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Pausanias · Description of Greece §1.1.1-1.1.5

From Cape Sounion to the Sanctuaries of Piraeus

Passage 1 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author describes Cape Sounion, the history and development of Piraeus as a port, and the tomb of Themistocles, alongside various sanctuaries, monuments, and nearby landmarks such as Cape Colias.

§1.1.1τῆς ἠπείρου τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς κατὰ νήσους τὰς Κυκλάδας καὶ πέλαγος τὸ Αἰγαῖον ἄκρα Σούνιον πρόκειται γῆς τῆς Ἀττικῆς·
From the Greek mainland, the headland of Sounion in the land of Attica projects towards the Cyclades islands and the Aegean Sea.
καὶ λιμήν τε παραπλεύσαντι τὴν ἄκραν ἐστὶ καὶ ναὸς Ἀθηνᾶς Σουνιάδος ἐπὶ κορυφῇ τῆς ἄκρας.
For one who has sailed past the headland, there is both a harbor and a temple of Athena of Sounion on the summit of the cape.
πλέοντι δὲ ἐς τὸ πρόσω Λαύριόν τέ ἐστιν, ἔνθα ποτὲ Ἀθηναίοις ἦν ἀργύρου μέταλλα, καὶ νῆσος ἔρημος οὐ μεγάλη Πατρόκλου καλουμένη·
Sailing further onward, there is Laurium, where the Athenians once had silver mines, and a small, uninhabited island called the Island of Patroclus.
τεῖχος γὰρ ᾠκοδομήσατο ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ χάρακα ἐβάλετο Πάτροκλος, ὃς τριήρεσιν ὑπέπλει ναύαρχος Αἰγυπτίαις, ἃς Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Πτολεμαίου τοῦ Λάγου τιμωρεῖν ἔστειλεν Ἀθηναίοις, ὅτε σφίσιν Ἀντίγονος ὁ Δημητρίου στρατιᾷ τε αὐτὸς ἐσβεβληκὼς ἔφθειρε τὴν χώραν καὶ ναυσὶν ἅμα ἐκ θαλάσσης κατεῖργεν.
For Patroclus, who sailed as admiral of the Egyptian triremes, built a wall and threw up a palisade on it; these ships had been sent by Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, to help the Athenians, at the time when Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, having invaded with an army, was ravaging their territory and at the same time blockading them by sea from the water.
§1.1.2ὁ δὲ Πειραιεὺς δῆμος μὲν ἦν ἐκ παλαιοῦ, πρότερον δὲ πρὶν ἢ Θεμιστοκλῆς Ἀθηναίοις ἦρξεν ἐπίνειον οὐκ ἦν·
Piraeus was a deme from of old, but before Themistocles became archon of the Athenians, it was not a harbor.
Φαληρὸν δέ—ταύτῃ γὰρ ἐλάχιστον ἀπέχει τῆς πόλεως ἡ θάλασσα—, τοῦτό σφισιν ἐπίνειον ἦν, καὶ Μενεσθέα φασὶν αὐτόθεν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐς Τροίαν ἀναχθῆναι καὶ τούτου πρότερον Θησέα δώσοντα Μίνῳ δίκας τῆς Ἀνδρόγεω τελευτῆς.
Phalerum—for here the sea is closest to the city—was their harbor, and they say that Menestheus set sail from there with his ships for Troy, and before him Theseus did the same to pay satisfaction to Minos for the death of Androgeos.
Θεμιστοκλῆς δὲ ὡς ἦρξε—τοῖς τε γὰρ πλέουσιν ἐπιτηδειότερος ὁ Πειραιεὺς ἐφαίνετό οἱ προκεῖσθαι καὶ λιμένας τρεῖς ἀνθʼ ἑνὸς ἔχειν τοῦ Φαληροῖ—τοῦτό σφισιν ἐπίνειον εἶναι κατεσκευάσατο·
But when Themistocles became archon, since Piraeus seemed to him to be more convenient for those who sailed and to possess three harbors instead of the single one at Phalerum, he established this as their port.
καὶ νεὼς καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἦσαν οἶκοι καὶ πρὸς τῷ μεγίστῳ λιμένι τάφος Θεμιστοκλέους.
Even down to my time there were docks, and near the largest harbor is the tomb of Themistocles.
φασὶ γὰρ μεταμελῆσαι τῶν ἐς Θεμιστοκλέα Ἀθηναίοις καὶ ὡς οἱ προσήκοντες τὰ ὀστᾶ κομίσαιεν ἐκ Μαγνησίας ἀνελόντες·
For they say that the Athenians repented of their treatment of Themistocles, and that his relatives took up his bones and brought them back from Magnesia.
φαίνονται δὲ οἱ παῖδες οἱ Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ κατελθόντες καὶ γραφὴν ἐς τὸν Παρθενῶνα ἀναθέντες, ἐν ᾗ Θεμιστοκλῆς ἐστι γεγραμμένος.
It is clear that the children of Themistocles both returned from exile and dedicated a painting in the Parthenon, in which Themistocles is depicted.
§1.1.3θέας δὲ ἄξιον τῶν ἐν Πειραιεῖ μάλιστα Ἀθηνᾶς ἐστι καὶ Διὸς τέμενος·
Most worthy of seeing among the things in Piraeus is the sanctuary of Athena and Zeus.
χαλκοῦ μὲν ἀμφότερα τὰ ἀγάλματα, ἔχει δὲ ὁ μὲν σκῆπτρον καὶ Νίκην, ἡ δὲ Ἀθηνᾶ δόρυ.
Both of the statues are of bronze; Zeus holds a scepter and a Victory, while Athena holds a spear.
