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[1] Such was the course of the war. In the fore temple at Delphi are written maxims useful for the life of men, inscribed by those whom the Greeks say were sages. These were: from Ionia, Thales of Miletus and Bias of Priene; of the Aeolians in Lesbos, Pittacus of Mitylene; of the Dorians in Asia, Kleoboulos of Lindus; Solon of Athens and Khilon of Sparta; the seventh sage, according to the list of Plato, the son of Ariston, is not Periandros, the son of Kypselos, but Myson of Chenae, a village on Mount Oitē. These sages, then, came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the celebrated maxims, “Know thyself,” and “Nothing in excess.”

[2] So these men wrote what I have said, and you can see a bronze statue of Homer on a slab, and read the oracle that they say Homer received:

Blessed and unhappy, for to be both were you born.
You seek your fatherland; but no fatherland have you, only a motherland.
The island of Ios is the fatherland of your mother, which will receive you
When you have died; but be on your guard against the riddle of the young children.

The inhabitants of Ios point to Homer’s tomb in the island, and in another part to that of Clymene, who was, they say, the mother of Homer.

[3] But the Cyprians, who also claim Homer as their own, say that Themisto, one of their native women, was the mother of Homer, and that Euklos foretold the birth of Homer in the following verses:

And then in sea girt Cyprus there will be a mighty singer,
Whom Themisto, lady fair, shall bear in the fields, A man of renown, far from rich Salamis.
Leaving Cyprus, tossed and wetted by the waves,
The first and only poet to sing of the woes of spacious Greece,
For ever shall he be deathless and ageless.

These things I have heard, and I have read the oracles, but express no private opinion about either the age or date of Homer.

[4] In the temple has been built an altar of Poseidon, because Poseidon too possessed in part the most ancient oracle. There are also images of two Fates; but in place of the third Fate, there stand by their side Zeus, Guide of Fate, and Apollo, Guide of Fate. Here [inside the temple] you may behold the hearth [ hestiā] on which the priest of Apollo killed Neoptolemos, the son of Achilles. The things concerning the end of Neoptolemos I have told elsewhere.

[5] Not far from the hearth [ hestiā] has been dedicated a chair [ thronos] of Pindar. The chair is of iron, and on it they say Pindar sat whenever he came to Delphi, and there composed his songs to Apollo. Into the innermost part of the temple [ nāos] only a few may pass, and there is dedicated in it another statue [ agalma] of Apollo, made of gold.

Tomb Of Neoptolemus At Delphi

[6] Leaving the temple [ nāos] and turning to the left, you will come to an enclosure [ peribolos] in which is the tomb [ taphos] of Neoptolemos son of Achilles. Every year, the Delphians sacrifice [ enagizein] to him as to a hero. Coming further up from the tomb [ mnēma], you reach a stone [ lithos] of no large size. Over it every day they pour olive oil, and at each festival [ heortē] they place on it unworked wool. There is also an opinion about this stone, that it was given to Kronos instead of his child and that Kronos vomited it up again.

Spring Of Kassotis At Delphi

[7] Returning to the temple [ nāos] after seeing the stone [ lithos], you come to the spring [ pēgē] called Kassotis. Next to it is a wall of no great size, and the ascent to the spring [ pēgē] is through the wall. It is said that the water of this Kassotis sinks under the ground and, inside the inner sanctum [ aduton] of the god, it causes the women there to become inspired [ mantikai]. She [= Kassotis] who gave her name to the spring [ krēnē] is said to have one of the nymphs [ numphai] of Parnassus.

Paintings By Polygnotus At Delphi

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy. . .

Current edition Experimental

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) (English) (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 10.24 focus

[1]
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ οὕτω γενόμενα ἴστω τις· ἐν δὲ τῷ προνάῳ τῷ ἐν Δελφοῖς γεγραμμένα ἐστὶν ὠφελήματα ἀνθρώποις ἐς βίον, ἐγράφη δὲ ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν οὓς γενέσθαι σοφοὺς λέγουσιν Ἕλληνες. οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν ἐκ μὲν Ἰωνίας Θαλῆς τε Μιλήσιος καὶ Πριηνεὺς Βίας, Αἰολέων δὲ τῶν ἐν Λέσβῳ Πιττακὸς Μιτυληναῖος, ἐκ δὲ Δωριέων τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ Κλεόβουλος Λίνδιος, καὶ Ἀθηναῖός τε Σόλων καὶ Σπαρτιάτης Χίλων· τὸν δὲ ἕβδομον Πλάτων ὁ Ἀρίστωνος ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου τοῦ Κυψέλου Μύσωνα κατείλοχε τὸν Χηνέα· κώμη δὲ ἐν τῇ Οἴτῃ τῷ ὄρει ᾠκοῦντο αἱ Χῆναι. οὗτοι οὖν οἱ ἄνδρες ἀφικόμενοι ἐς Δελφοὺς ἀνέθεσαν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι τὰ ᾀδόμενα Γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ Μηδὲν ἄγαν.

[2]
οὗτοι μὲν δὴ ἐνταῦθα ἔγραψαν τὰ εἰρημένα, θεάσαιο δʼ ἂν καὶ εἰκόνα Ὁμήρου χαλκῆν ἐπὶ στήλῃ καὶ ἐπιλέξει τὸ μάντευμα ὃ γενέσθαι τῷ Ὁμήρῳ λέγουσιν·

ὄλβιε καὶ δύσδαιμον—ἔφυς γὰρ ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέροισι—,

πατρίδα δίζηαι. μητρὶς δέ τοι, οὐ πατρίς ἐστιν.

ἔστιν Ἴος νῆσος μητρὸς πατρίς, ἥ σε θανόντα

δέξεται. ἀλλὰ νέων παίδων αἴνιγμα φύλαξαι.

δεικνύουσι δὲ οἱ Ἰῆται καὶ Ὁμήρου μνῆμα ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καὶ ἑτέρωθι Κλυμένης, τὴν Κλυμένην μητέρα εἶναι 0 τοῦ Ὁμήρου λέγοντες.

[3] Κύπριοι δὲ—οἰκειοῦνται γὰρ δὴ καὶ οὗτοι Ὅμηρον—Θεμιστώ τε αὐτῷ μητέρα εἶναι τῶν τινα ἐπιχωρίων γυναικῶν λέγουσι καὶ ὑπὸ Εὔκλου προθεσπισθῆναι τὰ ἐς τὴν γένεσιν τὴν Ὁμήρου φασὶν ἐν τοῖσδε·

καὶ τότʼ ἐν εἰναλίῃ Κύπρῳ μέγας ἔσσετʼ ἀοιδός,

ὅν τε Θεμιστὼ τέξει ἐπʼ ἀγροῦ δῖα γυναικῶν

νόσφι πολυκτεάνοιο πολύκλειτον Σαλαμῖνος.

Κύπρον δὲ προλιπὼν διερός θʼ ὑπὸ κύμασιν ἀρθείς,

Ἑλλάδος εὐρυχόρου μοῦνος κακὰ πρῶτος ἀείσας

ἔσσεται ἀθάνατος καὶ ἀγήραος ἤματα πάντα.

ταῦτα ἡμεῖς ἀκούσαντές τε καὶ ἐπιλεξάμενοι τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἰδίᾳ δὲ οὐδένα αὐτῶν λόγον οὔτε ἐς πατρίδα οὔτε περὶ ἡλικίας Ὁμήρου γράφομεν.

[4]
ἐν δὲ τῷ ναῷ πεποίηται μὲν Ποσειδῶνος βωμός, ὅτι τὸ μαντεῖον τὸ ἀρχαιότατον κτῆμα ἦν καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, ἕστηκε δὲ καὶ ἀγάλματα Μοιρῶν δύο· ἀντὶ δὲ αὐτῶν τῆς τρίτης Ζεύς τε Μοιραγέτης καὶ Ἀπόλλων σφίσι παρέστηκε Μοιραγέτης. θεάσαιο δʼ ἂν ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἑστίαν, ἐφʼ ᾗ Νεοπτόλεμον τὸν Ἀχιλλέως ὁ ἱερεὺς ἀπέκτεινε τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· τὰ δὲ ἐς τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου τὴν τελευτήν ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἑτέρωθι εἰρημένα.

[5] ἀνάκειται δὲ οὐ πόρρω τῆς ἑστίας θρόνος Πινδάρου· σιδήρου μέν ἐστιν ὁ θρόνος, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτῷ φασιν, ὁπότε ἀφίκοιτο ἐς Δελφοὺς, καθέζεσθαί τε τὸν Πίνδαρον καὶ ᾄδειν ὁπόσα τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἐς Ἀπόλλωνά ἐστιν. ἐς δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τὸ ἐσωτάτω, παρίασί τε ἐς αὐτὸ ὀλίγοι καὶ χρυσοῦν Ἀπόλλωνος ἕτερον ἄγαλμα ἀνάκειται. 0

[6]
ἐξελθόντι δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τραπέντι ἐς ἀριστερὰ περίβολός ἐστι καὶ Νεοπτολέμου τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ἐν αὐτῷ τάφος· καί οἱ κατὰ ἔτος ἐναγίζουσιν οἱ Δελφοί. ἐπαναβάντι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μνήματος λίθος ἐστὶν οὐ μέγας· τούτου καὶ ἔλαιον ὁσημέραι καταχέουσι καὶ κατὰ ἑορτὴν ἑκάστην ἔρια ἐπιτιθέασι τὰ ἀργά· ἔστι δὲ καὶ δόξα ἐς αὐτὸν δοθῆναι Κρόνῳ τὸν λίθον ἀντὶ τοῦ παιδός, καὶ ὡς αὖθις ἤμεσεν αὐτὸν ὁ Κρόνος.

[7]
ἰοῦσι δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν ναὸν αὖθις μετὰ τοῦ λίθου τὴν θέαν ἐστὶν ἡ Κασσοτὶς καλουμένη πηγή· τεῖχος δὲ οὐ μέγα ἐπʼ αὐτῇ καὶ ἡ ἄνοδος διὰ τοῦ τείχους ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τὴν πηγήν. ταύτης τῆς Κασσοτίδος δύεσθαί τε κατὰ τῆς γῆς λέγουσι τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀδύτῳ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς γυναῖκας μαντικὰς ποιεῖν· τὴν δὲ τῇ κρήνῃ δεδωκυῖαν τὸ ὄνομα τῶν περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν νυμφῶν φασιν εἶναι.

Translations (1)

Description of Greece Perseus (Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece, Volumes 1-4. Jones, W.H.S. (William Henry Samuel), translator; Ormerod, Henry Arderne, translator. London, New York: W. Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1918-1935.) — 10.24 focus

[1]
Such was the course of the war. In the fore-temple at Delphi are written maxims useful for the life of men, inscribed by those whom the Greeks say were sages. These were: from Ionia , Thales of Miletus and Bias of Priene ; of the Aeolians in Lesbos , Pittacus of Mitylene ; of the Dorians in Asia , Cleobulus of Lindus ; Solon of Athens and Chilon of Sparta ; the seventh sage, according to the list of Plato,¹ the son of Ariston, is not Periander, the son of Cypselus, but Myson of Chenae, a village on Mount Oeta. These sages, then, came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the celebrated maxims, “Know thyself,” and “Nothing in excess.”

[2]
So these men wrote what I have said, and you can see a bronze statue of Homer on a slab, and read the oracle that they say Homer received:—

Blessed and unhappy, for to be both wast thou born.

Thou seekest thy father-land; but no father-land hast thou, only a mother-land.

The island of Ios is the father-land of thy mother, which will receive thee

When thou hast died; but be on thy guard against the riddle of the young children.

The inhabitants of Ios point to Homer's tomb in the island, and in another part to that of Clymene, who was, they say, the mother of Homer.

[3] But the Cyprians, who also claim Homer as their own, say that Themisto, one of their native women, was the mother of Homer, and that Euclus foretold the birth of Homer in the following verses:—

And then in sea-girt Cyprus there will be a mighty singer,

Whom Themisto, lady fair, shall bear in the fields, A man of renown, far from rich Salamis .

Leaving Cyprus , tossed and wetted by the waves,

The first and only poet to sing of the woes of spacious Greece ,

For ever shall he be deathless and ageless.

These things I have heard, and I have read the oracles, but express no private opinion about either the age or date of Homer.

[4]
In the temple has been built an altar of Poseidon, because Poseidon too possessed in part the most ancient oracle. There are also images of two Fates; but in place of the third Fate there stand by their side Zeus, Guide of Fate, and Apollo, Guide of Fate. Here you may behold the hearth on which the priest of Apollo killed Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. The story of the end of Neoptolemus I have told elsewhere.²

[5] Not far from the hearth has been dedicated a chair of Pindar. The chair is of iron, and on it they say Pindar sat whenever he came to Delphi , and there composed his songs to Apollo. Into the innermost part of the temple there pass but few, but there is dedicated in it another image of Apollo, made of gold.

[6]
Leaving the temple and turning to the left you will come to an enclosure in which is the grave of Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Every year the Delphians sacrifice to him as to a hero. Ascending from the tomb you come to a stone of no large size. Over it every day they pour olive oil, and at each feast they place on it unworked wool. There is also an opinion about this stone, that it was given to Cronus instead of his child, and that Cronus vomited it up again.

[7]
Coming back to the temple after seeing the stone, you come to the spring called Cassotis. By it is a wall of no great size, and the ascent to the spring is through the wall. It is said that the water of this Cassotis sinks under the ground, and inspires the women in the shrine of the god. She who gave her name to the spring is said to have been a nymph of Parnassus .

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

Pausanias Description of Greece 10.24