ridge above them may be feen Nauplia, Argos, and the citadel
of Corinth. We defcended on thé opposite fide into a long
valley, and had in view before us The Columns or the ruin of the
temple, by which the village called Nemea antiently Rood.
T he temple of Jupiter Nemeiis is mentioned by Paufanias as
worth feeing. T h i roof was then fallen, and the image had
been removed. Round it Was a grove of cyprefs-tfees. The
priift was chofett by the Argives, who facrificed in the temple,
and at the Winter congrefs propofed a race for mén in armour j
joining this deity in their folemn invocations with Juno. One
Bito, it Was related, feting them leadihg the viftim, Which was
a bull> toward Neftiea, toolkit Up and carried it thither oft his
ihoulders. A flatue |at Argos reprefented him performing this
feat.
T h e Ncraean games were triennial and celebrated in the
grove, in memory of Oph Sites 6r Archeniorus, a child, whom
his nurfe, while . ihe cojidu^ed the - Achaean, captains going
agaipft ThebeS|:to a fountain, placed on the grafs, and -on her
feturrt, found 'with a ferpènt folded about his neck.1 tOftSb
was"; lnclofed by a ftone .fence, within Which whre, altargTand a
heap or^efurth marked,the burial-place of his father LycurMrs!
The hprfq-race for boys,, which had been dropped, was: refiortq
to this and to The Iflhmian FeRival by the eBjp%bt Ifddrikni
The Agopothetffi oï preïidents were eledted from thê neighbouring
cities Argos, Corinth, and Cleonae. Thei§*vhpptR#'#a$
black. The reward of vidtory was a Crown of pariley, which
herb was fabled to have ïprung from the blood of Archeniorus.
T he temple óf Jupiter was of the Doric order, and had fix
columns m frontt The remains are tWo columns'‘ fuppbmftg
their architrave, with feme fragments, The ruin is naked, aha
die foil round about it had been recefttly ploughed. We pitched
Our tent within the cell, on the clean1 and level area. The
rOof i t *s likely was removed foon after its Fall. A wild peartree
m
tree grows among the Rones on one fide, but our cook found it
necefiary to fhelter his fire with bufhes of maRic to prevent its
being extinguiftied by the fun. We were fupplied with milk
jand lambs from a mandra or fold in the valley, and with water
from a fountain, once named the AdraRean, at a little diRance
,oh the Rope o f the hill.
B eyond the temple is a remarkable fammit, the top flat
and vifible in the ?gUlf of Corinth. This was «probably the
mountain above Nemea called Apefas, on which Perfeus was
feid to fhave facrificed to Jupiter. Qn cone M e ns * .tumous
.church, with feme rbbbiffa, perhaps .where Opheltes and his
father were faid to have been interred. .Near is a very krge
fpreading fig^ree. T o this .a ranfi fimple goatherd r e a r e d
-daily -before noon with his flack, which .huddled together in .roe
fhade until the extreme heat .was ssssr, .and then proceeded
orderly to feed in the cool upon the mountain.
Between the temple and the church is a road, which,
branching from that on Tretus, crofies the .valley, and paffing
through the oppofite ridge turns to the right to.a village called
Hagio Georgio or Rt. George, from whence we procured toola
to dig, and wine, with other neceflarics. Near are veRiges, perhaps
o f Bembinaj a village, from which as^ well as from
Nemea the region was fometimes named. On the left hand, at
a diRance from the road, is a finall romantic monaRery, fixed as
it were againft the fide of a fteep mountain* high up* t po^
fefles a moR transparent water and an old pifture of the Panagia
o r Virgin!Mary, which performs; miracles and is covered, except
.the face and. hands, with filvcr. The prieR fliowed me in the
wall a Greek fepulchral infeription, aeontis xaips* Iseontu
farewell.
H h C H A P .