Pausanias Analysis

Passage 7.5.5

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Passage 7.5.5: The Heracleion at Erythrae with an Egyptian-style statue said to have come from Tyre.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

ἡσθείης δʼ ἂν καὶ τῷ ἐν Ἐρυθραῖς Ἡρακλείῳ καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς τῷ ἐν Πριήνῃ ναῷ, τούτῳ μὲν τοῦ ἀγάλματος ἕνεκα, Ἡρακλείῳ δὲ τῷ ἐν Ἐρυθραῖς κατὰ ἀρχαιότητα· τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα οὔτε τοῖς καλουμένοις Αἰγιναίοις οὔτε τῶν Ἀττικῶν τοῖς ἀρχαιοτάτοις ἐμφερές, εἰ δέ τι καὶ ἄλλο, ἀκριβῶς ἐστιν Αἰγύπτιον. σχεδία γὰρ ἦν ξύλων, καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῇ ὁ θεὸς ἐκ Τύρου τῆς Φοινίκης ἐξέπλευσε· καθʼ ἥντινα δὲ αἰτίαν, οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ τοῦτο οἱ Ἐρυθραῖοι λέγουσιν.

English Translation

You would also be pleased by the temple of Heracles in Erythrae and that of Athena at Priene, the latter for the sake of its statue, and the Heracleion at Erythrae because of its antiquity. The statue there resembles neither the so-called Aeginetan nor the oldest Attic types; rather, it is entirely Egyptian, if anything at all. For it was upon a wooden raft that the god sailed out from Tyre in Phoenicia. But for what reason he did so, the Erythraeans themselves offer no explanation.

Proper Nouns

Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ) deity
Egyptian (Αἰγύπτιος) other
Aeginetans (Αἰγινᾶιοι) person
Attic (people/ships) (Ἀττικοί) person
Also in: 6.7.4
Erythraeans (Ἐρυθραῖοι) person
Priene (Πριήνη) place Q142819
Tyre (Τύρος) place Q82070 Pleiades
Also in: 5.25.12 9.27.8
Phoenicia (Φοινίκη) place Q41642
Erythrai (Ἐρυθραί) place Q2714769 Pleiades
Heracleion (Ἡρακλεῖον) place Q134037053
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