Pausanias Analysis

They say there is also a hero shrine of Iphigenia, since according to them she died in Megara. Yet I have heard from the Arcadians another account concerning Iphigenia; moreover, I know that Hesiod, in his Catalogue of Women, asserted that Iphigenia did not die, but by the will of Artemis became Hecate. Herodotus, agreeing with this tradition, reported that the Taurians near Scythia sacrificed shipwrecked mariners to a maiden, whom they themselves identified as Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. Among the Megarians, Adrastus also receives honors. For they say that he too died among them, while he was leading back his army after having taken Thebes. The reasons for his death were given as old age and the news of the demise of his son Aigialeus. Furthermore, Agamemnon dedicated a sanctuary to Artemis, when he came to Megara with the purpose of persuading Calchas, who was then living there, to accompany him to Ilium.

They say that in the Prytaneion Eupippos son of Megareus is buried, and also Ischepolis, the son of Alcathous, is buried there. Near the Prytaneion there is a rock called Anaclethris ("Recall-rock"), because, if the story is trustworthy, Demeter here called back her daughter when she wandered, searching for her. Even to our time, the women of Megara perform rites appropriate to this tradition.

In the city of the Megarians there are tombs: one they built for those who died in the campaign against the Medes, and another monument called the Aisymnion, which also is a memorial for heroes. Hyperion, the son of Agamemnon—for he was the last king of the Megarians—after this man's death at the hands of Sandion due to greed and hubris, they decided no longer to have a single ruler, but instead to choose magistrates and to obey one another by turns. Then Aisymnos, second to none in reputation among the Megarians, went after the god to Delphi and asked by what means they might prosper. The god delivered to him other oracles as well, including that the Megarians would fare well if they took counsel together with the majority. Regarding this pronouncement as applying even to the dead, they built there a council-house, so that the tomb of the heroes might be within the council-house itself.

From here, as one goes toward the sanctuary of Alcathous is a hero-shrine, which the Megarians used as a record-house during my time. They said it was a tomb, partly for Pyrgo, Alcathous' wife before he married Euaichme, the daughter of Megareus, and partly for his daughter Iphinoe, who, they say, died while still a maiden. It is customary for young girls to pour libations at the tomb of Iphinoe before their wedding and to offer their hair as an initial dedication, just as the girls of Delos once cut their locks in honor of Hekaerge and Opis.

Beside the entrance to the sanctuary of Dionysus there is the tomb of Astycrateia and of Manto. They were daughters of Polyidus, son of Coeranus, son of Abas, son of Melampus, who came to Megara to purify Alcathous from the killing of his son Callipolis. It was Polyidus who built the sanctuary for Dionysus and dedicated the wooden image, which in my time remains concealed except for the face, this portion alone being visible. Standing next to this god is a satyr of Parian marble, a work of Praxiteles. This statue they call Patroos ("Ancestral"); while another Dionysus they name Dasyllius, saying it was dedicated by Euchenor, son of Coeranus, son of Polyidus.

Next to the sanctuary of Dionysus is a temple of Aphrodite. Inside is a statue of Aphrodite made of ivory, named Praxis. This is the most ancient artifact within the temple. Statues representing Persuasion and another goddess whom they call Comforter are works by Praxiteles. Eros, Himeros ("Desire"), and Pothos ("Yearning") were sculpted by Skopas, if indeed there is a difference between these deities according to their several names and statues. Near Aphrodite’s temple stands a sanctuary dedicated to Tyche, and this image too is a work of Praxiteles. Lysippos created the bronze statue of Zeus together with the Muses housed within the adjacent temple.

The Megarians also possess the tomb of Coroebus; nevertheless, I shall here relate the tale associated with him, though it concerns equally the Argives. It is related that during the reign of Crotopus in Argos, Psamathe, the daughter of King Crotopus, bore a child to Apollo. Through great fear of her father she exposed the infant. The child was discovered and torn apart by Crotopus' shepherd dogs; in retribution, Apollo sent against the Argives a vengeful spirit, named Poine ("Punishment"). They say this being seized children away from their mothers, until Coroebus, seeking to earn the Argives' gratitude, slew Poine. But after he had killed her, a second disaster, a deadly plague, descended upon them and would not relent. Therefore Coroebus willingly journeyed to Delphi, intending to submit himself to the god's judgment for the slaying of Poine.

The Pythia did not permit Coroebus to return to Argos; instead, she ordered him to take up a tripod from the sanctuary and carry it off, instructing him to build a temple to Apollo and dwell wherever it should fall from his hands. As Coroebus was carrying the tripod, it slipped unnoticed from him and fell upon Mount Gerania; there he founded the village called Tripodiscus. Coroebus has a tomb in the market-place of Megara, upon which are inscribed elegiac verses explicitly mentioning both Psamathe and Coroebus himself, along with an inscription indicating, "Coroebus, the slayer of Poine." These images are the most ancient statues of stone that I have seen among the Greeks.