Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [6] λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Ἠλεῖοι καὶ ἔπος ἐς τὴν Πύλον ταύτην ἔχειν τῶν Ὁμήρου, “γένος δ᾽ ἦν ἐκ ποταμοῖο

  Ἀλφειοῦ, ὅστ᾽ εὐρὺ ῥέει Πυλίων διὰ γαίης,

  “Hom. Il 5.544καὶ ἐμὲ ἔπειθον λέγοντες: ῥεῖ γὰρ δὴ διὰ τῆς χώρας ταύτης ὁ Ἀλφειός, ἐς δὲ ἄλλην Πύλον οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπενεγκεῖν τὸ ἔπος: Πυλίων γὰρ τῶν ὑπὲρ νήσου τῆς Σφακτηρίας οὐ πέφυκεν ἀρχὴν διοδεύειν τὴν γῆν ὁ Ἀλφειός, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ Ἀρκάδων Πύλον ποτὲ ὀνομασθεῖσαν ἴσμεν πόλιν.

  [22.6] The Eleans declare that there is a reference to this Pylus in the passage of Homer:–

  And he was descended from the river

  Alpheius, that in broad stream flows through the land of the Pylians. Hom. Il. 5.544

  The Eleans convinced me that they are right. For the Alpheius does flow through this district, and the passage cannot refer to another Pylus. For the land of the Pylians over against the island Sphacteria simply cannot in the nature of things be crossed by the Alpheius, and, moreover, we know of no city in Arcadia named Pylus.

  THE RIVER CYTHERUS

  [7] ἀπέχει δὲ ὡς πεντήκοντα Ὀλυμπίας σταδίους κώμη τε Ἠλείων Ἡράκλεια καὶ πρὸς αὐτῇ Κύθηρος ποταμός: πηγὴ δὲ ἐκδιδοῦσα ἐς τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ νυμφῶν ἐστιν ἱερὸν ἐπὶ τῇ πηγῇ. ὀνόματα δὲ ἰδίᾳ μὲν ἑκάστῃ τῶν νυμφῶν Καλλιφάεια καὶ Συνάλλασις καὶ Πηγαία τε καὶ Ἴασις, ἐν κοινῷ δέ σφισιν ἐπίκλησις Ἰωνίδες. λουομένοις δὲ ἐν τῇ πηγῇ καμάτων τέ ἐστι καὶ ἀλγημάτων παντοίων ἰάματα: καλεῖσθαι δὲ τὰς νύμφας ἀπὸ Ἴωνος λέγουσι τοῦ Γαργηττοῦ, μετοικήσαντος ἐνταῦθα ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν.

  [22.7] Distant from Olympia about fifty stades is Heracleia, a village of the Eleans, and beside it is a river Cytherus. A spring flows into the river, and there is a sanctuary of nymphs near the spring. Individually the names of the nymphs are Calliphaeia, Synallasis, Pegaea and Iasis, but their common surname is the Ionides. Those who bathe in the spring are cured of all sorts of aches and pains. They say that the nymphs are named after Ion, the son of Gargettus, who migrated to this place from Athens.

  LETRINI

  [8] εἰ δὲ ἐλθεῖν ἐς Ἦλιν διὰ τοῦ πεδίου θελήσειας, σταδίους μὲν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐς Λετρίνους ἕξεις, ὀγδοήκοντα δὲ ἐκ Λετρίνων καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐπὶ Ἦλιν. τὸ μὲν δὴ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πόλισμα ἦν οἱ Λετρῖνοι, καὶ Λετρεὺς ὁ Πέλοπος ἐγεγόνει σφίσιν οἰκιστής: ἐπ᾽ ἐμοῦ δὲ οἰκήματά τε ἐλείπετο ὀλίγα καὶ Ἀλφειαίας Ἀρτέμιδος ἄγαλμα ἐν ναῷ.

  [22.8] If you wish to go to Elis through the plain, you will travel one hundred and twenty stades to Letrini, and one hundred and eighty from Letrini to Elis. Originally Letrini was a town, and Letreus the son of Pelops was its founder; but in my time were left a few buildings, with an image of Artemis Alpheiaea in a temple.

