Pausanias Analysis

Passage 1.38.1

← 1.37.7 1.38.2 →

Passage 1.38.1: The Rheitoi streams, sacred to Kore and Demeter and marking Eleusis' boundary.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

οἱ δὲ Ῥειτοὶ καλούμενοι ῥεῦμα μόνον παρέχονται ποταμῶν, ἐπεὶ τό γε ὕδωρ θάλασσά ἐστί σφισι· πείθοιτο δὲ ἄν τις καὶ ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ Χαλκιδέων Εὐρίπου ῥέουσιν ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐς θάλασσαν κοιλοτέραν ἐμπίπτοντες. λέγονται δὲ οἱ Ῥειτοὶ Κόρης ἱεροὶ καὶ Δήμητρος εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς ἰχθῦς ἐξ αὐτῶν τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἔστιν αἱρεῖν μόνοις. οὗτοι τὸ ἀρχαῖον, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, πρὸς Ἀθηναίους τοὺς ἄλλους ὅροι τῆς γῆς Ἐλευσινίοις ἦσαν, καὶ διαβᾶσι τοὺς Ῥειτοὺς πρῶτος ᾤκει

English Translation

The streams called Rheitoi provide only a current of rivers, since their water is actually seawater. Indeed, one might be persuaded also that they flow underground from the Euripus channel at Chalkis, emptying into a deeper sea. The Rheitoi are said to be sacred to Kore and Demeter, and only the priests are permitted to catch the fish from them. As I learn, these Rheitoi streams, in ancient times, formed the boundary between the territory of Eleusis and the rest of Athens, and the first settlement beyond the Rheitoi was inhabited...

Proper Nouns

Demeter (Δήμητρα) deity
Kore (Κόρη) deity
Euripus (Εὔριπος) place Q1137741
Chalcis (Χαλκίδες) place Q21235810
Athens (Ἀθῆναι) place Q844930
Eleusis (Ἐλευσῖς) place Q11918833
Rheitoi (Ῥειτοί) place Q1785564
Also in: 2.24.6
← 1.37.7 1.38.2 →