Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.26.4

← 2.26.3 2.26.5 →

Passage 2.26.4: Infant exposed on Mount Titthion, nursed by a goat and guarded by a watchdog.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ὅτε δὲ παρεγένετο ἐς Πελοπόννησον, εἵπετο ἡ θυγάτηρ αὐτῷ, λεληθυῖα ἔτι τὸν πατέρα ὅτι ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶχεν ἐν γαστρί. ὡς δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ τῇ Ἐπιδαυρίων ἔτεκεν, ἐκτίθησι τὸν παῖδα ἐς τὸ ὄρος τοῦτο ὃ δὴ Τίτθιον ὀνομάζουσιν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, τηνικαῦτα δὲ ἐκαλεῖτο Μύρτιον· ἐκκειμένῳ δὲ ἐδίδου μέν οἱ γάλα μία τῶν περὶ τὸ ὄρος ποιμαινομένων αἰγῶν, ἐφύλασσε δὲ ὁ κύων ὁ τοῦ αἰπολίου φρουρός.

English Translation

When she came into the Peloponnese, her father accompanied her, still unaware that his daughter carried within her womb a child conceived by Apollo. After she gave birth in the land of the Epidaurians, she exposed the infant on the mountain now called Titthion, though it was then named Myrtion. The child, while thus exposed, was fed with milk by one of the goats grazing about the mountain, and was guarded by the watchdog that protected the herd.

Proper Nouns

Apollo (Ἀπόλλων) deity
Myrtion (Μύρτιον) place Q109941874
Peloponnese (Πελοπόννησος) place Q78967
Tithion (Τίτθιον) place Q109941874
Also in: 2.27.7
Epidaurians (Ἐπίδαυροι) place
← 2.26.3 2.26.5 →