  [9] γενέσθαι δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν τῇ θεῷ λέγουσιν ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε: ἐρασθῆναι τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ἐρασθέντα δέ, ὡς ἐπέγνω μὴ γενήσεσθαί οἱ διὰ πειθοῦς καὶ δεήσεως τὸν γάμον, ἐπιτολμᾶν ὡς βιασόμενον τὴν θεόν, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐς παννυχίδα ἐς Λετρίνους ἐλθεῖν ὑπὸ αὐτῆς τε ἀγομένην τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ νυμφῶν αἷς παίζουσα συνῆν αὐτῇ: τὴν δὲ — ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ γὰρ τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ἔχειν — ἀλείψασθαι τὸ πρόσωπον πηλῷ καὶ αὐτὴν καὶ ὅσαι τῶν νυμφῶν παρῆσαν, καὶ τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ὡς ἐσῆλθεν, οὐκ ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων διακρῖναι τὴν Ἄρτεμιν, ἅτε δὲ οὐ διαγινώσκοντα ἀπελθεῖν ἐπὶ ἀπράκτῳ τῷ ἐγχειρήματι.

  [22.9] Legend has it that the goddess received the surname for the following reason. Alpheius fell in love with Artemis, and then, realizing that persuasive entreaties would not win the goddess as his bride, he dared to plot violence against her. Artemis was holding at Letrini an all-night revel with the nymphs who were her playmates, and to it came Alpheius. But Artemis had a suspicion of the plot of Alpheius, and smeared with mud her own face and the faces of the nymphs with her. So Alpheius, when he joined the throng, could not distinguish Artemis from the others, and, not being able to pick her out, went away without bringing off his attempt.

  [10] Λετριναῖοι μὲν δὴ Ἀλφειαίαν ἐκάλουν τὴν θεὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ τῷ ἐς αὐτὴν ἔρωτι: οἱ δὲ Ἠλεῖοι — φιλία γάρ σφισιν ὑπῆρχεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐς Λετριναίους — τὰ παρὰ σφίσιν Ἀρτέμιδι ἐς τιμὴν τῇ Ἐλαφιαίᾳ καθεστηκότα ἐς Λετρίνους τε μετήγαγον καὶ τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι ἐνόμισαν τῇ Ἀλφειαίᾳ δρᾶν, καὶ οὕτω τὴν Ἀλφειαίαν θεὸν Ἐλαφιαίαν ἀνὰ χρόνον ἐξενίκησεν

  ὀνομασθῆναι.

  [22.10] The people of Letrini called the goddess Alpheian because of the love of Alpheius for her. But the Eleans, who from the first had been friends of Letrini, transferred to that city the worship of Artemis Elaphiaea established amongst themselves, and held that they were worshipping Artemis Alpheiaea, and so in time the Alpheiaean goddess came to be named Elaphiaea.

  [11] Ἐλαφιαίαν δὲ ἐκάλουν οἱ Ἠλεῖοι τὴν Ἄρτεμιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἐλάφων ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν τῇ θήρᾳ: αὐτοὶ δὲ γυναικὸς ἐπιχωρίας ὄνομα εἶναι τὴν Ἐλάφιον καὶ ὑπὸ ταύτης τραφῆναι τὴν Ἄρτεμίν φασι. Λετρίνων δὲ ὅσον τε ἕξ ἀπωτέρω σταδίοις ἐστὶν ἀέναος λίμνη τριῶν που τὴν διάμετρον σταδίων μάλιστα.

  [22.11] The Eleans, I think, called Artemis Elaphiaea from the hunting of the deer (elaphos). But they themselves say that Elaphius was the name of a native woman by whom Artemis was reared. About six stades distant from Letrini is a lake that never dries up, being just about three stades across.

