Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 2.32

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Section

← Previous Next →

[1] To Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, is dedicated a very famous precinct [ temenos], in which is a temple [ nāos] with an ancient [ arkhaion] statue [ agalma]. Diomedes, they say, made [ poieîn] these, and, further, he was the first to sacrifice [ thuein] to Hippolytus. The people of Troizen have a priest [ hiereus] of Hippolytus, and he is consecrated [ hierâsthai] [to Hippolytus] for life. Also, it is an established practice for them to have annual sacrifices [ thusiai] performed [for Hippolytus]. In addition [to this ritual practice performed for Hippolytus] they have another one. They perform-a-ritual [ drân] that is as follows. Every girl before marriage cuts off for him [= Hippolytus] a lock [ plokamos] of her hair and, having cut it off, she brings it, in an act of bringing-in-procession [ pherein], to his temple [ nāos] and dedicates it. They [= the people of Troizen] are unwilling to accept that he died, dragged to death by his horses, and they do not show [ apophainein] his tomb [ taphos], though they know where it is. But they customarily-think [ nomizein] that the one who is called the Charioteer [= Auriga = hēniokhos] in the sky, this one [ houtos], is that one [ ekeinos], the Hippolytus who receives this honor [ tīmē] from the gods.

[2] Within this enclosure [ peribolos] [of Hippolytus] is a temple [ nāos] of Apollo Epibatērios [‘boarding (the ship)’], a dedication of Diomedes for having weathered the storm that came upon the Greeks as they were returning from Troy. They say that Diomedes was also the first to hold the Pythian Contest [ agōn] in honor of Apollo. Of Damia and Auxesia (for the people of Troizen, too, share in their worship) they do not tell [ legein] the same story [ logos] as do the people of Epidauros and of Aegina, but they say that they were maidens [ parthénoi] who came from Crete. When factionalism [ stasis] broke out everywhere in the city, even these girls, they say, were stoned to death by an opposing faction and they [= the people of Troizen] celebrate [ agein] a festival [ heortē] for their sake, calling it the Lithobolia [‘throwing of stones’]

[3] In the other part of the enclosure [ peribolos] is a racecourse [ stadion] named after Hippolytus, and looming over it is a shrine [ nāos] of Aphrodite [invoked by way of the epithet] Kataskopiā [‘looking down from the heights]. Here is the reason [for the epithet]: it was at this very spot, whenever Hippolytus was exercising-naked [ gumnazesthai], that she, Phaedra, feeling-an-erotic-passion-for [ erân] him, used-to-gaze-away [ apo-blepein] at him from above. A myrtle bush [ mursinē] still grows here, and its leaves—as I wrote at an earlier point [= 1.22.2]—have holes pricked into them. Whenever Phaedra was-feeling-there-was-no-way-out [ aporeîn] and could find no relief for her erotic-passion [ erōs], she would take it out on the leaves of this myrtle bush, wantonly injuring them.

[4] There is also a [ taphos] of Phaedra, not far from the tomb [ mnēma] of Hippolytus, and it [= the mnēma] is heaped-up-as-a-tumulus [ kekhōstai] near the myrtle bush [ mursinē]. The statue [ agalma] of Asklepios was made by Timotheus, but the people of Troizen say that it is not Asklepios, but a likeness [ eikōn] of Hippolytus. Also, when I saw the House [ oikiā] of Hippolytus, I knew that it was his abode. In front of it is situated what they call the Fountain [ krēnē] of Hēraklēs, since Hēraklēs, as the people of Troizen say, discovered the water.

[5] On the citadel is a temple of Athena, called Sthenias. The wooden-statue [ xoanon] itself of the goddess was made by Kallon, of Aegina. Kallon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion, who made the statue [ agalma] of Apollo for the Delians. Angelion and Tectaeus were trained in the school of Dipoinos and Skyllis.

[6] On going down from here you come to a sanctuary of Pan Lyterios (Releasing), so named because he showed to the Troizenian magistrates dreams which supplied a cure for the epidemic that had afflicted Troizenia, and the Athenians more than any other people. Having crossed the sanctuary, you can see a temple of Isis, and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height. The temple of Isis was made by the Halicarnassians in Troizen, because this is their mother-city, but the statue [ agalma] of Isis was dedicated by the people of Troizen.

[7] On the road that leads through the mountains to Hermione is a spring of the river Hyllicus, originally called Taurios (Bull-like), and a rock called the Rock of Theseus; when Theseus took up the boots and sword of Aigeus under it, it, too, changed its name, for before it was called the altar of Zeus Sthenios (Strong). Near the rock is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Nymphia (Bridal), made by Theseus when he took Helen to wife.

[8] Outside the wall there is also a sanctuary of Poseidon Nurturer (Phytalmios). For they say that, being angry with them, Poseidon smote the land with barrenness, brine (halme) reaching the seeds and the roots of the plants ( phuta), until, appeased by sacrifices and prayers, he ceased to send up the brine upon the earth. Above the temple of Poseidon is Demeter Lawbringer (Thesmophoros), set up, they say, by Althepus.

[9] On going down to the harbor at what is called Celenderis, you come to a place called Birthplace (Genethlion), where Theseus is said to have been born. Before this place is a temple of Ares, for here also did Theseus conquer the Amazons in battle. These must have belonged to the army that strove in Attica against Theseus and the Athenians.

[10] As you make your way to the Psiphaean Sea you see a wild olive growing, which they call the Bent Rhakos. The people of Troizen call rhakos every kind of barren olive tree— kotinos, phylia, or elaious—and this tree they call Bent because it was when the reins caught in it that the chariot of Hippolytus was upset. Not far from this stands the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, and I have already given an account of it. I must add that every year they hold in honor of Artemis a festival called Saronia.

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.) — 2.32 focus

[1]
Ἱππολύτῳ δὲ τῷ Θησέως τέμενός τε ἐπιφανέστατον ἀνεῖται καὶ ναὸς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἄγαλμά ἐστιν ἀρχαῖον. ταῦτα μὲν Διομήδην λέγουσι ποιῆσαι καὶ προσέτι θῦσαι τῷ Ἱππολύτῳ πρῶτον· Τροιζηνίοις δὲ ἱερεὺς μέν ἐστιν Ἱππολύτου τὸν χρόνον τοῦ βίου πάντα ἱερώμενος καὶ θυσίαι καθεστήκασιν ἐπέτειοι, δρῶσι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τοιόνδε· ἑκάστη παρθένος πλόκαμον ἀποκείρεταί οἱ πρὸ γάμου, κειραμένη δὲ ἀνέθηκεν ἐς τὸν ναὸν φέρουσα. ἀποθανεῖν δὲ αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐθέλουσι συρέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἵππων οὐδὲ τὸν τάφον ἀποφαίνουσιν εἰδότες· τὸν δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ καλούμενον ἡνίοχον, τοῦτον εἶναι νομίζουσιν ἐκεῖνον Ἱππόλυτον τιμὴν παρὰ θεῶν ταύτην ἔχοντα.

[2] τούτου δὲ ἐντὸς τοῦ περιβόλου ναός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος Ἐπιβατηρίου, Διομήδους ἀνάθημα ἐκφυγόντος τὸν χειμῶνα ὃς τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐπεγένετο ἀπὸ Ἰλίου κομιζομένοις· καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Πυθίων Διομήδην πρῶτον θεῖναί φασι τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι. ἐς δὲ τὴν Δαμίαν καὶ Αὐξησίαν—καὶ γὰρ Τροιζηνίοις μέτεστιν αὐτῶν—οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν λέγουσιν ὃν Ἐπιδαύριοι καὶ Αἰγινῆται λόγον, ἀλλὰ ἀφικέσθαι παρθένους ἐκ Κρήτης· στασιασάντων δὲ ὁμοίως τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἁπάντων 0 καὶ ταύτας φασὶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιστασιωτῶν καταλευσθῆναι, καὶ ἑορτὴν ἄγουσί σφισι Λιθοβόλια ὀνομάζοντες.

[3] κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἕτερον τοῦ περιβόλου μέρος στάδιόν ἐστιν Ἱππολύτου καλούμενον καὶ ναὸς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Ἀφροδίτης Κατασκοπίας· αὐτόθεν γάρ, ὁπότε γυμνάζοιτο ὁ Ἱππόλυτος, ἀπέβλεπεν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐρῶσα ἡ Φαίδρα. ἐνταῦθα ἔτι πεφύκει ἡ μυρσίνη, τὰ φύλλα ὡς καὶ πρότερον ἔγραψα ἔχουσα τετρυπημένα· καὶ ἡνίκα ἠπορεῖτο ἡ Φαίδρα καὶ ῥᾳστώνην τῷ ἔρωτι οὐδεμίαν εὕρισκεν, ἐς ταύτης τὰ φύλλα ἐσιναμώρει τῆς μυρσίνης.

[4] ἔστι δὲ καὶ τάφος Φαίδρας, ἀπέχει δὲ οὐ πολὺ τοῦ Ἱππολύτου μνήματος· τὸ δὲ οὐ πόρρω κέχωσται τῆς μυρσίνης. τοῦ δὲ Ἀσκληπιοῦ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐποίησε μὲν Τιμόθεος, Τροιζήνιοι δὲ οὐκ Ἀσκληπιὸν ἀλλὰ εἰκόνα Ἱππολύτου φασὶν εἶναι. καὶ οἰκίαν ἰδὼν οἶδα Ἱππολύτου· πρὸ δὲ αὐτῆς ἐστιν Ἡράκλειος καλουμένη κρήνη, τὸ ὕδωρ ὡς οἱ Τροιζήνιοι λέγουσιν ἀνευρόντος Ἡρακλέους.

[5] ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀκροπόλει τῆς Σθενιάδος καλουμένης ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς, αὐτὸ δὲ εἰργάσατο τῆς θεοῦ τὸ ξόανον Κάλλων Αἰγινήτης· μαθητὴς δὲ ὁ Κάλλων ἦν Τεκταίου καὶ Ἀγγελίωνος, οἳ Δηλίοις ἐποίησαν τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· ὁ δὲ Ἀγγελίων καὶ Τεκταῖος παρὰ Διποίνῳ καὶ Σκύλλιδι ἐδιδάχθησαν.

[6] κατιόντων δὲ αὐτόθεν Λυτηρίου Πανός ἐστιν ἱερόν· Τροιζηνίων γὰρ τοῖς τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔχουσιν ἔδειξεν ὀνείρατα ἃ εἶχεν ἄκεσιν λοιμοῦ πιέσαντος τὴν Τροιζηνίαν, 0 Ἀθηναίους δὲ μάλιστα. διαβὰς δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν Τροιζηνίαν ναὸν ἂν ἴδοις Ἴσιδος καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν Ἀφροδίτης Ἀκραίας· τὸν μὲν ἅτε ἐν μητροπόλει τῇ Τροιζῆνι Ἁλικαρνασσεῖς ἐποίησαν, τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα τῆς Ἴσιδος ἀνέθηκε Τροιζηνίων δῆμος.

[7]
ἰοῦσι δὲ τὴν διὰ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς Ἑρμιόνην πηγή τέ ἐστι τοῦ Ὑλλικοῦ ποταμοῦ, Ταυρίου δὲ τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καλουμένου, καὶ πέτρα Θησέως ὀνομαζομένη, μεταβαλοῦσα καὶ αὐτὴ τὸ ὄνομα ἀνελομένου Θησέως ὑπʼ αὐτῇ κρηπῖδας τὰς Αἰγέως καὶ ξίφος· πρότερον δὲ βωμὸς ἐκαλεῖτο Σθενίου Διός. τῆς δὲ πέτρας πλησίον Ἀφροδίτης ἐστὶν ἱερὸν Νυμφίας, ποιήσαντος Θησέως ἡνίκα ἔσχε γυναῖκα Ἑλένην.

[8] ἔστι δὲ ἔξω τείχους καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν Φυταλμίου· μηνίσαντα γάρ σφισι τὸν Ποσειδῶνα ποιεῖν φασιν ἄκαρπον τὴν χώραν ἅλμης ἐς τὰ σπέρματα καὶ τῶν φυτῶν τὰς ῥίζας καθικνουμένης, ἐς ὃ θυσίαις τε εἴξας καὶ εὐχαῖς οὐκέτι ἅλμην ἀνῆκεν ἐς τὴν γῆν. ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τὸν ναόν ἐστι Δημήτηρ Θεσμοφόρος, Ἀλθήπου καθὰ λέγουσιν ἱδρυσαμένου.

[9] καταβαίνουσι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς τῇ Κελενδέρει καλουμένῃ λιμένα χωρίον ἐστὶν ὃ Γενέθλιον ὀνομάζουσι, τεχθῆναι Θησέα ἐνταῦθα λέγοντες. πρὸ δὲ τοῦ χωρίου τούτου ναός ἐστιν Ἄρεως, Θησέως καὶ ἐνταῦθα Ἀμαζόνας μάχῃ κρατήσαντος· αὗται δʼ ἂν εἴησαν τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ πρὸς Θησέα καὶ Ἀθηναίους ἀγωνισαμένων.

[10] ἐπὶ θάλασσαν δὲ τὴν Ψιφαίαν πορευομένοις κότινος πέφυκεν ὀνομαζόμενος ῥᾶχος στρεπτός. 0 ῥάχους μὲν δὴ καλοῦσι Τροιζήνιοι πᾶν ὅσον ἄκαρπον ἐλαίας, κότινον καὶ φυλλίαν καὶ ἔλαιον· στρεπτὸν δὲ ἐπονομάζουσι τοῦτον, ὅτι ἐνσχεθεισῶν αὐτῷ τῶν ἡνιῶν ἀνετράπη τοῦ Ἱππολύτου τὸ ἅρμα. τούτου δὲ οὐ πολὺ τῆς Σαρωνίας Ἀρτέμιδος ἀφέστηκε τὸ ἱερόν, καὶ τὰ ἐς αὐτὸ ἐμήνυσεν ὁ λόγος ἤδη μοι. τοσόνδε δὲ ἔτι δηλώσω· Σαρώνια γὰρ δὴ κατὰ ἔτος τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι ἑορτὴν ἄγουσι.

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.) — 2.32 focus

[1]
To Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, is devoted a very famous precinct, in which is a temple with an old image. Diomedes, they say, made these, and, moreover, was the first to sacrifice to Hippolytus. The Troezenians have a priest of Hippolytus, who holds his sacred office for life, and annual sacrifices have been established. They also observe the following custom. Every maiden before marriage cuts off a lock for Hippolytus, and, having cut it, she brings it to the temple and dedicates it. They will not have it that he was dragged to death by his horses, and, though they know his grave, they do not show it. But they believe that what is called the Charioteer in the sky is the Hippolytus of the legend, such being the honor he enjoys from the gods.

[2] Within this enclosure is a temple of Apollo Seafaring, an offering of Diomedes for having weathered the storm that came upon the Greeks as they were returning from Troy . They say that Diomedes was also the first to hold the Pythian games in honor of Apollo. Of Damia and Auxesia (for the Troezenians, too, share in their worship) they do not give the same account as the Epidaurians and Aeginetans, but say that they were maidens who came from Crete . A general insurrection having arisen in the city, these too, they say, were stoned to death by the opposite party; and they hold a festival in their honor that they call Stoning.

[3] In the other part of the enclosure is a race-course called that of Hippolytus, and above it a temple of Aphrodite Spy. For from here, whenever Hippolytus practised his exercises, Phaedra, who was in love with him, used to gaze upon him. Here there still grew the myrtle, with its leaves, as I have described above, pierced with holes. When Phaedra was in despair and could find no relief for her passion, she used to vent her spleen upon the leaves of this myrtle.

[4] There is also the grave of Phaedra, not far from the tomb of Hippolytus, which is a barrow near the myrtle. The image of Asclepius was made by Timotheus, but the Troezenians say that it is not Asclepius, but a likeness of Hippolytus. I remember, too, seeing the house of Hippolytus; before it is what is called the Fountain of Heracles, for Heracles, say the Troezenians, discovered the water.

[5] On the citadel is a temple of Athena, called Sthenias. The wooden image itself of the goddess I was made by CalIon, of Aegina .¹ Callon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion, who made the image of Apollo for the Delians. Angelion and Tectaeus were trained in the school of Dipoenus and Scyllis.

[6] On going down from here you come to a sanctuary of Pan Lyterius (Releasing), so named because he showed to the Troezenian magistrates dreams which supplied a cure for the epidemic that had afflicted Troezenia, and the Athenians more than any other people. Having crossed the sanctuary, you can see a temple of Isis, and above it one of Aphrodite of the Height. The temple of Isis was made by the Halicarnassians in Troezen , because this is their mother-city, but the image of Isis was dedicated by the people of Troezen .

[7] On the road that leads through the mountains to Hermione is a spring of the river Hyllicus, originally called Taurius (Bull-like), and a rock called the Rock of Theseus; when Theseus took up the boots and sword of Aegeus under it, it, too, changed its name, for before it was called the altar of Zeus Sthenius (Strong). Near the rock is a sanctuary of Aphrodite Nymphia (Bridal), made by Theseus when he took Helen to wife.

[8] Outside the wall there is also a sanctuary of Poseidon Nurturer (Phytalmios). For they say that, being wroth with them, Poseidon smote the land with barrenness, brine (halme) reaching the seeds and the roots of the plants (phyta),² until, appeased by sacrifices and prayers, he ceased to send up the brine upon the earth. Above the temple of Poseidon is Demeter Lawbringer (Thesmophoros), set up, they say, by Althepus.

[10]
As you make your way to the Psiphaean Sea you see a wild olive growing, which they call the Bent Rhacos. The Troezenians call rhacos every kind of barren olive— cotinos, phylia, or elaios—and this tree they call Bent because it was when the reins caught in it that the chariot of Hippolytus was upset. Not far from this stands the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, and I have already given an account of it. I must add that every year they hold in honor of Artemis a festival called Saronia.

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 2.32

ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers