Pausanias Analysis

Passage 3.7.7

← 3.7.6 3.7.8 →

Passage 3.7.7: Demaratos born after seven months; Ariston denies paternity

Historical Skeptical

Greek Text

Ἀρίστωνι δὲ τῷ Ἀγησικλέους ἀγαγομένῳ γυναῖκα ἥντινα παρθένον μὲν τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι εἶναί φασιν αἰσχίστην, γυναικῶν δὲ τὸ εἶδος καλλίστην ὑπὸ Ἑλένης γενέσθαι, ταύτην ἀγαγομένῳ τῷ Ἀρίστωνι ἐγένετο υἱὸς Δημάρατος ἐν μόνοις μησὶν ἑπτά· καὶ αὐτῷ μετὰ τῶν ἐφόρων καθημένῳ τηνικαῦτα ἐν βουλῇ ἦλθεν οἰκέτης ἀπαγγέλλων τετέχθαι οἱ παῖδα. Ἀρίστων δὲ ἐπῶν τῶν ἐν Ἰλιάδι ἐς τὴν Εὐρυσθέως γένεσιν πεποιημένος λήθην ἢ μηδὲ ἀρχὴν συνεὶς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔφη τῶν μηνῶν ἕνεκα αὑτοῦ τὸν παῖδα εἶναι.

English Translation

To Ariston son of Agesikles was married a woman who, it is said, among the maidens of Sparta was the most repulsive, yet who became the most beautiful of all women through the intervention of Helen. To this woman, after having been wedded to Ariston, was born a son, Demaratos, after only seven months. As Ariston was sitting at the time with the ephors in council, a servant arrived, bringing the news that a child had been born to him. Ariston, either forgetting the passage in the Iliad regarding the birth of Eurystheus or never having understood it at all, declared that this child could not possibly be his own because of the short duration of the months.

Proper Nouns

Iliad (Ἰλιάς) other
Demaratus (Δημάρατος) person Q334478
Eurystheus (Εὐρυσθεύς) person Q117453263
Agesikles (Ἀγησικλῆς) person
Also in: 3.7.6
Ariston (Ἀρίστων) person
Helen (Ἑλένη) person
Lacedaemon (Λακεδαίμων) place Q5690 Pleiades
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