by Pausanias
[17.3] At a later time, when the Roman imperial power devolved upon Nero, he gave to the Roman people the very prosperous island of Sardinia in exchange for Greece, and then bestowed upon the latter complete freedom. When I considered this act of Nero it struck me how true is the remark of Plato, the son of Ariston, who says that the greatest and most daring crimes are committed, not by ordinary men, but by a noble soul ruined by a perverted education.
[4] οὐ μὴν Ἕλλησί γε ἐξεγένετο ὄνασθαι τοῦ δώρου: Οὐεσπασιανοῦ γὰρ μετὰ Νέρωνα ἄρξαντος ἐς ἐμφύλιον στάσιν προήχθησαν, καὶ σφᾶς ὑποτελεῖς τε αὖθις ὁ Οὐεσπασιανὸς εἶναι φόρων καὶ ἀκούειν ἐκέλευσεν ἡγεμόνος, ἀπομεμαθηκέναι φήσας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τὸ Ἑλληνικόν.
[17.4] The Greeks, however, were not to profit by the gift. For in the reign of Vespasian, the next emperor after Nero, they became embroiled in a civil war; Vespasian ordered that they should again pay tribute and be subject to a governor, saying that the Greek people had forgotten how to be free.
DYME
[5] τάδε μὲν οὕτω συμβάντα εὕρισκον: Ἀχαιοῖς δὲ ὅροι καὶ Ἠλείοις τῆς χώρας ποταμός τε Λάρισος καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ ναός ἐστι Λαρισαίας, καὶ Ἀχαιῶν πόλις Δύμη σταδίους ὅσον τε τριάκοντα ἀπέχει τοῦ Λαρίσου. ταύτην Φίλιππος ὁ Δημητρίου πολεμῶν μόνην τῶν Ἀχαϊκῶν ἔσχεν ὑπήκοον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ αἰτίᾳ ταύτῃ Σουλπίκιος, ἡγεμὼν καὶ οὗτος Ῥωμαίων, ἐπέτρεψε τῇ στρατιᾷ διαρπάσαι τὴν Δύμην: Αὔγουστος δὲ ὕστερον καὶ προσένειμεν αὐτὴν Πατρεῦσιν.
[17.5] To resume after my researches into Achaean history. The boundary between Achaia and Elis is the river Larisus, and by the river is a temple of Larisaean Athena; about thirty stades distant from the Larisus is Dyme, an Achaean city. This was the only Achaean city that in his wars Philip the son of Demetrius made subject to him, and for this reason Sulpicius, another Roman governor, handed over Dyme to be sacked by his soldiery. Afterwards Augustus annexed it to Patrae.
[6] ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ τὰ μὲν ἀρχαιότερα Πάλεια: ἐχόντων δὲ ἔτι Ἰώνων ὄνομά οἱ μετέθεντο τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν, σαφῶς δὲ οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἐπιχωρίας Δύμης εἴτε ἀπὸ Δύμαντος τοῦ Αἰγιμίου. ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ἐλεγείου τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐπὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ Οἰβώτα οὐ προαχθείη ἄν τις ἐς ἀλογίαν. Οἰβώτᾳ γὰρ ἀνδρὶ Δυμαίῳ, σταδίου μὲν ἀνελομένῳ νίκην Ὀλυμπιάδι ἕκτῃ, εἰκόνος δὲ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ περὶ τὴν ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα κατὰ μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν ἀξιωθέντι, ἐπίγραμμά ἐστιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ λέγον:
[17.6] Its more ancient name was Paleia, but the Ionians changed this to its modern name while they still occupied the city; I am uncertain whether they named it after Dyme, a native woman, or after Dymas, the son of Aegimius. But nobody is likely to be led into a fallacy by the inscription on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia. Oebotas was a man of Dyme, who won the foot-race at the sixth Festival and was honored, because of a Delphic oracle, with a statue erected in the eightieth Olympiad. On it is an inscription which says:–
[7] “Οἰνία Οἰβώτας στάδιον νικῶν ὅδ᾽ Ἁχαιὸς
πατρίδα Πάλειαν θῆκ᾽ ὀνομαστοτέραν.
