Pausanias Analysis

Passage 7.2.11

← 7.2.10 7.3.1 →

Passage 7.2.11: Myus abandoned as the Maeander silted its gulf, leaving only a white-stone Dionysus temple.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

κατὰ τὴν Μυουσίαν χώραν θαλάσσης κόλπος ἐσεῖχεν οὐ μέγας· τοῦτον λίμνην ὁ ποταμὸς ἐποίησεν ὁ Μαίανδρος, ἀποτεμόμενος τὸν ἔσπλουν τῇ ἰλύι· ὡς δὲ ἐνόστησε τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ οὐκέτι ἦν θάλασσα, οἱ κώνωπες ἄπειρον πλῆθος ἐγίνοντο ἐκ τῆς λίμνης, ἐς ὃ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἠνάγκασαν ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν. ἀπεχώρησαν δὲ ἐς Μίλητον Μυούσιοι τά τε ἄλλα ἀγώγιμα καὶ τῶν θεῶν φερόμενοι τὰ ἀγάλματα, καὶ ἦν κατʼ ἐμὲ οὐδὲν ἐν Μυοῦντι ὅτι μὴ Διονύσου ναὸς λίθου λευκοῦ· Μυουσίοις δέ γε κατέλαβεν ἐοικότα καὶ Ἀταρνείτας παθεῖν τοὺς ὑπὸ Περγάμῳ.

English Translation

In the territory of Myus, a small gulf once extended inland from the sea. The river Maeander, by blocking its entrance with mud, turned this gulf into a lake; when the water became stagnant and was no longer the sea, countless mosquitoes bred in the lake, compelling the local inhabitants to abandon their city. Thus the people of Myus withdrew to Miletus, taking with them their movable possessions and the statues of their gods. By my time nothing was left in Myus except a temple of Dionysus made of white stone. The inhabitants of Myus thus experienced a fate similar to that of the Atarneitai who dwelt beneath Pergamum.

Proper Nouns

Dionysus (Διόνυσος) deity Q41680
Atarneus (people of Atarneus) (Ἀταρνεύς) person
Myousians (Μυούσιοι) person
Maeander (Μαίανδρος) place Q211089
Miletus (Μίλητος) place Q169460
Myus (Μυοῦνς) place Q1195800
Myousian (land of Myus) (Μυουσία) place Q16737794
Pergamum (Πέργαμος) place Q18986
← 7.2.10 7.3.1 →