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Pausanias · Description of Greece §1.27.1-1.27.5

Offerings in the Temple of Polias and the Arrephoroi Ritual

Passage 30 of 465 · Greek

Summary

In this section, Pausanias describes the wooden Hermes and Persian spoils in the temple of Polias, the adjacent temple of Pandrosus, and the mysterious nocturnal ritual of the maidens called Arrephoroi, before mentioning the statues near the temple and the military campaigns of the general Tolmides.

§1.27.1κεῖται δὲ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς Πολιάδος Ἑρμῆς ξύλου, Κέκροπος εἶναι λεγόμενον ἀνάθημα, ὑπὸ κλάδων μυρσίνης οὐ σύνοπτον.
In the temple of Polias lies a wooden Hermes, said to be a dedication of Cecrops, not easily seen because of myrtle branches.
ἀναθήματα δὲ ὁπόσα ἄξια λόγου, τῶν μὲν ἀρχαίων δίφρος ὀκλαδίας ἐστὶ Δαιδάλου ποίημα, λάφυρα δὲ ἀπὸ Μήδων Μασιστίου θώραξ, ὃς εἶχεν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς ἵππου, καὶ ἀκινάκης Μαρδονίου λεγόμενος εἶναι.
Of the dedications which are worthy of mention, among the ancient ones is a folding chair, the work of Daedalus, and of the spoils from the Persians, the breastplate of Masistius, who had the command of the cavalry at Plataea, and an akinakes said to be that of Mardonius.
Μασίστιον μὲν δὴ τελευτήσαντα ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθηναίων οἶδα ἱππέων· Μαρδονίου δὲ μαχεσαμένου Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐναντία καὶ ὑπὸ ἀνδρὸς Σπαρτιάτου πεσόντος οὐδʼ ἂν ὑπεδέξαντο ἀρχὴν οὐδὲ ἴσως Ἀθηναίοις παρῆκαν φέρεσθαι Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν ἀκινάκην.
Now, that Masistius met his end at the hands of the Athenian cavalry, I know; but since Mardonius fought against the Lacedaemonians and fell by the hand of a Spartan man, the Lacedaemonians would not have accepted it in the first place, nor perhaps would they have permitted the Athenians to carry away the akinakes.
§1.27.2περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐλαίας οὐδὲν ἔχουσιν ἄλλο εἰπεῖν ἢ τῇ θεῷ μαρτύριον γενέσθαι τοῦτο ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ χώρᾳ· λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τάδε, κατακαυθῆναι μὲν τὴν ἐλαίαν, ἡνίκα ὁ Μῆδος τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπρησεν Ἀθηναίοις, κατακαυθεῖσαν δὲ αὐθημερὸν ὅσον τε ἐπὶ δύο βλαστῆσαι πήχεις.
Concerning the olive tree they have nothing else to say except that this became a testimony for the goddess in her contest for the land; and they also say this, that the olive was burnt down when the Persian set fire to the city for the Athenians, but having been burnt down, it sprouted as much as two cubits on the very same day.
τῷ ναῷ δὲ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς Πανδρόσου ναὸς συνεχής ἐστι· καὶ ἔστι Πάνδροσος ἐς τὴν παρακαταθήκην ἀναίτιος τῶν ἀδελφῶν μόνη.
Adjacent to the temple of Athena is the temple of Pandrosus; and Pandrosus is the only one of her sisters who was blameless regarding the trust.
§1.27.3ἃ δέ μοι θαυμάσαι μάλιστα παρέσχεν, ἔστι μὲν οὐκ ἐς ἅπαντας γνώριμα, γράψω δὲ οἷα συμβαίνει.
But what caused me the greatest wonder is not known to everyone, but I will write of what takes place.
παρθένοι δύο τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς Πολιάδος οἰκοῦσιν οὐ πόρρω, καλοῦσι δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι σφᾶς ἀρρηφόρους· αὗται χρόνον μέν τινα δίαιταν ἔχουσι παρὰ τῇ θεῷ, παραγενομένης δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς δρῶσιν ἐν νυκτὶ τοιάδε.
Two maidens dwell not far from the temple of Polias, whom the Athenians call Arrephoroi; these for a certain time keep their lifestyle near the goddess, but when the festival comes, they do by night as follows.
ἀναθεῖσαί σφισιν ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἃ ἡ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἱέρεια δίδωσι φέρειν, οὔτε ἡ διδοῦσα ὁποῖόν τι δίδωσιν εἰδυῖα οὔτε ταῖς φερούσαις ἐπισταμέναις—ἔστι δὲ περίβολος ἐν τῇ πόλει τῆς καλουμένης ἐν Κήποις Ἀφροδίτης οὐ πόρρω καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ κάθοδος ὑπόγαιος αὐτομάτη—, ταύτῃ κατίασιν αἱ παρθένοι.
