A Pausanias Reader in Progress

An ongoing retranslation of the Greek text of Pausanias, with ongoing annotations, primarily by Gregory Nagy from 2014 to 2022, and continued since 2022 by Nagy together with an intergenerational team. Based on an original translation by W. H. S. Jones, 1918 (Scroll 2 with H. A. Ormerod), containing some of the footnotes added by Jones. Editors: Keith DeStone, Elizabeth Gipson, Charles Pletcher Editor Emerita: Angelia Hanhardt Web Producer: Noel Spencer Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins To cite this work, use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.prim-src:A_Pausanias_Reader_in_Progress.2018-.

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.aprip-en

9.18.1 The road from Thebes to Chalcis is by this Proetidian gate. On the highway is pointed out the tomb of Melanippos, one of the very best of the soldiers of Thebes. When the Argive invasion occurred this Melanippos killed Tydeus, as well as Mecisteus, one of the brothers of Adrastos, while he himself, they say, met his death at the hands of Amphiaraos.

9.18.2 Quite close to it are three unfinished stones. The Theban antiquaries assert that the man lying here is Tydeus, and that his burial was carried out by Maeon. As proof of their assertion they quoted a line of the Iliad:

9.18.3 Adjoining are the tombs of the children of Oedipus. The ritual observed at them I have never seen, but I regard it as credible. For the Thebans say that among those called heroes to whom they offer sacrifice are the children of Oedipus. As the sacrifice is being offered, the flame, so they say, and the smoke from it divide themselves into two. I was led to believe their story by the fact that I have seen a similar wonder. It was this.

9.18.4 In Mysia beyond the Kaïkos is a town called Pioniae, the founder of which according to the inhabitants was Pionis, one of the descendants of Hēraklēs. When they are going to sacrifice to him as to a hero, smoke of itself rises up out of the tomb. This occurrence, then, I have seen happening. The Thebans show also the tomb of Teiresias, about fifteen stadium-lengths from the tomb of the children of Oedipus. The Thebans themselves agree that Teiresias met his end in Haliartia, and admit that the monument at Thebes is a cenotaph.

9.18.5 There is also at Thebes the tomb of Hector, the son of Priam. It is near the spring called the Fountain of Oedipus, and the Thebans say that they brought Hector’s bones from Troy because of the following oracle:

9.18.6 The Fountain of Oedipus was so named because Oedipus washed off into it the blood of his murdered father. Hard by the spring is the tomb of Asphodikos. He it was who in the fighting with the Argives killed Parthenopaios, the son of Talaos. This is the Theban account, but according to the passage in the Thebaid which tells of the death of Parthenopaios it was Periclymenus who killed him.