Pausanias Analysis

Passage 1.35.5

← 1.35.4 1.35.6 →

Passage 1.35.5: Coastal tomb of an exceptionally tall man.

Historical Skeptical

Greek Text

τοῦ γὰρ τάφου τὰ πρὸς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἔφασκεν ἐπικλύσαι τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ἔσοδον ἐς τὸ μνῆμα οὐ χαλεπὴν ποιῆσαι, καί με τοῦ νεκροῦ τὸ μέγεθος τεκμαίρεσθαι τῇδε ἐκέλευε· πεντάθλου γὰρ παιδὸς εἶναί οἱ κατὰ δίσκον μάλιστα τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς γόνασιν ὀστᾶ, καλουμένας δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν μύλας. ἐγὼ δέ, ὁπόσοι μὲν οἰκοῦσιν ἔσχατοι Κελτῶν ἔχοντες ὅμορον τῇ διὰ κρυμὸν ἐρήμῳ, οὓς Καβαρεῖς ὀνομάζουσι, τούτων μὲν οὐκ ἐθαύμασα τὸ μῆκος, οἳ νεκρῶν οὐδέν τι διαφόρως ἔχουσιν Αἰγυπτίων· ὁπόσα δὲ ἄξια ἐφαίνετο εἶναί μοι θέας, διηγήσομαι.

English Translation

He said that the sea had washed up against the tomb on the side facing the coast, making access into the tomb itself not difficult; and he gave me a point from which to judge the size of the dead man's body. He claimed that the kneecaps (called by doctors "myloi") were about the size of the discus of a boy-competitor in the pentathlon. Now, for my part, having seen those among the Celts who dwell furthest away, bordering that wilderness of frost and called the Cabares, I was not astonished at their great stature, since their dead are no different at all from the Egyptians in this regard. But whatever else seemed to me worthy of note I will describe.

Proper Nouns

Egyptians (Αἰγύπτιοι) person
Cabares (Καβαρεῖς) person
Celts (Κελτοί) person
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