Greek Texts & Translations

They say that the first man in this land was Aras, who sprang from the soil. He founded a city around that hillock which even down to our day is called the Arantine Hill, not far distant from a second hill on which the Phliasians have their citadel and their sanctuary of Hebe. Here, then, he founded a city, and after him in ancient times both the land and the city were called Arantia. While he was king, Asopus, said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon, discovered for him the water of the river which the present inhabitants call after him Asopus. The tomb of Aras is in the place called Celeae, where they say is also buried Dysaules of Eleusis.

Aras had a son Aoris and a daughter Araethyrea, who, the Phliasians say, were experienced hunters and brave warriors. Araethyrea died first, and Aoris, in memory of his sister, changed the name of the land to Araethyrea. This is why Homer, in making a list of Agamemnon's subjects, has the verse: Orneae was their home and Araethyrea the delightful.
Hom. Il. 2.571The graves of the children of Aras are, in my opinion, on the Arantine Hill and not in any other part of the land. On the top of them are far-seen gravestones, and before the celebration of the mysteries of Demeter the people look at these tombs and call Aras and his children to the libations.

The Argives say that Phlias, who has given the land its third name, was the son of Ceisus, the son of Temenus. This account I can by no means accept, but I know that he is called a son of Dionysus, and that he is said to have been one of those who sailed on the Argo. The verses of the Rhodian poet confirm me in my opinion:— Came after these Phlias from Araethyrea to the muster;
Here did he dwell and prosper, because Dionysus his father
Cared for him well, and his home was near to the springs of Asopus.
Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica 1.115-117.The account goes on to say that the mother of Phlias was Araethyrea and not Chthonophyle. The latter was his wife and bore him Androdamas.

Hippasus and his party, on the other hand, urged the citizens to defend themselves, and not to give up many advantages to the Dorians without striking a blow. The people, however, accepted the opposite policy, and so Hippasus and any others who wished fled to Samos. Great-grandson of this Hippasus was Pythagoras, ^note the celebrated sage. For Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, the son of Euphranor, the son of Hippasus. This is the account the Phliasians give about themselves, and the Sicyonians in general agree with them.

I will now add an account of the most remarkable of their famous sights. On the Phliasian citadel is a grove of cypress trees and a sanctuary which from ancient times has been held to be peculiarly holy. The earliest Phliasians named the goddess to whom the sanctuary belongs Ganymeda; but later authorities call her Hebe, whom Homer ^note mentions in the duel between Menelaus and Alexander, saying that she was the cup-bearer of the gods; and again he says, in the descent of Odysseus to Hell, ^note that she was the wife of Heracles. Olen, ^note in his hymn to Hera, says that Hera was reared by the Seasons, and that her children were Ares and Hebe. Of the honors that the Phliasians pay to this goddess the greatest is the pardoning of suppliants.

All those who seek sanctuary here receive full forgiveness, and prisoners, when set free, dedicate their fetters on the trees in the grove. The Phliasians also celebrate a yearly festival which they call Ivy-cutters. There is no image, either kept in secret or openly displayed, and the reason for this is set forth in a sacred legend of theirs though on the left as you go out is a temple of Hera with an image of Parian marble.

On the citadel is another enclosure, which is sacred to Demeter, and in it are a temple and statue of Demeter and her daughter. Here there is also a bronze statue of Artemis, which appeared to me to be ancient. As you go down from the citadel you see on the right a temple of Asclepius with an image of the god as a beardless youth. Below this temple is built a theater. Not far from it is a sanctuary of Demeter and old, seated images.