Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 6.26

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[1]
θέατρον δὲ ἀρχαῖον, μεταξὺ τῆς ἀγορᾶς καὶ τοῦ Μηνίου τὸ θέατρόν τε καὶ ἱερόν ἐστι Διονύσου· τέχνη τὸ ἄγαλμα Πραξιτέλους, θεῶν δὲ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα Διόνυσον σέβουσιν Ἠλεῖοι καὶ τὸν θεόν σφισιν ἐπιφοιτᾶν ἐς τῶν Θυίων τὴν ἑορτὴν λέγουσιν. ἀπέχει μέν γε τῆς πόλεως ὅσον τε ὀκτὼ στάδια ἔνθα τὴν ἑορτὴν ἄγουσι Θυῖα ὀνομάζοντες· λέβητας δὲ ἀριθμὸν τρεῖς ἐς οἴκημα ἐσκομίσαντες οἱ ἱερεῖς κατατίθενται κενούς, παρόντων καὶ τῶν ἀστῶν καὶ ξένων, εἰ τύχοιεν ἐπιδημοῦντες· σφραγῖδας δὲ αὐτοί τε οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὅσοις ἂν κατὰ γνώμην ᾖ ταῖς θύραις τοῦ οἰκήματος ἐπιβάλλουσιν, ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν τά τε

[2] σημεῖα ἐπιγνῶναι πάρεστί σφισι καὶ ἐσελθόντες ἐς τὸ οἴκημα εὑρίσκουσιν οἴνου πεπλησμένους τοὺς λέβητας. ταῦτα Ἠλείων τε οἱ δοκιμώτατοι ἄνδρες, σὺν αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ ξένοι κατώμνυντο ἔχειν κατὰ τὰ εἰρημένα, ἐπεὶ αὐτός γε οὐκ ἐς καιρὸν ἀφικόμην τῆς ἑορτῆς· λέγουσι 0 δὲ καὶ Ἄνδριοι παρὰ ἔτος σφίσιν ἐς τοῦ Διονύσου τὴν ἑορτὴν ῥεῖν οἶνον αὐτόματον ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. εἰ πιστεύειν χρὴ ταῦτα Ἕλλησιν, εἰ ἀποδέχοιτο ἄν τις τῷ λόγῳ γε τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὅσα Αἰθίοπες οἱ ὑπὲρ Συήνης ἐς τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν τράπεζαν λέγουσιν.

[3]
ἐν ἀκροπόλει δὲ τῇ Ἠλείων ἐστὶν ἱερὸν Ἀθηνᾶς· ἐλέφαντος δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ χρυσοῦ. εἶναι μὲν δὴ Φειδίου φασὶν αὐτήν, πεποίηται δὲ ἀλεκτρυὼν ἐπὶ τῷ κράνει, ὅτι οὗτοι προχειρότατα ἔχουσιν ἐς μάχας οἱ ἀλεκτρυόνες· δύναιτο δʼ ἂν καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Ἐργάνης ἱερὸς ὁ ὄρνις νομίζεσθαι.

[4]
Κυλλήνη δὲ σταδίους μὲν εἴκοσιν Ἤλιδος καὶ ἑκατὸν ἀφέστηκε, κεῖται δὲ τετραμμένη τε πρὸς Σικελίαν καὶ ὅρμον παρεχομένη ναυσὶν ἐπιτήδειον· ἐπίνειον δὲ οὖσα Ἠλείων ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς Ἀρκάδος τὸ ὄνομα εἴληφε. Κυλλήνης δὲ ἐν μὲν Ἠλείων καταλόγῳ λόγον οὐδένα Ὅμηρος ἐποιήσατο, ἐν δὲ ἔπεσι τοῖς ὕστερον δεδήλωκεν ὡς πόλισμα οὖσαν καὶ τὴν Κυλλήνην ἐπίσταται·

[5]

Πουλυδάμας δʼ Ὦτον Κυλλήνιον ἐξενάριξεν,

Φυλείδεω ἕταρον, μεγαθύμων ἀρχὸν Ἐπειῶν.

θεῶν δὲ ἱερὰ ἐν Κυλλήνῃ Ἀσκληπιοῦ, τὸ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης ἐστί· τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα, ὃν οἱ ταύτῃ περισσῶς σέβουσιν, ὀρθόν ἐστιν αἰδοῖον ἐπὶ τοῦ βάθρου.

[6]
ἡ δὲ Ἠλεία χώρα τά τε ἄλλα ἐστὶν ἐς καρποὺς καὶ τὴν βύσσον οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐκτρέφειν ἀγαθή. τὴν μὲν δὴ κανναβίδα καὶ λίνον καὶ τὴν βύσσον σπείρουσιν ὅσοις ἡ γῆ τρέφειν ἐστὶν ἐπιτήδειος· οἱ μίτοι δέ, ἀφʼ ὧν 0 τὰς ἐσθῆτας ποιοῦσιν οἱ Σῆρες, ἀπὸ οὐδενὸς φλοιοῦ, τρόπον δὲ ἕτερον γίνονται τοιόνδε. ἔστιν ἐν τῇ γῇ ζωύφιόν σφισιν, ὃν σῆρα καλοῦσιν Ἕλληνες, ὑπὸ δὲ αὐτῶν Σηρῶν ἄλλο πού τι καὶ οὐ σὴρ ὀνομάζεται·

[7] μέγεθος μέν ἐστιν αὐτοῦ διπλάσιον ἢ κανθάρων ὁ μέγιστος, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα εἴκασται τοῖς ἀράχναις, οἳ ὑπὸ τοῖς δένδρεσιν ὑφαίνουσι, καὶ δὴ καὶ πόδας ἀριθμὸν ὀκτὼ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχει τοῖς ἀράχναις. ταῦτα τὰ ζῷα τρέφουσιν οἱ Σῆρες οἴκους κατασκευασάμενοι χειμῶνός τε καὶ θέρους ὥρᾳ ἐπιτηδείους· τὸ δὲ ἔργον τῶν ζῴων κλῶσμα εὑρίσκεται λεπτὸν τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτῶν περιειλιγμένον.

[8] τρέφουσι δὲ αὐτὰ ἐπὶ μὲν τέσσαρα ἔτη παρέχοντες τροφήν σφισιν ἔλυμον, πέμπτῳ δὲ—οὐ γὰρ πρόσω βιωσόμενα ἴσασι—κάλαμον διδόασιν ἐσθίειν χλωρόν· ἡ δέ ἐστιν ἡδίστη τροφὴ πασῶν τῷ ζῴῳ, καὶ ἐμφορηθὲν τοῦ καλάμου ῥήγνυταί τε ὑπὸ πλησμονῆς καὶ ἀποθανόντος οὕτω τὸ πολὺ τῆς ἁρπεδόνης εὑρίσκουσιν ἔνδον. γινώσκεται δὲ ἡ Σηρία νῆσος ἐν μυχῷ θαλάσσης κειμένη τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς.

[9] ἤκουσα δὲ καὶ ὡς οὐχ ἡ Ἐρυθρά, ποταμὸς δὲ ὃν Σῆρα ὀνομάζουσιν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν νῆσον αὐτήν, ὥσπερ καὶ Αἰγύπτου τὸ Δέλτα ὑπὸ τοῦ Νείλου καὶ οὐχ ὑπὸ μιᾶς περιέχεσθαι θαλάσσης· τοιαύτην ἑτέραν καὶ τὴν Σηρίαν νῆσον εἶναι. οὗτοι μὲν δὴ τοῦ Αἰθιόπων γένους αὐτοί τέ εἰσιν οἱ Σῆρες καὶ ὅσοι τὰς προσεχεῖς αὐτῇ νέμονται νήσους, Ἄβασαν καὶ Σακαίαν· οἱ δὲ αὐτοὺς οὐκ Αἰθίοπας, Σκύθας δὲ ἀναμεμιγμένους Ἰνδοῖς φασὶν εἶναι. 0

[10]
ταῦτα μὲν δὴ οὕτω λέγεται· ἀνδρὶ δὲ ἐς Ἀχαΐαν ἰόντι ἐξ Ἤλιδος ἑπτὰ καὶ πεντήκοντα στάδιοι καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐπὶ ποταμόν εἰσι Λάρισον, καὶ Ἠλείοις ὅροι πρὸς Ἀχαιοὺς τῆς χώρας ὁ ποταμός ἐστιν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ὁ Λάρισος· τὰ δὲ ἔτι ἀρχαιότερα ἄκρα σφίσι πρὸς θαλάσσῃ ὅρος ἦν ὁ Ἄραξος.

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.) — 6.26 focus

[1]
Between the market-place and the Menius is an old theater and a shrine of Dionysus. The image is the work of Praxiteles. Of the gods the Eleans worship Dionysus with the greatest reverence, and they assert that the god attends their festival, the Thyia. The place where they hold the festival they name the Thyia is about eight stades from the city. Three pots are brought into the building by the priests and set down empty in the presence of the citizens and of any strangers who may chance to be in the country. The doors of the building are sealed by the priests themselves and by any others who may be so inclined.

[2] On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building they find the pots filled with wine. I did not myself arrive at the time of the festival, but the most respected Elean citizens, and with them strangers also, swore that what I have said is the truth. The Andrians too assert that every other year at their feast of Dionysus wine flows of its own accord from the sanctuary. If the Greeks are to be believed in these matters, one might with equal reason accept what the Ethiopians above Syene say about the table of the sun.¹

[3]
On the Acropolis of the Eleans is a sanctuary of Athena. The image is of ivory and gold. They say that the goddess is the work of Pheidias. On her helmet is an image of a cock, this bird being very ready to fight. The bird might also be considered as sacred to Athena the worker.

[4]
Cyllene is one hundred and twenty stades distant from Elis ; it faces Sicily and affords ships a suitable anchorage. It is the port of Elis , and received its name from a man of Arcadia . Homer does not mention Cyllene in the list of the Eleans, but in a later part of the poem he has shown that Cyllene was one of the towns he knew.

[5]

Pulydamas stripped Otus of Cyllene,

Comrade of Phyleides and ruler of the great-souled Epeans.

Hom. Il. 15.518 In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asclepius, and one of Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male member upright on the pedestal.

[6]
The land of Elis is fruitful, being especially suited to the growth of fine flax. Now while hemp and flax, both the ordinary and the fine variety, are sown by those whose soil is suited to grow it, the threads from which the Seres make the dresses are produced from no bark, but in a different way as follows. There is in the land of the Seres an insect which the Greeks call ser, though the Seres themselves give it another name.

[7] Its size is twice that of the largest beetle, but in other respects it is like the spiders that spin under trees, and furthermore it has, like the spider, eight feet. These creatures are reared by the Seres, who build them houses adapted for winter and for summer. The product of the creatures, a clue of fine thread, is found rolled round their feet.

[8] They keep them for four years, feeding them on millet, but in the fifth year, knowing that they have no longer to live, they give them green reed to eat. This of all foods the creature likes best; so it stuffs itself with the reed till it bursts with surfeit, and after it has thus died they find inside it the greater part of the thread. Seria is known to be an island lying in a recess of the Red Sea .

[9] But I have heard that it is not the Red Sea , but a river called Ser, that makes this island, just as in Egypt the Delta is surrounded by the Nile and by no sea. Such another island is Seria said to be. These Seres themselves are of Aethiopian race, as are the inhabitants of the neighboring islands, Abasa and Sacaea. Some say, however, that they are not Ethiopians but a mongrel race of Scythians and Indians.

[10]
Such are the accounts that are given. As you go from Elis to Achaia you come after one hundred and fifty-seven stades to the river Larisus, and in modern days this river forms the boundary between Elis and Achaia , though of old the boundary was Cape Araxus on the coast.

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.) — 6.26 focus

[1] Between the marketplace and the Menios is an old theater and a shrine of Dionysus. The image is the work of Praxiteles. Of the gods, the Eleians worship Dionysus with the greatest reverence, and they assert that the god attends their festival, the Thyia. The place where they hold the festival, they name the Thyia is about eight stadium-lengths from the city. Three pots are brought into the building by the priests and set down empty in the presence of the citizens and of any strangers who may chance to be in the country. The doors of the building are sealed by the priests themselves and by any others who may be so inclined.

[2] On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building, they find the pots filled with wine. I did not myself arrive at the time of the festival, but the most respected Eleian citizens, and with them strangers also, swore that what I have said is the truth. The Andrians too assert that every other year at their feast of Dionysus, wine flows of its own accord from the sanctuary. If the Greeks are to be believed in these matters, one might with equal reason accept what the Ethiopians above Syene say about the table of the sun.

[3] On the Acropolis of the Eleians is a sanctuary of Athena. The image is of ivory and gold. They say that the goddess is the work of Pheidias. On her helmet is an image of a rooster, this bird being very ready to fight. The bird might also be considered as sacred to Athena the worker.

[4] Cyllene is one hundred and twenty stadium-lengths distant from Elis; it faces Sicily and affords ships a suitable anchorage. It is the port of Elis, and received its name from a man of Arcadia. Homer does not mention Cyllene in the list of the Eleians, but in a later part of the poem, he has shown that Cyllene was one of the towns he knew.

[5]

“Poulydamas stripped Otos of Cyllene,
Comrade of Phyleides and ruler of the great-souled Epeians.”

Iliad V 518

In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asklepios, and one of Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male member upright on the pedestal.

[6] The land of Elis is fruitful, being especially suited to the growth of fine flax. Now while hemp and flax, both the ordinary and the fine variety, are sown by those whose soil is suited to grow it, the threads from which the Seres make the dresses are produced from no bark, but in a different way as follows. There is in the land of the Seres an insect which the Greeks call ser, though the Seres themselves give it another name.

[7] Its size is twice that of the largest beetle, but in other respects, it is like the spiders that spin under trees, and furthermore it has, like the spider, eight feet. These creatures are reared by the Seres, who build them houses adapted for winter and for summer. The product of the creatures, a clue of fine thread, is found rolled round their feet.

[9] But I have heard that it is not the Red Sea, but a river called Ser, that makes this island, just as in Egypt, the Delta is surrounded by the Nile and by no sea. Such another island is Seria said to be. These Seres themselves are of Ethiopian lineage, as are the inhabitants of the neighboring islands, Abasa and Sacaea. Some say, however, that they are not Ethiopians but a mixed lineage of Scythians and Indians.

[10] Such are the accounts that are given. As you go from Elis to Achaea, you come after one hundred and fifty-seven stadium-lengths to the river Larisos, and in modern days, this river forms the boundary between Elis and Achaea, though of old the boundary was Cape Araxos on the coast.

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 6.26

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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