Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.

by active approximately 150-175 Pausanias

I know that the size of the Olympian Zeus both in height and breadth has been stated, but I cannot bestow praise on the measurers, for their recorded measurement comes far short of what anyone would infer looking at the statue. They make the god also to have testified to the art of Phidias. For they say when the statue was finished, Phidias prayed him to signify if the work was to his mind, and immediately Zeus struck with lightning that part of the pavement, where in our day there is a brazen urn with a lid.

And all the pavement in front of the statue is not of white but of black stone. And a border of Parian marble runs round this black stone, as a preservative against spilled oil. For oil is good for the statue at Olympia, as it prevents the ivory being harmed by the dampness of the grove. But in the Acropolis at Athens, in regard to the statue of Athene called the Maiden, it is not oil but water that is advantageously employed to the ivory: for as the citadel is dry by reason of its great height, the statue being made of ivory needs to be sprinkled with water freely. And when I was at Epidaurus, and enquired why they use neither water nor oil to the statue of Æsculapius, the sacristans of the temple informed me that the statue of the god and its throne are over a well.

CHAPTER XII.

Those who think that the parts of the elephant that project from the mouth are teeth and not horns, should consider the case of Celtic elks and Ethiopian bulls. For male elks have horns on their foreheads, but the female elk has none whatever. And Ethiopian bulls have horns growing in their nostrils. Who would therefore think it very wonderful after these examples that a beast should have horns growing out of its mouth? One may also get further light from the following particulars. Horns in animals take a certain definite period to grow and grow more than once: and this is the case with stags and antelopes as well as elephants. But no animal after full growth has second sets of teeth. If they are teeth therefore and not horns that project from elephants’ mouths, how could they grow a second time? Moreover teeth are not acted upon by fire, but horns both of oxen and elephants can by the action of fire be made straight from round, and can in fact be turned into any shape. [But in hippopotamuses and boars the lower jaw has projecting teeth: and we do not see horns growing out of their jaws.] Let anybody be certain therefore that they are horns in the elephant that project and grow out from the temples. I don’t make this assertion as mere hearsay, for I have seen the skull of an elephant in the temple of Artemis in Campania. The temple I refer to is about 30 stades from Capua, which is the chief town of Campania. And the elephant is not only different from other animals in the growth of its horns, but also in its size and appearance. And the Greeks seem to me to have shewn great munificence and an absence of parsimoniousness in respect to their worship of the gods, seeing that they procured ivory both from India and Ethiopia for their statues.

At Olympia also in the temple of Zeus is a woollen veil, adorned with Assyrian tapestry and dyed with the Phœnician purple, the votive offering of Antiochus, who also gave to the theatre at Athens a golden ægis with the Gorgon’s head on it. This veil is not drawn up to the roof as in the temple of Ephesian Artemis, but let down to the pavement by ropes. And among the votive offerings in the temple or ante-chapel is the throne of Arimnestus king of the Tyrrhenians, (who was the first foreigner that offered a votive offering to Olympian Zeus,) and the horses of Cynisca in brass, the memorials of her victory at Olympia. These horses are rather smaller than life, and are on the right as you enter the ante-chapel. And there is a tripod covered with brass, on which before the table was made the crowns for the victors were laid. And of the statues of the Emperors, Adrian’s in Parian marble was a gift of all the cities that joined the Achæan league, and Trajan’s a gift of all the Greeks. This last Emperor added the Getæ beyond Thrace to the Roman Empire, and waged war against Osroes (the descendant of Arsaces) and the Parthians. The most famous of all his works are the Baths which are known as Trajan’s Baths, and a large theatre perfectly round, and a building for horse-races two stades in length, and the forum at Rome well worth seeing for various beauties and especially its brazen roof. And there are two statues in the round parts of the building, one of the Emperor Augustus in amber, the other in ivory is said to be Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia: from whom the largest town in Bithynia, that had been previously called Astacus, got called Nicomedia. It was originally founded by Zypœtes, a Thracian as one would infer from his name. And the amber of which they made Augustus’ statue, the native amber which is found in the sands of the Eridanus, is most rare and precious to man for many purposes. But the other kind of amber is gold mixed with silver. And in the temple at Olympia there are several of Nero’s votive offerings, 3 are crowns to imitate the wild olive, the fourth is an imitation of oak. And there are 25 brazen shields to be worn by the competitors in the race in armour. And there are several pillars, and among them one which has the covenant of the people of Elis and the Athenians Argives and Mantineans for an alliance for 100 years.

CHAPTER XIII.

