Tag: Travel Narratives

Two Weeks of Posts on India

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For the past two weeks I have been traveling in India for a family wedding. It has been busy, but jetlag and odd hours didn’t keep me from reading about India in Greek sources. There is a surprising amount of material–most of it positioning India as ‘exotic’ and ‘mystic’ the way many Western stereotypes do. I barely touched the fragments of Megasthenes; I didn’t cite much from Strabo; and I didn’t even begin to introduce Roman sources (Pliny the Elder has a lot to say).

And there are even more Greek sources! The Byzantine author Photius summarizes the work of Megasthenes and Ctesias on India. This leaves us with records of three Indica: Arrian’s, Megasthenes’, and Ctesias, whose account would be the oldest (it is allegedly based on accounts he heard from the Persians when he traveled with the expedition of Cyrus, c. 401 BCE).

To be honest, there is a lot more material on India from the ancient world than I expected even without Roman accounts and the fantastic Alexander romance.  I am surprised that there isn’t a monograph already published on the subject! But I suspect that other than being chock-full of titillating details, a monograph couldn’t say much more than India is the exotic other in the Greco-Roman mind: a binary, rather than polar, opposite, occupying a space between the fantasy and reality, between history and fiction. In a way, ‘India’ in the Greco-Roman mind might not be qualitatively different from ‘India’ in Western pop-culture today.

Here’s another dose:

Photius, Bilbiotheca, 72. 46b (=Ctesias of Cnidos)

“[Ctesias says that] in the middle of India there are black men who are called Pygmies and have the same language as other Indians, but they are really small. The tallest of them are only two cubits, but most of them only one and a half. They have extremely long hair, down to their knees and lower, and the largest beards of all men. When they grow their beards long, they don’t wear clothing anymore, but they wrap their hair around them from their head and fasten it below their knees and arrange their beard in the front down near their feet, essentially using their hair to cover their bodies instead of clothing.”

῞Οτι μέσῃ τῇ ᾿Ινδικῇ ἄνθρωποί εἰσι μέλανες (καλοῦνται Πυγμαῖοι) ὁμόγλωσσοι τοῖς ἄλλοις ᾿Ινδοῖς. Μικροὶ δέ εἰσι λίαν· οἱ μακρότατοι αὐτῶν πηχέων δύο, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι, ἑνὸς ἡμίσεος πήχεος. Κόμην δὲ ἔχουσι μακροτάτην μέχρις ἐπὶ τὰ γόνατα καὶ ἔτι κατώτερον, καὶ πώγωνα μέγιστον πάντων ἀνθρώπων. ᾿Επειδὰν οὖν τὸν πώγονα μέγα φύσωσιν, οὐκέτι ἀμφιέννυνται οὐδὲν ἱμάτιον, ἀλλὰ τὰς τρίχας, τὰς μὲν ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄπισθεν καθίενται πολὺ κάτω τῶν γονάτων, τὰς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ πώγωνος ἔμπροσθεν μέχρι ποδῶν ἑλκομένας, ἔπειτα περιπυκασάμενοι τὰς τρίχας περὶ ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα, ζώννυνται χρώμενοι αὐταῖς ἀντὶ ἱματίου.

Here’s a list of the posts.

The Curious Case of Herodotus’ India (Gold-digging ants)

Alexander and the Gymno-Sophists 1 (Herodotus)

Alexander the Great, Philosopher (King?)

Alexander and the Talking Trees (The Alexander Romance)

Alexander Elephant

Indian Cotton from a Greek Perspective (Arrian)

The Suda’s Somewhat Offensive Comments on India

Dionysus and Indian Cities/Agriculture (Arrian)

Herakles and Indian Pearls (Arrian)

Herakles and Indian Marriage Rites (Arrian)

Indian Rivers and Cities (Arrian)

Gymno-sophists, Part 2 (Arrian)

Laws Against Inter-caste Marriage (Arrian)

Indian Elephants and Soothing Music (Aelian)

A Greek Account of Indian Rice (Athenaeus)

The dog-headed people of India (Ctesias)

Truth -Serum and Magic Cheese

Thank you, India?

Truth-Serum in Ancient India

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More crazy stuff from Ctesias on India:

 

Photius, Bibliotheca: Codex 72 50a4

“Ctesias records these details and tells these stories and claims that he is writing the truest accounts, insisting that he saw some of the things himself and learned some of the them from others who witnessed them. He says that he left out many other more amazing details because those who had not witnessed them might consider the rest of what wrote incredible.”

Ταῦτα γράφων καὶ μυθολογῶν Κτησίας λέγει τἀληθέστατα γράφειν, ἐπάγων ὡς τὰ μὲν αὐτὸς ἰδὼν γράφει, τὰ δὲ παρ’ αὐτῶν μαθὼν τῶν ἰδόντων, πολλὰ δὲ τούτων καὶ ἄλλα θαυμασιώτερα παραλιπεῖν διὰ τὸ μὴ δόξαι τοῖς μὴ τεθεαμένοις ἄπιστα συγγράφειν. ᾿Εν οἷς καὶ ταῦτα.

47a

“[Ctesias] spends much time on the justice of the Indians, their dedication to their king, and their contempt for death. He also says that there is a spring and when someone draws water from it, it becomes thick like cheese. If an amount of this ‘cheese’ as thick as three obols is crushed and mixed for drinking with water, whoever drinks it will announce everything he has ever done—for he will be out of his mind and crazy for an entire day. The king uses this mixture whenever he wishes to uncover the truth from accused men. If a man admits it, he is ordered to starve to death. If he reveals nothing, he is released.

He also says that no Indian has headaches, eye-disease, toothaches or ulcers in the mouth or anywhere on his body. Indians live 120, 130, 150 and even two hundred years.”

Πολλὰ δὲ λέγει περὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν σφῶν βασιλέα εὐνοίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ θανάτου καταφρονήσεως. Λέγει δὲ ὅτι πηγή ἐστι, καὶ ἐπειδάν τις ἀρύσῃ τὸ ὕδωρ αὐτῆς, πήγνυται ὥσπερ τυρός. Τούτου οὖν τοῦ πηκτοῦ ὅσον τρεῖς ὀβολοὺς ἐὰν τρίψας δῷς ἐν ὕδατι πιεῖν, ἐξαγγέλλει πάντα ὅσα ἔπραξε· παραφρονεῖ γὰρ καὶ μαίνεται ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν. Χρᾶται δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐφ’ ὧν κατηγορουμένων τἀληθὲς εὑρεῖν ἐθελήσει· κἂν μὲν ἐξείπῃ, προστάσσεται ἀποκαρτερῆσαι, ἂν δὲ μηδὲν ἐλεγχθῇ, ἀφίεται.

῞Οτι φησὶν ὡς ᾿Ινδῶν οὐδεὶς κεφαλαλγεῖ, οὐδὲ ὀφθαλμιᾷ οὐδὲ ὀδονταλγεῖ, οὐδὲ ἑλκοῦται τὸ στόμα, οὐδὲ σηπεδόνα οὐδεμίαν ἴσχει· ἡ δὲ ζωὴ αὐτῶν ρκ′ καὶ λ′ καὶ ν′ καὶ ς′ οἱ τὰ πλεῖστα βιοῦντες.

 

india relief

Greeks Imagine an Indian Feast

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Athenaeus Deipnosophists 4, 153 (=Megasthenes fr. 38)

 

“In his second book of Indika, Megasthenes says that during dinnertime among the Indians each person receives a table of his own that is most like a tripod. On this is placed a golden serving-bowl into which thy first place rice, cooked the way someone might boil barley, and to which they add many delicacies prepared in Indian fashion.”

Μεγασθένης ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν ᾿Ινδικῶν τοῖς ᾿Ινδοῖς φησιν ἐν τῷ δείπνῳ παρατίθεσθαι ἑκάστῳ τράπεζαν, ταύτην δ’ εἶναι ὁμοίαν ταῖς ἐγγυθήκαις· καὶ ἐπιτίθεσθαι ἐπ’ αὐτῇ τρυβλίον χρυσοῦν, εἰς ὃ ἐμβαλεῖν αὐτοὺς πρῶτον μὲν τὴν ὄρυζαν ἑφθὴν, ὡς ἄν τις ἑψήσειε χόνδρον, ἔπειτα ὄψα πολλὰ κεχειρουργημένα ταῖς ᾿Ινδικαῖς σκευασίαις.

Rice

Note: this is the first time I have encountered the Greek word for rice (oruza). In Strabo, it appears specifically in conjunction with India’s numerous rivers.

Indian Elephants: Taming a Wild Heart With Music

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Aelian, N. A. 12.44 (= Megasthenes fr. 37)

“In India, if an adult elephant is caught it is difficult to tame—it gets murderous from longing for freedom. If you bind it in chains too, it gets even more agitated and will not tolerate its master. But Indians try to pacify it with food and to soften it with a variety of pleasing items, making an effort to fill its stomach and delight its heart. But it remains angry with them and ignores them. What then do they devise and do? They encourage it with their native music and sing to a certain instrument they use. It is called a skindapsos. The instrument strikes the ears and enchants the animal—his anger softens and his spirit yields and bit by bit it pays attention to its food. At this point it is released from its chains and it waits, enthralled by the music, and it eats eagerly, like a guest in love with a banquet. The elephant will no longer leave because of his love of music.”

elephant_dish

Aelianus N. A. XII, 44: ᾿Εν ᾿Ινδοῖς ἂν ἁλῷ τέλειος ἐλέφας, ἡμερωθῆναι χαλεπός ἐστι, καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ποθῶν φονᾷ· ἐὰν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ δεσμοῖς διαλάβῃς, ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον ἐς τὸν θυμὸν ἐξάπτεται, καὶ δεσπότην οὐχ ὑπονέμει. ᾿Αλλ’ οἱ ᾿Ινδοὶ καὶ ταῖς τροφαῖς κολακεύουσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ ποικίλοις καὶ ἐφολκοῖς δελέασι πραΰνειν πειρῶνται, παρατιθέντες, ὡς πληροῦν τὴν γαστέρα καὶ θέλγειν τὸν θυμόν· ὁ δὲ ἄχθεται αὐτοῖς, καὶ ὑπερορᾷ· Τί οὖν ἐκεῖνοι κατασοφίζονται καὶ δρῶσι; Μοῦσαν αὐτοῖς προσάγουσιν ἐπιχώριον, καὶ κατᾴδουσιν αὐτοὺς ὀργάνῳ τινὶ καὶ τούτῳ συνήθει· καλεῖται δὲ σκινδαψὸς τὸ ὄργανον· ὁ δὲ ὑπέχει τὰ ὦτα καὶ θέλγεται, καὶ ἡ μὲν ὀργὴ πραΰνεται, ὁ δὲ θυμὸς ὑποστέλλεταί τε καὶ θόρνυται, κατὰ μικρὰ δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν τροφὴν ὁρᾷ· εἶτα ἀφεῖται μὲν τῶν δεσμῶν, μένει δὲ τῇ μούσῃ δεδεμένος, καὶ δειπνεῖ προθύμως ἁβρὸς δαιτυμὼν καταδεδεμένος· πόθῳ γὰρ τοῦ μέλους οὐκ ἂν ἔτι ἀποσταίη.

(Crazy) Sh*t the Suda Says About India

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Gangês: A king of the Ethiopians whom Alexander killed. He was ten cubits tall possessing a beauty which no man has rivaled. A son of the river Ganges. His father used to flood India, so he turned him to the Erythean sea and reconciled him with the land so that it brought treasures to him alive and avenged him when he was dead. When Homer sends Achilles to Troy for Helen, he says that he sacked 12 cities by sea and 11 by land and that the woman who was taken from him by the king put him to rage when he seemed to be inconsolable and savage. Let us consider the Indian in comparison. Ganges settled 60 cities which were the most famous of those in his country. If anyone believes sacking cities is more glorious than building them, it is not. Once when the Skythians from beyond the Caucasus attacked this land, he repelled them. To appear a good man by freeing your own country is much better than enslaving another’s city.”

Γάγγης, βασιλεὺς Αἰθιόπων, ὃν ἀπέκτεινεν ᾿Αλέξανδρος, δεκάπηχυς τὸ μῆκος, τὴν δὲ ὥραν οἷος οὔπω τις ἀνθρώπων, ποταμοῦ δὲ Γάγγου παῖς. τὸν δὲ πατέρα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, τὴν ᾿Ινδικὴν ἐπικλύζοντα, αὐτὸς ἐς τὴν ἐρυθρὰν ἔτρεψε καὶ διήλλαξεν αὐτὸν τῇ γῇ, ὅθεν ἡ γῆ ζῶντι μὲν ἄφθονα ἔφερεν, ἀποθανόντι δὲ ἐτιμώρει. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν ᾿Αχιλλέα ῞Ομηρος ἄγει μὲν ὑπὲρ ῾Ελένης ἐς Τροίαν, φησὶ δὲ αὐτὸν ιβ′ μὲν πόλεις ἐκ θαλάττης ᾑρηκέναι, πεζῇ δὲ ια′, γυναῖκα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀφαιρεθέντα εἰς μῆνιν ἀπενεχθῆναι, ὅτε δὲ ἀτεράμονα καὶ ὠμὸν δόξαι· σκεψώμεθα τὸν ᾿Ινδὸν πρὸς ταῦτα. πόλεων μὲν τοίνυν ξ′ οἰκιστὴς ἐγένετο, αἵπερ εἰσὶ δοκιμώταται τῶν τῇδε· τὸ δὲ πορθεῖν πόλεις ὅστις εὐκλεέστερον ἡγεῖται τοῦ ἀνοικίζειν πόλιν, οὐκ ἔστιν. Σκύθας δὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Καύκασον στρατεύσαντάς ποτε ἐπὶ τήνδε τὴν γῆν ἀπώσατο· τὸ δὲ ἐλευθεροῦντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν ἄνδρα ἀγαθὸν φαίνεσθαι, πολλῷ βέλτιον τοῦ δουλείαν ἐπάγειν τῇ πόλει.

Demetrius
Demetrius, a Hellenistic King with an Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Suda’s entry on Indians:

 

“Indoi: A barbarian people. For war the standards for their cavalry for each body of a thousand was a dragon arranged up a pole with a head made out of silver pictured with grinning teeth and a terrible open mouth. The rest of the body was made of silk,  and was decorated from beginning to end like a real dragon. A cavalryman carrying this standard raises the pole into the air and pursues the cavalry with force. Then it falls as is probable when the wind drives upon it. When it is turned in the folds of the hollow weaving and cannot unfurl because of the covering, it undulates in the air and rotates the decorated standard as if it moved like a real dragon. Note that during the time of Constantine the Great, the inner Indians, the Iberians, and the Armenians were baptized.”

᾿Ινδοί: ἔθνος βάρβαρον. κατὰ δὲ τὸν πόλεμον ἦσαν αὐτοῖς σημαῖαι τῶν ἱππέων καθ’ ἑκάστην χιλιοστὺν δράκων ἐπὶ κάμακος ἀνατεταμένος, οὗ ἀργυρᾶ μὲν ἡ κεφαλὴ πεποίηται, σεσηρότων ὀδόντων καὶ τοῦ χάσματος ἀπειλὴν ἔχοντος· τὸ δὲ ἄλλο σῶμα σηρικόϋφον ἦν, ἔς τε μῆκος καὶ βάθος καὶ τὸ ποικίλον τῆς χρόας ἐς ἀληθινὸν δράκοντα. τοῦτον φέρων ἱππεύς, μετεωρίσας ἐς τὸν ἀέρα τὴν κάμακα ῥύμῃ διώκει τὸν ἵππον. καὶ ἐμπίπτει μὲν ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἐλαυνόμενον βίᾳ τὸ πνεῦμα· εἰλούμενον δὲ ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ κοίλου ὕφους καὶ διέξοδον εὑρεῖν διὰ τὸ στεγανὸν οὐ δυνάμενον κυμαίνει τε εἰς τὸν ἀέρα καὶ μετεωρίζον τὸ ποικίλον ἤτριον πάσας ἑλίσσει τροπάς, ὥσπερ ὁλκὸς δράκοντος ἀληθινοῦ. ὅτι ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου ἐβαπτίσθησαν οἱ ἐνδότεροι ᾿Ινδοὶ καὶ ῎Ιβηρες καὶ ᾿Αρμένιοι,

 

Adventures in Clothing: Ancient Greeks Try to Describe Indian Cotton

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Herodotus, 3.106

“The most distant parts of the inhabited world have in some way received the finest things, just as Greece has drawn the lot of the best seasons by far. As I mentioned a bit before, India is at the easternmost part of the inhabited world: in India living creatures, both four-footed and flying, are much greater than in other lands, except for the horses—these are smaller than the Median horses (which are called Nêsaian). In addition, the gold there, both that excavated and that washed up by rivers or acquired as I have described, is abundant. The wild trees there produce as a fruit a beautiful and exceptional wool, better than that of sheep. The Indians use the material from these trees for clothing.”

αἱ δ᾽ ἐσχατιαί κως τῆς οἰκεομένης τὰ κάλλιστα ἔλαχον, κατά περ ἡ Ἑλλὰς τὰς ὥρας πολλόν τι κάλλιστα κεκρημένας ἔλαχε. [2] τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἐσχάτη τῶν οἰκεομενέων ἡ Ἰνδική ἐστι, ὥσπερ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον εἴρηκα: ἐν ταύτῃ τοῦτο μὲν τὰ ἔμψυχα, τετράποδά τε καὶ τὰ πετεινά, πολλῷ μέζω ἢ ἐν τοῖσι ἄλλοισι χωρίοισι ἐστί, πάρεξ τῶν ἵππων （οὗτοι δὲ ἑσσοῦνται ὑπὸ τῶν Μηδικῶν, Νησαίων δὲ καλευμένων ἵππων）, τοῦτο δὲ χρυσὸς ἄπλετος αὐτόθι ἐστί, ὃ μὲν ὀρυσσόμενος, ὁ δὲ καταφορεύμενος ὑπὸ ποταμῶν, ὁ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐσήμηνα ἁρπαζόμενος. [3] τὰ δὲ δένδρεα τὰ ἄγρια αὐτόθι φέρει καρπὸν εἴρια καλλονῇ τε προφέροντα καὶ ἀρετῇ τῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀίων: καὶ ἐσθῆτι Ἰνδοὶ ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν δενδρέων χρέωνται.

tree vasetree vase

Arrian, Historia Indica, 16

“For clothing the Indians use a flax, just as Nearchus describes, a flax from trees about which I have already discussed. This linen is either brighter than any other linen or the dark skin that they have makes it appear brighter. They wear a robe of this fabric down to the middle of their shin and the have a garment which is partly thrown around their shoulders and partly furled around their heads.”

ἐσθῆτι δὲ ᾿Ινδοὶ λινέῃ χρέονται, κατάπερ λέγει Νέαρχος, λίνου τοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν δενδρέων, ὑπὲρ ὅτων μοι ἤδη λέλεκται. τὸ δὲ λίνον τοῦτο ἢ λαμπρότερον τὴν χροιήν ἐστιν ἄλλου λίνου παντός, ἢ μέλανες αὐτοὶ ἐόντες λαμπρότερον τὸ λίνον φαίνεσθαι ποιέουσιν. ἔστι δὲ κιθὼν λίνεος αὐτοῖς ἔστε ἐπὶ μέσην τὴν κνήμην, εἷμα δὲ τὸ μὲν περὶ τοῖσιν ὤμοισι περιβεβλημένον, τὸ δὲ περὶ τῇσι κεφαλῇσιν εἰλιγμένον.

Passing Through Corinth with Pausanias

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 Book 2.2-3

 

“Within the Corinthian lands there is the place called the Kromyon after Poseidon’s son Kromos. There is where men claim that sow called Phaia was nourished (she was one of Theseus’ deeds). When I was there, pine forest was growing along the shore where one would find the altar of Melicertes. The story is that a dolphin carried a boy to that place and that after Sisyphus found him lying there, he buried him on the Isthmus and established the Isthmian games in his honor.

This is near the start of the Isthmus where Sinis the brigand used to grab pine trees and pull them to the ground. He took all the men he overcame in battle, bound them to the tree, and let it go again. After that, the pine trees would draw the bound man toward itself, but since the binding did not give way in either direction, the victim was split in two, tearing on both sides. Sinis suffered this same death himself thanks to Theseus.”

Theseus Sinis
Theseus and Sinis, by the Elpinikos Painter

 

τῆς δὲ Κορινθίας ἐστὶ γῆς καὶ ὁ καλούμενος Κρομυὼν ἀπὸ [τοῦ] Κρόμου τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος. ἐνταῦθα τραφῆναί φασι <Φαιὰν>, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων Θησέως καὶ τὸ ἐς τὴν <ὗν> ταύτην ἐστὶν ἔργον. προϊοῦσι δὲ ἡ πίτυς ἄχρι γε ἐμοῦ πεφύκει παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν καὶ Μελικέρτου βωμὸς ἦν. ἐς τοῦτον τὸν τόπον ἐκκομισθῆναι τὸν παῖδα ὑπὸ δελφῖνος λέγουσι· κειμένῳ δὲ ἐπιτυχόντα Σίσυφον θάψαι τε ἐν τῷ ἰσθμῷ καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι τῶν ᾿Ισθμίων. ἔστι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἔνθα ὁ λῃστὴς Σίνις λαμβανόμενος πιτύων ἦγεν ἐς τὸ κάτω σφᾶς· ὁπόσων δὲ μάχῃ κρατήσειεν, ἀπ’ αὐτῶν δήσας ἀφῆκεν ἂν τὰ δένδρα ἄνω φέρεσθαι· ἐνταῦθα ἑκατέρα τῶν πιτύων τὸν δεθέντα ἐφ’ αὑτὴν εἷλκε, καὶ τοῦ δεσμοῦ μηδετέρωσε εἴκοντος ἀλλ’ ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐπ’ ἴσης βιαζομένου διεσπᾶτο ὁ δεδεμένος. τοιούτῳ διεφθάρη τρόπῳ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ Θησέως ὁ Σίνις·

Poets and Kings, Pausanias, 1.2.2-4

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“Even in that time poets lived with kings as in earlier generations Anacreon was at the home of the tyrant Polykrates in Samos or Aeschylus and Simonides traveled to see Hieron in Syracuse. Dionysus, who ruled in Sicily later, entertained Philoxenos and Antagoras of Rhodes was at the court of Antigonus the king of Macedon along with Aratus the Solean.

Hesiod and Homer either did not win the friendship of kings or they willfully looked down on it—the former because he was too rustic and reluctant to travel, and Homer, though he traveled far, wished more for repute among the masses than help getting money from kings (even though in Homer’s poems we find Demodocus present at Alkinoos’ court and the fact that Agamemnon left a poet behind to advise his wife).”

 

συνῆσαν δὲ ἄρα καὶ τότε τοῖς βασιλεῦσι ποιηταὶ καὶ πρότερον ἔτι καὶ Πολυκράτει Σάμου τυραννοῦντι ᾿Ανακρέων παρῆν καὶ ἐς Συρακούσας πρὸς ῾Ιέρωνα Αἰσχύλος καὶ Σιμωνίδης ἐστάλησαν· Διονυσίῳ δέ, ὃς ὕστερον ἐτυράννησεν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, Φιλόξενος παρῆν καὶ ᾿Αντιγόνῳ Μακεδόνων ἄρχοντι ᾿Ανταγόρας ῾Ρόδιος καὶ Σολεὺς ῎Αρατος. ῾Ησίοδος δὲ καὶ ῞Ομηρος ἢ συγγενέσθαι βασιλεῦσιν ἠτύχησαν ἢ καὶ ἑκόντες ὠλιγώρησαν, ὁ μὲν ἀγροικίᾳ καὶ ὄκνῳ πλάνης, ῞Ομηρος δὲ ἀποδημήσας ἐπὶ μακρότατον καὶ τὴν ὠφέλειαν <τὴν> ἐς χρήματα παρὰ τῶν δυνατῶν ὑστέραν θέμενος τῆς παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς δόξης, ἐπεὶ καὶ ῾Ομήρῳ πεποιημένα  ἐστὶν ᾿Αλκίνῳ παρεῖναι Δημόδοκον καὶ ὡς ᾿Αγαμέμνων καταλείποι τινὰ παρὰ τῇ γυναικὶ ποιητήν.

Many Different People and Languages: Herodotus on India (Part 1)

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Herodotus 3.98-102

“The great amount of gold which the Indians are said gather from dust for the Great King they gather in the following way. There is sand to the east of India where the sun rises. Of all those people we know of, even those of whom something certain may be said, they Indians well nearest the sun and its rays of the people in Asia. The part of India near the sun is deserted because of the sand.

There are many different peoples in India and they do not share a language. Some are nomads; some are not. Some live in the marches of rivers and eat raw fish which they catch while sailing on reed-boats. Each boat is made of a single piece of reed. These Indians bear clothes made of rush. When they harvest these rushes from the river, they weave them the weave would a mat and don them like breastplates.

Other Indians who live nearer to the sun than these and are nomads, they eat raw flesh and are called Padaei. They are reported as following these customs. Whenever one of their citizens is ill, whether it is a woman or a man, they men who live near him kill him, claiming that he will be ruined for meat by the sickness. Though the man himself denies that he is sick, they ignore him, kill him, and eat him up. When a woman is sick, just as with the men her closest friends kill her. They also sacrifice and eat a man who reaches old age—though few ever make it to this point, since most are killed when they get sick.

Continue reading “Many Different People and Languages: Herodotus on India (Part 1)” →

Werewolf Wednesday: Pausanias on Lykaon and Lycanthropy

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 16 Comments

In the second century CE, Pausanias composed ten books on the sights and wonders of ancient Greece. His text provides some of the only accounts of architecture, art and culture that have been lost in intervening centuries.  In his eighth book, he turns to Arcadia and starts by discussing the rituals performed in honor of Lykian Zeus.

The story, mentioned by Plato too, is one of those ‘original sin’ tales from Greek myth–like the story of Tantalos and Pelops, it hearkens back to a golden age when gods and men hung out together. Its details about werewolves are similar to those offered by Pliny (especially the 9-10 year period as a wolf).

Hendrik Goltzius' 1589 engraving of Lycaon
Hendrik Goltzius’ 1589 engraving of Lycaon

Pausanias, 8.2.3-7

“Cecrops was the first to declare Zeus the Highest god and he thought it wrong to sacrifice anything that breathed, so he burned on the altar the local cakes which the Athenians call pelanoi even today. But Lykaon brought a human infant to the altar of Lykaian Zeus, sacrificed it, spread its blood on the altar, and then, according to the tale, turned immediately from a man into a wolf.

This tale convinces me for the following reasons: it has circulated among the Arcadians since antiquity and it also seems probable. For in those days men were guests and tablemates of the gods because of their just behavior and reverence. Those who were good received honor openly from the gods; divine rage fell upon the unjust—then, truly, gods were created from men, gods who have rites even today such as Aristaios, Britomartis the Cretan, Herakles the son of Alkmene, Amphiaros the son of Oicles and, finally, Kastor and Polydeukes.

For this reason we should entertain that Lykaon was turned into a beast and that Niobe became a stone. In our time, when wickedness has swelled to its greatest size and looms over every land and city, no god can come from men, except in the blandishment offered to rulers. Today, divine rage lies in wait for the wicked when they leave for the lower world.

In every age many ancient events—and even those that are current—end up disbelieved because of those who create lies by using the truth. Men report that since the time of Lykaon a man always transforms from a human into a wolf at the sacrifice of Lykaian Zeus, but that he doesn’t remain a wolf his whole life.  Whenever someone turns into a wolf, if he refrains from human flesh, people say he can become a man again ten years later. But if he does taste it, he will always remain a beast.”

ὁ μὲν γὰρ Δία τε ὠνόμασεν ῞Υπατον πρῶτος, καὶ ὁπόσα ἔχει ψυχήν, τούτων μὲν ἠξίωσεν οὐδὲν θῦσαι, πέμματα δὲ ἐπιχώρια ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ καθήγισεν, ἃ πελάνους καλοῦσιν ἔτι καὶ ἐς  ἡμᾶς ᾿Αθηναῖοι· Λυκάων δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν τοῦ Λυκαίου Διὸς βρέφος ἤνεγκεν ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἔθυσε τὸ βρέφος καὶ ἔσπεισεν ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ τὸ αἷμα, καὶ αὐτὸν αὐτίκα ἐπὶ τῇ θυσίᾳ γενέσθαι λύκον φασὶν ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου.

καὶ ἐμέ γε ὁ λόγος οὗτος πείθει, λέγεται δὲ ὑπὸ ᾿Αρκάδων ἐκ παλαιοῦ, καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς αὐτῷ πρόσεστιν. οἱ γὰρ δὴ τότε ἄνθρωποι ξένοι καὶ ὁμοτράπεζοι θεοῖς ἦσαν ὑπὸ δικαιοσύνης καὶ εὐσεβείας, καί σφισιν ἐναργῶς ἀπήντα παρὰ τῶν θεῶν τιμή τε οὖσιν ἀγαθοῖς καὶ ἀδικήσασιν ὡσαύτως ἡ ὀργή, ἐπεί τοι καὶ θεοὶ τότε ἐγίνοντο ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, οἳ γέρα καὶ ἐς τόδε ἔτι ἔχουσιν ὡς ᾿Αρισταῖος καὶ Βριτόμαρτις ἡ Κρητικὴ καὶ ῾Ηρακλῆς ὁ ᾿Αλκμήνης καὶ ᾿Αμφιάραος ὁ ᾿Οικλέους, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς Πολυδεύκης τε καὶ Κάστωρ.

οὕτω πείθοιτο ἄν τις καὶ Λυκάονα θηρίον καὶ τὴν Ταντάλου Νιόβην γενέσθαι λίθον. ἐπ’ ἐμοῦ δὲ—κακία γὰρ δὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ηὔξετο καὶ γῆν τε ἐπενέμετο πᾶσαν καὶ πόλεις πάσας—οὔτε θεὸς ἐγίνετο οὐδεὶς ἔτι ἐξ ἀνθρώπου, πλὴν ὅσον λόγῳ καὶ κολακείᾳ πρὸς τὸ ὑπερέχον, καὶ ἀδίκοις τὸ μήνιμα τὸ ἐκ τῶν θεῶν ὀψέ τε καὶ ἀπελθοῦσιν ἐνθένδε ἀπόκειται. ἐν δὲ τῷ παντὶ αἰῶνι πολλὰ μὲν πάλαι συμβάντα, <τὰ> δὲ καὶ ἔτι γινόμενα ἄπιστα εἶναι πεποιήκασιν ἐς τοὺς πολλοὺς οἱ τοῖς ἀληθέσιν ἐποικοδομοῦντες ἐψευσμένα. λέγουσι γὰρ δὴ ὡς Λυκάονος ὕστερον ἀεί τις ἐξ ἀνθρώπου λύκος γίνοιτο ἐπὶ τῇ θυσίᾳ τοῦ Λυκαίου Διός, γίνοιτο δὲ οὐκ ἐς ἅπαντα τὸν βίον· ὁπότε δὲ εἴη λύκος, εἰ μὲν κρεῶν ἀπόσχοιτο ἀνθρωπίνων, ὕστερον ἔτει δεκάτῳ  φασὶν αὐτὸν αὖθις ἄνθρωπον ἐκ λύκου γίνεσθαι, γευσάμενον δὲ ἐς ἀεὶ μένειν θηρίον.