Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 8.34

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[1] ἐκ δὲ Μεγάλης πόλεως ἰόντι ἐς Μεσσήνην καὶ σταδίους μάλιστα προελθόντι ἑπτά, ἔστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς λεωφόρου θεῶν ἱερόν. καλοῦσι δὲ καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς θεὰς καὶ τὴν χώραν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν Μανίας· δοκεῖν δέ μοι θεῶν τῶν Εὐμενίδων ἐστὶν ἐπίκλησις, καὶ Ὀρέστην ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ τῆς μητρός φασιν αὐτόθι μανῆναι.

[2] οὐ πόρρω δὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ γῆς χῶμά ἐστιν οὐ μέγα, ἐπίθημα ἔχον λίθου πεποιημένον δάκτυλον, καὶ δὴ καὶ ὄνομα τῷ χώματί ἐστι Δακτύλου μνῆμα· ἐνταῦθα ἔκφρονα Ὀρέστην γενόμενον λέγουσιν ἕνα τῆς ἑτέρας τῶν χειρῶν ἀποφαγεῖν δάκτυλον. τούτῳ δέ ἐστιν ἕτερον συνεχὲς χωρίον Ἄκη καλούμενον, ὅτι ἐγένετο 0 ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς νόσου τῷ Ὀρέστῃ τὰ ἰάματα· πεποίηται δὲ Εὐμενίσι καὶ αὐτόθι ἱερὸν.

[3] ταύτας τὰς θεάς, ἡνίκα τὸν Ὀρέστην ἔκφρονα ἔμελλον ποιήσειν, φασὶν αὐτῷ φανῆναι μελαίνας· ὡς δὲ ἀπέφαγε τὸν δάκτυλον, τὰς δὲ αὖθις δοκεῖν οἱ λευκὰς εἶναι, καὶ αὐτὸν σωφρονῆσαί τε ἐπὶ τῇ θέᾳ καὶ οὕτω ταῖς μὲν ἐνήγισεν ἀποτρέπων τὸ μήνιμα αὐτῶν, ταῖς δὲ ἔθυσε ταῖς λευκαῖς. ὁμοῦ δὲ αὐταῖς καὶ Χάρισι θύειν νομίζουσι. πρὸς δὲ τῷ χωρίῳ τοῖς Ἄκεσιν ἕτερόν ἐστιν Κουρεῖον ὀνομαζόμενον ἱερόν, ὅτι Ὀρέστης ἐνταῦθα ἐκείρατο τὴν κόμην, ἐπειδὴ ἐντὸς ἐγένετο αὑτοῦ·

[4] Πελοποννησίων δὲ οἱ τὰ ἀρχαῖα μνημονεύοντες πρότερα τῷ Ὀρέστῃ τὰ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ γενέσθαι φασὶν ὑπὸ Ἐρινύων τῶν Κλυταιμνήστρας ἢ ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ τὴν κρίσιν, καὶ αὐτῷ κατήγορον οὐ τὸν Τυνδάρεων—περιεῖναι γὰρ οὐκέτι ἐκεῖνον—, Περίλαον δὲ ἐπιστῆναι δίκην καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ αἵματι τῆς μητρὸς αἰτοῦντα ἅτε ἀνεψιὸν τῆς Κλυταιμνήστρας· Ἰκαρίου γὰρ παῖδα εἶναι Περίλαον, γενέσθαι δὲ ὕστερον καὶ θυγατέρας τῷ Ἰκαρίῳ.

[5]
ἐκ Μανιῶν δὲ ὁδὸς ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλφειόν ἐστιν ὅσον πέντε σταδίων καὶ δέκα· κατὰ τοῦτο Γαθεάτας ποταμὸς ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ἐς δὲ τὸν Γαθεάταν πρότερον ἔτι κάτεισιν ὁ Καρνίων. τούτῳ μὲν δὴ αἱ πηγαὶ γῆς εἰσι τῆς Αἰγύτιδος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Κερεάτα τὸ ἱερόν, τῷ Γαθεάτᾳ δὲ τῆς Κρωμίτιδος χώρας ἐν Γαθέαις.

[6] ἡ δὲ Κρωμῖτις ἀνωτέρω τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ σταδίους ὡς τεσσαράκοντά ἐστι, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεως 0 Κρώμων οὐ παντάπασι τὰ ἐρείπια ἦν ἐξίτηλα. ἐκ δὲ Κρώμων ὡς εἴκοσι στάδιά ἐστιν ἐπὶ Νυμφάδα· καταρρεῖται δὲ ὕδατι καὶ δένδρων ἀνάπλεώς ἐστιν ἡ Νυμφάς. καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς στάδια εἴκοσί ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὸ Ἑρμαῖον, ἐς ὃ Μεσσηνίοις καὶ Μεγαλοπολίταις εἰσὶν ὅροι· πεποίηνται δὲ αὐτόθι καὶ Ἑρμῆν ἐπὶ στήλῃ.

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.) — 8.34 focus

[1]
As you go from Megalopolis to Messene , after advancing about seven stades, there stands on the left of the highway a sanctuary of goddesses. They call the goddesses themselves, as well as the district around the sanctuary, Maniae (Madnesses). In my view this is a surname of the Eumenides; in fact they say that it was here that madness overtook Orestes as punishment for shedding his mother's blood.

[2] Not far from the sanctuary is a mound of earth, of no great size, surmounted by a finger made of stone; the name, indeed, of the mound is the Tomb of the Finger. Here, it is said, Orestes on losing his wits bit off one finger of one of his hands. Adjoining this place is another, called Ace (Remedies) because in it Orestes was cured of his malady. Here too there is a sanctuary for the Eumenides.

[3] The story is that, when these goddesses were about to put Orestes out of his mind, they appeared to him black; but when he had bitten off his finger they seemed to him again to be white and he recovered his senses at the sight. So he offered a sin-offering to the black goddesses to avert their wrath, while to the white deities he sacrificed a thank-offering. It is customary to sacrifice to the Graces also along with the Eumenides. Near to the place called Ace is another . . . a sanctuary called . . . because here Orestes cut off his hair on coming to his senses.

[4] Historians of Peloponnesian antiquities say that what Clytaemnestra's Furies did to Orestes in Arcadia took place before the trial at the Areopagus; that his accuser was not Tyndareus, who no longer lived, but Perilaus, who asked for vengeance for the mother's murder in that he was a cousin of Clytaemnestra. For Perilaus, they say, was a son of Icarius, to whom afterwards daughters also were born.

[5]
The road from Maniae to the Alpheius is roughly fifteen stades long. At this point the river Gatheatas falls into the Alpheius, and before this the Carnion flows into the Gatheatas. The source of the Carnion is in Aegytian territory beneath the sanctuary of Apollo Cereatas; that of the Gatheatas is at Gatheae in Cromitian territory.

[6] The Cromitian territory is about forty stades up from the Alpheius, and in it the ruins of the city Cromi have not entirely disappeared. From Cromi it is about twenty stades to Nymphas, which is well supplied with water and covered with trees. From Nymphas it is twenty stades to the Hermaeum, where is the boundary between Messenia and Megalopolis . Here they have made a Hermes also on a slab.

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.) — 8.34 focus

[1] As you go from Megalopolis to Messene, after advancing about seven stadium-lengths, there stands on the left of the highway a sanctuary of goddesses. They call the goddesses themselves, as well as the district around the sanctuary, Maniai (Madnesses). In my view this is a surname of the Eumenides; in fact they say that it was here that madness overtook Orestes as punishment for shedding his mother’s blood.

[3] The story is that, when these goddesses were about to put Orestes out of his mind, they appeared to him black; but when he had bitten off his finger they seemed to him again to be white and he recovered his senses at the sight. So he offered a sin-offering to the black goddesses to avert their wrath, while to the white deities he sacrificed a thank-offering. It is customary to sacrifice to the Graces also along with the Eumenides. Near to the place called Ace is another … a sanctuary called … because here Orestes cut off his hair on coming to his senses.

[4] Historians of Peloponnesian antiquities say that what Clytaemnestra’s Furies did to Orestes in Arcadia took place before the trial at the Areiopagos; that his accuser was not Tyndareus, who no longer lived, but Perilaos, who asked for vengeance for the mother’s murder in that he was a cousin of Clytaemnestra. For Perilaos, they say, was a son of Ikarios, to whom afterwards daughters also were born.

[5] The road from Maniaito the Alpheios is roughly fifteen stadium-lengths long. At this point the river Gatheatas falls into the Alpheios, and before this the Carnion flows into the Gatheatas. The source of the Carnion is in the territory of Aigytia beneath the sanctuary of Apollo Cereatas; that of the Gatheatas is at Gatheaiin Cromitian territory.

[6] The Cromitian territory is about forty stadium-lengths up from the Alpheios, and in it the ruins of the city Cromi have not entirely disappeared. From Cromi it is about twenty stadium-lengths to Nymphas, which is well supplied with water and covered with trees. From Nymphas it is twenty stadium-lengths to the Hermaeum, where is the boundary between Messenia and Megalopolis. Here they have made a Hermes also on a slab.

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 8.34

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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