LUSI
Eth.
LUSI (
Λουσοί, Paus.,
Steph. B. sub voce Λοῦσοι,
Λουσσοί,
τὰ Λοῦσσα, Schol.
ad Callim. Dian. 235; comp. Meineke, ad
Steph. B. sub voce : Eth.
Λούσιος, Eth.
Λουσεύς, Eth.
Λουσιάτης,
Steph. B. sub voce Λουσιεύς, Xen.
Anab. 4.2.21), a town in the north of Arcadia, originally independent of, but afterwards subject to, Cleitor. [
CLEITOR] Lusi was situated in the upper valley of the Aroanius, and probably on the site of
Sudhená, which stands in the NE. corner of the valley at the foot of Mt.
Khelmós (the ancient Aroanian mountains), and on the road from
Tripolitzá to
Kalávryta. The upper valley of the Aroanius, now called the plain of
Sudhená, consists of two plains, of which the more easterly is the one through which the Aroanius flows, the waters of which force their way through a gorge in the mountains into the plain of Cleitor, now
Kátzana, to the south.
The more westerly plain of
Sudhená is entirely shut in by a range of hills; and the waters of three streams which flow into this plain are carried off by a katavóthra, after forming an inundation, apparently the Lacus Clitorius mentioned by Pliny (
31.2. s. 13).
The air is damp and cold; and in this locality the best hemlock was grown (Theophr. 9.15.8).
Lusi was still independent in the 58th Olympiad; since one of its citizens is recorded to have gained the victory in the 11th Pythiad. (
Paus. 8.18.8.) Its territory was ravaged by the Aetolians in the Social War (
Plb. 4.18); but in the time of Pausanias there were no longer even any ruins of the town. (Paus.
l.c.) Its name, however, was preserved in consequence of its temple of Artemis Lusia or Hemerasia (the “Soother” ).
The goddess was so called, because it was here that the daughters of Proetus were purified from their madness. They had concealed themselves in a large cavern, from which they were taken by Melampus, who cured them by sacred expiations. Thereupon their father Proetus founded this temple of Artemis Hemerasia, which was regarded with great reverence throughout the whole Peloponnesus as an inviolable asylum.
It was plundered by the Aetolians in the Social War.
It was situated near Lusi, at the distance of 40 stadia from Cynaetha. (Paus.; Polyb.
ll. cc.; Callim.
Dian. 233.)
The interior of the temple, with the purification of the daughters of Proetus, is represented
[p. 2.218]on an ancient vase. (Millinger,
Peintures de Vases, pl. 52 ; Müller,
Denkmäler der alt. Kunst, t. 11.)
The ruins, which Dodwell discovered above Lusi towards the end of the plain, and on the road to Cynaetha, are probably those of the temple of Artemis Leake discovered some ancient foundations at the middle fountain of the three in the more westerly of the two plains of
Sudhená, which he supposes to be the remains of the temple. One of the officers of the French Commission observed a large cave on the western side of the Aroanian mountains, in which the inhabitants of
Sudhená were accustomed to take refuge during war, and which is probably the one intended in the legend of the daughters of Proetus. (Dodwell,
Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 447; Leake,
Morea, vol. ii. p. 109, vol. iii. pp. 168, 181; Boblaye,
Récherches, &c. p. 155; Curtius,
Peloponnesos, vol. i. p. 375, seq.)
