4. The mention of the river Alpheus reminds us of Sicily, whither, in order to catch the fountain Arethusa, which was swallowed up in the land of Elis, he is said to have followed her under the sea, and to have first reached her in the island of Ortygia, near Syracuse.(1563) This singular fable may perhaps be explained by the following considerations. Syracuse was founded in the 5th Olympiad by Corinthians, with whom were some settlers from the district of Olympia, and particularly some members of the family of the Iamidæ, who held a sacred office at the altar of the Olympian Zeus.(1564) These joint colonists (συνοιχιστῆρες according to the expression of Pindar) appear to have had sufficient weight in the new city to introduce their own religion and mythology. For, as we have seen above, Artemis was worshipped at Olympia as the goddess of the Alpheus, being generally considered in that country as presiding over lakes and rivers. She had in the grove of Altis an altar, together with Alpheus;(1565) and there was there a popular legend, that Alpheus had once loved Artemis. Now the settlers that went from this district to Syracuse, in their first expedition, confined themselves to the island of Ortygia. Here they built a temple to the river-goddess Artemis; a sanctuary of so great fame, that Pindar calls the whole island “the seat of Artemis, the river-goddess.(1566)” There was, however, no river in Ortygia, and therefore Artemis was supposed to regret her beloved Alpheus. Hence arose the belief that Arethusa, a fountain near the temple, contained the sacred water of the Alpheus;(1567) a belief which was strengthened by the circumstance that large fish were found in the spring;(1568) and from this arose the fable that Alpheus had followed the goddess to Sicily. But Artemis was supposed to fly from the pursuit of Alpheus.(1569) This at least was the fiction followed by Telesilla, a poetess who lived in the 64th Olympiad;(1570) and the same fable was perhaps adopted by Pindar.(1571) Afterwards, however, the precise meaning and origin of this fable were forgotten; and the fountain-nymph Arethusa took the place of Artemis, and became the object of the pursuit of the river-god.(1572) Such appears to have been the origin of the elegant fable of Alpheus and Arethusa.