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Pausanias · Description of Greece §9.22.1-9.22.7

Sanctuaries of Tanagra and Lore of Anthedon

Passage 388 of 465 · Greek

Summary

Pausanias describes the layout of temples and the origins of Hermes' shrines in Tanagra, the monument of the poetess Corinna, and the shrines and legend of the demigod Glaucus in the Boeotian city of Anthedon.

§9.22.1ἐν Τανάγρᾳ δὲ παρὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Διονύσου Θέμιδός ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης, καὶ ὁ τρίτος τῶν ναῶν Ἀπόλλωνος, ὁμοῦ δὲ αὐτῷ Ἄρτεμίς τε καὶ Λητώ.
In Tanagra, next to the sanctuary of Dionysus, is that of Themis, and another of Aphrodite, and the third of the temples is of Apollo, and along with him are Artemis and Leto.
ἐς δὲ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ τὰ ἱερὰ τοῦ τε Κριοφόρου καὶ ὃν Πρόμαχον καλοῦσι, τοῦ μὲν ἐς τὴν ἐπίκλησιν λέγουσιν ὡς ὁ Ἑρμῆς σφισιν ἀποτρέψαι νόσον λοιμώδη περὶ τὸ τεῖχος κριὸν περιενεγκών, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Κάλαμις ἐποίησεν ἄγαλμα Ἑρμοῦ φέροντα κριὸν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων· ὃς δʼ ἂν εἶναι τῶν ἐφήβων προκριθῇ τὸ εἶδος κάλλιστος, οὗτος ἐν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ τῇ ἑορτῇ περίεισιν ἐν κύκλῳ τὸ τεῖχος ἔχων ἄρνα ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων·
As for the sanctuaries of Hermes, both of the Ram-bearer and of the one they call Promachus, regarding the former's surname they say that Hermes warded off a pestilence from them by carrying a ram around the wall, and because of this Calamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram on his shoulders; and whichever of the ephebes is judged to be the most beautiful in appearance, he on the festival of Hermes goes around the wall in a circle carrying a lamb on his shoulders.
§9.22.2τὸν δὲ Ἑρμῆν λέγουσι τὸν Πρόμαχον Ἐρετριέων ναυσὶν ἐξ Εὐβοίας ἐς τὴν Ταναγραίαν σχόντων τούς τε ἐφήβους ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην καὶ αὐτὸν ὅτε ἔφηβον στλεγγίδι ἀμυνόμενον μάλιστα ἐργάσασθαι τῶν Εὐβοέων τροπήν.
And they say that Hermes Promachus, when the Eretrians came with ships from Euboea to the Tanagraean land, led the ephebes out to the battle, and himself, being then an ephebe, defending himself with a strigil, especially brought about the rout of the Euboeans.
κεῖται δὲ ἐν τοῦ Προμάχου τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς ἀνδράχνου τὸ ὑπόλοιπον· τραφῆναι δὲ ὑπὸ τῷ δένδρῳ τὸν Ἑρμῆν τούτῳ νομίζουσιν.
In the sanctuary of Promachus lies the remainder of the wild strawberry tree; and they believe that Hermes was reared under this tree.
οὐ πόρρω δὲ θέατρόν τε καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ στοὰ πεποίηται.
Not far off a theatre is built, and next to it a portico.
εὖ δέ μοι Ταναγραῖοι νομίσαι τὰ ἐς τοὺς θεοὺς μάλιστα δοκοῦσιν Ἑλλήνων· χωρὶς μὲν γὰρ αἱ οἰκίαι σφίσι, χωρὶς δὲ τὰ ἱερὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτὰς ἐν καθαρῷ τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐκτὸς ἀνθρώπων.
The Tanagraeans seem to me to have established the matters concerning the gods best of all the Greeks; for their houses are apart, and their sanctuaries are apart above them in a clean place and away from men.
§9.22.3Κορίννης δέ, ἣ μόνη δὴ ἐν Τανάγρᾳ ᾄσματα ἐποίησε, ταύτης ἔστι μὲν μνῆμα ἐν περιφανεῖ τῆς πόλεως, ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ γραφή, ταινίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡ Κόριννα ἀναδουμένη τῆς νίκης ἕνεκα ἣν Πίνδαρον ᾄσματι ἐνίκησεν ἐν Θήβαις.
As for Corinna, who was indeed the only one in Tanagra to compose songs, there is a monument to her in a conspicuous part of the city, and in the gymnasium there is a painting of Corinna binding her head with a fillet because of the victory she won in song over Pindar at Thebes.
φαίνεται δέ μοι νικῆσαι τῆς διαλέκτου τε ἕνεκα, ὅτι ᾖδεν οὐ τῇ φωνῇ τῇ Δωρίδι ὥσπερ ὁ Πίνδαρος ἀλλὰ ὁποίᾳ συνήσειν ἔμελλον Αἰολεῖς, καὶ ὅτι ἦν γυναικῶν τότε δὴ καλλίστη τὸ εἶδος, εἴ τι τῇ εἰκόνι δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι.
