Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.26.3

← 4.26.2 4.26.4 →

Passage 4.26.3: Dreams foretelling the revival of Messene.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ἐνιαυτῷ δὲ πρότερον ἢ κατορθῶσαι Θηβαίους τὰ ἐν Λεύκτροις, προεσήμαινεν ὁ δαίμων Μεσσηνίοις τὴν ἐς Πελοπόννησον κάθοδον. τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἐν Μεσσήνῃ τῇ πρὸς τῷ πορθμῷ τὸν ἱερέα τοῦ Ἡρακλέους λέγουσιν ὀνείρατος ἰδεῖν ὄψιν---τὸν Ἡρακλέα ἔδοξε κληθῆναι τὸν Μάντικλον ἐπὶ ξενίᾳ ἐς Ἰθώμην ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός---, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν Εὐεσπερίταις Κόμων συγγενέσθαι νεκρᾷ τῇ μητρὶ ἐδόκει, συγγενομένου δὲ αὖθίς οἱ τὴν μητέρα ἀναβιῶναι. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπήλπιζεν Ἀθηναίων δυνηθέντων ναυτικῷ κάθοδον ἔσεσθαί σφισιν ἐς Ναύπακτον· τὸ δὲ ἄρα ἐδήλου τὸ ὄνειρον ἀνασώσεσθαι Μεσσήνην.

English Translation

A year before the success of the Thebans at Leuctra, the deity had already indicated to the Messenians their return to the Peloponnese. At Messene near the strait, the priest of Heracles, they say, beheld a vision in a dream: it seemed to Mantiklos (for this was the priest's name) that Heracles had been summoned as a guest to Ithome by Zeus. At Euesperitae, again, Comon dreamed that he lay with his dead mother, and while he slept beside her she returned to life again. Comon expected that, once the Athenians acquired naval supremacy, the Messenians would return to Naupactus, but the dream in fact foreshadowed the revival of Messene itself.

Proper Nouns

Zeus (Ζεύς) deity
Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς) deity
Thebans (Θηβαῖοι) person
Komon (Κόμων) person
Also in: 4.26.2
Mantiklos (Μάντικλος) person
Messenians (Μεσσήνιοι) person
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) person
Euesperitae (Εὐεσπερίται) place
Leuctra (Λεῦκτρα) place Q56761602
Messene (Μεσσήνη) place Q1022117
Naupactus (Ναύπακτος) place Q56398924
Peloponnese (Πελοπόννησος) place Q78967
Ithome (Ἰθώμη) place Q602538
← 4.26.2 4.26.4 →