2.2.1 Within the enclosure [peribolos] is on the left a temple [nāos] of Palaimon, with statues [agalmata] in it of Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon himself. There is also what is called his Holy-of-Holies [Aduton ‘impenetrable’], and an underground-descent [kathodos] to it, where they say that Palaimon is concealed [kruptesthai]. Whosoever, whether Corinthian or stranger [xenos], swears falsely here, will find no way [mēkhanē] to escape from his oath. There is also an ancient [arkhaion] sanctuary [hieron] called the altar [bōmos] of the Cyclopes, and they sacrifice [thuein] to the Cyclopes upon it.

2.2.2 The tombs [taphoi] of Sisyphus and of Neleus—for they say that Neleus came to Corinth, died of disease, and was buried near the Isthmus—I do not think that anyone would look for after reading Eumēlos. For he says that not even to Nestor did Sisyphus show the tomb [mnēma] of Neleus, because it must [khrēnai] be kept unknown to everybody alike, and that Sisyphus is indeed buried on the Isthmus, but that few Corinthians, even those of his own day, knew where the tomb [taphos] was. The Isthmian Competition [agōn] was not interrupted even when Corinth had been destroyed by Mummius, but so long as it [= Corinth] was depopulated the celebrating [agein] of the Contest was entrusted to the people of Sikyon, and when it was repopulated the honor [tīmē] was restored to the present population.

2.2.3 The names of the Corinthian harbors were given them by Lekhes and Cenchrias, said to be the children of Poseidon and Peirene the daughter of Akhelōos, though in the poem called The Great Ehoiai Peirene is said to be a daughter of Oibalos. In Lechaion are a sanctuary and a bronze statue [agalma] of Poseidon, and on the road leading from the Isthmus to Cenchreae a temple and ancient wooden-statue [xoanon]of Artemis. In Kenkhreai are a temple and a stone statue [agalma] of Aphrodite, after it on the mole running into the sea a bronze statue of Poseidon, and at the other end of the harbor sanctuaries of Asklepios and of Isis. Right opposite Kenkhreai is Helen’s Bath. It is a large stream of salt, tepid water, flowing from a rock into the sea.

2.2.4 As one goes up to Corinth are tombs, and by the gate is buried Diogenes of Sinope, whom the Greeks surname the Dog. Before the city is a grove of cypresses called Craneum. Here are a precinct of Bellerophontes, a temple of Aphrodite Melainis and the tomb of Lais, upon which is set a lioness holding a ram in her fore-paws.

2.2.5 There is in Thessaly another tomb which claims to be that of Lais, for she went to that country also when she fell in love with Hippostratos. The story is that originally she was of Hycara in Sicily. Taken captive while yet a girl by Nikias and the Athenians, she was sold and brought to Corinth, where she surpassed in beauty the courtesans of her time, and so won the admiration of the Corinthians that even now they claim Lais as their own.

2.2.6 The things worthy of mention in the city include the extant remains of antiquity, but the greater number of them belong to the period of its second ascendancy. On the marketplace, where most of the sanctuaries are, stand Artemis surnamed Ephesian and wooden images of Dionysus, which are covered with gold with the exception of their faces; these are ornamented with red paint. They are called Lysius and Baccheus,

2.2.7 and I too give the story told about them. They say that Pentheus treated Dionysus despitefully, his crowning outrage being that he went to Kithairon, to spy upon the women, and climbing up a tree beheld what was done. When the women detected Pentheus, they immediately dragged him down, and joined in tearing him, living as he was, limb from limb. Afterwards, as the Corinthians say, the Pythian priestess commanded them by an oracle to discover that tree and to worship it equally with the god. For this reason they have made these images from the tree.

2.2.8 There is also a temple of Fortune, with a standing statue [agalma] of Parian marble. Beside it is a sanctuary for all the gods. Hard by is built a fountain, on which is a bronze Poseidon; under the feet of Poseidon is a dolphin spouting water. There is also a bronze Apollo surnamed Clarius and a statue [agalma] of Aphrodite made by Hermogenes of Cythera. There are two bronze, standing statues [agalmata] of Hermes, for one of which a temple has been made. The images of Zeus also are in the open; one had not a surname, another they call Khthonios (of the Lower World) and the third Most High.