Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [43.5] Beside the entrance to the sanctuary of Dionysus is the grave of Astycratea and Manto. They were daughters of Polyidus, son of Coeranus, son of Abas, son of Melampus, who came to Megara to purify Alcathous when he had killed his son Callipolis. Polyidus also built the sanctuary of Dionysus, and dedicated a wooden image that in our day is covered up except the face, which alone is exposed. By the side of it is a Satyr of Parian marble made by Praxiteles. This Dionysus they call Patrous (Paternal); but the image of another, that they surname Dasyllius, they say was dedicated by Euchenor, son of Coeranus, son of Polyidus.

  [6] μετὰ δὲ τοῦ Διονύσου τὸ ἱερόν ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης ναός, ἄγαλμα δὲ ἐλέφαντος Ἀφροδίτη πεποιημένον Πρᾶξις ἐπίκλησιν. τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀρχαιότατον ἐν τῷ ναῷ: Πειθὼ δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα θεός, ἣν Παρήγορον ὀνομάζουσιν, ἔργα Πραξιτέλους: Σκόπα δὲ Ἔρως καὶ Ἵμερος καὶ Πόθος, εἰ δὴ διάφορά ἐστι κατὰ ταὐτὸ τοῖς ὀνόμασι καὶ τὰ ἔργα σφίσι. πλησίον δὲ τοῦ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ναοῦ Τύχης ἐστὶν ἱερόν, Πραξιτέλους καὶ αὕτη τέχνη: καὶ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῷ πλησίον Μούσας καὶ χαλκοῦν Δία ἐποίησε Λύσιππος.

  [43.6] After the sanctuary of Dionysus is a temple of Aphrodite, with an ivory image of Aphrodite surnamed Praxis (Action). This is the oldest object in the temple. There is also Persuasion and another goddess, whom they name Consoler, works of Praxiteles. By Scopas are Love and Desire and Yearning, if indeed their functions are as different as their names. Near the temple of Aphrodite is a sanctuary of Fortune, the image being one of the works of Praxiteles. In the temple hard by are Muses and a bronze Zeus by Lysippus.

  [7] ἔστι δὲ Μεγαρεῦσι καὶ Κοροίβου τάφος: τὰ δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν ἔπη κοινὰ ὅμως ὄντα τοῖς Ἀργείων ἐνταῦθα δηλώσω. ἐπὶ Κροτώπου λέγουσιν ἐν Ἄργει βασιλεύοντος Ψαμάθην τὴν Κροτώπου τεκεῖν παῖδα ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος, ἐχομένην δὲ ἰσχυρῶς τοῦ πατρὸς δείματι τὸν παῖδα ἐκθεῖναι: καὶ τὸν μὲν διαφθείρουσιν ἐπιτυχόντες ἐκ τῆς ποίμνης κύνες τῆς Κροτώπου, Ἀπόλλων δὲ Ἀργείοις ἐς τὴν πόλιν πέμπει Ποινήν. ταύτην τοὺς παῖδας ἀπὸ τῶν μητέρων φασὶν ἁρπάζειν, ἐς ὃ Κόροιβος ἐς χάριν Ἀργείοις φονεύει τὴν Ποινήν. φονεύσας δὲ — οὐ γὰρ ἀνίει σφᾶς δεύτερα ἐπιπεσοῦσα νόσος λοιμώδης — Κόροιβος ἑκὼν ἦλθεν ἐς Δελφοὺς ὑφέξων δίκας τῷ θεῷ τοῦ φόνου τῆς Ποινῆς.

  [43.7] The Megarians have also the grave of Coroebus. The poetical story of him, although it equally concerns Argos, I will relate here. They say that in the reign of Crotopus at Argos, Psamathe, the daughter of Crotopus, bore a son to Apollo, and being in dire terror of her father, exposed the child. He was found and destroyed by sheepdogs of Crotopus, and Apollo sent Vengeance to the city to punish the Argives. They say that she used to snatch the children from their mothers, until Coroebus to please the Argives slew Vengeance. Whereat as a second punishment plague fell upon them and stayed not. So Coroebus of his own accord went to Delphi to submit to the punishment of the god for having slain Vengeance.

