Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.11.4

← 2.11.3 2.11.5 →

Passage 2.11.4: Grove and temple of the Semnai (Eumenides) by the Asopus.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

σταδίους δὲ προελθοῦσιν ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν εἴκοσι καὶ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ διαβᾶσι τὸν Ἀσωπόν, ἔστιν ἄλσος πρίνων καὶ ναὸς θεῶν ἃς Ἀθηναῖοι Σεμνὰς, Σικυώνιοι δὲ Εὐμενίδας ὀνομάζουσι· κατὰ δὲ ἔτος ἕκαστον ἑορτὴν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ σφισιν ἄγουσι θύοντες πρόβατα ἐγκύμονα, μελικράτῳ δὲ σπονδῇ καὶ ἄνθεσιν ἀντὶ στεφάνων χρῆσθαι νομίζουσιν. ἐοικότα δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τῶν Μοιρῶν δρῶσιν· ὁ δέ σφισιν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τοῦ ἄλσους ἐστίν.

English Translation

Advancing about twenty stades, as it seems to me, and crossing the river Asopus on one's left, there is a grove of holm-oaks and a temple of the goddesses whom the Athenians call the Semnai ("Venerable Ones") but the Sicyonians call the Eumenides ("Kindly Ones"). Each year they hold a festival for these goddesses lasting one day, sacrificing pregnant sheep; and they customarily use a libation of honeyed milk and flowers rather than wreaths. They offer similar rites at the altar of the Fates, which stands in the open air within the grove.

Proper Nouns

Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες) deity
Moirai (Μοῖραι) deity
Semnai (Σεμναί) deity
Sicyonians (Σικυώνιοι) other
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) other
Asopos (Ἀσωπός) person
← 2.11.3 2.11.5 →