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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.4.1-10.4.4

State of Panopeus and the Legend of Prometheus' Clay

Passage 415 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author describes the impoverished state of Panopeus while noting its status as a Phocian city. He then explains the ritual background of Homeric epithets and introduces local legends concerning the clay used by Prometheus to mold humanity.

§10.4.1τούτοις μὲν δὴ τοιαῦτα ὑπῆρχεν ἐς μνήμην·
For these people, such were the things that existed for remembrance.
στάδια δὲ ἐκ Χαιρωνείας εἴκοσιν ἐς Πανοπέας ἐστὶ πόλιν Φωκέων, εἴγε ὀνομάσαι τις πόλιν καὶ τούτους οἷς γε οὐκ ἀρχεῖα οὐ γυμνάσιόν ἐστιν, οὐ θέατρον οὐκ ἀγορὰν ἔχουσιν, οὐχ ὕδωρ κατερχόμενον ἐς κρήνην, ἀλλὰ ἐν στέγαις κοίλαις κατὰ τὰς καλύβας μάλιστα τὰς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν, ἐνταῦθα οἰκοῦσιν ἐπὶ χαράδρᾳ.
From Chaeronea it is twenty stades to Panopeus, a city of the Phocians, if indeed one could call them a city, who have no government offices, no gymnasium, no theater, no marketplace, and no water flowing down into a fountain, but they dwell there on a ravine, in hollow houses very like the huts in the mountains.
ὅμως δὲ ὅροι γε τῆς χώρας εἰσὶν αὐτοῖς ἐς τοὺς ὁμόρους, καὶ ἐς τὸν σύλλογον συνέδρους καὶ οὗτοι πέμπουσι τὸν Φωκικόν.
Yet they have boundaries of their territory with their neighbors, and they too send delegates to the Phocian assembly.
καὶ γενέσθαι μὲν τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα λέγουσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐπειοῦ πατρός, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐ Φωκεῖς, Φλεγύαι δὲ εἶναι τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐς τὴν γῆν διαφυγεῖν φασι τὴν Φωκίδα ἐκ τῆς Ὀρχομενίας.
And they say that the city got its name from the father of Epeius, and they say that they themselves are not Phocians, but were originally Phlegyans, and fled from the territory of Orchomenus to the Phocian land.
§10.4.2Πανοπέων δὲ τὸν ἀρχαῖον θεώμενοι περίβολον ἑπτὰ εἶναι σταδίων μάλιστα εἰκάζομεν· ὑπῄει τε ἐπῶν ἡμᾶς τῶν Ὁμήρου μνήμη ὧν ἐποίησεν ἐς Τιτυόν, καλλίχορον τῶν Πανοπέων ὀνομάσας τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ὡς ἐν τῇ μάχῃ τῇ ἐπὶ τῷ Πατρόκλου νεκρῷ καὶ Σχεδίον τὸν Ἰφίτου βασιλεύοντα Φωκέων καὶ ἀποθανόντα ὑφʼ Ἕκτορος κατοικεῖν εἶπεν ἐν τῷ Πανοπεῖ.
On beholding the ancient circuit-wall of Panopeus, we estimate it to be about seven stades; and there recurred to us the memory of the verses of Homer which he made about Tityos, calling the city of the Panopeans "with beautiful dancing-floors", and how, in the battle over the corpse of Patroclus, he said that Schedius, the son of Iphitus, who ruled the Phocians and was killed by Hector, dwelt in Panopeus.
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἐφαίνετο ἡμῖν ἔχειν αἰτίαν, φόβῳ τῶν Βοιωτῶν —κατὰ γὰρ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας ἡ ἐς τὴν Φωκίδα ἐσβολὴ ῥᾴστη—ἐνταῦθα οἰκεῖν τὸν βασιλέα ἅτε φρουρίῳ τῷ Πανοπεῖ χρώμενον·
This indeed seemed to us to have a reason: because of fear of the Boeotians—for at this point the inroad from Boeotia into Phocis is easiest—the king dwelt there, using Panopeus as a stronghold.
§10.4.3τὸ ἕτερον δὲ οὐκ ἐδυνήθην συμβαλέσθαι πρότερον, ἐφʼ ὅτῳ καλλίχορον τὸν Πανοπέα εἴρηκε, πρὶν ἢ ἐδιδάχθην ὑπὸ τῶν παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις καλουμένων Θυιάδων.
But the other point—for what reason he called Panopeus "with beautiful dancing-floors"—I was not able to understand beforehand, until I was instructed by those who among the Athenians are called Thyiades.
αἱ δὲ Θυιάδες γυναῖκες μέν εἰσιν Ἀττικαί, φοιτῶσαι δὲ ἐς τὸν Παρνασσὸν παρὰ ἔτος αὐταί τε καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες Δελφῶν ἄγουσιν ὄργια Διονύσῳ.
Now the Thyiades are Attic women, who go to Parnassus every other year, and together with the women of Delphi, perform orgies for Dionysus.
ταύταις ταῖς Θυιάσι κατὰ τὴν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ὁδὸν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ χοροὺς ἱστάναι καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Πανοπεῦσι καθέστηκε· καὶ ἡ ἐπίκλησις ἡ ἐς τὸν Πανοπέα Ὁμήρου ὑποσημαίνειν τῶν Θυιάδων δοκεῖ τὸν χορόν.
It is established for these Thyiades to set up dances along the road from Athens, both elsewhere and also among the Panopeans; and the epithet of Homer for Panopeus seems to refer to the dance of the Thyiades.
§10.4.4Πανοπεῦσι δέ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῇ ὁδῷ πλίνθου τε ὠμῆς οἴκημα οὐ μέγα καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ λίθου τοῦ Πεντελῆσιν ἄγαλμα, ὃν Ἀσκληπιόν, οἱ δὲ Προμηθέα εἶναί φασι· καὶ παρέχονταί γε τοῦ λόγου μαρτύρια.
For the Panopeans, there is on the road a small building of unburnt brick, and in it an image of Pentelic marble, which some say is Asclepius, and others Prometheus; and indeed they offer proofs of their story.
λίθοι κεῖνταί σφισιν ἐπὶ τῇ χαράδρᾳ, μέγεθος μὲν ἑκάτερος ὡς φόρτον ἀποχρῶντα ἁμάξης εἶναι, χρῶμα δέ ἐστι πηλοῦ σφισιν, οὐ γεώδους ἀλλʼ οἷος ἂν χαράδρας γένοιτο ἢ χειμάρρου ψαμμώδους, παρέχονται δὲ καὶ ὀσμὴν ἐγγύτατα χρωτὶ ἀνθρώπου· ταῦτα ἔτι λείπεσθαι τοῦ πηλοῦ λέγουσιν ἐξ οὗ καὶ ἅπαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Προμηθέως τὸ γένος πλασθῆναι τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Stones lie for them near the ravine, each of them in size sufficient to be a cart-load, and their color is like that of clay, not earthy but such as would belong to a sandy ravine or torrent, and they also yield a smell very close to human skin; they say that these are still left from the clay out of which the entire race of mankind was molded by Prometheus.

Notes

  1. §10.4.1οἷς γε οὐκ ἀρχεῖα οὐ γυμνάσιόν ἐστιν, οὐ θέατρον οὐκ ἀγορὰν ἔχουσιν — The dative οἷς forms a dative of possession with ἐστιν in the first clause, but the construction transitions to ἔχουσιν as the main active transitive verb in the second clause, representing an anacoluthon.
  2. §10.4.1αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐ Φωκεῖς, Φλεγύαι δὲ εἶναι τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς — Since the subject of the infinitive εἶναι under the governing verb φασι is the same as the subject of the main clause, the nominative case αὐτοὶ (along with the predicate nouns Φωκεῖς and Φλεγύαι) is used instead of the accusative.
  3. §10.4.2ὧν ἐποίησεν — The relative pronoun ὧν is attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent ἐπῶν (attraction of the relative), instead of being in the accusative ἅ as the direct object of the transitive verb ἐποίησεν.
  4. §10.4.2τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἐφαίνετο ἡμῖν ἔχειν αἰτίαν... ἐνταῦθα οἰκεῖν τὸν βασιλέα — The infinitive οἰκεῖν (with its subject accusative τὸν βασιλέα) stands in apposition to τοῦτο in the main clause, explaining the concrete fact that 'the king dwelt there.'
  5. §10.4.3πρὶν ἢ ἐδιδάχθην — Since the main clause is negative (οὐκ ἐδυνήθην), the conjunction πρὶν ἤ is followed by the indicative past (ἐδιδάχθην), representing a definite past fact ('until I was instructed').
  6. §10.4.4μέγεθος μὲν ἑκάτερος ὡς φόρτον ἀποχρῶντα ἁμάξης εἶναι — μέγεθος is an accusative of specification. The singular nominative ἑκάτερος is placed in distributive apposition to the plural subject λίθοι. The construction ὡς... εἶναι is a limitative infinitive showing result, and ἀποχρῶντα is a participle modifying φόρτον.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.4.1-10.4.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.4.1-10.4.4

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