ἐνταῦθα Λεωσθένην, ὃς Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν ἡγούμενος Μακεδόνας ἔν τε Βοιωτοῖς ἐκράτησε μάχῃ καὶ αὖθις ἔξω Θερμοπυλῶν καὶ βιασάμενος ἐς Λάμιαν κατέκλεισε τὴν ἀπαντικρὺ τῆς Οἴτης, τοῦτον τὸν Λεωσθένην καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ἔγραψεν Ἀρκεσίλαος.
Here, Arcesilaus painted Leosthenes and his children—this Leosthenes who, leading the Athenians and all the Greeks, defeated the Macedonians in battle both in Boeotia and again outside Thermopylae, and, forcing them, shut them up in Lamia opposite Mount Oeta.
ἔστι δὲ τῆς στοᾶς τῆς μακρᾶς, ἔνθα καθέστηκεν ἀγορὰ τοῖς ἐπὶ θαλάσσης—καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἀπωτέρω τοῦ λιμένος ἐστὶν ἑτέρα—, τῆς δὲ ἐπὶ θαλάσσης στοᾶς ὄπισθεν ἑστᾶσι Ζεὺς καὶ Δῆμος, Λεωχάρους ἔργον.
And behind the long stoa, where the market is established for those near the sea—for there is another market further from the harbor—behind this stoa by the sea stand Zeus and Demos, the work of Leochares.
πρὸς δὲ τῇ θαλάσσῃ Κόνων ᾠκοδόμησεν Ἀφροδίτης ἱερόν, τριήρεις Λακεδαιμονίων κατεργασάμενος περὶ Κνίδον τὴν ἐν τῇ Καρικῇ χερρονήσῳ.
Near the sea Conon built a temple of Aphrodite, after defeating the Lacedaemonian triremes near Cnidus in the Carican peninsula.
Κνίδιοι γὰρ τιμῶσιν Ἀφροδίτην μάλιστα, καί σφισιν ἔστιν ἱερὰ τῆς θεοῦ· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαιότατον Δωρίτιδος, μετὰ δὲ τὸ Ἀκραίας, νεώτατον δὲ ἣν Κνιδίαν οἱ πολλοί, Κνίδιοι δὲ αὐτοὶ καλοῦσιν Εὔπλοιαν.
For the Cnidians worship Aphrodite especially, and they have sanctuaries of the goddess; the oldest indeed is of Doritis, and after this that of Acraea, while the newest is the one which the majority call Cnidian, but the Cnidians themselves call Euploia.
§1.1.4ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ἀθηναίοις ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ Μουνυχίᾳ λιμὴν καὶ Μουνυχίας ναὸς Ἀρτέμιδος, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ Φαληρῷ, καθὰ καὶ πρότερον εἴρηταί μοι, καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ Δήμητρος ἱερόν.
The Athenians have also other harbors, one at Munychia with a temple of Munychian Artemis, and another at Phalerum, as I have already said before, and near it a temple of Demeter.
ἐνταῦθα καὶ Σκιράδος Ἀθηνᾶς ναός ἐστι καὶ Διὸς ἀπωτέρω, βωμοὶ δὲ θεῶν τε ὀνομαζομένων Ἀγνώστων καὶ ἡρώων καὶ παίδων τῶν Θησέως καὶ Φαληροῦ· τοῦτον γὰρ τὸν Φαληρὸν Ἀθηναῖοι πλεῦσαι μετὰ Ἰάσονός φασιν ἐς Κόλχους.
Here there is also a temple of Athena Sciras, and a temple of Zeus further off, and altars of the gods named Unknown, and of heroes, and of the children of Theseus and of Phaleros; for the Athenians say that this Phaleros sailed with Jason to Colchis.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἀνδρόγεω βωμὸς τοῦ Μίνω, καλεῖται δὲ Ἥρωος· Ἀνδρόγεω δὲ ὄντα ἴσασιν οἷς ἐστιν ἐπιμελὲς τὰ ἐγχώρια σαφέστερον ἄλλων ἐπίστασθαι.
There is also an altar of Androgeos, the son of Minos, and it is called the altar of the Hero; but those who make it their care to know the local traditions more clearly than others know that it belongs to Androgeos.
§1.1.5ἀπέχει δὲ σταδίους εἴκοσιν ἄκρα Κωλιάς· ἐς ταύτην φθαρέντος τοῦ ναυτικοῦ τοῦ Μήδων κατήνεγκεν ὁ κλύδων τὰ ναυάγια.
Twenty stades away is the headland of Colias; to this place, when the fleet of the Medes was destroyed, the wave carried the wreckage.
Κωλιάδος δέ ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα Ἀφροδίτης ἄγαλμα καὶ Γενετυλλίδες ὀνομαζόμεναι θεαί· δοκῶ δὲ καὶ Φωκαεῦσι τοῖς ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ θεάς, ἃς καλοῦσι Γενναΐδας, εἶναι ταῖς ἐπὶ Κωλιάδι τὰς αὐτάς. —ἔστι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐς Ἀθήνας ἐκ Φαληροῦ ναὸς Ἥρας οὔτε θύρας ἔχων οὔτε ὄροφον· Μαρδόνιόν φασιν αὐτὸν ἐμπρῆσαι τὸν Γωβρύου.
Here there is a statue of Aphrodite of Colias and the goddesses called Genetyllides; and I think that the goddesses whom the Phocaeans in Ionia call Gennaides are the same as those at Colias. —On the road from Phalerum to Athens there is a temple of Hera having neither doors nor a roof; they say that Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, burned it.
τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα τὸ νῦν δή, καθὰ λέγουσιν, Ἀλκαμένους ἐστὶν ἔργον· οὐκ ἂν τοῦτό γε ὁ Μῆδος εἴη λελωβημένος.
The statue now there is, as they say, the work of Alcamenes; this, at least, the Mede could not have damaged.

