Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 8.54

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[1]
Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ καὶ Τεγεάταις ὅροι τῆς γῆς ὁ ποταμός ἐστιν ὁ Ἀλφειός. τούτου τὸ ὕδωρ ἄρχεται μὲν ἐν Φυλάκῃ, κάτεισι δὲ οὐ πόρρω τῆς πηγῆς καὶ ἄλλο ὕδωρ ἐς αὐτὸν ἀπὸ πηγῶν μεγέθει μὲν οὐ μεγάλων, πλεόνων δὲ ἀριθμόν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ χωρίῳ Σύμβολα γέγονεν ὄνομα.

[2] φαίνεται δὲ ὁ Ἀλφειὸς παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ποταμοὺς φύσιν τινὰ ἰδίαν παρεχόμενος τοιάνδε· ἀφανίζεσθαί τε γὰρ κατὰ γῆς ἐθέλει πολλάκις καὶ αὖθις ἀναφαίνεσθαι. προελθὼν μέν γε ἐκ Φυλάκης καὶ τῶν καλουμένων Συμβόλων ἐς τὸ πεδίον κατέδυ τὸ Τεγεατικόν· ἀνατείλας δὲ ἐν Ἀσέᾳ καὶ τὸ ῥεῦμα ἀναμίξας τῷ Εὐρώτᾳ τὸ δεύτερον ἤδη κάτεισιν ἐς τὴν γῆν·

[3] ἀνασχὼν δὲ ἔνθα Πηγὰς ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες καὶ παρὰ γῆν τε τὴν Πισαίαν καὶ παρὰ Ὀλυμπίαν ἐξελθών, ἐκδίδωσιν ὑπὲρ Κυλλήνης ἐπινείου τοῦ Ἠλείων ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν. ἔμελλε δὲ ἄρα μηδὲ Ἀδρίας ἐπισχήσειν αὐτὸν τοῦ πρόσω· διανηξάμενος δὲ καὶ τοῦτον, μέγα οὕτω καὶ βίαιον πέλαγος, ἐν Ὀρτυγίᾳ τῇ πρὸ Συρακουσῶν ἐπιδείκνυσιν Ἀλφειός τε ὢν καὶ πρὸς Ἀρέθουσαν τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνακοινούμενος.

[4]
ἡ δὲ εὐθεῖα ἡ ἐπὶ Θυρέαν τε καὶ κώμας τὰς ἐν τῇ Θυρεάτιδι ἐκ Τεγέας παρείχετο ἐς συγγραφὴν Ὀρέστου τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος μνῆμα, καὶ ὑφελέσθαι Σπαρτιάτην τὰ ὀστᾶ αὐτόθεν οἱ Τεγεᾶται λέγουσι· καθʼ ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐκέτι πυλῶν ἐντὸς ἐγίνετο ὁ τάφος. ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ Γαράτης ποταμὸς κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν· διαβάντι δὲ τὸν Γαράτην καὶ προελθόντι σταδίους δέκα Πανός ἐστιν ἱερὸν καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ δρῦς, ἱερὰ καὶ αὕτη τοῦ Πανός. 0

[5]
ἡ δὲ ἐς Ἄργος ἐκ Τεγέας ὀχήματι ἐπιτηδειοτάτη καὶ τὰ μάλιστά ἐστι λεωφόρος. ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ πρῶτα μὲν ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα Ἀσκληπιοῦ· μετὰ δὲ ἐκτραπεῖσιν ἐς ἀριστερὰ ὅσον στάδιον Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπίκλησιν Πυθίου καταλελυμένον ἐστὶν ἱερὸν καὶ ἐρείπια ἐς ἅπαν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν εὐθεῖαν αἵ τε δρῦς εἰσι πολλαὶ καὶ Δήμητρος ἐν τῷ ἄλσει τῶν δρυῶν ναὸς ἐν Κορυθεῦσι καλουμένης· πλησίον δὲ ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἱερὸν Διονύσου Μύστου.

[6] τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ ἄρχεται τὸ ὄρος τὸ Παρθένιον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ τέμενος δείκνυται Τηλέφου, καὶ ἐνταῦθα παῖδα ἐκκείμενόν φασιν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ ἐλάφου τραφῆναι. ἀπωτέρω δὲ ὀλίγον Πανός ἐστιν ἱερόν, ἔνθα Φιλιππίδῃ φανῆναι τὸν Πᾶνα καὶ εἰπεῖν ἃ πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἀθηναῖοί τε καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ Τεγεᾶται λέγουσι·

[7] παρέχεται δὲ τὸ Παρθένιον καὶ ἐς λύρας ποίησιν χελώνας ἐπιτηδειοτάτας, ἃς οἱ περὶ τὸ ὄρος ἄνθρωποι καὶ αὐτοὶ λαμβάνειν δεδοίκασιν ἀεὶ καὶ ξένους οὐ περιορῶσιν αἱροῦντας· ἱερὰς γὰρ σφᾶς εἶναι τοῦ Πανὸς ἥγηνται. ὑπερβαλόντι δὲ τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ ὄρους ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς ἤδη γεωργουμένοις Τεγεατῶν ὅρος καὶ Ἀργείων κατὰ Ὑσιὰς τὰς ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι.
αἵδε μὲν Πελοποννήσου μοῖραι καὶ πόλεις τε ἐν ταῖς μοίραις καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει τὰ ἀξιολογώτατά ἐστιν ἐς μνήμην. 0

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.) — 8.54 focus

[1]
The boundary between the territories of Lacedaemon and Tegea is the river Alpheius. Its water begins in Phylace , and not far from its source there flows down into it another water from springs that are not large, but many in number, whence the place has received the name Symbola (Meetings).

[2] It is known that the Alpheius differs from other rivers in exhibiting this natural peculiarity; it often disappears beneath the earth to reappear again. So flowing on from Phylace and the place called Symbola it sinks into the Tegean plain; rising at Asea , and mingling its stream with the Eurotas, it sinks again into the earth.

[3] Coming up at the place called by the Arcadians Pegae (Springs), and flowing past the land of Pisa and past Olympia , it falls into the sea above Cyllene, the port of Elis . Not even the Adriatic could check its flowing onwards, but passing through it, so large and stormy a sea, it shows in Ortygia, before Syracuse , that it is the Alpheius, and unites its water with Arethusa.

[4]
The straight road from Tegea to Thyrea and to the villages its territory contains can show a notable sight in the tomb of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon; from here, say the Tegeans, a Spartan stole his bones. In our time the grave is no longer within the gates. By the road flows also the river Garates. Crossing the Garates and advancing ten stades you come to a sanctuary of Pan, by which is an oak, like the sanctuary sacred to Pan.

[5]
The road from Tegea to Argos is very well suited for carriages, in fact a first-rate highway. On the road come first a temple and image of Asclepius. Next, turning aside to the left for about a stade, you see a dilapidated sanctuary of Apollo surnamed Pythian which is utterly in ruins. Along the straight road there are many oaks, and in the grove of oaks is a temple of Demeter called “in Corythenses.” Hard by is another sanctuary, that of Mystic Dionysus.

[6] At this point begins Mount Parthenius. On it is shown a sacred enclosure of Telephus, where it is said that he was exposed when a child and was suckled by a deer. A little farther on is a sanctuary of Pan, where Athenians and Tegeans agree that he appeared to Philippides and conversed with him.

[7] Mount Parthenius rears also tortoises most suitable for the making of harps; but the men on the mountain are always afraid to capture them, and will not allow strangers to do so either, thinking them to be sacred to Pan. Crossing the peak of the mountain you are within the cultivated area, and reach the boundary between Tegea and Argos ; it is near Hysiae in Argolis .
These are the divisions of the Peloponnesus , the cities in the divisions, and the most noteworthy things in each city.

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.) — 8.54 focus

[1] The boundary between the territories of Lacedaemon and Tegea is the river Alpheios. Its water begins in Phylace, and not far from its source there flows down into it another water from springs that are not large, but many in number, whence the place has received the name Symbola (Meetings).

[2] It is known that the Alpheios differs from other rivers in exhibiting this natural peculiarity; it often disappears beneath the earth to reappear again. So flowing on from Phylace and the place called Symbola it sinks into the Tegean plain; rising at Asea, and mingling its stream with the Eurotas, it sinks again into the earth.

[3] Coming up at the place called by the Arcadians Pegai (Springs), and flowing past the land of Pisa and past Olympia, it falls into the sea above Cyllene, the port of Elis. Not even the Adriatic could check its flowing onwards, but passing through it, so large and stormy a sea, it shows in Ortygia, before Syracuse, that it is the Alpheios, and unites its water with Arethousa.

[4] The straight road from Tegea to Thyrea and to the villages its territory contains can show a notable sight in the tomb of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon; from here, say the Tegeans, a Spartan stole his bones. In our time the tomb is no longer within the gates. By the road flows also the river Garates. Crossing the Garates and advancing ten stadium-lengths you come to a sanctuary of Pan, by which is an oak, like the sanctuary sacred to Pan.

[5] The road from Tegea to Argos is very well suited for carriages, in fact a first-rate highway. On the road come first a temple and image of Asklepios. Next, turning aside to the left for about a stadium-length, you see a dilapidated sanctuary of Apollo surnamed Pythian which is utterly in ruins. Along the straight road there are many oaks, and in the grove of oaks is a temple of Demeter called “in Corythenses.” Hard by is another sanctuary, that of Mystic Dionysus.

[6] At this point begins Mount Parthenios. On it is shown a sacred enclosure of Telephus, where it is said that he was exposed when a child and was suckled by a deer. A little farther on is a sanctuary of Pan, where Athenians and Tegeans agree that he appeared to Philippides and conversed with him.

[7] Mount Parthenios rears also tortoises most suitable for the making of harps; but the men on the mountain are always afraid to capture them, and will not allow strangers to do so either, thinking them to be sacred to Pan. Crossing the peak of the mountain you are within the cultivated area, and reach the boundary between Tegea and Argos; it is near Hysiaiin Argolis.These are the divisions of the Peloponnesus, the cities in the divisions, and the most noteworthy things in each city.

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 8.54

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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