Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 7.18.11

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[11] Every year too the people of Patrae celebrate the festival Laphria in honor of their Artemis, and at it they employ a method of sacrifice peculiar to the place. Round the altar in a circle they set up logs of wood still green, each of them sixteen cubits long. On the altar within the circle is placed the driest of their wood. Just before the time of the festival they construct a smooth ascent to the altar, piling earth upon the altar steps.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1918-1935.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Description of Greece (English) (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.)

Editions (1)

Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 7.18.11 focus

[11] ἄγουσι δὲ καὶ Λάφρια ἑορτὴν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι οἱ Πατρεῖς ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος, ἐν ᾗ τρόπος ἐπιχώριος θυσίας ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς. περὶ μὲν τὸν βωμὸν ἐν κύκλῳ ξύλα ἱστᾶσιν ἔτι χλωρὰ καὶ ἐς ἑκκαίδεκα ἕκαστον πήχεις· ἐντὸς δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τὰ αὐότατά σφισι τῶν ξύλων κεῖται. μηχανῶνται δὲ ὑπὸ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἑορτῆς καὶ ἄνοδον ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν λειοτέραν, ἐπιφέροντες γῆν ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τοὺς ἀναβασμούς.

Translations (1)

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.) — 7.18.11 focus

[11] The people-of-Patrai [Patreîs] celebrate every year a festival [ heortē] called Laphria, which is likewise intended for their [special kind of] Artemis, and, at this festival, there is a [special] way [ tropos] of sacrificing [ thusiā] that is peculiar-to-the-locale [ epikhōrios]. Around the altar [ bōmos] in a circle [ kuklos] they set logs-of-wood [ xula] still green [ khlōra], each of them sixteen cubits in length. On the altar [ bōmos] within the circle [ kuklos] are placed the driest of the logs [ xula]. Just before the right-time [ kairos] of the festival [ heortē] they create a smooth ascent [ anodos = an-hodos] to the altar [ bōmos], piling earth upon the ascending-steps [ anabasmoi] [to form a ramp].

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

Scroll I. Attica

Already here, Pausanias is drawing attention to the unusual nature of the sacrifice that we is about to witness. It is as if he were already distancing himself from the extreme cruelty that awaits his viewing.

source

Pausanias Description of Greece 7.18.11

W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator)

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