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Pausanias · Description of Greece §4.34.1-4.34.6

The Pamisus River and the Temples of Corone

Passage 179 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author describes the characteristics of the Pamisus River and its migratory fish, contrasting it with dangerous foreign rivers, and then details the town of Corone, its founding, the sanctuary of Ino, and various temples.

§4.34.1ἐκ δὲ Μεσσήνης ὑπὸ τοῦ Παμίσου τὸ στόμα ὁδὸς μὲν σταδίων ἐστὶν ὀγδοήκοντα, ῥεῖ δὲ ὁ Πάμισος διά τε ἀρουμένης καὶ καθαρὸς καὶ ἀναπλεῖται ναυσὶν ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐπὶ δέκα που σταδίους·
From Messene to the mouth of the Pamisus, there is a road of eighty stades; the Pamisus flows through tilled land and is clear, and is navigable by ships from the sea for about ten stades.
ἀναθέουσι δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν καὶ οἱ θαλάσσιοι τῶν ἰχθύων περὶ ὥραν μάλιστα τοῦ ἦρος.
The sea fish also run up into it, especially around the season of spring.
τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ ἐς Ῥῆνόν τε καὶ ἐς τὸν Μαίανδρον ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἰχθῦς· μάλιστα δὲ ἀνὰ τὸ ῥεῦμα τὸ Ἀχελῴου νήχονται τοῦ ἐκδιδόντος κατὰ νήσους τὰς Ἐχινάδας.
The fish do the same also in the Rhine and the Maeander; but they swim especially up the stream of the Achelous, which empties opposite the Echinades islands.
§4.34.2διάφοροι δὲ τὸ εἶδος μάλιστα ἰχθῦς ἀναθέουσιν ἐς τὸν Πάμισον ἅτε ἐς ὕδωρ καθαρὸν καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς κατειλεγμένοις ποταμοῖς ἰλυῶδες· οἱ κέφαλοι δέ, ἅτε ἰχθύων ὄντες τῶν πηλαίων, ποταμῶν φίλοι τῶν θολερωτέρων εἰσί.
Fish of very diverse kinds run up into the Pamisus, as it has clear water and is not muddy in the same way as the rivers already mentioned; but the mullets, being muddy fish, are friends of the more turbid rivers.
θηρία δὲ ἐς ὄλεθρον ἀνθρώπων οὐ πεφύκασιν οἱ Ἑλλήνων ποταμοὶ φέρειν, καθάπερ γε Ἰνδὸς καὶ Νεῖλος ὁ Αἰγύπτιος, ἔτι δὲ Ῥῆνος καὶ Ἴστρος Εὐφράτης τε καὶ Φᾶσις· οὗτοι γὰρ δὴ θηρία ὅμοια τοῖς μάλιστα ἀνδροφάγα αὔξουσι, ταῖς ἐν Ἕρμῳ καὶ Μαιάνδρῳ γλάνισιν ἐοικότα ἰδέας πλὴν χρόας τε μελαντέρας καὶ ἀλκῆς· ταῦτα δὲ αἱ γλάνεις ἀποδέουσιν.
The rivers of the Greeks are not by nature designed to breed wild beasts for the destruction of men, as indeed are the Indus and the Egyptian Nile, and furthermore the Rhine, the Ister, the Euphrates, and the Phasis; for these indeed breed wild beasts most like to man-eaters, resembling in form the catfish in the Hermus and the Maeander, except for a darker color and strength; and in these things the catfish are lacking.
§4.34.3ὁ δὲ Ἰνδὸς καὶ ὁ Νεῖλος κροκοδείλους μὲν ἀμφότεροι, Νεῖλος δὲ παρέχεται καὶ ἵππους, οὐκ ἔλασσον ἢ ὁ κροκόδειλος κακὸν ἀνθρώποις.
The Indus and the Nile both produce crocodiles, and the Nile also provides river-horses, a pest to men no less than the crocodile.
οἱ δὲ Ἑλλήνων ποταμοὶ δείματα ὡς ἀπὸ θηρίων εἰσὶν οὐδέν, ἐπεὶ καὶ Ἀώῳ τῷ διὰ τῆς Θεσπρωτίδος ῥέοντι ἠπείρου θηρία οὐ ποτάμια οἱ κύνες, ἀλλὰ ἐπήλυδές εἰσιν ἐκ θαλάσσης.
But the rivers of the Greeks present no terrors as from wild beasts, since even in the Aous, which flows through Thesprotis, the 'dogs', which are called beasts of the mainland, are not river creatures but invaders from the sea.
§4.34.4Κορώνη δέ ἐστι πόλις ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Παμίσου πρὸς θαλάσσῃ τε καὶ ὑπὸ τῷ ὄρει τῇ Μαθίᾳ.
Corone is a city on the right of the Pamisus, near the sea and under Mount Mathia.
κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ταύτην ἐστὶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ χωρίον, ὃ Ἰνοῦς ἱερὸν εἶναι νομίζουσιν· ἐπαναβῆναι γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἐκ θαλάσσης φασὶν αὐτὴν θεόν τε ἤδη νομιζομένην καὶ Λευκοθέαν καλουμένην ἀντὶ Ἰνοῦς.
Along this road on the seashore is a place which they believe to be a sanctuary of Ino; for they say she came up here from the sea when she was already considered a goddess and called Leucothea instead of Ino.
προελθόντων δὲ οὐ πολὺ Βίας ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς θάλασσαν ποταμός· γενέσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ λέγουσι τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ Βίαντος τοῦ Ἀμυθάονος.
Not far after one has gone forward, the river Bias empties into the sea; they say it got its name from Bias, the son of Amythaon.
καὶ Πλατανιστῶνος δὲ ἡ πηγὴ στάδια μὲν εἴκοσίν ἐστιν ἀπωτέρω τῆς ὁδοῦ, ῥεῖ δὲ ἐκ πλατάνου τὸ ὕδωρ πλατείας καὶ τὰ ἐντὸς κοίλης· κατὰ σπήλαιον μάλιστά που μικρὸν τὸ εὖρός ἐστι τοῦ δένδρου, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ αὐτόθεν ἐς Κορώνην τὸ πότιμον κάτεισι.
The spring of Plataniston is twenty stades further from the road, and the water flows out of a broad plane tree, which is hollow inside; the width of the tree is about that of a small cave, and the potable water goes down from there to Corone.
§4.34.5τὸ μὲν δὴ ὄνομα τὸ ἀρχαῖον εἶχεν Αἴπεια· ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑπὸ Θηβαίων κατήχθησαν ἐς Πελοπόννησον, Ἐπιμηλίδην φασὶν ἀποσταλέντα οἰκιστὴν καλέσαι Κορώνειαν, εἶναι γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐκ Κορωνείας τῆς Βοιωτῶν, τοὺς δὲ Μεσσηνίους ἐξ ἀρχῆς τε οὐ κατορθοῦν περὶ τὸ ὄνομα καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτι ἀνὰ χρόνον ἐκνικῆσαι τὸ ἐκείνων ἁμάρτημα.
Now the ancient name it had was Aipeia; but when they were brought back to the Peloponnese by the Thebans, they say that Epimelides, who was sent as founder, called it Coroneia, because he himself was from Coroneia in Boeotia, and that the Messenians from the beginning did not get the name right, and even more as time went on, their mistake prevailed.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἕτερος λόγος, ὡς τοῦ τείχους τὰ θεμέλια ὀρύσσοντες ἐπιτύχοιεν κορώνῃ χαλκῇ.
Another story is also told, that when they were digging the foundations of the wall, they hit upon a bronze crow.
§4.34.6θεῶν δέ ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα Ἀρτέμιδός τε καλουμένης Παιδοτρόφου καὶ Διονύσου καὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ναός· τῷ μὲν δὴ Ἀσκληπιῷ καὶ Διονύσῳ λίθου, Διὸς δὲ Σωτῆρος χαλκοῦν ἄγαλμα ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς πεποίηται.
There are temples here of Artemis called Paidotrophos, of Dionysus, and of Asclepius; the statues of Asclepius and Dionysus are made of stone, and a bronze statue of Zeus Soter has been made in the marketplace.
χαλκοῦν δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀκροπόλει τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὸ ἄγαλμά ἐστιν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ, κορώνην ἐν τῇ χειρὶ ἔχουσα.
The statue of Athena on the acropolis is also of bronze, in the open air, holding a crow in her hand.
εἶδον δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἐπιμηλίδου μνῆμα· ἐφʼ ὅτῳ δὲ τὸν λιμένα Ἀχαιῶν καλοῦσιν, οὐκ οἶδα.
I also saw the tomb of Epimelides; but why they call the harbor the Harbor of the Achaeans, I do not know.

Notes

  1. §4.34.2ταῦτα δὲ αἱ γλάνεις ἀποδέουσιν. — ταῦτα is an accusative of respect (referring to the darker color and strength mentioned earlier: χρόας τε μελαντέρας καὶ ἀλκῆς). The verb ἀποδέουσιν means 'to fall short' or 'lack' in these aspects.
  2. §4.34.3οἱ κύνες — Literally 'the dogs', here used metaphorically to refer to marine predatory beasts (such as sharks or seals) entering the river. It functions as the subject of the clause, while ἠπείρου θηρία ('beasts of the mainland') is in apposition or used predicatively.
  3. §4.34.5τοὺς δὲ Μεσσηνίους ἐξ ἀρχῆς τε οὐ κατορθοῦν περὶ τὸ ὄνομα — An infinitive construction in indirect discourse depending on φασίν from the preceding sentence. The subject is the accusative τοὺς δὲ Μεσσηνίους. It means that the Messenians failed to get the name right (either in pronunciation or in keeping it).
  4. §4.34.5μᾶλλον ἔτι ἀνὰ χρόνον ἐκνικῆσαι τὸ ἐκείνων ἁμάρτημα. — Also an infinitive depending on φασίν. The subject is τὸ ἐκείνων ἁμάρτημα ('their mistake'). The verb ἐκνικῆσαι means 'to prevail' or 'win out', indicating that their incorrect usage ultimately became established.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §4.34.1-4.34.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.34.1-4.34.6

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