  [8] ἐς μὲν δὴ τὸ Ἄργος ἀναστρέφειν οὐκ εἴα Κόροιβον ἡ Πυθία, τρίποδα δὲ ἀράμενον φέρειν ἐκέλευεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, καὶ ἔνθα ἂν ἐκπέσῃ οἱ φέροντι ὁ τρίπους, ἐνταῦθα Ἀπόλλωνος οἰκοδομῆσαι ναὸν καὶ αὐτὸν οἰκῆσαι. καὶ ὁ τρίπους κατὰ τὸ ὄρος τὴν Γερανίαν ἀπολισθὼν ἔλαθεν αὐτοῦ ἐκπεσών: καὶ Τριποδίσκους κώμην ἐνταῦθα οἰκῆσαι. Κοροίβῳ δέ ἐστι τάφος ἐν τῇ Μεγαρέων ἀγορᾷ: γέγραπται δὲ ἐλεγεῖα τὰ ἐς Ψαμάθην καὶ τὰ ἐς αὐτὸν ἔχοντα Κόροιβον, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐπίθημά ἐστι τῷ τάφῳ Κόροιβος φονεύων τὴν Ποινήν. ταῦτα ἀγάλματα παλαιότατα, ὁπόσα λίθου πεποιημένα ἐστὶν Ἕλλησιν, ἰδὼν οἶδα.

  [43.8] The Pythia would not allow Coroebus to return to Argos, but ordered him to take up a tripod and carry it out of the sanctuary, and where the tripod should fall from his hands, there he was to build a temple of Apollo and to dwell himself. At Mount Gerania the tripod slipped and fell unawares. Here he dwelt in the village called the Little Tripods. The grave of Coroebus is in the market-place of the Megarians. The story of Psamathe and of Coroebus himself is carved on it in elegiac verses and further, upon the top of the grave is represented Coroebus slaying Vengeance. These are the oldest stone images I am aware of having seen among the Greeks.

  44. Κοροίβου δὲ τέθαπται πλησίον Ὄρσιππος, ὃς περιεζωσμένων ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι κατὰ δὴ παλαιὸν ἔθος τῶν ἀθλητῶν Ὀλύμπια ἐνίκα στάδιον δραμὼν γυμνός, φασὶ δὲ καὶ στρατηγοῦντα ὕστερον τὸν Ὄρσιππον ἀποτεμέσθαι χώραν τῶν προσοίκων: δοκῶ δέ οἱ καὶ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τὸ περίζωμα ἑκόντι περιρρυῆναι, γνόντι ὡς ἀνδρὸς περιεζωσμένου δραμεῖν ῥᾴων ἐστὶν ἀνὴρ γυμνὸς.

  [44.1] XLIV. Near Coroebus is buried Orsippus who won the footrace at Olympia by running naked when all his competitors wore girdles according to ancient custom. They say also that Orsippus when general afterwards annexed some of the neighboring territory. My own opinion is that at Olympia he intentionally let the girdle slip off him, realizing that a naked man can run more easily than one girt.

  [2] ἐκ δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς κατιοῦσι τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς Εὐθείας καλουμένης Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ Προστατηρίου: τοῦτο ὀλίγον ἐκτραπέντα ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἀνευρεῖν. Ἀπόλλων δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ κεῖται θέας ἄξιος καὶ Ἄρτεμις καὶ Λητὼ καὶ ἄλλα ἀγάλματά ἐστι Πραξιτέλους ποιήσαντος Λητὼ καὶ οἱ παῖδες. ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ τῷ ἀρχαίῳ πλησίον πυλῶν καλουμένων Νυμφάδων λίθος παρεχόμενος πυραμίδος σχῆμα οὐ μεγάλης: τοῦτον Ἀπόλλωνα ὀνομάζουσι Καρινόν, καὶ Εἰλειθυιῶν ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα ἱερόν.