  ELIS CITY

  23. ἐν δὲ Ἤλιδι τὰ ἄξια μνήμης γυμνάσιόν ἐστιν ἀρχαῖον: καὶ ὅσα ἐς τοὺς ἀθλητὰς πρὶν ἢ ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ἀφικνεῖσθαι νομίζουσιν, ἐν τούτῳ σφίσι τῷ γυμνασίῳ δρᾶν καθέστηκε. πλάτανοι μὲν ὑψηλαὶ διὰ τῶν δρόμων πεφύκασιν ἐντὸς τοίχου: ὁ σύμπας δὲ οὗτος περίβολος καλεῖται Ξυστός, ὅτι Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Ἀμφιτρύωνος ἐς ἄσκησιν ἐγίνετο, ὅσαι τῶν ἀκανθῶν ἐφύοντο ἐνταῦθα ἐπὶ ἑκάστῃ ἡμέρᾳ σφᾶς ἀναξύειν.

  [23.1] XXIII. One of the noteworthy things in Elis is an old gymnasium. In this gymnasium the athletes are wont to go through the training through which they must pass before going to Olympia. High plane-trees grow between the tracks inside a wall. The whole of this enclosure is called Xystus, because an exercise of Hera
cles, the son of Amphitryo, was to scrape up (anaxuein) each day all the thistles that grew there.

  [2] χωρὶς μὲν δὴ ἐς ἅμιλλαν τῶν δρομέων ἐστὶν ἀποκεκριμένος δρόμος, ὀνομάζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἱερός, χωρὶς δὲ ἔνθα ἐπὶ μελέτῃ δρομεῖς καὶ οἱ πένταθλοι θέουσιν. ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ καλούμενον Πλέθριον: ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ συμβάλλουσιν οἱ Ἑλλανοδίκαι τοὺς καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν ἢ καὶ αὐτῷ διαφέροντας τῷ ἐπιτηδεύματι: συμβάλλουσι δὲ ἐπὶ πάλῃ.

  [23.2] The track for the competing runners, called by the natives the Sacred Track, is separate from that on which the runners and pentathletes practise. In the gymnasium is the place called Plethrium. In it the umpires match the competitors according to age and skill; it is for wrestling that they match them.

  [3] εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ θεῶν ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ βωμοί, Ἡρακλέους τοῦ Ἰδαίου, Παραστάτου δὲ ἐπίκλησιν, καὶ Ἔρωτος καὶ ὃν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι κατὰ ταὐτὰ Ἠλείοις Ἀντέρωτα ὀνομάζουσι, Δήμητρός τε καὶ τῆς παιδός. Ἀχιλλεῖ δὲ οὐ βωμός, κενὸν δέ ἐστιν αὐτῷ μνῆμα ἐκ μαντείας: τῆς πανηγύρεως δὲ ἀρχομένης ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ῥητῇ περὶ ἀποκλίνοντα ἐς δυσμὰς τοῦ ἡλίου τὸν δρόμον αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ Ἠλεῖαι ἄλλα τε τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως δρῶσιν ἐς τιμὴν καὶ κόπτεσθαι νομίζουσιν αὐτόν.

  [23.3] There are also in the gymnasium altars of the gods, of Idaean Heracles, surnamed Comrade, of Love, of the deity called by Eleans and Athenians alike Love Returned, of Demeter and of her daughter. Achilles has no altar, only a cenotaph raised to him because of an oracle. On an appointed day at the beginning of the festival, when the course of the sun is sinking towards the west, the Elean women do honor to Achilles, especially by bewailing him.

  [4] ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ἐλάσσων γυμνασίου περίβολος, ὃς ἔχεται μὲν τοῦ μείζονος, τετράγωνον δὲ ὀνομάζουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ σχήματι: καὶ παλαῖστραι τοῖς ἀθλοῦσιν ἐνταῦθα ποιοῦνται, καὶ συμβάλλουσιν αὐτόθι τοὺς ἀθλητὰς οὐ παλαίσοντας ἔτι, ἐπὶ δὲ ἱμάντων τῶν μαλακωτέρων ταῖς πληγαῖς. ἀνάκειται δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τὸ ἕτερον, ἃ ἐπὶ ζημίᾳ Σωσάνδρου τε τοῦ Σμυρναίου καὶ Ἠλείου Πολύκτορος τῷ Διὶ ἐποιήθη.

