Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.31.4

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Passage 2.31.4: Shrine of Artemis Lykeia at Troezen, built by Hippolytus; Orestes’ purification stone.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

πλησίον δὲ τοῦ θεάτρου Λυκείας ναὸν Ἀρτέμιδος ἐποίησεν Ἱππόλυτος· ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν οὐδὲν εἶχον πυθέσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν, ἀλλὰ ἢ λύκους ἐφαίνετό μοι τὴν Τροιζηνίαν λυμαινομένους ἐξελεῖν ὁ Ἱππόλυτος ἢ Ἀμαζόσι, παρʼ ὧν τὰ πρὸς μητρὸς ἦν, ἐπίκλησις τῆς Ἀρτέμιδός ἐστιν αὕτη· εἴη δʼ ἂν ἔτι καὶ ἄλλο οὐ γινωσκόμενον ὑπὸ ἐμοῦ. τὸν δὲ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ναοῦ λίθον, καλούμενον δὲ ἱερόν, εἶναι λέγουσιν ἐφʼ οὗ ποτε ἄνδρες Τροιζηνίων ἐννέα Ὀρέστην ἐκάθηραν ἐπὶ τῷ φόνῳ τῆς μητρός.

English Translation

Near the theater is a shrine of Artemis, called Lykeia, built by Hippolytus. Regarding the surname Lykeia, I could obtain no explanation from the local guides; but it seemed to me either that Hippolytus had destroyed wolves ravaging the Troezenian land, or else that the epithet derived from the Amazons, from whom he inherited through his mother, for it is known as one of Artemis’s titles among them. Or possibly the name might have another meaning unknown to me. In front of the temple they show a stone called sacred, upon which, they say, Orestes once sat and was purified by nine men of Troezen for murdering his mother.

Proper Nouns

Lykeia (Λυκεία) deity
Artemis (Ἀρτέμις) deity
Troezenians (Τροιζήνιοι) person
Amazons (Ἀμαζόνες) person
Hippolytus (Ἱππόλυτος) person
Orestes (Ὀρέστης) person
Troezenia (Τροιζηνία) place
Also in: 2.32.6 2.34.12
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