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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.19.1-10.19.6

Delphic Statues and the Galatian Invasion of Greece

Passage 435 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author explains the statues of the diver Scyllis and his daughter, the wooden image of Dionysus found in Methymna, and the pediment decorations of the temple of Apollo, before commencing the historical narrative of the Galatian invasion of Greece.

§10.19.1παρὰ δὲ τὸν Γοργίαν ἀνάθημά ἐστιν Ἀμφικτυόνων Σκιωναῖος Σκύλλις, ὃς καταδῦναι καὶ ἐς τὰ βαθύτατα θαλάσσης πάσης ἔχει φήμην· ἐδιδάξατο δὲ καὶ Ὕδναν τὴν θυγατέρα δύεσθαι.
Next to Gorgias is a dedication of the Amphictyons, Scyllis of Scione, who has a reputation of having dived even into the deepest parts of every sea; and he also taught his daughter Hydna to dive.
§10.19.2οὗτοι περὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ Πήλιον ἐπιπεσόντος ναυτικῷ τῷ Ξέρξου βιαίου χειμῶνος προσεξειργάσαντό σφισιν ἀπώλειαν, τάς τε ἀγκύρας καὶ εἰ δή τι ἄλλο ἔρυμα ταῖς τριήρεσιν ἦν ὑφέλκοντες.
When a violent storm fell upon the fleet of Xerxes near Mount Pelion, these two furthered their destruction by secretly removing the anchors and whatever other defense there was for the triremes.
ἀντὶ τούτου μὲν οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες καὶ αὐτὸν Σκύλλιν καὶ τὴν παῖδα ἀνέθεσαν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀνδριᾶσιν ὁπόσους Νέρων ἔλαβεν ἐκ Δελφῶν, ἐν τούτοις τὸν ἀριθμὸν καὶ τῆς Ὕδνης ἀπεπλήρωσεν ἡ εἰκών.
In return for this, the Amphictyons dedicated both Scyllis himself and his child; but among the statues that Nero took from Delphi, the image of Hydna also completed the number.
§10.19.3τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ ἔρχομαι διηγησόμενος λόγον Λέσβιον.
After this, I am going to relate a Lesbian story.
ἁλιεῦσιν ἐν Μηθύμνῃ τὰ δίκτυα ἀνείλκυσεν ἐκ θαλάσσης πρόσωπον ἐλαίας ξύλου πεποιημένον· τοῦτο ἰδέαν παρείχετο φέρουσαν μὲν ἐς τὸ θεῖον, ξένην δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ θεοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς οὐ καθεστῶσαν.
For fishermen in Methymna, their nets dragged up from the sea a face made of olive wood; this presented an appearance suggesting something divine, but strange and not established among the Greek gods.
εἴροντο οὖν οἱ Μηθυμναῖοι τὴν Πυθίαν ὅτου θεῶν ἢ καὶ ἡρώων ἐστὶν ἡ εἰκών· ἡ δὲ αὐτοὺς σέβεσθαι Διόνυσον Φαλλῆνα ἐκέλευσεν.
So the Methymnaeans asked the Pythia of which of the gods or heroes the image was; and she commanded them to worship Dionysus Phallen.
ἐπὶ τούτῳ οἱ Μηθυμναῖοι ξόανον μὲν τὸ ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης παρὰ σφίσιν ἔχοντες καὶ θυσίαις καὶ εὐχαῖς τιμῶσι, χαλκοῦν δὲ ἀποπέμπουσιν ἐς Δελφούς.
Upon this, the Methymnaeans, keeping the wooden image that came from the sea among themselves and honoring it with sacrifices and prayers, sent a bronze copy to Delphi.
§10.19.4τὰ δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀετοῖς, ἔστιν Ἄρτεμις καὶ Λητὼ καὶ Ἀπόλλων καὶ Μοῦσαι δύσις τε Ἡλίου καὶ Διόνυσός τε καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ Θυιάδες.
The figures in the pediments are Artemis, Leto, Apollo, the Muses, the setting of the Sun, and Dionysus with the Thyiad women.
τὰ μὲν δὴ πρῶτα αὐτῶν Ἀθηναῖος Πραξίας μαθητὴς Καλάμιδός ἐστιν ὁ ἐργασάμενος· χρόνου δὲ ὡς ὁ ναὸς ἐποιεῖτο ἐγγινομένου Πραξίαν μὲν ἔμελλεν ἀπάξειν τὸ χρεών, τὰ δὲ ὑπολειπόμενα τοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἀετοῖς κόσμου ἐποίησεν Ἀνδροσθένης, γένος μὲν καὶ οὗτος Ἀθηναῖος, μαθητὴς δὲ Εὐκάδμου.
The first of them were made by Praxias the Athenian, a pupil of Calamis; but as time elapsed while the temple was being built, fate was to carry Praxias away, and the remaining parts of the decoration in the pediments were made by Androsthenes, who was also an Athenian by birth, a pupil of Eucadmus.
ὅπλα δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιστυλίων χρυσᾶ, Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν τὰς ἀσπίδας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ Μαραθῶνι ἀνέθεσαν, Αἰτωλοὶ δὲ τά τε ὄπισθεν καὶ τὰ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ Γαλατῶν δὴ ὅπλα· σχῆμα δὲ αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἐγγυτάτω τῶν Περσικῶν γέρρων.
The golden weapons on the architraves—the Athenians dedicated the shields from the action at Marathon, while the Aetolians dedicated those on the back and on the left, which are indeed weapons of the Galatians; their shape is very close to that of the Persian gerrha.
§10.19.5Γαλατῶν δὲ τῆς ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπιστρατείας ἔχει μέν τινα μνήμην καὶ ἡ ἐς τὸ βουλευτήριον ἡμῖν τὸ Ἀττικὸν συγγραφή· προάγειν δὲ ἐς τὸ σαφέστερον τὰ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἠθέλησα ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Δελφούς, ὅτι ἔργων τῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους τὰ μέγιστα Ἕλλησιν ἐνταῦθα ἦν.
The expedition of the Galatians into Greece has indeed some mention also in our account of the Attic council-chamber; but I wished to proceed to greater detail concerning them in the account of Delphi, because the greatest of the achievements against the barbarians were performed here by the Greeks.
ὑπερόριον μὲν οἱ Κελτοὶ στρατείαν πρώτην ὑπὸ ἡγεμόνι ἐποιήσαντο Καμβαύλῃ· προελθόντες δὲ ἄχρι τῆς Θρᾴκης τὸ πρόσω τῆς πορείας οὐκ ἀπεθάρσησαν, καταγνόντες αὑτῶν ὅτι ὀλίγοι τε ἦσαν καὶ οὐκ ἀξιόμαχοι κατʼ ἀριθμὸν Ἕλλησιν.
The Celts made their first foreign expedition under the leadership of Cambaules; but having advanced as far as Thrace, they did not dare to proceed further, judging against themselves that they were few and not a match in number for the Greeks.
§10.19.6ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ δεύτερον ἐπιφέρειν ἐδόκει ὅπλα ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλων— ἐνῆγον δὲ μάλιστα οἱ ὁμοῦ Καμβαύλῃ ἐκστρατεύσαντες ἅτε λῃστειῶν τε ἤδη γεγευμένοι καὶ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ κερδῶν ἐς ἔρωτα ἥκοντες—, πολὺς μὲν δὴ πεζός, οὐκ ἐλάχιστοι δὲ ἠθροίσθησαν καὶ ἐς τὸ ἱππικόν·
But when it was decided also for a second time to carry arms against the land of others—and those who had campaigned with Cambaules urged this most of all, since they had already tasted plunder and had come to a passion for gain—a vast infantry assembled, and not a few also for the cavalry.
ἐς μοίρας οὖν τρεῖς ἔνεμον οἱ ἡγεμόνες τὸν στρατόν, καὶ ἄλλος ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ ἄλλην ἐτέτακτο ἰέναι χώραν.
Therefore, the leaders divided the army into three parts, and each of them was ordered to go into a different territory.

