Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 4.30

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Section

← Previous Next →

[1] There is in our time a city Abia in Messenia on the coast, some twenty stadium-lengths distant from the Choerius valley. They say that this was formerly called Ire and was one of the seven cities which Homer says that Agamemnon promised to Achilles. When Hyllos and the Dorians were defeated by the Achaeans, it is said that Abia, nurse of Glenus the son of Hēraklēs, withdrew to Ire, and settling there built a temple to Hēraklēs, and that afterwards for this reason Kresphontes, amongst other honors assigned to her, renamed the city after Abia. There was a notable temple of Hēraklēs here, and also of Asklepios.

[2] Pharai is seventy stadium-lengths distant from Abia. On the road is a salt spring. The Emperor Augustus caused the Messenians of Pharai to be incorporated in Laconia. The founder Pharis is said to have been the son of Hermes and Phylodameia the daughter of Danaos. He had no male children, but a daughter Telegone. Homer, tracing her descendants in the Iliad, says that twins, Crethon and Ortilokhos, were born to Diokles, Diokles himself being the son of Ortilokhos son of Alpheios. He makes no reference to Telegone, who in the Messenian account bore Ortilokhos to Alpheios.

[3] I heard also at Pharai that besides the twins a daughter Anticleia was born to Diokles, and that her children were Nikomakhos and Gorgasus, by Makhaon the son of Asklepios. They remained at Pharai and succeeded to the kingdom on the death of Diokles. The power of healing diseases and curing the maimed has remained with them to this day, and in return for this, sacrifices and votive offerings are brought to their sanctuary. The people of Pharai possess also a temple of Fortune (Tyche) and an ancient image.

[4] Homer is the first whom I know to have mentioned Fortune in his poems. He did so in the Hymn to Demeter, where he enumerates the daughters of Okeanos, telling how they played with Kore the daughter of Demeter, and making Fortune one of them. The lines are:

“We all in a lovely meadow, Leucippe, Phaeno, Electre and Ianthe, Melobosis and Tyche and Ocyrhoe with face like a flower.”

Homeric Hymn to Demeter [5]420

[5] He said nothing further about this goddess being the mightiest of gods in human affairs and displaying greatest strength, as in the Iliad he represented Athena and Enyo as supreme in war, and Artemis feared in childbirth, and Aphrodite heeding the affairs of marriage. But he makes no other mention of Fortune.

[6] Boupalos a skillful temple-architect and carver of images, who made the statue of Fortune at Smyrna, was the first whom we know to have represented her with the celestial sphere [ polos] upon her head and carrying in one hand the horn of Amaltheia, as the Greeks call it, representing her functions to this extent. The poems of Pindar later contained references to Fortune, and it is he who called her Supporter of the City.

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.) — 4.30 focus

[1]
ἔστιν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ τῆς νάπης τῆς Χοιρίου στάδια εἴκοσι μάλιστα ἀπέχουσα Ἀβία ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ πόλις. ταύτην Ἴρην καλεῖσθαι πάλαι καὶ τῶν ἑπτά φασιν εἶναι πόλεων, ἃς Ἀχιλλεῖ πεποίηκεν Ὅμηρος Ἀγαμέμνονα ὑπισχνούμενον. Ὕλλου δὲ καὶ Δωριέων μάχῃ κρατηθέντων ὑπὸ Ἀχαιῶν, ἐνταῦθα Ἀβίαν Γλήνου τοῦ Ἡρακλέους τροφὸν ἀποχωρῆσαι λέγουσιν ἐς τὴν Ἴρην καὶ οἰκῆσαί τε αὐτόθι καὶ Ἡρακλέους ἱερὸν ἱδρύσασθαι, καί οἱ διὰ ταῦτα ὕστερον Κρεσφόντην ἄλλα τε γέρα νεῖμαι καὶ τῇ πόλει μεταθέσθαι τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀβίας. Ἡρακλεῖον δὲ ἦν αὐτόθι ἐπιφανὲς καὶ Ἀσκληπιεῖον.

[2]
Φαραὶ δὲ ἀφεστήκασιν Ἀβίας σταδίους ἑβδομήκοντα, καὶ ὕδωρ κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν ἐστιν ἁλμυρόν· βασιλεὺς δὲ Αὔγουστος τοὺς ἐν Φαραῖς Μεσσηνίους συντελεῖν ἀπέταξεν ἐς τὸ Λακωνικόν. τὸν δὲ οἰκιστὴν Φᾶριν Ἑρμοῦ τε καὶ Φυλοδαμείας λέγουσιν εἶναι τῆς Δαναοῦ· Φάρει δὲ ἄρρενας μὲν οὔ φασι γενέσθαι, θυγατέρα δὲ Τηλεγόνην. τοὺς δὲ ἐφεξῆς ἐγενεαλόγησεν Ὅμηρος ἐν Ἰλιάδι διδύμους Κρήθωνα καὶ Ὀρτίλοχον εἶναι Διοκλεῖ, Διοκλέα δὲ αὐτὸν Ὀρτιλόχου τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ· τὰ δὲ ἐς Τηλεγόνην παρεῖδεν, αὕτη γὰρ λόγῳ τῷ Μεσσηνίων ἐστὶν ἡ τεκοῦσα Ἀλφειῷ τὸν Ὀρτίλοχον.

[3] καὶ τάδε ἄλλα ἤκουσα ἐν Φαραῖς, Διοκλεῖ θυγατέρα ἐπὶ τοῖς 0 διδύμοις παισὶν Ἀντίκλειαν γενέσθαι, τῆς δὲ Νικόμαχόν τε εἶναι καὶ Γόργασον, πατρὸς δὲ Μαχάονος τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ· τούτους καταμεῖναί τε αὐτοῦ καὶ ὡς ὁ Διοκλῆς ἐτελεύτησε τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκδέξασθαι. διαμεμένηκε δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐς τόδε ἔτι νοσήματά τε καὶ τοὺς πεπηρωμένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἰᾶσθαι· καί σφισιν ἀντὶ τούτων θυσίας ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἀναθήματα ἄγουσιν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ Τύχης ναὸς Φαραιάταις καὶ ἄγαλμα ἀρχαῖον.

[4] πρῶτος δὲ ὧν οἶδα ἐποιήσατο ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν Ὅμηρος Τύχης μνήμην· ἐποιήσατο δὲ ἐν ὕμνῳ τῷ ἐς τὴν Δήμητρα ἄλλας τε τῶν Ὠκεανοῦ θυγατέρας καταριθμούμενος, ὡς ὁμοῦ Κόρῃ τῇ Δήμητρος παίζοιεν, καὶ Τύχην ὡς Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ ταύτην παῖδα οὖσαν· καὶ οὕτως ἔχει τὰ ἔπη·

ἡμεῖς μὲν μάλα πᾶσαι ἀνʼ ἱμερτὸν λειμῶνα,

Λευκίππη Φαινώ τε καὶ Ἠλέκτρη καὶ Ἰάνθη

Μηλόβοσίς τε Τύχη τε καὶ Ὠκυρόη καλυκῶπις.

HH Dem. 5.420

[5] πέρα δὲ ἐδήλωσεν οὐδὲν ἔτι, ὡς ἡ θεός ἐστιν αὕτη μεγίστη θεῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασι καὶ ἰσχὺν παρέχεται πλείστην, ὥσπερ γε ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐποίησεν Ἀθηνᾶν μὲν καὶ Ἐνυὼ πολεμούντων ἡγεμονίαν ἔχειν, Ἄρτεμιν δὲ γυναικῶν ὠδῖσιν εἶναι φοβερὰν, Ἀφροδίτῃ δὲ τὰ ἔργα μέλειν τῶν γάμων. ἀλλʼ οὗτος μὲν οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐποίησεν ἐς τὴν Τύχην·

[6] Βούπαλος δέ, ναούς τε οἰκοδομήσασθαι καὶ ζῷα ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς πλάσαι, Σμυρναίοις ἄγαλμα ἐργαζόμενος Τύχης πρῶτος ἐποίησεν ὧν ἴσμεν πόλον τε ἔχουσαν ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ χειρὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἀμαλθείας κέρας ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων. οὗτος μὲν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο ἐδήλωσε τῆς θεοῦ τὰ ἔργα· ᾖσε 0 δὲ καὶ ὕστερον Πίνδαρος ἄλλα τε ἐς τὴν Τύχην καὶ δὴ καὶ Φερέπολιν ἀνεκάλεσεν αὐτήν.

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.) — 4.30 focus

[1]
There is in our time a city Abia in Messenia on the coast, some twenty stades distant from the Choerius valley. They say that this was formerly called Ire and was one of the seven cities which Homer says that Agamemnon promised to Achilles.¹ When Hyllus and the Dorians were defeated by the Achaeans, it is said that Abia , nurse of Glenus the son of Heracles, withdrew to Ire, and settling there built a temple to Heracles, and that afterwards for this reason Cresphontes, amongst other honors assigned to her, renamed the city after Abia . There was a notable temple of Heracles here, and also of Asclepius.

[2]
Pharae is seventy stades distant from Abia . On the road is a salt spring. The Emperor Augustus caused the Messenians of Pharae to be incorporated in Laconia . The founder Pharis is said to have been the son of Hermes and Phylodameia the daughter of Danaus. He had no male children, but a daughter Telegone. Homer, tracing her descendants in the Iliad,² says that twins, Crethon and Ortilochus, were born to Diocles, Diocles himself being the son of Ortilochus son of Alpheius. He makes no reference to Telegone, who in the Messenian account bore Ortilochus to Alpheius.

[3] I heard also at Pharae that besides the twins a daughter Anticleia was born to Diocles, and that her children were Nicomachus and Gorgasus, by Machaon the son of Asclepius. They remained at Pharae and succeeded to the kingdom on the death of Diocles. The power of healing diseases and curing the maimed has remained with them to this day, and in return for this, sacrifices and votive offerings are brought to their sanctuary. The people of Pharae possess also a temple of Fortune (Tyche) and an ancient image.

[4] Homer is the first whom I know to have mentioned Fortune in his poems. He did so in the Hymn to Demeter, where he enumerates the daughters of Ocean, telling how they played with Kore the daughter of Demeter, and making Fortune one of them. The lines are:

We all in a lovely meadow, Leucippe, Phaeno, Electre and Ianthe, Melobosis and Tyche and Ocyrhoe with face like a flower.

HH Dem. 5.420

[6] Bupalos⁴ a skilful temple-architect and carver of images, who made the statue of Fortune at Smyrna , was the first whom we know to have represented her with the heavenly sphere upon her head and carrying in one hand the horn of Amaltheia, as the Greeks call it, representing her functions to this extent. The poems of Pindar later contained references to Fortune, and it is he who called her Supporter of the City.

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 4.30

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