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
Fragment x. Polemo told the story of the capture of Aphidna in Attica by
the Dioscuri, and mentioned that in the affair Castor was wounded by
king Aphidnus in the right thigh. Pausanias repeatedly refers to the
capture of Aphidna by the Dioscuri, but he expresses a belief that the
place was taken without fighting, and he gives reasons for thinking so.
Fragment xi. In one of his works which is cited as _The Greek History_
Polemo mentioned that Poseidon contended with Hera for the possession of
Argos and was worsted, and that the two deities did not exhibit tokens
in support of their claims as they did at Athens. Pausanias in his
description of Argolis twice mentions the defeat of Poseidon in his
dispute with Hera for the possession of the land, but he says nothing
about the absence of tokens.
Fragment xii. According to Polemo, the Argives related how the first
corn sown in Argolis had been fetched by Argus from Libya. According to
Pausanias, they asserted that they had received the first corn from
Demeter.
Fragment xviii. In his work on the votive offerings at Lacedaemon,
Polemo mentioned “a chapel of Cottina, close to Colone, where is the
sanctuary of Dionysus, a splendid edifice known to many in the city.”
Pausanias in his description of Sparta mentions “the place named Colona,
and a temple of Dionysus Colonatas.”
Fragment xxii. Polemo mentioned at Olympia the old temple of Hera, the
temple of the Metapontines, and the temple of the Byzantines. Pausanias
describes all three buildings, but he designates the two latter
correctly as treasuries, not temples.
Fragment xxiii. Polemo related that for a time a race had been run at
Olympia between carts drawn by mules, but that after thirteen victories
had been won the race was abolished in Ol. 84. He further said that the
name for a mule-cart (_apene_) was a Tegean word. Pausanias mentions
that the race between mule-carts at Olympia was instituted in Ol. 70 and
abolished in Ol. 84. He says nothing about the name for a mule-cart
being Tegean.
Fragment xxiv. Polemo said that Athena was wounded by Ornytus. Pausanias
says that she was wounded by Teuthis, but that some people called her
assailant Ornytus.
Fragment xxvii. In his work on the treasuries at Delphi, Polemo
mentioned the Sicyonian treasury. So does Pausanias in his description
of Delphi.
Fragment xxix. Polemo told how the Delphians honoured the wolf because a
wolf had discovered a sacred jewel of gold that had been stolen from
Delphi and buried on Mount Parnassus. Pausanias says that the Delphians
dedicated a bronze figure of a wolf in the sanctuary of Apollo, because
a man who had stolen some sacred treasures and hidden them in the forest
on Parnassus was killed by a wolf, which then went daily to the city and
howled, till people followed it and so found the stolen treasure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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