Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.1.4

← 2.1.3 2.1.5 →

Passage 2.1.4: Theseus slays Sinis, the pine-bender who tore victims apart.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἔνθα ὁ λῃστὴς Σίνις λαμβανόμενος πιτύων ἦγεν ἐς τὸ κάτω σφᾶς· ὁπόσων δὲ μάχῃ κρατήσειεν, ἀπʼ αὐτῶν δήσας ἀφῆκεν ἂν τὰ δένδρα ἄνω φέρεσθαι· ἐνταῦθα ἑκατέρα τῶν πιτύων τὸν δεθέντα ἐφʼ αὑτὴν εἷλκε, καὶ τοῦ δεσμοῦ μηδετέρωσε εἴκοντος ἀλλʼ ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐπʼ ἴσης βιαζομένου διεσπᾶτο ὁ δεδεμένος. τοιούτῳ διεφθάρη τρόπῳ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ Θησέως ὁ Σίνις· ἐκάθηρε γὰρ Θησεὺς τῶν κακούργων τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐς Ἀθήνας ἐκ Τροιζῆνος, οὕς τε πρότερον κατηρίθμησα ἀνελὼν καὶ ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ τῇ ἱερᾷ Περιφήτην Ἡφαίστου νομιζόμενον, κορύνῃ χαλκῇ χρώμενον ἐς τὰς μάχας.

English Translation

At the very entrance of the Isthmus is the spot where the robber Sinis used to bend down pine trees to the ground. Whenever he overcame any man in combat, Sinis would bind him between two pines, after which he released the trees, letting them spring upright. Both trees then violently pulled the tied man toward themselves, and since the bonds yielded neither way but exerted equal force from both sides, the captive was torn apart. In this same fashion Sinis himself was destroyed by Theseus, who cleared of such criminals the road from Troezen to Athens, having slain those whom I previously enumerated, and also Periphetes in sacred Epidaurus, considered the son of Hephaistos, who used a bronze club in battle.

Proper Nouns

Hephaestus (Ἥφαιστος) deity
Theseus (Θησεύς) person
Periphetes (Περιφήτης) person
Also in: 8.24.1
Sinis (Σίνις) person
Also in: 1.37.4
Troezen (Τροιζήν) place Q581494 Pleiades
Athens (Ἀθῆναι) place Q844930
Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος) place Q233576
Isthmus (Ἰσθμός) place Q215200
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