Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 6.23

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[1]
ἐν δὲ Ἤλιδι τὰ ἄξια μνήμης γυμνάσιόν ἐστιν ἀρχαῖον· καὶ ὅσα ἐς τοὺς ἀθλητὰς πρὶν ἢ ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ἀφικνεῖσθαι νομίζουσιν, ἐν τούτῳ σφίσι τῷ γυμνασίῳ δρᾶν καθέστηκε. πλάτανοι μὲν ὑψηλαὶ διὰ τῶν δρόμων πεφύκασιν ἐντὸς τοίχου· ὁ σύμπας δὲ οὗτος περίβολος καλεῖται Ξυστός, ὅτι Ἡρακλεῖ τῷ Ἀμφιτρύωνος ἐς ἄσκησιν ἐγίνετο, ὅσαι τῶν ἀκανθῶν ἐφύοντο ἐνταῦθα ἐπὶ ἑκάστῃ ἡμέρᾳ σφᾶς ἀναξύειν.

[2] χωρὶς μὲν δὴ ἐς ἅμιλλαν τῶν δρομέων ἐστὶν ἀποκεκριμένος δρόμος, ὀνομάζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἱερός, χωρὶς δὲ ἔνθα ἐπὶ μελέτῃ δρομεῖς καὶ οἱ πένταθλοι θέουσιν. ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ καλούμενον Πλέθριον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ συμβάλλουσιν οἱ Ἑλλανοδίκαι τοὺς καθʼ ἡλικίαν ἢ καὶ αὐτῷ διαφέροντας τῷ ἐπιτηδεύματι· συμβάλλουσι δὲ ἐπὶ πάλῃ.

[3] εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ θεῶν ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ βωμοί, Ἡρακλέους τοῦ Ἰδαίου, Παραστάτου δὲ ἐπίκλησιν, καὶ Ἔρωτος καὶ ὃν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι κατὰ ταὐτὰ Ἠλείοις Ἀντέρωτα ὀνομάζουσι, Δήμητρός τε καὶ τῆς παιδός. Ἀχιλλεῖ δὲ οὐ βωμός, κενὸν δέ ἐστιν αὐτῷ μνῆμα ἐκ μαντείας· τῆς πανηγύρεως δὲ ἀρχομένης ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ῥητῇ περὶ ἀποκλίνοντα ἐς δυσμὰς τοῦ ἡλίου τὸν δρόμον αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ Ἠλεῖαι ἄλλα τε τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως δρῶσιν ἐς τιμὴν καὶ κόπτεσθαι νομίζουσιν αὐτόν. 0

[4]
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ἐλάσσων γυμνασίου περίβολος, ὃς ἔχεται μὲν τοῦ μείζονος, τετράγωνον δὲ ὀνομάζουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ σχήματι· καὶ παλαῖστραι τοῖς ἀθλοῦσιν ἐνταῦθα ποιοῦνται, καὶ συμβάλλουσιν αὐτόθι τοὺς ἀθλητὰς οὐ παλαίσοντας ἔτι, ἐπὶ δὲ ἱμάντων τῶν μαλακωτέρων ταῖς πληγαῖς. ἀνάκειται δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τὸ ἕτερον, ἃ ἐπὶ ζημίᾳ Σωσάνδρου τε τοῦ Σμυρναίου καὶ Ἠλείου Πολύκτορος τῷ Διὶ ἐποιήθη.

[5] ἔστι δὲ καὶ τρίτος γυμνασίου περίβολος, ὄνομα μὲν Μαλθὼ τῆς μαλακότητος τοῦ ἐδάφους ἕνεκα, τοῖς δὲ ἐφήβοις ἀνεῖται τῆς πανηγύρεως τὸν χρόνον πάντα. ἔστι δὲ ἐν γωνίᾳ τῆς Μαλθοῦς πρόσωπον Ἡρακλέους ἄχρι ἐς τοὺς ὤμους, καὶ ἐν τῶν παλαιστρῶν μιᾷ τύπος Ἔρωτα ἔχων ἐπειργασμένον καὶ τὸν καλούμενον Ἀντέρωτα· ἔχει δὲ ὁ μὲν φοίνικος ὁ Ἔρως κλάδον, ὁ δὲ ἀφελέσθαι πειρᾶται τὸν φοίνικα ὁ Ἀντέρως.

