Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 8.30

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[1]
ὁ δὲ Ἑλισσὼν οὗτος ἀρχόμενος ἐκ κώμης ὁμωνύμου —καὶ γὰρ τῇ κώμῃ τὸ ὄνομα Ἑλισσών ἐστι—τήν τε Διπαιέων καὶ τὴν Λυκαιᾶτιν χώραν, τρίτα δὲ αὐτὴν 0 διεξελθὼν Μεγάλην πόλιν, εἴκοσι σταδίοις ἀπωτέρω Μεγαλοπολιτῶν τοῦ ἄστεως κάτεισιν ἐς τὸν Ἀλφειόν. πλησίον δὲ ἤδη τῆς πόλεως Ποσειδῶνός ἐστιν Ἐπόπτου ναός· ἐλείπετο δὲ τοῦ ἀγάλματος ἡ κεφαλή.

[2]
διαιροῦντος δὲ τὴν Μεγάλην πόλιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Ἑλισσόντος, καθὰ δὴ καὶ Κνίδον καὶ Μιτυλήνην δίχα οἱ εὔριποι νέμουσιν, ἐν μέρει τῷ πρὸς ἄρκτους, δεξιῷ δὲ κατὰ τὸ μετέωρον τοῦ ποταμοῦ, πεποίηταί σφισιν ἀγορά. περίβολος δέ ἐστιν ἐν ταύτῃ λίθων καὶ ἱερὸν Λυκαίου Διός, ἔσοδος δὲ ἐς αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔστι· τὰ γὰρ ἐντός ἐστι δὴ σύνοπτα, βωμοί τέ εἰσι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τράπεζαι δύο καὶ ἀετοὶ ταῖς τραπέζαις ἴσοι καὶ ἄγαλμα Πανὸς λίθου πεποιημένον·

[3] ἐπίκλησις δὲ Σινόεις ἐστὶν αὐτῷ, τήν τε ἐπίκλησιν γενέσθαι τῷ Πανὶ ἀπὸ νύμφης Σινόης λέγουσι, ταύτην δὲ σὺν ἄλλαις τῶν νυμφῶν καὶ ἰδίᾳ γενέσθαι τροφὸν τοῦ Πανός. ἔστι δὲ πρὸ τοῦ τεμένους τούτου χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμα Ἀπόλλωνος θέας ἄξιον, μέγεθος μὲν ἐς πόδας δώδεκα, ἐκομίσθη δὲ ἐκ τῆς Φιγαλέων συντέλεια ἐς κόσμον τῇ Μεγάλῃ πόλει.

[4] τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἔνθα τὸ ἄγαλμα ἵδρυτο ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑπὸ Φιγαλέων, ὀνομάζεται Βᾶσσαι· τῷ θεῷ δὲ ἡ ἐπίκλησις ἠκολούθηκε μὲν ἐκ τῆς Φιγαλέων, ἐφʼ ὅτῳ δὲ ὄνομα ἔσχεν Ἐπικούριος, δηλώσει μοι τὰ ἐς Φιγαλέας τοῦ λόγου. ἔστι δὲ ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἄγαλμα οὐ μέγα Μητρὸς θεῶν, τοῦ ναοῦ δέ, ὅτι μὴ οἱ κίονες, ἄλλο ὑπόλοιπον οὐδέν.

[5]
πρὸ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς Μητρὸς ἀνδριὰς μὲν οὐδείς ἐστι, δῆλα δὲ ἦν τὰ βάθρα, ἐφʼ ὧν ἀνδριάντες ποτὲ 0 ἑστήκεσαν. ἐλεγεῖον δὲ ἐπὶ ἑνὸς γεγραμμένον τῶν βάθρων Διοφάνους φησὶν εἶναι τὴν εἰκόνα, Διαίου μὲν υἱοῦ, συντάξαντος δὲ ἀνδρὸς πρώτου Πελοπόννησον τὴν πᾶσαν ἐς τὸν ὀνομασθέντα Ἀχαϊκὸν σύλλογον.

[6] στοὰν δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ὀνομαζομένην Φιλίππειον οὐ Φίλιππος ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἀμύντου, χαριζόμενοι δέ οἱ Μεγαλοπολῖται τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν διδόασιν αὐτῷ τοῦ οἰκοδομήματος. Ἑρμοῦ δὲ Ἀκακησίου πρὸς αὐτῇ ναὸς κατεβέβλητο, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐλείπετο ὅτι μὴ χελώνη λίθου. ταύτης δὲ ἔχεται τῆς Φιλιππείου μέγεθος ἀποδέουσα ἑτέρα στοά, Μεγαλοπολίταις δὲ αὐτόθι ᾠκοδομημένα ἐστὶ τὰ ἀρχεῖα, ἀριθμὸν οἰκήματα ἕξ· ἐν ἑνὶ δέ ἐστιν αὐτῶν Ἐφεσίας ἄγαλμα Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ χαλκοῦς Πὰν πηχυαῖος ἐπίκλησιν Σκολείτας.

[7] μετεκομίσθη δὲ ἀπὸ λόφου τοῦ Σκολείτα· καὶ ὁ λόφος οὗτος τοῦ τείχους ἐστὶν ἐντός, ἀπὸ δὲ αὐτοῦ κάτεισιν ὕδωρ ἐς τὸν Ἑλισσόντα ἐκ πηγῆς. τῶν ἀρχείων δὲ ὄπισθε ναὸς Τύχης καὶ ἄγαλμα λίθου πεποίηται ποδῶν πέντε οὐκ ἀποδέον. στοὰν δὲ ἥντινα καλοῦσι Μυρόπωλιν, ἔστι μὲν τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ᾠκοδομήθη δὲ ἀπὸ λαφύρων, ἡνίκα τὸ πταῖσμα ἐγένετο Ἀκροτάτῳ τῷ Κλεομένους καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων τοῖς συστρατεύσασι, μαχεσαμένοις πρὸς Ἀριστόδημον τυραννίδα ἐν Μεγάλῃ πόλει τότε ἔχοντα.

[8] Μεγαλοπολίταις δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐστιν ὄπισθεν τοῦ περιβόλου τοῦ ἀνειμένου τῷ Λυκαίῳ Διὶ ἀνὴρ ἐπειργασμένος ἐπὶ στήλῃ, Πολύβιος Λυκόρτα· γέγραπται δὲ καὶ ἐλεγεῖα ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λέγοντα ὡς ἐπὶ γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν πᾶσαν πλανηθείη, καὶ ὅτι σύμμαχος 0 γένοιτο Ῥωμαίων καὶ παύσειεν αὐτοὺς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐς τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. συνέγραψε δὲ ὁ Πολύβιος οὗτος καὶ ἄλλα ἔργα Ῥωμαίων καὶ ὡς Καρχηδονίοις κατέστησαν ἐς πόλεμον, αἰτία τε ἥτις ἐγένετο αὐτοῦ καὶ ὡς ὀψὲ

[9] οὐκ ἄνευ κινδύνων μεγάλων Ῥωμαῖοι Σκιπίωνι ὅν τινα Καρχηδονιακὸν ὀνομάζουσι τέλος τε ἐπιθέντα τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ τὴν Καρχηδόνα καταβαλόντα ἐς ἔδαφος. ὅσα μὲν δὴ Πολυβίῳ παραινοῦντι ὁ Ῥωμαῖος ἐπείθετο, ἐς ὀρθὸν ἐχώρησεν αὐτῷ· ἃ δὲ οὐκ ἠκροᾶτο διδάσκοντος, γενέσθαι οἱ λέγουσιν ἁμαρτήματα. Ἑλλήνων δὲ ὁπόσαι πόλεις ἐς τὸ Ἀχαϊκὸν συνετέλουν, παρὰ Ῥωμαίων εὕραντο αὗται Πολύβιόν σφισι πολιτείας τε καταστήσασθαι καὶ νόμους θεῖναι. τῆς δʼ εἰκόνος τοῦ Πολυβίου τὸ βουλευτήριόν ἐστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ.

