Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 8.10

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[1]
ἐς Ἀρκαδίαν δὲ τὴν ἄλλην εἰσὶν ἐκ Μαντινείας ὁδοί· ὁπόσα δὲ ἐφʼ ἑκάστης αὐτῶν μάλιστα ἦν θέας ἄξια, ἐπέξειμι καὶ ταῦτα. ἰόντι ἐς Τεγέαν ἐστὶν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς λεωφόρου παρὰ τοῖς Μαντινέων τείχεσι χωρίον ἐς τῶν ἵππων τὸν δρόμον καὶ οὐ πόρρω τούτου στάδιον, ἔνθα ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀντίνῳ τὸν ἀγῶνα τιθέασιν. ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ σταδίου τὸ ὄρος ἐστὶ τὸ Ἀλήσιον, διὰ τὴν ἄλην ὥς φασι καλούμενον τὴν Ῥέας, καὶ Δήμητρος ἄλσος ἐν τῷ ὄρει.

[2] παρὰ δὲ τοῦ ὄρους τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ Ποσειδῶνός ἐστι τοῦ Ἱππίου τὸ ἱερόν, οὐ πρόσω σταδίου Μαντινείας. τὰ δὲ ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο ἐγώ τε ἀκοὴν γράφω καὶ ὅσοι μνήμην ἄλλοι περὶ αὐτοῦ πεποίηνται. τὸ μὲν δὴ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ᾠκοδομήσατο Ἀδριανὸς βασιλεύς, ἐπιστήσας τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις ἐπόπτας ἄνδρας, ὡς μήτε ἐνίδοι τις ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἀρχαῖον μήτε τῶν ἐρειπίων τι αὐτοῦ μετακινοῖτο· πέριξ δὲ ἐκέλευε τὸν ναὸν σφᾶς οἰκοδομεῖσθαι τὸν καινόν. τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῷ Ποσειδῶνι τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο Ἀγαμήδης λέγονται καὶ Τροφώνιος ποιῆσαι, δρυῶν ξύλα ἐργασάμενοι καὶ ἁρμόσαντες πρὸς ἄλληλα·

[3] ἐσόδου δὲ ἐς αὐτὸ εἴργοντες ἀνθρώπους ἔρυμα μὲν πρὸ τῆς ἐσόδου προεβάλοντο οὐδέν, μίτον δὲ διατείνουσιν ἐρεοῦν, τάχα μέν που τοῖς τότε ἄγουσι τὰ θεῖα ἐν τιμῇ δεῖμα καὶ τοῦτο ἔσεσθαι νομίζοντες, τάχα δʼ ἄν τι μετείη καὶ ἰσχύος τῷ μίτῳ. φαίνεται δὲ καὶ Αἴπυτος ὁ Ἱππόθου μήτε πηδήσας ὑπὲρ τὸν μίτον μήτε ὑποδύς, διακόψας δὲ αὐτὸν ἐσελθὼν ἐς τὸ ἱερόν· καὶ ποιήσας οὐχ ὅσια ἐτυφλώθη τε ἐμπεσόντος ἐς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῷ τοῦ κύματος καὶ αὐτίκα ἐπιλαμβάνει τὸ χρεὼν αὐτόν. 0

[4] θαλάσσης δὲ ἀναφαίνεσθαι κῦμα ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀρχαῖος· ἐοικότα δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσιν ἐς τὸ κῦμα τὸ ἐν ἀκροπόλει καὶ Καρῶν οἱ Μύλασα ἔχοντες ἐς τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἱερόν, ὃν φωνῇ τῇ ἐπιχωρίᾳ καλοῦσιν Ὀσογῶα. Ἀθηναίοις μὲν δὴ σταδίους μάλιστα εἴκοσιν ἀφέστηκε τῆς πόλεως ἡ πρὸς Φαληρῷ θάλασσα, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ Μυλασεῦσιν ἐπίνειον σταδίους ὀγδοήκοντα ἀπέχον ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως· Μαντινεῦσι δὲ ἐκ μακροτάτων τε ἡ θάλασσα ἄνεισι καὶ ἐκφανέστατα δὴ κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ γνώμην.