  τοσαῦτά σφισιν ἐς ἐπίδειξιν παρείχετο ἡ πόλις:

  [44.2] As you go down from the market-place you see on the right of the street called Straight a sanctuary of Apollo Prostaterius (Protecting). You must turn a little aside from the road to discover it. In it is a noteworthy Apollo, Artemis also, and Leto, and other statues, made by Praxiteles. In the old gymnasium near the gate called the Gate of the Nymphs is a stone of the shape of a small pyramid. This they name Apollo Carinus, and here there is a sanctuary of the Eileithyiae. Such are the sights that the city had to show.

  NISAEA

  [3] ἐς δὲ τὸ ἐπίνειον, καλούμενον καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι Νίσαιαν, ἐς τοῦτο κατελθοῦσιν ἱερὸν Δήμητρός ἐστι Μαλοφόρου: λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ἐς τὴν ἐπίκλησιν καὶ τοὺς πρώτους πρόβατα ἐν τῇ γῇ �
�ρέψαντας Δήμητρα ὀνομάσαι Μαλοφόρον, καταρρυῆναι δὲ τῷ ἱερῷ τὸν ὄροφον τεκμαίροιτο ἄν τις ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου. καὶ ἀκρόπολίς ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα ὀνομαζομένη καὶ αὐτὴ Νίσαια: καταβᾶσι δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως μνῆμά ἐστι πρὸς θαλάσσῃ Λέλεγος, ὃν ἀφικόμενον βασιλεῦσαι λέγουσιν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, παῖδα δὲ εἶναι Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Λιβύης τῆς Ἐπάφου. παρήκει δὲ παρὰ τὴν Νίσαιαν νῆσος οὐ μεγάλη Μινώα: ἐνταῦθα ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ πρὸς Νῖσον παρώρμει τὸ ναυτικὸν τῶν Κρητῶν.

  [44.3] When you have gone down to the port, which to the present day is called Nisaea, you see a sanctuary of Demeter Malophorus (Sheep-bearer or Apple-bearer). One of the accounts given of the surname is that those who first reared sheep in the land named Demeter Malophorus. The roof of the temple one might conclude has fallen in through age. There is a citadel here, which also is called Nisaea. Below the citadel near the sea is the tomb of Lelex, who they say arrived from Egypt and became king, being the son of Poseidon and of Libya, daughter of Epphus. Parallel to Nisaea lies the small island of Minoa, where in the war against Nisus anchored the fleet of the Cretans.

  PAGAE & AEGOSTHENA

  [4] ἡ δὲ ὀρεινὴ τῆς Μεγαρίδος τῆς Βοιωτῶν ἐστιν ὅμορος, ἐν ᾗ Μεγαρεῦσι Παγαὶ πόλις, ἑτέρα δὲ Αἰγόσθενα ᾤκισται. ἰοῦσι δὲ ἐς τὰς Παγὰς ἐκτραπομένοις ὀλίγον τῆς λεωφόρου πέτρα δείκνυται διὰ πάσης ἔχουσα ἐμπεπηγότας ὀιστούς, ἐς ἣν οἱ Μῆδοί ποτε ἐτόξευον ἐν τῇ νυκτί. ἐν δὲ ταῖς Παγαῖς θέας ὑπελείπετο ἄξιον Ἀρτέμιδος Σωτείρας ἐπίκλησιν χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμα, μεγέθει τῷ παρὰ Μεγαρεῦσιν ἴσον καὶ σχῆμα οὐδὲν διαφόρως ἔχον. καὶ Αἰγιαλέως ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν ἡρῷον τοῦ Ἀδράστου: τοῦτον γάρ, ὅτε Ἀργεῖοι τὸ δεύτερον ἐς Θήβας ἐστράτευσαν, ὑπὸ τὴν πρώτην μάχην πρὸς Γλισᾶντι ἀποθανόντα οἱ προσήκοντες ἐς Παγὰς τῆς Μεγαρίδος κομίσαντες θάπτουσι, καὶ Αἰγιάλειον ἔτι καλεῖται τὸ ἡρῷον.

