Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.35.1

← 4.34.12 4.35.2 →

Passage 4.35.1: Methone's naming and its protective Mothon harbor-stone.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

Μοθώνη δέ, πρὶν ἢ τὴν στρατιὰν ἐς Τροίαν ἀθροισθῆναι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρὸς Ἰλίῳ πολέμου καλουμένη Πήδασος, μεταβέβληκεν ὕστερον τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς μὲν αὐτοὶ Μοθωναῖοι λέγουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς Οἰνέως θυγατρός· Οἰνεῖ γὰρ τῷ Πορθάονος μετὰ ἅλωσιν Ἰλίου παρὰ Διομήδην ἀναχωρήσαντι ἐς Πελοπόννησον θυγατέρα φασὶν ἐκ παλλακῆς Μοθώνην γενέσθαι· δόξῃ δὲ ἐμῇ δέδωκε τῷ χωρίῳ τὸ ὄνομα ὁ Μόθων λίθος. οὗτος δέ σφισι καὶ ὁ ποιῶν τὸν λιμένα ἐστί· τόν τε γὰρ ἔσπλουν στενώτερον ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐργάζεται παρήκων ὕφαλος καὶ ἅμα μὴ ἐκ βυθοῦ ταράσσεσθαι τὸν κλύδωνα ἔρυμα ἕστηκεν.

English Translation

Methone, before the Greek expedition was gathered at Troy and the war against Ilium, used to be called Pedasus. It later changed its name, according to the account of the people of Methone themselves, from the daughter of Oeneus. For they say that after the fall of Troy, when Oeneus, the son of Porthaon, withdrew into the Peloponnesus with Diomedes, he had a daughter named Mothone by a concubine. My own opinion, however, is that the place took its name from the Mothon stone. This stone serves for the formation of their harbor, as an underwater reef projecting outward makes the entrance narrower for ships, and at the same time, rising from the deep, it stands as a barrier preventing waves from disturbing the waters within.

Proper Nouns

Diomedes (Διομήδης) person
Methonaeans (Μοθωναῖοι) person
Mothone (Μοθώνη) person
Mothon (Μόθων) person
Also in: 2.22.7
Oineus (Οἰνεύς) person
Porthaon (Πορθάων) person
Also in: 6.20.17 6.21.10
Methone (Μοθώνη) place Q60790706
Pedasos (Πήδασος) place Q16623530
Peloponnese (Πελοπόννησος) place Q78967
Troy (Τροία) place Q22647
Ilion (Ἴλιος) place Q22647
← 4.34.12 4.35.2 →