Kitap 7
22.3
Coming at eventide, the inquirer of the god, having burnt incense upon the hearth, filled the lamps with oil and lighted them, puts on the altar on the right of the image a local coin, called a “copper,” and asks in the ear of the god the particular question he wishes to put to him. After that he stops his ears and leaves the marketplace. On coming outside he takes his hands from his ears, and whatever utterance he hears he considers oracular.
22.4
There is a similar method of divination practised at the sanctuary of Apis in Egypt. At Pharae there is also a water sacred to Hermes. The name of the spring is Hermes' stream, and the fish in it are not caught, being considered sacred to the god. Quite close to the image stand square stones, about thirty in number. These the people of Pharae adore, calling each by the name of some god. At a more remote period all the Greeks alike worshipped uncarved stones instead of images of the gods.
22.5
About fifteen stades from Pharae is a grove of the Dioscuri. The trees in it are chiefly laurels; I saw in it neither temple nor images, the latter, according to the natives, having been carried away to Rome. In the grove at Pharae is an altar of unshaped stones. I could not discover whether the founder of Pharae was Phares, son of Phylodameia, daughter of Danais, or someone else with the same name.
22.6
Triteia, also a city of Achaia, is situated inland, but like Pharae belongs to Patrae, having been annexed by the emperor. The distance to Triteia from Pharae is a hundred and twenty stades. Before you enter the city is a tomb of white marble, well worth seeing, especially for the paintings on the grave, the work of Nicias. There is an ivory chair on which is a young and beautiful woman, by whose side is a handmaid carrying a sunshade. There is also a young man, who is standing.