[5]
πέραν δὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τρόπαιόν ἐστι λίθου πεποιημένον ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Ἄγιδος· λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὁ τρόπος τῆς μάχης. τὸ μὲν δεξιὸν εἶχον οἱ Μαντινεῖς αὐτοί, στρατιάν τε ἀπὸ πάσης ἡλικίας καὶ στρατηγὸν παρεχόμενοι Ποδάρην ἀπόγονον τρίτον Ποδάρου τοῦ Θηβαίοις ἐναντία ἀγωνισαμένου, παρῆν δέ σφισι καὶ μάντις Ἠλεῖος Θρασύβουλος Αἰνέου τῶν Ἰαμιδῶν—οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρ νίκην τε τοῖς Μαντινεῦσι προηγόρευσε καὶ αὐτός σφισι τοῦ ἔργου μετέσχεν—·

[6] ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ εὐωνύμῳ πᾶν τὸ ἄλλο Ἀρκαδικὸν ἐτάσσοντο, ἄρχοντες δὲ κατὰ πόλεις τε ἦσαν καὶ Μεγαλοπολιτῶν Λυδιάδης καὶ Λεωκύδης· Ἀράτῳ δὲ ἐπετέτραπτο καὶ Σικυωνίοις τε καὶ Ἀχαιοῖς τὸ μέσον. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ καὶ Ἆγις ἐπεξέτειναν τὴν φάλαγγα, ὡς τῶν ἐναντίων τῷ στρατεύματι ἀντιπαρήκοιεν· τὸ μέσον δὲ Ἆγις καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν βασιλέα εἶχον.

[7] Ἄρατος δὲ ἀπὸ συγκειμένου πρὸς τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ὑπέφευγεν 0 αὐτός τε καὶ ὁ σὺν αὐτῷ στρατὸς οἷα δὴ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων σφίσιν ἐγκειμένων· ὑποφεύγοντες δὲ ἅμα τὸ σύνταγμα σφῶν ἠρέμα ἐποίουν μηνοειδές. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ καὶ Ἆγις νίκην τε ἤλπιζον καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἄρατον ἐνέκειντο ἀθρόοι μᾶλλον· ἐπηκολούθουν δέ σφισι καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν κεράτων, Ἄρατον καὶ τὴν σὺν αὐτῷ στρατιὰν τρέψασθαι μέγα ἀγώνισμα ἡγούμενοι.

[8] ἔλαθόν τε δὴ κατὰ νώτου γενόμενοί σφισιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες καὶ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι κυκλωθέντες τῆς τε ἄλλης στρατιᾶς τὸ πολὺ ἀποβάλλουσι καὶ βασιλεὺς ἔπεσεν Ἆγις Εὐδαμίδου. φανῆναι δὲ καὶ τὸν Ποσειδῶνα ἀμύνοντά σφισιν ἔφασαν οἱ Μαντινεῖς, καὶ τοῦδε ἕνεκα τρόπαιον ἐποιήσαντο ἀνάθημα τῷ Ποσειδῶνι.

[9] πολέμῳ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπων φόνοις παρεῖναι θεοὺς ἐποίησαν μὲν ὅσοις τὰ ἡρώων ἐμέλησεν ἐν Ἰλίῳ παθήματα, ᾄδεται δὲ ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ὡς θεοί σφισιν ἐν Μαραθῶνι καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι τοῦ ἔργου μετάσχοιεν· ἐκδηλότατα δὲ ὁ Γαλατῶν στρατὸς ἀπώλετο ἐν Δελφοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐναργῶς ὑπὸ δαιμόνων. οὕτω καὶ Μαντινεῦσιν ἕπεται οὐκ ἄνευ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τὸ κράτος γενέσθαι σφίσι.

[10] Λεωκύδους δὲ τοῦ Μεγαλοπολιτῶν ὁμοῦ Λυδιάδῃ στρατηγήσαντος πρόγονον ἔνατον Ἀρκεσίλαον οἰκοῦντα ἐν Λυκοσούρᾳ λέγουσιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες ὡς ἴδοι τὴν ἱερὰν τῆς καλουμένης Δεσποίνης ἔλαφον πεπονηκυῖαν ὑπὸ γήρως· τῇ δὲ ἐλάφῳ ταύτῃ ψάλιόν τε εἶναι περὶ τὸν τράχηλον καὶ γράμματα ἐπὶ τῷ ψαλίῳ,

νεβρὸς ἐὼν ἑάλων, ὅτʼ ἐς Ἴλιον ἦν Ἀγαπήνωρ.

οὗτος μὲν δὴ ἐπιδείκνυσιν ὁ λόγος ἔλαφον εἶναι πολλῷ καὶ ἐλέφαντος μακροβιώτερον θηρίον·

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.) — 8.10 focus

[1]
There are roads leading from Mantineia into the rest of Arcadia , and I will go on to describe the most noteworthy objects on each of them. On the left of the highway leading to Tegea there is, beside the walls of Mantineia , a place where horses race, and not far from it is a race-course, where they celebrate the games in honor of Antinous. Above the race-course is Mount Alesium, so called from the wandering (ale) of Rhea, on which is a grove of Demeter.

[2] By the foot of the mountain is the sanctuary of Horse Poseidon, not more than six stades distant from Mantineia . About this sanctuary I, like everyone else who has mentioned it, can write only what I have heard. The modern sanctuary was built by the Emperor Hadrian, who set overseers over the workmen, so that nobody might look into the old sanctuary, and none of the ruins be removed. He ordered them to build around the new temple. Originally, they say, this sanctuary was built for Poseidon by Agamedes and Trophonius,¹ who worked oak logs and fitted them together.

[3] They set up no barrier at the entrance to prevent men going inside; but they stretched across it a thread of wool. Perhaps they thought that even this would strike fear into the religious people of that time, and perhaps there was also some power in the thread. It is notorious that even Aepytus, the son of Hippothous, entered the sanctuary neither by jumping over the thread nor by slipping under it, but by cutting it through. For this sin he was blinded by a wave that dashed on to his eyes, and forthwith his life left him.

[4] There is an old legend that a wave of sea-water rises up in the sanctuary. A like story is told by the Athenians about the wave on the Acropolis, and by the Carians living in Mylasa about the sanctuary of the god called in the native tongue Osogoa. But the sea at Phalerum is about twenty stades distant from Athens , and the port of Mylasa is eighty stades from the city. But at Mantineia the sea rises after a very long distance, and quite plainly through the divine will.

[5]
Beyond the sanctuary of Poseidon is a trophy made of stone commemorating the victory over the Lacedaemonians under Agis. The course of the battle was, it is said, after this wise. The right wing was held by the Mantineans themselves, who put into the field all of military age under the command of Podares, the grandson of the Podares who fought against the Thebans. They had with them also the Elean seer Thrasybulus, the son of Aeneas, one of the Iamids. This man foretold a victory for the Mantineans and took a personal part in the fighting.

[6] On the left wing was stationed all the rest of the Arcadian army, each city under its own leader, the contingent of Megalopolis being led by Lydiades and Leocydes. The center was entrusted to Aratus, with the Sicyonians and the Achaeans. The Lacedaemonians under Agis, who with the royal staff officers were in the center, extended their line so as to make it equal in length to that of their enemies.

[7] Aratus, acting on an arrangement with the Arcadians, fell back with his command, as though the pressure of the Lacedaemonians was too severe. As they gave way they gradually² made their formation crescent-shaped. The Lacedaemonians under Agis, thinking that victory was theirs, pressed in close order yet harder on Aratus and his men. They were followed by those on the wings, who thought it a great achievement to put to flight Aratus and his host.

[8] But the Arcadians got in their rear unperceived, and the Lacedaemonians were surrounded, losing the greater part of their army, while King Agis himself fell, the son of Eudamidas. The Mantineans affirmed that Poseidon too manifested himself in their defence, and for this reason they erected a trophy as an offering to Poseidon.

[9] That gods were present at war and slaughter of men has been told by the poets who have treated of the sufferings of heroes at Troy , and the Athenians relate in song how gods sided with them at Marathon and at the battle of Salamis . Very plainly the host of the Gauls was destroyed at Delphi by the god, and manifestly by demons. So there is precedent for the story of the Mantineans that they won their victory by the aid of Poseidon.

[10] Arcesilaus, an ancestor, ninth in descent, of' Leocydes, who with Lydiades was general of the Megalopolitans, is said by the Arcadians to have seen, when dwelling in Lycosura, the sacred deer, enfeebled with age, of the goddess called Lady. This deer, they say, had a collar round its neck, with writing on the collar:—

I was a fawn when captured, at the time when Agapenor went to Troy .

This story proves that the deer is an animal much longer-lived even than the elephant.

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.) — 8.10 focus

[1] There are roads leading from Mantineia into the rest of Arcadia, and I will go on to describe the most noteworthy objects on each of them. On the left of the highway leading to Tegea there is, beside the walls of Mantineia, a place where horses race, and not far from it is a race-course, where they celebrate the games in honor of Antinous. Above the race-course is Mount Alesium, so called from the wandering [ ale] of Rhea, on which is a grove of Demeter.

[2] By the foot of the mountain is the sanctuary of Horse Poseidon, not more than six stadium-lengths distant from Mantineia. About this sanctuary I, like everyone else who has mentioned it, can write only what I have heard. The modern sanctuary was built by ‘King’ [ basileus] Hadrian, who set overseers over the workmen, so that nobody might look into the old sanctuary, and none of the ruins be removed. He ordered them to build around the new temple. Originally, they say, this sanctuary was built for Poseidon by Agamedes and Trophonios, who worked oak logs and fitted them together.

[3] They set up no barrier at the entrance to prevent men going inside; but they stretched across it a thread of wool. Perhaps they thought that even this would strike fear into the religious people of that time, and perhaps there was also some power in the thread. It is notorious that even Aipytos, the son of Hippothous, entered the sanctuary neither by jumping over the thread nor by slipping under it, but by cutting it through. For this sin he was blinded by a wave that dashed on to his eyes, and forthwith his life left him.

[4] There is an ancient story [ logos] that a wave of sea-water rises up in the sanctuary. A like story is told by the Athenians about the wave on the Acropolis, and by the Carians living in Mylasa about the sanctuary of the god called in the native tongue Osogoa. But the sea at Phaleron is about twenty stadium-lengths distant from Athens, and the port of Mylasa is eighty stadium-lengths from the city. But at Mantineia the sea rises after a very long distance, and quite plainly through the divine will.

[5] Beyond the sanctuary of Poseidon is a trophy made of stone commemorating the victory over the Lacedaemonians under Agis. The course of the battle was, it is said, after this wise. The right wing was held by the Mantineians themselves, who put into the field all of military age under the command of Podares, the grandson of the Podares who fought against the Thebans. They had with them also the Eleian seer Thrasyboulos, the son of Aeneas, one of the Iamids. This man foretold a victory for the Mantineians and took a personal part in the fighting.

[6] On the left wing was stationed all the rest of the Arcadian army, each city under its own leader, the contingent of Megalopolis being led by Lydiades and Leokydes. The center was entrusted to Aratos, with the Sikyonians and the Achaeans. The Lacedaemonians under Agis, who with the royal staff officers were in the center, extended their line so as to make it equal in length to that of their enemies.

[7] Aratos, acting on an arrangement with the Arcadians, fell back with his command, as though the pressure of the Lacedaemonians was too severe. As they gave way they gradually made their formation crescent-shaped. The Lacedaemonians under Agis, thinking that victory was theirs, pressed in close order yet harder on Aratos and his men. They were followed by those on the wings, who thought it a great achievement to put to flight Aratos and his host.

[8] But the Arcadians got in their rear unperceived, and the Lacedaemonians were surrounded, losing the greater part of their army, while King Agis himself fell, the son of Eudamidas. The Mantineians affirmed that Poseidon too manifested himself in their defence, and for this reason they erected a trophy as an offering to Poseidon.

[9] That gods were present at war and slaughter of men has been told by the poets who have treated of the sufferings of heroes at Troy, and the Athenians relate in song how gods sided with them at Marathon and at the battle of Salamis. Very plainly the host of the Gauls was destroyed at Delphi by the god, and manifestly by demons. So there is precedent for the story of the Mantineians that they won their victory by the aid of Poseidon.

[10] Arkesilaos, an ancestor, ninth in descent, of Leokydes, who with Lydiades was general of the Megalopolitans, is said by the Arcadians to have seen, when dwelling in Lykosoura, the sacred deer, enfeebled with age, of the goddess called Lady. This deer, they say, had a collar round its neck, with writing on the collar:

“I was a fawn when captured, at the time when Agapenor went to Troy.”

This story proves that the deer is an animal much longer-lived even than the elephant.

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 8.10

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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