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Pausanias · Description of Greece §2.31.6-2.31.10

The Temple of Apollo and the Tent of Orestes

Passage 92 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes the ancient temple of Apollo Thearios in Troezen, the statues commemorating Athenian refugees, the "Tent of Orestes" where Orestes was purified, along with legends of the Horse's Fountain (Hippocrene) and various sacred objects including Hermes Polygius and the miraculously growing wild olive.

§2.31.6τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τοῦ Θεαρίου κατασκευάσαι μὲν Πιτθέα ἔφασαν, ἔστι δὲ ὧν οἶδα παλαιότατον.
The sanctuary of Apollo Thearios, they said, Pittheus constructed, and it is the oldest of those I know.
ἀρχαῖος μὲν οὖν καὶ Φωκαεῦσι τοῖς ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς, ὃν Ἅρπαγός ποτε ὁ Μῆδος ἐνέπρησεν, ἀρχαῖος δὲ καὶ Σαμίοις Ἀπόλλωνος Πυθίου· πλὴν πολύ γε ὕστερον τοῦ παρὰ Τροιζηνίοις ἐποιήθησαν.
Now, there is also an ancient temple of Athena for the Phocaeans in Ionia, which Harpagus the Mede once burned, and an ancient one of Pythian Apollo for the Samians; except that they were built much later than the one among the Troezenians.
ἄγαλμα δέ ἐστι τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἀνάθημα Αὐλίσκου, τέχνη δὲ Ἕρμωνος Τροιζηνίου· τοῦ δὲ Ἕρμωνος τούτου καὶ τὰ τῶν Διοσκούρων ξόανά ἐστι.
The image in our time is an offering of Auliscus, and the work is of Hermon of Troezen; and of this Hermon are also the wooden images of the Dioscuri.
§2.31.7κεῖνται δὲ ἐν στοᾷ τῆς ἀγορᾶς γυναῖκες λίθου καὶ αὐταὶ καὶ οἱ παῖδες.
And there stand in a portico of the marketplace women of stone, both themselves and their children.
εἰσὶ δὲ ἃς Ἀθηναῖοι Τροιζηνίοις γυναῖκας καὶ τέκνα ἔδωκαν σώζειν, ἐκλιπεῖν σφισιν ἀρέσαν τὴν πόλιν μηδὲ στρατῷ πεζῷ τὸν Μῆδον ἐπιόντα ὑπομεῖναι.
These are the women and children whom the Athenians gave to the Troezenians to keep safe, when they decided to abandon the city and not to await the Mede advancing with an army on foot.
λέγονται δὲ οὐ πασῶν τῶν γυναικῶν—οὐ γὰρ δὴ πολλαί τινες ἐκεῖναι—, ὁπόσαι δὲ ἀξιώματι προεῖχον, τούτων εἰκόνας ἀναθεῖναι μόνων.
But they say that these are not of all the women—for they were not indeed very many—but that they dedicated images only of those who excelled in dignity.
§2.31.8τοῦ δὲ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνός ἐστιν οἰκοδόμημα ἔμπροσθεν, Ὀρέστου καλούμενον σκηνή.
In front of the temple of Apollo there is a building, called the Tent of Orestes.
πρὶν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ αἵματι καθαρθῆναι τῆς μητρός, Τροιζηνίων οὐδεὶς πρότερον ἤθελεν αὐτὸν οἴκῳ δέξασθαι· καθίσαντες δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἐκάθαιρον καὶ εἱστίων, ἐς ὃ ἀφήγνισαν.
For before he was purified from the blood of his mother, no one of the Troezenians was willing to receive him into his house; but having seated him here they purified him and feasted him, until they cleansed him.
καὶ νῦν ἔτι οἱ ἀπόγονοι τῶν καθηράντων ἐνταῦθα δειπνοῦσιν ἐν ἡμέραις ῥηταῖς.
And even now, the descendants of those who purified him dine here on specified days.
κατορυχθέντων δὲ ὀλίγον ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς τῶν καθαρσίων φασὶν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἀναφῦναι δάφνην, ἣ δὴ καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔστιν, ἡ πρὸ τῆς σκηνῆς ταύτης.
