Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 10.6

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[1]
πόλιν δὲ ἀρχαιοτάτην οἰκισθῆναί φασιν ἐνταῦθα ὑπὸ Παρνασσοῦ, Κλεοδώρας δὲ εἶναι νύμφης παῖδα αὐτόν· καί οἱ πατέρας, καθάπερ γε καὶ ἄλλοις τῶν καλουμένων ἡρώων, Ποσειδῶνά τε θεὸν καὶ
Κλεόπομπον ἄνδρα ἐπονομάζουσιν. ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ τοῦ Παρνασσοῦ τῷ τε ὄρει τὸ ὄνομα τεθῆναι λέγουσι καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου Παρνασσίαν ὀνομασθῆναι νάπην· τῶν πετομένων τε ὀρνίθων τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν μαντείαν γενέσθαι Παρνασσοῦ τὸ εὕρημα.

[2] ταύτην μὲν οὖν κατακλυσθῆναι τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ τῶν ὄμβρων τῶν κατὰ Δευκαλίωνα συμβάντων· τῶν δὲ ἀνθρώπων ὅσοι διαφυγεῖν τὸν χειμῶνα ἠδυνήθησαν, λύκων ὠρυγαῖς ἀπεσώθησαν ἐς τοῦ Παρνασσοῦ τὰ ἄκρα ὑπὸ ἡγεμόσι τῆς πορείας τοῖς θηρίοις, πόλιν δὲ ἣν ἔκτισαν ἐκάλεσαν ἐπὶ τούτῳ Λυκώρειαν.

[3] λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλος διάφορος λόγος τῷ προτέρῳ, Ἀπόλλωνι ἐκ νύμφης Κωρυκίας γενέσθαι Λύκωρον, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν Λυκώρου πόλιν Λυκώρειαν, τὸ ἄντρον δὲ ὀνομασθῆναι τὸ Κωρύκιον ἀπὸ τῆς νύμφης. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τάδε, Κελαινὼ θυγατέρα Ὑάμῳ τῷ Λυκώρου γενέσθαι, Δελφὸν δέ, ἀφʼ οὗ τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐστι, Κελαινοῦς τε αὐτὸν τῆς Ὑάμου καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι.

[4] οἱ δὲ Καστάλιόν τε ἄνδρα αὐτόχθονα καὶ θυγατέρα ἐθέλουσιν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι Θυίαν, καὶ ἱερᾶσθαί τε τὴν Θυίαν Διονύσῳ πρῶτον καὶ ὄργια ἀγαγεῖν τῷ θεῷ· ἀπὸ ταύτης δὲ καὶ ὕστερον ὅσαι τῷ Διονύσῳ μαίνονται Θυιάδας καλεῖσθαι σφᾶς ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων· Ἀπόλλωνος δʼ οὖν παῖδα καὶ Θυίας νομίζουσιν εἶναι Δελφόν. οἱ δὲ μητρὸς μὲν Μελαίνης φασὶν αὐτόν, θυγατρὸς Κηφισοῦ.

[5] χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον καὶ Πυθὼ τὴν πόλιν, οὐ Δελφοὺς μόνον ἐκάλεσαν οἱ περιοικοῦντες, καθὰ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ 0 πεποιημένα ἐν καταλόγῳ Φωκέων ἐστίν. οἱ μὲν δὴ γενεαλογεῖν τὰ πάντα ἐθέλοντες παῖδα εἶναι Δελφοῦ Πύθην καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου βασιλεύσαντος γενέσθαι τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα ἥγηνται· λόγος δὲ ὃς ἥκει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐς τοὺς πολλούς, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοξευθέντα σήπεσθαί φησιν ἐνταῦθα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὄνομα τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι Πυθώ· πύθεσθαι γὰρ δὴ τὰ σηπόμενα οἱ τότε ἔλεγον, καὶ τοῦδε ἕνεκα Ὅμηρος πεποίηκεν ὡς ἡ τῶν Σειρήνων νῆσος ἀνάπλεως ὀστῶν εἴη, ὅτι οἱ τῆς ᾠδῆς αὐτῶν ἀκούοντες ἐπύθοντο ἄνθρωποι.

[6] τὸν δὲ ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ποιηταὶ μὲν δράκοντα εἶναι καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ μαντείῳ φύλακα ὑπὸ Γῆς τετάχθαι φασί· λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς Κριοῦ δυναστεύοντος ἀνδρὸς περὶ Εὔβοιαν παῖς γένοιτο ὑβριστής, καὶ ἐσύλησε μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἱερόν, ἐσύλησε δὲ καὶ οἴκους ἀνδρῶν εὐδαιμόνων. ὡς δὲ ἐπεστράτευε καὶ δεύτερον, ἐνταῦθα οἱ Δελφοὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἱκέτευον ἀμῦναί σφισι τὸν ἐπιόντα κίνδυνον·

[7] καὶ ἡ Φημονόη πρόμαντις τηνικαῦτα οὖσα ἐν ἑξαμέτρῳ σφίσιν ἔχρησεν·

ἀγχοῦ δὴ βαρὺν ἰὸν ἐπʼ ἀνέρι Φοῖβος ἐφήσει

σίντῃ Παρνησσοῖο· φόνου δέ ἑ Κρήσιοι ἄνδρες

χεῖρας ἁγιστεύ ςουσι· τὸ δὲ κλέος οὔ ποτʼ ὀλεῖται.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. Friedrich Spiro. Leipzig. 1903.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

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.) — 10.6 focus

[1]
They say that the oldest city was founded here by Parnassus , a son of Cleodora, a nymph. Like the other heroes, as they are called, he had two fathers; one they say was the god Poseidon, the human father being Cleopompus. After this Parnassus were named, they say, both the mountain and also the Parnassian glen. Augury from flying birds was, it is said, a discovery of Parnassus .

[2] Now this city, so the story goes on, was flooded by the rains that fell in the time of Deucalion. Such of the inhabitants as were able to escape the storm were led by the howls of wolves to safety on the top of Parnassus , being led on their way by these beasts, and on this account they called the city that they founded Lycoreia (Mountainwolf-city).

[3] Another and different legend is current that Apollo had a son Lycorus by a nymph, Corycia, and that after Lycorus was named the city Lycoreia, and after the nymph the Corycian cave. It is also said that Celaeno was daughter to Hyamus, son of Lycorus, and that Delphus, from whom comes the present name of the city, was a son of Celaeno, daughter of Hyamus, by Apollo.

[4] Others maintain that Castalius, an aboriginal, had a daughter Thyia, who was the first to be priestess of Dionysus and celebrate orgies in honor of the god. It is said that later on men called after her Thyiads all women who rave in honor of Dionysus. At any rate they hold that Delphus was a son of Apollo and Thyia. Others say that his mother was Melaena, daughter of Cephisus.

[5] Afterwards the dwellers around called the city Pytho , as well as Delphi , just as Homer¹ so calls it in the list of the Phocians. Those who would find pedigrees for everything think that Pythes was a son of Delphus, and that because he was king the city was called Pytho . But the most widespread tradition has it that the victim of Apollo's arrows rotted here, and that this was the reason why the city received the name Pytho . For the men of those days used pythesthai for the verb “to rot,” and hence Homer in his poem says that the island of the Sirens was full of bones, because the men who heard their singing rotted (epythonto).

[6] The poets say that the victim of Apollo was a dragon posted by Earth to be a guard for the oracle. It is also said that he was a violent son of Crius, a man with authority around Euboea . He pillaged the sanctuary of the god, and he also pillaged the houses of rich men. But when he was making a second expedition, the Delphians besought Apollo to keep from them the danger that threatened them.

[7] Phemonoe, the prophetess of that day, gave them an oracle in hexameter verse:—

At close quarters a grievous arrow shall Apollo shoot

At the spoiler of Parnassus ; and of his blood-guilt

The Cretans shall cleanse his hands; but the renown shall never die.

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.) — 10.6 focus

[1] They say that the oldest city was founded here by Parnassus, a son of Kleodora, a nymph. Like the other heroes, as they are called, he had two fathers; one, they say, was the god Poseidon, the human father being Kleopompos. After this, Parnassus was named, they say, both the mountain and also the Parnassian glen. Augury from flying birds was, it is said, a discovery of Parnassus.

[2] Now this city, so the story goes on, was flooded by the rains that fell in the time of Deukalion. Such of the inhabitants as were able to escape the storm were led by the howls of wolves to safety on the top of Parnassus, being led on their way by these beasts, and on this account, they called the city that they founded Lykoreia [wolf-mountain].

[3] Another and different story is current that Apollo had a son Lykoros by a nymph, Corycia, and that after Lykoros was named the city Lykoreia, and after the nymph, the Corycian cave. It is also said that Kelaino was daughter to Hyamos, son of Lykoros, and that Delphos, from whom comes the present name of the city, was a son of Kelaino, daughter of Hyamos, by Apollo.

[4] Others maintain that Kastalios, an aborigine, had a daughter Thyia, who was the first to be priestess of Dionysus and celebrated orgies in honor of the god. It is said that later on, men called after her Thyiads all women who rave in honor of Dionysus. At any rate, they hold that Delphus was a son of Apollo and Thyia. Others say that his mother was Melaina, daughter of Kephisos.

[5] Afterwards, the dwellers around called the city Pythō, as well as Delphi, just as Homer so calls it in the list of the men of Phokis. Those who would find pedigrees for everything think that Pythes was a son of Delphus and that because he was king, the city was called Pythō. But the most widespread tradition has it that the victim of Apollo’s arrows rotted here and that this was the reason why the city received the name Pythō. For the men of those days used puthesthai for the verb ‘to rot’, and hence, Homer in his poem says that the island of the Sirens was full of bones, because the men who heard their singing rotted [ eputhonto].

[6] The poets say that the victim of Apollo was a dragon posted by Earth to be a guard for the oracle. It is also said that he was a violent son of Krios, a man with authority around Euboea. He pillaged the sanctuary of the god, and he also pillaged the houses of rich men. But when he was making a second expedition, the Delphians besought Apollo to keep from them the danger that threatened them.

[7] Phemonoe, the prophetess of that day, gave them an oracle in hexameter verse:

At close quarters, a grievous arrow shall Apollo shoot
At the spoiler of Parnassus; and of his blood guilt
The Cretans shall purify his hands; but the renown shall never die.

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 10.6

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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