And she seems to me to have won both because of her dialect, because she sang not in the Doric tongue like Pindar but in such as the Aeolians were likely to understand, and because she was at that time the most beautiful of women in appearance, if one must judge from the portrait.
§9.22.4ἔστι δὲ καὶ γένη δύο ἐνταῦθα ἀλεκτρυόνων, οἵ τε μάχιμοι καὶ οἱ κόσσυφοι καλούμενοι.
There are also two breeds of cocks here, those called the fighters and those called the blackbirds.
τούτων τῶν κοσσύφων μέγεθος μὲν κατὰ τοὺς Λυδούς ἐστιν ὄρνιθας, χρόα δὲ ἐμφερὴς κόρακι, κάλλαια δὲ καὶ ὁ λόφος κατὰ ἀνεμώνην μάλιστα· λευκὰ δὲ σημεῖα οὐ μεγάλα ἐπί τε ἄκρῳ τῷ ῥάμφει καὶ ἐπὶ ἄκρας ἔχουσι τῆς οὐρᾶς.
The size of these blackbirds is like that of the Lydian birds, and their color is similar to a crow's, while their wattles and comb are most like an anemone; and they have small white marks both on the tip of their beak and on the tip of their tail.
§9.22.5οὗτοι μὲν τοιοῦτο παρέχονται τὸ εἶδος, τῆς δὲ Βοιωτίας τὰ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τοῦ Εὐρίπου Μεσσάπιον ὄρος καλούμενον καὶ ὑπʼ αὐτῷ Βοιωτῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσης πόλις ἐστὶν Ἀνθηδών·
These present such an appearance; and of Boeotia, the part on the left of the Euripus is the mountain called Messapium, and under it is Anthedon, a city of the Boeotians on the sea.
γενέσθαι δὲ τῇ πόλει τὸ ὄνομα οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀνθηδόνος νύμφης, οἱ δὲ Ἄνθαν δυναστεῦσαι λέγουσιν ἐνταῦθα, Ποσειδῶνός τε παῖδα καὶ Ἀλκυόνης τῆς Ἄτλαντος.
Some say that the name was given to the city from the nymph Anthedon, while others say that Anthas ruled here, who was a son of Poseidon and Alcyone, the daughter of Atlas.
Ἀνθηδονίοις δὲ μάλιστά που κατὰ μέσον τῆς πόλεως Καβείρων ἱερὸν καὶ ἄλσος περὶ αὐτό ἐστι, πλησίον δὲ Δήμητρος καὶ τῆς παιδὸς ναὸς καὶ ἀγάλματα λίθου λευκοῦ·
For the Anthedonians, almost in the middle of the city, there is a sanctuary of the Cabiri and a grove around it, and nearby is a temple of Demeter and her daughter, with statues of white stone.
§9.22.6Διονύσου τε ἱερὸν πεποίηται καὶ ἄγαλμα πρὸ τῆς πόλεως κατὰ τὸ ἐς τὴν ἤπειρον.
A sanctuary of Dionysus and a statue have been made in front of the city in the direction of the mainland.
ἐνταῦθά εἰσι μὲν τάφοι τῶν Ἰφιμεδείας καὶ Ἀλωέως παίδων· γενέσθαι δέ σφισι τοῦ βίου τὴν τελευτὴν ὑπὸ Ἀπόλλωνος κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ Ὅμηρος πεποιήκασι καὶ Πίνδαρος, προστίθησι δὲ Πίνδαρος, ὡς ἐπιλάβοι τὸ χρεὼν αὐτοὺς ἐν Νάξῳ τῇ ὑπὲρ Πάρου κειμένῃ.
Here are the tombs of the children of Iphimedeia and Aloeus; that the end of their life came from Apollo has been written by Homer and Pindar in the same way, but Pindar adds that their fate overtook them in Naxos, which lies beyond Paros.
τούτων τε δή ἐστι τῇ Ἀνθηδόνι μνήματα καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ καλούμενον Γλαύκου πήδημα·
There are monuments to these in Anthedon, and by the sea is the so-called Leap of Glaucus.
§9.22.7εἶναι δὲ αὐτὸν ἁλιέα, καὶ ἐπεὶ τῆς πόας ἔφαγε, δαίμονα ἐν θαλάσσῃ γενέσθαι καὶ ἀνθρώποις τὰ ἐσόμενα ἐς τόδε προλέγειν οἵ τε ἄλλοι πιστὰ ἥγηνται καὶ οἱ τὴν θάλασσαν πλέοντες πλεῖστα ἀνθρώπων ἐς τὴν Γλαύκου μαντικὴν κατὰ ἔτος ἕκαστον λέγουσι.
They say that he was a fisherman, and that when he ate of the grass, he became a deity in the sea and foretells to men what is to come to this day, which other men have regarded as trustworthy, and those who sail the sea speak most of all men concerning the prophecy of Glaucus each year.
Πινδάρῳ δὲ καὶ Αἰσχύλῳ πυνθανομένοις παρὰ Ἀνθηδονίων, τῷ μὲν οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐπῆλθεν ᾆσαι τὰ ἐς Γλαῦκον, Αἰσχύλῳ δὲ καὶ ἐς ποίησιν δράματος ἐξήρκεσε.
Pindar and Aeschylus, having inquired from the Anthedonians, for the former it did not occur to sing of the matters concerning Glaucus at great length, but for Aeschylus it was sufficient even for the composition of a drama.

Notes

  1. 9.22.1ἐς δὲ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ τὰ ἱερὰ τοῦ τε Κριοφόρου καὶ ὃν Πρόμαχον καλοῦσι — An accusative phrase at the beginning of the sentence lacking a main verb, serving as a topic-marker (anacoluthon or proleptic accusative).
  2. 9.22.2εὖ δέ μοι Ταναγραῖοι νομίσαι τὰ ἐς τοὺς θεοὺς μάλιστα δοκοῦσιν Ἑλλήνων — The infinitive νομίσαι depends on the main verb δοκοῦσιν, meaning 'the Tanagraeans seem to observe/venerate...', representing a personal judgment with the dative μοι.
  3. 9.22.3νικῆσαι τῆς διαλέκτου τε ἕνεκα... καὶ ὅτι... — The reasons for her victory (νικῆσαι) are expressed parallelly by a noun with ἕνεκα ('because of her dialect') and a ὅτι-clause ('because she was beautiful'), coordinated by τε... καί.
  4. 9.22.7τῷ μὲν οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐπῆλθεν ᾆσαι — The verb ἐπέρχομαι is used impersonally (or in the sense of 'to come upon someone's mind' / 'to proceed to do') with the dative τῷ μὲν and the infinitive ᾆσαι, meaning 'it did not occur to the former to sing at great length.'

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §9.22.1-9.22.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.22.1-9.22.7

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