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


1.43.1 They say that there is also at that place a hero-shrine [hērōion] of Iphigeneia, since, according to them, she died in Megara. Now I have heard another account of Iphigeneia that is given by Arcadians and I know that Hesiod, in the Catalogue of Women, makes-it-happen-in-his poetry [poieîn] that Iphigenia does not die, but, by the will of Artemis, is Hekate. With this agrees Herodotus, who writes [graphein] that the Tauroi near Scythia sacrifice [thuein] those who are shipwrecked to a maiden [parthénos], and they say that this maiden [parthénos] is Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. Adrastos also has honors [tīmai] [of hero cult] among the people of Megara, who say that he too died among them when he was leading back his army after capturing Thebes, and that his death was caused by old age and by the death of Aigialeus. A sanctuary [hieron] of Artemis was made [poieîn] by Agamemnon when he came to persuade Calchas, who dwelled [oikeîn] in Megara, to accompany him to Troy.

1.43.2 In the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] are buried, they say, Euhippos the son of Megareus and Iskhepolis the son of Alkathoos. Near the Prytaneion [‘City Hall’] is a rock [petrā]. They name it Anaklēthris [‘calling-to-come-back’], because Demeter—if this is credible to anyone—in this place too [= Megara, not only in other places] was-calling-back [ana-kaleîn] her daughter while wandering [planâsthai] in search of her. Even in our day the women of Megara sacrally-perform [drân] actions-that-look-like [eoikóta] what-the-words-of-the-story-say [logos].

1.43.3 In the city are tombs [taphoi] of Megarians. They made one for those who died in the invasion of the Medes [Persians], and what is called the Aisymnion [‘Shrine of Aisymnos’] was also a tomb [mnēma] of heroes [hērōes]. When Agamemnon’s son Hyperion, the last who ruled-as-king [basileuein] over the people of Megara, was killed by Sandion for his greed [pleonexiā] and violence [biā], they resolved no longer to be ruled-by-kings [basileuesthai] by way of one-man rule, but to have elected [hairetoi] magistrates [arkhontes] and to obey one another by-taking-turns [ana meros]. Then Aisymnos, who had a reputation [doxa] second to none among the Megarians, came to the god [theos] in Delphi and asked in what way they could be-fortunate [eudaimoneîn]. The god [theos] said-in-oracular-reply [khrêsai] that they would fare well if they took-counsel [bouleuein] with the majority. This poetic-utterance [epos] they took to refer to the dead, and built a council-chamber [bouleutērion] in this place in order that the tomb [taphos] of their heroes [hērōes] might be inside the council-chamber [bouleutērion].

1.43.4 Proceeding from there to the hero-shrine [hērōion] of Alkathoos, which in my day the people of Megara used as a place for the safe-keeping [phulakē] of written-records [grammata], was the tomb [mnēma], they said, of Pyrgo, the wife of Alkathoos before he married Euaikhme, the daughter of Megareus, and the tomb of Iphinoe, the daughter of Alkathoos; she died, they say, a still a virgin [parthénos]. It is customary for the girls [korai] to bring [pros-pherein] libations [khoai] to the tomb [mnēma] of Iphinoe and to make-an-offering [ap-arkhesthai] of their [cut] hair before their wedding [gamos], just as the daughters of the people of Delos once cut their hair for Hekaerge and Opis.

1.43.5 Beside the entrance [esodos] to the sanctuary-of-Dionysus [Dionusion] is the tomb [taphos] of Astykrateia and Manto. They were daughters of Polyidos, son of Koiranos, son of Abas, son of Melampous, who came to Megara to purify [kathairein] Alkathoos in-compensation-for [epi + dative case] his killing [phonos] of his son Kallipolis. Polyidus also built the sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus, and dedicated a wooden-image [xoanon] that in our day is covered up except for the face [prosōpon], which alone is exposed. By the side of it is a Satyr of Parian marble made by Praxiteles. This Dionysus they call Patrōos [‘Ancestral’]; but the statue [agalma] of another, which they surname Dasyllios, they say was dedicated by Eukhenor, son of Koiranos, son of Polyidos.

1.43.6 After the sanctuary [hieron] of Dionysus is a temple [nāos] of Aphrodite, with an ivory statue [agalma] of Aphrodite surnamed Praxis [‘Fulfilled Action’]. This is the oldest object in the temple [nāos]. There is also Peithō [‘Persuasion’] and another goddess [theos (feminine) ], whom they name Parēgoros [‘consoler’]—works of Praxiteles. By the workmanship of Scopas are Erōs [‘passionate-love’] and Himeros [‘desire’] and Pothos [‘yearning’], if indeed their functions [erga] are as different as their names. Near the temple [nāos] of Aphrodite is a sanctuary [hieron] of Tukhē [‘Fortune’], the workmanship [tekhnē] of Praxiteles. In the temple [nāos] close by are Muses and a bronze Zeus by Lysippos.

1.43.7 The people of Megara have also the tomb [taphos] of Koroibos. The poetic-verses [epē] about him, although they are shared [koina] by the people of Argos, I will make clear here. They say that in the reign of Krotopos at Argos, Psamathe, the daughter of Krotopos, bore a son to Apollo, and being in dire terror of her father, exposed the child. He was found and destroyed by sheepdogs of Krotopos, and Apollo sent Poinē [‘vengeance’] to the city to punish the people of Argos. They say that she used to snatch [harpazein] children from their mothers, until Koroibos to please the the people of Argos killed Poinē. At which point, as a second punishment, a plague fell upon them and did not let up. So Koroibos of his own accord went to Delphi to submit to the punishment of the god for having slain Poinē.

1.43.8 The Pythia would not allow Koroibos to return to Argos, but ordered him to take up a tripod and carry it out of the sanctuary [hieron], and where the tripod should fall from his hands, there he was to build a temple [nāos] of Apollo and to dwell [oikeîn] there himself. At Mount Gerania the tripod slipped and fell unawares. Here he dwelled [oikeîn] in the district [kōmê] called the Little-Tripods [Tripodiskoi]. The tomb [taphos] of Koroibos is in the marketplace [agorā] of the people of Megara. Elegiac [elegeia] verses [epē] about Psamathe and of himself are written there [on the tomb], and further, as an emplacement on top of the tomb [taphos] is represented Koroibos slaying Poinē. These are the oldest stone statues [agalmata] I am aware of having seen among the Greeks [Hellēnes].