Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 4.35

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Section

← Previous Next →

[1]
Μοθώνη δέ, πρὶν ἢ τὴν στρατιὰν ἐς Τροίαν ἀθροισθῆναι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ πολέμου καλουμένη Πήδασος, μεταβέβληκεν ὕστερον τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ Μοθωναῖοι λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς Οἰνέως θυγατρός· Οἰνεῖ γὰρ τῷ Πορθάονος μετὰ ἅλωσιν Ἰλίου παρὰ Διομήδην 0 ἀναχωρήσαντι ἐς Πελοπόννησον θυγατέρα φασὶν ἐκ παλλακῆς Μοθώνην γενέσθαι· δόξῃ δὲ ἐμῇ δέδωκε τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ ὄνομα ὁ Μόθων λίθος. οὗτος δέ σφισι καὶ ὁ ποιῶν τὸν λιμένα ἐστί· τόν τε γὰρ ἔσπλουν στενώτερον ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐργάζεται παρήκων ὕφαλος καὶ ἅμα μὴ ἐκ βυθοῦ ταράσσεσθαι τὸν κλύδωνα ἔρυμα ἕστηκεν.

[2] ἐδήλωσα δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ὅτι Ναυπλιεῦσιν ἐπὶ λακωνισμῷ διωχθεῖσι Δαμοκρατίδα βασιλεύοντος ἐν Ἄργει Μοθώνην Λακεδαιμόνιοι διδόασι καὶ ὡς οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν Μεσσηνίων κατελθόντων ἐγένετο οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτοὺς νεώτερον· ἦσαν δὲ οἱ Ναυπλιεῖς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν Αἰγύπτιοι τὰ παλαιότερα, παραγενόμενοι δὲ ὁμοῦ Δαναῷ ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν Ἀργολίδα ὕστερον γενεαῖς τρισὶν ὑπὸ Ναυπλίου τοῦ Ἀμυμώνης κατῳκίσθησαν ἐν Ναυπλίᾳ.

[3] Μοθωναίοις δὲ βασιλεὺς μὲν Τραϊανὸς ἔδωκεν ἐλευθέρους ὄντας ἐν αὐτονομίᾳ πολιτεύεσθαι· τὰ δὲ ἔτι παλαιότερα μόνοις σφίσι Μεσσηνίων τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ τοιόνδε ἀτύχημα ἰδίᾳ συνέβη γενέσθαι. τὰ ἐν Ἠπείρῳ τῇ Θεσπρωτίδι ὑπὸ ἀναρχίας ἐφθάρη· Δηιδαμείᾳ γὰρ τῇ Πύρρου παῖδες οὐκ ἐγένοντο, ἀλλὰ ὡς τελευτᾶν ἔμελλεν, ἐπιτρέπει τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματα. θυγάτηρ δὲ ἦν Πύρρου τοῦ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πύρρου·

[4] τὰ δὲ ἐς Πύρρον τὸν Αἰακίδου πρότερον ἔτι ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἐδήλωσα, Προκλῆς δὲ ὁ Καρχηδόνιος τύχης μὲν χρηστῆς ἕνεκα καὶ διὰ λαμπρότητα ἔργων ἔνεμεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ τᾷ Φιλίππου πλέον, τάξαι δὲ ὁπλίτας τε καὶ ἱππικὸν καὶ στρατηγήματα ἐπὶ ἄνδρας πολεμίους εὑρεῖν Πύρρον 0 ἔφασκεν ἀμείνονα γενέσθαι.

[5] Ἠπειρῶται δὲ ὡς ἐπαύσαντο βασιλεύεσθαι, τά τε ἄλλα ὁ δῆμος ὕβριζε καὶ ἀκροᾶσθαι τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ὑπερεώρων· καὶ σφᾶς οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶ τὰ πρὸς τοῦ Ἰονίου τὴν Ἤπειρον ὑπεροικοῦντες παρεστήσαντο ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς. οὐ γάρ πω δημοκρατίαν ἴσμεν ἄλλους γε ἢ Ἀθηναίους αὐξήσαντας, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ προήχθησαν ἐπὶ μέγα ἀπʼ αὐτῆς· συνέσει γὰρ οἰκείᾳ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν ὑπερεβάλλοντο καὶ νόμοις τοῖς καθεστηκόσιν ἐλάχιστα ἠπείθουν.

