Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.28.2

← 8.28.1 8.28.3 →

Passage 8.28.2: The river Lousios (Gortynios) at Gortyna.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

τὴν δὲ Γόρτυνα ποταμὸς διέξεισιν ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν περὶ τὰς πηγὰς ὀνομαζόμενος Λούσιος, ἐπὶ λουτροῖς δὴ τοῖς Διὸς τεχθέντος· οἱ δὲ ἀπωτέρω τῶν πηγῶν καλοῦσιν ἀπὸ τῆς κώμης Γορτύνιον. οὗτος ὁ Γορτύνιος ὕδωρ ψυχρότατον παρέχεται ποταμῶν. Ἴστρον μέν γε καὶ Ῥῆνον, ἔτι δὲ Ὕπανίν τε καὶ Βορυσθένην καὶ ὅσων ἄλλων ἐν ὥρᾳ χειμῶνος τὰ ῥεύματα πήγνυται, τούτους μὲν χειμερίους κατὰ ἐμὴν δόξαν ὀρθῶς ὀνομάσαι τις ἄν, οἳ ῥέουσι μὲν διὰ γῆς τὸ πολὺ τοῦ χρόνου νειφομένης, ἀνάπλεως δὲ κρυμοῦ καὶ ὁ περὶ αὐτούς ἐστιν ἀήρ·

English Translation

Through Gortyna flows a river which is named by those who dwell near its sources the Lousios—after the baths in which Zeus himself is said to have been bathed at his birth; those who live farther downstream call it the Gortynios after the village Gortys. This Gortynios has the coldest water of all rivers. The Ister and the Rhine, indeed, and also the Hypanis, the Borysthenes, and all other rivers whose streams freeze during the winter season, might justly, in my opinion, be called winter rivers, as they flow for the greater part of the year through snow-covered land, and the air around these streams is filled with frost.

Proper Nouns

Zeus (Ζεύς) deity
Borysthenes (Dnieper) (Βορυσθένης) place Q3493453
Gortynios (Γορτύνιος) place Q12875453
Also in: 5.7.1 8.28.3
Gortyna (Γόρτυνα) place Q1538431
Lousios (Λούσιος) place Q1872337
Ister (Ἴστρος) place Q1674841
Hypanis (Ὕπανις) place Q4138701
Also in: 4.35.11
Rhine (Ῥῆνος) place
Also in: 4.34.1 4.34.2
← 8.28.1 8.28.3 →