Notes

  1. §10.19.1καταδῦναι ... ἔχει φήμην — The infinitive καταδῦναι explains the content of the noun phrase ἔχει φήμην ("has a reputation"). While expressions like ἔστι φήμη are commonly followed by an infinitive, here it is used appositively or objectively with the noun phrase combined with the verb ἔχει.
  2. §10.19.2τὸν ἀριθμὸν ... ἀπεπλήρωσεν ἡ εἰκών — The phrase "the image (ἡ εἰκών) completed the number (τὸν ἀριθμὸν)" indicates that the statue of Hydna was included among the 500 statues plundered from Delphi by the Roman emperor Nero. It is an active and distinctive expression where the subject ἡ εἰκών (the image of Hydna) is said to have "completed" or "filled up" (ἀπεπλήρωσεν) the total count of Nero's plunder.
  3. §10.19.4Πραξίαν μὲν ἔμελλεν ἀπάξειν τὸ χρεών — A hyperbaton where the subject is the neuter noun τὸ χρεών (necessity, fate of death) and the object is the accusative Πραξίαν (Praxias). It means "the fate of death was to carry Praxias away." The verb ἔμελλεν functions to express the necessity of the fate that was to happen later.
  4. §10.19.5καταγνόντες αὑτῶν — The verb καταγιγνώσκω (to pass judgment, condemn) governs the genitive, and here, with the reflexive genitive αὑτῶν (themselves), it means "having passed a (unfavorable) judgment against themselves." The following ὅτι clause explains the content of this judgment (that they were few and lacked sufficient strength).
  5. §10.19.6ἐπιφέρειν ἐδόκει ὅπλα ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλων — The impersonal verb ἐδόκει ("it was decided, agreed") is followed by the infinitive phrase ἐπιφέρειν ὅπλα ("to carry arms, to invade"). After τὴν ἄλλων, the feminine noun γῆν (land) or χώραν (country) is omitted, meaning "against the land of others."

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.19.1-10.19.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.19.1-10.19.6

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