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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.29.6-10.29.10

Women in Hades, Teiresias, and Bound Theseus

Passage 451 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The text describes the figures of women in the painting of the Underworld, such as Procris, Clymene, Megara, Tyro, and Eriphyle, followed by Odysseus, the seer Teiresias, and Theseus and Pirithous trapped on their chairs of rock, with Homeric verses quoted to attest to their famous friendship.

§10.29.6παρὰ δὲ τὴν Θυίαν Πρόκρις τε ἕστηκεν ἡ Ἐρεχθέως καὶ μετʼ αὐτὴν Κλυμένη· ἐπιστρέφει δὲ αὐτῇ τὰ νῶτα ἡ Κλυμένη.
Beside Thyia stands Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, and after her Clymene, who has her back turned to her.
ἔστι δὲ πεποιημένα ἐν Νόστοις Μινύου μὲν τὴν Κλυμένην θυγατέρα εἶναι, γήμασθαι δὲ αὐτὴν Κεφάλῳ τῷ Δηίονος καὶ γενέσθαι σφίσιν Ἴφικλον παῖδα.
It is represented in the Returns that Clymene was the daughter of Minyas, and that she married Cephalus, the son of Deion, and that there was born to them a child Iphiclus.
τὰ δὲ ἐς τὴν Πρόκριν καὶ οἱ πάντες ᾄδουσιν, ὡς προτέρα Κεφάλῳ ἢ Κλυμένη συνῴκησε καὶ ὃν τρόπον ἐτελεύτησεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρός.
As for the story of Procris, everyone sings of it, how she married Cephalus before Clymene did, and in what manner she met her end by her husband.
§10.29.7ἐσωτέρω δὲ τῆς Κλυμένης Μεγάραν τὴν ἐκ Θηβῶν ὄψει· ταύτην γυναῖκα ἔσχεν Ἡρακλῆς τὴν Μεγάραν καὶ ἀπεπέμψατο ἀνὰ χρόνον, ἅτε παίδων τε ἐστερημένος τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς καὶ αὐτὴν ἡγούμενος οὐκ ἐπὶ ἀμείνονι τῷ δαίμονι γῆμαι.
Further in than Clymene you will see Megara from Thebes; Heracles took this Megara as his wife, but divorced her in course of time, since he had been deprived of the children he had by her, and believed that his marriage with her had not been under a more favorable fortune.
γυναικῶν δὲ τῶν κατειλεγμένων ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἥ τε Σαλμωνέως θυγάτηρ ἐστὶν ἐπὶ πέτρας καθεζομένη καὶ Ἐριφύλη παρʼ αὐτὴν ἑστῶσα, διὰ μὲν τοῦ χιτῶνος ἀνέχουσα ἄκρους παρὰ τὸν τράχηλον τοὺς δακτύλους, τοῦ χιτῶνος δὲ ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις εἰκάσεις τῶν χειρῶν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὅρμον αὐτὴν ἔχειν.
Above the head of the women already listed is the daughter of Salmoneus sitting on a rock, and Eriphyle standing beside her, raising her fingertips by her neck through her tunic, and you will guess that in the folds of her tunic she holds that famous necklace in one of her hands.
§10.29.8ὑπὲρ δὲ τὴν Ἐριφύλην ἔγραψεν Ἐλπήνορά τε καὶ Ὀδυσσέα ὀκλάζοντα ἐπὶ τοῖς ποσίν, ἔχοντα ὑπὲρ τοῦ βόθρου τὸ ξίφος· καὶ ὁ μάντις Τειρεσίας πρόεισιν ἐπὶ τὸν βόθρον.
Above Eriphyle he painted Elpenor and Odysseus crouching on his feet, holding his sword over the pit; and the seer Teiresias is advancing toward the pit.
μετὰ δὲ τὸν Τειρεσίαν ἐπὶ πέτρας ἡ Ὀδυσσέως μήτηρ Ἀντίκλειά ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ Ἐλπήνωρ ἀμπέχεται φορμὸν ἀντὶ ἐσθῆτος, σύνηθες τοῖς ναύταις φόρημα.
After Teiresias, on a rock, is Anticleia, the mother of Odysseus; and Elpenor is clad in a mat instead of clothing, a wear common for sailors.
§10.29.9κατωτέρω δὲ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως ἐπὶ θρόνων καθεζόμενοι Θησεὺς μὲν τὰ ξίφη τό τε Πειρίθου καὶ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ταῖς χερσὶν ἀμφοτέραις ἔχει, ὁ δὲ ἐς τὰ ξίφη βλέπων ἐστὶν ὁ Πειρίθους· εἰκάσαις ἂν ἄχθεσθαι τοῖς ξίφεσιν αὐτὸν ὡς ἀχρείοις καὶ ὄφελός σφισιν οὐ γεγενημένοις ἐς τὰ τολμήματα.
Lower down than Odysseus are those sitting on chairs: Theseus holds both the sword of Pirithous and his own in both hands, while the one looking at the swords is Pirithous; you would guess that he is vexed with the swords as being useless and having been of no help to them in their daring enterprises.
Πανύασσις δὲ ἐποίησεν ὡς Θησεὺς καὶ Πειρίθους ἐπὶ τῶν θρόνων παράσχοιντο σχῆμα οὐ κατὰ δεσμώτας, προσφύεσθαι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρωτὸς ἀντὶ δεσμῶν σφισιν ἔφη τὴν πέτραν.
But Panyassis represented in his poem that Theseus and Pirithous did not present on their seats the appearance of prisoners, but he said that the rock grew to their skin instead of bonds.
§10.29.10Θησέως δὲ καὶ Πειρίθου τὴν λεγομένην φιλίαν ἐν ἀμφοτέραις ἐδήλωσεν Ὅμηρος ταῖς ποιήσεσι, καὶ Ὀδυσσεὺς μὲν πρὸς Φαίακας λέγων ἐστὶ " καί νύ κʼ ἔτι προτέρους ἴδον ἀνέρας οὓς ἔθελόν περ, Θησέα Πειρίθοόν τε, θεῶν ἐρικυδέα τέκνα·
The so-called friendship of Theseus and Pirithous Homer made clear in both his poems; and Odysseus, speaking to the Phaeacians, says: "And now I should have seen yet earlier men whom I wished to see, Theseus and Pirithous, glorious children of gods.
" πεποίηται δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν Ἰλιάδι ὁ Νέστωρ ἄλλα τε ἐπὶ Ἀγαμέμνονος καὶ Ἀχιλλέως νουθεσίᾳ καὶ ἔπη τάδε εἰρηκώς· " οὐ γάρ πω τοίους ἴδον ἀνέρας οὐδὲ ἴδωμαι οἷον Πειρίθοόν τε Δρύαντά τε ποιμένα λαῶν Καινέα τʼ Ἐξάδιόν τε καὶ ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον Θησέα τʼ Αἰγείδην ἐπιείκελον ἀθανάτοισιν.
"And in the Iliad Nestor is also represented by him, among other advices to Agamemnon and Achilles, as having spoken these words: "For never yet have I seen such men, nor shall I see them, such as Pirithous and Dryas, shepherd of the people, and Caeneus and Exadius and godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus, son of Aegeus, like unto the immortals.
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Notes

