Pausanias, Description of Greece, W.H.S. Jones (Translator), H.A. Ormerod (Translator), 4.24

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[1]
After declining the leadership of the men setting forth to found a colony, Aristomenes gave his sister Hagnagora in marriage to Tharyx at Phigalia , and his daughters, both the eldest and the next in age, to Damothoidas of Lepreum and Theopompus of Heraea . He himself went to Delphi to enquire of the god. The reply that was given to Aristomenes is not recorded,

[2] but when Damagetus the Rhodian, who reigned at Ialysos , came to Apollo and asked whence he should take a wife, the Pythia bade him take a daughter of the bravest of the Greeks. As Aristomenes had a third daughter, he married her, considering that Aristomenes was by far the bravest of the Greeks of that age. Aristomenes, coming to Rhodes with his daughter, purposed to go up from there to Sardis to Ardys the son of Gyges, and to Ecbatana of the Medes to king Phraortes.

[3] But ere that he was overtaken by illness and death, for no further misfortune was to befall the Lacedaemonians at the hands of Aristomenes. On his death Damagetus and the Rhodians built him a splendid tomb and paid honor to him thenceforward. I omit what is recorded of the Diagoridae in Rhodes , as they are called, a line sprung from Diagoras the son of Damagetus, son of Dorieus, who was the son of Damagetus and of the daughter of Aristomenes, lest it should seem to be irrelevant.

[4] Now the Lacedaemonians, gaining possession of Messenia , divided it all among themselves, except the land belonging to the people of Asine ; but they gave Mothone to the men of Nauplia, who had recently been driven from their town by the Argives.

[5]
The Messenians who were captured in the country, reduced by force to the position of serfs, were later moved to revolt from the Lacedaemonians in the seventy-ninth Olympiad,¹ when Xenophon the Corinthian was victorious. Archimedes was archon at Athens . The occasion which they found for the revolt was this. Certain Lacedaemonians who had been condemned to death on some charge fled as suppliants to Taenarum but the board of ephors dragged them from the altar there and put them to death.

[6] As the Spartans paid no heed to their being suppliants, the wrath of Poseidon came upon them, and the god razed all their city to the ground. At this disaster all the serfs who were of Messenian origin seceded to Mount Ithome. Against them the Lacedaemonians, amongst other allies, called to their assistance Cimon the son of Miltiades, their patron in Athens , and an Athenian force. But when the Athenians arrived, they seem to have regarded them with suspicion that they were likely to promote revolution, and as a result of this suspicion to have soon dismissed them from Ithome .

[7] The Athenians, realizing the feelings of the Lacedaemonians towards them, made friends therefore with the Argives, and gave Naupactus to the Messenians besieged in Ithome , when they were allowed to depart under a truce. They had taken Naupactus from the Locrians adjoining Aetolia , called the Ozolian. The retirement of the Messenians from Ithome was secured by the strength of the place; also the Pythia announced to the Lacedaemonians that assuredly they would be punished if they committed a crime against the suppliant of Zeus of Ithome . For this reason then they were allowed to go from Peloponnese under a truce.

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

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.) — 4.24 focus

[1] Ἀριστομένης δὲ ὡς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀπείπατο τῶν ἐς τὴν ἀποικίαν στελλομένων, τὰς θυγατέρας τὴν πρεσβυτάτην καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ καὶ Ἁγναγόραν τὴν ἀδελφὴν τὴν μὲν Θάρυκι ἐς Φιγαλίαν, Δαμοθοΐδᾳ δὲ Λεπρεάτῃ καὶ Ἡραιεῖ Θεοπόμπῳ τὰς θυγατέρας συνῴκισεν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἀφικόμενος ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐχρῆτο τῷ θεῷ. καὶ τὸ μὲν τῷ Ἀριστομένει γενόμενον μάντευμα οὐ λέγεται·

[2] Δαμαγήτῳ δὲ Ῥοδίῳ βασιλεύοντι ἐν Ἰαλυσῷ, τότε δὲ ἥκοντι παρὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ ἐρωτῶντι ὁπόθεν ἀγαγέσθαι χρὴ γυναῖκα, ἔχρησεν ἡ Πυθία θυγατέρα ἀνδρὸς τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοῦ ἀρίστου λαβεῖν. ὁ δὲ—ἦν γὰρ καὶ τρίτη τῷ Ἀριστομένει θυγάτηρ— γαμεῖ ταύτην, Ἑλλήνων τῶν τότε ἐκεῖνον μακρῷ δή τινι ἄριστον νομίζων. Ἀριστομένης δὲ ἐς μὲν τὴν Ῥόδον ἀφίκετο σὺν τῇ θυγατρί, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἔς τε Σάρδεις ἐνενόει παρὰ Ἄρδυν τὸν Γύγου καὶ ἐς Ἐκβάτανα τὰ Μηδικὰ ἀναβῆναι παρὰ τὸν βασιλέα Φραόρτην·

[3] ἀλλὰ γὰρ πρότερον τούτων συνέπεσεν ἀποθανεῖν αὐτῷ νοσήσαντι, οὐ γὰρ ἔδει συμφορὰν οὐδεμίαν Λακεδαιμονίοις ἔτι ἐξ Ἀριστομένους γενέσθαι. τελευτήσαντι 0 δὲ αὐτῷ Δαμάγητος καὶ οἱ Ῥόδιοι μνῆμά τε ἐπιφανὲς ἐποίησαν καὶ ἔνεμον ἀπὸ ἐκείνου τιμάς. τὰ μὲν δὴ λεγόμενα ἐς τοὺς Διαγορίδας καλουμένους ἐν Ῥόδῳ, γεγονότας δὲ ἀπὸ Διαγόρου τοῦ Δαμαγήτου τοῦ Δωριέως τοῦ Δαμαγήτου τε καὶ τῆς Ἀριστομένους θυγατρός, παρῆκα, μὴ οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν δοκοίην γράφειν·

[4] Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ τότε, ὡς ἐπεκράτησαν τῆς Μεσσηνίας, τὴν μὲν ἄλλην πλὴν τῆς Ἀσιναίων αὐτοὶ διελάγχανον, Μοθώνην δὲ Ναυπλιεῦσιν ἐδίδοσαν ἐκπεπτωκόσιν ἐκ Ναυπλίας ἔναγχος ὑπὸ Ἀργείων.

[5]
Μεσσηνίων δὲ τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἐν τῇ γῇ, συντελοῦντας κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἐς τοὺς εἵλωτας, ἐπέλαβεν ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ὕστερον ἀποστῆναι κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ ἑβδομηκοστήν, ἣν Κορίνθιος ἐνίκα Ξενοφῶν, Ἀρχιμήδους Ἀθήνῃσιν ἄρχοντος· ἀπέστησαν δὲ καιρὸν τοιόνδε εὑρόντες. Λακεδαιμονίων ἄνδρες ἀποθανεῖν ἐπὶ ἐγκλήματι ὅτῳ δὴ καταγνωσθέντες ἱκέται καταφεύγουσιν ἐς Ταίναρον· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν ἐφόρων ἀπὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ σφᾶς ἀποσπάσασα ἀπέκτεινε.

[6] Σπαρτιάταις δὲ ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ θεμένοις τοὺς ἱκέτας ἀπήντησεν ἐκ Ποσειδῶνος μήνιμα, καί σφισιν ἐς ἔδαφος τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν κατέβαλεν ὁ θεός. ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ συμφορᾷ ταύτῃ καὶ τῶν εἱλώτων ὅσοι Μεσσήνιοι τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἦσαν, ἐς τὸ ὄρος τὴν Ἰθώμην ἀπέστησαν. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ ἄλλα τε μετεπέμποντο συμμαχικὰ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ Κίμωνα τὸν Μιλτιάδου πρόξενόν σφισιν ὄντα καὶ Ἀθηναίων δύναμιν· ἀφικομένους δὲ τοὺς 0 Ἀθηναίους ὑποπτεῦσαι δοκοῦσιν ὡς τάχα νεωτερίσοντας καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ὑποψίας ἀποπέμψασθαι μετʼ οὐ πολὺ ἐξ Ἰθώμης.

