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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.17.1-10.17.6

Origin of Sardinia's Name and History of Colonization

Passage 432 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Describes the origin of the name of Sardinia (Sardo) and the history of successive arrivals and colonizations by the Libyans, Greeks, Iberians, and Trojans.

§10.17.1βαρβάρων δὲ τῶν πρὸς τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ οἱ ἔχοντες Σαρδώ, εἰκόνα οὗτοι χαλκῆν τοῦ ἐπωνύμου σφίσιν ἀπέστειλαν.
Of the barbarians to the west, those who hold Sardinia sent a bronze statue of their eponym.
ἡ δὲ Σαρδὼ μέγεθος μὲν καὶ εὐδαιμονίαν ἐστὶν ὁμοία ταῖς μάλιστα ἐπαινουμέναις· ὄνομα δὲ αὐτῇ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ὅ τι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἐγένετο οὐκ οἶδα, Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ κατʼ ἐμπορίαν ἐσπλέοντες Ἰχνοῦσσαν ἐκάλεσαν, ὅτι τὸ σχῆμα τῇ νήσῳ κατʼ ἴχνος μάλιστά ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου.
Sardinia is equal in size and prosperity to the most highly praised islands; what its ancient name was as given by the natives I do not know, but those of the Greeks who sailed there for trade called it Ichnussa, because the shape of the island is very like a human footprint.
μῆκος δὲ αὐτῆς εἴκοσι στάδιοι καὶ ἑκατόν εἰσι καὶ χίλιοι, εὖρος δὲ ἐς εἴκοσί τε καὶ τετρακοσίους προήκει.
Its length is one thousand one hundred and twenty stades, and its width extends to four hundred and twenty.
§10.17.2πρῶτοι δὲ διαβῆναι λέγονται ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν νῆσον Λίβυες· ἡγεμὼν δὲ τοῖς Λίβυσιν ἦν Σάρδος ὁ Μακήριδος, Ἡρακλέους δὲ ἐπονομασθέντος ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων τε καὶ Λιβύων.
The first to cross over to the island in ships are said to have been Libyans; the leader of the Libyans was Sardus, the son of Maceris, who was surnamed Hercules by the Egyptians and Libyans.
Μακήριδι μὲν δὴ αὐτῷ τὰ ἐπιφανέστατα ὁδὸς ἐγένετο ἡ ἐς Δελφούς· Σάρδῳ δὲ ἡγεμονία τε ὑπῆρξε τῶν Λιβύων ἡ ἐς τὴν Ἰχνοῦσσαν καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τοῦ Σάρδου τούτου μετέβαλεν ἡ νῆσος.
For Maceris himself, his journey to Delphi became his most famous exploit; but to Sardus belonged the leadership of the Libyans to Ichnussa, and from this Sardus the island changed its name.
οὐ μέντοι τούς γε αὐτόχθονας ἐξέβαλεν ὁ τῶν Λιβύων στόλος, σύνοικοι δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν οἱ ἐπελθόντες ἀνάγκῃ μᾶλλον ἢ ὑπὸ εὐνοίας ἐδέχθησαν.
Nevertheless, the fleet of the Libyans did not expel the natives, but the newcomers were received by them as co-habitants, rather by necessity than through goodwill.
καὶ πόλεις μὲν οὔτε οἱ Λίβυες οὔτε τὸ γένος τὸ ἐγχώριον ἠπίσταντο ποιήσασθαι· σποράδες δὲ ἐν καλύβαις τε καὶ σπηλαίοις, ὡς ἕκαστοι τύχοιεν, ᾤκησαν.
And neither the Libyans nor the native race knew how to build cities; they lived scattered in cottages and caves, as each happened to find.
§10.17.3ἔτεσι δὲ ὕστερον μετὰ τοὺς Λίβυας ἀφίκοντο ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐς τὴν νῆσον οἱ μετʼ Ἀρισταίου.
Years after the Libyans, those with Aristaeus arrived in the island from Greece.
παῖδα δὲ λέγουσιν Ἀρισταῖον Ἀπόλλωνός τε εἶναι καὶ Κυρήνης· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἀκταίωνος περισσῶς ἀλγήσαντα τῇ συμφορᾷ καὶ Βοιωτίᾳ τε καὶ πάσῃ τῇ Ἑλλάδι κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἀχθόμενον, οὕτως ἐς τὴν Σαρδὼ μετοικῆσαί φασιν αὐτόν.
Aristaeus they say was the son of Apollo and Cyrene; deeply grieving at the misfortune of Actaeon, and being likewise vexed with Boeotia and the whole of Greece, they say he thus migrated to Sardinia.
§10.17.4οἱ δὲ καὶ Δαίδαλον ἀποδρᾶναι τηνικαῦτα †καὶ οἴκου διὰ τὴν ἐπιστρατείαν τὴν Κρητῶν καὶ ἀποικίας ἐς τὴν Σαρδὼ μετασχεῖν τῷ Ἀρισταίῳ νομίζουσιν· ἔχοι δʼ ἂν λόγον οὐδένα Αὐτονόῃ τῇ Κάδμου συνοικήσαντι τῷ Ἀρισταίῳ Δαίδαλον ἢ ἀποικίας ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς μετεσχηκέναι, ὃς ἡλικίαν κατὰ Οἰδίποδα ἦν βασιλεύοντα ἐν Θήβαις.
Some also believe that Daedalus escaped at that time because of the expedition of the Cretans, and shared a colony to Sardinia with Aristaeus; but it would make no sense that Daedalus shared in a colony or anything else with Aristaeus, who married Autonoe, the daughter of Cadmus, since Daedalus was contemporary with Oedipus ruling in Thebes.
πόλιν δʼ οὖν οἰκίζουσιν οὐδεμίαν οὐδʼ οὗτοι, ὅτι ἀριθμῷ τε καὶ ἰσχύι ἐλάσσονες ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ἢ κατὰ πόλεως ἦσαν οἰκισμόν.
At any rate, these also founded no city, because, as it seems to me, they were too few in number and weak for the founding of a city.
§10.17.5μετὰ δὲ Ἀρισταῖον Ἴβηρες ἐς τὴν Σαρδὼ διαβαίνουσιν ὑπὸ ἡγεμόνι τοῦ στόλου Νώρακι, καὶ ᾠκίσθη Νώρα πόλις ὑπὸ αὐτῶν· ταύτην πρώτην γενέσθαι πόλιν μνημονεύουσιν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, παῖδα δὲ Ἐρυθείας τε τῆς Γηρυόνου καὶ Ἑρμοῦ λέγουσιν εἶναι τὸν Νώρακα.
After Aristaeus, Iberians crossed over to Sardinia under Norax as leader of the fleet, and Nora was founded as a city by them; they record that this was the first city in the island, and they say Norax was the son of Erytheia, daughter of Geryon, and Hermes.
τετάρτη δὲ μοῖρα Ἰολάου Θεσπιέων τε καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς στρατιὰ κατῆρεν ἐς Σαρδώ, καὶ Ὀλβίαν μὲν πόλιν οἰκίζουσιν, ἰδίᾳ δὲ Ὀγρύλην οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι διασώζοντες τῶν δήμων τῶν οἴκοι τινὸς τὸ ὄνομα· ἢ καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ στόλου μετεῖχεν Ὀγρύλος.
As a fourth force, an army of Thespians and from Attica under Iolaus put in at Sardinia, and they founded the city of Olbia, while the Athenians privately named Ogryle, preserving the name of one of their demes at home; or perhaps Ogrylus himself took part in the expedition.
ἔστι δʼ οὖν καὶ κατʼ ἐμὲ ἔτι χωρία τε Ἰολάια ἐν τῇ Σαρδοῖ καὶ Ἰόλαος παρὰ τῶν οἰκητόρων ἔχει τιμάς.
At any rate, there are even in my time still places called Iolaia in Sardinia, and Iolaus receives honors from the inhabitants.
§10.17.6Ἰλίου δὲ ἁλισκομένης ἄλλοι τε ἐκφεύγουσι τῶν Τρώων καὶ οἱ ἀποσωθέντες μετὰ Αἰνείου· τούτων μοῖρα ἀπενεχθεῖσα ὑπὸ ἀνέμων ἐς Σαρδὼ ἀνεμίχθησαν τοῖς προενοικοῦσιν Ἕλλησι.
When Ilium fell, other Trojans escaped and those who were saved with Aeneas; a part of these, being carried by winds to Sardinia, mingled with the Greeks who had settled there before.
καταστῆναι δὲ ἐς μάχην τῷ Ἑλληνικῷ καὶ τοῖς Τρωσὶν ἐκώλυσε τοὺς βαρβάρους· παρασκευῇ τε γὰρ ἴσοι τῇ ἁπάσῃ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον ἦσαν καὶ ὁ Θόρσος ποταμὸς διὰ μέσου σφίσι ῥέων τῆς χώρας ἐπʼ ἴσης καὶ ἀμφοτέροις διαβαίνειν παρεῖχε δέος.
But something prevented the barbarians from entering into battle with the Greeks and Trojans; for they were equal in all their military preparations, and the river Thorsus, flowing through the middle of their land, inspired equal fear in both of them to cross it.

