DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0237
212 RUINS OF PHLIOUS.
afterwards transmitted to it her own name of Araithurea, under
which denomination it was known to Homer.1
According to Pausanias, Phlias, son of Bacchus, was the third
who gave his name to this country ; and, it is to be observed, that
the exuberant fertility of its vineyards has always been, as at present,
the theme of panegyric, and that it produces the best wine in the
peninsula. The Corinth grape, or currant, is the produce of this
fertile plain, and is not cultivated at Corinth, but took the name of
corant or currant, from Corinth, as they are embarked on that gulf.
Phlious retained its ancient name after the Turks had taken posses-
sion of Greece, as we know from the testimony of Laonicus Chalco-
condyla.* It is at present called Staphlika. The Asopos rises in
this territory, which it fertilizes with its maeandering stream.
Pausanias3 says, that the centre of the Peloponnesos was in this
vicinity. The same author mentions so many temples and curiosities
at Phlious, that we were particularly anxious to discover its situa-
tion, and I know not by what fatality we missed it, as we must have
been within a very short distance of it; but I suspect that our
guides and agogiates were as anxious to arrive at Argos as we were
to discover the ruins of ancient cities. A traveller is so much in the
power of these people in Greece, that he is liable to lose the op-
portunity of exploring many interesting situations. I should have
missed several other ruins, had I not shown a peremptory de-
termination to go my own way.
I have been informed, by some travellers,4 that there are many
remains at Phlious,5 and particularly the ruins of a very ancient
Doric temple. About half an hour from the village of Saint
George, we came to some ruins, but, instead of the ancient
■ See Strabo, b. 8. p. 3S2. Pausan. b. 1. c. 12. Stephanus in voc. A^vpex and <j>\iOu;.
P. 152. and 741. * De Rebus Turcicis. 3 B. 2. c. 13.
« Colonel Leake and Mons. Pouqueville.
5 The coins of Phlious which have been found represent an ox on one side with a wheel on
the other, with the inscription $AIA2II2N. I found several small coins in Greece, which
represent on one side a bull butting, and on the reverse the letter *, which are supposed to
belong to Phlious. Imperial coins have also been found of this city ; they arc all of brass.
afterwards transmitted to it her own name of Araithurea, under
which denomination it was known to Homer.1
According to Pausanias, Phlias, son of Bacchus, was the third
who gave his name to this country ; and, it is to be observed, that
the exuberant fertility of its vineyards has always been, as at present,
the theme of panegyric, and that it produces the best wine in the
peninsula. The Corinth grape, or currant, is the produce of this
fertile plain, and is not cultivated at Corinth, but took the name of
corant or currant, from Corinth, as they are embarked on that gulf.
Phlious retained its ancient name after the Turks had taken posses-
sion of Greece, as we know from the testimony of Laonicus Chalco-
condyla.* It is at present called Staphlika. The Asopos rises in
this territory, which it fertilizes with its maeandering stream.
Pausanias3 says, that the centre of the Peloponnesos was in this
vicinity. The same author mentions so many temples and curiosities
at Phlious, that we were particularly anxious to discover its situa-
tion, and I know not by what fatality we missed it, as we must have
been within a very short distance of it; but I suspect that our
guides and agogiates were as anxious to arrive at Argos as we were
to discover the ruins of ancient cities. A traveller is so much in the
power of these people in Greece, that he is liable to lose the op-
portunity of exploring many interesting situations. I should have
missed several other ruins, had I not shown a peremptory de-
termination to go my own way.
I have been informed, by some travellers,4 that there are many
remains at Phlious,5 and particularly the ruins of a very ancient
Doric temple. About half an hour from the village of Saint
George, we came to some ruins, but, instead of the ancient
■ See Strabo, b. 8. p. 3S2. Pausan. b. 1. c. 12. Stephanus in voc. A^vpex and <j>\iOu;.
P. 152. and 741. * De Rebus Turcicis. 3 B. 2. c. 13.
« Colonel Leake and Mons. Pouqueville.
5 The coins of Phlious which have been found represent an ox on one side with a wheel on
the other, with the inscription $AIA2II2N. I found several small coins in Greece, which
represent on one side a bull butting, and on the reverse the letter *, which are supposed to
belong to Phlious. Imperial coins have also been found of this city ; they arc all of brass.