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


6.21.1 The other side of the course is not a bank of earth but a low hill. At the foot of the hill has been built a sanctuary to Demeter surnamed Khamyne. Some are of opinion that the name is old, signifying that here the earth gaped* for the chariot of Hades and then closed up* once more. Others say that Khamynos was a man of Pisa who opposed Pantaleon, the son of Omphalion and despot at Pisa, when he plotted to revolt from Elis; Pantaleon, they say, put him to death, and from his property was built the sanctuary to Demeter.

6.21.2 In place of the old images of the Maiden and of Demeter, new ones of Pentelic marble were dedicated by Herodes the Athenian. In the gymnasium at Olympia, it is customary for pentathletes and runners to practice, and in the open has been made a basement of stone. Originally, there stood on the basement a trophy to commemorate a victory over the Arcadians. There is also another enclosure, less than this, to the left of the entrance to the gymnasium, and the athletes have their wrestling schools here. Adjoining the wall of the eastern porch of the gymnasium are the dwellings of the athletes, turned towards the southwest.

6.21.3 On the other side of the Kladeos is the tomb of Oinomaos, a mound of earth with a stone wall built round it, and above the tomb are ruins of buildings in which Oinomaos is said to have stabled his mares. The boundaries which now separate Arcadia and Elis originally separated Arcadia from Pisa, and are thus situated. On crossing the river Erymanthos at what is called the ridge of Saurus are the tomb of Saurus and a sanctuary of Hēraklēs, now in ruins. The story is that Saurus used to do mischief to travelers and to dwellers in the neighborhood until he received his punishment at the hands of Hēraklēs.

6.21.4 At this ridge which has the same name as the robber, a river, falling into the Alpheios from the south, just opposite the Erymanthos, is the boundary between the land of Pisa and Arcadia; it is called the Diagon. Forty stadium-lengths beyond the ridge of Saurus is a temple of Asklepios, surnamed Demainetos after the founder. It too is in ruins. It was built on the height beside the Alpheios.

6.21.5 Not far from it is a sanctuary of Dionysus Leucyanites, whereby flows a river Leucyanias. This river too is a tributary of the Alpheios; it descends from Mount Pholoe. Crossing the Alpheios after it, you will be within the land of Pisa.

6.21.6 In this region there is an elevation [lophos] culminating in a sharp peak, and on top of that elevation are the ruins of an acropolis [polis] called Phrixa and a temple [nāos] of Athena, whose name-of-invocation [epiklēsis] is Kudōníā. This temple is not completely preserved, but it still has an altar [bōmos], even in my time. And the people say that this sacred-space [hieron] was founded in honor of the goddess [theós (feminine)] by Klymenos, descendant of Hēraklēs, the-one-from-Mount-Ida [Idaios], and that he [Klymenos] came on the scene from the city of Kudōníā-in-Crete and from the river Iardanos. And the people of Elis say that Pelops sacrificed [thuein] to Athena Kudōníā before he entered the contest [agōn] [of a race-to-the-death in chariots] with Oinomaos.

6.21.7 Going on from this point, you come to the water of Parthenia, and by the river is the tomb of the mares of Marmax. The story has it that this Marmax was the first suitor of Hippodameia to arrive, and that he was killed by Oinomaos before the others; that the names of his mares were Parthenia and Eripha; that Oinomaos slew the mares after Marmax, but granted burial to them also, and that the river received the name Parthenia from the mare of Marmax.

6.21.8 There is another river called Harpinates, and not far from the river are, among the other ruins of a city Harpina, its altars. The city was founded, they say, by Oinomaos, who named it after his mother Harpina.

6.21.9 A little farther on is a high mound of earth, the tomb of the suitors of Hippodameia. Now Oinomaos, they say, laid them in the ground near one another with no token of respect. But afterwards, Pelops raised a high monument to them all, to honor them and to please Hippodameia. I think too that Pelops wanted a memorial to tell posterity the number and character of the men vanquished by Oinomaos before Pelops himself conquered him.

6.21.10 According to the epic poem called the Great Eoeae, the next after Marmax to be killed by Oinomaos was Alkathos, son of Porthaon; after Alkathos came Euryalos, Eurymakhos, and Krotalos. Now the parents and fatherlands of these I was unable to discover, but Akrias, the next after them to be killed, one might guess to have been a Lacedaemonian and the founder of Akriai. After Akrias, they say that Oinomaos slew Kapetos, Lycurgus (Lykourgos), Lasios, Khalkodon, and Trikolonos, who, according to the Arcadians, was the descendant and namesake of Trikolonos, the son of Lykaon.

6.21.11 After Trikolonos the next to meet their fate in the race were Aristomakhos and Prias, and then Pelagon, Aiolios, and Kronios. Some add to the the previously mentioned names Erythras, the son of Leukon, the son of Athamas, after whom was named Erythrai in Boeotia, and Eioneus, the son of Magnes, the son of Aiolos. These are the men whose monument is here, and Pelops, they say, sacrificed every year to them as heroes, when he had won the sovereignty of Pisa.

1 χανεῖν (khanein).

2 μύσαι (musai).