“τοῦτο οὖν οὐκ ἄν τινι ἀλογίαν παραστήσειεν, εἰ Πάλειαν ἀλλὰ μὴ Δύμην τὸ ἐπίγραμμα καλεῖ τὴν πόλιν: τὰ γὰρ ἀρχαιότερα ὀνόματα ἐς ποίησιν ἐπάγεσθαι τῶν ὑστέρων καθεστηκός ἐστιν Ἕλλησι, καὶ Ἀμφιάραόν τε καὶ Ἄδραστον Φορωνείδας καὶ Ἐρεχθείδην ἐπονομάζουσι τὸν Θησέα.
[17.7]
This Oebotas, an Achaean, the son of Oenias, by winning the foot-race,
Added to the renown of his fatherland Paleia.
This inscription should mislead nobody, although it calls the city Paleia and not Dyme. For it is the custom of Greek poets to use ancient names instead of more modern ones, just as they surname Amphiaraus and Adrastus Phoronids, and Theseus an Erechthid.
[8] ὀλίγον δὲ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεώς ἐστι τοῦ Δυμαίων ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ τάφος Σωστράτου: μειράκιον δὲ ἦν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, γενέσθαι δὲ Ἡρακλέους ἐρώμενόν φασιν αὐτόν, καὶ — ἀποθανεῖν γὰρ τὸν Σώστρατον Ἡρακλέους ἔτι ὄντος μετὰ ἀνθρώπων — οὕτως οἱ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τό τε μνῆμα αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ποιήσαντα καὶ ἀπαρχὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ τριχῶν δοῦναι. ἐπίθημα δὲ καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι στήλη τε ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ χώματος καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἐπειργασμένος: ἐλέγετο δὲ ὡς οἱ ἐπιχώριοι καὶ ἐναγίζουσι τῷ Σωστράτῳ.
[17.8] A little before the city of Dyme there is, on the right of the road, the grave of Sostratus. He was a native youth, loved they say by Heracles, who outliving Sostratus made him his tomb and gave him some hair from his head as a primal offering. Even today there is a slab on the top of the mound, with a figure of Heracles in relief. I was told that the natives also sacrifice to Sostratus as to a hero.
[9] Δυμαίοις δὲ ἔστι μὲν Ἀθηνᾶς ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ἀρχαῖον, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἱερόν σφισι Δινδυμήνῃ μητρὶ καὶ Ἄττῃ πεποιημένον. Ἄττης δὲ ὅστις ἦν, οὐδὲν οἷός τε ἦν ἀπόρρητον ἐς αὐτὸν ἐξευρεῖν, ἀλλὰ Ἑρμησιάνακτι μὲν τῷ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα γράψαντι πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ὡς υἱός τε ἦν Καλαοῦ Φρυγὸς καὶ ὡς οὐ τεκνοποιὸς ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς τεχθείη: ἐπεὶ δὲ ηὔξητο, μετῴκησεν ἐς Λυδίαν τῷ Ἑρμησιάνακτος λόγῳ καὶ Λυδοῖς ὄργια ἐτέλει Μητρός, ἐς τοσοῦτο ἥκων παρ᾽ αὐτῇ τιμῆς ὡς Δία αὐτῇ νεμεσήσαντα ὗν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα ἐπιπέμψαι τῶν Λυδῶν.
[17.9] The people of Dyme have a temple of Athena with an extremely ancient image; they have as well a sanctuary built for the Dindymenian mother and Attis. As to Attis, I could learn no secret about him, but Hermesianax, the elegiac poet, says in a poem that he was the son of Galaus the Phrygian, and that he was a eunuch from birth. The account of Hermesianax goes on to say that, on growing up, Attis migrated to Lydia and celebrated for the Lydians the orgies of the Mother; that he rose to such honor with her that Zeus, being wroth at it, sent a boar to destroy the tillage of the Lydians.
