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
Of the dead in the painting are Pelis naked,[127] lying on his back,
and underneath him Eioneus and Admetus both in their coats of mail.
According to Lescheos Eioneus was slain by Neoptolemus, and Admetus
by Philoctetes. And above these are others, near the laver Leocritus,
the son of Polydamas, who was killed by Odysseus, and near Eioneus
and Admetus Corœbus the son of Mygdon. This Mygdon has a famous tomb
on the borders of the Stectorenian Phrygians, and poets have given
those Phrygians the name of Mygdones after him. Corœbus came to wed
Cassandra, and was killed by Neoptolemus according to the prevalent
tradition, but by Diomede according to Lescheos. And above Corœbus are
Priam and Axion and Agenor. Lescheos says that Priam was not slain
at the altar of Household Zeus, but was torn away from the altar and
killed by Neoptolemus with no great difficulty at the doors of the
palace. As to Hecuba, Stesichorus in his _Fall of Ilium_ has stated
that she was taken to Lycia by Apollo. And Lescheos says that Axion
was the son of Priam, and killed by Eurypylus the son of Euæmon. The
same poet states that Agenor was killed by Neoptolemus. And Echeclus,
Agenor’s son, seems to have been slain by Achilles. And Sinon, the
companion of Odysseus, and Anchialus are carrying out the corpse of
Laomedon for burial. There is another dead person in the painting,
Eresus by name; no poet, so far as my knowledge goes, has sung either
of Eresus or Laomedon. There is a painting also of the house of
Antenor, and a leopard’s skin hung up over the porch, as a sign to the
Greeks not to meddle with the family of Antenor. And Theano, _Antenor’s
wife_, is painted with her sons, Glaucus seated on his armour, and
Eurymachus seated on a stone. Near him stands Antenor with his daughter
Crino, who is carrying her baby boy. All these are depicted with
sorrowful countenances. The servants are placing a chest and other
articles on the back of an ass, on which a little boy also sits. And
under this painting is the following Elegiac couplet by Simonides.
“Polygnotus of Thasos, the son of Aglaophon, painted these incidents
in the capture of Ilium.”
[127] _Naked_ here, and in connection with Epeus in ch. 26, probably
only means without armour on. Cf. “Nudus ara, sere nudus.” Virg. Georg.
i. 299.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The other part of the painting, that on the left, represents Odysseus
descending to Hades, to consult the soul of Tiresias about his return
home. In the painting is a river, which is obviously Acheron, and
there are some reeds growing in it, and some fishes so indistinct that
they look like the ghosts of fishes. And there is a boat on the river,
and a ferryman with his oars. Polygnotus has followed (I think) here
the description, in the poem called the Minyad, about Theseus and
Pirithous.
“Unwillingly did old Charon admit these living persons into his boat
meant for the use of the dead.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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