small lake, from which flows the river Stymphalos; in summer, however, water no longer gathers into a lake at all, and the river immediately issues from the spring itself. This river descends into a chasm in the earth, and reappearing again in Argolis, it changes its name: the Argives now call it Erasinos rather than Stymphalos.

Concerning the lake at Stymphalus, the story prevails that man-eating birds once were nourished there. Heracles, it is said, shot these birds down. Pisander of Camirus, however, denies that Heracles killed them, but states that he drove them away by the noise of rattles. Moreover, the Arabian desert also yields other creatures and birds called Stymphalian, which are no less savage towards humans than lions or leopards.

These birds attack those who approach to hunt them; they wound and kill men with their beaks. Indeed, anything worn by humans made of bronze or iron is pierced through by the birds. But if men weave thick garments of bark fibre, the beaks of the Stymphalian birds become caught in the bark clothing, just as the wings of small birds are caught by bird-lime. These birds are about the size of a crane, resemble ibises in appearance, but have stronger beaks that are not curved like those of ibises.

Whether the Arabian birds of my own day bear the name of those once in Arcadia, but differ in appearance from them, I cannot say; but if throughout all time the Stymphalian birds have been similar to hawks and eagles, these present-day birds seem to me indeed to be Arabian in origin, and it would have been possible for some of them, flying astray, to reach Arcadia at Stymphalos. Originally, however, they must have been called by some other name among the Arabs and certainly not Stymphalian; but the fame of Herakles, along with the honored status of things Greek compared to the barbarian, has prevailed to the extent that even the birds in the Arabian desert are called Stymphalian up to our own times.

At Stymphalus there is also an ancient sanctuary of Artemis Stymphalia; the statue is a wooden image, mostly overlaid with gold. Upon the roof of the temple are fashioned the Stymphalian birds; although it was difficult clearly to discern whether they were constructed of wood or plaster, by inference they appeared to us rather to be of wood than plaster. There are also here maidens carved from white marble, with the legs of birds, standing behind the temple.

And they say that a marvel of the following sort also occurred in our time. At Stymphalos, they celebrated the festival of Artemis Stymphalia and generally conducted it without due reverence, neglecting to a great extent the established customs. Thus, wood having fallen into the mouth of the chasm through which the river called Stymphalos descends, prevented the water from flowing down, and it is said that a lake formed covering the plain to an extent of four hundred stades.

They say that once a hunter was pursuing a fleeing deer. The deer rushed into the marsh, and the hunter, driven by his passion, swam after it; thus, the chasm swallowed both the deer and the man chasing it. It is said that the water from the river followed after them, so that in a single day the marshy water covering all the plain of Stymphalus was drained away completely. Because of this event, the people now celebrate the festival of Artemis with even greater eagerness.