Pausanias Analysis

Passage 5.2.5

← 5.2.4 5.3.1 →

Passage 5.2.5: Timon of Elis: pentathlon victories, Olympia statue, elegy citing a Molionidae quarrel

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

Τίμωνι γὰρ ἀνδρὶ Ἠλείῳ γεγόνασι πεντάθλου νῖκαι τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἀγώνων, καί οἱ καὶ εἰκών ἐστιν ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ καὶ ἐλεγεῖον, στεφάνους τε ὁπόσους ἀνείλετο ὁ Τίμων λέγον καὶ δὴ καὶ αἰτίαν διʼ ἥντινα Ἰσθμικῆς οὐ μέτεστιν αὐτῷ νίκης· καὶ ἔχει τὰ ἐς τοῦτο τὸ ἐλεγεῖον· Σισυφίαν δὲ μολεῖν χθόνʼ ἐκώλυεν ἀνέρα νείκη ἀμφὶ Μολιονιδᾶν οὐλομένῳ θανάτῳ. τάδε μὲν ἡμῖν ἐς τοσοῦτο ἐξητάσθω·

English Translation

For the Elean, Timon, won victories in the pentathlon at the Greek games, and he has a statue in Olympia as well as an elegiac couplet. This elegy records how many crowns Timon won, and indeed describes also the reason why he did not participate in an Isthmian victory. The elegiac couplet includes this verse: "But a quarrel over the deadly fate of the Molionidae prevented the man from going to the land of Sisyphus." Let this suffice regarding this topic.

Proper Nouns

Sisyphian (of Sisyphus) (Σισυφία) other
Hellenes (Ἕλληνες) other
Isthmian Games (Ἰσθμικά) other
Mollionidae (Moliônidai) (Μολιονίδαι) person
Timon (Τίμων) person
Eleian (Ἠλεῖος) place
Olympia (Ὀλυμπία) place Q38888 Pleiades
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