Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.29.1 Class: Mythic

διαβάντων δὲ Ἀλφειὸν χώρα τε καλουμένη Τραπεζουντία καὶ πόλεώς ἐστιν ἐρείπια Τραπεζοῦντος. καὶ αὖθις ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ καταβαίνοντι ἐκ Τραπεζοῦντος, οὐ πόρρω τοῦ ποταμοῦ Βάθος ἐστὶν ὀνομαζόμενον, ἔνθα ἄγουσι τελετὴν διὰ ἔτους τρίτου θεαῖς Μεγάλαις· καὶ πηγή τε αὐτόθι ἐστὶν Ὀλυμπιὰς καλουμένη, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ἐν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπορρέουσα, καὶ πλησίον τῆς πηγῆς πῦρ ἄνεισι. λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Ἀρκάδες τὴν λεγομένην γιγάντων μάχην καὶ θεῶν ἐνταῦθα καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῇ Θρᾳκίᾳ γενέσθαι Παλλήνῃ, καὶ θύουσιν ἀστραπαῖς αὐτόθι καὶ θυέλλαις τε καὶ βρονταῖς.

Proper Nouns:

Βάθος Θρᾴκη Μεγάλαι Θεαί Παλλήνη Τραπεζουντία Τραπεζοῦς Ἀλφειός Ἀρκάδες Ὀλυμπιὰς

After crossing the Alpheios, there is a region called Trapezountia and the ruins of a city, Trapezous. Proceeding again toward the Alpheios, descending from Trapezous on the left, not far from the river is a place called Bathos. There every third year they hold rites in honor of the Great Goddesses. At this place there is also a spring called Olympias, whose water flows only every other year, and near the spring, fire emerges from the ground. The Arcadians say that the battle between Giants and gods occurred here rather than at Pallene in Thrace, and here they make offerings to lightning, storms, and thunder.

Passage 8.29.2 Class: Mythic

γιγάντων δὲ ἐν μὲν Ἰλιάδι οὐδεμίαν ἐποιήσατο Ὅμηρος μνήμην· ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ δὲ ἔγραψε μὲν ὡς ταῖς Ὀδυσσέως ναυσὶ Λαιστρυγόνες ἐπέλθοιεν γίγασι καὶ οὐκ ἀνδράσιν εἰκασμένοι, ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Φαιάκων λέγοντα εἶναι τοὺς Φαίακας θεῶν ἐγγὺς ὥσπερ Κύκλωπας καὶ τὸ γιγάντων ἔθνος. ἔν τε οὖν τούτοις δηλοῖ θνητοὺς ὄντας καὶ οὐ θεῖον γένος τοὺς γίγαντας καὶ σαφέστερον ἐν τῷδε ἔτι, ὅς ποθʼ ὑπερθύμοισι γιγάντεσσιν βασίλευεν· ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ὤλεσε λαὸν ἀτάσθαλον, ὤλετο δʼ αὐτός. Hom. Od. 7.59-60 ἐθέλουσι δʼ αὐτῷ λαὸς ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἀνθρώπων οἱ πολλοὶ καλεῖσθαι.

Proper Nouns:

Κύκλωπες Λαιστρυγόνες Φαίακες Φαίακες θεοί Ἰλιάς Ὀδυσσεύς Ὀδύσσεια Ὅμηρος Ὅμηρος Ὀδύσσεια

Homer makes no mention of Giants in the Iliad, but in the Odyssey he describes how the Laestrygonians attacked Odysseus' ships—beings he compares more to giants than men; he also has the king of the Phaeacians say that the Phaeacians are close kin to the gods, just as are the Cyclopes and the tribe of Giants. Thus, in these passages, Homer clearly indicates that the Giants are mortal and not of divine race, and even more explicitly here: "who once ruled over the arrogant Giants, but he destroyed the reckless people, and was himself destroyed." Yet in these verses, the majority of men wish to be called by the term 'people.'

Passage 8.29.3 Class: Historical

δράκοντας δὲ ἀντὶ ποδῶν τοῖς γίγασιν εἶναι, πολλαχῇ τε ὁ λόγος ἄλλῃ καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἐδείχθη μάλιστα ὡς ἔστιν εὐήθης. Ὀρόντην τὸν Σύρων ποταμὸν οὐ τὰ πάντα ἐν ἰσοπέδῳ μέχρι θαλάσσης ῥέοντα, ἀλλὰ ἐπὶ κρημνόν τε ἀπορρῶγα καὶ ἐς κάταντες ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ φερόμενον, ἠθέλησεν ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς ἀναπλεῖσθαι ναυσὶν ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐς Ἀντιόχειαν πόλιν· ἔλυτρον οὖν σὺν πόνῳ τε καὶ δαπάνῃ χρημάτων ὀρυξάμενος ἐπιτήδειον ἐς τὸν ἀνάπλουν, ἐξέτρεψεν ἐς τοῦτο τὸν ποταμόν.