[10] ἐνταῦθα ἄλλοι τε τῶν Λυδῶν καὶ αὐτὸς Ἄττης ἀπέθανεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑός: καί τι ἑπόμενον τούτοις Γαλατῶν δρῶσιν οἱ Πεσσινοῦντα ἔχοντες, ὑῶν οὐχ ἁπτόμενοι. νομίζουσί γε μὴν οὐχ οὕτω τὰ ἐς τὸν Ἄττην, ἀλλὰ ἐπιχώριός ἐστιν ἄλλος σφίσιν ἐς αὐτὸν λόγος, Δία ὑπνωμένον ἀφεῖναι σπέρμα ἐς γῆν, τὴν δὲ ἀνὰ χρ�
�νον ἀνεῖναι δαίμονα διπλᾶ ἔχοντα αἰδοῖα, τὰ μὲν ἀνδρός, τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν γυναικός: ὄνομα δὲ Ἄγδιστιν αὐτῷ τίθενται. θεοὶ δὲ Ἄγδιστιν δείσαντες τὰ αἰδοῖά οἱ τὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀποκόπτουσιν.
[17.10] Then certain Lydians, with Attis himself, were killed by the boar, and it is consistent with this that the Gauls who inhabit Pessinus abstain from pork. But the current view about Attis is different, the local legend about him being this. Zeus, it is said, let fall in his sleep seed upon the ground, which in course of time sent up a demon, with two sexual organs, male and female. They call the demon Agdistis. But the gods, fearing Agdistis, cut off the male organ.
[11] ὡς δὲ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀναφῦσα ἀμυγδαλῆ εἶχεν ὡραῖον τὸν καρπόν, θυγατέρα τοῦ Σαγγαρίου ποταμοῦ λαβεῖν φασι τοῦ καρποῦ: ἐσθεμένης δὲ ἐς τὸν κόλπον καρπὸς μὲν ἐκεῖνος ἦν αὐτίκα ἀφανής, αὐτὴ δὲ ἐκύει: τεκούσης δὲ τράγος περιεῖπε τὸν παῖδα ἐκκείμενον. ὡς δὲ αὐξανομένῳ κάλλους οἱ μετῆν πλέον ἢ κατὰ εἶδος ἀνθρώπου, ἐνταῦθα τοῦ παιδὸς ἔρως ἔσχεν Ἄγδιστιν. αὐξηθέντα δὲ Ἄττην ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Πεσσινοῦντα οἱ προσήκοντες συνοικήσοντα τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατρί:
[17.11] There grew up from it an almond-tree with its fruit ripe, and a daughter of the river Sangarius, they say, took of the fruit and laid it in her bosom, when it at once disappeared, but she was with child. A boy was born, and exposed, but was tended by a he-goat. As he grew up his beauty was more than human, and Agdistis fell in love with him. When he had grown up, Attis was sent by his relatives to Pessinus, that he might wed the king’s daughter.
[12] ὑμέναιος δὲ ᾔδετο καὶ Ἄγδιστις ἐφίσταται καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα ἀπέκοψε μανεὶς ὁ Ἄττης, ἀπέκοψε δὲ καὶ ὁ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῷ διδούς: Ἄγδιστιν δὲ μετάνοια ἔσχεν οἷα Ἄττην ἔδρασε, καί οἱ παρὰ Διὸς εὕρετο μήτε σήπεσθαί τι Ἄττῃ τοῦ σώματος μήτε τήκεσθαι. τάδε μὲν ἐς Ἄττην τὰ γνωριμώτατα:
[17.12] The marriage-song was being sung, when Agdistis appeared, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals, as also did he who was giving him his daughter in marriage. But Agdistis repented of what he had done to Attis, and persuaded Zeus to grant that the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay.
