Pausanias Analysis

Passage 10.28.7

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Passage 10.28.7: Eurynomos, a blue-black daimon of Hades who devours the dead.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

ἔστι δὲ ἀνωτέρω τῶν κατειλεγμένων Εὐρύνομος· δαίμονα εἶναι τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου φασὶν οἱ Δελφῶν ἐξηγηταὶ τὸν Εὐρύνομον, καὶ ὡς τὰς σάρκας περιεσθίει τῶν νεκρῶν, μόνα σφίσιν ἀπολείπων τὰ ὀστᾶ. ἡ δὲ Ὁμήρου ποίησις ἐς Ὀδυσσέα καὶ ἡ Μινυάς τε καλουμένη καὶ οἱ Νόστοι---μνήμη γὰρ δὴ ἐν ταύταις καὶ Ἅιδου καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ δειμάτων ἐστὶν---ἴσασιν οὐδένα Εὐρύνομον δαίμονα. τοσοῦτο μέντοι δηλώσω, ὁποῖός τε ὁ Εὐρύνομος καὶ ἐπὶ ποίου γέγραπται τοῦ σχήματος· κυανοῦ τὴν χρόαν μεταξύ ἐστι καὶ μέλανος, ὁποῖαι καὶ τῶν μυιῶν αἱ πρὸς τὰ κρέα εἰσὶ προσιζάνουσαι, τοὺς δὲ ὀδόντας φαίνει, καθεζομένῳ δὲ ὑπέστρωταί οἱ δέρμα γυπός.

English Translation

Above the figures already described stands Eurynomos. The guides at Delphi say Eurynomos is one of the daimones in Hades, asserting that he devours the flesh of the dead, leaving only their bones behind. Yet neither Homer's poetry about Odysseus, nor the epic poem called the Minyas, nor the Nostoi—although each of these texts includes mention of Hades and the terrors within—know of any daimon named Eurynomos. I will, however, now indicate what sort of figure Eurynomos is, and in what form he is depicted: his color is a mixture of blue and black, like that of flies that settle upon meat; he bares his teeth, and he sits upon a vulture's skin spread beneath him.

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