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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.11.1-10.11.6

Treasuries at Delphi and the Athenian Stoa

Passage 425 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes the treasuries at Delphi and their dedications by the Sicyonians, Siphnians, Liparaeans, Thebans, and Athenians, along with the Athenian portico and its origins.

§10.11.1πλησίον δὲ τοῦ ἀναθήματος τοῦ Ταραντίνων Σικυωνίων ἐστὶ θησαυρός· χρήματα δὲ οὔτε ἐνταῦθα ἴδοις ἂν οὔτε ἐν ἄλλῳ τῶν θησαυρῶν.
And near the offering of the Tarentines is the treasury of the Sicyonians; but wealth you would see neither here nor in any other of the treasuries.
Κνίδιοι δὲ ἐκόμισαν ἀγάλματα ἐς Δελφοὺς Τριόπαν οἰκιστὴν τῆς Κνίδου παρεστῶτα ἵππῳ καὶ Λητὼ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνά τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἀφιέντας τῶν βελῶν ἐπὶ Τιτυόν· ὁ δὲ καὶ τετρωμένος ἐστὶν ἤδη τὸ σῶμα.
And the Cnidians brought statues to Delphi: Triopas, the founder of Cnidus, standing beside a horse, and Leto, Apollo, and Artemis letting fly their arrows at Tityus, who indeed is already wounded in his body.
§10.11.2ταῦτα ἕστηκε παρὰ τὸν Σικυωνίων θησαυρόν· ἐποιήθη δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ Σιφνίων ἐπὶ αἰτίᾳ τοιᾷδε θησαυρός.
These stand beside the treasury of the Sicyonians; and a treasury was also built by the Siphnians for the following reason.
Σιφνίοις ἡ νῆσος χρυσοῦ μέταλλα ἤνεγκε, καὶ αὐτοὺς τῶν προσιόντων ἐκέλευσεν ὁ θεὸς ἀποφέρειν δεκάτην ἐς Δελφούς· οἱ δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν ᾠκοδομήσαντο καὶ ἀπέφερον τὴν δεκάτην.
To the Siphnians their island brought gold mines, and the god commanded them to bring a tithe of the revenues to Delphi; so they built the treasury and brought the tithe.
ὡς δὲ ὑπὸ ἀπληστίας ἐξέλιπον τὴν φοράν, ἐπικλύσασα ἡ θάλασσα ἀφανῆ τὰ μέταλλά σφισιν ἐποίησεν.
But when out of greed they discontinued the contribution, the sea flooded and made the mines disappear for them.
§10.11.3ἀνέθεσαν δὲ καὶ ἀνδριάντας Λιπαραῖοι ναυμαχίᾳ κρατήσαντες Τυρρηνῶν.
And the Liparaeans also dedicated statues, having conquered the Tyrrhenians in a sea-fight.
οἱ δὲ Λιπαραῖοι οὗτοι Κνιδίων μὲν ἦσαν ἄποικοι, τῆς δὲ ἀποικίας ἡγεμόνα γενέσθαι φασὶν ἄνδρα Κνίδιον· ὄνομα δὲ εἶναί οἱ Πένταθλον Ἀντίοχος ὁ Ξενοφάνους Συρακούσιος ἐν τῇ Σικελιώτιδι συγγραφῇ φησι.
These Liparaeans were colonists of the Cnidians, and they say a Cnidian man became the leader of the colony; and Antiochus, the son of Xenophanes, of Syracuse, says in his History of Sicily that his name was Pentathlus.
λέγει δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ Παχύνῳ τῇ ἄκρᾳ τῇ ἐν Σικελίᾳ κτίσαντες πόλιν αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐκπίπτουσιν ὑπὸ Ἐλύμων καὶ Φοινίκων πολέμῳ πιεσθέντες, τὰς νήσους δὲ ἔσχον ἐρήμους ἔτι ἢ ἀναστήσαντες τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας, ἃς κατὰ τὰ τὰ ἔπη τὰ Ὁμήρεια Αἰόλου καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι ὀνομάζουσι.
He says also that, having founded a city at Cape Pachynus in Sicily, they were expelled by the Elymians and Phoenicians, being hard pressed in war, and they took the islands, which were still uninhabited or after expelling the inhabitants, which according to the epic verses of Homer they still call to our day the islands of Aeolus.
§10.11.4τούτων Λιπάραν μὲν κτίσαντες πόλιν ἐνταῦθα οἰκοῦσιν, Ἱέραν δὲ καὶ Στρογγύλην καὶ Διδύμας γεωργοῦσι διαβαίνοντες ναυσὶν ἐς αὐτάς.
Having founded a city on Lipara, one of these, they dwell there, and they cultivate Hiera, Strongyle, and Didyme, crossing over to them by ships.
ἐν δὲ τῇ Στρογγύλῃ καὶ πῦρ δῆλόν ἐστιν ἀνιὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς· καὶ ἐν Ἱέρᾳ δὲ πῦρ τε αὐτόματον ἐπὶ ἄκρας ἀνακαίεται τῆς νήσου καὶ ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ λουτρά ἐστιν ἐπιτήδεια, εἰ δέξεταί σε ἠπίως τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐπεὶ ἄλλως γε χαλεπὸν ὑπὸ ζεστότητός ἐστιν ἐμβαίνεσθαι.
And in Strongyle indeed fire is visibly rising up from the earth; and in Hiera too, fire of its own accord burns on the cape of the island, and by the sea there are suitable baths, if the water receives you gently, since otherwise indeed it is difficult to enter because of the heat.
§10.11.5οἱ δὲ θησαυροὶ Θηβαίων ἀπὸ ἔργου τῶν ἐς πόλεμον, καὶ Ἀθηναίων ἐστὶν ὡσαύτως· Κνιδίους δὲ οὐκ οἶδα εἰ ἐπὶ νίκῃ τινὶ ἢ ἐς ἐπίδειξιν εὐδαιμονίας ᾠκοδομήσαντο, ἐπεὶ Θηβαίοις γε ἀπὸ ἔργου τοῦ ἐν Λεύκτροις καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ἀπὸ τῶν ἐς Μαραθῶνα ἀποβάντων ὁμοῦ Δάτιδί εἰσιν οἱ θησαυροί.
And the treasuries of the Thebans are from war-deeds, and those of the Athenians likewise; but as for the Cnidians, I do not know whether they built theirs on account of some victory or to make a display of prosperity, since for the Thebans indeed the treasury is from the deed at Leuctra, and for the Athenians from those who landed at Marathon together with Datis.
Κλεωναῖοι δὲ ἐπιέσθησαν μὲν κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ Ἀθηναίοις ὑπὸ νόσου τῆς λοιμώδους, κατὰ δὲ μάντευμα ἐκ Δελφῶν ἔθυσαν τράγον ἀνίσχοντι ἔτι τῷ ἡλίῳ, καὶ—εὕραντο γὰρ λύσιν τοῦ κακοῦ—τράγον χαλκοῦν ἀποπέμπουσι τᾷ Ἀπόλλωνι.
And the Cleonaeans were afflicted at the same time as the Athenians by the pestilential disease, and according to an oracle from Delphi they sacrificed a goat to the sun when it was still rising, and—since they found a deliverance from the evil—they sent a bronze goat to Apollo.
Ποτιδαιατῶν δὲ τῶν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ καὶ Συρακουσίων, τῶν μέν ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀττικοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου πταίσματος, Ποτιδαιᾶται δὲ εὐσεβείας τῆς ἐς τὸν θεὸν ἐποίησαν.
And of the Potidaeans in Thrace and the Syracusans, the treasury of the latter is from the great Athenian disaster, while the Potidaeans made theirs out of piety towards the god.
§10.11.6ᾠκοδόμησαν δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι στοὰν ἀπὸ χρημάτων ἃ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ σφίσιν ἐγένετο ἀπό τε Πελοποννησίων καὶ ὅσαι Πελοποννησίοις ἦσαν τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ σύμμαχοι.
And the Athenians also built a portico from the money which came to them in the war from the Peloponnesians and all those of the Greek nation who were allies to the Peloponnesians.
ἀνάκειται δὲ καὶ πλοίων τὰ ἄκρα κοσμήματα καὶ ἀσπίδες χαλκαῖ· τὸ δὲ ἐπίγραμμα τὸ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἀριθμεῖ τὰς πόλεις ἀφʼ ὧν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ ἀκροθίνια ἀπέστειλαν, τήν τε Ἠλείων καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων Σικυῶνά τε καὶ Μέγαρα καὶ Πελληνέας Ἀχαιῶν Ἀμβρακίαν τε καὶ Λευκάδα καὶ αὐτὴν Κόρινθον· γενέσθαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ναυμαχιῶν τούτων καὶ θυσίαν Θησεῖ καὶ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνομαζομένῳ Ῥίῳ.
And there are dedicated both the figureheads of ships and bronze shields; and the inscription upon them enumerates the cities from which the Athenians sent the first-fruits: the territory of the Eleans and Lacedaemonians, Sicyon, Megara, the Pelleneans of the Achaeans, Ambracia, Leucas, and Corinth itself; and from these sea-fights there was also a sacrifice to Theseus and to Poseidon at the place called Rhium.
καί μοι φαίνεται τὸ ἐπίγραμμα ἐς Φορμίωνα τὸν Ἀσωπίχου ἔχειν καὶ ἐς τοῦ Φορμίωνος τὰ ἔργα.
And the inscription seems to me to refer to Phormio, the son of Asopichus, and to the deeds of Phormio.