  [44.4] The hilly part of Megaris borders upon Boeotia, and in it the Megarians have built the city Pagae and another one called Aegosthena. As you go to Pagae, on turning a little aside from the highway, you are shown a rock with arrows stuck all over it, into which the Persians once shot in the night. In Pagae a noteworthy relic is a bronze image of Artemis surnamed Saviour, in size equal to that at Megara and exactly like it in shape. There is also a hero-shrine of Aegialeus, son of Adrastus. When the Argives made their second attack on Thebes he died at Glisas early in the first battle, and his relatives carried him to Pagae in Megaris and buried him, the shrine being still called the Aegialeum.

  [5] ἐν Αἰγοσθένοις δὲ Μελάμποδος τοῦ Ἀμυθάονός ἐστιν ἱερὸν καὶ ἀνὴρ οὐ μέγας ἐπειργασμένος ἐν στήλῃ: καὶ θύουσι τῷ Μελάμποδι καὶ ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος ἑορτὴν ἄγουσι. μαντεύεσθαι δὲ οὔτε δι᾽ ὀνειράτων αὐτὸν οὔτε ἄλλως λέγουσι. καὶ τόδε ἄλλο ἤκουσα ἐν Ἐρενείᾳ τῇ Μεγαρέων κώμῃ, Αὐτονόην τὴν Κάδμου τῷ τε Ἀκταίωνος θανάτῳ, συμβάντι ὡς λέγεται, καὶ τῇ πάσῃ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρῴου τύχῃ περισσότερον ἀλγοῦσαν ἐνταῦθα ἐκ Θηβῶν μετοικῆσαι: καὶ Αὐτονόης μνῆμά ἐστιν ἐν τῇ κώμῃ ταύτῃ.

  [44.5] In Aegosthena is a sanctuary of Melampus, son of Amythaon, and a small figure of a man carved upon a slab. To Melampus they sacrifice and hold a festival every year. They say that he divines neither by dreams nor in any other way. Here is something else that I heard in Erenea, a village of the Megarians. Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus, left Thebes to live here owing to her great grief at the death of Actaeon, the manner of which is told in legend, and at the general misfortune of her father’s house. The tomb of Autonoe is in this village.

  SCIRONIAN ROAD

  [6] ἰοῦσι δὲ ἐκ Μεγάρων ἐς Κόρινθον ἄλλοι τέ εἰσι τάφοι καὶ αὐλητοῦ Σαμίου Τηλεφάνους: ποιῆσαι δὲ τὸν τάφον Κλεοπάτραν τὴν Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου λέγουσι. καὶ Καρὸς τοῦ Φορωνέως μνῆμά ἐστι, τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς χῶμα γῆς, ὕστερον δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ χρήσαντος ἐκοσμήθη λίθῳ κογχίτῃ. μόνοις δὲ Ἑλλήνων Μεγαρεῦσιν ὁ κογχίτης οὗτός ἐστι, καί σφισι καὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει πεποίηται πολλὰ ἐξ αὐτοῦ. ἔστι δὲ ἄγαν λευκὸς καὶ ἄλλου λίθου μαλακώτερος: κόγχοι δὲ αἱ θαλάσσιαι διὰ παντὸς ἔνεισίν οἱ. αὐτὸς μὲν τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ὁ λίθος: τὴν δὲ ὀνομαζομένην ἀπὸ Σκίρωνος καὶ ἐς τόδε Σκιρωνίδα Σκίρων, ἡνίκα Μεγαρεῦσιν ἐπολεμάρχει, πρῶτος ὡς λέγουσιν ἐποίησεν ἀνδράσιν ὁδεύειν εὐζώνοις: Ἀδριανὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ οὕτως ὡς καὶ ἅρματα ἐναντία ἐλαύνεσθαι κατέστησεν εὐρυχωρῆ τε καὶ ἐπιτηδείαν εἶναι.

  [44.6] On the road from Megara to Corinth are graves, including that of the Samian flute-player Telephanes, said to have been made by Cleopatra, daughter of Philip, son of Amyntas. There is also the tomb of Car, son of Phoroneus, which was originally a mound of earth, but afterwards, at the command of the oracle, it was adorned with mussel stone. The Megarians are the only Greeks to possess this stone, and in the city also they have made many things out of it. It is very white, and softer than other stone; in it throughout are sea mussels. Such is the nature of the stone. The road called Scironian to this day and named after Sciron, was made by him when he was war minister of the Megarians, and originally they say was constructed for the use of active men. But the emperor Hadrian broadened it, and made it suitable even for chariots to pass each other in opposite directions.

