Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 6.11

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[1]
ἐφεξῆς τούτων ἀναθήματά ἐστιν Ἠλείων, Φίλιππος ὁ Ἀμύντου καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Φιλίππου καὶ Σέλευκός τε καὶ Ἀντίγονος· τοῖς μὲν δὴ ἐφʼ ἵππων, Ἀντιγόνῳ δὲ ἀνὴρ πεζός ἐστιν ἡ εἰκών.

[2]
τῶν δὲ βασιλέων τῶν εἰρημένων ἕστηκεν οὐ πόρρω Θεαγένης ὁ Τιμοσθένους Θάσιος· Θάσιοι δὲ οὐ Τιμοσθένους παῖδα εἶναι Θεαγένην φασίν, ἀλλὰ ἱερᾶσθαι μὲν Ἡρακλεῖ τὸν Τιμοσθένην Θασίῳ, τοῦ Θεαγένους δὲ τῇ μητρὶ Ἡρακλέους συγγενέσθαι φάσμα ἐοικὸς Τιμοσθένει. ἔνατόν τε δὴ ἔτος εἶναι τῷ παιδὶ καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν διδασκάλων φασὶν ἐς τὴν οἰκίαν ἐρχόμενον ἄγαλμα ὅτου δὴ θεῶν ἀνακείμενον ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ χαλκοῦν—χαίρειν γὰρ τῷ ἀγάλματι αὐτόν—, ἀνασπάσαι τε δὴ τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ὤμων ἀναθέμενον ἐνεγκεῖν παρʼ αὑτόν.

[3] ἐχόντων δὲ ὀργὴν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῷ πεποιημένῳ τῶν πολιτῶν, ἀνήρ τις αὐτῶν δόκιμος καὶ ἡλικίᾳ προήκων ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν σφᾶς τὸν παῖδα οὐκ ἐᾷ, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ἐκέλευσεν ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας αὖθις κομίσαι τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐς τὴν ἀγοράν· ὡς δὲ ἤνεγκε, μέγα αὐτίκα ἦν κλέος τοῦ παιδὸς ἐπὶ ἰσχύι, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἐβεβόητο τὴν Ἑλλάδα.

[4] ὅσα μὲν δὴ ἔργων τῶν Θεαγένους ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἥκει τὸν 0 Ὀλυμπικόν, προεδήλωσεν ὁ λόγος ἤδη μοι τὰ δοκιμώτατα ἐξ αὐτῶν, Εὔθυμόν τε ὡς κατεμαχέσατο τὸν πύκτην καὶ ὡς ὑπὸ Ἠλείων ἐπεβλήθη τῷ Θεαγένει ζημία. τότε μὲν δὴ τοῦ παγκρατίου τὴν νίκην ἀνὴρ ἐκ Μαντινείας Δρομεὺς ὄνομα πρῶτος ὧν ἴσμεν ἀκονιτὶ λέγεται λαβεῖν· τὴν δὲ Ὀλυμπιάδα τὴν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ παγκρατιάζων ὁ Θεαγένης ἐκράτει.

[5] γεγόνασι δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Πυθοῖ νῖκαι τρεῖς, αὗται μὲν ἐπὶ πυγμῇ, Νεμείων δὲ ἐννέα καὶ Ἰσθμίων δέκα παγκρατίου τε ἀναμὶξ καὶ πυγμῆς. ἐν Φθίᾳ δὲ τῇ Θεσσαλῶν πυγμῆς μὲν ἢ παγκρατίου παρῆκε τὴν σπουδήν, ἐφρόντιζε δὲ ὅπως καὶ ἐπὶ δρόμῳ ἐμφανὴς ἐν Ἕλλησιν εἴη, καὶ τοὺς ἐσελθόντας ἐς τὸν δόλιχον ἐκράτησεν· ἦν δέ οἱ πρὸς Ἀχιλλέα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν τὸ φιλοτίμημα, ἐν πατρίδι τοῦ ὠκίστου τῶν καλουμένων ἡρώων ἀνελέσθαι δρόμου νίκην. τοὺς δὲ σύμπαντας στεφάνους τετρακοσίους τε ἔσχε καὶ χιλίους.

[6] ὡς δὲ ἀπῆλθεν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, ἀνὴρ τῶν τις ἀπηχθημένων ζῶντι αὐτῷ παρεγίνετο ἀνὰ πᾶσαν νύκτα ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεαγένους τὴν εἰκόνα καὶ ἐμαστίγου τὸν χαλκὸν ἅτε αὐτῷ Θεαγένει λυμαινόμενος· καὶ τὸν μὲν ὁ ἀνδριὰς ἐμπεσὼν ὕβρεως παύει, τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δὲ τοῦ ἀποθανόντος οἱ παῖδες τῇ εἰκόνι ἐπεξῄεσαν φόνου. καὶ οἱ Θάσιοι καταποντοῦσι τὴν εἰκόνα ἐπακολουθήσαντες γνώμῃ τῇ Δράκοντος, ὃς Ἀθηναίοις θεσμοὺς γράψας φονικοὺς ὑπερώρισε καὶ τὰ ἄψυχα, εἴγε ἐμπεσόν τι ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτείνειεν ἄνθρωπον.

[7] ἀνὰ χρόνον δέ, ὡς τοῖς Θασίοις οὐδένα ἀπεδίδου καρπὸν ἡ γῆ, 0 θεωροὺς ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Δελφούς, καὶ αὐτοῖς ἔχρησεν ὁ θεὸς καταδέχεσθαι τοὺς δεδιωγμένους. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ καταδεχθέντες οὐδὲν τῆς ἀκαρπίας παρείχοντο ἴαμα· δεύτερα οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν Πυθίαν ἔρχονται, λέγοντες ὡς καὶ ποιήσασιν αὐτοῖς τὰ χρησθέντα διαμένοι τὸ ἐκ τῶν θεῶν μήνιμα.

[8] ἐνταῦθα ἀπεκρίνατό σφισιν ἡ Πυθία·

Θεαγένην δʼ ἄμνηστον ἀφήκατε τὸν μέγαν ὑμέων.

ἀπορούντων δὲ αὐτῶν ὁποίᾳ μηχανῇ τοῦ Θεαγένους τὴν εἰκόνα ἀνασώσωνται, φασὶν ἁλιέας ἀναχθέντας ἐς τὸ πέλαγος ἐπὶ ἰχθύων θήραν περισχεῖν τῷ δικτύῳ τὴν εἰκόνα καὶ ἀνενεγκεῖν αὖθις ἐς τὴν γῆν· Θάσιοι δὲ ἀναθέντες, ἔνθα καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔκειτο, νομίζουσιν ἅτε θεῷ θύειν.

[9] πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ ἑτέρωθι ἔν τε Ἕλλησιν οἶδα καὶ παρὰ βαρβάροις ἀγάλματα ἱδρυμένα Θεαγένους καὶ νοσήματά τε αὐτὸν ἰώμενον καὶ ἔχοντα παρὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων τιμάς. ὁ δὲ ἀνδριὰς τοῦ Θεαγένους ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ Ἄλτει, τέχνη τοῦ Αἰγινήτου Γλαυκίου.

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

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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.) — 6.11 focus

[1]
Next to these are offerings of Eleans, representing Philip the son of Amyntas, Alexander the son of Philip, Seleucus and Antigonus. Antigonus is on foot; the rest are on horseback.

[2]
Not far from the kings mentioned stands a Thasian, Theagenes the son of Timosthenes. The Thasians say that Timosthenes was not the father of Theagenes, but a priest of the Thasian Heracles, a phantom of whom in the likeness of Timosthenes had intercourse with the mother of Theagenes. In his ninth year, they say, as he was going home from school, he was attracted by a bronze image of some god or other in the marketplace; so he caught up the image, placed it on one of his shoulders and carried it home.

[3] The citizens were enraged at what he had done, but one of them, a respected man of advanced years, bade them not to kill the lad, and ordered him to carry the image from his home back again to the market-place. This he did, and at once became famous for his strength, his feat being noised abroad through-out Greece .

