Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. Friedrich Spiro, 9.22

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[1]
ἐν Τανάγρᾳ δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διονύσου Θέμιδός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης, καὶ ὁ τρίτος τῶν ναῶν Ἀπόλλωνος, ὁμοῦ δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἄρτεμίς τε καὶ Λητώ. ἐς δὲ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ τὰ ἱερὰ τοῦ τε Κριοφόρου καὶ ὃν Πρόμαχον καλοῦσι, τοῦ μὲν ἐς τὴν ἐπίκλησιν λέγουσιν ὡς ὁ Ἑρμῆς σφισιν ἀποτρέψαι νόσον λοιμώδη περὶ τὸ τεῖχος κριὸν περιενεγκών, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Κάλαμις ἐποίησεν ἄγαλμα Ἑρμοῦ φέροντα κριὸν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων· ὃς δʼ ἂν εἶναι τῶν ἐφήβων προκριθῇ τὸ εἶδος κάλλιστος, οὗτος ἐν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ τῇ ἑορτῇ περίεισιν ἐν κύκλῳ τὸ τεῖχος ἔχων ἄρνα ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων·

[2] τὸν δὲ Ἑρμῆν λέγουσι τὸν Πρόμαχον Ἐρετριέων ναυσὶν ἐξ Εὐβοίας ἐς τὴν Ταναγραίαν σχόντων τούς τε ἐφήβους ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην καὶ αὐτὸν ὅτε ἔφηβον στλεγγίδι ἀμυνόμενον μάλιστα ἐργάσασθαι τῶν Εὐβοέων τροπήν. κεῖται δὲ ἐν τοῦ Προμάχου τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς τε ἀνδράχνου τὸ ὑπόλοιπον· τραφῆναι δὲ ὑπὸ τῷ δένδρῳ τὸν Ἑρμῆν τούτῳ νομίζουσιν. οὐ πόρρω δὲ θέατρόν τε καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ στοὰ πεποίηται. εὖ δέ μοι Ταναγραῖοι νομίσαι τὰ ἐς τοὺς θεοὺς μάλιστα δοκοῦσιν Ἑλλήνων· χωρὶς μὲν γὰρ αἱ οἰκίαι σφίσι, χωρὶς δὲ τὰ ἱερὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτὰς ἐν καθαρῷ τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐκτὸς ἀνθρώπων.

[3] Κορίννης δέ, ἣ μόνη δὴ ἐν Τανάγρᾳ ᾄσματα ἐποίησε, ταύτης ἔστι μὲν μνῆμα ἐν περιφανεῖ τῆς πόλεως, ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ γραφή, ταινίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡ Κόριννα ἀναδουμένη τῆς νίκης ἕνεκα ἣν Πίνδαρον ᾄσματι ἐνίκησεν ἐν Θήβαις. φαίνεται δέ μοι νικῆσαι τῆς 0 διαλέκτου τε ἕνεκα, ὅτι ᾖδεν οὐ τῇ φωνῇ τῇ Δωρίδι ὥσπερ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἀλλὰ ὁποίᾳ συνήσειν ἔμελλον Αἰολεῖς, καὶ ὅτι ἦν γυναικῶν τότε δὴ καλλίστη τὸ εἶδος, εἴ τι τῇ εἰκόνι δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι.

[4] ἔστι δὲ καὶ γένη δύο ἐνταῦθα ἀλεκτρυόνων, οἵ τε μάχιμοι καὶ οἱ κόσσυφοι καλούμενοι. τούτων τῶν κοσσύφων μέγεθος μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Λυδούς ἐστιν ὄρνιθας, χρόα δὲ ἐμφερὴς κόρακι, κάλλαια δὲ καὶ ὁ λόφος κατὰ ἀνεμώνην μάλιστα· λευκὰ δὲ σημεῖα οὐ μεγάλα ἐπί τε ἄκρῳ τῷ ῥάμφει καὶ ἐπὶ ἄκρας ἔχουσι τῆς οὐρᾶς.

