9.34.1 Before arriving at Korōneia from Alalkomenai there is the sanctuary [hieron] of Athena Itōniā. It is named after Itōnios son of Amphiktyon, and here the Boeotians gather for their common [koinos] assembly [sullogos]. In the temple [nāos] are bronze statues [agalmata] of Athena Itōniā and Zeus; the artwork [tekhnē] was by Agorakritos, student [mathētēs] and loved-one [erōmenos] of Pheidias. In my time they dedicated [anatithenai] also statues [agalmata] of the Graces [Kharites].

9.34.2 The following such tale, too, is told. Iodamā, who was-dedicated-as-priestes [hieroûsthai] to the goddesss, entered the precinct [temenos] by night, where Athena appeared [phanênai] to her , upon whose tunic [khitōn] was the head of Medusa the Gorgon. When Iodamā saw it, she was turned to stone. For this reason a woman puts fire every day on the altar [bōmos] of Iodamā, and as she does this she three times says again and again in the Boeotian dialect that Iodamā is-alive [zên] and the fire [pûr] is-burning [aithein].

9.34.3 At the marketplace [agora] of Korōneia are two things worthy of memorializing [mnēmē].One is an altar [bōmos] of Hermes Epimēlios [‘he who watches over the sheep’]and the other is an altar of the winds [anemoi]. A little lower down is a sanctuary [hieron] of Hērā with an ancient statue [agalma], the workmanship [tékhnē] of Pythodoros of Thebes; in her hand she carries Sirens. They say that that the daughters of Akhelōos were persuaded by Hērā to compete with the Muses in singing. The Muses won, and they are said to have plucked out the Sirens’ feathersand made garlands [stephanoi] for themselves out of them.

9.34.4 Some forty stadium-lengths from Korōneia is Mount Libēthrios, on which are images of the Muses and Nymphs invoked with the epithet Libēthriai. There are springs [pēgai] too, one named Libēthriás and the other Rock [Petra], which are shaped like a woman’s breasts, and from them comes water like milk.

9.34.5 The distance from Korōneia to Mount Laphystios and the precinct [temenos] of Zeus Laphysios is about twenty stadium-lengths. The statue [agalma] is of stone. They say that when Athamas was about to sacrifice [thuein] here Phrixos and Hellē, a ram with his fleece of gold was sent by Zeus to the children, and that on the back of this ram they escaped. Higher up is a Hēraklēs invoked by the epithet Kharops [‘with favoring looks’]ith bright eyes]. Here, say the Boeotians, Hēraklēs came-up-from-under [ana-bênai] with the hound of Hādēs. On the way down from Mount Laphystios to the sanctuary [hieron] of Athena Itōniā is the river Phalaros, which runs into the lake Kēphisís.

9.34.6 Beyond Mount Laphystios is Orkhomenos, as famous a Greek city [polis] as any. Once raised to the greatest heights of prosperity, it too was fated to fall almost as low as Mycenae and Delos. The extent of their ancient traditions they memorialize [mnēmoneuein] as follows . They say that Andreus, son of the river Pēneios, was the first to settle [ep-oikeîn] here, and after him the land was named Andrēís.

9.34.7 Then, after Athamas arrived on the scene, he [Andreus] assigned [apo-nemein] to him, of his own land, the territory round Mount Laphystios, along with what are now the territories of Korōneia and Haliartos. Athamas, thinking that none of his male children were left, adopted Haliartos and Korōnos, the sons of Thersandros, the son of Sisyphus, his brother. For he himself had put to death Learkhos and Melikertes; Leukōn had fallen sick and died; while as for Phrixos, Athamas did not know if he survived or had descendants surviving.

9.34.8 When later Phrixos himself, according to some, or Presbōn, according to others, returned from Kolkhis—Presbōn was a son of Phrixos by the daughter of Aiētēs—the sons of Thersandros agreed that the house of Athamas belonged to Athamas and his descendants, while they themselves became founders of Haliartos and Korōneia, for Athamas gave them a part of his land.

9.34.9 Even before this, Andreus took awayfrom Athamas that man’s wife, Euhippē, daughter of Leukōn, to be his own wife, and he had with her a son, Eteokles. According to the talk [phēmē] of the people-of-the-city [polītai], Eteokles was the son of the river Kēphisos, and for that reason some who make-poetry [poieîn] called him Kēphisiadēs in their verses [epos plural].

9.34.10 When this Eteokles became king, he let the country be still called after Andreus, but he established two city-divisions [phūlai], naming one [phūlē] Kēphisiás, and the other after himself. When Almos, the son of Sisyphus, came to him, he gave him to dwell-in a little of the land, and these settlements [kōmai] were then called Almōnes after this Almos. Afterwards the name of the settlement [kōmē]that was generally adopted was Olmōnes.