[4] The achievements of Theagenes at the Olympian games have already—the most famous of them—been described¹ in my story, how he beat Euthymus the boxer, and how he was fined by the Eleans. On this occasion the pancratium, it is said, was for the first time on record won without a contest, the victor being Dromeus of Mantineia . At the Festival following this, Theagenes was the winner in the pancratium.

[5] He also won three victories at Pytho . These were for boxing, while nine prizes at Nemea and ten at the Isthmus were won in some cases for the pancratium and in others for boxing. At Phthia in Thessaly he gave up training for boxing and the pancratium. He devoted himself to winning fame among the Greeks for his running also, and beat those who entered for the long race. His ambition was, I think, to rival Achilles by winning a prize for running in the fatherland of the swiftest of those who are called heroes. The total number of crowns that he won was one thousand four hundred.

[6] When he departed this life, one of those who were his enemies while he lived came every night to the statue of Theagenes and flogged the bronze as though he were ill-treating Theagenes himself. The statue put an end to the outrage by falling on him, but the sons of the dead man prosecuted the statue for murder. So the Thasians dropped the statue to the bottom of the sea, adopting the principle of Draco, who, when he framed for the Athenians laws to deal with homicide, inflicted banishment even on lifeless things, should one of them fall and kill a man.

[7] But in course of time, when the earth yielded no crop to the Thasians, they sent envoys to Delphi , and the god instructed them to receive back the exiles. At this command they received them back, but their restoration brought no remedy of the famine. So for the second time they went to the Pythian priestess, saying that although they had obeyed her instructions the wrath of the gods still abode with them.

[8] Whereupon the Pythian priestess replied to them :—

But you have forgotten your great Theagenes.

And when they could not think of a contrivance to recover the statue of Theagenes, fishermen, they say, after putting out to sea for a catch of fish caught the statue in their net and brought it back to land. The Thasians set it up in its original position, and are wont to sacrifice to him as to a god.

[9] There are many other places that I know of, both among Greeks and among barbarians, where images of Theagenes have been set up, who cures diseases and receives honors from the natives. The statue of Theagenes is in the Altis, being the work of Glaucias of Aegina .

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.) — 6.11 focus

[1] Next to these are offerings of Eleians, representing Philip, the son of Amyntas, Alexander, the son of Philip, Seleukos, and Antigonos. Antigonos is on foot; the rest are on horseback.

[2] Not far from the kings mentioned stands a Thasian, Theagenes the son of Tīmosthenes. The Thasians say that Tīmosthenes was not the father of Theagenes, but a priest of the Thasian Hēraklēs, a phantom of whom in the likeness of Tīmosthenes had intercourse with the mother of Theagenes. In his ninth year, they say, as he was going home from school, he was attracted by a bronze image of some god or other in the marketplace; so he caught up the image, placed it on one of his shoulders, and carried it home.

[3] The citizens were enraged at what he had done, but one of them, a respected man of advanced years, ordered them not to kill the boy, and ordered him to carry the image from his home back again to the marketplace. This he did, and at once became famous for his strength, his feat being talked about abroad throughout Greece.

[4] The achievements of Theagenes at the Olympian Games have already—the most famous of them—been described in my story, how he beat Euthymos the boxer, and how he was fined by the Eleians. On this occasion, the pankration, it is said, was for the first time on record won without a contest, the victor being Dromeus of Mantineia. At the Festival following this, Theagenes was the winner in the pankration.

[5] He also won three victories at Pythō. These were for boxing, while nine prizes at Nemeā and ten at the Isthmus were won in some cases for the pankration and in others for boxing. At Phthia in Thessaly, he gave up training for boxing and the pankration. He devoted himself to winning fame among the Greeks for his running also, and beat those who entered for the long race. His ambition was, I think, to rival Achilles by winning a prize for running in the fatherland of the swiftest of those who are called heroes. The total number of garlands that he won was one thousand four hundred.

[7] But in course of time, when the earth yielded no crop to the Thasians, they sent envoys to Delphi, and the god instructed them to receive back the exiles. At this command, they received them back, but their restoration brought no remedy of the famine. So for the second time, they went to the Pythian priestess, saying that although they had obeyed her instructions, the wrath of the gods still abode with them.

[8] Whereupon the Pythian priestess replied to them:

“But you have forgotten your great Theagenes.”

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 6.11

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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