[5]
οὗτοι μὲν τοιοῦτο παρέχονται τὸ εἶδος, τῆς δὲ Βοιωτίας τὰ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τοῦ Εὐρίπου Μεσσάπιον ὄρος καλούμενον καὶ ὑπʼ αὐτῷ Βοιωτῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσης πόλις ἐστὶν Ἀνθηδών· γενέσθαι δὲ τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀνθηδόνος νύμφης, οἱ δὲ Ἄνθαν δυναστεῦσαι λέγουσιν ἐνταῦθα, Ποσειδῶνός τε παῖδα καὶ Ἀλκυόνης τῆς Ἄτλαντος. Ἀνθηδονίοις δὲ μάλιστά που κατὰ μέσον τῆς πόλεως Καβείρων ἱερὸν καὶ ἄλσος περὶ αὐτό ἐστι, πλησίον δὲ Δήμητρος καὶ τῆς παιδὸς ναὸς καὶ ἀγάλματα λίθου λευκοῦ·

[6] Διονύσου τε ἱερὸν πεποίηται καὶ ἄγαλμα πρὸ τῆς πόλεως κατὰ τὸ ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον. ἐνταῦθά εἰσι μὲν τάφοι τῶν Ἰφιμεδείας καὶ Ἀλωέως παίδων· γενέσθαι δέ σφισι τοῦ βίου τὴν τελευτὴν ὑπὸ Ἀπόλλωνος κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ Ὅμηρος πεποιήκασι καὶ Πίνδαρος, προστίθησι δὲ Πίνδαρος, ὡς ἐπιλάβοι τὸ χρεὼν αὐτοὺς ἐν Νάξῳ τῇ ὑπὲρ Πάρου κειμένῃ. τούτων τε δή ἐστι τῇ Ἀνθηδόνι μνήματα καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ 0 θαλάσσῃ καλούμενον Γλαύκου πήδημα·

[7] εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἁλιέα, καὶ ἐπεὶ τῆς πόας ἔφαγε, δαίμονα ἐν θαλάσσῃ γενέσθαι καὶ ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἐσόμενα ἐς τόδε προλέγειν οἵ τε ἄλλοι πιστὰ ἥγηνται καὶ οἱ τὴν θάλασσαν πλέοντες πλεῖστα ἀνθρώπων ἐς τὴν Γλαύκου μαντικὴν κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον λέγουσι. Πινδάρῳ δὲ καὶ Αἰσχύλῳ πυνθανομένοις παρὰ Ἀνθηδονίων, τῷ μὲν οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐπῆλθεν ᾆσαι τὰ ἐς Γλαῦκον, Αἰσχύλῳ δὲ καὶ ἐς ποίησιν δράματος ἐξήρκεσε.

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.) — 9.22 focus

[1]
Beside the sanctuary of Dionysus at Tanagra are three temples, one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and the third of Apollo; with Apollo are joined Artemis and Leto. There are sanctuaries of Hermes Ram-bearer and of Hermes called Champion. They account for the former surname by a story that Hermes averted a pestilence from the city by carrying a ram round the walls; to commemorate this Calamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram upon his shoulders. Whichever of the youths is judged to be the most handsome goes round the walls at the feast of Hermes, carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

[2] Hermes Champion is said, on the occasion when an Eretrian fleet put into Tanagra from Euboea , to have led out the youths to the battle; he himself, armed with a scraper like a youth, was chiefly responsible for the rout of the Euboeans. In the sanctuary of the Champion is kept all that is left of the wild strawberry-tree under which they believe that Hermes was nourished. Near by is a theater and by it a portico. I consider that the people of Tanagra have better arrangements for the worship of the gods than any other Greeks. For their houses are in one place, while the sanctuaries are apart beyond the houses in a clear space where no men live.

[3] Corinna, the only lyric poetess of Tanagra , has her tomb in a, conspicuous part of the city, and in the gymnasium is a painting of Corinna binding her head with a fillet for the victory she won over Pindar at Thebes with a lyric poem. I believe that her victory was partly due to the dialect she used, for she composed, not in Doric speech like Pindar, but in one Aeolians would understand, and partly to her being, if one may judge from the likeness, the most beautiful woman of her time.

[4] Here there are two breeds of cocks, the fighters and the blackbirds, as they are called. The size of these blackbirds is the same as that of the Lydian birds, but in color they are like crows, while wattles and comb are very like the anemone. They have small, white markings on the end of the beak and at the end of the tail.

