Pausanias Analysis

Passage 10.31.11

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Passage 10.31.11: Figures disregarding the Eleusinian Mysteries

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

ἔστι δὲ καὶ πίθος ἐν τῇ γραφῇ, πρεσβύτης δὲ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ δὲ ἔτι παῖς, καὶ γυναῖκες, νέα μὲν ὑπὸ τῇ πέτρᾳ, παρὰ δὲ τὸν πρεσβύτην ἐοικυῖα ἐκείνῳ τὴν ἡλικίαν· οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι φέρουσιν ὕδωρ, τῇ δὲ γραῒ κατεᾶχθαι τὴν ὑδρίαν εἰκάσεις· ὅσον δὲ ἐν τῷ ὀστράκῳ λοιπόν ἦν τοῦ ὕδατος, ἐκχέουσά ἐστιν αὖθις ἐς τὸν πίθον. ἐτεκμαιρόμεθα δʼ εἶναι καὶ τούτους τῶν τὰ δρώμενα Ἐλευσῖνι ἐν οὐδενὶ θεμένων λόγῳ· οἱ γὰρ ἀρχαιότεροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τελετὴν τὴν Ἐλευσινίαν πάντων ὁπόσα ἐς εὐσέβειαν ἥκει τοσούτῳ ἦγον ἐντιμότερον ὅσῳ καὶ θεοὺς ἐπίπροσθεν ἡρώων.

English Translation

There is also a jar visible in the painting, along with an old man, a boy still quite young, and two women—one young, standing under the rock, and another beside the elderly man, appearing close to his age. The others are carrying water, but it looks as if the old woman’s pitcher has broken, and you might suppose that she is pouring back into the jar whatever water remains in the broken vessel. We conjectured that these figures also represent people who paid no heed at all to the rituals performed at Eleusis. For the most ancient of the Greeks esteemed the Eleusinian Mysteries above all other forms of religious devotion, just as they esteemed gods more highly than heroes.

Proper Nouns

gods (θεοί) deity
Eleusinia (Ἐλευσίνια) other
Also in: 3.20.5 4.33.5
Hellenes (Ἕλληνες) person
heroes (ἥρωες) person
Eleusis (Ἐλευσίς) place Q11918833
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