Pausanias Analysis

Between the temple of Artemis Laphria and her altar there is a constructed tomb of Eurypylus. Who this man was, and for what reason he came into this land, will be made clear in my account, after I first recount the sufferings that his coming brought upon the inhabitants here. The Ionians inhabiting Aroe, Antheia, and Mesatis possessed in common a sacred precinct and temple dedicated to Artemis, surnamed Triklaria, and each year the Ionians celebrated a festival and all-night rites in her honour. The priesthood of the goddess was held by a virgin, until the time came for her to be sent to a husband.

They say, therefore, that it once happened that the priestess of the goddess was Comaetho, a maiden most beautiful in form, and that Melanippus fell in love with her, a youth who surpassed his contemporaries especially in the beauty of his appearance. When Melanippus led the maiden equally into passion for him, he asked her in marriage from her father. Now it happens often that old age, generally opposing the young, becomes particularly harsh toward lovers. So it was that although Melanippus wished to marry Comaetho, as she wished to marry him, neither from his own parents nor from those of Comaetho did he meet with any gentle reception at all.

He demonstrated, by many other examples and particularly through the sufferings of Melanippus, how love has the power to confound human customs and overturn the honors due the gods. For it was there, in the sanctuary of Artemis, that Comaetho and Melanippus yielded to the full force of their passion. Thus, thenceforth the temple was destined to become to them no different from a bridal chamber. But immediately the wrath of Artemis brought ruin upon the people, since the earth yielded no produce and diseases beyond those ordinarily known came upon them, causing deaths among them in greater number than before.

When they sought refuge at the oracle at Delphi, the Pythia revealed the guilt of Melanippus and Comaetho. An oracle came to these people themselves, commanding them to sacrifice to Artemis and, every year thereafter, to offer the goddess as sacrifice a maiden and a youth who were most beautiful in appearance. Indeed, because of this sacrifice, the river near the temple of Triclaria received the name Ameilichus ("Relentless").

Until then it had no name. But concerning those youths and maidens who had committed no offense against the goddess yet nevertheless perished on account of Melanippus and Comaetho, both they themselves suffered most miserably, as did their relatives; on the other hand, Melanippus and Comaetho, I hold, escaped calamity. Indeed, for a human being, the only thing truly worth one's life is to succeed in love.

They are said to have ceased in this way from the sacrifice of humans to Artemis. For previously, an oracle had come to them from Delphi, stating that a foreign king would arrive upon their land, bringing with him a foreign divinity, and he would bring an end to the sacrifice offered to Artemis Triklaria. When Ilium was taken and the Greeks were distributing its spoils, Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, received a chest; in it was an image of Dionysus, said to be fabricated by Hephaestus and given by Zeus as a gift to Dardanus.

Two other stories are also told regarding this chest. One is that when Aeneas fled, he left behind this chest; others say it was deliberately cast aside by Cassandra as a curse upon whichever Greek should find it. Eurypylus, then, opened the chest, saw the image, and immediately lost his senses at the sight of it. He was thereafter mostly mad, rarely returning to sanity. In this condition, he failed to sail toward Thessaly, but rather to Cirrha and the bay there; having landed, he went up to Delphi and consulted the oracle about his affliction.

They say that he received an oracle instructing him to establish the chest and dwell himself wherever he found people offering a foreign sacrifice. The wind indeed drove Eurypylus' ships to the sea near Aroe. Disembarking onto the land, he encountered a boy and a maiden being led to the altar of Triclaria. It was not difficult for him to comprehend the nature of the sacrifice. The inhabitants also remembered the oracle; and when they saw the king, whom they had never before beheld, and observed the chest, they conjectured that within it was some deity.

Thus both Eurypylus' malady and the suffering of the inhabitants concerning the sacrifices ceased, and the river received the name by which it is now called, Meilichos ("Gentle"). However, some writers have claimed that the circumstances described did not happen to Eurypylus the Thessalian, but to another Eurypylus, the son of Dexamenus, who reigned in Olenus. They maintain that this Eurypylus joined Heracles in his expedition against Ilium and received the chest from Heracles. In all other respects, their account agrees with the previously mentioned tradition.

I am not persuaded either that Heracles was ignorant of matters concerning the chest, if indeed such events occurred, nor, had he known them, do I believe he would ever have given it as a gift to a man who was his ally. Moreover, the people of Patrae have no other Eurypylus in memory but the son of Euaemon; to him they even offer worship with annual sacrifices at the festival they celebrate in honor of Dionysus.