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Pausanias · Description of Greece §2.29.1-2.29.5

Temples of Epidaurus and History of Aegina

Passage 87 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author describes the temples and statues, such as those of Asclepius, in the city of Epidaurus, and then recounts the mythological origin of the island of Aegina, the lineage of Aeacus, and the subsequent history of the Aeginetans.

§2.29.1αὐτὴ δὲ τῶν Ἐπιδαυρίων ἡ πόλις παρείχετο ἐς μνήμην τάδε ἀξιολογώτατα· τέμενος δή ἐστιν Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ ἀγάλματα ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸς καὶ Ἠπιόνη, γυναῖκα δὲ εἶναι τὴν Ἠπιόνην Ἀσκληπιοῦ φασι· ταῦτά ἐστιν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ λίθου Παρίου.
The city of the Epidaurians itself offered the following most remarkable things for record: there is a sanctuary of Asclepius and statues of the god himself and of Epione, and they say Epione is the wife of Asclepius; these are in the open air, made of Parian stone.
ναοὶ δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ Διονύσου καὶ Ἀρτέμιδός ἐστιν ἄλσος· εἰκάσαις ἂν θηρευούσῃ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν.
There are temples in the city of Dionysus, and a grove of Artemis; you might liken Artemis to one hunting.
Ἀφροδίτης τε ἱερὸν πεποίηται· τὸ δὲ πρὸς τῷ λιμένι ἐπὶ ἄκρας ἀνεχούσης ἐς θάλασσαν λέγουσιν Ἥρας εἶναι.
A sanctuary of Aphrodite has also been built; and the one near the harbor, on a cape stretching out into the sea, they say is of Hera.
τὴν δὲ Ἀθηνᾶν ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει, ξόανον θέας ἄξιον, Κισσαίαν ἐπονομάζουσιν.
Athena on the acropolis, a wooden image worth seeing, they surname Cissaea.
§2.29.2Αἰγινῆται δὲ οἰκοῦσιν ἔχοντες τὴν νῆσον ἀπαντικρὺ τῆς Ἐπιδαυρίας.
The Aeginetans inhabit the island opposite the territory of Epidaurus.
ἀνθρώπους δʼ οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς λέγουσιν ἐν αὐτῇ γενέσθαι· Διὸς δὲ ἐς ἔρημον κομίσαντος Αἴγιναν τὴν Ἀσωποῦ τῇ μὲν τὸ ὄνομα ἐτέθη τοῦτο ἀντὶ Οἰνώνης, Αἰακοῦ δὲ αἰτήσαντος ὡς ηὐξήθη παρὰ Διὸς οἰκήτορας, οὕτω οἱ τὸν Δία ἀνεῖναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους φασὶν ἐκ τῆς γῆς.
They say that from the beginning there were no men in it; but when Zeus brought Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, to the desert island, this name was given to it instead of Oenone, and when Aeacus had grown up and asked Zeus for inhabitants, they say that Zeus thus sent up the men from the earth for him.
βασιλεύσαντα δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ πλὴν Αἰακὸν οὐδένα εἰπεῖν ἔχουσιν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τῶν Αἰακοῦ παίδων τινὰ ἴσμεν καταμείναντα, Πηλεῖ μὲν συμβὰν καὶ Τελαμῶνι ἐπὶ φόνῳ φεύγειν τῷ Φώκου, τῶν δὲ αὖ Φώκου παίδων περὶ τὸν Παρνασσὸν οἰκησάντων ἐν τῇ νῦν καλουμένῃ Φωκίδι.
They cannot name any other who ruled as king in the land except Aeacus, since we know that not even any of the children of Aeacus remained there, it having happened to Peleus and Telamon to flee on account of the murder of Phocus, while the children of Phocus in turn settled around Parnassus in what is now called Phocis.
§2.29.3τὸ δὲ ὄνομα προϋπῆρχεν ἤδη τῇ χώρᾳ, Φώκου τοῦ Ὀρνυτίωνος γενεᾷ πρότερον ἐς αὐτὴν ἐλθόντος.
But the name was already beforehand in the land, since Phocus, the son of Ornytion, had come to it a generation earlier.
ἐπὶ μὲν δὴ Φώκου τούτου ἡ περὶ Τιθορέαν τε καὶ Παρνασσὸν ἐκαλεῖτο Φωκίς· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Αἰακοῦ καὶ πᾶσιν ἐξενίκησεν, ὅσοι Μινύαις τέ εἰσιν Ὀρχομενίοις ὅμοροι καὶ ἐπὶ Σκάρφειαν τὴν Λοκρῶν καθήκουσι.
In the time of this Phocus, the region around Tithorea and Parnassus was called Phocis; but in the time of the son of Aeacus, the name prevailed over all who are neighbors to the Minyans of Orchomenus and reach down to Scarphea of the Locrians.
§2.29.4γεγόνασι δὲ ἀπὸ μὲν Πηλέως οἱ ἐν Ἠπείρῳ βασιλεῖς, Τελαμῶνος δὲ τῶν παίδων Αἴαντος μέν ἐστιν ἀφανέστερον γένος οἷα ἰδιωτεύσαντος ἀνθρώπου, πλὴν ὅσον Μιλτιάδης, ὃς Ἀθηναίοις ἐς Μαραθῶνα ἡγήσατο, καὶ Κίμων ὁ Μιλτιάδου προῆλθον ἐς δόξαν· οἱ δὲ Τευκρίδαι βασιλεῖς διέμειναν Κυπρίων ἄρχοντες ἐς Εὐαγόραν.
From Peleus arose the kings in Epirus, and of the children of Telamon, the family of Ajax is more obscure, as he lived as a private man, except in so far as Miltiades, who led the Athenians to Marathon, and Cimon the son of Miltiades rose to glory; but the descendants of Teucer remained ruling over the Cyprians as kings down to Evagoras.
Φώκῳ δὲ Ἄσιος ὁ τὰ ἔπη ποιήσας γενέσθαι φησὶ Πανοπέα καὶ Κρῖσον· καὶ Πανοπέως μὲν ἐγένετο Ἐπειὸς ὁ τὸν ἵππον τὸν δούρειον, ὡς Ὅμηρος ἐποίησεν, ἐργασάμενος, Κρίσου δὲ ἦν ἀπόγονος τρίτος Πυλάδης, Στροφίου τε ὢν τοῦ Κρίσου καὶ Ἀναξιβίας ἀδελφῆς Ἀγαμέμνονος.
Asius, the epic poet, says that Panopeus and Crisus were born to Phocus; and of Panopeus was born Epeius, who made the wooden horse, as Homer represented, and Pylades was the third descendant of Crisus, being the son of Strophius, the son of Crisus, and of Anaxibia, the sister of Agamemnon.
γένη μὲν τοσαῦτα τῶν καλουμένων Αἰακιδῶν, ἐξεχώρησε δὲ ἑτέρωσε ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς.
Such are the families of those called the Aeacidae, but they departed elsewhere from the beginning.
§2.29.5χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον μοῖρα Ἀργείων τῶν Ἐπίδαυρον ὁμοῦ Δηιφόντῃ κατασχόντων, διαβᾶσα ἐς Αἴγιναν καὶ Αἰγινήταις τοῖς ἀρχαίοις γενόμενοι σύνοικοι, τὰ Δωριέων ἔθη καὶ φωνὴν κατεστήσαντο ἐν τῇ νήσῳ.
But at a later time, a portion of the Argives who had seized Epidaurus together with Deiphontes, having crossed over to Aegina and become co-dwellers with the ancient Aeginetans, established the customs and speech of the Dorians in the island.
προελθοῦσι δὲ Αἰγινήταις ἐς μέγα δυνάμεως, ὡς Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι ναυσὶν ἐπικρατεστέρους καὶ ἐν τῷ Μηδικῷ πολέμῳ παρασχέσθαι πλοῖα μετά γε Ἀθηναίους πλεῖστα, οὐ παρέμεινεν ἐς ἅπαν ἡ εὐδαιμονία, γενόμενοι δὲ ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἀνάστατοι Θυρέαν τὴν ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι Λακεδαιμονίων δόντων ᾤκησαν.
When the Aeginetans had advanced to great power, so as to become superior to the Athenians in ships, and in the Persian war to furnish the greatest number of vessels after the Athenians, their prosperity did not remain to the end, but having been expelled by the Athenians, they inhabited Thyrea in Argolis, which the Lacedaemonians gave to them.
καὶ ἀπέλαβον μὲν τὴν νῆσον, ὅτε περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον αἱ Ἀθηναίων τριήρεις ἐλήφθησαν, πλούτου δὲ ἢ δυνάμεως οὐκέτι ἐξεγένετο ἐς ἴσον προελθεῖν σφισιν.
And they recovered the island when the Athenian triremes were captured at the Hellespont, but it was no longer possible for them to advance to an equal level of wealth or power.

Notes

  1. 2.29.1εἰκάσαις ἂν — Optative with ἄν (potential). Here it means 'you might liken/conjecture', suggesting that the statue of Artemis appeared to be in the posture of hunting.
  2. 2.29.2συμβὰν — The neuter accusative singular present participle of the impersonal verb συμβαίνει, acting as an accusative absolute. It functions to express a reason ('it having happened that...'), with its logical subject being the following infinitive clause.
  3. 2.29.2οἱ — The dative of the third-person pronoun (here singular masculine referring to Aeacus), used as a dative of advantage ('for him').
  4. 2.29.4ἀπόγονος τρίτος — Literally 'third descendant.' According to Greek inclusive reckoning, starting from Crisus, the first generation is the son (Strophius), and the second is the grandson (Pylades). Thus, it refers to Pylades as the grandson of Crisus.
  5. 2.29.5προελθοῦσι δὲ Αἰγινήταις — A dative absolute or dative of reference, meaning 'when the Aeginetans had advanced (to great power)'. It acts as the indirect object of reference for the main verb 'did not remain' (οὐ παρέμεινεν).

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §2.29.1-2.29.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.29.1-2.29.5

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