Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1012

 992 STCYON. (Plin. xxsv. 3. s. 15); and the city long remained the home of painting (" diu ilia fuit patria picturae," Plin. XXXV. 11. s. 40). Sicyon gave its name to one of the great schools of painting, which was founded by Eupompus, and which produced Pam- jhilus and Apelles. (Plin. xxsv. 10. s. 36.) Sicyon was likewise the earliest school of statuary in Greece, which was introduced into the city by Dipoenus and Scyllis from Crete about b. c. ,560 (Plin. xxxvi. 4); but its earliest native statuary of celebrity was Canachus. Lysippus was also a native of Sicyon. (^Dict. of Bioyr. s. vv.) The city was thus rich in works of art; but its most valuable paintings, which the Sicyonians had been obliged to give in pledge on account of their debts, were removed to Rome in the aedileship of M. Scaurus, to adorn his theatre. (Plin. sxxv. 11. s. 40.) Sicyon was likewise celebrated for the taste and skill displayed in the various articles of dress made by its inhabitants, among which we find mention of a particular kind of shoe, which was much prized in all parts of Greece. (Athen. iv. p. 155; Pollux, vii. 93 ; Hesych. s. v. 'S.iicuuviu ; Auctor, ad Herenn. iv. 3, de Orat. i. 54; Lucret. iv. 1121; Fest. s. v. Sicyonia.^ IV. Topography of the City. — Few cities in Greece were more finely situated than Sicyon. The hill on which it stood commands a most splendid view. Towards the west is seen the plain so celebrated for its fertility; towards the east the prospect is bounded by the lofty hill of the Acrocorinthus ; while in front lies the sea, with the noble mountains of Parnassus, Helicon, and Cithaeron rising from the opposite coast, the whole forming a charming prospect, which cannot have been without influence in cultivating the love for the fine arts, for which the city was distinguished. The hill of Sicyon is a tabular summit of a triangular shape, and is divided into an upper and a lower level by a low ridge of rocks stretching right across it, and form- ing an abmpt separation between the two levels. The upper level, which occujiies the southern point of the triangle, and is about a third of the whole. Was the Acropolis in the time of Pausanias (ji vvv AKpoTToAis, ii. 7. § 5). MAP OF THE SITE OF SICYON (from Leake). A. Vasilikd. h b b. Remains of ancient walls. Pausanias came to Sicyon from Corinth. After crossing the Asopus, he noticed the Olympicium on the right, and a little farther on the left of the road SICYON. the tomb of Eupolis of Athens, the comic poet. After passing some other sepulchral monuments, he entered the city by the Corinthian gate, where was a fountain dropping down from the overhanging rocks, which was therefore called Stazusa (Sra- foiKTa), or the dropping fountain. This fountain has now disappeared in consequence of the falling in of the rocks. Upon entering the city Pausanias ^Hi first crossed the ledge of rocks dividing the upper ^|l from the lower level, and pas.sed into the Acropolis. ^Bl Here he noticed temples of Tyche and the Dioscuri, of which there are still some traces. Below the Acropolis was the theatre, the remains of which are found, in conformity with the description of Pau- sanias, in the ledge of rocks separating the two levels On the stage of the theatre stood the statue of a man with a shield, said to have been that of Aratus. Near the theatre was the temple of Dio- nysus, from which a road led past the ruined tem- ple of Artemis Limnaea to the Agora. At the en- trance of the Agora was the temple of Peitho or Persuasion : and in the Agora the temple of Apollo, which appears to have been the chief sanctuary in Sicyon. The festival of Apollo at Sicyon is cele- brated in the ninth Nemean ode of Pindar ; and Aratus, when he delivered his native city from its tyrant, gave as the watchword 'Air6Acov inrfp- Sf^ios. (Plut. A7-at. 7.) In the time of Polybius (xvii. 16) a brazen colossal statue of king Atta- ins I., 10 cubits high, stood in the Agora near the temple of Apollo; but this statue is not mentioned by Pausanias, and had therefore probably dis- appeared. (Pans. ii. 7. §§ 2 — 9.) Near the temple of Peitho was a sanctuary consecrated to the Roman emperors, and formerly the house of the tyrant Cleon. Before it stood the heroum of Aratus (Pans. ii. 8. § 8), and near it an altar of the Isthmian Poseidon, and statues of Zeus Meilichius and of Ai-temis Patroa, the former resembling a pyra- mid, the latter a column. In the Agora were also the council-house (^uvevT7]piuv), and a stoa built, by Cleisthenes out of the spoils of Cirrha ; like- wise a brazen statue of Zeus, the work of Lysippus, a gilded statue of Artemis, a ruined temple of Apollo Lyceius, and statues of the daughters of Proetus, of Hercules, and of Hermes Agoraeus. (Pans. ii. 9. §§ 6, 7.) The Poecile Stoa or painted stoa, was probably in the Agora, but is not mentioned by Pausanias. It w.as adomed with numerous paintings, which formed the subject of a work of Polemon. (Athen. xiii. p. 57 7). Pausanias then proceeded to the Gymnasium, which he describes as not far from the Agora. The Gymnasium contained a marble statue of Hercules by Scopas ; and in another part a temple of Hercules in a sacred inclosure, named Paedize. From thence a road led to two large inclosures, sacred to Asclepius and Aphrodite, both of which were adorned with several statues and buildings. From the Aphrodi- sium Pausanias went past the temple of Artemis Pheraea to the gymnasium of Cleinias, which was used for the training of the Ephebi, and which con- tained statues of Artemis and Hercules. (Paus. ii. 10.) It is evident that this gymn.asium was difi'erent from the one already described, as Pausanias con- tinues his course towards the sea-side. From thence he turns towards the gate of the city called the Sacred, near which there formerly stood a celebrated temple of Athena, built by Epopeus, one of the mythical kings of Sicyon, but which had been burnt by lightning, and of which nothing then remained but the altar: this temple may perhaps have been