Notes

  1. §1.1.1παραπλεύσαντι τὴν ἄκραν — The dative participle `παραπλεύσαντι` functions as a dative of reference (specifically a dative of the observer) commonly used in geographical descriptions to denote the viewpoint of someone performing the action: "for one who has sailed past the headland."
  2. §1.1.2μεταμελῆσαι τῶν ἐς Θεμιστοκλέα Ἀθηναίοις — An infinitive construction of the impersonal verb `μεταμέλει` (to repent), which takes the dative of the person feeling regret (`Ἀθηναίοις`) and the genitive of the cause of regret (`τῶν ἐς Θεμιστοκλέα`). Dependent on `φασί`, the impersonal infinitive is used without an accusative subject.
  3. §1.1.3τοῦτον τὸν Λεωσθένην — The sentence begins with the accusative `Λεωσθένην`, but after a lengthy relative clause (`ὃς ... κατέκλεισε`) is inserted, separating it from the main verb `ἔγραψεν`, the demonstrative pronoun `τοῦτον` is added to repeat the accusative object, restoring structural clarity to the sentence.
  4. §1.1.5οὐκ ἂν τοῦτό γε ὁ Μῆδος εἴη λελωβημένος — A potential optative construction consisting of the perfect passive participle `λελωβημένος` combined with `εἴη` and the particle `αν`. It expresses a strong inference or conviction regarding a past event: "the Mede could not possibly have damaged this."

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §1.1.1-1.1.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.1.1-1.1.5

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