The Sagaris

The Sagaris is a river in Phrygia. It used to be called the Xerobates ( running dry) because of the following circumstance: in summertime, it is often seen to be dry. It was named Sagaris for this reason. Sagaris, son of Mygdonos and Alexirrhoe, was contemptuous of the mysteries of the Mother of the Gods and acted arrogantly towards priests and galloi.¹ Insulted by the situation, she inflicted madness on the aforementioned. When he was out of his mind, he threw himself into the Xerobates, which was renamed the Sagaris after him.

There is produced in this river a stone called autoglyphos ( self-depicter). It is found engraved with the Mother of the Gods. Whenever someone about to be castrated finds this stone, which is rarely, they are not affected but bravely endure the sight of this unnatural event. Aretades² recounts this in his On Phrygia.

Nearby is a mountain called Ballenaion, which translates as royal. It takes its name from Ballenaios, son of Ganymede and Medesigiste. When Ballenaios saw that his father was wasting away, he established a royal feast-day for the locals, which is still called Ballenaios today.

There is produced on this mountain a stone called aster ( star). This typically shines like fire in the middle of the night at the beginning of autumn. It is called in the local dialect ballen which translates as king. Hermesianax of Cyprus recounts this in book 2 of his On Phrygia.

De Fluviis. Pseudo-Plutarch. Greta Hawes (Translator), Sonia Pertsinidis (Translator), Charles Delattre (Translator). Washington, DC. 07/06/2022.

Sponsored by Center for Hellenic Studies.

Funding provided by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2019-108931GB-I00 / SRA 10.13039/501100011033.

Current edition First1KGreek

On the Naming of Rivers, Mountains, and Things Found in Them (English) (Pseudo-Plutarch. On the Naming of Rivers, Mountains, and Things Found in Them. Hawes, Greta, et al., translators. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2022. (Digital publication).)

Editions (1)

De Fluviis First1KGreek (Pseudo-Plutarch. Geographi graeci minores Volumen Secundum. Müller, Karl, editor. Paris: Ambroise Firmin Didot, 861.) — 12 focus

XII. ΣΑΓΑΡΙΣ.

[1] 1. Σάγαρις ποταμός ἐστι τῆς Φρυγίας· προσηγορεύετο δὲ πρότερον Ξηροβάτης ἀπὸ τοῦ συγκυρήματος· τῷ γὰρ θερινῷ καταστήματι ξηρὸς ὁρᾶται πολλάκις· ἐκλήθη δὲ Σάγαρις διʼ αἰτίαν τοιαύτην. Σάγαρις, Μύγδονος καὶ Ἀλεξιρρόης παῖς, τὰ μυστήρια τῆς μητρὸς τῶν θεῶν ἐξουθενίζων, τοὺς ἱερεῖς καὶ Γάλλους αὐτῆς ὕβρισεν. Ἡ δὲ μισοπονήρως ἐνεγκοῦσα τὴν πρᾶξιν τῷ προειρημένῳ μανίαν ἐνέσκηψεν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν φρονίμων λογισμῶν ἐκστὰς ἑαυτὸν ἔβαλεν εἰς ποταμὸν Ξηροβάτην, ὃς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Σάγαρις μετωνομάσθη.

[2] 2. Γεννᾶται δʼ ἐν αὐτῷ λίθος αὐτόγλυφος καλούμενος εὑρίσκεται γὰρ τετυπωμένην ἔχων τὴν μητέρα τῶν θεῶν. Τοῦτον τὸν λίθον σπανίως εὑρισκόμενον ἐὰν εὕρῃ τις τῶν ἀποτεμνομένων, οὐ ξενίζεται, ἀλλʼ εὐψύχως φέρει τῆς παρὰ φύσιν πράξεως τὴν ὄψιν, καθὼς ἱστορεῖ Ἀρετάδης ἐν τοῖς Φρυγιακοῖς.

[3] 3. Παράκειται δέ αὐτῷ ὄρος Βαλληναῖον καλούμενον ὅπερ ἐστὶ μεθερμηνευόμενον βασιλικόν, τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔχον ἀπὸ Βαλληναίου τοῦ Γανυμήδους καὶ Μηδησιγίστης παιδός. Οὗτος γὰρ τὸν γεννήσαντα θεασάμενος ἀποτηκόμενον, τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καὶ Βαλληναῖον ἑορτὴν κατέδειξε μέχρι νῦν καλούμενον.

[4] 4. Γεννᾶται δʼ ἐν αὐτῷ λίθος καλούμενος ἀστήρ. Οὗτος εἴωθεν νυκτὸς βαθείας πυρὸς δίκην λάμπειν τοῦ φθινοπώρου τὴν ἀρχήν λαμβάνοντος προσαγορεύεται δὲ τῇ διαλέκτῳ τῶν ἐγχωρίων βαλλὴν, ὅπερ μεθερμηνευόμενόν ἐστι βασιλεὺς, καθὼς ἱστορεῖ Ἑρμησιάναξ Κύπριος ἐν β΄ Φρυγιακῶν.

Translations (1)

Of the Names of Rivers and Mountains, and of Such Things as are to be Found Therein Perseus ([Pseudo-]Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 5. Goodwin, William W., editor. White, R., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge, Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 12 focus

XII. SAGARIS.

SAGARIS is a river of Phrygia, formerly called Xerobates because in the summer time it was generally dry. But it was called Sagaris for this reason: Sagaris, the son of Myndon and Alexirrhoe, contemning and slighting the mysteries of the Mother of the Gods, frequently affronted and derided her priests the Galli. At which the Goddess heinously offended, struck him with madness to that degree, that in one of his raging fits he flung himself into the river Xerobates, which from that time forward was called Sagaris.

In this river grows a stone, which is called autoglyphus, that is, naturally engraved; for it is found with the Mother of the Gods by nature engraved upon it. This stone, which is rarely to be found, if any of the Galli or gelded priests happen to light upon, he makes no wonder at it, but undauntedly brooks the sight of a preternatural action;—as Aretazes reports in his Phrygian Relations.

Near to this river lies the mountain Ballenaeus, which in the Phrygian language signifies royal; so called from Ballenaeus, the son of Ganymede and Medesigiste, who perceiving his father almost wasted with a consumption, instituted the Ballenaean festival, observed among the natives to this day.

In this river is to be found a stone called aster, which from the latter end of autumn shines at midnight like fire. It is called in the language of the natives ballen, which being interpreted signifies a king;—as Hermesianax the Cyprian affirms in his Second Book of his Phrygian Relations.

Notes on the current edition

On the Naming of Rivers, Mountains, and Things Found in Them

1. The galloi were priests of the Mother of the Gods known in particular for their practice of self-castration.

2. We translate Müller’s conjecture Ἀρετάδης in place of the transmitted Ἀρετάζης.

Pseudo-Plutarch De Fluviis 12

Greta Hawes (Translator), Sonia Pertsinidis (Translator), Charles Delattre (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

The Sagaris

Current edition First1KGreek

XII. ΣΑΓΑΡΙΣ.

XII. SAGARIS.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers