Pausanias Analysis

Passage 9.38.5

← 9.38.4 9.38.6 →

Passage 9.38.5: Actaeon and his bound bronze statue at Orchomenus.

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

περὶ δὲ Ἀκταίωνος λεγόμενα ἦν Ὀρχομενίοις λυμαίνεσθαι τὴν γῆν πέτρας ἔχον εἴδωλον· ὡς δὲ ἐχρῶντο ἐν Δελφοῖς, κελεύει σφίσιν ὁ θεὸς ἀνευρόντας εἴ τι ἦν Ἀκταίωνος λοιπὸν κρύψαι γῇ, κελεύει δὲ καὶ τοῦ εἰδώλου χαλκῆν ποιησαμένους εἰκόνα πρὸς πέτρᾳ σιδήρῳ δῆσαι. τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς δεδεμένον τὸ ἄγαλμα εἶδον· καὶ τῷ Ἀκταίωνι ἐναγίζουσιν ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος.

English Translation

Concerning Actaeon, the Orchomenians said that their land was troubled by a phantom appearing as a rock. When they consulted the oracle at Delphi, the god instructed them that if anything of Actaeon still remained, they should bury it in the earth, and further advised them to fashion a bronze image of the phantom and fasten it firmly to a rock with iron bonds. I myself saw this statue thus bound, and every year they perform offerings to Actaeon as to a hero.

Proper Nouns

Actaeon (Ἀκταίων) person
Delphi (Δελφοί) place Q75459 Pleiades
Orchomenus (Ὀρχομενός) place Q13574822
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