Pausanias Analysis

Passage 9.19.1

← 9.18.6 9.19.2 →

Passage 9.19.1: Teumessos and the Teumessian Fox.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ λεωφόρῳ χωρίον ἐστὶ Τευμησσός· Εὐρώπην δὲ ὑπὸ Διὸς κρυφθῆναί φασιν ἐνταῦθα. ἕτερος δὲ ἐς ἀλώπεκα ἐπίκλησιν Τευμησσίαν λόγος ἐστίν, ὡς ἐκ μηνίματος Διονύσου τὸ θηρίον ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ τραφείη Θηβαίων, καὶ ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ κυνός, ὃν Πρόκριδι τῇ Ἐρεχθέως ἔδωκεν Ἄρτεμις, ἁλίσκεσθαι μέλλουσα αὐτή τε λίθος ἐγένετο ἡ ἀλώπηξ καὶ ὁ κύων οὗτος. καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐν Τευμησσῷ Τελχινίας ἐστὶν ἱερὸν ἄγαλμα οὐκ ἔχον· ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν αὐτῆς ἔστιν εἰκάζειν ὡς τῶν ἐν Κύπρῳ ποτὲ οἰκησάντων Τελχίνων ἀφικομένη μοῖρα ἐς Βοιωτοὺς ἱερὸν ἱδρύσατο Ἀθηνᾶς Τελχινίας.

English Translation

On this highway there is a place called Teumessos. They say that Europa was hidden here by Zeus. Another story concerns a fox named the Teumessian Fox, asserting that the beast was raised by the wrath of Dionysus for the destruction of the Thebans. It was close to being captured by the dog given by Artemis to Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, but at the moment of capture, both the fox and the dog were turned into stone. At Teumessos there is also a sanctuary of Athena Telchinia, though it contains no statue. Regarding her epithet, it may be conjectured that some of the Telchines who once lived in Cyprus migrated to Boeotia, establishing there the sacred precinct of Athena named Telchinia.

Proper Nouns

Dionysus (Διόνυσος) deity
Zeus (Ζεύς) deity
Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ) deity
Athena Telchinia (Ἀθηνᾶ Τελχινία) deity
Artemis (Ἄρτεμις) deity
Boeotians (Βοιωτοί) other
Telchinia (Τελχινία) other
Telchines (Τελχῖνες) other
Europa (Εὐρώπη) person
Procris (Πρόκρις) person
Also in: 1.37.6 10.29.6
Erechtheus (Ἐρεχθεύς) person
Thebes (Θῆβαι) place Q11225429
Cyprus (Κύπρος) place Q229 Pleiades
Teumessos (Τευμησσός) place Q15627845
Also in: 9.19.2 9.19.3
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