  [23.4] There is another enclosed gymnasium, but smaller, adjoining the larger one and called Square because of its shape. Here the athletes practise wrestling, and here, when they have no more wrestling to do, they are matched in contests with the softer gloves. There is also dedicated here one of the images made in honor of Zeus out of the fines imposed upon Sosander of Smyrna and upon Polyctor of Elis.

  [5] ἔστι δὲ καὶ τρίτος γυμνασίου περίβολος, ὄνομα μὲν Μαλθὼ τῆς μαλακότητος τοῦ ἐδάφους ἕνεκα, τοῖς δὲ ἐφήβοις ἀνεῖται τῆς πανηγύρεως τὸν χρόνον πάντα. ἔστι δὲ ἐν γωνίᾳ τῆς Μαλθοῦς πρόσωπον Ἡρακλέους ἄχρι ἐς τοὺς ὤμους, καὶ ἐν τῶν παλαιστρῶν μιᾷ τύπος Ἔρωτα ἔχων ἐπειργασμένον καὶ τὸν καλούμενον Ἀντέρωτα: ἔχει δὲ ὁ μὲν φοίνικος ὁ Ἔρως κλάδον, ὁ δὲ ἀφελέσθαι πειρᾶται τὸν φοίνικα ὁ Ἀντέρως.

  [23.5] There is also a third enclosed gymnasium, called Maltho from the softness of its floor, and reserved for the youths for the whole time of the festival. In a corner of the Maltho is a bust of Heracles as far as the shoulders, and in one of the wrestling-schools is a relief showing Love and Love Returned, as he is called. Love holds a palm-branch, and Love Returned is trying to take the palm from him.

  [6] τῆς ἐσόδου δὲ ἑκατέρωθεν τῆς ἐς τὴν Μαλθὼ παιδὸς ἕστηκεν εἰκὼν πύκτου: καὶ αὐτὸν ἔφασκεν ὁ νομοφύλαξ Ἠλείων γένος μὲν Ἀλεξανδρέα εἶναι τῆς ὑπὲρ Φάρου τῆς νήσου, Σαραπίωνα δὲ ὄνομα, ἀφικόμενον δὲ ἐς Ἦλιν σπανίζουσι σίτου σφίσι τροφὰς δοῦναι. τούτῳ μὲν αὐτόθι ἀντὶ τούτου γεγόνασιν αἱ τιμαί: χρόνος δὲ στεφάνου τε τοῦ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ εὐεργεσίας αὐτῷ τῆς ἐς Ἠλείους Ὀλυμπιὰς ἑβδόμη πρὸς ταῖς δέκα τε καὶ διακοσίαις.

  [23.6] On each side of the entrance to the Maltho stands an image of a boy boxer. He was by birth, so the Guardian of the Laws at Elis told me, from Alexandria over against the island Pharos, and his name was Sarapion; arriving at Elis when the townsfolk were suffering from famine he supplied them with food. For this reason these honors were paid him here. The time of his crown at Olympia and of his benefaction to the Eleans was the two hundred and seventeenth Festival.

  [7] ἐν τούτῳ τῷ γυμνασίῳ καὶ βουλευτήριόν ἐστιν Ἠλείοις, καὶ ἐπιδείξεις ἐνταῦθα λόγων τε αὐτοσχεδίων καὶ συγγραμμάτων ποιοῦνται παντοίων: καλεῖται δὲ Λαλίχμιον τοῦ ἀναθέντος ἐπώνυμον. περὶ δὲ αὐτὸ ἀσπίδες ἀνάκεινται, θέας ἕνεκα καὶ οὐκ ἐς ἔργον πολέμου πεποιημέναι.

  [23.7] In this gymnasium is also the Elean Council House, where take place exhibitions of extempore speeches and recitations of written works of all kinds. It is called Lalichmium, after the man who dedicated it. About it are dedicated shields, which are for show and not made to be used in war.

