Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.12.5

← 4.12.4 4.12.6 →

Passage 4.12.5: Lykiskos captured at Ithome; says the oracle declared the girl was not his.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ἕτερα δὲ ἐν τῷ τότε τοῖς Μεσσηνίοις συνέβαινε τοιαῦτα. Λυκίσκου μετοικοῦντος ἐν Σπάρτῃ τὴν θυγατέρα ἐπέλαβεν ἀποθανεῖν, ἣν ἅμα ἀγόμενος ἔφυγεν ἐκ Μεσσήνης. πολλάκις δὲ αὐτὸν φοιτῶντα ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα τῆς παιδὸς λοχήσαντες ἱππεῖς τῶν Ἀρκάδων αἱροῦσιν· ἀναχθεὶς δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἰθώμην καὶ ἐς ἐκκλησίαν καταστὰς ἀπελογεῖτο ὡς οὐ προδιδοὺς τὴν πατρίδα ἀποχωρήσαι, πειθόμενος δὲ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ μάντεως ἐς τὴν παῖδα ὡς οὖσαν οὐ γνησίαν.

English Translation

At that time another event befell the Messenians, as follows. The daughter of Lykiskos, who had moved his residence to Sparta, happened to die; she was the very girl he had taken with him when fleeing Messene. While he was repeatedly visiting the tomb of his daughter, a group of Arcadian horsemen, ambushing him, captured him. Being led back to Ithome and brought before the assembly, he defended himself by arguing that he had not left the country in betrayal, but rather had followed the instruction given by the oracle regarding his child—namely, that she was not genuinely his own.

Proper Nouns

Lykiskos (Λύκισκος) person
Messenians (Μεσσήνιοι) person
Arcadians (Ἀρκάδες) person
Messene (Μεσσήνη) place Q1022117
Sparta (Σπάρτη) place Q5690 Pleiades
Ithome (Ἰθώμη) place Q602538
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