Pausanias´ Description of Greece - Παυσανίου Ελλάδος περιήγησις
Recogito Annotation
Book 1 — Chapter 19
English
1.19.1 Close to the temple of Olympian Zeus is a statue of the Pythian Apollo. There is another sanctuary of Apollo surnamed Delphinius. The story has it that when the temple was finished with the exception of the roof, Theseus arrived in the city, a stranger as yet to everybody. When he came to the temple of the Delphinian, wearing a tunic that reached to his feet and with his hair neatly plaited, those who were building the roof mockingly inquired what a marriageable virgin was doing wandering about by herself. The only answer that Theseus made was to loose, it is said, the oxen from the cart hard by, and to throw them higher than the roof of the temple they were building.
1.19.2 Concerning the district called Kepoi (Gardens), and the temple of Aphrodite, there is no story that is told by them, nor yet about the Aphrodite which stands near the temple. Now the shape of it is square, like that of the Hermae, and the inscription declares that the Heavenly Aphrodite is the oldest of those called Fates. But the statue of Aphrodite in the Gardens is the work of Alcamenes, and one of the most noteworthy things in Athens.
1.19.3 There is also the place called Cynosarges, sacred to Heracles; the story of the white dog may be known by reading the oracle. There are altars of Heracles and Hebe, who they think is the daughter of Zeus and wife to Heracles. An altar has been built to Alcmena and to Iolaus, who shared with Heracles most of his labours. The Lyceum has its name from Lycus, the son of Pandion, but it was considered sacred to Apollo from the beginning down to my time, and here was the god first named Lyceius. There is a legend that the Termilae also, to whom Lycus came when he fled from Aegeus, were called Lycii after him.
1.19.4 Behind the Lyceum is a monument of Nisus, who was killed while king of Megara by Minos, and the Athenians carried him here and buried him. About this Nisus there is a legend. His hair, they say, was red, and it was fated that he should die on its being cut off. When the Cretans attacked the country, they captured the other cities of the Megarid by assault, but Nisaea, in which Nisus had taken refuge, they beleaguered. The story says how the daughter of Nisus, falling in love here with Minos, cut off her father's hair.
1.19.5 Such is the legend. The rivers that flow through Athenian territory are the Ilisus and its tributary the Eridanus, whose name is the same as that of the Celtic river. This Ilisus is the river by which Oreithyia was playing when, according to the story, she was carried off by the North Wind. With Oreithyia he lived in wedlock, and because of the tie between him and the Athenians he helped them by destroying most of the foreigners"warships. The Athenians hold that the Ilisus is sacred to other deities as well, and on its bank is an altar of the Ilisian Muses. The place too is pointed out where the Peloponnesians killed Codrus, son of Melanthus and king of Athens.
1.19.6 Across the Ilisus is a district called Agrae and a temple of Artemis Agrotera (the Huntress). They say that Artemis first hunted here when she came from Delos, and for this reason the statue carries a bow. A marvel to the eyes, though not so impressive to hear of, is a race-course of white marble, the size of which can best be estimated from the fact that beginning in a crescent on the heights above the Ilisus it descends in two straight lines to the river bank. This was built by Herodes, an Athenian, and the greater part of the Pentelic quarry was exhausted in its construction.
Ancient Greek
1.19.1 μετὰ δὲ τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Ὀλυμπίου πλησίον ἄγαλμά ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνος Πυθίου· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἱερὸν Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπίκλησιν Δελφινίου. λέγουσι δὲ ὡς ἐξειργασμένου τοῦ ναοῦ πλὴν τῆς ὀροφῆς ἀγνὼς ἔτι τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀφίκοιτο Θησεὺς ἐς τὴν πόλιν· οἷα δὲ χιτῶνα ἔχοντος αὐτοῦ ποδήρη καὶ πεπλεγμένης ἐς εὐπρεπές οἱ τῆς κόμης, ὡς ἐγίνετο κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Δελφινίου ναόν, οἱ τὴν στέγην οἰκοδομοῦντες ἤροντο σὺν χλευασίᾳ, ὅ τι δὴ παρθένος ἐν ὥρᾳ γάμου πλανᾶται μόνη· Θησεὺς δὲ ἄλλο μὲν αὐτοῖς ἐδήλωσεν οὐδέν, ἀπολύσας δὲ ὡς λέγεται τῆς ἁμάξης τοὺς βοῦς, ἥ σφισι παρῆν, τὸν ὄροφον ἀνέρριψεν ἐς ὑψηλότερον ἢ τῷ ναῷ τὴν στέγην ἐποιοῦντο.
1.19.2 —ἐς δὲ τὸ χωρίον, ὃ Κήπους ὀνομάζουσι, καὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τὸν ναὸν οὐδεὶς λεγόμενός σφισίν ἐστι λόγος· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀφροδίτην, ἣ τοῦ ναοῦ πλησίον ἕστηκε. ταύτης γὰρ σχῆμα μὲν τετράγωνον κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ τοῖς Ἑρμαῖς, τὸ δὲ ἐπίγραμμα σημαίνει τὴν Οὐρανίαν Ἀφροδίτην τῶν καλουμένων Μοιρῶν εἶναι πρεσβυτάτην. τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τῆς ἐν τοῖς Κήποις ἔργον ἐστὶν Ἀλκαμένους καὶ τῶν Ἀθήνῃσιν ἐν ὀλίγοις θέας ἄξιον.
