Pausanias Analysis

Hellas then reached the utmost weakness, devastated region by region and thoroughly wasted from its earliest state by the divinity. As for Argos, a city that had attained the greatest power in the age of the so-called heroes, at the same time of the change to the Dorians, its previous good fortune deserted it.

The Attic people, having recovered from both the Peloponnesian War and the devastating plague and again regaining strength, were fated a few years later to be brought low by Macedonian power. Out of Macedonia also came Alexander's wrath upon Thebes in Boeotia. As for the Lacedaemonians, they experienced first the attack of Epaminondas the Theban, and later the war against the Achaeans. But when at length, like a tree that had been maimed and mostly withered, the Achaean nation sprouted anew from Hellas, its further growth was checked once again by the incompetence of its leaders.

At a later time, the imperial power of Rome passed to Nero, who gave Greece complete freedom, thus making an exchange favorable to the Roman people: for in place of Greece, he granted them the island of Sardinia, one of the richest of all lands. Looking upon this act of Nero, it seemed to me that Plato, son of Ariston, was most correct in stating that certain transgressions are so excessively great and daring in nature that ordinary men could never commit them; rather, they arise from a noble soul corrupted by a perverse education.

However, it was not granted to the Greeks to benefit from this gift. For after Nero, when Vespasian had become emperor, they fell once more into civil strife, and Vespasian ordered that they again become subjects, paying tribute and obeying a governor, declaring that the Greek people had forgotten how to use their freedom.

These events I found to have occurred as described above. Between the Eleians and the Achaians the boundary of their territories is the river Larisus, and by this river is situated a temple of Athena Larisaea. The Achaian city of Dyme lies about thirty stadia from the Larisus. During his war against the Achaians, Philip, son of Demetrius, made Dyme alone of all the Achaian cities subject to him; and for this reason Sulpicius, another general of the Romans, permitted his army to plunder Dyme. Later, Augustus bestowed this city upon the people of Patrae.

In earlier times, the city was called Paleia; but when the Ionians still inhabited it, they changed the name to that which it bears today. But I cannot clearly determine whether it was named after a local woman, Dyme, or after Dymas, the son of Aegimius. Moreover, considering the elegiac verses inscribed at Olympia upon the statue of Oebotas, no one could reasonably argue otherwise. For Oebotas of Dyme, who won the stadium race at the sixth Olympiad, was finally honored by a statue at Olympia around the eightieth Olympiad, after an oracle from Delphi so commanded. Upon this statue there is an inscription which reads:

This Achaean, Oebotas of Oeneia, having won the foot-race, made his native city Paleia more distinguished. Therefore, it should cause no perplexity if the epigram refers to the city as Paleia rather than Dyme. For among the Greeks it is customary in poetry to resort to older names rather than later ones; thus they call Amphiaraüs and Adrastus Phoroneidae, and Theseus an Erechtheid.

A little before reaching the city of Dyme, there is on the right side of the road the tomb of Sostratos. This Sostratos was a youth among the local inhabitants, and they relate that he was beloved by Heracles. Since Sostratos had died when Heracles was still in the company of humans, Heracles himself, they say, built his tomb and offered as first-fruits some locks of hair cut from his own head. Even to my day a monument remained upon the tomb mound, bearing an image of Heracles. It was said by the people living in the region that they still offered sacrifices to Sostratos.

The Dymaeans possess a temple of Athena and an extremely ancient statue. They also have another sanctuary, dedicated to the Mother Dindymene and to Attis. As for who this Attis was, I was unable to discover anything definite about him, since it is not permitted to speak openly concerning him. However, according to Hermesianax, who composed elegiac verses, Attis was the son of Calaüs, a Phrygian, and was born incapable of begetting offspring. When he had grown up, according to Hermesianax’s account, he migrated to Lydia and performed there the rites sacred to the Mother, and gained such great honor from her that Zeus, angered by this, sent a boar among the Lydians to disrupt these practices.

In this place, many others among the Lydians died, and Attis himself was slain by a boar. Henceforth, the people dwelling in Pessinus, as a consequence of these events, observe a custom derived from this incident by refraining from touching swine. However, their own tradition concerning Attis is quite different: they recount that Zeus once emitted seed upon the earth in his sleep, and after some time, the earth gave birth to a divine being possessing dual sexual organs—those both of a man and of a woman. They name this divinity Agdistis. But the gods, fearing Agdistis, severed from it the male organs.

And when an almond tree sprang up from them bearing beautiful fruit, they say that the daughter of the river Sangarius picked from its fruit. After she placed the fruit into her bosom, it suddenly vanished, and she herself conceived. When she gave birth, a goat tended to the infant who had been exposed. As the child grew, his beauty surpassed that belonging merely to human shape, and Agdistis fell in love with him. When Attis had grown to manhood, his relatives sent him to Pessinus to marry the daughter of the king.

The marriage hymn was being sung, when Agdistis appeared, and Attis, driven mad, cut off his own genitals; likewise did the man who had given him his daughter. Afterwards Agdistis felt remorse for what had befallen Attis, and received from Zeus the favor that Attis' body should neither decay nor waste away. These are the best-known accounts concerning Attis.

In the territory of Dyme is also the tomb of the runner Oebotas. Although this Oebotas was the first among the Achaeans to win at Olympia, they devised no special honor for him. Thus, Oebotas pronounced a curse upon them that no Achaean would henceforth achieve an Olympic victory. Indeed, since a certain god was concerned that the curses of Oebotas should be fulfilled, at last the Achaeans were advised of the reason they were deprived of Olympic crowns; they discovered this by sending envoys to Delphi.

Thus, having paid him other honors and having dedicated his statue at Olympia, Sostratos of Pellene won the footrace for boys. It continues even to my time that the Achaeans who intend to compete at Olympia offer sacrifices to Oibotas, and if they gain the victory, they crown the statue of Oibotas at Olympia.