§7.17.8ὀλίγον δὲ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεώς ἐστι τοῦ Δυμαίων ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ τάφος Σωστράτου· μειράκιον δὲ ἦν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, γενέσθαι δὲ Ἡρακλέους ἐρώμενόν φασιν αὐτόν, καὶ—ἀποθανεῖν γὰρ τὸν Σώστρατον Ἡρακλέους ἔτι ὄντος μετὰ ἀνθρώπων—οὕτως οἱ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τό τε μνῆμα αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ποιήσαντα καὶ ἀπαρχὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ τριχῶν δοῦναι.
A little before the city of the Dymaeans, on the right of the road, is the tomb of Sostratos; he was a youth of the local people, and they say that he became the beloved of Heracles, and—for Sostratos died while Heracles was still among men—thus Heracles made the tomb itself for him and gave first-fruits from the hair on his head.
ἐπίθημα δὲ καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι στήλη τε ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ χώματος καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἐπειργασμένος· ἐλέγετο δὲ ὡς οἱ ἐπιχώριοι καὶ ἐναγίζουσι τῷ Σωστράτῳ.
Even to my time there remained as a monument a stele upon the mound and Heracles carved upon it; and it was said that the local people also offer sacrifices to Sostratos as a hero.
§7.17.9Δυμαίοις δὲ ἔστι μὲν Ἀθηνᾶς ναὸς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ἀρχαῖον, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἱερόν σφισι Δινδυμήνῃ μητρὶ καὶ Ἄττῃ πεποιημένον.
The Dymaeans have a temple of Athena and an image that is extremely ancient, and they also have another sanctuary built for the Dindymene Mother and Attis.
Ἄττης δὲ ὅστις ἦν, οὐδὲν οἷός τε ἦν ἀπόρρητον ἐς αὐτὸν ἐξευρεῖν, ἀλλὰ Ἑρμησιάνακτι μὲν τῷ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα γράψαντι πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ὡς υἱός τε ἦν Καλαοῦ Φρυγὸς καὶ ὡς οὐ τεκνοποιὸς ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς τεχθείη· ἐπεὶ δὲ ηὔξητο, μετῴκησεν ἐς Λυδίαν τῷ Ἑρμησιάνακτος λόγῳ καὶ Λυδοῖς ὄργια ἐτέλει Μητρός, ἐς τοσοῦτο ἥκων παρʼ αὐτῇ τιμῆς ὡς Δία αὐτῇ νεμεσήσαντα ὗν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα ἐπιπέμψαι τῶν Λυδῶν.
As to who Attis was, I was unable to discover any secret doctrine concerning him, but by Hermesianax, the writer of elegiac poetry, it has been written in verse that he was the son of Calaus the Phrygian, and that he was born from his mother incapable of begetting children; and when he grew up, according to the account of Hermesianax, he migrated to Lydia and performed the rites of the Mother for the Lydians, rising to such honor with her that Zeus, being angry with her, sent a boar against the tilled fields of the Lydians.
§7.17.10ἐνταῦθα ἄλλοι τε τῶν Λυδῶν καὶ αὐτὸς Ἄττης ἀπέθανεν ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑός· καί τι ἑπόμενον τούτοις Γαλατῶν δρῶσιν οἱ Πεσσινοῦντα ἔχοντες, ὑῶν οὐχ ἁπτόμενοι.
There, others of the Lydians and Attis himself died by the boar; and in accordance with these events, those of the Galatians who hold Pessinus do something, refraining from touching pigs.
νομίζουσί γε μὴν οὐχ οὕτω τὰ ἐς τὸν Ἄττην, ἀλλὰ ἐπιχώριός ἐστιν ἄλλος σφίσιν ἐς αὐτὸν λόγος, Δία ὑπνωμένον ἀφεῖναι σπέρμα ἐς γῆν, τὴν δὲ ἀνὰ χρόνον ἀνεῖναι δαίμονα διπλᾶ ἔχοντα αἰδοῖα, τὰ μὲν ἀνδρός, τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν γυναικός· ὄνομα δὲ Ἄγδιστιν αὐτῷ τίθενται.
Yet they do not believe the things concerning Attis in this way, but they have another native story about him, that Zeus, while asleep, let fall seed upon the ground, and that the ground in course of time sent up a daemon having double genitals, some of a man and others of a woman; and they give it the name Agdistis.
θεοὶ δὲ Ἄγδιστιν δείσαντες τὰ αἰδοῖά οἱ τὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀποκόπτουσιν.
But the gods, fearing Agdistis, cut off its male genitals.
