Pausanias Analysis

Passage 10.28.6

← 10.28.5 10.28.7 →

Passage 10.28.6: Athenian restraint at the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus in Syracuse.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

περισσῶς δὲ ἄρα εὐσεβείᾳ θεῶν ἔτι προσέκειντο οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ὡς Ἀθηναῖοί τε δῆλα ἐποίησαν, ἡνίκα εἷλον Ὀλυμπίου Διὸς ἐν Συρακούσαις ἱερόν, οὔτε κινήσαντες τῶν ἀναθημάτων οὐδὲν τὸν ἱερέα τε τὸν Συρακούσιον φύλακα ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἐάσαντες· ἐδήλωσε δὲ καὶ ὁ Μῆδος Δᾶτις λόγοις τε οὓς εἶπε πρὸς Δηλίους καὶ τῷ ἔργῳ, ἡνίκα ἐν Φοινίσσῃ νηὶ ἄγαλμα εὑρὼν Ἀπόλλωνος ἀπέδωκεν αὖθις Ταναγραίοις ἐς Δήλιον. οὕτω μὲν τὸ θεῖον καὶ οἱ πάντες τότε ἦγον ἐν τιμῇ, καὶ ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιούτῳ τὰ ἐς τὸν συλήσαντα ἱερὰ ἔγραψε Πολύγνωτος.

English Translation

People at that time still exhibited remarkable reverence toward the gods, as the Athenians made clear when they captured the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus at Syracuse; they took none of the offerings from the temple and even left in place the Syracusan priest who guarded these sacred items. Further testimony was given by the Mede, Datis, both through the words he addressed to the Delians and through his actions, when, upon finding a statue of Apollo on a Phoenician ship, he restored it to the Tanagraeans in Delium. To such an extent did everyone at that time hold the divine in honor, and indeed, it was due to just this sort of reverence that Polygnotus illustrated scenes showing the fate of those who had plundered sanctuaries.

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