Pausanias Analysis

In Tanagra beside the temple of Dionysus is one of Themis, another of Aphrodite, and a third temple belongs to Apollo, where Artemis and Leto are worshipped together with him. Regarding the shrines of Hermes called Kriophoros ("Ram-bearer") and Promachos ("Champion"), it is said concerning the surname that Hermes once turned aside a plague from their city walls by carrying a ram around them. In memory of this event, Calamis made a statue of Hermes carrying the ram on his shoulders. The youth judged the handsomest among those undergoing the rites takes part in the festival of Hermes and walks around the city walls carrying a lamb upon his shoulders.

They say that Hermes, called Promachos ("the Champion"), when the Eretrians landed from Euboea at Tanagra with their ships, led forth the youths to battle, and that he himself, appearing as a youth, defended himself using a scraper (strigil), and played the greatest part in routing the Euboeans. Within the sanctuary of Promachos still lies the remnant of a wild strawberry-tree, under whose branches they believe Hermes was nurtured. Not far from this stands a theater, and beside it a portico. In my judgment, the Tanagraeans appear especially reverent among the Greeks in matters relating to the gods, for they have their houses separate from the sanctuaries, which are set above them in places that are pure and apart from human dwellings.

Of Corinna, who alone composed songs in Tanagra, there is a tomb prominently located within the city, and in the gymnasium there is a picture portraying her binding her head with a ribbon, commemorating her victory over Pindar in a contest of song at Thebes. It seems to me that she won partly because of her dialect, as she sang not in the Doric tongue as Pindar did, but in a dialect more understandable to the Aeolians. Additionally, it was because at that time she was the most beautiful woman in appearance, if indeed we should judge anything from her portrait.

There are here also two breeds of fowl: the fighting kind and those called "kossyphoi." These kossyphoi are about as large as the birds common to Lydia, black in color, resembling a crow, while their wattles and comb closely resemble the anemone flower. They have small white markings at the tip of the beak and at the end of the tail.

These places present such an aspect. On the left side of the Euripus, in Boeotia, is a mountain called Messapion, and beneath it by the sea is a Boeotian city called Anthedon. Regarding the city's name, some say it derived from a nymph named Anthedon, while others claim it was named after Anthas, who ruled there, and who was the son of Poseidon and Alcyone, daughter of Atlas. In the center of Anthedon especially is a sanctuary of the Cabeiri, surrounded by a grove, and nearby stands a temple of Demeter and her daughter, containing statues carved from white marble.

There is a sanctuary and a statue of Dionysus, situated outside the city toward the mainland. Here are the tombs of the children of Iphimedeia and Aloeus. Both Homer and Pindar record that the end of their lives came about through Apollo's agency. Pindar further adds that this destiny overtook them on Naxos, the island lying beyond Paros. In Anthedon there are monuments to these figures, and beside the sea is a place called the Leap of Glaucus.

They say that he was a fisherman who, after eating a certain herb, became a divine being dwelling in the sea, and thenceforth foretold future events to men. Both others consider these prophecies trustworthy, and sailors especially relate numerous stories each year about Glaucus' oracle. When Pindar and Aeschylus inquired about him from the people of Anthedon, the former was moved only briefly to sing about matters regarding Glaucus, whereas Aeschylus found in this material sufficient inspiration to compose a dramatic work.