Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/324

 308 MEGALOPOLIS. insisted upon preserving the former dimensions of the city. The former party, throu,H;h the mediation of Aratus, appear to have prevailed, and the city was unfortunately rebuilt in its original magnitude. (Polyb. V. 93.) The fortifications were sufficiently strong to resist the attack of the tyrant Nubis (Plut. ritUop. 13); but they were again suffered to fall into decay; and even as soon as B.C. 175, we find that Antiochus IV. Epiphanes promised the Megalopolitans to surround their city with a wall, and gave them the greater part of the necessary money. (Liv. xli. 20.) Polybius remarks (is. 21) that the population of Megalopolis in his time was only the half of that of Sparta, although it was two stadia greater in circumference. So much was it reduced, that a comic poet, quoted by Strabo, de- scrilied " the Great City as a great desert " (e>r)|Ui'a fXiyaXt] Vt1»' 7} M.fydj irdAis, viii. p. 388). Ac- customed as Pausanias was to the sight of fallen cities, the ruined condition of Jlegalopolis appears to have particularly impressed him, and gave rise to the reflections which he has inserted after his de- scription of the city (viii. 33). Megalopolis was the birthplace of Philopoemen, and of the historian Polybius. Megalopolis was situated in the middle of a plain, and, unlike the generality of Grecian cities, possessed no height, which might be converted into an acro- polis. Mantineia, which was also rebuilt about the same time, was placed in a level situation, instead of its old position upon a hill. A level situation ap- pears to have been chosen as more convenient for a large population than the rocky heights upon which the old Greek cities were built; while the improve- ments which had been made in the art of fortifying cities enabled their inhabitants to dispense with natural defences. The city lay upon either bank of the Helisson, which flowed through it from east to west, and diided it into nearly two equal parts. .Mt-CJ.Vl-UPlJl.IS. A . Orestia. 15 B. The Helisson. C. Theatre. D. Stadium. E. Thersiliuni. F. Agora. G. Temple of Athena Polias. H. Temple of Hera Teleia. I. The Batliyllus. The Helisson flows into the Alpheius about 2j English miles from the city. The southern half of the city was called Orestia ('OpecrTia), from an ancient settlement of the Maenalians upon this spot. (Steph. B. s. V. MeydT) ttcSAis.) The ruins of ile- MEGALOPOLIS. galopolis are near the modem village of Sindnu ; but almost all trace of the walls has disappeared, be- cause they were probably built, like those of Man- tineia (Xen. Hell. v. 2. § 5 ; Pans. viii. 8. § 5), of unburnt bricks. Pausanias has given a particular description of the public buildings (viii. 30 — 32), the site of some of which may still be fixed by the exist- ing remains. The two most important buildings were the theatre, on the left or southern side of the river, and the Agora on the right. The colossal remains of the theatre are conspicuous in the whole plain. Several of the seats remain, and a part of the wall of the cavea. It is described by Pausanias (viii. 32. § 1) as the greatest theatre in Greece, and was 480 feet in diameter. Pausanias says that in the theatre there was a perennial fountain, which Leake could not find, but which Eoss noticed in the Orchestra; it is now covered with rubbish, so that it is not visible, but in diy seasons it makes the ground quite moist and slippery. On the eastern side of the theatre was the stadium, the position of which is hidicated in the shaj)e of the ground near the river. Here i.s a fountain of water, which Pausanias says was in tlie stadium, and was sacred to Dionysus. On the eastern side of the stadium was a temple of Diony- sus; and below the stadium, towards the river, were a sanctuary of Aphrodite, and an altar of Ares. Ross supposes a circular foundation close to the bank of the river to be the altar of Ares, and a quadran- gular foundation between this and the theatre to be the temple of Aphrodite. East of the temple of Dionysus there is another source of water, also men- tioned by Pausanias, by which we can fix the posi- tion of the temple of Asclepius the Boy; above which, on a gently sloping hill, was a temple of Artemis Agrotera. West of the theatre was the Thersilium, named from the person who built it, in which the Ten Thousand were accustomed to meet; and near it was a house, built originally by the Me- galopolitans for Alexander, the son of Philip. In this same locality there were a few foundations of a temple sacred to Apollo, Hermes, and the Muses. Opposite the western end of the theatre there are, on both sides of the river, but more especially on the northern bank, large masses of square stones. These ai-e probably the remains of the principal bridge over the Helisson, which led from the theatre to the Agora on the northern side of the river. The Agora was built on a magnificent scale, and extended along the river close to the western walls of the city; since Pausanias, who entered Jlegalopolis upon this side, immediately came upon the Agora. As Pau.sanias has given a fuller description of the Agora of Mega- lopolis than of any other in Greece, the following restoration of it (taken from Curtius) may be found useful in understanding the general form and ar- rangement of such buildings. In the centre of the Agira was an inclosure sacred to Zeus Lycaeus, who was the tutelary deity of all Arcadia. It had no entrance ; but the objects it contained were exposed to public view; here were seen two altars of the god, two tables, two eagles, and a statue in stone of Pan. Before the sacred in- closure of Zeus there was a statue of Apollo in brass, 12 feet high, which was brought from Bassae by the Phigalians, to adorn the new capital; it sur- vived the destniction of the city, and is represented on coins of Septimius Severus. This colossal sta- tue probably stood on the west side of the sanc- tuary of Zeus. To the right of the colossal statue was the temple of the Mother of the Gods, of which