[10]
τοῦτο μὲν δή ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα, στοὰν δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς Ἀριστάνδρειον ἐπίκλησιν ἄνδρα τῶν ἀστῶν Ἀρίστανδρον οἰκοδομῆσαι λέγουσι. ταύτης τῆς στοᾶς ἐστιν ἐγγυτάτω ὡς πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ἱερὸν Σωτῆρος ἐπίκλησιν Διός· κεκόσμηται δὲ πέριξ κίοσι. καθεζομένῳ δὲ τῷ Διὶ ἐν θρόνῳ παρεστήκασι τῇ μὲν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ Ἀρτέμιδος Σωτείρας ἄγαλμα. ταῦτα μὲν λίθου τοῦ Πεντελησίου Ἀθηναῖοι Κηφισόδοτος καὶ Ξενοφῶν εἰργάσαντο·

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

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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.) — 8.30 focus

[1]
This Helisson, beginning at a village of the same name—for the name of the village also is Helisson—passes through the lands of Dipaea and Iycaea, and then through Megalopolis itself, descending into the Alpheius twenty stades away from the city of Megalopolis . Near the city is a temple of Poseidon Overseer. I found the head of the image still remaining.

[2]
The river Helisson divides Megalopolis just as Cnidus and Mitylene are cut in two by their straits, and in the north section, on the right as one looks down the river, the townsfolk have made their market-place. In it is an enclosure of stones and a sanctuary of Lycaean Zeus, with no entrance into it. The things inside, however, can be seen —altars of the god, two tables, two eagles, and an image of Pan made of stone.

[3] His surname is Sinoeis, and they say that Pan was so surnamed after a nymph Sinoe, who with others of the nymphs nursed him on her own account. There is before this enclosure a bronze image of Apollo worth seeing, in height twelve feet, brought from Phigalia as a contribution to the adornment of Megalopolis .

[4] The place where the image was originally set up by the Phigalians is named Bassae . The surname of the god has followed him from Phigalia , but why he received the name of Helper will be set forth in my account of Phigalia . On the right of the Apollo is a small image of the Mother of the Gods, but of the temple there remains nothing save the pillars.

[5]
Before the temple of the Mother is no statue, but I found still to be seen the pedestals on which statues once stood. An inscription in elegiacs on one of the pedestals says that the statue was that of Diophanes, the son of Diaeus, the man who first united the whole Peloponnesus into what was named the Achaean League.

[6] The portico of the marketplace, called the Philippeium, was not made by Philip, the son of Amyntas, but as a compliment to him the Megalopolitans gave his name to the building. Near it I found a temple of Hermes Acacesius in ruins, with nothing remaining except a tortoise of stone. Adjoining this Philippeium is another portico, smaller in size, where stand the government offices of Megalopolis , six rooms in number. In one of them is an image of Ephesian Artemis, and in another a bronze Pan, surnamed Scoleitas, one cubit high.

[7] It was brought from the hill Scoleitas, which is within the walls, and from a spring on it a stream descends to the Helisson. Behind the government offices is a temple of Fortune with a stone image not less than five feet high. The portico called Myropolis, situated in the market-place, was built from the spoils taken when the Lacedaemonians fighting under Acrotatus, the son of Cleomenes, suffered the reverse sustained at the hands of Aristodemus, then tyrant of Megalopolis .

[8] In the marketplace of that city, behind the enclosure sacred to Lycaean Zeus, is the figure of a man carved in relief on a slab, Polybius, the son of Lycortas. Elegiac verses are inscribed upon it saying that he roamed over every land and every sea, and that he became the ally of the Itomans and stayed their wrath against the Greek nation. This Polybius wrote also a history of the Romans, including how they went to war with Carthage , what the cause of the war was, and how at last, not before great dangers had been run, Scipio . . . whom they name Carthaginian, because he put an end to the war and razed Carthage to the ground.

