8.9.1 The Mantineians possess a temple composed of two parts, being divided almost exactly at the middle by a wall. In one part of the temple is an image of Asklepios, made by Alkamenes; the other part is a sanctuary of Leto and her children, and their images were made by Praxiteles two generations after Alkamenes. On the pedestal of these are figures of Muses together with Marsyas playing the aulos [‘double-reed’]. Here there is a figure of Polybius, the son of Lykortas, carved in relief upon a slab, of whom I shall make fuller mention later on.^*

8.9.2 The Mantineians have other sanctuaries also, one of Zeus Savior, and one of Zeus Giver of Gifts, in that he gives good things to men. There is also a sanctuary of the Dioskouroi, and in another place one of Demeter and the Maiden. Here they keep a fire, taking anxious care not to let it go out. Near the theater I saw a temple of Hērā.

8.9.3 Praxiteles made the images Hērā is sitting, while Athena and Hērā’s daughter Hebe are standing by her side. Near the altar of Hērā is the tomb of Arkas, the son of Kallisto. The bones of Arkas they brought from Mainalos, in obedience to an oracle delivered to them from Delphi:

8.9.4 “Maenalia is storm-swept, where lies

8.9.5 Not far from the theater are famous tombs, one called Common Hearth, round in shape, where, they told me, lies Antinoe, the daughter of Cepheus. On it stands a slab, on which is carved in relief a horseman, Grylos, the son of Xenophon.

8.9.6 Behind the theater I found the remains, with an image, of a temple of Aphrodite surnamed Ally. The inscription on the pedestal announced that the image was dedicated by Nicippe, the daughter of Paseas. This sanctuary was made by the Mantineians to remind posterity of their fighting on the side of the Romans at the battle of Actium. They also worship Athena Aléā, of whom they have a sanctuary and an image.

8.9.7 Antinous too was deified by them; his temple is the newest in Mantineia. He was a great favorite of ‘King’ [basileus] Hadrian. I never saw him in the flesh, but I have seen images and pictures of him. He has honors in other places also, and on the Nile is an Egyptian city named after Antinous. He has won worship in Mantineia for the following reason. Antinous was by birth from Bithynium beyond the river Sangarios, and the Bithynians are by descent Arcadians of Mantineia.

8.9.8 For this reason the Emperor established his worship in Mantineia also; mystic rites are celebrated in his honor each year, and games every four years. There is a building in the gymnasium of Mantineia containing statues of Antinous, and remarkable for the stones with which it is adorned, and especially so for its pictures. Most of them are portraits of Antinous, who is made to look just like Dionysus. There is also a copy here of the painting in the Cerameicus which represented the engagement of the Athenians at Mantineia.

8.9.9 In the marketplace is a bronze portrait-statue of a woman, said by the Mantineians to be Diomeneia, the daughter of Arkas, and a hero-shrine of Podares, who was killed, they say, in the battle with the Thebaus under Epameinondas. Three generations ago they changed the inscription on the tomb and made it apply to a descendant of this Podares with the same name, who was born late enough to have Roman citizenship.

8.9.10 In my time the elder Podares was honored by the Mantineians, who said that he who proved the bravest in the battle, of themselves and of their allies, was Grylos, the son of Xenophon; next to Grylos was Kephisodoros of Marathon, who at the time commanded the Athenian horse. The third place for valor they give to Podares.