Pausanias Analysis

Passage 9.2.3

← 9.2.2 9.2.4 →

Passage 9.2.3: Bed of Actaeon rock and nearby spring where he saw Artemis

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

αὕτη μὲν ἀπʼ Ἐλευθερῶν ἐς Πλάταιαν ἄγει, τοῖς δὲ ἐκ Μεγάρων ἰοῦσι πηγή τέ ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ καὶ προελθοῦσιν ὀλίγον πέτρα· καλοῦσι δὲ τὴν μὲν Ἀκταίωνος κοίτην, ἐπὶ ταύτῃ καθεύδειν φάμενοι τῇ πέτρᾳ τὸν Ἀκταίωνα ὁπότε κάμοι θηρεύων, ἐς δὲ τὴν πηγὴν ἐνιδεῖν λέγουσιν αὐτὸν λουμένης Ἀρτέμιδος ἐν τῇ πηγῇ. Στησίχορος δὲ ὁ Ἱμεραῖος ἔγραψεν ἐλάφου περιβαλεῖν δέρμα Ἀκταίωνι τὴν θεόν, παρασκευάζουσάν οἱ τὸν ἐκ τῶν κυνῶν θάνατον, ἵνα δὴ μὴ γυναῖκα Σεμέλην λάβοι.

English Translation

This road goes from Eleutherae to Plataea; but for those who travel from Megara, there is on the right hand a spring, and a little further on, a rock. They call the rock the "bed of Actaeon," saying that Actaeon used to rest here when weary from hunting, and they assert that it was into this spring that he looked and saw Artemis bathing. The poet Stesichorus of Himera wrote that the goddess threw a deer-skin around Actaeon, thereby bringing about his death at the jaws of his own dogs, in order that he might not marry Semele.

Proper Nouns

Artemis (Ἄρτεμις) deity
Himeraean (Ἱμεραῖος) other
Also in: 8.3.2
Semele (Σεμέλη) person
Stesichorus (Στησίχορος) person
Actaeon (Ἀκταίων) person
Megara (Μέγαρα) place Q42307600
Plataea (Πλάταια) place Q742538
Eleutherae (Ἐλευθεραί) place Q124635130
Also in: 2.6.3 9.1.1 9.1.6
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