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Pausanias · Description of Greece §5.27.7-5.27.12

Statues of Phormis and the Hermes of Pheneus

Passage 224 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes various dedications at Olympia, including the statues of Phormis, the Hermes of Pheneus, a bronze bull with a tragic story of accidental death, and the dedication of the Mendaeans.

§5.27.7τάδε μὲν ἐς τοσοῦτο ἡμῖν δεδηλώσθω·
Let these matters be explained by us to this extent.
ἔστι δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀναθήμασι τούτοις καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Φόρμις ἀνδρὶ ἀνθεστηκὼς πολεμίῳ, καὶ ἐφεξῆς ἑτέρῳ καὶ τρίτῳ γε αὖθις μάχεται.
Among these dedications, there is also Phormis himself standing against an enemy man, and next he fights with a second, and again with a third.
γέγραπται δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸν στρατιώτην μὲν τὸν μαχόμενον Φόρμιν εἶναι τὸν Μαινάλιον, τὸν δὲ ἀναθέντα Συρακόσιον Λυκόρταν· δῆλα δὲ ὡς οὗτος ὁ Λυκόρτας κατὰ φιλίαν ἀναθείη τοῦ Φόρμιδος.
It is written upon them that the fighting soldier is Phormis the Maenalian, and the dedicator is Lycortas the Syracusan; and it is clear that this Lycortas made the dedication because of his friendship for Phormis.
τὰ δὲ ἀναθήματα τοῦ Λυκόρτα καλεῖται Φόρμιδος καὶ ταῦτα ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων.
These dedications of Lycortas are also called those of Phormis by the Greeks.
§5.27.8ὁ δὲ Ἑρμῆς ὁ τὸν κριὸν φέρων ὑπὸ τῇ μασχάλῃ καὶ ἐπικείμενος τῇ κεφαλῇ κυνῆν καὶ χιτῶνά τε καὶ χλαμύδα ἐνδεδυκὼς οὐ τῶν Φόρμιδος ἔτι ἀναθημάτων ἐστίν, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἀρκάδων τῶν ἐκ Φενεοῦ δέδοται τῷ θεῷ·
The Hermes carrying the ram under his armpit, wearing a helmet on his head, and clad in a tunic and a cloak, is no longer among the dedications of Phormis, but has been given to the god by the Arcadians from Pheneus.
Ὀνάταν δὲ τὸν Αἰγινήτην, σὺν δὲ αὐτῷ Καλλιτέλην ἐργάσασθαι λέγει τὸ ἐπίγραμμα, δοκεῖν δέ μοι τοῦ Ὀνάτα μαθητὴς ἢ παῖς ὁ Καλλιτέλης ἦν.
The inscription says that Onatas the Aeginetan, and with him Calliteles, fashioned it, and it seems to me that Calliteles was a pupil or son of Onatas.
οὐ πόρρω δὲ τοῦ Φενεατῶν ἀναθήματος ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἄγαλμα, κηρυκεῖον Ἑρμῆς ἔχων· ἐπίγραμμα δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ Γλαυκίαν ἀναθεῖναι γένος Ῥηγῖνον, ποιῆσαι δὲ Κάλλωνα Ἠλεῖον.
Not far from the dedication of the Pheneatians there is another statue, Hermes having a herald's staff; and the inscription upon it says that Glaucias of Rhegium by birth dedicated it, and Callon the Elean made it.
§5.27.9βοῶν δὲ τῶν χαλκῶν ὁ μὲν Κορκυραίων, ὁ δὲ ἀνάθημα Ἐρετριέων, τέχνη δὲ Ἐρετριέως ἐστὶ Φιλησίου·
Of the bronze bulls, one is that of the Corcyraeans, and the other is a dedication of the Eretrians, being the work of Philesius the Eretrian.
καὶ ἀνθʼ ὅτου μὲν οἱ Κορκυραῖοι τόν τε ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ ἕτερον βοῦν ἐς Δελφοὺς ἀνέθεσαν, δηλώσει μοι τὰ ἐς Φωκέας τοῦ λόγου, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ Ὀλυμπίασιν αὐτῶν ἀναθήματι συμβῆναι τοιόνδε ἤκουσα.
Why the Corcyraeans dedicated the bull at Olympia and another to Delphi, the Phocian part of my account will make clear; but concerning their dedication at Olympia, I heard that the following happened.
§5.27.10παῖς μικρὸς ὑπὸ τούτῳ καθήμενος τῷ βοῒ ἐς τὸ κάτω νενευκὼς ἔπαιζεν· ἀνασχὼν δὲ ἐξαίφνης τὴν κεφαλὴν κατεάγη τε αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸν χαλκὸν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος ἡμέραις ὕστερον ἀπέθανεν οὐ πολλαῖς.
A little boy was playing, sitting under this bull and bending downwards; suddenly raising his head, he broke it against the bronze, and died not many days later from the wound.
Ἠλεῖοι μὲν δὴ τὸν βοῦν ἅτε αἵματι ἔνοχον ἐβουλεύοντο ἐκκομίσαι τῆς Ἄλτεως· ὁ δὲ σφᾶς θεὸς ὁ ἐν Δελφοῖς κατὰ χώραν ἐᾶν τὸ ἀνάθημα καθάρσια ἔχρα ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ποιησαμένους, ὁπόσα Ἕλληνες ἐπὶ ἀκουσίῳ φόνῳ νομίζουσιν.
The Eleans indeed planned to carry the bull out of the Altis as being guilty of blood; but the god in Delphi gave an oracle to let the dedication remain in its place after they had performed over it such purifications as Greeks customary perform for involuntary homicide.
§5.27.11ἔστι δὲ ὑπὸ ταῖς ἐν τῇ Ἄλτει πλατάνοις κατὰ μέσον μάλιστά που τὸν περίβολον τρόπαιον χαλκοῦν καὶ ἐπίγραμμα ἐπὶ τοῦ τροπαίου τῇ ἀσπίδι, Ἠλείους ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἀναστῆσαι.
Under the plane trees in the Altis, about the middle of the enclosure, there is a bronze trophy and an inscription on the shield of the trophy, stating that the Eleans set it up against the Lacedaemonians.
ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ μάχῃ καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπέλαβεν ἐκεῖνον ἀφεῖναι τὴν ψυχήν, ὃς τοῦ Ἡραίου τῆς ὀροφῆς κατʼ ἐμὲ ἀνασκευαζομένης ἐνταῦθα ὁμοῦ τοῖς ὅπλοις εὑρέθη κείμενος.
In this battle it also befell that man to yield up his life, who, when the roof of the Heraeum was being restored in my time, was found lying there together with his weapons.
§5.27.12τῶν δὲ ἐν Θρᾴκῃ Μενδαίων τὸ ἀνάθημα ἐγγύτατα ἀφίκετο ἀπατῆσαί με ὡς ἀνδρὸς εἰκὼν εἴη πεντάθλου· καὶ κεῖται μὲν παρὰ τὸν Ἠλεῖον Ἀναυχίδαν, ἔχει δὲ ἁλτῆρας ἀρχαίους.
The dedication of the Mendaeans in Thrace came very close to deceiving me into thinking that it was an image of a man practicing the pentathlon; and it lies beside the Elean Anauchidas, and has ancient jumping-weights.
ἐλεγεῖον δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτὸ γεγραμμένον ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τοῦ μηροῦ· " Ζηνὶ θεῶν βασιλεῖ μʼ ἀκροθίνιον ἐνθάδʼ ἔθηκαν Μενδαῖοι, Σίπτην χερσὶ βιασσάμενοι.
An elegiac couplet is written upon its thigh: "To Zeus, the king of gods, the Mendaeans placed me here as a first-fruit, having overcome Sipte by force of hands.
" τὸ μὲν δὴ Θρᾴκιόν τι εἶναι τεῖχος καὶ πόλις ἔοικεν, ἡ Σίπτη· Μενδαίοις δὲ αὐτοῖς γένος τε Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰωνίας ἐστίν, οἰκοῦσι δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἄνω τῆς πρὸς Αἴνῳ πόλει.
"This Sipte seems to be some Thracian fort and city; and the Mendaeans themselves are of Greek race and from Ionia, and they dwell inland from the sea that is near the city of Aenus.

Notes

  1. 5.27.8δοκεῖν δέ μοι — The infinitive δοκεῖν is used absolutely in a parenthetical phrase ('absolute infinitive'), adding a qualifying sense of 'as it seems to me' or 'in my opinion' independently of the main clause.
  2. 5.27.10κατεάγη τε αὐτὴν — The pronoun αὐτήν functions as an accusative of respect referring back to τὴν κεφαλὴν (the head), modifying the passive/intransitive verb κατεάγη (3rd person singular second aorist passive of κατάγνυμι, meaning 'was broken' or 'fractured').
  3. 5.27.11ἐπέλαβεν ἐκεῖνον ἀφεῖναι τὴν ψυχήν — The verb ἐπέλαβεν (from ἐπιλαμβάνω, meaning here 'overtook' or 'befell') takes ἐκεῖνον as its direct object, followed by the infinitive phrase ἀφεῖναι τὴν ψυχήν ('to yield up his life') as a complementary clause. Collectively, it means 'death overtook that man to yield up his life' (i.e., 'that man also lost his life').
  4. 5.27.12ἐγγύτατα ἀφίκετο ἀπατῆσαί με — An idiomatic construction combining the adverb ἐγγύτατα ('very near') and the verb ἀφίκετο ('arrived/reached') with the infinitive ἀπατῆσαι ('to deceive'). Literally 'it arrived closest to deceiving me,' meaning 'it came very close to deceiving me' or 'it almost fooled me.'

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §5.27.7-5.27.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.27.7-5.27.12

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