Pausanias´ Description of Greece - Παυσανίου Ελλάδος περιήγησις
Recogito Annotation
Book 1 — Chapter 42
English
1.42.1 The Megarians have another acropolis, which is named after Alcathous. As you ascend this acropolis you see on the right the tomb of Megareus, who at the time of the Cretan invasion came as an ally from Onchestus. There is also shown a hearth of the gods called Prodomeis (Builders before). They say that Alcathous was the first to sacrifice to them, at the time when he was about to begin the building of the wall.
1.42.2 Near this hearth is a stone, on which they say Apollo laid his lyre when he was helping Alcathous in the building. I am confirmed in my view that the Megarians used to be tributary to the Athenians by the fact that Alcathous appears to have sent his daughter Periboea with Theseus to Crete in payment of the tribute. On the occasion of his building the wall, the Megarians say, Apollo helped him and placed his lyre on the stone; and if you happen to hit it with a pebble it sounds just as a lyre does when struck.
1.42.3 This made me marvel, but the colossus in Egypt made me marvel far more than anything else. In Egyptian Thebes, on crossing the Nile to the so called Pipes, I saw a statue, still sitting, which gave out a sound. The many call it Memnon, who they say from Aethiopia overran Egypt and as far as Susa. The Thebans, however, say that it is a statue, not of Memnon, but of a native named Phamenoph, and I have heard some say that it is Sesostris. This statue was broken in two by Cambyses, and at the present day from head to middle it is thrown down; but the rest is seated, and every day at the rising of the sun it makes a noise, and the sound one could best liken to that of a harp or lyre when a string has been broken.
1.42.4 The Megarians have a council chamber which once, they say, was the grave of Timalcus, who just now I said was not killed by Theseus. On the top of the acropolis is built a temple of Athena, with an image gilt except the hands and feet; these and the face are of ivory. There is another sanctuary built here, of Athena Nike, and yet a third of Athena Aeantis (Ajaxian). About the last the Megarian guides have omitted to record anything, but I will write what I take to be the facts. Telamon the son of Aeacus married Periboea the daughter of Alcathous; so my opinion is that Ajax, who succeeded to the throne of Alcathous, made the statue of Athena.
1.42.5 The ancient temple of Apollo was of brick, but the emperor Hadrian afterwards built it of white marble. The Apollo called Pythian and the one called Decatephorus (Bringer of Tithes) are very like the Egyptian wooden images, but the one surnamed Archegetes (Founder) resembles Aeginetan works. They are all alike made of ebony. I have heard a man of Cyprus, who was skilled at sorting herbs for medicinal purposes, say that the ebony does not grow leaves or bear fruit, or even appear in the sunlight at all, but consists of underground roots which are dug up by the Aethiopians, who have men skilled at finding ebony.
1.42.6 There is also a sanctuary of Demeter Thesmophorus (Lawgiver). On going down from it you see the tomb of Callipolis, son of Alcathous. Alcathous had also an elder son, Ischepolis, whom his father sent to help Meleager to destroy the wild beast in Aetolia. There he died, and Callipolis was the first to hear of his death. Running up to the acropolis, at the moment when his father was preparing a fire to sacrifice to Apollo, he flung the logs from the altar. Alcathous, who had not yet heard of the fate of Ischepolis, judged that Callipolis was guilty of impiety, and forthwith, angry as he was, killed him by striking his head with one of the logs that had been flung from the altar.
1.42.7 On the road to the Town-hall is the shrine of the heroine Ino, about which is a fencing of stones, and beside it grow olives. The Megarians are the only Greeks who say that the corpse of Ino was cast up on their coast, that Cleso and Tauropolis, the daughters of Cleson, son of Lelex, found and buried it, and they say that among them first was she named Leucothea, and that every year they offer her sacrifice.
