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Pausanias · Description of Greece §9.4.1-9.4.4

Temple of Athena Areia and Sights near Plataea

Passage 368 of 465 · Greek

Summary

The author describes the Temple of Athena Areia in Plataea and its artworks, the temple of Eleusinian Demeter, the tomb of Leitus, the Gargaphia spring, and the ruins of Scolus.

§9.4.1Πλαταιεῦσι δὲ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐπίκλησιν Ἀρείας ἐστὶν ἱερόν· ᾠκοδομήθη δὲ ἀπὸ λαφύρων ἃ τῆς μάχης σφίσιν Ἀθηναῖοι τῆς Μαραθῶνι ἀπένειμαν.
For the Plataeans there is a temple of Athena surnamed Areia; it was built from the spoils which the Athenians assigned to them from the battle at Marathon.
τὸ μὲν δὴ ἄγαλμα ξόανόν ἐστιν ἐπίχρυσον, πρόσωπον δέ οἱ καὶ χεῖρες ἄκραι καὶ πόδες λίθου τοῦ Πεντελησίου εἰσί· μέγεθος μὲν οὐ πολὺ δή τι ἀποδεῖ τῆς ἐν ἀκροπόλει χαλκῆς, ἣν καὶ αὐτὴν Ἀθηναῖοι τοῦ Μαραθῶνι ἀπαρχὴν ἀγῶνος ἀνέθηκαν, Φειδίας δὲ καὶ Πλαταιεῦσιν ἦν ὁ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὸ ἄγαλμα ποιήσας.
The image indeed is a wooden image covered with gold, but its face, hands, and feet are of Pentelic stone; in size indeed it is not much inferior to the bronze one on the acropolis, which the Athenians also themselves dedicated as a first-fruit of the contest at Marathon; and Pheidias was the one who made the image of Athena for the Plataeans too.
§9.4.2γραφαὶ δέ εἰσιν ἐν τῷ ναῷ Πολυγνώτου μὲν Ὀδυσσεὺς τοὺς μνηστῆρας ἤδη κατειργασμένος, Ὀνασία δὲ Ἀδράστου καὶ Ἀργείων ἐπὶ Θήβας ἡ προτέρα στρατεία.
And there are paintings in the temple: by Polygnotus, Odysseus having already destroyed the suitors; and by Onasias, the former expedition of Adrastus and the Argives against Thebes.
αὗται μὲν δή εἰσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ προνάου τῶν τοίχων αἱ γραφαί, κεῖται δὲ τοῦ ἀγάλματος πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν εἰκὼν Ἀριμνήστου· ὁ δὲ Ἀρίμνηστος ἔν τε τῇ πρὸς Μαρδόνιον μάχῃ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον ἐς Μαραθῶνα Πλαταιεῦσιν ἡγήσατο.
These paintings indeed are on the walls of the pronaos, and at the feet of the image lies a portrait of Arimnestus; and Arimnestus commanded the Plataeans both in the battle against Mardonius and even earlier at Marathon.
§9.4.3ἔστι δὲ καὶ Δήμητρος ἐπίκλησιν Ἐλευσινίας ἱερὸν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς καὶ Ληίτου μνῆμα· τῶν δὲ ἡγεμόνων, οἳ Βοιωτοὺς ἐς Τροίαν ἤγαγον, μόνος ἀνέστρεψεν οἴκαδε οὗτος ὁ Λήιτος.
There is also in Plataea a temple of Demeter surnamed Eleusinia and the tomb of Leitus; of the leaders who led the Boeotians to Troy, this Leitus alone returned home.
τὴν δὲ κρήνην τὴν Γαργαφίαν Μαρδόνιος καὶ ἡ ἵππος συνέχεεν ἡ Περσῶν, ὅτι τὸ Ἑλλήνων στράτευμα τὸ ἀντικαθήμενόν σφισιν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ἔπινεν· ὕστερον μέντοι τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνεσώσαντο οἱ Πλαταιεῖς.
Mardonius and the Persian cavalry choked up the spring Gargaphia, because the Greek army encamped opposite them drank from it; afterwards, however, the Plataeans recovered the water.
§9.4.4ἐκ Πλαταίας δὲ ἰοῦσιν ἐς Θήβας ποταμός ἐστιν Ὠερόη· θυγατέρα δὲ εἶναι τὴν Ὠερόην τοῦ Ἀσωποῦ λέγουσι.
For those going from Plataea to Thebes there is the river Oeroe; they say that Oeroe is a daughter of Asopus.
πρὶν δὲ ἢ διαβῆναι τὸν Ἀσωπόν, παρʼ αὐτὸ τὸ ῥεῦμα ἀποτραπεῖσιν ἐς τὰ κάτω καὶ προελθοῦσιν ὅσον τεσσαράκοντα στάδια ἔστιν ἐρείπια Σκώλου· Δήμητρος δὲ καὶ Κόρης ἐν τοῖς ἐρειπίοις οὐκ ἐξειργασμένος ὁ ναός, ἡμίεργα δὲ καὶ ταῖς θεαῖς ἐστι τὰ ἀγάλματα.
And before crossing the Asopus, for those who turn aside down along the stream itself and go forward about forty stades, there are the ruins of Scolus; and among the ruins is an unfinished temple of Demeter and Kore, and the images for the goddesses are also half-finished.
ἀποκρίνει δὲ καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἀπὸ τῆς Θηβαίων τὴν Πλαταιίδα ὁ Ἀσωπός.
And even now still the Asopus divides the Plataean territory from that of the Thebans.

Notes

  1. 9.4.1Πλαταιεῦσι — Dative of possession or interest, meaning "the Plataeans have a temple..."
  2. 9.4.2Ὀνασία — Genitive of the painter's name Ὀνασίας (Onasias), showing the Doric genitive ending -α for masculine first declension nouns. It stands in parallel with Πολυγνώτου in the preceding clause to indicate authorship.
  3. 9.4.4ἰοῦσιν — Present participle dative plural (masculine) of εἶμι. It is a dative of reference or direction used to describe geographical relationships from the traveler's perspective ("for those going from Plataea to Thebes"). The subsequent participles ἀποτραπεῖσιν and προελθοῦσιν are used in the same manner.

Cite this passage

Pausanias, Description of Greece §9.4.1-9.4.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.4.1-9.4.4

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