Notes

  1. §10.11.1χρήματα δὲ οὔτε ἐνταῦθα ἴδοις ἂν οὔτε ἐν ἄλλῳ — The optative with the particle ἄν (ἴδοις ἂν) expresses potentiality, meaning "you might see" or "you would see."
  2. §10.11.3ὄνομα δὲ εἶναί οἱ Πένταθλον — The infinitive εἶναι represents indirect speech introduced by φησί. The dative pronoun οἱ acts as a dative of possession equivalent to αὐτῷ, meaning "his name was Pentathlus."
  3. §10.11.4εἰ δέξεταί σε ἠπίως τὸ ὕδωρ — The conditional particle εἰ followed by the future indicative (δέξεται) expresses a real condition, presenting a caveat or realistic proviso: "if indeed the water will receive you gently."
  4. §10.11.5τῶν μὲν ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀττικοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου πταίσματος — The partitive genitive τῶν μέν refers back to the latter group (the Syracusans) of the previously mentioned genitive pair (Potidaeans and Syracusans). In this μέν... δέ contrast, τῶν μέν refers to the nearer antecedent (the Syracusans), while Ποτιδαιᾶται δέ refers back to the former.
  5. §10.11.6ὅσαι Πελοποννησίοις ἦσαν τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ σύμμαχοι — The relative pronoun ὅσαι implies "as many as" and assimilates its antecedent into the relative clause. The partitive genitive τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ ("of the Greek nation") modifies σύμμαχοι ("allies").

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.11.1-10.11.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.11.1-10.11.6

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