Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 28 -- Et In Arcadia Ego
Strabo's Geographia noted the popular belief that if two garlands dedicated to the Alpheus and
the Eurotas were thrown into the stream before in plunged underground near Asea, each would
reappear in its appropriate river, but Strabo, himself, disagreed for several reasons.
They say that it is the river Alpheus which rises in the Peloponnesus, and that it flows through
the land beneath the sea to the place where the Arethusa rises and flows into the sea. Some
such proofs as these are given in support of the fact.
1. The cast up chalice
A certain chalice having fallen into the river at Olympia was cast up by the springs of Arethusa;
the fountain too is troubled by the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. And Pindar, following such
reports, thus sings,
"Ortygia, revered place of reappearing of the Alpheus,
The offset of renowned Syracuse."
The fable of the chalice being carried over is likewise a mere fabrication, for it is not calculated
for transfer, nor is it by any means probable it should be washed away so far, nor yet by such
difficult passages. Many rivers, however, and in many parts of the world, flow beneath the
earth, but none for so great a distance.
As this chalice would prove to be long cited, we'll give it more attention a bit later in this chapter.
2. The lack of a chasm
Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm, there would
be a probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily,.. but since the mouth of the
river manifestly falls into the sea, and there does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea
there, which would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river.
Were the Alpheus to empty into a visible chasm, however, Strabo implies that it would be
plausible for the flow to continue a submarine course as far as Sicily.
3. The Arethusan spring's fresh water
It might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh water, if they were presently to be
swallowed down into a passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the sea. It is
altogether impossible; and this the water of Arethusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for
beverage; but that the flow of the river should remain compact through so long a course, not
mixing with the sea until it should fall into the fancied channel, is entirely visionary.
Strabo finds the Alpheus to be entirely unlike the Rhone, which he indeed believed to flow
underground.
For we can scarcely credit it of the Rhone, the body of the waters of which remains compact
during its passage through the lake, and preserves a visible course, but in that instance both
the distance is short and the lake is not agitated by waves like the sea, but in this case of the
Alpheus, where there are great storms and the waters are tossed with violence, the supposition
is by no means worthy of attention.
Strabo offers another possible source of the Alpheus, but as a citation not to be believed.
Zoilus the rhetorician, in his Eulogium of the people of Tenedos [an Aegean island off modern
Turkey] says that the river Alpheus flows from Tenedos
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