Samicum

From its situation commanding this pass, it is probable that a city existed here from the earliest times; and it was therefore identified with the Arene of Homer,[1] which the poet places near the mouth of the Minyeius, a river supposed to be the same as the Anigrus.

According to Strabo the city was originally called Samos (Σάμος), from its being situated upon a hill, because this word formerly signified "heights"; Samicum was at first the name of the fortress, and the same name was also given to the surrounding plain.

[7] In a corrupt passage of Strabo this temple is said to be 100 stadia equidistant from Lepreum and the "Annius" (τοῦ Ἀννίου);[8] for the latter name we ought to read Alpheius and not Anigrus, as some editors have done.

Strabo relates that the waters of the lake were fetid, and its fish not eatable, which he attributes to the Centaurs washing their wounds in the Anigrus.

General Gordon, who visited these caverns in 1835, found in one of them water distilling from the rock, and bringing with it a pure yellow sulphur.

The remains found on Kleidi Hill include cyclopean walls and remnants of a settlement that was occupied in the middle and late Helladic periods.

[16][17] In 2023, archaeologists discovered the remains of an early temple-like structure that was located within the site of the sanctuary of Poseidon and was quite possibly dedicated to the god.