Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

Near Platanistas there is a hero-chapel of Cynisca, the daughter of Archidamus king of Sparta: she was the first woman who trained horses, and the first woman who won the chariot-race at Olympia. And behind the portico near Platanistas are several other hero-chapels, one of Alcimus, and another of Enaræphorus, and at no great distance one of Dorceus, and above this one of Sebrus. These they say were sons of Hippocoon. And from Dorceus they call the fountain near the hero-chapel Dorcea, and from Sebrus they call the place Sebrium. And on the right of Sebrium is the sepulchre of Alcman, the sweetness of whose poems was not injured by the Lacedæmonian dialect, though it is the least euphonious. And there are temples of Helen and Hercules, hers near the tomb of Alcman, and his very near the walls with a statue in it of Hercules armed: Hercules was so represented in the statue they say because of his fight against Hippocoon and his sons. The animosity of Hercules against the family of Hippocoon originated they say in that, after killing Iphitus, when he came to Sparta to clear himself, they refused to clear him. The following matter also contributed to the beginning of strife. Œonus a lad, and nephew of Hercules, for he was the son of Alcmena’s brother, accompanied Hercules to Sparta, and as he was going round and looking at the city, when he was opposite the house of Hippocoon, a watch dog jumped out on him, and Œonus chanced to throw a stone and hit the dog. Then the sons of Hippocoon ran out, and struck Œonus with clubs till they had killed him. At this Hercules was furious against Hippocoon and his sons, and immediately (so angry was he) attacked them. For the moment he retired as he was wounded, but afterwards he brought others with him to Sparta to avenge himself on Hippocoon and his sons for the murder of Œonus. And the sepulchre of Œonus was erected near the temple of Hercules. And as you go eastwards from Dromus there is a path on the right hand to the temple of Athene under the title of Exactor of due punishment. For when Hercules took on Hippocoon and his sons adequate vengeance for what they had done, he built this temple to Athene under the title of Exactor of due punishment, for the old race of men called revenge punishment.[37] And there is another temple of Athene as you go on another road from Dromus, erected they say by Theras the son of Autesion, the son of Tisamenus, the son of Thersander, when he sent a colony to the island which is now called Thera after him, but was of old called Calliste. And hard by is the temple of Hipposthenes who carried off most of the wrestling prizes, and whom they worship according to the oracle, as if they were awarding honours to Poseidon. And right opposite this temple is Enyalius in fetters, an old statue. And the opinion of the Lacedæmonians about this statue and about that of the Athenians called Wingless Victory is the same, viz. that Enyalius will never depart from the Lacedæmonians as being fettered, just as Victory will always remain with the Athenians because she has no wings to fly away. Athens and Lacedæmon have erected these statues on similar principles and with a similar belief. And at Sparta there is a Lounge called the Painted Lounge, and various hero-chapels near it, as of Cadmus the son of Agenor, and his descendants, Œolycus the son of Theras, and Ægeus the son of Œolycus. And they say these hero-chapels were built by Mæsis, Læas, and Europas, who are said to have been the sons of Hyræsus and grandsons of Ægeus. And they built also a hero-chapel to Amphilochus, because their ancestor Tisamenus was the son of Demonassa, the sister of Amphilochus. And the Lacedæmonians are the only Greeks with whom it is customary to call Hera Goateater and to sacrifice goats to her. And Hercules they say built a temple and sacrificed goats to her first, because when he was fighting against Hippocoon and his sons he met with no obstacle from Hera, though he thought the goddess opposed him on all other occasions. And they say he sacrificed goats to her as being in difficulty about getting any other victims. And not far from the theatre is the temple of Tutelary Poseidon and hero-chapels of Cleodæus the son of Hyllus, and of Œbalus. And the most notable of the Spartan temples of Æsculapius is at Booneta, on the left of which is the hero-chapel of Teleclus, of whom I shall give an account when I come to Messenia. And when you have gone forward a little further there is a hill not very high, and on it an old temple and wooden statue of Aphrodite in full armour. This is the only temple I know which has an upper story built above it, and in this upper story is a shrine of Aphrodite under the title of The Shapely, the goddess is seated with a veil on and fetters on her feet. They say Tyndareus added the fetters, symbolising by those bonds the bonds of love, that unite men so powerfully to women. For as to the other tradition, that Tyndareus punished the goddess by fetters, because he thought his daughters’ disgrace had come from the goddess, this I don’t at all accept: for it would have been altogether childish to make a small figure of cedar-wood and call it Aphrodite, and then think in punishing it one was punishing the goddess!