1.19.3 ἔστι δὲ Ἡρακλέους ἱερὸν καλούμενον Κυνόσαργες· καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐς τὴν κύνα εἰδέναι τὴν λευκὴν ἐπιλεξαμένοις ἔστι τὸν χρησμόν, βωμοὶ δέ εἰσιν Ἡρακλέους τε καὶ Ἥβης, ἣν Διὸς παῖδα οὖσαν συνοικεῖν Ἡρακλεῖ νομίζουσιν· Ἀλκμήνης τε βωμὸς καὶ Ἰολάου πεποίηται, ὃς τὰ πολλὰ Ἡρακλεῖ συνεπόνησε τῶν ἔργων. Λύκειον δὲ ἀπὸ μὲν Λύκου τοῦ Πανδίονος ἔχει τὸ ὄνομα, Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ ἱερὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τε εὐθὺς καὶ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐνομίζετο, Λύκειός τε ὁ θεὸς ἐνταῦθα ὠνομάσθη πρῶτον· λέγεται δὲ ὅτι καὶ Τερμίλαις, ἐς οὓς ἦλθεν ὁ Λύκος φεύγων Αἰγέα, καὶ τούτοις αἴτιός ἐστι Λυκίους ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καλεῖσθαι.
1.19.4 ἔστι δὲ ὄπισθεν τοῦ Λυκείου Νίσου μνῆμα, ὃν ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ Μίνω βασιλεύοντα Μεγάρων κομίσαντες Ἀθηναῖοι ταύτῃ θάπτουσιν. ἐς τοῦτον τὸν Νῖσον ἔχει λόγος τρίχας ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ οἱ πορφυρᾶς εἶναι, χρῆναι δὲ αὐτὸν τελευτᾶν ἐπὶ ταύταις ἀποκαρείσαις· ὡς δὲ οἱ Κρῆτες ἦλθον ἐς τὴν γῆν, τὰς μὲν ἄλλας ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ᾕρουν τὰς ἐν τῇ Μεγαρίδι πόλεις, ἐς δὲ τὴν Νίσαιαν καταφεύγοντα τὸν Νῖσον ἐπολιόρκουν· ἐνταῦθα τοῦ Νίσου λέγεται θυγατέρα ἐρασθῆναι Μίνω καὶ ὡς ἀπέκειρε τὰς τρίχας τοῦ πατρός.
1.19.5 ταῦτα μὲν οὕτω γενέσθαι λέγουσι· ποταμοὶ δὲ Ἀθηναίοις ρέουσιν Ἰλισός τε καὶ Ἠριδανῷ τῷ Κελτικῷ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ὄνομα ἔχων, ἐκδιδοὺς ἐς τὸν Ἰλισόν. ὁ δὲ Ἰλισός ἐστιν οὗτος, ἔνθα παίζουσαν Ὠρείθυιαν ὑπὸ ἀνέμου Βορέου φασὶν ἁρπασθῆναι· καὶ συνοικεῖν Ὠρειθυίᾳ Βορέαν καί σφισι διὰ τὸ κῆδος ἀμύναντα τῶν τριήρων τῶν βαρβαρικῶν ἀπολέσαι τὰς πολλάς. ἐθέλουσι δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ ἄλλων θεῶν ἱερὸν εἶναι τὸν Ἰλισόν, καὶ Μουσῶν βωμὸς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ἐστιν Ἰλισιάδων· δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἔνθα Πελοποννήσιοι Κόδρον τὸν Μελάνθου βασιλεύοντα Ἀθηναίων κτείνουσι.
1.19.6 διαβᾶσι δὲ τὸν Ἰλισὸν χωρίον Ἄγραι καλούμενον καὶ ναὸς Ἀγροτέρας ἐστὶν Ἀρτέμιδος· ἐνταῦθα Ἄρτεμιν πρῶτον θηρεῦσαι λέγουσιν ἐλθοῦσαν ἐκ Δήλου, καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα διὰ τοῦτο ἔχει τόξον. τὸ δὲ ἀκούσασι μὲν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐπαγωγόν, θαῦμα δ᾽ ἰδοῦσι, στάδιόν ἐστι λευκοῦ λίθου. μέγεθος δὲ αὐτοῦ τῇδε ἄν τις μάλιστα τεκμαίροιτο· ἄνωθεν ὄρος ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἰλισὸν ἀρχόμενον ἐκ μηνοειδοῦς καθήκει τοῦ ποταμοῦ πρὸς τὴν ὄχθην εὐθύ τε καὶ διπλοῦν. τοῦτο ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος Ἡρώδης ᾠκοδόμησε, καί οἱ τὸ πολὺ τῆς λιθοτομίας τῆς Πεντελῆσιν ἐς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν ἀνηλώθη.