[6] τῆς ἐσόδου δὲ ἑκατέρωθεν τῆς ἐς τὴν Μαλθὼ παιδὸς ἕστηκεν εἰκὼν πύκτου· καὶ αὐτὸν ἔφασκεν ὁ νομοφύλαξ Ἠλείων γένος μὲν Ἀλεξανδρέα εἶναι τῆς ὑπὲρ Φάρου τῆς νήσου, Σαραπίωνα δὲ ὄνομα, ἀφικόμενον δὲ ἐς Ἦλιν σπανίζουσι σίτου σφίσι τροφὰς δοῦναι. τούτῳ μὲν αὐτόθι ἀντὶ τούτου γεγόνασιν αἱ τιμαί· χρόνος δὲ στεφάνου τε τοῦ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ εὐεργεσίας αὐτῷ τῆς ἐς Ἠλείους Ὀλυμπιὰς ἑβδόμη πρὸς ταῖς δέκα τε καὶ διακοσίαις.

[7] ἐν τούτῳ τῷ γυμνασίῳ καὶ βουλευτήριόν ἐστιν Ἠλείοις, καὶ ἐπιδείξεις ἐνταῦθα λόγων τε αὐτοσχεδίων καὶ συγγραμμάτων ποιοῦνται παντοίων· καλεῖται δὲ Λαλίχμιον 0 τοῦ ἀναθέντος ἐπώνυμον. περὶ δὲ αὐτὸ ἀσπίδες ἀνάκεινται, θέας ἕνεκα καὶ οὐκ ἐς ἔργον πολέμου πεποιημέναι.

[8]
ἐκ δὲ τοῦ γυμνασίου πρὸς τὰ λουτρὰ ἐρχομένῳ διʼ ἀγυιᾶς τε ἡ ὁδὸς Σιωπῆς καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Φιλομείρακός ἐστιν Ἀρτέμιδος. τῇ μὲν δὴ θεῷ γέγονεν ἡ ἐπίκλησις ἅτε τοῦ γυμνασίου γείτονι· τῇ ἀγυιᾷ δὲ Σιωπῇ ὄνομα ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε τεθῆναι λέγουσιν. ἄνδρες τοῦ Ὀξύλου στρατεύματος ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ τῶν ἐν Ἤλιδι ἀποπεμφθέντες καὶ ἀλλήλοις διακελευσάμενοι κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, ἐπειδὰν πλησίον γίνωνται τοῦ τείχους, φθέγγεσθαι μὲν μηδὲν ἔτι αὐτοί, ἐπακροᾶσθαι δὲ εἴ τι παρὰ τῶν ἐντὸς πυθέσθαι δυνήσονται, οὗτοι λανθάνουσι παρελθόντες ἐς τὴν πόλιν κατὰ τὴν ἀγυιὰν ταύτην καὶ ἐπακούσαντες ὁπόσα ἐβούλοντο ἐπανίασιν αὖθις ἐς τοὺς Αἰτωλούς· καὶ ἡ ἀγυιὰ τὸ ὄνομα εἴληφεν ἀπὸ τῶν κατασκόπων τῆς σιωπῆς.

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.) — 6.23 focus

[1]
One of the noteworthy things in Elis is an old gymnasium. In this gymnasium the athletes are wont to go through the training through which they must pass before going to Olympia . High plane-trees grow between the tracks inside a wall. The whole of this enclosure is called Xystus, because an exercise of Heracles, the son of Amphitryo, was to scrape up (anaxuein) each day all the thistles that grew there.

[2] The track for the competing runners, called by the natives the Sacred Track, is separate from that on which the runners and pentathletes practise. In the gymnasium is the place called Plethrium. In it the umpires match the competitors according to age and skill; it is for wrestling that they match them.

[3] There are also in the gymnasium altars of the gods, of Idaean Heracles, surnamed Comrade, of Love, of the deity called by Eleans and Athenians alike Love Returned, of Demeter and of her daughter. Achilles has no altar, only a cenotaph raised to him because of an oracle. On an appointed day at the beginning of the festival, when the course of the sun is sinking towards the west, the Elean women do honor to Achilles, especially by bewailing him.

[4]
There is another enclosed gymnasium, but smaller, adjoining the larger one and called Square because of its shape. Here the athletes practise wrestling, and here, when they have no more wrestling to do, they are matched in contests with the softer gloves. There is also dedicated here one of the images made in honor of Zeus out of the fines imposed upon Sosander of Smyrna and upon Polyctor of Elis .