[6] οἱ δὲ Ἰλλυριοί, ἀρχῆς τε γεγευμένοι καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντες ἀεὶ τοῦ πλείονος, ναῦς τε ἐπήξαντο καὶ ἐληίζοντο ἄλλους τε ὡς ἑκάστους τύχοιεν καὶ ἐς τὴν Μοθωναίαν σχόντες ὡρμίσαντο οἷα ἐς φιλίαν· στείλαντες δὲ ἄγγελον ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἄγειν σφίσιν οἶνον ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα ἐδεήθησαν. ὡς δὲ ἄγοντες ἀφίκοντο ἄνδρες οὐ πολλοί, τόν τε οἶνον ὠνοῦντο ἐπιτιμώντων τῶν Μοθωναίων καὶ αὐτοί σφισιν ἐπίπρασκον ὧν ἐπήγοντο.

[7] ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἀφικομένων ἐκ τῆς πόλεως πλειόνων παρέχουσι καὶ τοῖσδε κερδᾶναι· τέλος δὲ γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες κατίασιν ἐπὶ τὰ πλοῖα οἶνόν τε ἀποδόσθαι καὶ ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων ἀντιληψόμενοι. ἔνθα νῦν ἀποτολμήσαντες οἱ Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ ἄνδρας πολλοὺς καὶ ἔτι πλείονας τῶν γυναικῶν ἁρπάζουσιν· ἐσθέμενοι δὲ ἐς τὰς ναῦς ἔπλεον τὴν ἐπὶ Ἰονίου, Μοθωναίων ἐρημώσαντες τὸ ἄστυ.

[8]
ἐν Μοθώνῃ δὲ ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς Ἀνεμώτιδος· Διομήδην δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἀναθεῖναι καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῇ θεῷ φασι θέσθαι. βιαιότεροι γὰρ καὶ οὐ κατὰ καιρὸν 0 πνέοντες ἐλυμαίνοντο οἱ ἄνεμοι τὴν χώραν· Διομήδους δὲ εὐξαμένου τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ, τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου συμφορά σφισιν οὐδεμία ἀνέμων γε ἕνεκα ἦλθεν ἐς τὴν γῆν. καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος δʼ ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα καὶ ὕδωρ ἐν φρέατι κεκραμένον πίσσῃ, Κυζικηνῷ μύρῳ μάλιστα ἰδεῖν ἐμφερές· παράσχοιτο δʼ ἂν πᾶσαν καὶ χρόαν ὕδωρ καὶ ὀσμήν.

[9] γλαυκότατον μὲν οἶδα ὕδωρ θεασάμενος τὸ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις, οὔτι που πᾶν, ἀλλʼ ὅσον κάτεισιν ἐς τὴν κολυμβήθραν ἥντινα ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι Χύτρους γυναικείους· ξανθὸν δὲ ὕδωρ, οὐδέν τι ἀποδέον τὴν χρόαν αἵματος, Ἑβραίων ἡ γῆ παρέχεται πρὸς Ἰόππῃ πόλει· θαλάσσης μὲν ἐγγυτάτω τὸ ὕδωρ ἐστί, λόγον δὲ ἐς τὴν πηγὴν λέγουσιν οἱ ταύτῃ, Περσέα ἀνελόντα τὸ κῆτος, ᾧ τὴν παῖδα προκεῖσθαι τοῦ Κηφέως, ἐνταῦθα τὸ αἷμα ἀπονίψασθαι.

[10] ὕδωρ δὲ ἀπὸ πηγῶν ἀνερχόμενον μέλαν ἰδὼν οἶδα ἐν Ἀστύροις· τὰ δὲ Ἄστυρα ἀπαντικρὺ Λέσβου λουτρά ἐστι θερμὰ ἐν τῷ Ἀταρνεῖ καλουμένῳ. τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἐστὶν ὁ Ἀταρνεὺς ὁ Χίων μισθός, ὃν παρὰ τοῦ Μήδου λαμβάνουσιν ἄνδρα ἐκδόντες ἱκέτην, Πακτύην τὸν Λυδόν. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ μελαίνεται, Ῥωμαίοις δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν πόλιν, διαβάντων τὸν Ἄνιον ὀνομαζόμενον ποταμόν, ὕδωρ λευκόν ἐστιν· ἀνδρὶ δὲ ἐσβάντι ἐς αὐτὸ τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα ψυχρόν τε πρόσεισι καὶ ἐμποιεῖ φρίκην, ἐπισχόντι δὲ ὀλίγον ἅτε φάρμακον θερμαίνει τὸ πυρωδέστατον.

[11] καὶ ὅσαις μὲν πηγαῖς θαῦμά τι ἦν καὶ ἰδόντι, τοσαύτας θεασάμενος οἶδα, τὰς γὰρ δὴ ἐλάσσονος θαύματος ἐπιστάμενος παρίημι· ἁλμυρὸν δὲ ὕδωρ καὶ στρυφνὸν οὐ 0 μέγα θαῦμα ἐξευρεῖν. δύο δὲ ἀλλοῖα· τὸ μὲν τῆς Καρίας ἐν πεδίῳ καλουμένῳ Λευκῷ θερμόν ἐστιν ὕδωρ παρὰ κώμην ὀνομαζομένην Δασκύλου, πιεῖν καὶ γάλακτος ἥδιον· τὸν δὲ Ἡρόδοτον οἶδα εἰπόντα ὡς ἐς τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Ὕπανιν ἐκδίδωσιν ὕδατος πικροῦ πηγή. πῶς δʼ ἂν οὐκ ἀποδεξαίμεθα ἀληθεύειν αὐτῷ τὸν λόγον, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἐν Δικαιαρχίᾳ τῇ Τυρρηνῶν ἐξεύρηται ὕδωρ σφίσι θερμὸν οὕτω δή τι ὀξὺ ὥστε τὸν μόλυβδον—διεξῄει γὰρ διὰ μολύβδου ῥέον —ἔτεσι κατέτηξεν οὐ πολλοῖς;

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.) — 4.35 focus

[1]
Before the mustering of the army for the Trojan war, and during the war, Mothone was called Pedasus. Later, as the people themselves say, it received a new name from the daughter of Oeneus. They say that Mothone was born of a concubine to Oeneus the son of Porthaon, when he had taken refuge with Diomede in Peloponnese after the fall of Troy . But in my view it was the rock Mothon that gave the place its name. It is this which forms their harbor. For projecting under water, it makes the entrance for ships more narrow and also serves as a breakwater against a heavy swell.

[2] I have shown in earlier passages¹ that, when the Nauplians in the reign of Damocratidas in Argos were expelled for their Laconian sympathies, the Lacedaemonians gave them Mothone, and that no change was made regarding them on the part of the Messenians when they returned. The Nauplians in my view were Egyptians originally, who came by sea with Danaus to the Argolid , and two generations later were settled in Nauplia by Nauplius the son of Amymone.

[3] The Emperor Trajan granted civic freedom and autonomy to the people of Mothone. In earlier days they were the only people of Messenia on the coast to suffer a disaster like the following: Thesprotian Epirus was ruined by anarchy. For Deidameia the daughter of Pyrrhus, being without children, handed over the government to the people when she was on the point of death. She was the daughter of Pyrrhus, son of Ptolemy, son of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus.

[4] I have told the facts relating to Pyrrhus the son of Aeacides in my account of the Athenians.² Procles the Carthaginian³ indeed rated Alexander the son of Philip higher on account of his good fortune and for the brilliance of his achievements, but said that Pyrrhus was the better man in infantry and cavalry tactics and in the invention of stratagems of war.

[5] When the Epirots were rid of their kings, the people threw off all control and disdained to listen to their magistrates, and the Illyrians who live on the Ionian sea above Epirus reduced them by a raid. We have yet to hear of a democracy bringing prosperity to a nation other than the Athenians; the Athenians attained to greatness by its means, for they surpassed the Greek world in native wit, and least disregarded the established laws.

[6] Now the Illyrians, having tasted empire and being always desirous of more, built ships, and plundering others whom they fell in with, put in to the coast of Mothone and anchored as in a friendly port. Sending a messenger to the city they asked for wine to be brought to their ships. A few men came with it and they bought the wine at the price which the inhabitants asked, and themselves sold a part of their cargo.

[7] When on the following day a larger number arrived from the town, they allowed them also to make their profit. Finally women and men came down to the ships to sell wine and trade with the barbarians. Thereupon by a bold stroke the Illyrians carried off a number of men and still more of the women. Carrying them on board ship, they set sail for the Ionian sea, having desolated the city of the Mothonaeans.

[8]
In Mothone is a temple of Athena Of the Winds, with a statue dedicated, it is said, by Diomede, who gave the goddess her name. The country being damaged by violent and unseasonable blasts, Diomede prayed to the goddess, and henceforward no disaster caused by the winds has visited their country. There is also a shrine of Artemis here and water in a well mixed with pitch, in appearance very like the iris-oil of Cyzicos. Water can assume every color and scent.

[9] The bluest that I know from personal experience is that at Thermopylae , not all of it, but that which flows into the swimming-baths, called locally the Women's Pots. Red water, in color like blood, is found in the land of the Hebrews near the city of Joppa . The water is close to the sea, and the account which the natives give of the spring is that Perseus, after destroying the sea-monster, to which the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, washed off the blood in the spring.

[10] I have myself seen water coming up black from springs at Astyra. Astyra opposite Lesbos is the name of the hot baths in the district called Atarneus . It was this Atarneus , which the Chians received as a reward from the Persians as a reward for surrendering the suppliant, Pactyas the Lydian.⁴ This water then has a black color; but the Romans have a white water, above the city across the river called Anio. When a man enters it, he is at first attacked with cold and shivering, but after a little time it warms him like the hottest drug.

[11] All these springs that had something wonderful to show I have seen myself. For I pass over the less wonderful that I know, and it is no great marvel to find water that is salt and harsh. But there are two other kinds. The water in the White Plain, as it is called, in Caria , by the village with the name Dascylou Come, is warm and sweeter than milk to drink. I know that Herodotus says that a spring of bitter water flows into the river Hypanis. We can assuredly admit the truth of his statement, when in our days at Dicaearchia ( Puteoli ), in the land of the Tyrrhenians, a hot spring has been found, so acid that in a few years it dissolved the lead through which its water passed.

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.) — 4.35 focus

[1] Before the mustering of the army for the Trojan war, and during the war, Mothone was called Pedasus. Later, as the people themselves say, it received a new name from the daughter of Oineus. They say that Mothone was born of a concubine to Oineus the son of Porthaon, when he had taken refuge with Diomede in Peloponnese after the fall of Troy. But in my view it was the rock Mothon that gave the place its name. It is this which forms their harbor. For projecting under water, it makes the entrance for ships more narrow and also serves as a breakwater against a heavy swell.

[2] I have shown in earlier passages that, when the Nauplians in the reign of Damocratidas in Argos were expelled for their Laconian sympathies, the Lacedaemonians gave them Mothone, and that no change was made regarding them on the part of the Messenians when they returned. The Nauplians in my view were Egyptians originally, who came by sea with Danaos to the Argolid, and two generations later were settled in Nauplia by Nauplios the son of Amymone.

[3] The Emperor Trajan granted civic freedom and autonomy to the people of Mothone. In earlier days they were the only people of Messenia on the coast to suffer a disaster like the following: Thesprotian Epeiros was ruined by anarchy. For Deidameia the daughter of Pyrrhos, being without children, handed over the government to the people when she was on the point of death. She was the daughter of Pyrrhos, son of Ptolemy, son of Alexander, son of Pyrrhos.

[4] I have told the facts relating to Pyrrhos the son of Aiakidēs in my account of the Athenians. Prokles the Carthaginian indeed rated Alexander the son of Philip higher on account of his good fortune and for the brilliance of his achievements, but said that Pyrrhos was the better man in infantry and cavalry tactics and in the invention of stratagems of war.

[5] When the people of Epeiros were rid of their kings, the people threw off all control and disdained to listen to their magistrates, and the Illyrians who live on the Ionian sea above Epeiros reduced them by a raid. We have yet to hear of a democracy bringing prosperity to a nation other than the Athenians; the Athenians attained to greatness by its means, for they surpassed the Greek world in native wit, and least disregarded the established laws.

[8] In Mothone is a temple of Athena Of the Winds, with a statue dedicated, it is said, by Diomede, who gave the goddess her name. The country being damaged by violent and unseasonable blasts, Diomede prayed to the goddess, and henceforward no disaster caused by the winds has visited their country. There is also a shrine of Artemis here and water in a well mixed with pitch, in appearance very like the iris-oil of Cyzicos. Water can assume every color and scent.

[9] The bluest that I know from personal experience is that at Thermopylae, not all of it, but that which flows into the swimming-baths, called locally the Women’s Pots. Red water, in color like blood, is found in the land of the Hebrews near the city of Joppa. The water is close to the sea, and the account which the natives give of the spring is that Perseus, after destroying the sea monster, to which the daughter of Cepheus was exposed, washed off the blood in the spring.

[10] I have myself seen water coming up black from springs at Astyra. Astyra opposite Lesbos is the name of the hot baths in the district called Atarneus. It was this Atarneus, which the Chians received as a reward from the Persians as a reward for surrendering the suppliant, Pactyas the Lydian. This water then has a black color; but the Romans have a white water, above the city across the river called Anio. When a man enters it, he is at first attacked with cold and shivering, but after a little time it warms him like the hottest drug.

[11] All these springs that had something wonderful to show I have seen myself. For I pass over the less wonderful that I know, and it is no great marvel to find water that is salt and harsh. But there are two other kinds. The water in the White Plain, as it is called, in Caria, by the village with the name Dascylou Come, is warm and sweeter than milk to drink. I know that Herodotus says that a spring of bitter water flows into the river Hypanis. We can assuredly admit the truth of his statement, when in our days at Dicaearchia (Puteoli), in the land of the Tyrrhenians, a hot spring has been found, so acid that in a few years it dissolved the lead through which its water passed.

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 4.35

ed. Friedrich Spiro

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers