Pausanias´ Description of Greece - Παυσανίου Ελλάδος περιήγησις
Recogito Annotation
Book 10 — Chapter 1
English
10.1.1 It is plain that such part of Phocis as is around Tithorea and Delphi was so named in very ancient days after a Corinthian, Phocus, a son of Ornytion. Not many years afterwards, the name established itself as the received title of what is today called Phocis, when the Aeginetans had disembarked on the land with Phocus the son of Aeacus.
10.1.2 Opposite the Peloponnesus, and in the direction of Boeotia, Phocis stretches to the sea, and touches it on one side at Cirrha, the port of Delphi, and on the other at the city of Anticyra. In the direction of the Lamian Gulf there are between Phocis and the sea only the Hypocnemidian Locrians. By these is Phocis bounded in this direction, by Scarpheia on the other side of Elateia, and by Opus and its port Cynus beyond Hyampolis and Abae.
10.1.3 The most renowned exploits of the Phocian people were undertaken by the whole nation. They took part in the Trojan War, and fought against the Thessalians before the Persian invasion of Greece, when they accomplished some noteworthy deeds. Expecting that the Thessalians would invade their land at Hyampolis, they buried there earthen water-pots, covered these with earth, and so waited for the Thessalian cavalry. Ignorant of the Phocian stratagem, the Thessalians without knowing it drove their horses on to the water-pots, where stumbling into them the horses were lamed, and threw or killed their riders.
10.1.4 The Thessalians, more enraged than ever against the Phocians, gathered levies from all their cities and marched out against them. Whereupon the Phocians, greatly terrified at the army of the Thessalians, especially at the number of their cavalry and the practised discipline of both mounts and riders, despatched a mission to Delphi, praying the god that they might escape the danger that threatened them. The oracle given them was this: “I will match in fight mortal and immortal, And to both will I give victory, but more to the mortal.”
10.1.5 On receiving this oracle, the Phocians sent three hundred picked men with Gelon in command to make an attack on the enemy. The night was just falling, and the orders given were to reconnoiter without being observed, to return to the main body by the least known route, and to remain strictly on the defensive. These picked men along with their leader Gelon, trampled on by horses and butchered by their enemies, perished to a man at the hands of the Thessalians.
10.1.6 Their disaster created such panic among the Phocians in the camp that they actually gathered together in one spot their women, children, movable property, and also their clothes, gold, silver and images of the gods, and making a vast pyre they left in charge a force of thirty men.
10.1.7 These were under orders that, should the Phocians chance to be worsted in the battle, they were first to put to death the women and the children, then to lay them like victims with the valuables on the pyre, and finally to set it alight and perish themselves, either by each other's hands or by charging the cavalry of the Thessalians. Hence all forlorn hopes are called by the Greeks “Phocian despair.” On this occasion the Phocians forthwith proceeded to attack the Thessalians.
10.1.8 The commander of their cavalry was Daiphantes of Hyampolis, of their infantry Rhoeus of Ambrossus. But the office of commander-in-chief was held by Tellias, a seer of Elis, upon whom rested all the Phocians"hopes of salvation.
10.1.9 When the battle joined, the Phocians had before their eyes what they had resolved to do to their women and children, and seeing that their own salvation trembled in the balance, they dared the most desperate deeds, and, with the favour of heaven, achieved the most famous victory of that time.
10.1.10 Then did all Greece understand the oracle given to the Phocians by Apollo. For the watchword given in battle on every occasion by the Thessalian generals was Itonian Athena, and by the Phocian generals Phocus, from whom the Phocians were named. Because of this engagement the Phocians sent as offerings to Delphi statues of Apollo, of Tellias the seer, and of all their other generals in the battle, together with images of their local heroes. The figures were the work of the Argive Aristomedon.
10.1.11 Afterwards the Phocians discovered a stratagem quite as clever as their former ones. For when the armies were lying opposite each other at the pass into Phocis, five hundred picked men of Phocis, waiting until the moon was full, attacked the Thessalians on that night, first smearing themselves with chalk and, in addition to the chalk, putting on white armour. It is said that there then occurred a wholesale slaughter of the Thessalians, who thought this apparition of the night to be too unearthly to be an attack of their enemies. It was Tellias of Elis who devised this stratagem also for the Phocians to use against the Thessalians.
Ancient Greek
10.1.1 γῆς δὲ τῆς Φωκίδος, ὅσον μὲν περὶ Τιθορέαν καὶ Δελφούς ἐστιν αὐτῆς, ἐκ παλαιοτάτου φανερὰ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦτο εἰληφυῖά ἐστιν ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς Κορινθίου Φώκου τοῦ Ὀρνυτίωνος: ἔτεσι δ᾽ ὕστερον οὐ πολλοῖς ἐξενίκησε καὶ ἁπάσῃ γενέσθαι τῇ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν καλουμένῃ Φωκίδι, Αἰγινητῶν ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν χώραν διαβάντων ὁμοῦ Φώκῳ τῷ Αἰακοῦ.
10.1.2 τὰ μὲν δὴ ἀπαντικρὺ Πελοποννήσου καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ Βοιωτίας καθήκουσιν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν οἱ Φωκεῖς, τῇ μὲν ἐς Κίρραν τὸ ἐπίνειον Δελφῶν, τῇ δ᾽ ἐπὶ Ἀντίκυραν πόλιν: τὰ δὲ πρὸς τοῦ Λαμιακοῦ κόλπου Λοκροὶ σφᾶς παραθαλασσίους οἱ Ὑποκνημίδιοι κωλύουσιν εἶναι: οὗτοι γὰρ δή εἰσιν οἱ ταύτῃ τὴν Φωκίδα ὑπεροικοῦντες, Σκαρφεῖς μὲν τὰ ἐπέκεινα Ἐλατείας, ὑπὲρ δὲ Ὑάμπολιν καὶ Ἄβας οἱ πόλιν τε Ὀποῦντα καὶ Ὀπουντίων ἐπίνειον νεμόμενοι Κῦνον.
10.1.3 τὰ δὲ ἐπιφανέστατα Φωκεῦσίν ἐστιν ἐν κοινῷ: πολέμου γὰρ τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ μετεσχήκασι, καὶ Θεσσαλῶν ἐναντία ἐπολέμησαν πρότερον ἔτι ἢ ἐλάσαι τὸν Μῆδον ἐπὶ Ἕλληνας, ὅτε δὴ καὶ ἐπεδείξαντο οἱ Φωκεῖς ἔργα ἐς μνήμην. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Ὑάμπολιν, ᾗ τοὺς Θεσσαλοὺς προσεδέχοντο ἐμβαλεῖν σφισιν ἐς τὴν χώραν, ὑδρίας κεράμου πεποιημένας κατορύξαντες καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὰς γῆν ἐπιφορήσαντες ὑπέμενον τὴν ἵππον τῶν Θεσσαλῶν: οἱ δέ, ἅτε οὐ προπεπυσμένοι τῶν Φωκέων τὴν τέχνην, ἐπελάσαντες τοὺς ἵππους λανθάνουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς ὑδρίας. ἐνταῦθα ἀπεχωλοῦντο μὲν οἱ ἵπποι τῶν ποδῶν ἐσπιπτόντων σφίσιν ἐς τὰς ὑδρίας, ἐκτείνοντο δὲ καὶ ἀπέπιπτον οἱ ἄνδρες ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων.
10.1.4 ὡς δὲ οἱ Θεσσαλοὶ μείζονι ἢ τὰ πρότερα ἐς τοὺς Φωκέας χρώμενοι τῇ ὀργῇ συνελέχθησαν ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων πασῶν καὶ ἐς τὴν Φωκίδα ἐστρατεύοντο, ἐνταῦθα οἱ Φωκεῖς ἐν οὐ μικρῷ ποιούμενοι δείματι τήν τε ἄλλην τῶν Θεσσαλῶν ἐς τὸν πόλεμον παρασκευὴν καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τῆς ἵππου τὸ πλῆθος καὶ ὁμοῦ τῷ ἀριθμῷ τὴν ἐς τοὺς ἀγῶνας τῶν τε ἵππων καὶ αὐτῶν μελέτην τῶν ἱππέων, ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς Δελφοὺς αἰτοῦντες τὸν θεὸν ἐκφυγεῖν τὸν ἐπιόντα κίνδυνον: καὶ αὐτοῖς ἀφίκετο μάντευμα: συμβαλέω θνητόν τε καὶ ἀθάνατον μαχέσασθαι, νίκην δ᾽ ἀμφοτέροις δώσω, θνητῷ δέ νυ μᾶλλον.
10.1.5 ταῦτα ὡς ἐπύθοντο οἱ Φωκεῖς, λογάδας τριακοσίους καὶ Γέλωνα ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἄρχοντα ἀποστέλλουσιν ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἄρτι ἀρχομένης νυκτός, προστάξαντές σφισι κατοπτεῦσαί τε τὰ τῶν Θεσσαλῶν ὅντινα ἀφανέστατον δύναιντο τρόπον καὶ αὖθις ἐς τὸ στράτευμα ἐπανήκειν κατὰ τῶν ὁδῶν τὴν μάλιστα ἄγνωστον, μηδὲ ἑκόντας μάχης ἄρχειν. οὗτοι ὑπὸ τῶν Θεσσαλῶν οἱ λογάδες ἀπώλοντο ἀθρόοι καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ ὁ ἡγούμενός σφισι Γέλων, συμπατούμενοί τε ὑπὸ τῶν ἵππων καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν φονευόμενοι.
10.1.6 καὶ ἡ συμφορὰ σφῶν κατάπληξιν τοῖς ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου τῶν Φωκέων τηλικαύτην ἐνεποίησεν, ὥστε καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας καὶ ὅσα τῶν κτημάτων ἄγειν ἦν σφίσιν ἢ φέρειν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα τῶν θεῶν ἐς ταὐτὸ συλλέξαντες πυρὰν ὡς μεγίστην ἐποίησαν, καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀριθμὸν τριάκοντα ἄνδρας ἀπολείπουσι:
10.1.7 προσετέτακτο δὲ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, εἰ ἡττᾶσθαι τοὺς Φωκέας συμβαίνοι τῇ μάχῃ, τότε δὴ προαποσφάξαι μὲν τὰς γυναῖκάς τε καὶ παῖδας καὶ ὡς ἱερεῖα ἀναθέντας ταῦτά τε καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἐπὶ τὴν πυρὰν καὶ ἐνέντας πῦρ οὕτως ἤδη διαφθαρῆναι καὶ αὐτοὺς ἤτοι ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἢ ἐς τὴν ἵππον τῶν Θεσσαλῶν ἐσπίπτοντας. ἀντὶ τούτου μὲν ἅπαντα τὰ ἀνάλγητα βουλεύματα ἀπόνοια ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ὀνομάζεται Φωκική, τότε δὲ οἱ Φωκεῖς ἐποιοῦντο αὐτίκα ἐπὶ τοὺς Θεσσαλοὺς ἔξοδον:
10.1.8 στρατηγοὶ δὲ ἦσάν σφισι Ῥοῖός τε Ἀμβροσσεὺς καὶ Ὑαμπολίτης Δαϊφάντης, οὗτος μὲν δὴ ἐπὶ τῇ ἵππῳ, δυνάμεως δὲ τῆς πεζῆς ὁ Ἀμβροσσεύς. ὁ δὲ χώραν ἐν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἔχων τὴν μεγίστην μάντις ἦν Τελλίας ὁ Ἠλεῖος, καὶ ἐς τὸν Τελλίαν τοῖς Φωκεῦσι τῆς σωτηρίας ἀπέκειντο αἱ ἐλπίδες.
10.1.9 ὡς δὲ ἐς χεῖρας συνῄεσαν, ἐνταῦθα τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἐγίνετο ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τὰ ἐς τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ ἐς τὰ τέκνα δόξαντα, τήν τε σωτηρίαν οὐκ ἐν βεβαίῳ σφίσιν ἑώρων σαλεύουσαν καὶ τούτων ἕνεκα ἐς παντοῖα ἀφικνοῦντο τολμήματα: προσγενομένου δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἐκ θεῶν εὐμενοῦς νίκην τῶν τότε ἀνείλοντο ἐπιφανεστάτην.
10.1.10 τό τε λόγιον τὸ γεγενημένον τοῖς Φωκεῦσι παρὰ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησιν ἐγνώσθη: τὸ γὰρ σύνθημα κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγούντων ἐδίδοτο ἐν ταῖς μάχαις Θεσσαλοῖς μὲν Ἀθηνᾶς Ἰτωνίας, τοῖς δὲ ὁ ἐπώνυμος Φῶκος. ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ τοῦ ἔργου καὶ ἀναθήματα οἱ Φωκεῖς ἀπέστειλαν ἐς Δελφοὺς Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ Τελλίαν τότε τὸν μάντιν καὶ ὅσοι μαχομένοις ἄλλοι σφίσιν ἐστρατήγησαν, σὺν δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἥρωας τῶν ἐπιχωρίων: ἔργα δὲ αἱ εἰκόνες Ἀριστομέδοντός εἰσιν Ἀργείου.
10.1.11 εὑρέθη δὲ καὶ ὕστερον τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν οὐκ ἀποδέον σοφίᾳ τῶν προτέρων. ὡς γὰρ δὴ τὰ στρατόπεδα ἀντεκάθητο περὶ τὴν ἐς τὴν Φωκίδα ἐσβολήν, λογάδες Φωκέων πεντακόσιοι φυλάσσοντες πλήρη τὸν κύκλον τῆς σελήνης ἐπιχειροῦσιν ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ τοῖς Θεσσαλοῖς, αὐτοί τε ἀληλιμμένοι γύψῳ καὶ ἐνδεδυκότες ὅπλα λευκὰ ἐπὶ τῇ γύψῳ. ἐνταῦθα ἐξεργασθῆναι φόνον τῶν Θεσσαλῶν λέγεται πλεῖστον, θειότερόν τι ἡγουμένων ἢ κατὰ ἔφοδον πολεμίων τὸ ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ συμβαῖνον. ὁ δὲ Ἠλεῖος ἦν Τελλίας ὃς καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς Φωκεῦσιν ἐμηχανήσατο ἐς τοὺς Θεσσαλούς.