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Pausanias · Description of Greece §10.9.7-10.9.12

The Aegospotami Monument and Argive Offerings

Passage 423 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Describes the Lacedaemonian monument opposite the Tegean offerings, commemorating their victory over the Athenians at Aegospotami with statues of Lysander and others, listing their sculptors. It also notes the Athenian claim of betrayal by their generals, citing oracles, and mentions the Argive offering of a bronze horse for the battle of Thyrea.

§10.9.7Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ ἀπαντικρὺ τούτων ἀναθήματά ἐστιν ἀπʼ Ἀθηναίων Διόσκουροι καὶ Ζεὺς καὶ Ἀπόλλων τε καὶ Ἄρτεμις, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς Ποσειδῶν τε καὶ Λύσανδρος ὁ Ἀριστοκρίτου στεφανούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, Ἀγίας τε ὃς τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ τότε ἐμαντεύετο καὶ Ἕρμων ὁ τὴν ναῦν τοῦ Λυσάνδρου τὴν στρατηγίδα κυβερνῶν.
Opposite these are the offerings of the Lacedaemonians from the Athenians: the Dioscuri, Zeus, Apollo, and Artemis, and in addition to them Poseidon, and Lysander, the son of Aristocritus, being crowned by Poseidon, and Agias, who was then acting as seer for Lysander, and Hermon, who steered the flagship of Lysander.
§10.9.8τοῦτον μὲν δὴ τὸν Ἕρμωνα Θεόκοσμος ποιήσειν ἔμελλεν ὁ Μεγαρεὺς ἅτε ὑπὸ τῶν Μεγαρέων ἐγγραφέντα ἐς τὴν πολιτείαν· οἱ δὲ Διόσκουροι Ἀντιφάνους εἰσὶν Ἀργείου καὶ ὁ μάντις τέχνη Πίσωνος ἐκ Καλαυρείας τῆς Τροιζηνίων· Ἀθηνόδωρος δὲ καὶ Δαμέας, ὁ μὲν τὴν Ἄρτεμίν τε καὶ Ποσειδῶνα εἰργάσατο, ἔτι δὲ τὸν Λύσανδρον, Ἀθηνόδωρος δὲ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἐποίησε καὶ τὸν Δία·
This Hermon, Theocosmus of Megara was going to make, inasmuch as he had been registered in the citizenship by the Megarians; and the Dioscuri are by Antiphanes of Argos, and the seer is the work of Pison from Calauria in the territory of Troezen; and of Athenodorus and Dameas, the latter made Artemis and Poseidon, and also Lysander, while Athenodorus made Apollo and Zeus.
§10.9.9οὗτοι δὲ Ἀρκάδες εἰσὶν ἐκ Κλείτορος.
These are Arcadians from Cleitor.
ἀνάκεινται δὲ καὶ ὄπισθεν τῶν κατειλεγμένων ὅσοι συγκατειργάσαντο τῷ Λυσάνδρῳ τὰ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ἢ αὐτῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ἢ τῶν συμμαχησάντων, εἰσὶ δὲ οἵδε· Ἄρακος μὲν καὶ Ἐριάνθης, ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος, ὁ δὲ Ἐριάνθης Βοιώτιος ὑπὲρ τοῦ Μίμαντος, ἐντεῦθεν μὲν Ἀστυκράτης, Χῖοι δὲ Κηφισοκλῆς καὶ Ἑρμόφαντός τε καὶ Ἱκέσιος, Τίμαρχος δὲ καὶ Διαγόρας Ῥόδιοι, Κνίδιος δὲ Θεόδαμος, ἐκ δὲ Ἐφέσου Κιμμέριος, καὶ Μιλήσιος Αἰαντίδης.
And there are dedicated also behind those already catalogued as many as helped Lysander in the business at Aegospotami, whether Spartans themselves or of the allies, and they are these: Aracus and Erianthes, the former of them from Lacedaemon, and Erianthes a Boeotian; beyond Mimas, from there Astycrates; and Chians, Cephisocles, Hermophantus, and Hicesius; and Timarchus and Diagoras, Rhodians; and Theodamus of Cnidus; and Cimmerius from Ephesus; and Aiantides of Miletus.
§10.9.10τούτους μὲν δὴ ἐποίησε Τίσανδρος, τοὺς δὲ ἐφεξῆς Ἄλυπος Σικυώνιος, Θεόπομπον Μύνδιον καὶ Κλεομήδην Σάμιον καὶ ἐξ Εὐβοίας Ἀριστοκλέα τε Καρύστιον καὶ Αὐτόνομον Ἐρετριέα καὶ Ἀριστόφαντον Κορίνθιον καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον Τροιζήνιον καὶ ἐξ Ἐπιδαύρου Δίωνα τῆς ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι.
These indeed Tisander made; and those next in order, Alypus of Sicyon made: Theopompus of Myndus, Cleomedes of Samos, and from Euboea, Aristocles of Carystus and Autonomus of Eretria, Aristophantus of Corinth, Apollodorus of Troezen, and from Epidaurus, Dion of Epidaurus in Argolis.
ἐχόμενοι δὲ τούτων Ἀξιόνικός ἐστιν Ἀχαιὸς ἐκ Πελλήνης, ἐκ δὲ Ἑρμιόνος Θεάρης, καὶ Φωκεύς τε Πυρρίας καὶ Κώμων Μεγαρεὺς καὶ Ἀγασιμένης Σικυώνιος, ἐκ δὲ Ἀμβρακίας καὶ Κορίνθου τε καὶ Λευκάδος Τηλυκράτης καὶ Πυθόδοτος Κορίνθιος καὶ Ἀμβρακιώτης Εὐαντίδας· τελευτᾷ δὲ Ἐπικυδίδας καὶ Ἐτεόνικος οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι· Πατροκλέους δὲ καὶ Κανάχου φασὶν ἔργα.
Next to these are Axionicus, an Achaean from Pellene, Theares from Hermione, Pyrrias a Phocian, Comon of Megara, Agasimenes of Sicyon; and from Ambracia, Corinth, and Leucas: Telycrates, Pythodotus of Corinth, and Euantidas of Ambracia; and at the end are Epicydidas and Eteonicus, the Lacedaemonians; they say these are the works of Patrocles and Canachus.
§10.9.11τὴν δὲ πληγὴν Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς οὐ μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου συμβῆναί σφισιν ὁμολογοῦσι· προδοθῆναι γὰρ ἐπὶ χρήμασιν ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγησάντων, Τυδέα δὲ εἶναι καὶ Ἀδείμαντον οἳ τὰ δῶρα ἐδέξαντο παρὰ Λυσάνδρου.
And the Athenians admit that the disaster at Aegospotami did not happen to them with justice; for they say they were betrayed for money by their generals, and that Tydeus and Adeimantus were those who received the bribes from Lysander.
καὶ ἐς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ λόγου Σιβύλλης παρέχονται τὸν χρησμόν· " καὶ τότʼ Ἀθηναίοισι βαρύστονα κήδεα θήσει Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης, οὗπερ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον, νηυσὶ φερεπτολέμοισι μάχην καὶ δηιοτῆτα ὀλλυμέναις δολεροῖσι τρόποις, κακότητι νομήων. " τὰ δὲ ἕτερα ἐκ Μουσαίου χρησμῶν μνημονεύουσι· " καὶ γὰρ Ἀθηναίοισιν ἐπέρχεται ἄγριος ὄμβρος ἡγεμόνων κακότητι, παραιφασίη δέ τις ἔσται ἥττης· οὐ λήσουσι πόλιν, τίσουσι δὲ ποινήν. " §10.9.12ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω· τὸν δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς καλουμένης Θυρέας Λακεδαιμονίων ἀγῶνα καὶ Ἀργείων, Σίβυλλα μὲν καὶ τοῦτον προεθέσπισεν ὡς συμβήσοιτο ἐξ ἴσου ταῖς πόλεσιν, Ἀργεῖοι δὲ ἀξιοῦντες ἐσχηκέναι πλέον ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ χαλκοῦν ἵππον—τὸν δούρειον δῆθεν—ἀπέστειλαν ἐς Δελφούς· τὸ δὲ ἔργον Ἀντιφάνους ἐστὶν Ἀργείου.
And in proof of this statement they bring forward the oracle of the Sibyl: "And then upon the Athenians heavy-sighing cares will place Zeus the high-thundering, whose power is greatest, war and strife upon the war-bearing ships as they perish by treacherous means, through the wickedness of the shepherds." And they mention other verses from the oracles of Musaeus: "For indeed upon the Athenians is coming a wild storm through the wickedness of their leaders, but there will be some consolation for the defeat; they will not escape the notice of the city, and they will pay the penalty." So much indeed let be said of these things; as for the contest of the Lacedaemonians and Argives over the land called Thyrea, the Sibyl indeed foretold this also, that it would turn out equally for both cities, but the Argives, claiming to have had the advantage in the action, sent to Delphi a bronze horse—the wooden one, supposedly—and the work is by Antiphanes of Argos.

Notes

  1. §10.9.7ἀπαντικρὺ τούτων — Referring to "opposite these (the Tegean offerings)," indicating the spatial arrangement between the Tegean monument from the previous section and the Spartan (Lacedaemonian) Aegospotami monument starting in this section.
  2. §10.9.8ὁ μὲν... Ἀθηνόδωρος δὲ — A contrast is made between "ὁ μὲν" and "Ἀθηνόδωρος δὲ". After the subjects "Athenodorus and Dameas" are introduced together, "ὁ μὲν" refers to Dameas, while the other, Athenodorus, is explicitly named.
  3. §10.9.9τὰ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς — A substantivized phrase meaning "the affairs (or battle) at Aegospotami." The neuter plural article "τὰ" combined with the prepositional phrase "ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς" refers to the decisive Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC during the Peloponnesian War.
  4. §10.9.11κακότητι νομήων — Meaning "through the wickedness of the shepherds (leaders)." This is a poetic and oracular metaphor referring to the leaders of the state or military as "shepherds" (νομεῖς), and in this context, it refers to the betrayal of the Athenian generals that led to their defeat.
  5. §10.9.12τὸν δούρειον δῆθεν — Meaning "the so-called wooden horse." The particle "δῆθεν" (supposedly, so-called) expresses a slightly reserved or skeptical nuance from Pausanias regarding the Argives' claim that their bronze horse represented the famous Trojan Horse (δούρειος ἵππος).

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §10.9.7-10.9.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:10.9.7-10.9.12

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