And when the purifications were buried a little way from the tent, they say that from them grew a laurel tree, which indeed still exists in our day, the one in front of this tent.
§2.31.9καθῆραι δέ φασιν Ὀρέστην καθαρσίοις καὶ ἄλλοις καὶ ὕδατι τῷ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἵππου κρήνης.
And they say they purified Orestes with other purifications and with the water from the fountain of the Horse.
ἔστι γὰρ καὶ Τροιζηνίοις Ἵππου καλουμένη κρήνη, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐς αὐτὴν διαφόρως τῷ Βοιωτῶν ἔχει·
For the Troezenians also have a fountain called of the Horse, and the story concerning it is different from that of the Boeotians.
Πηγάσῳ γὰρ τῷ ἵππῳ καὶ οὗτοι λέγουσι τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνεῖναι τὴν γῆν θιγόντι τοῦ ἐδάφους τῇ ὁπλῇ, Βελλεροφόντην δὲ ἐλθεῖν ἐς Τροιζῆνα γυναῖκα αἰτήσοντα Αἴθραν παρὰ Πιτθέως, πρὶν δὲ γῆμαι συμβῆναί οἱ φυγεῖν ἐκ Κορίνθου.
For these too say that the earth sent up the water when the horse Pegasus touched the ground with his hoof, and that Bellerophon came to Troezen to ask Pittheus for his daughter Aethra, but before the marriage occurred, it happened that he fled from Corinth.
§2.31.10καὶ Ἑρμῆς ἐνταῦθά ἐστι Πολύγιος καλούμενος.
And Hermes is here, called Polygius.
πρὸς τούτῳ τῷ ἀγάλματι τὸ ῥόπαλον θεῖναί φασιν Ἡρακλέα· καὶ—ἦν γὰρ κοτίνου—τοῦτο μὲν ὅτῳ πιστὰ ἐνέφυ τῇ γῇ καὶ ἀνεβλάστησεν αὖθις καὶ ἔστιν ὁ κότινος πεφυκὼς ἔτι, τὸν δὲ Ἡρακλέα λέγουσιν ἀνευρόντα τὸν πρὸς τῇ Σαρωνίδι κότινον ἀπὸ τούτου τεμεῖν ῥόπαλον.
At this image, they say Heracles placed his club; and—for it was of wild olive—this indeed, to whomsoever it is credible, took root in the earth and sprouted again, and the wild olive tree is still growing. And they say that Heracles, having found the wild olive by the Saronis, cut his club from it.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Διὸς ἱερὸν ἐπίκλησιν Σωτῆρος· ποιῆσαι δὲ αὐτὸ βασιλεύοντα Ἀέτιον τὸν Ἄνθα λέγουσιν.
There is also a sanctuary of Zeus surnamed Saviour; they say that Aetius, the son of Anthas, built it when he was king.
ὕδωρ δὲ ὀνομάζουσι Χρυσορόαν· αὐχμοῦ δὲ ἐπὶ ἔτη συμβάντος σφίσιν ἐννέα, ἐν οἷς οὐχ ὗεν ὁ θεός, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἀναξηρανθῆναί φασιν ὕδατα, τὸν δὲ Χρυσορόαν τοῦτον καὶ τότε ὁμοίως διαμεῖναι ῥέοντα.
And they name the water Chrysorrhoas; and when a drought befell them for nine years, during which the god did not rain, they say that the other waters were dried up, but this Chrysorrhoas even then continued to flow in like manner.

Notes

  1. 2.31.6ἔστι δὲ ὧν οἶδα παλαιότατον — The relative pronoun ὧν is either attracted to the genitive of the omitted antecedent in the main clause (ἐκείνων τῶν ἱερῶν) or functions as a partitive genitive ("of those which I know").
  2. 2.31.7ἐκλιπεῖν σφισιν ἀρέσαν — ἀρέσαν is the neuter singular participle of the impersonal verb ἀρέσκει, functioning as an accusative absolute ("since it was pleasing/decided for them"). It governs the infinitives ἐκλιπεῖν and ὑπομεῖναι.
  3. 2.31.10ὅτῳ πιστά — ὅτῳ is the dative of the relative pronoun, functioning as a dative of reference or relation ("for whomsoever it is credible"), subtly expressing the author's reservation regarding the truth of the miracle.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §2.31.6-2.31.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.31.6-2.31.10

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