  [7] λόγοι δέ εἰσιν ἐς τὰς πέτρας, αἳ κατὰ τὸ στενὸν τῆς ὁδοῦ μάλιστα ἀνέχουσιν, ἐς μὲν τὴν Μολουρίδα, ὡς ἀπὸ ταύτης αὑτὴν ἐς θάλασσαν Ἰνὼ ῥίψαι Μελικέρτην ἔχουσα τῶν παίδων τὸν νεώτερον: τὸν γὰρ δὴ πρεσβύτερον αὐτῶν Λέαρχον ἀπέκτεινεν ὁ πατήρ. λέγεται μὲν δὴ καὶ μανέντα δρᾶσαι ταῦτα Ἀθάμαντα, λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἰνὼ καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς παῖδας χρήσαιτο ἀκρατεῖ τῷ θυμῷ τὸν συμβάντα Ὀρχομενίοις λιμὸν καὶ τὸν δοκοῦντα Φρίξου θάνατον αἰσθόμενος, οὗ τὸ θεῖον αἴτιον οὐ γενέσθαι, βουλεῦσαι δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν Ἰνὼ μητρυιὰν οὖσαν:

  [44.7] There are legends about the rocks, which rise especially at the narrow part of the road. As to the Molurian, it is said that from it Ino flung her self into the sea with Melicertes, the younger of her children. Learchus, the elder of them, had been killed by his father. One account is that Athamas did this in a fit of madness; another is
that he vented on Ino and her children unbridled rage when he learned that the famine which befell the Orchomenians and the supposed death of Phrixus were not accidents from heaven, but that Ino, the step-mother, had intrigued for all these things.

  [8] τότε δὲ φεύγουσα ἐς θάλασσαν αὑτὴν καὶ τὸν παῖδα ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας τῆς Μολουρίδος ἀφίησιν, ἐξενεχθέντος δὲ ἐς τὸν Κορινθίων ἰσθμὸν ὑπὸ δελφῖνος ὡς λέγεται τοῦ παιδός, τιμαὶ καὶ ἄλλαι τῷ Μελικέρτῃ δίδονται μετονομασθέντι Παλαίμονι καὶ τῶν Ἰσθμίων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἄγουσι. τὴν μὲν δὴ Μολουρίδα πέτραν Λευκοθέας καὶ Παλαίμονος ἱερὰν ἥγηντο: τὰς δὲ μετὰ ταύτην νομίζουσιν ἐναγεῖς, ὅτι παροικῶν σφισιν ὁ Σκίρων, ὁπόσοις τῶν ξένων ἐπετύγχανεν, ἠφίει σφᾶς ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν. χελώνη δὲ ὑπενήχετο ταῖς πέτραις τοὺς ἐσβληθέντας ἁρπάζειν: εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ θαλάσσιαι πλὴν μεγέθους καὶ ποδῶν ὅμοιαι ταῖς χερσαίαις, πόδας δὲ ἐοικότας ἔχουσι ταῖς φώκαις. τούτων περιῆλθεν ἡ δίκη Σκίρωνα ἀφεθέντα ἐς θάλασσαν τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπὸ Θησέως.

  [44.8] Then it was that she fled to the sea and cast herself and her son from the Molurian Rock. The son, they say, was landed on the Corinthian Isthmus by a dolphin, and honors were offered to Melicertes, then renamed Palaemon, including the celebration of the Isthmian games. The Molurian dock they thought sacred to Leucothea and Palaemon; but those after it they consider accursed, in that Sciron, who dwelt by them, used to cast into the sea all the strangers he met. A tortoise used to swim under the rocks to seize those that fell in. Sea tortoises are like land tortoises except in size and for their feet, which are like those of seals. Retribution for these deeds overtook Sciron, for he was cast into the same sea by Theseus.