Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 8.16

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[1] Going east from Pheneus you come to a mountain peak called Geronteium and a road by it. This mountain is the boundary between the territories of Pheneus and Stymphalos. On the left of it, as you travel through the land of Pheneus, are mountains of the Pheneatians called Trikrena (Three Springs), and here are three springs. In them, it is said, Hermes was washed after birth by the nymphs of the mountain, and for this reason they are considered sacred to Hermes.

[2] Not far from Trikrena is another mountain called Sepia, where they say that Aipytos, the son of Elatos, was killed by the snake, and they also made his tomb on the spot, for they could not carry the body away. These snakes are still to be found, the Arcadians say, on the mountain, even at the present day; not many, however, for they are very scarce. The reason is that, as for the greater part of the year snow falls on the mountain, the snakes die that are cut off by the snow from their holes, while should any make good their escape to the holes, nevertheless some of them are killed by the snow, as the frost penetrates even into the very holes themselves.

[3] The tomb of Aipytos I was especially anxious to see, because Homer in his verses about the Arcadians makes mention of the tomb of Aipytos. It is a mound of earth of no great size, surrounded by a circular base of stone. Homer naturally was bound to admire it, as he had never seen a more noteworthy tomb, just as he compares the dance worked by Hephaistos on the shield of Achilles to a dance made by Daidalos, because he had never seen more clever workmanship.

[4] I know many wonderful tombs, and will mention two of them, the one at Halicarnassus and one in the land of the Hebrews. The one at Halicarnassus was made for Mausolus, king of the city, and it is of such vast size, and so notable for all its ornament, that the Romans in their great admiration of it call remarkable tombs in their country “Mausolea.”

[5] The Hebrews have a tomb, that of Helen, a native woman, in the city of Jerusalem, which the Roman Emperor razed to the ground. There is a contrivance in the tomb whereby the door, which like all the tomb is of stone, does not open until the year brings back the same day and the same hour. Then the mechanism, unaided, opens the door, which, after a short interval, shuts itself. This happens at that time, but should you at any other try to open the door you cannot do so; force will not open it, but only break it down.

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.) — 8.16 focus

[1]
ἐκ δὲ Φενεοῦ πρὸς ἥλιον ἰόντι ἀνίσχοντα ὄρους 0 ἐστὶν ἄκρα Γερόντειον καὶ κατὰ ταύτην ὁδός· Φενεάταις δὲ ὅροι πρὸς Στυμφαλίους τῆς γῆς τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ Γερόντειον. τοῦ Γεροντείου δὲ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ διὰ τῆς Φενεατικῆς ὁδεύοντι ὄρη Φενεατῶν ἐστι Τρίκρηνα καλούμενα, καὶ εἰσὶν αὐτόθι κρῆναι τρεῖς· ἐν ταύταις λοῦσαι τεχθέντα Ἑρμῆν αἱ περὶ τὸ ὄρος λέγονται νύμφαι, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τὰς πηγὰς ἱερὰς Ἑρμοῦ νομίζουσιν.

[2] Τρικρήνων δὲ οὐ πόρρω ἄλλο ἐστὶν ὄρος Σηπία, καὶ Αἰπύτῳ τῷ Ἐλάτου λέγουσιν ἐνταῦθα γενέσθαι τὴν τελευτὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὄφεως, καί οἱ καὶ τὸν τάφον ἐποίησαν αὐτόθι· οὐ γὰρ οἷά τε ἦν σφισιν ἐς τὸ πρόσω φέρειν τὸν νεκρόν. τούτους οἱ Ἀρκάδες τοὺς ὄφεις γίνεσθαι καὶ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔτι ἐν τῷ ὄρει φασίν, οὐ μέντοι πολλούς γε ἀλλὰ καὶ μάλιστα σπανίους· ἅτε γὰρ τοῦ ἔτους τὸ πολὺ νειφομένου τοῦ ὄρους, οἵ τε ἀποληφθέντες τῶν φωλεῶν ἐκτὸς ὑπὸ τῆς χιόνος διαφθείρονται, καὶ ἢν πρότερον καταφυγόντες τύχωσιν ἐς τὰ φωλεά, ὅμως ἡ χιὼν μέρος τι αὐτῶν ἀπόλλυσιν, ἅτε καὶ ἐς αὐτὰ τὰ φωλεὰ καθικνουμένου τοῦ κρυμοῦ.

[3] τὸν δὲ τοῦ Αἰπύτου τάφον σπουδῇ μάλιστα ἐθεασάμην, ὅτι ἐν τοῖς ἐς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ἔπεσιν ἔσχεν Ὅμηρος λόγον τοῦ· Αἰπύτου μνήματος. ἔστι μὲν οὖν γῆς χῶμα οὐ μέγα, λίθου κρηπῖδι ἐν κύκλῳ περιεχόμενον· Ὁμήρῳ δὲ— οὐ γὰρ εἶδεν ἀξιολογώτερον μνῆμα—εἰκότως παρέξειν ἔμελλε θαῦμα, ἐπεὶ καὶ Ἡφαίστου τὸν χορὸν ἐπὶ τῇ Ἀχιλλέως ἀσπίδι εἰργασμένον εἰκάζει χορῷ Δαιδάλου ποιηθέντι, σοφώτερα οὐ θεασάμενος.

[4] τάφους δὲ ἀξίους θαύματος ἐπιστάμενος πολλοὺς δυοῖν ἐξ 0 αὐτῶν ἐπιμνησθήσομαι, τοῦ τε ἐν Ἁλικαρνασσῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑβραίων. ὁ μὲν δὴ ἐν Ἁλικαρνασσῷ Μαυσώλῳ βασιλεύσαντι Ἁλικαρνασσέων πεποίηται, μέγεθος δὲ οὕτω δή τί ἐστι μέγας καὶ ἐς κατασκευὴν περίβλεπτος τὴν πᾶσαν, ὥστε καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι μεγάλως δή τι αὐτὸν θαυμάζοντες τὰ παρὰ σφίσιν ἐπιφανῆ μνήματα Μαυσώλεια ὀνομάζουσιν·

[5] Ἑβραίοις δὲ Ἑλένης γυναικὸς ἐπιχωρίας τάφος ἐστὶν ἐν πόλει Σολύμοις, ἣν ἐς ἔδαφος κατέβαλεν ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεύς. μεμηχάνηται δὲ ἐν τῷ τάφῳ τὴν θύραν, ὁμοίως παντὶ οὖσαν τῷ τάφῳ λιθίνην, μὴ πρότερον ἀνοίγεσθαι, πρὶν ἂν ἡμέραν τε ἀεὶ καὶ ὥραν τὸ ἔτος ἐπαγάγῃ τὴν αὐτήν· τότε δὲ ὑπὸ μόνου τοῦ μηχανήματος ἀνοιχθεῖσα καὶ οὐ πολὺ ἐπισχοῦσα συνεκλείσθη διʼ ἑαυτῆς. τοῦτον μὲν δὴ οὕτω, τὸν δὲ ἄλλον χρόνον ἀνοῖξαι πειρώμενος ἀνοίξαις μὲν οὐκ ἄν, κατάξεις δὲ αὐτὴν πρότερον βιαζόμενος.

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.) — 8.16 focus

[1]
Going east from Pheneus you come to a mountain peak called Geronteium and a road by it. This mountain is the boundary between the territories of Pheneus and Stymphalus. On the left of it, as you travel through the land of Pheneus, are mountains of the Pheneatians called Tricrena (Three Springs), and here are three springs. In them, says the legend, Hermes was washed after birth by the nymphs of the mountain, and for this reason they are considered sacred to Hermes.

[2] Not far from Tricrena is another mountain called Sepia, where they say that Aepytus, the son of Elatus, was killed by the snake, and they also made his grave on the spot, for they could not carry the body away. These snakes are still to be found, the Arcadians say, on the mountain, even at the present day; not many, however, for they are very scarce. The reason is that, as for the greater part of the year snow falls on the mountain, the snakes die that are cut off by the snow from their holes, while should any make good their escape to the holes, nevertheless some of them are killed by the snow, as the frost penetrates even into the very holes themselves.

[3] The grave of Aepytus I was especially anxious to see, because Homer¹ in his verses about the Arcadians makes mention of the tomb of Aepytus. It is a mound of earth of no great size, surrounded by a circular base of stone. Homer naturally was bound to admire it, as he had never seen a more noteworthy tomb, just as he compares the dance worked by Hephaestus on the shield of Achilles to a dance made by Daedalus, because he had never seen more clever workmanship.

[4] I know many wonderful graves, and will mention two of them, the one at Halicarnassus and one in the land of the Hebrews. The one at Halicarnassus was made for Mausolus, king of the city, and it is of such vast size, and so notable for all its ornament, that the Romans in their great admiration of it call remarkable tombs in their country “Mausolea.”

[5] The Hebrews have a grave, that of Helen, a native woman, in the city of Jerusalem , which the Roman Emperor razed to the ground. There is a contrivance in the grave whereby the door, which like all the grave is of stone, does not open until the year brings back the same day and the same hour. Then the mechanism, unaided, opens the door, which, after a short interval, shuts itself. This happens at that time, but should you at any other try to open the door you cannot do so; force will not open it, but only break it down.

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 8.16

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

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