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Pausanias · Description of Greece §5.5.6-5.5.11

The Anigrus River: Foul Odor and Healing Cave

Passage 190 of 465 · Greek

Summary

After describing the simple temple of Demeter and the spring of Arene in Lepreus, the author introduces the nature of the river Anigrus, which has an offensive odor and forms dangerous quicksands, along with mythological and natural explanations for its smell and the healing cave of the Anigrid nymphs.

§5.5.6κατὰ δὲ ἐμὲ οὔτε μνῆμα ἐπίσημον οὔτε ἱερὸν ἦν θεῶν σφισιν οὐδενὸς πλήν γε Δήμητρος· πλίνθου δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐπεποίητο ὠμῆς καὶ οὐδὲν παρείχετο ἄγαλμα.
But in my time there was neither a notable monument nor a temple of any of the gods for them, except indeed of Demeter; and even this was made of unburnt brick and had no image.
Λεπρεατῶν δέ ἐστιν οὐ πόρρω τῆς πόλεως Ἀρήνη καλουμένη πηγή, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀφαρέως γυναικὸς τεθῆναι λέγουσι τῇ πηγῇ.
Not far from the city of the Lepreans is a spring called Arene, and they say that the name was given to the spring after the wife of Aphareus.
§5.5.7ἀναστρέψαντι δὲ αὖθις ἐπὶ τὸ Σαμικὸν καὶ διοδεύοντι τὸ χωρίον, Ἄνιγρος ποταμὸς ἐκδίδωσιν ἐς θάλασσαν.
To one returning again towards Samicum and traversing the district, the river Anigrus empties into the sea.
τούτου τὸ ῥεῦμα τοῦ ποταμοῦ πολλάκις ἀνείργουσιν οἱ ἄνεμοι βίαιοι πνέοντες· φοροῦντες γὰρ κατʼ αὐτὸν τὴν θῖνα ἐκ τοῦ πελάγους ἐπέχουσι τοῦ πρόσω τὸ ὕδωρ.
The flow of this river is often blocked by violent winds blowing; for carrying the sand from the open sea towards it, they hold back the water from advancing.
ὁπότε οὖν ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἡ ψάμμος ὑπό τε τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τὰ ἐντὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ διάβροχος γένοιτο, ἐνταῦθα καὶ ὑποζυγίοις καὶ ἀνδρὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον εὐζώνῳ καταδῦναι κίνδυνός ἐστιν ἐς αὐτήν.
Whenever, therefore, the sand on both sides becomes soaked, by the sea from without and by the river within, there is a danger, both for beasts of burden and still more for an active man, of sinking into it.
§5.5.8ὁ δὲ Ἄνιγρος οὗτος ἐξ Ἀρκαδικοῦ μὲν κάτεισιν ὄρους Λαπίθου, παρέχεται δὲ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν ὕδωρ οὐκ εὐῶδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύσοσμον δεινῶς.
This Anigrus flows down from the Arcadian mountain Lapithus, and provides, straight from its springs, water that is not fragrant, but indeed terribly ill-smelling.
πρὶν δὲ ἢ καταδέξασθαι τὸν Ἀκίδαντα καλούμενον δῆλός ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν τρέφων ἰχθῦς· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἐσβαλόντα ὅσοι τῶν ἰχθύων ὁμοῦ τῷ ὕδατι αὐτοῦ κατίασιν ἐς τὸν Ἄνιγρον, οὐ σφᾶς ἔτι ἐδωδίμους ἔχουσιν ἄνθρωποι, τὰ πρότερα, ἢν ἐντὸς ἁλῶσι τοῦ Ἀκίδαντος, ἐδωδίμους ὄντας.
Before receiving the river called Acidas, it is clear that it does not breed fish at all; but after this river has emptied into it, as many of the fish as come down into the Anigrus along with its water, people can no longer eat them, though previously, if they were caught inside the Acidas, they were edible.
§5.5.9ὅτι δὲ τῷ Ἀκίδαντι ὄνομα Ἰάρδανος ἦν τὸ ἀρχαῖον, αὐτὸς μὲν οὐδαμόθεν συνεβαλόμην, ἀκούσας δὲ ἀνδρὸς Ἐφεσίου λέγω τὸν λόγον.
That the ancient name of the Acidas was Iardanus, I did not myself conjecture from any source, but having heard it from an Ephesian man, I tell the story.
τῷ δὲ Ἀνίγρῳ τὸ ἄτοπον εἶναι τῆς ὀσμῆς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πείθομαι διʼ ἧς ἄνεισι τὸ ὕδωρ, καθὰ δὴ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ Ἰωνίας ἐστὶν ὕδασι τὸ αὐτὸ αἴτιον, ὁπόσων ἡ ἀτμὶς ὀλέθριός ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ.
I am persuaded that the strange smell of the Anigrus is due to the earth through which the water rises, just as indeed is the same cause for the waters above Ionia, of which the vapor is fatal to man.
§5.5.10Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ μὲν Χίρωνα, οἱ δὲ ἄλλον Κένταυρον Πυλήνορα τοξευθέντα ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους καὶ φυγόντα τραυματίαν φασὶν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι ἀπολοῦσαι τούτῳ τὸ ἕλκος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὕδρας τοῦ ἰοῦ γενέσθαι δυσχερῆ τῷ Ἀνίγρῳ τὴν ὀσμήν· οἱ δὲ ἐς Μελάμποδα τὸν Ἀμυθάονος καὶ ἐς τῶν Προίτου θυγατέρων τὰ καθάρσια ἐμβληθέντα ἐνταῦθα ἀνάγουσι τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ παθήματος.
Some of the Greeks say that Chiron, others that another Centaur, Pylenor, when shot by Heracles and fleeing wounded, washed his wound in this water, and that from the poison of the Hydra the smell of the Anigrus became noxious; but others trace the cause of the river's condition to Melampus, the son of Amythaon, and to the purificatory offerings of the daughters of Proetus having been thrown in there.
§5.5.11ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ Σαμικῷ σπήλαιον οὐκ ἄπωθεν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καλούμενον Ἀνιγρίδων νυμφῶν.
There is in Samicum a cave not far from the river, called the cave of the Anigrid nymphs.
ὃς δʼ ἂν ἔχων ἀλφὸν ἢ λεύκην ἐς αὐτὸ ἐσέλθῃ, πρῶτα μὲν ταῖς νύμφαις εὔξασθαι καθέστηκεν αὐτῷ καὶ ὑποσχέσθαι θυσίαν ὁποίαν δή τινα, μετὰ δὲ ἀποσμήχει τὰ νοσοῦντα τοῦ σώματος· διανηξάμενος δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν ὄνειδος μὲν ἐκεῖνο κατέλιπεν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ὑγιής τε ἄνεισι καὶ ὁμόχρως.
Whoever enters it having white leprosy or tetter, it is ordained for him first to pray to the nymphs and to promise some sort of sacrifice, and after this he wipes the diseased parts of his body; then, having swum through the river, he leaves that disfigurement behind in its water, and comes up healthy and of a uniform color.

Notes

  1. §5.5.7ἀναστρέψαντι δὲ αὖθις — The dative participles ἀναστρέψαντι and the subsequent coordinated διοδεύοντι represent the 'dative of the voyager' or 'dative of reference,' indicating the perspective of an imaginary traveler tracing the route ('to one returning...').
  2. §5.5.8δῆλός ἐστιν οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν τρέφων ἰχθῦς — The adjective δῆλος is used in a personal construction (δῆλός ἐστιν + participle) rather than an impersonal one, with the river Anigrus as the subject ('it is clear that it does not breed...'). The accusative phrase οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν functions adverbially with the negative to mean 'not at all' or 'not even to begin with.'
  3. §5.5.10ἐς Μελάμποδα ... καὶ ἐς τῶν Προίτου θυγατέρων τὰ καθάρσια ἐμβληθέντα — In the two parallel elements led by the preposition ἐς, the latter consists of a noun (τὰ καθάρσια) and a passive participle (ἐμβληθέντα). Similar to the Latin 'ab urbe condita' construction, it denotes the action or event itself ('the throwing in of the purificatory offerings') as the object of the preposition.
  4. §5.5.11καθέστηκεν αὐτῷ — The verb καθέστηκεν (perfect of καθίστημι) functions impersonally here with a dative (αὐτῷ) and infinitives (εὔξασθαι... καὶ ὑποσχέσθαι), meaning 'it is established/ordained for him to...'

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §5.5.6-5.5.11. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.5.6-5.5.11

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