Ancient Greek
1.42.1 ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλη Μεγαρεῦσιν ἀκρόπολις ἀπὸ Ἀλκάθου τὸ ὄνομα ἔχουσα· ἐς ταύτην τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἀνιοῦσίν ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ Μεγαρέως μνῆμα, ὃς κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστρατείαν τῶν Κρητῶν ξύμμαχός σφισιν ἦλθεν ἐξ Ὀγχηστοῦ. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἑστία θεῶν Προδομέων καλουμένων· θῦσαι δέ σφισιν Ἀλκάθουν λέγουσι πρῶτον, ὅτε τῆς οἰκοδομίας τοῦ τείχους ἔμελλεν ἄρχεσθαι.
1.42.2 τῆς δὲ ἑστίας ἐγγὺς ταύτης ἐστὶ λίθος, ἐφ᾽ οὗ καταθεῖναι λέγουσιν Ἀπόλλωνα τὴν κιθάραν Ἀλκάθῳ τὸ τεῖχος συνεργαζόμενον. δηλοῖ τέ μοι καὶ τόδε ὡς συνετέλουν ἐς Ἀθηναίους Μεγαρεῖς· φαίνεται γὰρ τὴν θυγατέρα Ἀλκάθους Περίβοιαν ἅμα Θησεῖ πέμψαι κατὰ τὸν δασμὸν ἐς Κρήτην. τότε δὲ αὐτῷ τειχίζοντι, ὥς φασιν οἱ Μεγαρεῖς, συνεργάζεταί τε Ἀπόλλων καὶ τὴν κιθάραν κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ τὸν λίθον· ἢν δὲ τύχῃ βαλών τις ψηφῖδι, κατὰ ταὐτὰ οὗτός τε ἤχησε καὶ κιθάρα κρουσθεῖσα.
1.42.3 ἐμοὶ δὲ παρέσχε μὲν καὶ τοῦτο θαυμάσαι, παρέσχε δὲ πολλῷ μάλιστα Αἰγυπτίων ὁ κολοσσός. ἐν Θήβαις ταῖς Αἰγυπτίαις, διαβᾶσι τὸν Νεῖλον πρὸς τὰς Σύριγγας καλουμένας, εἶδον ἔτι καθήμενον ἄγαλμα ἠχοῦν—Μέμνονα ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ πολλοί, τοῦτον γάρ φασιν ἐξ Αἰθιοπίας ὁρμηθῆναι ἐς Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν ἄχρι Σούσων· ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐ Μέμνονα οἱ Θηβαῖοι λέγουσι, Φαμένωφα δὲ εἶναι τῶν ἐγχωρίων οὗ τοῦτο ἄγαλμα ἦν, ἤκουσα δὲ ἤδη καὶ Σέσωστριν φαμένων εἶναι τοῦτο ἄγαλμα—, ὃ Καμβύσης διέκοψε· καὶ νῦν ὁπόσον ἐκ κεφαλῆς ἐς μέσον σῶμά ἐστιν ἀπερριμμένον, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν κάθηταί τε καὶ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν ἀνίσχοντος ἡλίου βοᾷ, καὶ τὸν ἦχον μάλιστα εἰκάσει τις κιθάρας ἢ λύρας ραγείσης χορδῆς. [Duplications: • ἄγαλμα ]
1.42.4 Μεγαρεῦσι δὲ ἔστι μὲν βουλευτήριον, Τιμάλκου δὲ ἦν ποτε ὡς λέγουσι τάφος, ὃν πρότερον ὀλίγον τούτων οὐκ ἔφην ὑπὸ Θησέως ἀποθανεῖν. ᾠκοδόμηται δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ κορυφῇ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ναὸς Ἀθηνᾶς, ἄγαλμα δέ ἐστιν ἐπίχρυσον πλὴν χειρῶν καὶ ἄκρων ποδῶν· ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τὸ πρόσωπόν ἐστιν ἐλέφαντος. καὶ ἕτερον ἐνταῦθα ἱερὸν Ἀθηνᾶς πεποίηται καλουμένης Νίκης καὶ ἄλλο Αἰαντίδος· τὰ δὲ ἐς αὐτὸ Μεγαρέων μὲν παρεῖται τοῖς ἐξηγηταῖς, ἐγὼ δὲ ὁποῖα νομίζω γενέσθαι γράψω. Τελαμὼν ὁ Αἰακοῦ θυγατρὶ Ἀλκάθου Περιβοίᾳ συνῴκησεν· Αἴαντα οὖν τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν Ἀλκάθου διαδεξάμενον ποιῆσαι τὸ ἄγαλμα ἡγοῦμαι τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς. [Duplications: • Ἀθηνᾶς ]