And within Altis there is a separate grove to Pelops: who of the heroes at Olympia is as much held in the highest honour as Zeus is among the gods. This grove is on the right of the temple of Zeus towards the North, just at such a distance from the temple as to admit of statues and votive offerings between, and it extends from the middle of the temple to the back, and is surrounded by a stone wall, and has trees planted in it, and statues. And the entrance to it is from the west. And it is said to have been dedicated to Pelops by Hercules the son of Amphitryon, who was fourth in descent from Pelops. And he is said to have sacrificed in the trench to Pelops. And the magistrates for the year sacrifice to him even now a black ram. The seer has no portion of this sacrifice, the neck of the ram only is usually given to the person called the wood-cutter. He is one of the temple servants, and his function is to furnish wood for the sacrifices at a fixed price, both to cities and to any private individual. And the wood is always of the white poplar tree. And whatever stranger or native of Elis eats the flesh of the victim sacrificed to Pelops may not enter the temple of Zeus. Those who sacrifice to Telephus at Pergamum north of the river Caicus are in a similar predicament: they may not enter the temple of Æsculapius till they have had a bath. And the following tradition is still told about Pelops. During the protracted siege of Ilium the seers are said to have prophesied that they would never capture the town till they procured the bows of Hercules and a bone of Pelops. So they sent it is said for Philoctetes to the camp, and the shoulder-blade of Pelops was brought from Pisa. And on the return home of the Greeks, the ship that had the shoulder-blade of Pelops was wrecked near Eubœa. And many years after the capture of Ilium Damarmenus, a fisherman of Eretria, cast his net into the sea and fished up this bone, and marvelling at the size of it hid it in the sand. And eventually he went to Delphi, desiring to know who the bone belonged to, and what he should do with it. And it chanced providentially that some persons of Elis, seeking a cure for the pestilence, were at Delphi at this period. And the Pythian Priestess told them to preserve the bones of Pelops, and told Damarmenus to give what he had found to the people of Elis. And when he had done so the people of Elis gave him several presents, and made Damarmenus and his descendants custodians of this bone. But this shoulder-blade of Pelops has not survived to our day, because in my opinion it was buried too deep, partly also from time and the action of the sea. And there are still traces even to our day of Pelops and Tantalus having brought colonies to Greece, as the marsh called after Tantalus, and his well-known grave. And the throne of Pelops is at Sipylus on the top of the mountain above the temple of the Placianian mother, and after you have crossed the river Hermus there is a statue of Aphrodite at Temnus still in existence made of myrtle: and the tradition is that it was a votive offering of Pelops to propitiate the goddess, before begging her help towards marrying Hippodamia.

And the altar of Olympian Zeus is about equidistant from the grove of Pelops and the temple of Hera, and is situated in front of both. Some say it was erected by Idæan Hercules, others say by some heroes of the district two generations after him. It was they say made of the débris of the thigh bones of the victims sacrificed to Zeus, as the altar at Pergamum. The Samian Hera has also an altar made of similar material, an altar not a whit more handsome than those which in Attica they call extemporary altars. And the first base of the altar of Olympia, called the pro-altar, has a circumference of 125 feet, and above the pro-altar is a circumference of 32 feet. And the whole height of the altar is 22 feet. It is customary to sacrifice the victims at the lower part, at the pro-altar: but the thigh-bones they bring to the highest part of the altar and burn them there. And stone steps lead up to the pro-altar on both sides, but up to the high altar there are merely steps of débris. Maidens may ascend as far as the pro-altar, and likewise women at the seasons when they are allowed to be at Olympia, but men alone may ascend to the high altar. And private individuals, and the people of Elis daily, offer sacrifices to Zeus besides at the general Festival. And annually the seers observe the 19th day of the month Elaphius by carrying the débris from the Town Hall, and kneading it with the water of the River Alpheus, and thus construct their altar. No other water is ever used for this purpose, and that is why the Alpheus is considered more friendly to Olympian Zeus than any other river. There is also at Didymi (a town of the Milesians) an altar made by Hercules the Theban of victims’ blood. So at least the Milesians say. But the blood of the victims has never raised it to any great height even in these latter days.

CHAPTER XIV.

But the altar at Olympia has another wonder. Kites, which are by nature especially birds of prey, never harm the sacrifices at Olympia. And if on any chance occasion a kite touch the entrails or flesh of a victim, it is not considered a good omen for the sacrificer. And they say when Hercules, the son of Alcmena, was sacrificing at Olympia there was a great plague of flies: when, either of his own idea or at another’s suggestion, he sacrificed to Zeus the Averter of flies, and so they were driven to the other side of the Alpheus. On similar grounds the natives of Elis are said to sacrifice to Zeus the Averter of flies, because he drove them from Olympia.