[5]
Such is the appearance of the blackbirds. Within Boeotia to the left of the Euripus is Mount Messapius, at the foot of which on the coast is the Boeotian city of Anthedon . Some say that the city received its name from a nymph called Anthedon , while others say that one Anthas was despot here, a son of Poseidon by Alcyone, the daughter of Atlas. Just about the center of Anthedon is a sanctuary of the Cabeiri, with a grove around it, near which is a temple of Demeter and her daughter, with images of white marble.

[6] There are a sanctuary and an image of Dionysus in front of the city on the side towards the mainland. Here are the graves of the children of Iphimedeia and Aloeus. They met their end at the hands of Apollo according to both Homer¹ and Pindar,² the latter adding that their doom overtook them in Naxos , which lies off Paros . Their tombs then are in Anthedon , and by the sea is what is called the Leap of Glaucus.

[7] That Glaucus was a fisherman, who, on eating of the grass, turned into a deity of the sea and ever since has foretold to men the future, is a belief generally accepted; in particular, seafaring men tell every year many a tale about the soothsaying of Glaucus. Pindar and Aeschylus got a story about Glaucus from the people of Anthedon . Pindar has not thought fit to say much about him in his odes, but the story actually supplied Aeschylus with material for a play.

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.) — 9.22 focus

[1] Beside the sanctuary of Dionysus at Tanagra are three temples, one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and the third of Apollo; with Apollo are joined Artemis and Leto. There are sanctuaries of Hermes Ram-bearer and of Hermes called Champion. They account for the former surname by a story that Hermes averted a pestilence from the city by carrying a ram round the walls; to commemorate this Kalamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram upon his shoulders. Whichever of the youths is judged to be the most handsome goes round the walls at the feast of Hermes, carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

[2] Hermes Champion is said, on the occasion when an Eretrian fleet put into Tanagra from Euboea, to have led out the youths to the battle; he himself, armed with a scraper like a youth, was chiefly responsible for the rout of the Euboeans. In the sanctuary of the Champion is kept all that is left of the wild strawberry tree under which they believe that Hermes was nourished. Near by is a theater and by it a portico. I consider that the people of Tanagra have better arrangements for the worship of the gods than any other Greeks. For their houses are in one place, while the sanctuaries are apart beyond the houses in a clear space where no men live.

[3] Corinna, the only lyric poetess of Tanagra, has her tomb in a, conspicuous part of the city, and in the gymnasium is a painting of Corinna binding her head with a fillet for the victory she won over Pindar at Thebes with a lyric poem. I believe that her victory was partly due to the dialect she used, for she composed, not in Doric speech like Pindar, but in one Aeolians would understand, and partly to her being, if one may judge from the likeness, the most beautiful woman of her time.

[4] Here there are two breeds of roosters, the fighters and the blackbirds, as they are called. The size of these blackbirds is the same as that of the Lydian birds, but in color they are like crows, while wattles and comb are very like the anemone. They have small, white markings on the end of the beak and at the end of the tail.

[5] Such is the appearance of the blackbirds. Within Boeotia to the left of the Euripus is Mount Messapios, at the foot of which on the coast is the Boeotian city of Anthedon. Some say that the city received its name from a nymph called Anthedon, while others say that one Anthas was despot here, a son of Poseidon by Alcyone, the daughter of Atlas. Just about the center of Anthedon is a sanctuary of the Cabeiri, with a grove around it, near which is a temple of Demeter and her daughter, with images of white marble.

[6] There are a sanctuary and an image of Dionysus in front of the city on the side towards the mainland. Here are the tombs of the children of Iphimedeia and Aloeus. They met their end at the hands of Apollo according to both Homer and Pindar, the latter adding that their doom overtook them in Naxos, which lies off Paros. Their tombs then are in Anthedon, and by the sea is what is called the Leap of Glaukos.

[7] That Glaukos was a fisherman, who, on eating of the grass, turned into a deity of the sea and ever since has foretold to men the future, is a belief generally accepted; in particular, seafaring men tell every year many a tale about the soothsaying of Glaukos. Pindar and Aeschylus got a story about Glaukos from the people of Anthedon. Pindar has not thought fit to say much about him in his odes, but the story actually supplied Aeschylus with material for a play.

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 9.22

ed. Friedrich Spiro

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