- Source
- Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.38.1-8.38.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Pausanias describes Lycosura, considered the oldest of all cities, and then introduces Mount Lycaeus, discussing the local tradition of Zeus' upbringing, a wondrous spring used for rainmaking rituals, and the miraculous sanctuary of Lycaean Zeus where intruders die within a year and cast no shadows.
ἀνωτέρω δὲ ὀλίγον τείχους τε περίβολος τῆς Λυκοσούρας ἐστὶ καὶ οἰκήτορες ἔνεισιν οὐ πολλοί. πόλεων δέ, ὁπόσας ἐπὶ τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἔδειξε γῆ καὶ ἐν νήσοις, Λυκόσουρά ἐστι πρεσβυτάτη, καὶ ταύτην εἶδεν ὁ ἥλιος πρώτην· ἀπὸ ταύτης δὲ οἱ λοιποὶ ποιεῖσθαι1 πόλεις μεμαθήκασιν ἄνθρωποι.
A little higher up is the circuit of the wall of Lycosura, and there are not many inhabitants in it. Of all the cities that the earth has shown on the mainland and on islands, Lycosura is the oldest, and the sun saw this first; from this, the rest of mankind have learned to build cities.
ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς Δεσποίνης τὸ ὄρος ἐστὶ τὸ Λύκαιον· καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ Ὄλυμπον καὶ Ἱεράν γε ἕτεροι τῶν Ἀρκάδων κορυφήν. τραφῆναι δὲ τὸν Δία φασὶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ· καὶ χώρα τέ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ Λυκαίῳ Κρητέα καλουμένη—αὕτη δὲ ἡ Κρητέα ἐστὶν ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς Ἀπόλλωνος ἄλσους ἐπίκλησιν Παρρασίου—καὶ τὴν Κρήτην, ἔνθα ὁ Κρητῶν ἔχει λόγος τραφῆναι Δία, τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο εἶναι2 καὶ οὐ τὴν νῆσον ἀμφισβητοῦσιν οἱ Ἀρκάδες.
On the left of the sanctuary of Despoina is Mount Lycaeus; some of the Arcadians call it also Olympus, and others the Sacred Peak. They say that Zeus was brought up on this mountain; and there is a place in Lycaeus called Cretea—this Cretea is on the left of the grove of Apollo surnamed Parrhasius—and the Arcadians dispute that the Crete where the Cretan story says Zeus was brought up is this place, and not the island.
ταῖς Νύμφαις δὲ ὀνόματα, ὑφʼ ὧν τὸν Δία τραφῆναι λέγουσι, τίθενται Θεισόαν καὶ Νέδαν καὶ Ἁγνώ· καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Θεισόας πόλις ᾠκεῖτο ἐν τῇ Παρρασίᾳ, τὰ δὲ ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ μοίρας τῆς Μεγαλοπολίτιδός ἐστιν ἡ Θεισόα κώμη· τῆς Νέδας δὲ ὁ ποταμὸς τὸ ὄνομα ἔσχηκε· τῆς δὲ Ἁγνοῦς,3 ἣ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ Λυκαίῳ πηγὴ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ποταμῷ τῷ Ἴστρῳ πέφυκεν ἴσον παρέχεσθαι τὸ ὕδωρ ἐν χειμῶνι ὁμοίως καὶ ἐν ὥρᾳ θέρους.
To the nymphs by whom they say Zeus was brought up, they give the names Theisoa, Neda, and Hagno; after Theisoa, a city was inhabited in Parrhasia, but in my time Theisoa is a village of the Megalopolitan territory; from Neda, the river has got its name; and from Hagno, the spring on Mount Lycaeus has got its name, which has the nature to provide an equal amount of water in winter just as in the summer season, in the same way as the river Ister.
ἢν δὲ αὐχμὸς χρόνον ἐπέχῃ πολὺν καὶ ἤδη σφίσι τὰ σπέρματα ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ τὰ δένδρα αὐαίνηται, τηνικαῦτα ὁ ἱερεὺς τοῦ Λυκαίου Διὸς προσευξάμενος ἐς τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ θύσας ὁπόσα ἐστὶν αὐτῷ νόμος, καθίησι δρυὸς κλάδον ἐπιπολῆς καὶ οὐκ ἐς βάθος τῆς πηγῆς· ἀνακινηθέντος δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος ἄνεισιν ἀχλὺς ἐοικυῖα ὁμίχλῃ, διαλιποῦσα δὲ ὀλίγον γίνεται νέφος ἡ ἀχλὺς καὶ ἐς αὑτὴν ἄλλα ἐπαγομένη τῶν νεφῶν ὑετὸν τοῖς Ἀρκάσιν ἐς τὴν γῆν κατιέναι ποιεῖ.