[7] Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ τὴν ἐς αὐτοὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ὑπόνοιαν συνέντες Ἀργείοις τε φίλοι διʼ αὐτὸ ἐγένοντο καὶ Μεσσηνίων τοῖς ἐν Ἰθώμῃ πολιορκουμένοις ἐκπεσοῦσιν ὑποσπόνδοις ἔδοσαν Ναύπακτον, ἀφελόμενοι Λοκροὺς τοὺς πρὸς Αἰτωλίᾳ καλουμένους Ὀζόλας. τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις παρέσχεν ἀπελθεῖν ἐξ Ἰθώμης τοῦ τε χωρίου τὸ ἐχυρὸν καὶ ἅμα Λακεδαιμονίοις προεῖπεν ἡ Πυθία ἦ μὴν εἶναί σφισι δίκην ἁμαρτοῦσιν ἐς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Ἰθωμάτα τὸν ἱκέτην.
ὑπόσπονδοι μὲν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου τούτων ἕνεκα ἀφείθησαν·

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.) — 4.24 focus

[1] After declining the leadership of the men setting forth to found a colony, Aristomenes gave his sister Hagnagora in marriage to Tharyx at Phigalia, and his daughters, both the eldest and the next in age, to Damothoidas of Lepreum and Theopompos of Heraia. He himself went to Delphi to enquire of the god. The reply that was given to Aristomenes is not recorded,

[2] but when Damagetos the Rhodian, who reigned at Ialysos, came to Apollo and asked whence he should take a wife, the Pythia ordered him to take a daughter of the bravest of the Greeks. As Aristomenes had a third daughter, he married her, considering that Aristomenes was by far the bravest of the Greeks of that age. Aristomenes, coming to Rhodes with his daughter, purposed to go up from there to Sardis to Ardys the son of Gyges, and to Ecbatana of the Medes to king Phraortes.

[3] But ere that he was overtaken by illness and death, for no further misfortune was to befall the Lacedaemonians at the hands of Aristomenes. On his death Damagetos and the Rhodians built him a splendid tomb and paid honor to him thenceforward. I omit what is recorded of the Diagoridai in Rhodes, as they are called, a line sprung from Diagoras the son of Damagetos, son of Dorieus, who was the son of Damagetos and of the daughter of Aristomenes, lest it should seem to be irrelevant.

[4] Now the Lacedaemonians, gaining possession of Messenia, divided it all among themselves, except the land belonging to the people of Asine; but they gave Mothone to the men of Nauplia, who had recently been driven from their town by the Argives.

[5] The Messenians who were captured in the country, reduced by force to the position of serfs, were later moved to revolt from the Lacedaemonians in the seventy-ninth Olympiad, when Xenophon the Corinthian was victorious. Arkhimedes was archon [ arkhōn] in Athens. The occasion which they found for the revolt was this. Certain Lacedaemonians who had been condemned to death on some charge fled as suppliants to Taenarum but the board of ephors dragged them from the altar there and put them to death.

[6] As the Spartans paid no heed to their being suppliants, the wrath of Poseidon came upon them, and the god razed all their city to the ground. At this disaster all the serfs who were of Messenian origin seceded to Mount Ithome. Against them the Lacedaemonians, amongst other allies, called to their assistance Kimon the son of Miltiades, their patron in Athens, and an Athenian force. But when the Athenians arrived, they seem to have regarded them with suspicion that they were likely to promote revolution, and as a result of this suspicion to have soon dismissed them from Ithome.

[7] The Athenians, realizing the feelings of the Lacedaemonians towards them, made friends therefore with the Argives, and gave Naupaktos to the Messenians besieged in Ithome, when they were allowed to depart under a truce. They had taken Naupaktos from the people of the land of Lokris called the Ozolian, adjoining Aetolia. The retirement of the Messenians from Ithome was secured by the strength of the place; also the Pythia announced to the Lacedaemonians that assuredly they would be punished if they committed a crime against the suppliant of Zeus of Ithome. For this reason then they were allowed to go from Peloponnese under a truce.

Notes on the current edition

Description of Greece

1. B.C. 464

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 4.24

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

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