Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
History
Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.
Pausanias, active approximately 150-175
Greece -- Antiquities; Greece -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
From Acacesium it is four stades to the temple of Despœna. There was
first there a temple of Artemis the Leader, and a brazen statue of the
goddess with torches, about 6 feet high I conjecture. From thence there
is an entrance to the sacred enclosure of Despœna. As you approach the
temple there is a portico on the right, and on the wall figures in
white stone, the Fates and Zeus as Master of the Fates, and Hercules
robbing Apollo of his tripod. All that I could discover about them I
will relate, when in my account of Phocis I come to Delphi. And in
the portico near the temple of Despœna, between the figures I have
mentioned, is a tablet painted with representations of the mysteries.
On a third figure are some Nymphs and Pans, and on a fourth Polybius
the son of Lycortas. And the inscription on him is that Greece would
not have been ruined at all had it taken his advice in all things, and
when it made mistakes he alone could have retrieved them. And in front
of the temple is an altar to Demeter and another to Despœna, and next
one to the Great Mother. And the statues of the Goddesses Despœna and
Demeter, and the throne on which they sit, and the footstool under
their feet, are all of one piece of stone: and neither about the dress
nor on the throne is any portion of another stone dove-tailed in, but
everything is one block of stone. This stone was not fetched from a
distance, they say, but, in consequence of a vision in a dream, found
and dug up in the temple precincts. And the size of each of the statues
is about the size of the statue at Athens of the Mother. They are by
Damophon. Demeter has a torch in her right hand, and has laid her left
hand upon Despœna: and Despœna has her sceptre, and on her knees what
is called a cist, which she has her right hand upon. And on one side of
the throne stands Artemis by Demeter, clad in the skin of a deer and
with her quiver on her shoulders, in one hand she holds a lamp, and in
the other two dragons. And at her feet lies a dog, such as are used
for hunting. And on the other side of the throne near Despœna stands
Anytus in armour: they say Despœna was brought up near the temple
by him. He was one of the Titans. Homer first introduced the Titans
into poetry, as gods in what is called Tartarus, in the lines about
the oath of Hera.[39] And Onomacritus borrowed the name of the Titans
from Homer when he wrote his poem about the orgies of Dionysus, and
represented the Titans as contributing to the sufferings of Dionysus.
Such is the Arcadian tradition about Anytus. It was Æschylus the son
of Euphorion that taught the Greeks the Egyptian legend, that Artemis
was the daughter of Demeter and not of Leto. As to the Curetes, for
they too are carved under the statues, and the Corybantes, a different
race from the Curetes who are carved on the base, though I know all
about them I purposely pass it by. And the Arcadians bring into the
temple all wood except that of the pomegranate. On the right hand as
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account