If a drought continues for a long time, and their seeds in the earth and the trees are already withering, then the priest of Lycaean Zeus, after praying to the water and sacrificing as much as is his custom, lets down an oak branch on the surface of the spring, and not deep down; when the water is stirred, a mist like a fog rises, and after a little interval the mist becomes a cloud, and bringing other clouds to itself, it causes rain to come down upon the earth for the Arcadians.
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ Λυκαίῳ Πανός τε ἱερὸν καὶ περὶ αὐτὸ ἄλσος δένδρων καὶ ἱππόδρομός τε καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ στάδιον· τὸ δὲ ἀρχαῖον τῶν Λυκαίων ἦγον τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐνταῦθα. ἔστι δὲ αὐτόθι καὶ ἀνδριάντων βάθρα, οὐκ ἐπόντων ἔτι ἀνδριάντων· ἐλεγεῖον δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν βάθρων ἑνὶ Ἀστυάνακτός φησιν εἶναι τὴν εἰκόνα, τὸν δὲ Ἀστυάνακτα εἶναι γένος τῶν ἀπὸ Ἀρκάδος.
There is in Lycaeus a sanctuary of Pan, and around it a grove of trees, a horse-course, and in front of it a stadium; in ancient times they used to hold the contest of the Lycaea here. There are also pedestals of statues here, though the statues are no longer on them; an elegiac inscription on one of the pedestals says that the image was of Astyanax, and that Astyanax was of the stock of those descended from Arcas.
τὸ δὲ ὄρος παρέχεται τὸ Λύκαιον καὶ ἄλλα ἐς θαῦμα καὶ μάλιστα τόδε. τέμενός ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ Λυκαίου Διός, ἔσοδος δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐς αὐτὸ ἀνθρώποις· ὑπεριδόντα δὲ τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐσελθόντα4 ἀνάγκη πᾶσα αὐτὸν ἐνιαυτοῦ πρόσω μὴ βιῶναι. καὶ τάδε ἔτι ἐλέγετο, τὰ ἐντὸς τοῦ τεμένους γενόμενα ὁμοίως πάντα καὶ θηρία καὶ ἀνθρώπους οὐ παρέχεσθαι σκιάν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐς τὸ τέμενος θηρίου καταφεύγοντος οὐκ ἐθέλει οἱ συνεσπίπτειν ὁ κυνηγέτης, ἀλλὰ ὑπομένων ἐκτὸς καὶ ὁρῶν τὸ θηρίον οὐδεμίαν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ θεᾶται σκιάν. χρόνον μὲν δὴ τὸν ἴσον ἔπεισί τε ὁ ἥλιος τὸν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καρκίνον καὶ ἐν Συήνῃ τῇ πρὸ Αἰθιοπίας οὔτε ἀπὸ δένδρων οὔτε ἀπὸ τῶν ζῴων γενέσθαι σκιὰν ἔστι· τὸ δὲ ἐν τῷ Λυκαίῳ τέμενος τὸ αὐτὸ ἐς τὰς σκιὰς ἀεί τε καὶ ἐπὶ πασῶν πέπονθε τῶν ὡρῶν.
Mount Lycaeus offers other things for wonder, and especially this. There is on it a precinct of Lycaean Zeus, and there is no entrance into it for men; if anyone disregards the law and enters, he must of necessity not live beyond a year. This also was said, that everything that enters the precinct, whether beast or man, alike casts no shadow; and for this reason, when a beast flees for refuge into the precinct, the hunter does not wish to rush in with it, but staying outside and looking at the beast, he sees no shadow from it. Indeed, during the same period when the sun passes through the constellation of Cancer in the heaven, at Syene in front of Ethiopia there is no shadow either from trees or from animals; but the precinct on Mount Lycaeus has experienced the very same thing regarding shadows always and in all seasons.
- 8.38.1ποιεῖσθαι
The verb ποιεῖσθαι is a middle infinitive, indicating that the subjects ('men', ἄνθρωποι) build cities 'for themselves', reflecting the indirect function of the middle voice showing personal interest.
- 8.38.2τὴν Κρήτην... εἶναι
An accusative with infinitive construction serving as the object of the verb ἀμφισβητοῦσιν ('dispute', 'claim'). τὴν Κρήτην is the subject of the infinitive εἶναι, and τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο is its predicate, expressing the Arcadians' claim that 'Crete' is this local place and not the island.
- 8.38.3τῆς δὲ Ἁγνοῦς
This genitive continues the construction of the preceding clause ('from Neda, the river got its name'), but the following main clause shifts to 'the spring (πηγή) ... has the nature (πέφυκεν)'. Semantically, we must supply an ellipsis such as 'from Hagno, the spring [received its name]'.
- 8.38.6ὑπεριδόντα δὲ τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐσελθόντα
The accusative participles ὑπεριδόντα and ἐσελθόντα modify αὐτόν, which is the subject accusative of the infinitive βιῶναι dependent on the impersonal expression ἀνάγκη [ἐστί] ('it is unavoidable').