  1. 10.29.6ἔστι δὲ πεποιημένα — An impersonal construction with the neuter plural participle `πεποιημένα` combined with `ἔστι`, introducing the following accusative and infinitive clauses (`εἶναι`, `γήμασθαι`, `γενέσθαι`) as the contents represented in the epic poem *Returns*.
  2. 10.29.7εἰκάσεις ... αὐτὴν ἔχειν — The second-person singular future `εἰκάσεις` ("you will guess") governs the accusative and infinitive clause `αὐτὴν ἔχειν` ("that she holds"). A long description about her hands and the folds of her tunic is interposed between the subject accusative `αὐτήν` (Eriphyle) and the infinitive `ἔχειν`, creating a hyperbaton.
  3. 10.29.9εἰκάσαις ἂν ἄχθεσθαι — The potential optative with `ἄν` (`εἰκάσαις ἄν`) expresses a tentative conjecture. It governs the accusative and infinitive clause `ἄχθεσθαι ... αὐτόν`, with the reason for his vexation subjectively explained by `ὡς` with the dative participles (`ὡς ἀχρείοις καὶ ὄφελός σφισιν οὐ γεγενημένοις`).
  4. 10.29.9προσφύεσθαι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρωτὸς ἀντὶ δεσμῶν σφισιν ἔφη τὴν πέτραν — The subject of `ἔφη` is the poet Panyassis. In the accusative and infinitive construction, `τὴν πέτραν` acts as the subject accusative of the infinitive `προσφύεσθαι`. `σφισιν` is the third-person plural indirect reflexive pronoun in the dative, referring back to the main characters of the clause (Theseus and Pirithous).

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.29.6-10.29.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.29.6-10.29.10

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