Having placed upon their heads what the priestess of Athena gives them to carry, with neither the giver knowing what she gives nor those who carry understanding it—there is an enclosure in the city of the Aphrodite called 'in the Gardens' not far off, and through it a natural underground descent—by this way the maidens go down.
κάτω μὲν δὴ τὰ φερόμενα λείπουσιν, λαβοῦσαι δὲ ἄλλο τι κομίζουσιν ἐγκεκαλυμμένον· καὶ τὰς μὲν ἀφιᾶσιν ἤδη τὸ ἐντεῦθεν, ἑτέρας δὲ ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν παρθένους ἄγουσιν ἀντʼ αὐτῶν.
Below they leave what they carried, and taking something else they bring it back covered up; and these they dismiss from then on, and they bring other maidens to the Acropolis in their stead.
§1.27.4πρὸς δὲ τῷ ναῷ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἔστι μὲν †εὐήρις πρεσβῦτις ὅσον τε πήχεος μάλιστα, φαμένη διάκονος εἶναι Λυσιμάχης, ἔστι δὲ ἀγάλματα μεγάλα χαλκοῦ διεστῶτες ἄνδρες ἐς μάχην· καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἐρεχθέα καλοῦσι, τὸν δὲ Εὔμολπον· καίτοι λέληθέ γε οὐδὲ Ἀθηναίων ὅσοι τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἴσασιν, Ἰμμάραδον εἶναι παῖδα Εὐμόλπου τοῦτον τὸν ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ Ἐρεχθέως.
Near the temple of Athena is a †... old woman, of about a cubit in size, who says she is a servant of Lysimache, and there are large bronze statues of men standing apart for battle; and one they call Erechtheus, the other Eumolpus; and yet it does not escape those of the Athenians who know the antiquities, that this man who died at the hands of Erechtheus was Immaradus, the son of Eumolpus.
§1.27.5ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ βάθρου καὶ ἀνδριάντες εἰσὶ Θεαίνετος ὃς ἐμαντεύετο Τολμίδῃ καὶ αὐτὸς Τολμίδης, ὃς Ἀθηναίων ναυσὶν ἡγούμενος ἄλλους τε ἐκάκωσε καὶ Πελοποννησίων τὴν χώραν ὅσοι νέμονται τὴν παραλίαν, καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ἐπὶ Γυθίῳ τὰ νεώρια ἐνέπρησε καὶ τῶν περιοίκων Βοιὰς εἷλε καὶ τὴν Κυθηρίων νῆσον· ἐς δὲ τὴν Σικυωνίαν ποιησάμενος ἀπόβασιν, ὥς οἱ δῃοῦντι τὴν γῆν ἐς μάχην κατέστησαν, τρεψάμενος σφᾶς κατεδίωξε πρὸς τὴν πόλιν.
Upon the pedestal are also statues of Theaenetus, who acted as seer for Tolmides, and Tolmides himself, who, leading the Athenians with ships, ravaged among others the land of those Peloponnesians who dwell along the coast, and burnt the dockyards of the Lacedaemonians at Gythium, and took Boiae of the perioikoi and the island of the Cytherians; and having made a landing in the territory of Sicyon, when they opposed him in battle as he was wasting the land, he routed them and pursued them to the city.
ὕστερον δὲ ὡς ἐπανῆλθεν ἐς Ἀθήνας, ἐσήγαγε μὲν ἐς Εὔβοιαν καὶ Νάξον Ἀθηναίων κληρούχους, ἐσέβαλε δὲ ἐς Βοιωτοὺς στρατῷ· πορθήσας δὲ τῆς γῆς τὴν πολλὴν καὶ παραστησάμενος πολιορκίᾳ Χαιρώνειαν, ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἀλιαρτίαν προῆλθεν, αὐτός τε μαχόμενος ἀπέθανε καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἤδη στράτευμα ἡττᾶτο.
Later, when he returned to Athens, he led Athenian settlers into Euboea and Naxos, and invaded the Boeotians with an army; and having ravaged most of the land and reduced Chaeronea by siege, as he advanced into Haliartia, he himself fell fighting, and his whole army was now being defeated.
τὰ μὲν ἐς Τολμίδην τοιαῦτα ἐπυνθανόμην ὄντα, ἔστι δὲ Ἀθηνᾶς ἀγάλματα
Such were the things concerning Tolmides that I learned to be the case, and there are statues of Athena...

Notes

  1. 1.27.1ἀρχὴν — An adverbial accusative modifying the verb ὑπεδέξαντο in a negative clause, meaning "at all" or "in the first place".
  2. 1.27.3οὔτε ἡ διδοῦσα ... οὔτε ταῖς φερούσαις — A striking anacoluthon (grammatical inconsistency) where the first part οὔτε ἡ διδοῦσα... εἰδυῖα uses the nominative case, while the second part οὔτε ταῖς φερούσαις ἐπισταμέναις shifts to the dative case (or an irregular genitive absolute equivalent).
  3. 1.27.4λέληθέ γε οὐδὲ Ἀθηναίων — The perfect form λέληθε of λανθάνω combined with the negative οὐδέ creates a double negative meaning "it does not escape the notice of any of the Athenians" (i.e., it is well known to them). The infinitive clause Ἰμμάραδον εἶναι... serves as the subject.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §1.27.1-1.27.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.27.1-1.27.5

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