§7.17.11ὡς δὲ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ἀναφῦσα ἀμυγδαλῆ εἶχεν ὡραῖον τὸν καρπόν, θυγατέρα τοῦ Σαγγαρίου ποταμοῦ λαβεῖν φασι τοῦ καρποῦ· ἐσθεμένης δὲ ἐς τὸν κόλπον καρπὸς μὲν ἐκεῖνος ἦν αὐτίκα ἀφανής, αὐτὴ δὲ ἐκύει· τεκούσης δὲ τράγος περιεῖπε τὸν παῖδα ἐκκείμενον.
And when an almond tree grew up from them and had ripe fruit, they say that a daughter of the river Sangarius took some of the fruit; and when she had put it into her bosom, that fruit immediately disappeared, and she became pregnant; and when she gave birth, a he-goat tended the exposed child.
ὡς δὲ αὐξανομένῳ κάλλους οἱ μετῆν πλέον ἢ κατὰ εἶδος ἀνθρώπου, ἐνταῦθα τοῦ παιδὸς ἔρως ἔσχεν Ἄγδιστιν.
As he grew up, and possessed beauty greater than that after the form of man, then a love for the boy seized Agdistis.
αὐξηθέντα δὲ Ἄττην ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Πεσσινοῦντα οἱ προσήκοντες συνοικήσοντα τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατρί· §7.17.12ὑμέναιος δὲ ᾔδετο καὶ Ἄγδιστις ἐφίσταται καὶ τὰ αἰδοῖα ἀπέκοψε μανεὶς ὁ Ἄττης, ἀπέκοψε δὲ καὶ ὁ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῷ διδούς· Ἄγδιστιν δὲ μετάνοια ἔσχεν οἷα Ἄττην ἔδρασε, καί οἱ παρὰ Διὸς εὕρετο μήτε σήπεσθαί τι Ἄττῃ τοῦ σώματος μήτε τήκεσθαι.
And when Attis had grown up, his kinsmen sent him to Pessinus to wed the king's daughter; and the marriage song was being sung, when Agdistis appeared, and Attis, driven mad, cut off his genitals, and he who was giving him his daughter did the same; but repentance seized Agdistis for what she had done to Attis, and she obtained from Zeus that no part of the body of Attis should rot or decay.
τάδε μὲν ἐς Ἄττην τὰ γνωριμώτατα·
These are the best known stories concerning Attis.
§7.17.13ἐν δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ Δυμαίᾳ καὶ τοῦ δρομέως Οἰβώτα τάφος ἐστί· τούτῳ τῷ Οἰβώτα νικήσαντι Ὀλύμπια Ἀχαιῶν πρώτῳ γέρας οὐδὲν ἐξαίρετον παρʼ αὐτῶν ἐγένετο εὕρασθαι· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ κατάρας ὁ Οἰβώτας ἐποιήσατο μηδενὶ Ὀλυμπικὴν νίκην ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν γενέσθαι.
In the territory of Dyme there is also the tomb of Oebotas the runner; for this Oebotas, who was the first of the Achaeans to win an Olympic victory, no special prize was obtained from them; and on this account Oebotas made curses that no Olympic victory should ever again belong to any of the Achaeans.
καὶ—ἦν γάρ τις θεῶν ᾧ τοῦ Οἰβώτα τελεῖσθαι τὰς κατάρας οὐκ ἀμελὲς ἦν—διδάσκονταί ποτε οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν στεφάνου τοῦ Ὀλυμπίασιν ἡμάρτανον, διδάσκονται δὲ ἀποστείλαντες ἐς Δελφούς· §7.17.14οὕτω καὶ ἄλλα ἐς τιμήν σφισι τοῦ Οἰβώτα ποιήσασι καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα ἀναθεῖσιν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν Σώστρατος Πελληνεὺς σταδίου νίκην ἔσχεν ἐν παισί.
And—for there was indeed one of the gods to whom it was no matter of neglect that the curses of Oebotas should be fulfilled—the Achaeans were at length taught for what reason they were failing of the crown at Olympia, and they were taught by sending to Delphi; and thus, when they had done other things in honor of Oebotas and had set up his statue at Olympia, Sostratos of Pellene won the victory in the stade among the boys.
διαμένει δὲ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι Ἀχαιῶν τοῖς ἀγωνίζεσθαι μέλλουσι τὰ Ὀλύμπια ἐναγίζειν τῷ Οἰβώτᾳ, καὶ ἢν κρατήσωσιν, ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ στεφανοῦν τοῦ Οἰβώτα τὴν εἰκόνα.
And it remains even to my time for those of the Achaeans who are about to contend in the Olympic games to offer sacrifices to Oebotas, and if they win, to crown the statue of Oebotas at Olympia.