Pausanias Analysis

After this, nothing worth recalling remains except Methydrium itself. The road from Tricoloni to this place measures one hundred and thirty-seven stades. Methydrium received its name because it stands upon a high hill situated between the rivers Maloetas and Mylaon, where Orchomenus established the city. Even before the establishment of Megalopolis, men from Methydrium had already attained victories at the Olympic Games.

There is in Methydrium a temple of Poseidon Hippios, situated along the river Mylaon. The mountain called Thaumasios stretches above the river Maloitas. The people of Methydrium say that Rhea, when she was pregnant with Zeus, came to this mountain and there prepared for herself a defense against Cronus, in case he attacked her, enlisting Hopladamos and other giants who were with him.

They agree that she gave birth on some part of Mount Lykaion, and also say that it was here that occurred the deception against Kronos and the substitution of the stone for the child, a substitution called by the Greeks an "antidosis." Near the summit of the mountain there is a cave sacred to Rhea, into which none may enter among men, except only women who serve as priestesses to the goddess.

From Methydrium at a distance of about thirty stades is a spring called Nymphasia; from Nymphasia it is likewise about another thirty stades to the boundaries shared jointly by the Megalopolitans, Orchomenians, and Caphyatans.

For the Megalopolitans, as one goes through the gate known as the Gate toward the Marsh, by this road heading toward Maenalus alongside the river Helisson, there is on the left a temple of the Good God. Now if the gods indeed bestow good things upon people, and Zeus is supreme among the gods, one might reasonably conclude from this argument that this epithet refers to Zeus. A little further along is an earthen mound, the tomb of Aristodemus, whom they did not refrain from calling 'the Good', even though he was a tyrant. There is also a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Machanitis ("the Inventive"), because the goddess is considered the originator of all sorts of strategies and ingenious devices.

On the right side of the road, there is a precinct sacred to the wind Boreas, and the Megalopolitans offer sacrifices to him every year, granting Boreas honors second to none among the gods, for he became their savior from the Lacedaemonians and from King Agis. Next follows the tomb of Oicles, the father of Amphiaraus—provided that fate indeed overtook him in Arcadia, and that he did not join Heracles in the expedition against Laomedon. Beyond this is a temple and a grove sacred to the so-called Demeter in the Marsh, located five stades away from the city, and entrance into this sanctuary is permitted solely to women.

Thirty stadia farther on lies a district called Paliskios. From Paliskios, if one leaves the river Elaphos, which is not perennial, on the left and proceeds about twenty stadia, one finds among other ruins those of Peraethae and a sanctuary of Pan. But if one crosses the torrent, straight ahead fifteen stadia beyond the river there is a plain, and after crossing this plain one reaches Mount Nainalion, bearing the same name as the plain. At the foot of the mountain, along its slopes, there are remains of the city Lykóa, a temple of Artemis, and a bronze statue of Artemis Lykoatis.

On the southern slopes of the mountain was built a settlement named Soumetia. In this same mountain are also the places called Triodoi ("Three Roads"), from where the Mantineans, following an oracle from Delphi, brought back the bones of Arkas, son of Kallisto. There still remain ruins of Mainalos itself, traces of a temple dedicated to Athena, a stadium built for athletic contests, and another intended for horse races. The mountain of Mainalos is considered especially sacred to Pan, and those who dwell around it say they even hear Pan playing his reed pipes.

Between the sanctuary of Despoina and the city of the Megalopolitans are forty stades. Halfway along the route lies the stream of the Alpheios; after crossing, two stades from the Alpheios are the ruins of Macareae. From there, seven stades further, lie other ruins, those of Daseae. From Daseae to the hill known as Acacesium, the distance is likewise seven stades.

Below this hill there was the city Akakesion; there still remains even in our time upon the hill a stone image of Hermes Akakesios. There is a tradition among the Arcadians concerning him that Hermes was reared there as a child, and that Akakos, son of Lykaon, became his foster father. On these points, however, the Thebans differ, and the Tanagraeans, disagreeing in turn with the account of the Thebans, have yet another version.