Delphi Complete Works of Pausanias

by Pausanias

  [11.6] The Athenians also built a portico out of the spoils they took in their war against the Peloponnesians and their Greek allies. There are also dedicated the figure-heads of ships and bronze shields. The inscription on them enumerates the cities from which the Athenians sent the first-fruits: Elis, Lacedaemon, Sicyon, Megara, Pellene in Achaia, Ambracia, Leucas, and Corinth itself. It also says that from the spoils taken in these sea-battles a sacrifice was offered to Theseus and to Poseidon at the cape called Rhium. It seems to me that the inscription refers to Phormio, son of Asopichus, and to his achievements.

  THE SIBYLS, MYTHICAL HISTORY

  12. πέτρα δέ ἐστιν ἀνίσχουσα ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς: ἐπὶ ταύτῃ Δελφοὶ στᾶσάν φασιν ᾆσαι τοὺς χρησμοὺς γυναῖκα ὄνομα Ἡροφίλην, Σίβυλλαν δὲ ἐπίκλησιν. τὴν δὲ πρότερον γενομένην, ταύτην ταῖς μάλιστα ὁμοίως οὖσαν ἀρχαίαν εὕρισκον, ἣν θυγατέρα Ἕλληνες Διὸς καὶ Λαμίας τῆς Ποσειδῶνός φασιν εἶναι, καὶ χρησμούς τε αὐτὴν γυναικῶν πρώτην ᾆσαι καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν Λιβύων Σίβυλλαν λέγουσιν ὀνομασθῆναι.

  [12.1] XII. There is a rock rising up above the ground. On it, say the Delphians, there stood and chanted the oracles a woman, by name Herophile and surnamed Sibyl. The former Sibyl I find was as ancient as any; the Greeks say that she was a daughter of Zeus by Lamia, daughter of Poseidon, that she was the first woman to chant oracles, and that the name Sibyl was given her by the Libyans.

  [2] ἡ δὲ Ἡροφίλη νεωτέρα μὲν ἐκείνης, φαίνεται δὲ ὅμως πρὸ τοῦ πολέμου γεγονυῖα καὶ αὕτη τοῦ Τρωικοῦ, καὶ Ἑλένην τε προεδήλωσεν ἐν τοῖς χρησμοῖς, ὡς ἐπ᾽ ὀλέθρῳ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ Εὐρώπης τραφήσοιτο ἐν Σπάρτῃ, καὶ ὡς Ἴλιον ἁλώσεται δι᾽ αὐτὴν ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων. Δήλιοι δὲ καὶ ὕμνον μέμνηνται τῆς γυναικὸς ἐς Ἀπόλλωνα. καλεῖ δὲ οὐχ Ἡροφίλην μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν αὑτήν, καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος γυνὴ γαμετή, τοτὲ δὲ ἀδελφὴ καὶ αὖθις θυγάτηρ φησὶν εἶναι.

  [12.2] Herophile was younger than she was, but nevertheless she too was clearly born before the Trojan war, as she foretold in her oracles that Helen would be brought up in Sparta to be the ruin of Asia and of Europe, and that for her sake the Greeks would capture Troy. The Delians remember also a hymn this woman composed to Apollo. In her poem she calls herself not only Herophile but also Artemis, and the wedded wife of Apollo, saying too sometimes that she is his sister, and sometimes that she is his daughter.

  [3] ταῦτα μὲν δὴ μαινομένη τε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ κάτοχος πεποίηκεν: ἑτέρωθι δὲ εἶπε τῶν χρησμῶν ὡς μητρὸς μὲν ἀθανάτης εἴη μιᾶς τῶν ἐν Ἴδῃ νυμφῶν, πατρὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ οὕτω λέγει τὰ ἔπη:”εἰμὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ γεγαυῖα μέσον θνητοῦ τε θεᾶς τε,

  νύμφης δ᾽ ἀθανάτης, πατρὸς δ᾽ αὖ κητοφάγοιο,

  μητρόθεν Ἰδογενής, πατρὶς δέ μοί ἐστιν ἐρυθρή

  Μάρπησσος, μητρὸς ἱερή, ποταμός τ᾽ Ἀιδωνεύς.

