Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Monuments reported by ancient authors for wider area of: "NEA FIGALIA Village FIGALIA" .
STOMIO (Village) FIGALIA
Mount Elaius has a cave sacred to Demeter surnamed Black. The Phigalians accept the account of the people of Thelpusa about the mating of Poseidon and Demeter. Afterwards, they say, angry with Poseidon and grieved at the rape of Persephone, she put on black apparel and shut herself up in this cavern for a long time. But when all the fruits of the earth were perishing, and the human race dying yet more through famine, no god, it seemed, knew where Demeter was in hiding, until Pan, they say, visited Arcadia. Roaming from mountain to mountain as he hunted, he came at last to Mount Elaius and spied Demeter, the state she was in and the clothes she wore. So Zeus learnt this from Pan, and sent the Fates to Demeter, who listened to the Fates and laid aside her wrath, moderating her grief as well. For these reasons, the Phigalians say, they concluded that this cavern was sacred to Demeter and set up in it a wooden image.
FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
Here there is a sanctuary of Artemis Saviour with a standing image of stone. From this sanctuary it is their custom to start their processions.
Where the Lymax falls into the Neda is the sanctuary of Eurynome,
a holy spot from of old and difficult of approach because of the roughness of
the ground. Eurynome is believed by the people of Phigalia to be a surname of
Artemis. Those of them, however, to whom have descended ancient traditions, declare
that Eurynome was a daughter of Ocean. On the same day in each year they open
the sanctuary of Eurynome, but at any other time it is a transgression for them
to open it.On this occasion sacrifices also are offered by the state and by individuals.
I did not arrive at the season of the festival, and I did not see the image of
Eurynome; but the Phigalians told me that golden chains bind the wooden image,
which represents a woman as far as the hips, but below this a fish. If she is
a daughter of Ocean, and lives with Thetis in the depth of the sea, the fish may
be regarded as a kind of emblem of her. But there could be no probable connection
between such a shape and Artemis.
The image of Hermes in the gymnasium is like to one dressed in a cloak; but the statue does not end in feet, but in the square shape.
STOMIO (Village) FIGALIA
The image was seated on a rock, like to a woman in all respects save the head. She had the head and hair of a horse, and there grew out of it images of serpents and other beasts. Her tunic reached right to her feet; on one of her hands was a dolphin, on the other a dove. This old image was destroyed, and the Phigalians neglected for the most part Demeter’s festivals and sacrifices, until barrenness fell on the land. Then they went as suppliants to the Pythian priestess. When they heard the oracle that was brought back, they held Demeter in greater honor than before, and persuaded Onatas of Aegina to make them an image of Demeter at a price. That image no longer existed in my time. The oldest of the inhabitants I met said that three generations before his time some stones had fallen on the image out of the roof; these crushed the image, destroying it utterly.
BASSAE (Ancient sanctuary) ILIA
On the mountain is a place called Bassae, and the temple of
Apollo the Helper, which, including the roof, is of stone. Of the temples in the
Peloponnesus, this might be placed first after the one at Tegea for the beauty
of its stone and for its symmetry. Apollo received his name from the help he gave
in time of plague, just as the Athenians gave him the name of Averter of Evil
for turning the plague away from them.
FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
A temple also of Dionysus is here, who by the inhabitants is surnamed Acratophorus, but the lower part of the image cannot be seen for laurel-leaves and ivy. As much of it as can be seen is painted . . . with cinnabar to shine. It is said to be found by the Iberians along with the gold.
In the market-place of Phigalia there is also a common tomb of the picked men of Oresthasium, and every year they sacrifice to them as to heroes.
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