Notes

  1. 10.17.2Ἡρακλέους δὲ ἐπονομασθέντος ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων τε καὶ Λιβύων — A genitive absolute construction explaining that the preceding Maceris (in the genitive case) was surnamed or called Hercules by the Egyptians and Libyans.
  2. 10.17.4Αὐτονόῃ τῇ Κάδμου συνοικήσαντι τῷ Ἀρισταίῳ Δαίδαλον ἢ ἀποικίας ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς μετεσχηκέναι — The accusative and infinitive clause (Δαίδαλον ... μετεσχηκέναι) serves as the subject or explanation of the impersonal expression ἔχοι δʼ ἂν λόγον οὐδένα ('it would make no sense'). Pausanias points out the chronological impossibility of Daedalus, who was contemporary with King Oedipus, participating in a colony with Aristaeus, who belonged to an older mythological generation as the husband of Cadmus' daughter Autonoe.
  3. 10.17.6καταστῆναι δὲ ἐς μάχην τῷ Ἑλληνικῷ καὶ τοῖς Τρωσὶν ἐκώλυσε τοὺς βαρβάρους — The infinitive καταστῆναι ('to enter into battle') acts as the object of ἐκώλυσε ('prevented'), with the accusative τοὺς βαρβάρους as its subject. The datives τῷ Ἑλληνικῷ καὶ τοῖς Τρωσὶν depend on μάχην. While the grammatical subject of ἐκώλυσε is unexpressed, the actual preventing factors are explained in the following γάρ clause.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.17.1-10.17.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.17.1-10.17.6

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