  “

  [12.3] These statements she made in her poetry when in a frenzy and possessed by the god. Elsewhere in her oracles she states that her mother was an immortal, one of the nymphs of Ida, while her father was a human. These are the verses:–

  I am by birth half mortal, half divine;

  An immortal nymph was my mother, my father an eater of corn;

  On my mother’s side of Idaean birth, but my fatherland was red

  Marpessus, sacred to the Mother, and the river Aidoneus.

  [4] ἦν δὲ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τῇ Ἴδῃ τῇ Τρωικῇ πόλεως Μαρπήσσου τὰ ἐρείπια καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς οἰκήτορες ὅσον ἑξήκοντα ἄνθρωποι: ὑπέρυθρος δὲ πᾶσα ἡ περὶ τὴν Μάρπησσον γῆ καὶ δεινῶς ἐστιν αὐχμώδης, ὥστε καὶ τῷ Ἀϊδωνεῖ ποταμῷ καταδύεσθαί τε ἐς τὴν χώραν καὶ ἀνασχόντι τὸ αὐτὸ αὖθις πάσχειν, τέλος δὲ καὶ ἀφανίζεσθαι κατὰ τῆς γῆς, αἴτιον ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἐστιν ὅτι λεπτή τε κατὰ τοῦτο καὶ σηραγγώδης ἐστὶν ἡ Ἴδη. ἀπέχει δὲ Ἀλεξανδρείας τῆς ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι τεσσαράκοντα ἡ Μάρπησσος καὶ διακόσια στάδια.

  [12.4] Even to-day there remain on Trojan Ida the ruins of the city Marpessus, with some sixty inhabitants. All the land around Marpessus is reddish and terribly parched, so that the light and porous nature of Ida in this place is in my opinion the reason why the river Aidoneus sinks into the ground, rises to sink once more, finally disappearing altogether beneath the earth. Marpessus is two hundred and forty stades distant from Alexandria in the Troad.

  [5] τὴν δὲ Ἡροφίλην οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ταύτῃ νεωκόρον τε τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος γενέσθαι τοῦ Σμινθέως καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνείρατι τῷ Ἑκάβης χρῆσαί φασιν αὐτὴν ἃ δὴ καὶ ἐπιτελεσθέντα ἴσμεν. αὕτη ἡ Σίβυλλα ᾤκησε μὲν τὸ πολὺ τοῦ βίου ἐν Σάμῳ, ἀφίκετο δὲ καὶ ἐς Κλάρον τὴν Κολοφωνίων καὶ ἐς Δῆλόν τε καὶ ἐς Δελφούς: ὁπότε δὲ ἀφίκοιτο, ἐπὶ ταύτης ἱσταμένη τῆς πέτρας ᾖδε.

  [12.5] The inhabitants of this Alexandria say that Herophile became the attendant of the temple of Apollo Smintheus, and that on the occasion of Hecuba’s dream she uttered the prophecy which we know was actually fulfilled. This Sibyl passed the greater part of her life in Samos, but she also visited Clarus in the territory of Colophon, Delos and Delphi. Whenever she visited Delphi, she would stand on this rock and sing her chants.

  [6] τὸ μέντοι χρεὼν αὐτὴν ἐπέλαβεν ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι, καί οἱ τὸ μνῆμα ἐν τῷ ἄλσει τοῦ Σμινθέως ἐστὶ καὶ ἐλεγεῖον ἐπὶ τῆς στήλης:”ἅδ᾽ ἐγὼ ἁ Φοίβοιο σαφηγορίς εἰμι Σίβυλλα

  τῷδ᾽ ὑπὸ λαϊνέῳ σάματι κευθομένα,

  παρθένος αὐδάεσσα τὸ πρίν, νῦν δ᾽ αἰὲν ἄναυδος,

  μοίρᾳ ὑπὸ στιβαρᾷ τάνδε λαχοῦσα πέδαν.

