Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.23.7

← 8.23.6 8.23.8 →

Passage 8.23.7: Kaphyeans' stoning of children and the "Hanged Woman" cult at Kondyleai.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

φωράσαντες δὲ οἱ Καφυεῖς τὰ ποιηθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν παιδίων καταλεύουσιν αὐτά· καί σφισι ταῦτα ἐργασαμένοις ἐσέπεσεν ἐς τὰς γυναῖκας νόσος, τὰ ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ πρὸ τοκετοῦ τεθνεῶτα ἐκβάλλεσθαι, ἐς ὃ ἡ Πυθία θάψαι τε τὰ παιδία ἀνεῖπε καὶ ἐναγίζειν αὐτοῖς κατὰ ἔτος· ἀποθανεῖν γὰρ αὐτὰ οὐ σὺν δίκῃ. Καφυεῖς δὲ ποιοῦσι τά τε ἄλλα ἔτι καὶ νῦν κατʼ ἐκεῖνο τὸ μάντευμα καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς Κονδυλέαις θεὸν--- προσεῖναι γὰρ καὶ τόδε ἔτι τῷ χρησμῷ φασι---καλοῦσιν Ἀπαγχομένην ἐξ ἐκείνου.

English Translation

When the Kaphyeans discovered what had been done by the children, they stoned them to death. After committing this deed, a disease afflicted their women, causing their unborn offspring to be expelled dead from the womb before delivery. The affliction continued until the Pythia instructed them to bury the children and to offer them annual sacrifices, declaring that the children had perished unjustly. The Kaphyeans continue even now to fulfill all these requirements according to this oracle and, because the oracle also mentioned this, they still call the goddess in Kondyleai "the Hanged Woman."

Proper Nouns

Apanchomenē (Ἀπαγχομένη) deity
Kaphieis (Καφυεῖς) person
Also in: 8.23.3
Pythia (Πυθία) person
Kondyleai (Κονδυλέαι) place
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