Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
Description of Greece
''Description of Greece'' () is the only surviving work by the ancient "geographer" or tourist Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180).
Pausanias' ''Description of Greece'' comprises ten books, each of them dedicated to some ...
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
.
According to Pausanias in his description of Dyme, he was from that ancient
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...
n city and held in reverence by its inhabitants. He writes that on the side of a public road there was tomb of Sostratus, according to legend raised by Hercules in honour of his friend. Atop the mound was a slab with figure of Hercules in relief, where the Dymeans offered sacrifices.
Modern researchers and archaeology identified him with Polystratus, a hero of Dyme who assisted Heracles in the war against the Elean king
Augeas
In Greek mythology, Augeas (or Augeias, , ), whose name means "bright", was king of Elis and father of Epicaste. Some ancient authors say that Augeas was one of the Argonauts. He is known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number ...
and was killed there. Archaeological excavations uncovered a pillar identical to that described by Pausanias but with the name Polystratus on it.Kostas Triantafylloy, ''Patras Historic Dictionary'', 3rd edition, 1995.