Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 3.25

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[1] Beyond the tomb a river named Scyras enters the sea. Formerly it was without a name, but was so called, because Pyrrhos the son of Achilles put in here when he sailed from Scyros to wed Hermione. Across the river is an ancient shrine … further from an altar of Zeus. Inland, forty stadium-lengths from the river, lies Pyrrhikos, the name of which is said to be derived from Pyrrhos the son of Achilles;

[2] but according to another account Pyrrhikos was one of the gods called Kouretes. Others say that Silenus came from Malea and settled here. That Silenus was brought up in Malea is clear from these words in an ode of Pindar:

“The mighty one, the dancer, whom the mount of Malea nurtured, husband of Nais, Silenus.”

Pindar Frag. 156 (Schröder)

Not that Pindar said his name was Pyrrhikos; that is a statement of the men of Malea.

[3] At Pyrrhikos there is a well in the marketplace, considered to be the gift of Silenus. If this were to fail, they would be short of water. The sanctuaries of the gods, that they have in the country, are of Artemis, called Astrateia, because the Amazons stayed their advance (strateia) here, and an Apollo Amazonios. Both gods are represented by wooden images, said to have been dedicated by the women from Thermodon.

[4] From Pyrrhikos the road comes down to the sea at Teuthrone. The inhabitants declare that their founder was Teuthras, an Athenian. They honor Artemis Issoria most of the Gods, and have a spring Naia. The promontory of Taenarum projects into the sea 150 stadium-lengths from Teuthrone, with the harbors Achilleios and Psamathus. On the promontory is a temple like a cave, with a statue of Poseidon in front of it.

[5] Some of the Greek poets state that Hēraklēs brought up the hound of Hades here, though there is no road that leads underground through the cave, and it is not easy to believe that the gods possess any underground dwelling where the souls collect. But Hecataeus of Miletus gave a plausible explanation, stating that a terrible serpent lived on Taenarum, and was called the hound of Hades, because any one bitten was bound to die of the poison at once, and it was this snake, he said, that was brought by Hēraklēs to Eurystheus.

[6] But Homer, who was the first to call the creature brought by Hēraklēs the hound of Hades, did not give it a name or describe it as of manifold form, as he did in the case of the Chimaera. Later poets gave the name Cerberus, and though in other respects they made him resemble a dog, they say that he had three heads. Homer, however, does not imply that he was a dog, the friend of man, any more than if he had called a real serpent the hound of Hades.

[7] Among other offerings on Taenarum is a bronze statue of Arion the harper on a dolphin. Herodotus has told the story of Arion and the dolphin, as he heard it, in his history of Lydia. I have seen the dolphin at Poroselene that rewards the boy for saving his life. It had been damaged by fishermen and he cured it.I saw this dolphin obeying his call and carrying him whenever he wanted to ride on it.

[8] There is a spring also on Taenarum but now it possesses nothing marvelous. Formerly, as they say, it showed harbors and ships to those who looked into the water. These sights in the water were brought to an end for good and all by a woman washing dirty clothes in it.

[9] From the point of Taenarum Caenepolis is distant forty stadium-lengths by sea. Its name also was formerly Taenarum. In it is a hall of Demeter, and a temple of Aphrodite on the shore, with a standing statue of stone. Thirty stadium-lengths distant is Thyrides, a headland of Taenarum, with the ruins of a city Hippola; among them is a sanctuary of Athena Hippolaitis. A little further are the town and harbor of Messa.

[10] From this harbor it is 150 stadium-lengths to Oetylus. The hero, from whom the city received its name, was an Argive by descent, son of Amphianax, the son of Antimakhos. In Oetylus the sanctuary of Sarapis, and in the marketplace a wooden image of Apollo Karneios are worth seeing.

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.) — 3.25 focus

[1]
προελθόντι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μνήματος ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς θάλασσαν ποταμός, ὄνομα δέ οἱ Σκύρας, ὅτι κατὰ τοῦτον 0 ἀνώνυμον τέως ὄντα Πύρρος ὁ Ἀχιλλέως ἔσχε ταῖς ναυσίν, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑρμιόνης γάμον ἔπλευσεν ἐκ Σκύρου. διαβάντων δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν ἔστιν ἱερὸν ἀρχαῖον ἀπωτέρω Διὸς βωμοῦ. τοῦ ποταμοῦ δὲ σταδίους τεσσαράκοντα ἀπέχει Πύρριχος ἐν μεσογαίᾳ. τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι φασὶν ἀπὸ Πύρρου τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως, οἱ δὲ εἶναι θεὸν Πύρριχον τῶν καλουμένων

[2] Κουρήτων· εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ Σιληνὸν ἐκ Μαλέας ἐλθόντα ἐνταῦθα λέγουσιν οἰκῆσαι. τραφῆναι μὲν δὴ τὸν Σιληνὸν ἐν τῇ Μαλέᾳ δηλοῖ καὶ τάδε ἐξ ᾄσματος Πινδάρου

ὁ ζαμενὴς δὲ ὁ χοροιτύπος, ὃν Μαλέας ὄρος

ἔθρεψε, Ναΐδος ἀκοίτας, Σιληνός·

Pindar, Frag. 156(Schroeder) ὡς δὲ καὶ Πύρριχος ὄνομα ἦν αὐτῷ, Πινδάρῳ μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν εἰρημένον, λέγουσι δὲ οἱ περὶ τὴν Μαλέαν οἰκοῦντες.

[3] ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ Πυρρίχῳ φρέαρ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, δοῦναι δέ σφισι τὸν Σιληνὸν νομίζουσι· σπανίζοιέν τʼ ἂν ὕδατος, εἰ τὸ φρέαρ τοῦτο ἐπιλείποι. θεῶν δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ σφισιν ἱερά ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδός τε ἐπίκλησιν Ἀστρατείας, ὅτι τῆς ἐς τὸ πρόσω στρατείας ἐνταῦθα ἐπαύσαντο Ἀμαζόνες, καὶ Ἀπόλλων Ἀμαζόνιος· ξόανα μὲν ἀμφότερα, ἀναθεῖναι δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτὰ τὰς ἀπὸ Θερμώδοντος γυναῖκας.

[4]
ἀπὸ δὲ Πυρρίχου καταβάντι ἐς θάλασσαν ἔστι Τευθρώνη· τὸν δὲ οἰκιστὴν οἱ ταύτῃ Τεύθραντα Ἀθηναῖον ὄντα ἀποφαίνουσι, τιμῶσι δὲ θεῶν μάλιστα Ἰσσωρίαν Ἄρτεμιν, καὶ πηγή σφισίν ἐστι Ναΐα. Τευθρώνης δὲ ἀπέχει πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν σταδίους ἐς θάλασσαν ἀνέχουσα ἄκρα Ταίναρον, καὶ λιμένες ὅ τε Ἀχίλλειός 0 ἐστι καὶ Ψαμαθοῦς, ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ ἄκρᾳ ναὸς εἰκασμένος σπηλαίῳ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἄγαλμα.

[5] ἐποίησαν δὲ Ἑλλήνων τινὲς ὡς Ἡρακλῆς ἀναγάγοι ταύτῃ τοῦ Ἅιδου τὸν κύνα, οὔτε ὑπὸ γῆν ὁδοῦ διὰ τοῦ σπηλαίου φερούσης οὔτε ἕτοιμον ὂν πεισθῆναι θεῶν ὑπόγαιον εἶναί τινα οἴκησιν ἐς ἣν ἀθροίζεσθαι τὰς ψυχάς. ἀλλὰ Ἑκαταῖος μὲν ὁ Μιλήσιος λόγον εὗρεν εἰκότα, ὄφιν φήσας ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ τραφῆναι δεινόν, κληθῆναι δὲ Ἅιδου κύνα, ὅτι ἔδει τὸν δηχθέντα τεθνάναι παραυτίκα ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰοῦ, καὶ τοῦτον ἔφη τὸν ὄφιν ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους ἀχθῆναι παρʼ Εὐρυσθέα·

[6] Ὅμηρος δὲ— πρῶτος γὰρ ἐκάλεσεν Ἅιδου κύνα ὅντινα Ἡρακλῆς ἦγεν —οὔτε ὄνομα ἔθετο οὐδὲν οὔτε συνέπλασεν ἐς τὸ εἶδος ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῇ Χιμαίρᾳ· οἱ δὲ ὕστερον Κέρβερον ὄνομα ἐποίησαν καὶ κυνὶ τἄλλα εἰκάζοντες κεφαλὰς τρεῖς φασιν ἔχειν αὐτὸν, οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον Ὁμήρου κύνα τὸν ἀνθρώπῳ σύντροφον εἰρηκότος ἢ εἰ δράκοντα ὄντα ἐκάλεσεν Ἅιδου κύνα.

[7] ἀναθήματα δὲ ἄλλα τέ ἐστιν ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ καὶ Ἀρίων ὁ κιθαρῳδὸς χαλκοῦς ἐπὶ δελφῖνος. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐς αὐτὸν Ἀρίονα καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῷ δελφῖνι Ἡρόδοτος εἶπεν ἀκοὴν ἐν τῇ Λυδίᾳ συγγραφῇ· τὸν δὲ ἐν Ποροσελήνῃ δελφῖνα τῷ παιδὶ σῶστρα ἀποδιδόντα, ὅτι συγκοπέντα ὑπὸ ἁλιέων αὐτὸν ἰάσατο, τοῦτον τὸν δελφῖνα εἶδον καὶ καλοῦντι τῷ παιδὶ ὑπακούοντα καὶ φέροντα, ὁπότε ἐποχεῖσθαί οἱ βούλοιτο.

[8] ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ καὶ πηγή, νῦν μὲν οὐδὲν ὥστε καὶ θαῦμα εἶναι παρεχομένη, πρότερον δὲ τοῖς ἐνιδοῦσιν ἐς τὸ ὕδωρ τοὺς λιμένας—φασὶ— 0 καὶ τὰς ναῦς θεάσασθαι παρεῖχε. τοῦτο ἔπαυσε γυνὴ τὸ ὕδωρ μὴ καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ τοιαῦτα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, μεμιασμένην ἐναποπλύνασα ἐσθῆτα.

