Pausanias Analysis

These Galatai dwell at the furthest reaches of Europe, near a vast sea whose extremities cannot be navigated. This sea produces tides of ebbing and flowing, and contains beasts unlike any found in other seas. Through their country flows the river Eridanos, on the banks of which they say the daughters of Helios lament the fate of their brother Phaethon. Only at a much later time did the name Galatai prevail for these people; formerly they were called Keltoi, both by themselves and among other peoples. Having assembled an army, they turned towards the Ionian Sea, ravaged the Illyrians and everything inhabited as far as the Macedonians, caused devastation among the Macedonians themselves, and invaded Thessaly. When they approached Thermopylae, most Greeks were indifferent to the barbarians' incursion, because previously they had suffered greatly under Alexander and Philip, and afterwards Antipater and Cassander had further suppressed Greece, with the result that, through weakness, each city considered it no dishonor to neglect sending aid for the common defense.

The Athenians, more than all the other Greeks, had been exhausted by the protracted nature of the Macedonian war, and having suffered frequent defeats in battle, they nevertheless resolved to march out with the remaining Greeks toward Thermopylae, having selected Kallippos as their leader. When they reached the narrowest part of the pass, they blocked the barbarians from entering Greece. However, the Celts found the hidden path, the same one through which once the Trachinian Ephialtes led the Medes; and having overwhelmed the Phocians who had been stationed there, they secretly crossed Mount Oeta unnoticed by the Greeks.

Here indeed the Athenians showed themselves most worthy among the Greeks, for they defended themselves bravely against the barbarians who surrounded them from both sides. The barbarians especially suffered hardship on their ships, since the bay near Thermopylae, belonging to the Lamian Gulf, is swampy. It seems to me the cause of this is the warm water which flows into the sea at this place. Thus, the barbarians endured greater hardships; for having taken the Greeks onto their decks, they were compelled to sail through mud, their ships heavily laden with armor and troops.

These, then, were the men who saved the Greeks in the manner just described, while the Gauls were within Thermopylae and, having disregarded the remaining towns, sought only to seize Delphi and plunder the treasures of the god, upon which they particularly set their desires. Against them stood the Delphians themselves, as well as the Phocians who inhabited the cities around Parnassus, and besides these arrived a force of Aetolians—for at that time the Aetolian nation was at the peak of youthful vigor. When the two sides joined battle, lightning bolts fell upon the Gauls and rocks, suddenly torn loose from Parnassus, crashed down upon them; terrifying armed figures appeared to face the barbarians. It is said that among these warriors were two who came from the Hyperboreans—Hyperochus and Amadocus—and a third who was Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. In honor of this aid given to them, the Delphians henceforth sacrificed to Pyrrhus, though previously, as a former enemy, his tomb had been subjected to dishonor.

But most of the Gauls crossed over by ships into Asia and plundered its coastal regions. Later on, however, those who held Pergamon—previously called Teuthrania—drove these Gauls away from the sea into the interior. The Gauls gained control of the territory beyond the river Sangarios, capturing the Phrygian city of Ankyra, which had earlier been settled by Midas, son of Gordias. The anchor which Midas discovered was still there within my own time, preserved in the sanctuary of Zeus, as was a spring known as "the spring of Midas." It is said that Midas mixed wine from this spring when hunting Silenus. These Gauls also captured this Ankyra, and Pessinous beneath Mount Agdistis, where they say Attis lies buried.

The Pergamenes possess spoils taken from the Galatians, and also a painting depicting the battle against the Galatians. The territory they now occupy, the Pergamenes claim was originally sacred to the Cabeiri. They themselves wish to be considered Arcadians, descended from those who crossed over to Asia together with Telephus. Regarding the other wars they may have fought, their fame has not survived equally in every case; but three achievements in particular stand out prominently for them: their rule over Lower Asia, the repulse of the Galatians from their lands, and the heroic struggle of Telephus against Agamemnon's forces, at the time when the Greeks, having lost their way to Troy, ravaged by mistake the plain of the Mysians, assuming it was Trojan soil. Now I shall return to the starting point from which I departed from my narrative.