Pausanias Analysis

Passage 7.1.8

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Passage 7.1.8: Tisamenus' tomb and Spartan Pheiditia.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

Ἰώνων δὲ οὐ προσεμένων τοὺς Ἀχαιῶν λόγους ἀλλὰ ἐπεξελθόντων σὺν ὅπλοις, Τισαμενὸς μὲν ἔπεσεν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ, Ἴωνας δὲ Ἀχαιοὶ κρατήσαντες ἐπολιόρκουν καταπεφευγότας ἐς Ἑλίκην καὶ ὕστερον ἀφιᾶσιν ἀπελθεῖν ὑποσπόνδους. Τισαμενοῦ δὲ τὸν νεκρὸν Ἀχαιῶν ἐν Ἑλίκῃ θαψάντων, ὕστερον χρόνῳ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς σφισιν ἀνειπόντος χρηστηρίου κομίζουσι τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐς Σπάρτην, καὶ ἦν καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι αὐτῷ τάφος, ἔνθα τὰ δεῖπνα Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐστὶ τὰ Φειδίτια καλούμενα.

English Translation

When the Ionians disregarded the overtures made by the Achaeans and marched out against them in battle, Tisamenus fell fighting, but the Achaeans overcame the Ionians and besieged them after they had fled into Helice, later allowing them to depart under terms of truce. After the Achaeans had buried the corpse of Tisamenus at Helice, at a later time the Lacedaemonians carried his bones to Sparta in accordance with an oracle delivered to them at Delphi. Even in my own day there still remained there his tomb, where the Lacedaemonians hold their ritual banquets called the Pheiditia.

Proper Nouns

Pheiditia (Φειδίτια) other
Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί) person
Ionians (Ἴωνες) person
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Tisamenus (Τισαμενός) person
Delphi (Δελφοί) place Q75459 Pleiades
Helice (Ἑλίκη) place Q1432654
Sparta (Σπάρτη) place Q5690 Pleiades
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