Studies in Greek Scenery, Legend and History: Selected from His Commentary on Pausanias' 'Description of Greece,'Frazer, James George
History
Studies in Greek Scenery, Legend and History: Selected from His Commentary on Pausanias' 'Description of Greece,'
Frazer, James George
Greece -- Antiquities; Greece -- Description and travel
Repeatedly, then, Pausanias owns that he had not been present at certain
festivals, and consequently had not seen certain images which were only
exhibited on these occasions. Thus with regard to the very curious image
of Eurynome, which would have especially interested him as an antiquary,
he tells us that the sanctuary in which it stood was opened only on one
day in the year, and that as he did not happen to arrive on that day he
had not seen the image, and therefore could only describe it from
hearsay. Similarly he says that he cannot describe the image of Artemis
at Hyampolis because it was the custom to open the sanctuary only twice
a year. He tells at second hand of a festival of Dionysus at Elis, in
which empty kettles were said to be found miraculously filled with wine;
but he informs us that he was not himself at Elis at the time of the
festival, and from expressions which he uses in regard to the marvel we
may infer that he had his doubts about it. No one presumably will
dispute these statements of Pausanias and maintain that he arrived in
time for those festivals and saw those images although he assures us
that he did not. We are bound, therefore, in fairness to believe him
when he tells us with regard to the sanctuary of Mother Dindymene at
Thebes that “it is the custom to open the sanctuary on a single day each
year, not more. I was fortunate enough to arrive on that very day, and I
saw the image.” As other instances of his candour may be cited his
acknowledgment that he had not witnessed the ceremonies performed at the
tombs of Eteocles and Polynices at Thebes, nor beheld the secret object
revered in the worship of Demeter at Hermion; that he could describe the
sanctuary of Poseidon at Mantinea only from hearsay; that he had neither
seen the walls of Babylon and Susa nor conversed with any one who had;
that he never saw Antinous in life, though he had seen statues and
paintings of him; and that he had not heard the trout sing like thrushes
in the river Aroanius, though he tarried by the river until sunset, when
they were said to sing loudest. These are the confessions of an honest
man, inclined perhaps to credulity, but yet who will not deceive others
by professing to have seen sights, whether marvellous or otherwise,
which he has not seen. Again, when he quotes a book at second hand he is
careful to tell us so. Thus, after citing some lines from the _Atthis_
of Hegesinus, he goes on: “This poem of Hegesinus I have not read: it
was lost before my time; but the verses are quoted as evidence by
Callippus of Corinth in his history of Orchomenus, and I have profited
by his information to do the same.” Again, after quoting a couple of
verses of an Orchomenian poet Chersias, he adds. “The poetry of Chersias
is now lost, but these verses also are quoted by Callippus in the same
work of his on Orchomenus.” These statements, like the foregoing, will
hardly be disputed even by the most sceptical. No one will be likely to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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