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Pausanias · Description of Greece §8.44.1-8.44.8

Route to Pallantium and Tegea and Springs of the Rivers

Passage 354 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The narrative describes the route from Megalopolis to Pallantium and Tegea, highlighting ruins like Ladoceia and Asea, the unusual shared course and separation of the Alpheius and Eurotas rivers, and mythological sites including Mount Kresion linked to the child of Ares and Aerope.

§8.44.1τὰ δὲ ἐπίλοιπα ἡμῖν τοῦ Ἀρκαδικοῦ λόγου ἔστιν ἐκ Μεγάλης πόλεως ἐς Παλλάντιον ὁδὸς καὶ ἐς Τεγέαν, ἄγουσα αὕτη μέχρι τοῦ καλουμένου Χώματος.
The remaining part of our Arcadian narrative is the road from Megalopolis to Pallantium and to Tegea, this leading as far as the place called the Choma.
κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ὁδὸν Λαδόκειά σφισιν ὠνόμασται τὰ πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεως ἀπὸ Λαδόκου τοῦ Ἐχέμου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Αἱμονιαὶ πόλις ἦσαν τὸ ἀρχαῖον· οἰκιστὴς δὲ Αἵμων ἐγένετο αὐταῖς ὁ Λυκάονος, διαμεμένηκε δὲ καὶ ἐς τόδε Αἱμονιὰς τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο ὀνομάζεσθαι.
Along this road, the district before the city is named Ladoceia by them after Ladocus, son of Echemus, and after this there was anciently the city Haemoniae; its founder was Haemon, son of Lycaon, and to this day this place has continued to be called Haemonias.
§8.44.2μετὰ δὲ Αἱμονιὰς ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ πόλεώς ἐστιν Ὀρεσθασίου καὶ ἄλλα ὑπολειπόμενα ἐς μνήμην καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος ἱεροῦ κίονες ἔτι· ἐπίκλησις δὲ Ἱέρεια τῇ Ἀρτέμιδί ἐστι.
After Haemonias, on the right of the road, there are other ruins of the city of Oresthasium left for remembrance, and still the columns of a sanctuary of Artemis; and Artemis has the surname Priestess.
τὴν δὲ εὐθεῖαν ἰόντι ἐξ Αἱμονιῶν Ἀφροδίσιόν τέ ἐστιν ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ μετʼ αὐτὸ ἄλλο χωρίον τὸ Ἀθήναιον· τούτου δὲ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ναός ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐν αὐτῷ λίθου.
To one going straight from Haemonias, there is a place called Aphrodision, and after it another place, the Athenaion; to the left of this is a temple of Athena with a stone statue in it.
§8.44.3τοῦ Ἀθηναίου δὲ μάλιστα εἴκοσιν ἀπωτέρω σταδίοις ἐρείπια Ἀσέας ἐστί, καὶ ὁ λόφος ἀκρόπολις τότε οὖσα τείχους σημεῖα ἔχει καὶ ἐς τόδε.
About twenty stades further from the Athenaion are the ruins of Asea, and the hill which was then the acropolis has signs of a wall even to this day.
σταδίους δὲ ὅσον πέντε ἀπὸ Ἀσέας τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ μὲν ὀλίγον ἄπο τῆς ὁδοῦ, τοῦ δὲ Εὐρώτα παρʼ αὐτήν ἐστιν ἡ πηγὴ τὴν ὁδόν· πρός τε τοῦ Ἀλφειοῦ τῇ πηγῇ ναός τε Μητρὸς θεῶν ἐστιν οὐκ ἔχων ὄροφον καὶ λέοντες λίθου δύο πεποιημένοι.
About five stades from Asea is the source of the Alpheius a little off the road, and that of the Eurotas is right by the road itself; near the source of the Alpheius is a temple of the Mother of the Gods without a roof, and two lions made of stone.
§8.44.4τοῦ δὲ Εὐρώτα τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνακεράννυταί τε πρὸς τὸν Ἀλφειὸν καὶ ὅσον ἐπὶ εἴκοσι σταδίους κοινῷ προΐασι τῷ ῥεύματι· κατελθόντες δὲ ἐς χάσμα ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἄνεισιν αὖθις ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ Λακεδαιμονίων ὁ Εὐρώτας, ὁ δὲ Ἀλφειὸς ἐν Πηγαῖς τῆς Μεγαλοπολίτιδος.
The water of the Eurotas mingles with the Alpheius, and they go forward in a common stream for about twenty stades; having descended into a chasm, one of them, the Eurotas, rises again in the land of the Lacedaemonians, and the Alpheius at Pegae in the territory of Megalopolis.
ἔστι δὲ ἄνοδος ἐξ Ἀσέας ἐς τὸ ὄρος τὸ Βόρειον καλούμενον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ ὄρους σημεῖά ἐστιν ἱεροῦ· ποιῆσαι δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν Ἀθηνᾷ τε Σωτείρᾳ καὶ Ποσειδῶνι Ὀδυσσέα ἐλέγετο ἀνακομισθέντα ἐξ Ἰλίου.
There is an ascent from Asea to the mountain called Boreium, and on the summit of the mountain are signs of a sanctuary; it was said that Odysseus, on his return from Ilium, built the sanctuary to Athena Soteira and Poseidon.
§8.44.5τὸ δὲ ὀνομαζόμενον Χῶμα ὅροι Μεγαλοπολίταις τῆς γῆς πρὸς Τεγεάτας καὶ Παλλαντιεῖς εἰσι· καὶ τὸ Παλλαντικὸν πεδίον ἐστὶν ἐκτραπεῖσιν ἐς ἀριστερὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ Χώματος.
The place called Choma is the boundary of the land for the Megalopolitans against the Tegeans and the Pallantians; and the Pallantian plain is for those who turn to the left from the Choma.
ἐν δὲ Παλλαντίῳ ναός τε καὶ ἀγάλματα λίθου Πάλλαντος, τὸ δὲ ἕτερόν ἐστιν Εὐάνδρου· καὶ Κόρης τε τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερὸν καὶ οὐ πολὺ ἀπωτέρω Πολυβίου σφίσιν ἀνδριάς ἐστι.
In Pallantium there is a temple and stone statues of Pallas, and the other is of Evander; there is also a sanctuary of Kore, daughter of Demeter, and not far off is a statue of Polybius for them.
τῷ λόφῳ δὲ τῷ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ὅσα ἀκροπόλει τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐχρῶντο· λείπεται δὲ καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἐπὶ κορυφῇ τοῦ λόφου θεῶν ἱερόν.
The hill above the city they used in ancient times as an acropolis; and there remains even to our day on the summit of the hill a sanctuary of the gods.
§8.44.6ἐπίκλησις μὲν δή ἐστιν αὐτοῖς Καθαροί, περὶ μεγίστων δὲ αὐτόθι καθεστήκασιν οἱ ὅρκοι· καὶ ὀνόματα μὲν τῶν θεῶν οὐκ ἴσασιν ἢ καὶ εἰδότες οὐ θέλουσιν ἐξαγορεύειν, Καθαροὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τοιῷδε ἄν τις κληθῆναι τεκμαίροιτο, ὅτι αὐτοῖς οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὁ Πάλλας ἔθυσε καθὰ καὶ ὁ πατήρ οἱ τῷ Λυκαίῳ Διί.
They have indeed the surname Katharoi, and there the oaths concerning the most important matters are established; and they do not know the names of the gods, or knowing them they are unwilling to declare them, but one might infer that they were called Katharoi for this reason, because Pallas did not sacrifice to them in the same way as his father did to Lycaean Zeus.
§8.44.7τοῦ δὲ καλουμένου Χώματος ἐν δεξιᾷ πεδίον ἐστὶ τὸ Μανθουρικόν· ἔστι δὲ ἐν ὅροις ἤδη Τεγεατῶν τὸ πεδίον, ὂν σταδίων που πεντήκοντα μάλιστα ἄχρι Τεγέας.
On the right of the called Choma is the Manthurikon plain; this plain is already within the boundaries of the Tegeans, extending about fifty stades as far as Tegea.
ἔστι δὲ ὄρος οὐ μέγα ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς ὁδοῦ καλούμενον Κρήσιον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀφνειοῦ πεποίηται.
There is a mountain, not large, on the right of the road called Kresion; and on it the sanctuary of Aphneios has been made.
Ἀερόπῃ γὰρ Κηφέως τοῦ Ἀλέου συνεγένετο Ἄρης, καθὰ οἱ Τεγεᾶται λέγουσι· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀφίησιν ἐν ταῖς ὠδῖσι τὴν ψυχήν, ὁ δὲ παῖς καὶ τεθνηκυίας §8.44.8εἴχετο ἔτι τῆς μητρὸς καὶ ἐκ τῶν μαστῶν εἷλκεν αὐτῆς γάλα πολὺ καὶ ἄφθονον, καὶ—ἦν γὰρ τοῦ Ἄρεως γνώμῃ τὰ γινόμενα—τούτων ἕνεκα Ἀφνειὸν τὸν θεὸν ὀνομάζουσι· τῷ δὲ παιδίῳ ὄνομα τεθῆναί φασιν Ἀέροπον.
For Ares, as the Tegeans say, had intercourse with Aerope, daughter of Cepheus, son of Aleus; and she indeed yielded up her life in her labor-pains, but the child, even though she was dead, clung still to his mother and drew from her breasts milk, plentiful and abundant, and—for what happened was by the will of Ares—for these reasons they call the god Aphneios; and they say that the name Aeropus was given to the child.
ἔστι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐς Τεγέαν ὁδὸν Λευκώνιος καλουμένη κρήνη· θυγατέρα δὲ Ἀφείδαντος λέγουσιν εἶναι τὴν Λευκώνην, καὶ οὐ πόρρω τοῦ Τεγεατῶν οἱ ἄστεως μνῆμά ἐστιν.
Along the road to Tegea is a spring called Leukonios; and they say Leukone is the daughter of Apheidas, and not far from the city of the Tegeans is her tomb.

Notes

  1. §8.44.1τὰ δὲ ἐπίλοιπα ἡμῖν τοῦ Ἀρκαδικοῦ λόγου ἔστιν — A standard grammatical construction where a neuter plural subject (`τὰ ἐπίλοιπα`) takes a singular verb (`ἔστιν`).
  2. §8.44.2τὴν δὲ εὐθεῖαν ἰόντι — Dative of reference or relation ("for one going straight"). The participle `ἰόντι` is masculine dative singular, a conventional idiom in geographical prose to mark the perspective of the traveler.
  3. §8.44.4κατελθόντες δὲ ἐς χάσμα ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ἄνεισιν — Anacoluthon or 'schema kath' holon kai meros' (whole and part apposition). The clause begins with a plural nominative participle `κατελθόντες`, but the main clause splits the subject into singular components starting with `ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν`.
  4. §8.44.6ὅτι αὐτοῖς οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὁ Πάλλας ἔθυσε — The referent of the dative pronoun `αὐτοῖς`. It refers back to the newly introduced surname `Καθαροί` ('the Pure ones'), meaning 'to these (pure) gods'.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §8.44.1-8.44.8. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.44.1-8.44.8

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