CHAPTER XVI.

And hard by is the temple of Hilaira and Phœbe, who the writer of the Cyprian poems says were the daughters of Apollo. And their priestesses are maidens, called also Leucippides as well as the goddesses. One of their statues was touched up by a priestess of the goddesses, who with an art not unknown in our days put a new face on the old statue, but a dream prevented her treating the other statue in the same way. Here is hung up an egg, fastened to the roof by fillets; they say it is the egg which Leda is said to have laid. And every year the women weave a coat for Apollo at Amyclæ, and they call the place where they weave it Coat. Near the temple is a house which they say the sons of Tyndareus originally lived in, but afterwards Phormio a Spartan got possession of it. To him Castor and Pollux came as strangers, they said they had come from Cyrene and desired to lodge at his house, and asked for a chamber, (with which they were greatly pleased), as long as they should remain at Sparta. But he bade them go to some other house where they might like to dwell, he could not give them that chamber, for it was the apartment of his daughter a maiden. And the next day maiden and her attendants had all vanished, but statues of Castor and Pollux were found in the chamber, and a table with some assa-fœtida on it. Such at least is the tradition.

And as you go to the gates from the place called Coat there is a hero-chapel of Chilo, who was accounted one of the seven wise men, and of an Athenian hero who accompanied Dorieus, the son of Anaxandrides, on the expedition to colonize Sicily. And they put in at Eryx thinking that district belonged to the descendants of Hercules, and not to barbarians who really held it. For there is a tradition that Eryx and Hercules wrestled on the following conditions, that if Hercules conquered the land of Eryx should be his, but if Eryx conquered the oxen of Geryon, (which Hercules was then driving,) should be his, for these oxen had swum across to Sicily from the promontory at Scylla,[38] and Hercules had crossed over after them to find them, and Eryx should have them if he came off victor. But the good will of the gods did not speed Dorieus the son of Anaxandrides as it had done Hercules, for Hercules killed Eryx, but the people of Segeste nearly annihilated Dorieus and his army. And the Lacedæmonians have built a temple to their legislator Lycurgus as to a god. And behind this temple is the tomb of Eucosmus, the son of Lycurgus, near the altar of Lathria and Anaxandra, who were twins, (and the sons of Aristodemus who married them were also twins), and the daughters of Thersander the son of Agamedidas, the king of the Cleestonæans, and the great grandson of Ctesippus the son of Hercules. And right opposite the temple are the tombs of Theopompus the son of Nicander, and Eurybiades, who fought against the Medes in the Lacedæmonian gallies at Artemisium and Salamis. And hard-by is what is called the hero-chapel of Astrabacus.

And the place called Limnæum is the temple of Orthian Artemis. The wooden statue of the goddess is they say the very one which Orestes and Iphigenia formerly stole from the Tauric Chersonese. And the Lacedæmonians say it was brought to their country when Orestes was king there. And their account seems to me more probable than the account of the Athenians. For why should Iphigenia have left the statue at Brauron? And when the Athenians were preparing to leave the place, would they not have put it on board ship? And so great still is the fame of Tauric Artemis, that the Cappadocians who live near the Euxine claim that the statue was theirs, and the Lydians who have a temple of Anaitian Artemis make the same claim. But it appears it was neglected by the Athenians and became a prey to the Medes: for it was carried from Brauron to Susa, and afterwards the Syrians of Laodicea received it from Seleucus and still have it. And the following facts plainly prove to me that the Orthian Artemis at Lacedæmon is the same wooden statue which was taken from the barbarians: that Astrabacus and Alopecus, (the sons of Irbus, the son of Amphisthenes, the son of Amphicles, the son of Agis), when they found the statue immediately went mad; and also that the Limnatæ among the Spartans, and the people of Cynosura, Mesoa, and Pitane, who were sacrificing to Artemis, had a quarrel and even went so far as to kill one another, and after many were killed at the altar a pestilence destroyed the rest. And after that an oracle bade them sprinkle human blood over the altar. And instead of a person drawn by lot being sacrificed, Lycurgus changed it to flogging the young men there, and so the altar got sprinkled with human blood. And the priestess stands by during the operation, holding the wooden statue, which is generally light from its smallness, but if the scourgers spare any young man at all in his flogging either on account of his beauty or rank, then this wooden statue in the priestess’ hand becomes heavy and no longer easy to hold, and she makes complaint of the scourgers and says it is so heavy owing to them. So innate is it with this statue, in consequence of the sacrifices at the Tauric Chersonese, to delight in human blood. And they not only call the goddess Orthia, but also Bound-with-willow-twigs, because the statue was found in a willow bush, and the willows so tenaciously twined round it that they kept it in an upright posture.

CHAPTER XVII.

And not far from that of Orthian Artemis is the temple of Ilithyia: this temple they say was built, and Ilithyia accounted a goddess, in obedience to the oracle at Delphi. And the Lacedæmonians have no citadel rising to a notable height, as the Cadmea at Thebes, or Larissa among the Argives: but as there are several hills in the city the highest of these is called the citadel. Here is erected a temple of Athene called Poliuchus and Chalciœcus. And this temple began to be built they say by Tyndareus: and after his death his sons wished to finish the building, and they had an opportunity in the spoils from Aphidna. But as they too died before the conclusion of the work, the Lacedæmonians many years afterwards completed the temple, and made a statue of Athene in brass. And the artificer was Gitiadas a native of Sparta, who also composed Doric poems and a hymn to the goddess. Many too of the Labours of Hercules are delineated in brass, and many of his successes on his own account, and several of the actions of Castor and Pollux, and their carrying off the daughters of Leucippus, and Hephæstus freeing his mother from her bonds. I have given an explanation of all these before, and the legends about them, in my account of Attica. There too are the Nymphs giving Perseus, as he is starting for Libya and Medusa, the invisible cap, and the sandals with which he could fly through the air. There too are representations of the birth of Athene, and of Amphitrite, and Poseidon, which are the largest and as it seems to me finest works of art.

There is also another temple there of Athene the Worker. At the South Porch there is also a temple of Zeus called the Arranger, and the tomb of Tyndareus in front of it. And the West Porch has two Eagles and two Victories to correspond, the votive offering of Lysander, and a record of his two famous exploits, the one near Ephesus when he defeated Antiochus, the pilot of Alcibiades, and the Athenian gallies, and the other at Ægos-potamoi where he crushed the Athenian navy. And at the left of Athene Chalciœcus they have built a temple of the Muses, because the Lacedæmonians do not go out to battle to the sound of the trumpet, but to the music of flutes and lyre and harp. And behind Athene Chalciœcus is the temple of Martial Aphrodite. Her wooden statues are as old as any among the Greeks.

And on the right of Athene Chalciœcus is a statue of Supreme Zeus, the most ancient of all brass statues, for it is not carved in one piece, but forged piece by piece and deftly welded together, and studs keep it together from falling to pieces. The artificer was they say Clearchus a man of Rhegium, who some say was the pupil of Dipœnus and Scyllis, others say of Dædalus. And at what is called the Scenoma there is a figure of a woman, the Lacedæmonians say it is Euryleonis, who won the prize at Olympia with a pair of horses.

And near the altar of Athene Chalciœcus are erected two figures of Pausanias the General at Platæa. His fate I shall not relate to people who know it, for what I have written before is quite sufficient. I shall merely therefore state what I heard from a man of Byzantium, that Pausanias was detected plotting, and was the only one of those that took sanctuary with Athene Chalciœcus that did not get indemnity, and that for no other reason than that he could not clear himself of the guilt of murder. For when he was at the Hellespont in command of the allied fleet, he got enamoured of a Byzantian maiden called Cleonice, and at nightfall a detachment of his men brought her to him. And Pausanias had fallen asleep, and when this maiden came into the room she knocked down inadvertently the light that was burning, and the noise woke him. And Pausanias, whose conscience smote him for having betrayed Greece, and who was therefore always in a state of nervous alarm and panic, was beside himself and stabbed the maiden with a scimetar. This guilt Pausanias could not clear himself from, though he endeavoured in every way to propitiate Zeus the Acquitter, and even went to Phigalia in Arcadia to the necromancers, but he paid to Cleonice and the deity the fit penalty. And the Lacedæmonians at the bidding of the oracle made brazen statues for the god Epidotes, and otherwise honoured him, because he it was who in the case of Pausanias turned aside the wrath of Zeus the god of Suppliants.