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[1] The altar at Olympia shows another strange peculiarity, which is this. The kite, the bird of prey with the most rapacious nature, never harms those who are sacrificing at Olympia. Should ever a kite seize the entrails or some of the flesh, it is regarded as an unfavorable sign for the sacrificer. There is a story that when Hēraklēs, the son of Alkmene, was sacrificing at Olympia, he was much worried by the flies. So either on his own initiative or at somebody’s suggestion, he sacrificed to Zeus Averter of Flies, and thus, the flies were diverted to the other side of the Alpheios. It is said that in the same way, the Eleians too sacrifice to Zeus, Averter of Flies, to drive the flies out of Olympia.
[2] The Eleians are accustomed to use for the sacrifices to Zeus the wood of the white poplar and of no other tree, preferring the white poplar, I think, simply and solely because Hēraklēs brought it into Greece from Thesprotia. And it is my opinion that when Hēraklēs sacrificed to Zeus at Olympia, he himself burned the thigh bones of the victims upon wood of the white poplar. Hēraklēs found the white poplar growing on the banks of the Acheron, the river in Thesprotia, and for this reason, Homer
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calls it ‘Acherōïs’.
[3] So, from the first down to the present, all rivers have not been equally suited for the growth of plants and trees. Tamarisks grow best and in the greatest numbers by the Maeander; the Boeotian Asopos can produce the tallest reeds; the persea tree flourishes only in the water of the Nile. So it is no wonder that the white poplar grew first by the Acheron and the wild olive by the Alpheios and that the dark poplar is a nursling of the Celtic land of the Celtic Eridanos.
[4] Now that I have finished my account of the greatest altar, let me proceed to describe all the altars in Olympia. My narrative will follow in dealing with them the order in which the Eleians are accustomed to sacrifice on the altars. They sacrifice to Hestia first, secondly to Olympic Zeus, going to the altar within the temple, thirdly to Zeus Laoitas and to Poseidon Laoitas. This sacrifice too it is usual to offer on one altar. Fourthly and fifthly, they sacrifice to Artemis and to Athena, Goddess of Plunder,
[5] sixthly to the Worker Goddess. The descendants of Pheidias, called Cleansers, have received from the Eleians the privilege of cleaning the statue [
agalma] of Zeus from the dirt that settles on it, and they sacrifice to the Worker Goddess before they begin to polish the. There is another altar of Athena near the temple, and by it, a square altar of Artemis rising gently to a height.
[6] After the altars I have enumerated, there is one on which they sacrifice to Alpheios and Artemis together. The cause of this Pindar, I think, intimates in an ode, and I give it in my account of Letrini. Not far from it stands another altar of Alpheios, and by it, one of Hephaistos. This altar of Hephaistos some Eleians call the altar of Warlike Zeus. These same Eleians also say that Oinomaos used to sacrifice to Warlike Zeus on this altar whenever he was about to begin a chariot race with one of the suitors of Hippodameia.
[7] After this stands an altar of Hēraklēs surnamed Parastates (Assistant); there are also altars of the brothers of Hēraklēs—Epimedes, Idas, Paionaios, and Iasos; I am aware, however, that the altar of Idas is called by others the altar of Acesidas. At the place where are the foundations of the house of Oinomaos stand two altars: one is of Zeus of the Courtyard, which Oinomaos appears to have had built himself, and the other of Zeus of the Thunderbolt, which I believe they built later, when the thunderbolt had struck the house of Oinomaos.
[8] An account of the great altar I gave a little way back; it is called the altar of Olympian Zeus. By it is an altar of Unknown Gods, and after this, an altar of Zeus Purifier, one of Nike, and another of Zeus—this time surnamed Underground. There are also altars of all gods, and of Hērā surnamed Olympian, this too being made of ashes. They say that it was dedicated by Klymenos. After this comes an altar of Apollo and Hermes in common, because the Greeks have a story about them that Hermes invented the lyre and Apollo the lute.
[9] Next come an altar of Concord, another of Athena, and the altar of the Mother of the gods. Quite close to the entrance to the stadium are two altars; one they call the altar of Hermes of the Games, the other the altar of Opportunity. I know that a hymn to Opportunity is one of the poems of Ion of Chios; in the hymn, Opportunity is made out to be the youngest child of Zeus. Near the treasury of the Sikyonians is an altar of Hēraklēs, either one of the Kouretes or the son of Alkmene, for both accounts are given.
[10] On what is called the Gaion (sanctuary of Earth) is an altar of Earth; it too is of ashes. In more ancient days, they say that there was an oracle also of Earth in this place. On what is called the Stomion (Mouth), the altar to Themis has been built. All around the altar of Zeus, Descender runs a fence; this altar is near the great altar made of the ashes. The reader must remember that the altars have not been enumerated in the order in which they stand, but the order followed by my narrative is that followed by the Eleians in their sacrifices. By the sacred enclosure of Pelops is an altar of Dionysus and the Graces in common; between them is an altar of the Muses, and next to these, an altar of the Nymphs.
Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy. . .