[9] Whenever the Romans obeyed the advice of Polybius, things went well with them, but they say that whenever they would not listen to his instructions they made mistakes. All the Greek cities that were members of the Achaean League got permission from the Itomans that Polybius should draw up constitutions for them and frame laws. On the left of the portrait-statue of Polybius is the Council Chamber.

[10]
Here then is the Chamber, but the portico called “Aristander's” in the market-place was built, they say, by Aristander, one of their townsfolk. Quite near to this portico, on the east, is a sanctuary of Zeus, surnamed Saviour. It is adorned with pillars round it. Zeus is seated on a throne, and by his side stand Megalopolis on the right and an image of Artemis Saviour on the left. These are of Pentelic marble and were made by the Athenians Cephisodotus and Xenophon.

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.) — 8.30 focus

[1] This Helisson, beginning at a village of the same name—for the name of the village also is Helisson—passes through the lands of Dipaea and Iycaea, and then through Megalopolis itself, descending into the Alpheios twenty stadium-lengths away from the city of Megalopolis. Near the city is a temple of Poseidon Overseer. I found the head of the image still remaining.

[2] The river Helisson divides Megalopolis just as Knidos and Mitylene are cut in two by their straits, and in the north section, on the right as one looks down the river, the townsfolk have made their marketplace. In it is an enclosure of stones and a sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios, with no entrance into it. The things inside, however, can be seen —altars of the god, two tables, two eagles, and an image of Pan made of stone.

[4] The place where the image was originally set up by the Phigalians is named Bassae. The surname of the god has followed him from Phigalia, but why he received the name of Helper will be set forth in my account of Phigalia. On the right of the Apollo is a small image of the Mother of the Gods, but of the temple there remains nothing save the pillars.

[5] Before the temple of the Mother is no statue, but I found still to be seen the pedestals on which statues once stood. An inscription in elegiacs on one of the pedestals says that the statue was that of Diophanes, the son of Diaios, the man who first united the whole Peloponnesus into what was named the Achaean League.

[6] The portico of the marketplace, called the Philippeium, was not made by Philip, the son of Amyntas, but as a compliment to him the Megalopolitans gave his name to the building. Near it I found a temple of Hermes Akakesios in ruins, with nothing remaining except a tortoise of stone. Adjoining this Philippeium is another portico, smaller in size, where stand the government offices of Megalopolis, six rooms in number. In one of them is an image of Ephesian Artemis, and in another a bronze Pan, surnamed Scoleitas, one cubit high.

[7] It was brought from the hill Scoleitas, which is within the walls, and from a spring on it a stream descends to the Helisson. Behind the government offices is a temple of Fortune with a stone image not less than five feet high. The portico called Myropolis, situated in the marketplace, was built from the spoils taken when the Lacedaemonians fighting under Akrotatos, the son of Kleomenes, suffered the reverse sustained at the hands of Aristodemos, then tyrant of Megalopolis.

[8] In the marketplace of that city, behind the enclosure sacred to Zeus Lykaios, is the figure of a man carved in relief on a slab, Polybius, the son of Lykortas. Elegiac verses are inscribed upon it saying that he roamed over every land and every sea, and that he became the ally of the Itomans and stayed their wrath against the Greek nation. This Polybius wrote also a history of the Romans, including how they went to war with Carthage, what the cause of the war was, and how at last, not before great dangers had been run, Scipio … whom they name Carthaginian, because he put an end to the war and razed Carthage to the ground.

[10] Here then is the Chamber, but the portico named after Aristandros in the marketplace was built, they say, by Aristandros, one of their townsfolk. Quite near to this portico, on the east, is a sanctuary of Zeus, surnamed Savior. It is adorned with pillars round it. Zeus is seated on a throne, and by his side stand Megalopolis on the right and an image of Artemis Savior on the left. These are of Pentelic marble and were made by the Athenians Kephisodotos and Xenophon.

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 8.30

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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