  ἀλλὰ πέλας Νύμφαισι καὶ Ἑρμῇ τῷδ᾽ ὑπόκειμαι,

  μοῖραν ἔχοισα κάτω τᾶς τότ᾽ ἀνακτορίας.

  “ὁ μὲν δὴ παρὰ τὸ μνῆμα ἕστηκεν Ἑρμῆς λίθου τετράγωνον σχῆμα: ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς δὲ ὕδωρ τε κατερχόμενον ἐς κρήνην καὶ τῶν Νυμφῶν ἐστι τὰ ἀγάλματα.

  [12.6] However, death came upon her in the Troad, and her tomb is in the grove of the Sminthian with these elegiac verses inscribed upon the tomb-stone:–

  Here I am, the plain-speaking Sibyl of Phoebus,

  Hidden beneath this stone tomb.

  A maiden once gifted with voice, but now for ever voiceless,

  By hard fate doomed to this fetter.

  But I am buried near the nymphs and this Hermes,

  Enjoying in the world below a part of the kingdom I had then.

  The Hermes stands
by the side of the tomb, a square-shaped figure of stone. On the left is water running down into a well, and the images of the nymphs.

  [7] Ἐρυθραῖοι δὲ — ἀμφισβητοῦσι γὰρ τῆς Ἡροφίλης προθυμότατα Ἑλλήνων — Κώρυκόν τε καλούμενον ὄρος καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει σπήλαιον ἀποφαίνουσι, τεχθῆναι τὴν Ἡροφίλην ἐν αὐτῷ λέγοντες, Θεοδώρου δὲ ἐπιχωρίου ποιμένος καὶ νύμφης παῖδα εἶναι: Ἰδαίαν δὲ ἐπίκλησιν γενέσθαι τῇ νύμφῃ κατ᾽ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, τῶν δὲ χωρίων τὰ δασέα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἴδας τότε ὀνομάζεσθαι. τὸ δὲ ἔπος τὸ ἐς τὴν Μάρπησσον καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Ἀϊδωνέα, τοῦτο οἱ Ἐρυθραῖοι τὸ ἔπος ἀφαιροῦσιν ἀπὸ τῶν χρησμῶν.

  [12.7] The Erythraeans, who are more eager than any other Greeks to lay claim to Herophile, adduce as evidence a mountain called Mount Corycus with a cave in it, saying that Herophile was born in it, and that she was a daughter of Theodorus, a shepherd of the district, and of a nymph. They add that the surname Idaean was given to the nymph simply because the men of those days called idai places that were thickly wooded. The verse about Marpessus and the river Aidoneus is cut out of the oracles by the Erythraeans.

  [8] τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ χρησμοὺς κατὰ ταὐτὰ εἰποῦσαν ἐκ Κύμης τῆς ἐν Ὀπικοῖς εἶναι, καλεῖσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν Δημὼ συνέγραψεν Ὑπέροχος ἀνὴρ Κυμαῖος. χρησμὸν δὲ οἱ Κυμαῖοι τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης ἐς οὐδένα εἶχον ἐπιδείξασθαι, λίθου δὲ ὑδρίαν ἐν Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερῷ δεικνύουσιν οὐ μεγάλην, τῆς Σιβύλλης ἐνταῦθα κεῖσθαι φάμενοι τὰ ὀστᾶ.

  [12.8] The next woman to give oracles in the same way, according to Hyperochus of Cumae, a historian, was called Demo, and came from Cumae in the territory of the Opici. The Cumaeans can point to no oracle given by this woman, but they show a small stone urn in a sanctuary of Apollo, in which they say are placed the bones of the Sibyl.

  [9] ἐπετράφη δὲ καὶ ὕστερον τῆς Δημοῦς παρ᾽ Ἑβραίοις τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς Παλαιστίνης γυνὴ χρησμολόγος, ὄνομα δὲ αὐτῇ Σάββη: Βηρόσου δὲ εἶναι πατρὸς καὶ Ἐρυμάνθης μητρός φασι Σάββην: οἱ δὲ αὐτὴν Βαβυλωνίαν, ἕτεροι δὲ Σίβυλλαν καλοῦσιν Αἰγυπτίαν.

  [12.9] Later than Demo there grew up among the Hebrews above Palestine a woman who gave oracles and was named Sabbe. They say that the father of Sabbe was Berosus, and her mother Erymanthe. But some call her a Babylonian Sibyl, others an Egyptian.

  [10] Φαεννὶς δὲ θυγάτηρ βασιλεύσαντος ἀνδρὸς ἐν Χάοσι καὶ αἱ Πέλειαι παρὰ Δωδωναίοις ἐμαντεύσαντο μὲν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ αὗται, Σίβυλλαι δὲ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἐκλήθησαν. τῆς μὲν δὴ πυθέσθαι τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ ἐπιλέξασθαι τοὺς χρησμούς * * * Ἀντιόχου γὰρ μετὰ τὸ ἁλῶναι Δημήτριον αὐτίκα ἐς τὴν ἀρχὴν καθισταμένου γέγονε Φαεννίς. τὰς Πελειάδας δὲ Φημονόης τε ἔτι προτέρας γενέσθαι λέγουσι καὶ ᾆσαι γυναικῶν πρώτας τάδε τὰ ἔπη:”Ζεὺς ἦν, Ζεὺς ἐστίν, Ζεὺς ἔσσεται: ὦ μεγάλε Ζεῦ.

  Γᾶ καρποὺς ἀνίει, διὸ κλῄζετε Ματέρα γαῖαν.

  “

  [12.10] Phaennis, daughter of a king of the Chaonians, and the Peleiae (Doves) at Dodona also gave oracles under the inspiration of a god, but they were not called by men Sibyls. To learn the date of Phaennis and to read her oracles . . . for Phaennis was born when Antiochus was establishing his kingship immediately after the capture of Demetrius. The Peleiades are said to have been born still earlier than Phemonoe, and to have been the first women to chant these verses:–

  Zeus was, Zeus is, Zeus shall be; O mighty Zeus.

  Earth sends up the harvest, therefore sing the praise of earth as Mother.

  [11] χρησμολόγους δὲ ἄνδρας Κύπριόν τε Εὔκλουν καὶ Ἀθηναίους Μουσαῖον τὸν Ἀντιοφήμου καὶ Λύκον τὸν Πανδίονος, τούτους τε γενέσθαι καὶ ἐκ Βοιωτίας Βάκιν φασὶ κατάσχετον ἄνδρα ἐκ νυμφῶν: τούτων πλὴν Λύκου τῶν ἄλλων ἐπελεξάμην τοὺς χρησμούς.

  τοσαῦται μὲν ἄχρι ἐμοῦ λέγονται γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες ἐκ θεοῦ μαντεύσασθαι: ἐν δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ τῷ πολλῷ καὶ αὖθις γένοιτο ἂν ἕτερα τοιαῦτα.

  [12.11] It is said that the men who uttered oracles were Euclus of Cyprus, the Athenians Musaeus, son of Antiophemus, and Lycus, son of Pandion, and also Bacis, a Boeotian who was possessed by nymphs. I have read the oracles of all these except those of Lycus.

  These are the women and men who, down to the present day, are said to have been the mouthpiece by which a god prophesied. But time is long, and perhaps similar things may occur again.

  VOTIVE OFFERINGS AT DELPHI CONT.

  13. βίσωνος δὲ ταύρου τῶν Παιονικῶν χαλκοῦ πεποιημένην κεφαλὴν Δρωπίων Λέοντος ἔπεμψεν ἐς

  Δελφοὺς βασιλεὺς Παιόνων. οὗτοι οἱ βίσωνες χαλεπώτατοι θηρίων εἰσὶν ἁλίσκεσθαι ζῶντες, καὶ δίκτυα οὐκ ἂν οὕτω γένοιτο ἰσχυρὰ ὡς ἀντισχεῖν τῇ ἐμβολῇ. θηρεύονται δὲ οὗτοι τρόπον τοιόνδε. ἐπειδὰν χωρίον οἱ ἀγρεύοντες πρανὲς εὕρωσι καθῆκον ἐς κοιλότητα, πρῶτα μὲν φράγματι ἰσχυρῷ πέριξ ὠχυρώσαντο, δεύτερον δὲ τὸ κάταντες καὶ τὸ περὶ τῷ πέρατι ὁμαλὸν αὐτοῦ νεοδάρτοις βύρσαις κατεστόρεσαν: ἢν δὲ τύχωσιν ἀποροῦντες βυρσῶν, τότε καὶ τὰ αὖα τῶν δερμάτων ὑπὸ ἐλαίου σφίσιν ὀλισθηρὰ ποιεῖται.

  [13.1] XIII. A bronze head of the Paeonian bull called the bison was sent to Delphi by the Paeonian king Dropion, son of Leon. These bisons are the most difficult beasts to capture alive, and no nets could be made strong enough to hold out against their rush. They are hunted in the following manner. When the hunters have found a place sinking to a hollow, they first strengthen it all round with a stout fence, and then they cover the slope and the level part at the end with fresh skins, or, if they should chance to be without skins, they make dry hides slippery with olive oil.

  [2] τὸ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν οἱ μάλιστα ἱππεύειν ἀγαθοὶ συνελαύνουσιν ἐς τὸ εἰρημένον χωρίον τοὺς βίσωνας: οἱ δὲ εὐθὺς ἐν ταῖς πρώταις τῶν βυρσῶν ὀλισθόντες κατὰ τοῦ πρανοῦς κυλίνδονται, ἕως κατενεχθῶσιν ἐς τὸ ὁμαλόν. ἐρριμμένοι δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἠμέληνται κατ᾽ ἀρχάς: τετάρτῃ δὲ ἢ πέμπτῃ μάλιστα ἡμέρᾳ τῶν μὲν ἤδη τοῦ θυμοῦ τὸ πολὺ ὁ λιμὸς ἀφαιρεῖ καὶ ἡ ταλαιπωρία, οἱ δέ σφισιν, οἷς

  [13.2] Next their best riders drive the bisons together into the place I have described. These at once slip on the first skins and roll
down the slope until they reach the level ground, where at the first they are left to lie. On about the fourth or fifth day, when the beasts have lost most of their spirit through hunger and distress,

  [3] τέχνη τιθασεύειν, προσφέρουσιν ἔτι κειμένοις πίτυος τῆς ἡμέρου καρπὸν προεκλέξαντες ἐκ τῶν ἐλαχίστων ἐλύτρων: ἑτέρας δὲ οὐκ ἂν τροφῆς τό γε παραυτίκα ἅψαιτο τὰ θηρία: τέλος δὲ διαλαβόντες δεσμοῖς ἄγουσι.

  [13.3] those of the hunters who are professional tamers bring to them as they lie fruit of the cultivated pine, first peeling off the inner husk; for the moment the beasts would touch no other food. Finally they tie ropes round them and lead them off.

  [4] καὶ τοὺς μὲν τρόπον αἱροῦσι τὸν εἰρημένον, τοῦ βίσωνος δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς καταντικρὺ τῆς χαλκῆς ἀνδριάς ἐστι θώρακά τε ἐνδεδυκὼς καὶ χλαμύδα ἐπὶ τῷ θώρακι: Ἀνδρίων δὲ ἀνάθημα οἱ Δελφοὶ λέγουσιν Ἀνδρέα εἶναι τὸν οἰκιστήν. τό τε ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς τε καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος Φωκέων ἀναθήματά ἐστιν ἀπὸ Θεσσαλῶν ὁμόρων τε — πλὴν ὅσον οἱ Λοκροὶ σφᾶς οἱ Ἐπικνημίδιοι διείργουσι — καὶ ἀεὶ πολεμίων ὄντων.