[3][4] Carnasium, in the time of Pausanias, was the name given to a grove of cypresses, in which were statues of Apollo Carneius, of Hermes Criophorus, and of Persephone.
It was here that the mystic rites of the great goddesses were celebrated, and that the urn was preserved containing the bones of Eurytus, the son of Melaneus.
[5] According to Greek mythology, King Eurytus of Oechalia had promised the hand of his beautiful daughter Iole to whoever defeated him in an archery competition.
Homer calls the Oechalia in Messenia the city of Eurytus in both the Iliad[6] and the Odyssey,[7] and this identification was followed by Pherecydes of Athens and Pausanias.
[8] However, Homer also, followed Apollodorus of Athens and Aristarchus of Samothrace, placed it in Thessaly.