A Pausanias Reader in Progress

An ongoing retranslation of the Greek text of Pausanias, with ongoing annotations, primarily by Gregory Nagy from 2014 to 2022, and continued since 2022 by Nagy together with an intergenerational team. Based on an original translation by W. H. S. Jones, 1918 (Scroll 2 with H. A. Ormerod), containing some of the footnotes added by Jones. Editors: Keith DeStone, Elizabeth Gipson, Charles Pletcher Editor Emerita: Angelia Hanhardt Web Producer: Noel Spencer Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins To cite this work, use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.prim-src:A_Pausanias_Reader_in_Progress.2018-.

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.aprip-en


6.10.1 to those that I have enumerated stands Glaukos of Karystos. It is said that he was by birth from Anthedon in Boeotia, being descended from Glaukos the sea deity. This Carystian was a son of Demylos, and they say that to begin with he worked as a farmer. The ploughshare one day fell out of the plough, and he fitted it into its place, using his hand as a hammer.

6.10.2 Demylos happened to be a spectator of his son’s performance, and thereupon brought him to Olympia to box. There Glaukos, inexperienced in boxing, was wounded by his antagonists, and when he was boxing with the last of them, he was thought to be fainting from the number of his wounds. Then they say that his father called out to him, “Son, the plough touch.” So he dealt his opponent a more violent blow which right away brought him the victory.

6.10.3 He is said to have won other garlands besides, two at Pythō, eight at the Nemean and eight at the Isthmian Games. The statue of Glaukos was set up by his son, while Glaukias of Aegina made it. The statue represents a figure sparring, as Glaukos was the best exponent of the art of all his contemporaries. When he died the people of Karystos, they say, buried him in the island still called the island of Glaukos.

6.10.4 Damaretos of Heraia, his son, and his grandson, each won two victories at Olympia. Those of Damaretos were gained at the sixty-fifth Festival* (at which the race in full armor was instituted) and also at the one succeeding. His statue shows him, not only carrying the shield that modern competitors have, but also wearing a helmet on his head and greaves on his legs. In course of time, the helmet and greaves were taken from the armor of competitors by both the Eleians and the Greeks generally. Theopompos, son of Damaretos, won his victories in the pentathlon, and his son Theopompos the second, named after his father, won his in the wrestling match.

6.10.5 Who made the statue of Theopompos the wrestler we do not know, but those of his father and grandfather are said by the inscription to be by Eutelidas and Khrysothemis, who were Argives. It does not, however, declare the name of their teacher, but runs as follows:

6.10.6 After Ikkos stands Pantarkes the Eleian, beloved of Pheidias, who beat the boys at wrestling. Next to Pantarkes is the chariot of Kleosthenes, a man of Epidamnus. This is the work of Ageladas, and it stands behind the Zeus dedicated by the Greeks from the spoil of the battle of Plataea. Kleosthenes’ victory occurred at the sixty-sixth Festival, and together with the statues of his horses, he dedicated a statue of himself and one of his charioteer.

6.10.7 There are inscribed the names of the horses, Phoenix and Korax, and on either side are the horses by the yoke, on the right Knakias, on the left Samos. This inscription in elegiac verse is on the chariot:

6.10.8 This Kleosthenes was the first of those who bred horses in Greece to dedicate his statue at Olympia. For the offering of agoras the Laconian consists of the chariot without a figure of agoras himself; the offerings of Miltiades the Athenian, which he dedicated at Olympia, I will describe in another part of my story.* The Epidamnians occupy the same territory today as they did at first, but the modern city is not the ancient one, being at a short distance from it. The modern city is called Dyrrhachium from its founder.

6.10.9 Lykinos of Heraia, Epikradios of Mantineia, Tellon of Oresthas, and Agiadas of Elis won victories in boys’ matches; Lykinos for running, the rest of them for boxing. The artist who made the statue of iosEpikradios was Ptolikhos of Aegina; that of Agiadas was made by Serambos, also a native of Aegina. The statue of Lykinos is the work of Kleon. Who made the statue of Tellon is not related.

1 520 BCE.

2 Pausanias 6.19.6.