[5] There is also a third enclosed gymnasium, called Maltho from the softness of its floor, and reserved for the youths for the whole time of the festival. In a corner of the Maltho is a bust of Heracles as far as the shoulders, and in one of the wrestling-schools is a relief showing Love and Love Returned, as he is called. Love holds a palm-branch, and Love Returned is trying to take the palm from him.

[6] On each side of the entrance to the Maltho stands an image of a boy boxer. He was by birth, so the Guardian of the Laws at Elis told me, from Alexandria over against the island Pharos, and his name was Sarapion; arriving at Elis when the townsfolk were suffering from famine he supplied them with food. For this reason these honors were paid him here. The time of his crown at Olympia and of his benefaction to the Eleans was the two hundred and seventeenth Festival¹.

[7] In this gymnasium is also the Elean Council House, where take place exhibitions of extempore speeches and recitations of written works of all kinds. It is called Lalichmium, after the man who dedicated it. About it are dedicated shields, which are for show and not made to be used in war.

[8]
The way from the gymnasium to the baths passes through the Street of Silence and beside the sanctuary of Artemis Philomeirax. The goddess is so surnamed because she is neighbor to the gymnasium; the street received, they say, the name of Silence for the following reason. Men of the army of Oxylus were sent to spy out what was happening in Elis . On the way they exhorted each other, when they should be near the wall, themselves to keep a strict silence, but to listen attentively if perchance they might learn aught from the people in the town. These men by this street reached the town unobserved, and after hearing all they wished they went back again to the Aetolians. So the street received its name from the silence of the spies.

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.) — 6.23 focus

[1] One of the noteworthy things in Elis is an old gymnasium. In this gymnasium, the athletes are accustomed to go through the training through which they must pass before going to Olympia. High plane trees grow between the tracks inside a wall. The whole of this enclosure is called Xystos, because an exercise of Hēraklēs, the son of Amphitryo, was to scrape up [ anaxuein] each day all the thistles that grew there.

[2] The track for the competing runners, called by the natives the Sacred Track, is separate from that on which the runners and pentathletes practice. In the gymnasium is the place called Plethrium. In it, the umpires match the competitors according to age and skill; it is for wrestling that they match them.

[3] There are also in the gymnasium altars of the gods, of Idaean Hēraklēs, surnamed Comrade, of Love, of the deity called by Eleians and Athenians alike Love Returned, of Demeter and of her daughter. Achilles has no altar, only a cenotaph raised to him because of an oracle. On an appointed day at the beginning of the festival, when the course of the sun is sinking towards the west, the Eleian women do honor to Achilles, especially by bewailing him.

[4] There is another enclosed gymnasium, but smaller, adjoining the larger one and called Square because of its shape. Here the athletes practice wrestling, and here, when they have no more wrestling to do, they are matched in contests with the softer gloves. There is also dedicated here one of the images made in honor of Zeus out of the fines imposed upon Sosandros of Smyrna and upon Polyktor of Elis.

[5] There is also a third enclosed gymnasium, called Maltho from the softness of its floor, and reserved for the youths for the whole time of the festival. In a corner of the Maltho is a bust of Hēraklēs as far as the shoulders, and in one of the wrestling-schools is a relief showing Love and Love Returned, as he is called. Love holds a palm-branch, and Love Returned is trying to take the palm from him.

[6] On each side of the entrance to the Maltho stands an image of a boy boxer. He was by birth, so the Guardian of the Laws at Elis told me, from Alexandria over against the island Pharos, and his name was Sarapion; arriving at Elis when the townsfolk were suffering from famine, he supplied them with food. For this reason, these honors were paid him here. The time of his garland at Olympia and of his benefaction to the Eleians was the two hundred and seventeenth Festival.

[7] In this gymnasium is also the Eleian Council House, where exhibitions of extempore speeches and recitations of written works of all kinds take place. It is called Lalichmium, after the man who dedicated it. About it are dedicated shields, which are for show and not made to be used in war.

[8] The way from the gymnasium to the baths passes through the Street of Silence and beside the sanctuary of Artemis Philomeirax. The goddess is so surnamed because she is neighbor to the gymnasium; the street received, they say, the name of Silence for the following reason. Men of the army of Oxylos were sent to spy out what was happening in Elis. On the way, they exhorted each other, when they should be near the wall, themselves to keep a strict silence, but to listen attentively if perchance they might learn something from the people in the town. These men by this street reached the town unobserved, and after hearing all they wished, they went back again to the Aetolians. So the street received its name from the silence of the spies.

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 6.23

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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