[9]
Ταινάρου δὲ τῆς ἄκρας πλοῦν ὅσον τεσσαράκοντα σταδίων ἀφέστηκε Καινήπολις· ὄνομα δὲ ἦν πάλαι καὶ ταύτῃ Ταίναρον. ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ μέγαρον Δήμητρος καὶ ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ ναός ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτης καὶ ἄγαλμα ὀρθὸν λίθου. ἐντεῦθεν ἀποσχόντι τριάκοντα σταδίους Θυρίδες ἄκρα Ταινάρου καὶ πόλεως ἐρείπια Ἱππόλας ἐστίν, ἐν δὲ αὐτοῖς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν Ἱππολαΐτιδος· ὀλίγον δὲ ἀπωτέρω Μέσσα πόλις καὶ λιμήν.

[10] ἀπὸ τούτου στάδια τοῦ λιμένος πεντήκοντά ἐστι καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐπὶ Οἴτυλον· ὁ δὲ ἥρως ἀφʼ οὗ τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα ἐγένετο, Ἀργεῖος τὸ ἀνέκαθεν, Ἀμφιάνακτος υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ Ἀντιμάχου. θέας δὲ ἄξια ἐν Οἰτύλῳ Σαράπιδός ἐστιν ἱερὸν καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ Καρνείου ξόανον Ἀπόλλωνος.

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.) — 3.25 focus

[1]
Beyond the tomb a river named Scyras enters the sea. Formerly it was without a name, but was so called, because Pyrrhus the son of Achilles put in here when he sailed from Scyros to wed Hermione . Across the river is an ancient shrine . . . further from an altar of Zeus. Inland, forty stades from the river, lies Pyrrhichus , the name of which is said to be derived from Pyrrhus the son of Achilles;

[2] but according to another account Pyrrhichus was one of the gods called Curetes. Others say that Silenus came from Malea and settled here. That Silenus was brought up in Malea is clear from these words in an ode of Pindar:

The mighty one, the dancer, whom the mount of Malea nurtured, husband of Nais, Silenus.

Pind. Frag. 156 (Schröder) Not that Pindar said his name was Pyrrhichus ; that is a statement of the men of Malea.

[3] At Pyrrhichus there is a well in the market-place, considered to be the gift of Silenus. If this were to fail, they would be short of water. The sanctuaries of the gods, that they have in the country, are of Artemis, called Astrateia, because the Amazons stayed their advance (strateia) here, and an Apollo Amazonius. Both gods are represented by wooden images, said to have been dedicated by the women from Thermodon.

[4]
From Pyrrhichus the road comes down to the sea at Teuthrone . The inhabitants declare that their founder was Teuthras, an Athenian. They honor Artemis Issoria most of the Gods, and have a spring Naia . The promontory of Taenarum projects into the sea 150 stades from Teuthrone , with the harbors Achilleius and Psamathus . On the promontory is a temple like a cave, with a statue of Poseidon in front of it.

[5] Some of the Greek poets state that Heracles brought up the hound of Hades here, though there is no road that leads underground through the cave, and it is not easy to believe that the gods possess any underground dwelling where the souls collect. But Hecataeus of Miletus gave a plausible explanation, stating that a terrible serpent lived on Taenarum, and was called the hound of Hades, because any one bitten was bound to die of the poison at once, and it was this snake, he said, that was brought by Heracles to Eurystheus.

[6] But Homer, who was the first to call the creature brought by Heracles the hound of Hades,¹ did not give it a name or describe it as of manifold form, as he did in the case of the Chimaera.² Later poets gave the name Cerberus, and though in other respects they made him resemble a dog, they say that he had three heads. Homer, however, does not imply that he was a dog, the friend of man, any more than if he had called a real serpent the hound of Hades.

[7] Among other offerings on Taenarum is a bronze statue of Arion the harper on a dolphin. Herodotus has told the story of Arion and the dolphin, as he heard it, in his history of Lydia .³ I have seen the dolphin at Poroselene that rewards the boy for saving his life. It had been damaged by fishermen and he cured it.I saw this dolphin obeying his call and carrying him whenever he wanted to ride on it.

[8] There is a spring also on Taenarum but now it possesses nothing marvellous. Formerly, as they say, it showed harbors and ships to those who looked into the water. These sights in the water were brought to an end for good and all by a woman washing dirty clothes in it.

[9]
From the point of Taenarum Caenepolis is distant forty stades by sea. Its name also was formerly Taenarum. In it is a hall of Demeter, and a temple of Aphrodite on the shore, with a standing statue of stone. Thirty stades distant is Thyrides, a headland of Taenarum, with the ruins of a city Hippola ; among them is a sanctuary of Athena Hippolaitis. A little further are the town and harbor of Messa .

[10] From this harbor it is 150 stades to Oetylus. The hero, from whom the city received its name, was an Argive by descent, son of Amphianax, the son of Antimachus. In Oetylus the sanctuary of Sarapis, and in the market-place a wooden image of Apollo Carneius are worth seeing.

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 3.25

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

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