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
Above the women between Æthra and Nestor are the captives, Clymene,
and Creusa, and Aristomache, and Xenodice. Clymene is enumerated
among the captives by Stesichorus in his _Fall of Ilium_: Aristomache
likewise is represented in the poem called _The Return from Ilium_
as the daughter of Priam, and wife of Critolaus the son of Hicetaon:
but I do not remember either poet or prose-writer making mention of
Xenodice: and as to Creusa, they say that the Mother of the Gods and
Aphrodite rescued her from slavery to the Greeks, and that she was the
wife of Æneas, though Lescheos and the author of the Cyprian Poems
represent Eurydice as the wife of Æneas. Above these are painted
Deinome Metioche Pisis and Cleodice reclining on a couch: Deinome is
the only one of these mentioned in the poem called _The Little Iliad_,
so I think Polygnotus must have invented the other names. Here too is
Epeus naked knocking down the walls of Troy, and above the walls is
the head only of the Wooden Horse. Here too is Polypœtes, the son of
Pirithous, with his head bound by a fillet, and near him Acamas, the
son of Theseus, with a helmet on his head, and a crest on the helmet.
Here too is Odysseus with a coat of mail on. And Ajax the son of Oileus
is standing near the altar with a shield in his hand, taking his oath
in connection with the violation of Cassandra: Cassandra is seated on
the ground and holding fast the wooden statue of Athene, for she tore
it from its base, when Ajax dragged her away from the altar. And the
sons of Atreus are painted with their helmets on: and on Menelaus’
shield is a representation of the dragon that appeared to him as an
omen during the sacrifice at Aulis. They are administering the oath
to Ajax. And near the painting of the horse by Nestor’s side[122] is
Neoptolemus killing Elasus, whoever he was;[123] his dying agony is
well depicted: and Astynous, who is mentioned by Lescheos, has fallen
on to his knee, and Neoptolemus is in the act of smiting him with the
sword. And Polygnotus has represented Neoptolemus alone of all the
Greeks continuing to butcher the Trojans, that the painting should
correspond with the scenes depicted on the tomb of Neoptolemus. Homer
indeed calls Achilles’ son everywhere by the name of Neoptolemus, but
the Cyprian Poems say he was called Pyrrhus by Lycomedes, and that the
name Neoptolemus was given him by Phœnix, because he[124] was very
young when he first went to the wars. Here too is the painting of an
altar, and a little boy clinging to it in dire fear: a brazen coat
of mail lies on the altar, such as was worn in old times, for in our
days we seldom see such. It consisted of two pieces called _Gyala_,
one a protection for the breast and belly, the other for the back,
both joined together by clasps. And such coats of mail would afford
sufficient protection without a shield: and so Homer represented
Phorcys the Phrygian without a shield, because he was armed with this
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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