1.42.5 τοῦ δὲ Ἀπόλλωνος πλίνθου μὲν ἦν ὁ ἀρχαῖος ναός· ὕστερον δὲ βασιλεὺς ᾠκοδόμησεν Ἀδριανὸς λίθου λευκοῦ. ὁ μὲν δὴ Πύθιος καλούμενος καὶ ὁ Δεκατηφόρος τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μάλιστα ἐοίκασι ξοάνοις, ὃν δὲ Ἀρχηγέτην ἐπονομάζουσιν, Αἰγινητικοῖς ἔργοις ἐστὶν ὅμοιος· ἐβένου δὲ πάντα ὁμοίως πεποίηται. ἤκουσα δὲ ἀνδρὸς Κυπρίου διακρῖναι πόας ἐς ἀνθρώπων ἴασιν εἰδότος, ὃς τὴν ἔβενον φύλλα οὐκ ἔφη φύειν οὐδὲ εἶναι καρπὸν οὐδένα ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς οὐδὲ ὁρᾶσθαι τὸ παράπαν αὐτὴν ὑπὸ ἡλίου, ρίζας δὲ ὑπογαίους εἶναι, ταύτας δὲ ὀρύσσειν τοὺς Αἰθίοπας καὶ ἄνδρας εἶναί σφισιν οἳ τὴν ἔβενον ἴσασιν εὑρίσκειν.
1.42.6 ἔστι δὲ καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν Θεσμοφόρου. κατιοῦσι δὲ ἐντεῦθεν Καλλιπόλιδος μνῆμά ἐστιν Ἀλκάθου παιδός. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ἀλκάθῳ πρεσβύτερος υἱὸς Ἰσχέπολις, ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ὁ πατὴρ Μελεάγρῳ τὸ ἐν Αἰτωλίᾳ θηρίον συνεξαιρήσοντα. ἀποθανόντος δὲ ἐνταῦθα πρῶτος τεθνεῶτα ἐπύθετο ὁ Καλλίπολις, ἀναδραμὼν δὲ ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν— τηνικαῦτα δὲ ὁ πατήρ οἱ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ἐνέκαεν— ἀπορρίπτει τὰ ξύλα ἀπὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ· Ἀλκάθους δὲ ἀνήκοος ὢν ἔτι τῆς Ἰσχεπόλιδος τελευτῆς κατεδίκαζεν οὐ ποιεῖν ὅσια τὸν Καλλίπολιν καὶ εὐθέως ὡς εἶχεν ὀργῆς ἀπέκτεινε παίσας ἐς τὴν κεφαλὴν τῶν ἀπορριφέντων ἀπὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ ξύλῳ.
1.42.7 κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐς τὸ πρυτανεῖον ὁδὸν Ἰνοῦς ἐστιν ἡρῷον, περὶ δὲ αὐτὸ θριγκὸς λίθων· πεφύκασι δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι. μόνοι δέ εἰσιν Ἑλλήνων Μεγαρεῖς οἱ λέγοντες τὸν νεκρὸν τῆς Ἰνοῦς ἐς τὰ παραθαλάσσιά σφισιν ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς χώρας, Κλησὼ δὲ καὶ Ταυρόπολιν εὑρεῖν τε καὶ θάψαι—θυγατέρας δὲ αὐτὰς εἶναι Κλήσωνος τοῦ Λέλεγος—, καὶ Λευκοθέαν τε ὀνομασθῆναι παρὰ σφίσι πρώτοις φασὶν αὐτὴν καὶ θυσίαν ἄγειν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος.