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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.4.5-10.4.10

Tomb of Tityos and the Myths and Rituals of Daulis

Passage 416 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes the tomb of Tityos near Panopeus along with a giant legend, the etymology of Daulis and the myth of Tereus, and the unique ritual of hero-cult in Tronis.

§10.4.5ἐνταῦθα ἐπὶ τῇ χαράδρᾳ καὶ Τιτυοῦ μνῆμά ἐστι· περίοδος μὲν τοῦ χώματος τρίτον μάλιστά που σταδίου, τὸ δὲ ἔπος τὸ ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ " κείμενον ἐν δαπέδῳ· ὁ δʼ ἐπʼ ἐννέα κεῖτο πέλεθρα " οὐκ ἐπὶ μεγέθει πεποιῆσθαι τοῦ Τιτυοῦ φασιν, ἀλλʼ ἔνθα ὁ Τιτυὸς ἐτέθη, Πλέθρα ἐννέα ὄνομα εἶναι τῷ χωρίῳ.
There by the ravine is also the tomb of Tityos; the circumference of the mound is about a third of a stade, and they say that the verse in the Odyssey, "lying on the ground; and he lay over nine plethra," was not made with reference to the size of Tityos, but that where Tityos was buried, "Nine Plethra" is the name of the place.
§10.4.6Κλέων δὲ ἀνὴρ Μάγνης, οἳ τῷ Ἕρμῳ προσοικοῦσιν, ἔφασκεν ἐς τὰ παράδοξα ἀπίστους εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἷς ἂν μὴ παρὰ τὸν αὐτῶν γένηται βίον θεάμασιν ἐπιτυχεῖν λόγου μείζοσιν· αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ Τιτυὸν καὶ ἄλλους ἔφη πείθεσθαι γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν φήμην·
Cleon, a Magnesian, of those who dwell near the Hermus, used to assert that those of mankind who do not happen to meet with sights greater than report during their own lives are disbelieving toward marvels; but he himself said that he believed both Tityos and others to have existed according to the rumor.
τυχεῖν γὰρ δὴ ὢν ἐν Γαδείροις, καὶ ἐκπλεῦσαι μὲν αὐτός τε καὶ τὸν ἄλλον πάντα ὄχλον ἐκ τῆς νήσου κατὰ τὸ Ἡρακλέους πρόσταγμα, ὡς δὲ αὖθις ἐπανήκειν ἐς τὰ Γάδειρα, ἄνδρα εὑρεῖν θαλάσσιον ἐκπεπτωκότα ἐς τὴν γῆν· τοῦτον πλέθρα μὲν πέντε μάλιστα ἐπέχειν, κεραυνωθέντα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καίεσθαι.
For he happened indeed to be in Gadeira, and both he himself and all the other multitude sailed out of the island in accordance with the command of Heracles, but when they returned again to Gadeira, they found a sea-man cast up on the land; this man occupied about five plethra, and was burning, having been struck by lightning by the god.
§10.4.7οὗτος μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν, Πανοπέως δὲ ὅσον στάδια εἴκοσι καὶ ἑπτὰ ἀπέχει Δαυλίς.
He indeed said these things, and Daulis is distant from Panopeus about twenty-seven stades.
οἱ δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἄνθρωποι πλῆθος μέν εἰσιν οὐ πολλοί, μεγέθει δὲ καὶ ἀλκῇ καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι δοκιμώτατοι Φωκέων.
The people here are not many in number, but in stature and strength they are, even to my day, the most highly esteemed of the Phocians.
τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῇ πόλει τεθῆναι λέγουσιν ἀπὸ Δαυλίδος νύμφης, θυγατέρα δὲ εἶναι τοῦ Κηφισοῦ τὴν Δαυλίδα. τοῖς δέ ἐστιν εἰρημένον ὡς τὸ χωρίον, ἔνθα ἡ πόλις ᾠκίσθη, παρείχετο συνεχῆ δένδρα, καλεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ δασέα ὑπὸ τῶν πάλαι δαῦλα· ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ καὶ Αἰσχύλον τὰ Γλαύκου τοῦ Ἀνθηδονίου γένεια ὑπήνην ὠνομακέναι δαῦλον.
They say that the name was given to the city from the nymph Daulis, and that Daulis was the daughter of Cephisus; but by others it is said that the place where the city was founded provided continuous trees, and that dense things were called "daula" by the men of old; and on this account Aeschylus also named the beard of Glaucus of Anthedon a "dense beard".
§10.4.8ἐνταῦθα ἐν τῇ Δαυλίδι παραθεῖναι τῷ Τηρεῖ τὸν παῖδα αἱ γυναῖκες λέγονται, καὶ ἀνθρώποις τῶν ἐπὶ τραπέζῃ μιασμάτων τοῦτο ἦρξεν.
Here in Daulis the women are said to have served up the child to Tereus, and this was the beginning of abominations at the table for mankind.
ὁ δὲ ἔποψ ἐς ὃν ἔχει λόγος τὸν Τηρέα ἀλλαγῆναι, οὗτος ὁ ὄρνις μέγεθος μὲν ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ ὄρτυγα, ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ δέ οἱ τὰ πτερὰ ἐς λόφου σχῆμα ἐξῆρται.
The hoopoe, into which the story has it that Tereus was changed, this bird is in size a little above a quail, and on its head the feathers are raised into the form of a crest.
§10.4.9θαυμάσαι δὲ ἄξιον ὅτι ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ χελιδόνες οὔτε τίκτουσιν οὔτε ἐκλέπουσί γε τὰ ᾠά, οὐδʼ ἂν ἀρχὴν πρὸς οἰκήματος ὀρόφῳ νεοσσιὰν χελιδὼν ποιήσαιτο· λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Φωκεῖς ὡς τῇ Φιλομήλᾳ καὶ ὄρνιθι οὔσῃ Τηρέως δεῖμα ἐφάνη καὶ οὕτω τῆς πατρίδος ἀπέστη τῆς Τηρέως.
It is worthy of wonder that in this land swallows neither lay nor hatch eggs, nor would a swallow make a nest at all under the roof of a house; and the Phocians say that for Philomela, even being a bird, a dread of Tereus appeared, and thus she kept away from the fatherland of Tereus.
Δαυλιεῦσι δὲ Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν καὶ ἄγαλμά ἐστιν ἀρχαῖον· τὸ δὲ ξόανον τὸ ἔτι παλαιότερον λέγουσιν ἐπαγαγέσθαι Πρόκνην ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν.
For the Daulians there is a temple of Athena and an ancient image; and the wooden image, which is still older, they say Procne brought from Athens.
§10.4.10ἔστι δὲ τῆς Δαυλίας χώρα καλουμένη Τρωνίς· ἐνταῦθα ἡρῷον ἥρω Ἀρχηγέτου πεποίηται· τὸν δὲ ἥρω τοῦτον Ξάνθιππον οὐκ ἀφανῆ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον, οἱ δὲ Φῶκον εἶναι τὸν Ὀρνυτίωνος τοῦ Σισύφου φασίν.
There is in the territory of Daulis a district called Tronis; here a hero-shrine has been made for the Hero Archegetes; some say this hero is Xanthippus, who was not undistinguished in war, and others that he is Phocus, the son of Ornytion, son of Sisyphus.
ἔχει δʼ οὖν ἐπὶ ἡμέρᾳ τε πάσῃ τιμὰς καὶ ἄγοντες ἱερεῖα οἱ Φωκεῖς τὸ μὲν αἷμα διʼ ὀπῆς ἐσχέουσιν ἐς τὸν τάφον, τὰ δὲ κρέα ταύτῃ σφίσιν ἀναλοῦν καθέστηκεν.
At all events he has honors on every day, and the Phocians, bringing victims, pour the blood through a hole into the tomb, and it is established for them to consume the meat on the spot.

Notes

  1. 10.4.6οἷς ἂν μὴ παρὰ τὸν αὐτῶν γένηται βίον θεάμασιν ἐπιτυχεῖν λόγου μείζοσιν — A complex relative clause structure. οἷς is the relative pronoun in the dative, depending on γένηται (subjunctive aorist of the impersonal γίγνεται, which with the conditional particle ἄν forms a generalized temporal/conditional clause) meaning "it happens to/for whom". The subject of γένηται is the infinitive ἐπιτυχεῖν ("to encounter"), which in turn takes the dative object θεάμασιν ("sights"). λόγου μείζοσιν ("greater than report/word") is a genitive of comparison modifying θεάμασιν.
  2. 10.4.7τοῖς δέ ἐστιν εἰρημένον — The perfect passive third-person singular neuter ἐστιν εἰρημένον is combined with the demonstrative pronoun in the dative plural τοῖς δέ as a dative of agent ("by others"). The whole phrase means "by others it has been said" or "others have stated that...".
  3. 10.4.10τὸν δὲ ἥρω τοῦτον Ξάνθιππον ... οἱ δὲ Φῶκον εἶναι τὸν Ὀρνυτίωνος τοῦ Σισύφου φασίν — A clear instance of syntactic anacoluthon. The sentence begins in the accusative (τὸν δὲ ἥρω τοῦτον Ξάνθιππον...), expecting an accusative-and-infinitive construction depending on an unexpressed verb of saying, but transitions abruptly in the second half with the subject οἱ δέ ("others") and the main verb φασίν ("they say") controlling the regular accusative-and-infinitive clause Φῶκον εἶναι... The initial accusative acts as a hanging accusative (accusativus pendens), representing the unexpressed counterpart of "some say that this hero is Xanthippus."

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.4.5-10.4.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.4.5-10.4.10

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