Pausanias Analysis

In this part of the city stands a sanctuary of Dionysus called Calydonian, for the image of Dionysus was also brought over from Calydon. When Calydon was still inhabited, various Calydonians served as priests to this god, among them Coresus, who suffered from love more unjustly than anyone ever had. He fell in love with a maiden named Callirhoe, but as deeply as Coresus was overcome with passion for Callirhoe, so deeply did the maiden despise him.

When Coresus, despite repeated pleadings and promises of all manner of gifts, failed to change the resolve of the maiden, he went to the sacred image as a suppliant of Dionysus. The god heard the priest's prayer, and the Calydonians immediately became as if mad through drunkenness and were overcome by a deadly affliction. Thus, they turned for help to the oracle at Dodona. Indeed, the people inhabiting that mainland—the Aetolians, as well as their neighbors the Acarnanians and Epeirotes—especially relied on the doves and oak-tree oracles for truthful revelations.

Then the oracle from Dodona pronounced that the wrath was Dionysus’, and that no remedy would come until Coresus sacrificed to Dionysus either Callirhoe herself or whoever would dare to die in her stead. Since no rescue could be found for the maiden, she next sought refuge with her foster parents. When she failed with them as well, nothing remained for her but death itself.

When everything else prescribed by the oracle from Dodona for the sacrifice had been previously accomplished, Callirhoe was brought to the altar in the manner of a sacrificial victim. Coresus, standing ready to perform the sacrifice, yielded not to anger but to love, and slew himself instead of Callirhoe. Indeed, he showed by his deed that the passions of love can provoke the most genuine acts known among men.

When Callirhoe saw that Coresus was dead, her heart turned toward love for the youth; moved by pity for Coresus and shame for what had been done to him, she slew herself at the spring near the harbor at Calydon, not far from the port. From that time onward, people have called that spring Callirhoe.

Near the theater, the people of Patrae have fashioned a sacred precinct dedicated to a local woman. There are also images here of Dionysus, equal in number to the ancient settlements and sharing their names; for they are called Mesateus, Antheus, and Aroeus. During the festival of Dionysus, these images are carried to the sanctuary of Aesymnetes; this sanctuary lies on the right side of the road leading from the agora towards the seaside district of the city.

Below Aesymnetes, as one goes further down, there is another sanctuary and a stone image. It is called the sanctuary of Soteria, and they say it was originally founded by Eurypylus after escaping from madness. Near the harbor is a temple and a standing stone image of Poseidon. In addition to those names of Poseidon created by poets as decorative epithets in verse, and those that various places assign to him as their own local titles, there are three epithets common to all Greeks: Pelagaios ("of the Sea"), Asphalios ("Securing Safe Passage"), and Hippios ("Horse God").

Certainly one might be persuaded that the god was named Hippios ("Horse-god") for other reasons as well; but in my own view, since he was the inventor of horsemanship, he probably derived his name from this circumstance. Indeed, Homer, in the contest of horses, makes Menelaus swear an oath with an invocation of this very god: "Lay hands upon the horses and swear by the Earth-shaking Earth-holder that you did not willingly impede my chariot through guile." (Homer, Iliad 23.584-585)

Pamphos, who composed the most ancient hymns for the Athenians, says that Poseidon is the giver of horses and ships with upright hulls. Thus, it is from his association with horses, and not from another cause, that he has received this name.

In Patrae, not far from the sanctuary of Poseidon, is one dedicated to Aphrodite. One of the statues within it was recovered a generation before my time by fishermen who drew it up in their nets. Near the harbor there are also bronze statues: one of Ares, another of Apollo, and one of Aphrodite—whose sanctuary likewise stands by the harbor. The image of Aphrodite has a face, hands, and feet of stone, but the rest of it is constructed from wood.

They also have a grove by the sea, which has excellent paths suitable for running and provides, in other respects as well, a pleasant retreat during the summer season. Within this grove are temples of gods—one of Apollo and another of Aphrodite, whose statues, like the temples themselves, are made of stone. Adjacent to the grove is a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter; she and her daughter stand upright, while the image of Earth is depicted seated.

Before the temple of Demeter there is a spring. On the temple side, the spring is surrounded by a low wall of stones, but on the outer side steps have been constructed leading down to the water. Here there is an oracle whose prophecies do not deceive; however, it is consulted not for every matter, but specifically concerning the sick. Using a thin string they lower a mirror into the spring, carefully measuring so that it does not sink deeply below the surface but merely touches the water with its rim. After this they offer prayers to the goddess and burn incense, then look into the mirror; therein appears to them an image revealing whether the sick person shall live or has already died.

This water has such an extraordinary reputation for truthfulness. And of the Cyanian rocks nearest to Lycia is found an oracle of Apollo Thyrxeus. Beside these Cyanean rocks there is water which, when someone gazes into its spring, clearly reveals to him all that he desires to see. In Patrae near the grove there are two sanctuaries dedicated to Sarapis; and in one of them, there is a monument to Aegyptus the son of Belus. The people of Patrae say that it was to Aroe that he fled, revolted both by the sufferings he had endured through his children and horrified by the very name "Argos," and even more deeply possessed by fear of Danaus.

The Patraeans also have a sanctuary of Asclepius; this sanctuary is situated above the acropolis, near the gates leading to Mesatis. In Patrae, the number of women is twice that of men; and these women partake of Aphrodite's worship no less than women elsewhere. Most of them earn their livelihood from flax produced in Elis, from which they weave head-coverings and the other types of clothing.