Pausanias Analysis

From Pheneus, on the road towards the rising sun, there is a mountain peak called Geronteion, and the road passes by it. Geronteion is the boundary point of the Pheneatian territory with that of the Stymphalians. Traveling through the land of Pheneus, the mountains called Trikrena lie to the left of Geronteion. There are three springs there, and local tradition holds that the nymphs who dwell around the mountain washed Hermes when he was born in these springs. For this reason, the people regard the springs as sacred to Hermes.

Not far from Trikrena is another mountain called Sepia, and it is said that here Aepytus, son of Elatus, met his death from a serpent's bite; they made his tomb on the spot, as it was impossible for them to carry his corpse forward from there. The Arcadians claim that these particular serpents still live upon this mountain even in our time, although they are not many, indeed extremely rare; for since most of the year the mountain is covered with snow, those snakes that are caught outside their lairs perish from the snow, and even if they happen to flee into their dens beforehand, still the snow destroys some of them, so severe is the cold that penetrates even their very holes.

I was especially careful to examine the tomb of Aepytus, because Homer makes mention of it in his verses referring to the Arcadians. It is a mound of earth, not very large, encircled all round by a stone coping. For Homer—since he had not seen a more remarkable tomb—it was understandably marvelous; indeed, he likewise likens the dance worked by Hephaestus on the shield of Achilles to the dance made by Daedalus, having seen nothing wiser.

Though I know of many tombs worthy of admiration, I shall mention two among them, namely the one in Halicarnassus and that in the land of the Hebrews. The one at Halicarnassus was built for Mausolus, who was king of the Halicarnassians, and it is so extraordinary in size and remarkable in craftsmanship that even the Romans, greatly admiring it, call their own splendid tombs "mausolea."

The Hebrews have a tomb in the city of Jerusalem, their local city, of a woman named Helen, which the Roman emperor razed to the ground. At the tomb there is constructed a door of stone, which, like the rest of the tomb, is devised in such a way that it cannot be opened until a particular day and hour of the year arrives. At that precise moment, it opens of its own accord through the mechanism alone, remains open a brief time, and then closes shut again by itself. Thus does it function; but should a man try to force it open at another time, he would be unable to open it and, indeed, would sooner break it by violence.