[13] ἐν δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ Δυμαίᾳ καὶ τοῦ δρομέως Οἰβώτα τάφος ἐστί: τούτῳ τῷ Οἰβώτα νικήσαντι Ὀλύμπια Ἀχαιῶν πρώτῳ γέρας οὐδὲν ἐξαίρετον παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο εὕρασθαι: καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ κατάρας ὁ Οἰβώτας ἐποιήσατο μηδενὶ Ὀλυμπικὴν νίκην ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν γενέσθαι. καὶ — ἦν γάρ τις θεῶν ᾧ τοῦ Οἰβώτα τελεῖσθαι τὰς κατάρας οὐκ ἀμελὲς ἦν — διδάσκονταί ποτε οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ καθ᾽ ἥντινα αἰτίαν στεφάνου τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἡμάρτανον, διδάσκονται δὲ ἀποστείλαντες ἐς Δελφούς:
[17.13] These are the most popular forms of the legend of Attis. In the territory of Dyme is also the grave of Oebotas the runner. Although this Oebotas was the first Achaean to win an Olympic victory, he yet received from them no special prize. Wherefore Oebotas pronounced a curse that no Achaean in future should win an Olympic victory. There must have been some god who was careful that the curse of Oebotas should be fulfilled, but the Achaeans by sending to Delphi at last learned why it was that they had been failing to win the Olympic crown.
[14] οὕτω καὶ ἄλλα ἐς τιμήν σφισι τοῦ Οἰβώτα ποιήσασι καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα ἀναθεῖσιν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν Σώστρατος Πελληνεὺς σταδίου νίκην ἔσχεν ἐν παισί. διαμένει δὲ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν τοῖς ἀγωνίζεσθαι μέλλουσι τὰ Ὀλύμπια ἐναγίζειν τῷ Οἰβώτᾳ, καὶ ἢν κρατήσωσιν, ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ στεφανοῦν τοῦ Οἰβώτα τὴν εἰκόνα.
[17.14] So they dedicated the statue of Oebotas at Olympia and honored him in other ways, and then Sostratus of Pellene won the footrace for boys. It is still to-day a custom for the Achaeans who are going to compete at Olympia to sacrifice to Oebotas as to a hero, and, if they are successful, to place a wreath on the statue of Oebotas at Olympia.
OLENUS
18. σταδίους δὲ ὅσον τεσσαράκοντα προελθόντι ἐκ Δύμης ποταμὸς Πεῖρος ἐς θάλατταν κάτεισι, καὶ Ἀχαιῶν πόλις ποτὲ Ὤλενος ᾠκεῖτο παρὰ τῷ Πείρῳ. ὁπόσοι δὲ ἐς Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ πεποιήκασιν, ἔστιν οὐκ ἐλάχιστά σφισι δείγματα τοῦ λόγου Δεξαμενὸς ὁ ἐν Ὠλένῳ βασιλεὺς καὶ ὁποίων Ἡρακλῆς παρ᾽ αὐτῷ ξενίων ἔτυχε. καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἦν πόλισμα ἐξ ἀρχῆς μικρὸν ἡ Ὤλενος, μαρτυρεῖ τῷ λόγῳ μου καὶ ἐλεγεῖον ἐς Εὐρυτίωνα Κένταυρον ὑπὸ Ἑρμησιάνακτος πεποιημένον: ἀνὰ χρόνον δὲ τοὺς οἰκήτορας ἐκλιπεῖν ὑπὸ ἀσθενείας φασὶ τὴν Ὤλενον καὶ ἐς Πειράς τε καὶ ἐς Εὐρυτειὰς ἀποχωρῆσαι.
[18.1] XVIII. Some forty stades from Dyme the river Peirus flows down into the sea; on the Peirus once stood the Achaean city of Olenus. The poets who have sung of Heracles and his labours have found a favorite subject in Dexamenus, king of Olenus, and the entertainment Heracles received at his court. That Olenus was from the beginning a small town I find confirmed in an elegiac poem composed by Hermesianax about Eurytion the Centaur. In course of time, it is said, the inhabitants, owing to their weakness, left Olenus and migrated to Peirae and Euryteiae.
PATRAE, MYTHICAL HISTORY
[2] τοῦ δὲ Πείρου ποταμοῦ περὶ τοὺς ὀγδοήκοντα ἀφέστηκε σταδίους Πατρέων ἡ πόλις: οὐ πόρρω δὲ αὐτῆς ποταμὸς Γλαῦκος ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς θάλασσαν. Πατρέων δὲ οἱ τὰ ἀρχαιότατα μνημονεύοντές φασιν Εὔμηλον αὐτόχθονα οἰκῆσαι πρῶτον ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, βασιλεύοντα αὐτὸν ἀνθρώπων οὐ πολλῶν. Τριπτολέμου δὲ ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἀφικομένου τόν τε καρπὸν λαμβάνει τὸν ἥμερον καὶ οἰκίσαι διδαχθεὶς πόλιν Ἀρόην ὠνόμασεν ἐπὶ τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τῆς γῆς.
[18.2] About eighty stades from the river Peirus is the city of Patrae. Not far from Patrae the river Glaucus flows into the sea. The historians of ancient Patrae say that it was an aboriginal, Eumelus, who first settled in the land, and that he was king over but a few subjects. But when Triptolemus came from Attica, he received from him cultivated corn, and, learning how to found a city, named it Aroe from the tilling of the soil.
[3] ὡς δὲ πρὸς ὕπνον ἐτράπετο ὁ Τριπτόλεμος, ἐνταῦθα Ἀνθείαν παῖδα Εὐμήλου τοὺς δράκοντάς φασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Τριπτολέμου τὸ ἅρμα ζεύξαντα ἐθελῆσαι καὶ αὐτὸν σπεῖραι: καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐπιλαμβάνει τὸ χρεὼν ἐκπεσόντα
τοῦ ἅρματος, Τριπτόλεμος δὲ καὶ Εὔμηλος Ἄνθειαν πόλιν οἰκίζουσιν ἐν κοινῷ, τοῦ Εὐμήλου παιδὸς ἐπώνυμον.
[18.3] It is said that Triptolemus once fell asleep, and that then Antheias, the son of Eumelus, yoked the dragons to the car of Triptolemus and tried to sow the seed himself. But Antheias fell off the car and was killed, and so Triptolemus and Eumelus together founded a city, and called it Antheia after the son of Eumelus.
[4] ᾠκίσθη δὲ καὶ τρίτη μεταξὺ Ἀνθείας καὶ Ἀρόης Μεσάτις πόλις. ὁπόσα δὲ οἱ Πατρεῖς περὶ Διονύσου λέγουσι, τραφῆναί τε αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Μεσάτει καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐπιβουλευθέντα ὑπὸ Τιτάνων ἐς παντοῖον ἀφικέσθαι κίνδυνον, οὐκ ἐναντιούμενος τοῖς Πατρεῦσιν τῆς Μεσάτεως τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῖς σφισιν ἐξηγεῖσθαι παρίημι.
[18.4] Between Antheia and Aroe was founded a third city, called Mesatis. The stories told of Dionysus by the people of Patrae, that he was reared in Mesatis and incurred there all sob of perils through the plots of the Titans, I will not contradict, but will leave it to the people of Patrae to explain the name Mesatis as they choose.
[5] Ἀχαιῶν δὲ ὕστερον ἐκβαλόντων Ἴωνας, Πατρεὺς ὁ Πρευγένους τοῦ Ἀγήνορος ἐς μὲν Ἄνθειαν καὶ ἐς Μεσάτιν μὴ ἐνοικίζεσθαι τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς ἀπεῖπε, περίβολον δὲ τείχους πρὸς τῇ Ἀρόῃ βαλόμενος μείζονα, ἵνα ἐντός οἱ τοῦ περιβόλου καὶ ἡ Ἀρόη γένηται, ὄνομα ἔθετο ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ Πάτρας τῇ πόλει. Ἀγήνωρ δὲ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ Πρευγένους Ἀρέως παῖς ἦν τοῦ Ἄμπυκος, ὁ δὲ Ἄμπυξ Πελίου τοῦ Αἰγινήτου τοῦ Δηρείτου τοῦ Ἁρπάλου τοῦ Ἀμύκλα τοῦ Λακεδαίμονος.