Proper Nouns:

Σῦροι Ἀντιόχεια Ὀρόντης Ῥωμαῖοι

That giants had serpents instead of feet has seemed, here as in many other places, an exceedingly foolish story. When the Roman emperor desired to sail upriver by ship from the sea to the city of Antioch upon the Orontes, the river of Syria, since the river did not flow at an even level all the way to the sea but rather descended abruptly from a steep cliff, he undertook with great effort and expense of money to construct a suitable artificial channel for sailing upstream, and diverted the river into this canal.

Passage 8.29.4 Class: Mythic

ἀναξηρανθέντος δὲ τοῦ ἀρχαίου ῥεύματος, κεραμεᾶ τε ἐν αὐτῷ σορὸς πλέον ἢ ἑνός τε καὶ δέκα εὑρέθη πηχῶν καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς μέγεθός τε ἦν κατὰ τὴν σορὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπος διὰ παντὸς τοῦ σώματος. τοῦτον τὸν νεκρὸν ὁ ἐν Κλάρῳ ὁ θεός, ἀφικομένων ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστήριον τῶν Σύρων, εἶπεν Ὀρόντην εἶναι, γένους δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι τοῦ Ἰνδῶν. εἰ δὲ τὴν γῆν τὸ ἀρχαῖον οὖσαν ὑγρὰν ἔτι καὶ ἀνάπλεων νοτίδος θερμαίνων ὁ ἥλιος τοὺς πρώτους ἐποίησεν ἀνθρώπους, ποίαν εἰκός ἐστιν ἄλλην χώραν ἢ προτέραν τῆς Ἰνδῶν ἢ μείζονας ἀνεῖναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἥ γε καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι καὶ ὄψεως τῷ παραλόγῳ καὶ μεγέθει διάφορα ἐκτρέφει θηρία;

Proper Nouns:

Κλάρος Σύροι ἥλιος Ἰνδοί Ὀρόντης

When the original stream had dried up, there was discovered in it an earthen coffin more than eleven cubits long, and the corpse inside corresponded to the coffin in size and was human in all parts of the body. When the Syrians came to the oracle at Claros, the god there declared that this corpse was Orontes and that he was descended from the race of Indians. Now, if originally, when the earth was still moist and filled with humidity, the sun warming it fashioned the first human beings, what other region would one reasonably suppose either earlier than India or more likely to have produced greater men, seeing that even in our time India breeds creatures remarkable both for extraordinary appearance and size?

Passage 8.29.5 Class: Mythic

τοῦ δὲ χωρίου τοῦ ὀνομαζομένου Βάθους σταδίους ὡς δέκα ἀφέστηκεν ἡ καλουμένη Βασιλίς· ταύτης ἐγένετο οἰκιστὴς Κύψελος ὁ Κρεσφόντῃ τῷ Ἀριστομάχου τὴν θυγατέρα ἐκδούς· ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ ἐρείπια ἡ Βασιλὶς ἦν καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλείπετο Ἐλευσινίας. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ προϊὼν τὸν Ἀλφειὸν αὖθις διαβήσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ Θωκνίαν ἀφίξῃ, τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ Θώκνου τοῦ Λυκάονος ἔχουσαν, ἐς ἅπαν δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔρημον· ἐλέγετο δὲ ὁ Θῶκνος ἐν τῷ λόφῳ κτίσαι τὴν πόλιν. ποταμὸς δὲ ὁ Ἀμίνιος ῥέων παρὰ τὸν λόφον ἐς τὸν Ἑλισσόντα ἐκδίδωσι, καὶ οὐ πολὺ ἄπωθεν ἐς τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ὁ Ἑλισσών.

Proper Nouns:

Βάθος Βασιλίς Βασιλίς Δήμητρα Θωκνία Θῶκνος Θῶκνος Κρέσφων Κύψελος Λυκάων Ἀλφειός Ἀμίνιος Ἀριστόμαχος Ἐλευσινία Ἑλισσών Ἑλισσών

About ten stades from the place called Bathos is the site named Basilis. Cypselus was its founder, having given his daughter in marriage to Cresphontes, the son of Aristomachus. In my time Basilis was in ruins, and among these ruins there still remained a temple of Demeter Eleusinia. Proceeding from there, you again cross the Alpheius and reach Thocnia, named after Thocnus, the son of Lycaon, but wholly deserted by our day. Thocnus was said to have built the city on a hill. The river Aminius flows by this hill and empties into the Helisson, and not far away the Helisson itself joins the Alpheius.

Legend:

Chapter 8.29