  [8] ἐκ δὲ τοῦ γυμνασίου πρὸς τὰ λουτρὰ ἐρχομένῳ δι᾽ ἀγυιᾶς τε ἡ ὁδὸς Σιωπῆς καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Φιλομείρακός ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδος. τῇ μὲν δὴ θεῷ γέγονεν ἡ ἐπίκλησις ἅτε τοῦ γυμνασίου γείτονι: τῇ ἀγυιᾷ δὲ Σιωπῇ ὄνομα ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε τεθῆναι λέγουσιν. ἄνδρες τοῦ Ὀξύλου στρατεύματος ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ τῶν ἐν Ἤλιδι ἀποπεμφθέντες καὶ ἀλλήλοις διακελευσάμενοι κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, ἐπειδὰν πλησίον γίνωνται τοῦ τείχους, φθέγγεσθαι μὲν μηδὲν ἔτι αὐτοί, ἐπακροᾶσθαι δὲ εἴ τι παρὰ τῶν ἐντὸς πυθέσθαι δυνήσονται, οὗτοι λανθάνουσι παρελθόντες ἐς τὴν πόλιν κατὰ τὴν ἀγυιὰν ταύτην καὶ ἐπακούσαντες ὁπόσα ἐβούλοντο ἐπανίασιν αὖθις ἐς τοὺς Αἰτωλούς: καὶ ἡ ἀγυιὰ τὸ ὄνομα εἴληφεν ἀπὸ τῶν κατασκόπων τῆς σιωπῆς.

  [23.8] The way from the gymnasium to the baths passes through the Street of Silence and beside the sanctuary of Artemis Philomeirax. The goddess is so surnamed because she is neighbor to the gymnasium; the street received, they say, the name of Silence for the following reason. Men of the army of Oxylus were sent to spy out what was happening in Elis. On the way they exhorted each other, when they should be near the wall, themselves to keep a strict silence, but to listen attentively if perchance they might learn aught from the people in the town. These men by this street
reached the town unobserved, and after hearing all they wished they went back again to the Aetolians. So the street received its name from the silence of the spies.

  24. ἑτέρα δὲ ἔξοδος ἐκ τοῦ γυμνασίου φέρει μὲν ἔς τε τὴν ἀγορὰν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλανοδικαιῶνα καλούμενον, ἔστι δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως τὸν τάφον: καὶ ταύτῃ τοὺς Ἑλλανοδίκας ἰέναι καθέστηκεν ἐς τὸ γυμνάσιον. ἐσίασι δὲ πρὶν μὲν ἥλιον ἀνίσχειν συμβαλοῦντες δρομέας, μεσούσης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὸ πένταθλον καὶ ὅσα βαρέα ἆθλα ὀνομάζουσιν.

  [24.1] XXIV. One of the two ways from the gymnasium leads to the market-place, and to what is called the Umpires’ Room; it is above the grave of Achilles, and by it the umpires are wont to go to the gymnasium. They enter before sunrise to match the runners, and at midday for the pentathlum and for such contests as are called heavy.

  [2] ἡ δὲ ἀγορὰ τοῖς Ἠλείοις οὐ κατὰ τὰς Ἰώνων καὶ ὅσαι πρὸς Ἰωνίᾳ πόλεις εἰσὶν Ἑλλήνων, τρόπῳ δὲ πεποίηται τῷ ἀρχαιοτέρῳ στοαῖς τε ἀπὸ ἀλλήλων διεστώσαις καὶ ἀγυιαῖς δι᾽ αὐτῶν. ὄνομα δὲ τῇ ἀγορᾷ τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐστιν Ἱππόδρομος, καὶ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι τοὺς ἵππους παιδεύουσιν ἐνταῦθα. τῶν στοῶν δὲ ἡ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἐργασίας ἐστὶ τῆς Δωρίου, διαιροῦσι δὲ αὐτὴν ἐς μοίρας τρεῖς οἱ κίονες: ἐν ταύτῃ διημερεύουσι τὰ πολλὰ οἱ Ἑλλανοδίκαι.