Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.16.2-8 and 6.24.10: the Heraia in Olympia

Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 5.16.2-8 and 6.24.10: the Heraia in Olympia

mid 2nd century CE

Travel Writing

Literary source

Paus. 5.16.2-8: Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen women, and the same also hold games called Heraea. The games consist of foot-races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the maidens. They run in the following way: their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the games, married women. The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times; they say that, out of gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops, Hippodameia assembled the Sixteen Women, and with them inaugurated the Heraea. They relate too that a victory was won by Chloris, the only surviving daughter of the house of Amphion, though with her they say survived one of her brothers. As to the children of Niobe, what I myself chanced to learn about them I have set forth in my account of Argos. Besides the account already given they tell another story about the Sixteen Women as follows. Damophon, it is said, when tyrant of Pisa did much grievous harm to the Eleans. But when he died, since the people of Pisa refused to participate as a people in their tyrant's sins, and the Eleans too became quite ready to lay aside their grievances, they chose a woman from each of the sixteen cities of Elis still inhabited at that time to settle their differences, this woman to be the oldest, the most noble, and the most esteemed of all the women. The cities from which they chose the women were Elis, [...] The women from these cities made peace between Pisa and Elis. Later on they were entrusted with the management of the Heraean games, and with the weaving of the robe for Hera. The Sixteen Women also arrange two choral dances, one called that of Physcoa and the other that of Hippodameia. This Physcoa they say came from Elis in the Hollow, and the name of the parish where she lived was Orthia. She mated they say with Dionysus, and bore him a son called Narcaeus. When he grew up he made war against the neighboring folk, and rose to great power, setting up moreover a sanctuary of Athena surnamed Narcaea. They say too that Narcaeus and Physcoa were the first to pay worship to Dionysus. So various honors are paid to Physcoa, especially that of the choral dance, named after her and managed by the Sixteen Women. The Eleans still adhere to the other ancient customs, even though some of the cities have been destroyed. For they are now divided into eight tribes, and they choose two women from each. Whatever ritual it is the duty of either the Sixteen Women or the Elean umpires to perform, they do not perform before they have purified themselves with a pig meet for purification and with water. Their purification takes place at the spring Piera. You reach this spring as you go along the flat road from Olympia to Elis.

Paus. 6.24.10: There is also in the market-place a building for the women called the Sixteen, where they weave the robe for Hera.

William H. S. Jones/ Henry A. Ormerod, Pausanias, Description of Greece, vol. 2, Books 3-5 (= Loeb Classical Library; 188), London 1926.

William H. S. Jones, Pausanias, Description of Greece, vol. 3: Books 6-8.21 (= Loeb Classical Library; 272), London 1933.

Paus. 5.16.2-8: διὰ πέμπτου δὲ ὑφαίνουσιν ἔτους τῇ Ἥρᾳ πέπλον αἱ ἓξ καὶ δέκα γυναῖκες: αἱ δὲ αὐταὶ τιθέασι καὶ ἀγῶνα Ἡραῖα. ὁ δὲ ἀγών ἐστιν ἅμιλλα δρόμου παρθένοις: οὔτι που πᾶσαι ἡλικίας τῆς αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ πρῶται μὲν αἱ νεώταται, μετὰ ταύτας δὲ αἱ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ δεύτεραι, τελευταῖαι δὲ θέουσιν ὅσαι πρεσβύταται τῶν παρθένων εἰσί. θέουσι δὲ οὕτω: καθεῖταί σφισιν ἡ κόμη, χιτὼν ὀλίγον ὑπὲρ γόνατος καθήκει, τὸν ὦμον ἄχρι τοῦ στήθους φαίνουσι τὸν δεξιόν. ἀποδεδειγμένον μὲν δὴ ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνά ἐστι καὶ ταύταις τὸ Ὀλυμπικὸν στάδιον, ἀφαιροῦσι δὲ αὐταῖς ἐς τὸν δρόμον τοῦ σταδίου τὸ ἕκτον μάλιστα: ταῖς δὲ νικώσαις ἐλαίας τε διδόασι στεφάνους καὶ βοὸς μοῖραν τεθυμένης τῇ Ἥρᾳ, καὶ δὴ ἀναθεῖναί σφισιν ἔστι γραψαμέναις εἰκόνας. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ αἱ διακονούμεναι ταῖς ἑκκαίδεκα κατὰ ταὐτὰ ταῖς ἀγωνοθετούσαις γυναῖκες. ἐπανάγουσι δὲ καὶ τῶν παρθένων τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐς τὰ ἀρχαῖα, Ἱπποδάμειαν τῇ Ἤρᾳ τῶν γάμων τῶν Πέλοπος ἐκτίνουσαν χάριν τάς τε ἑκκαίδεκα ἀθροῖσαι γυναῖκας λέγοντες καὶ σὺν αὐταῖς διαθεῖναι πρώτην τὰ Ἡραῖα: μνημονεύουσι δὲ καὶ ὅτι Χλῶρις νικήσειεν Ἀμφίονος θυγάτηρ μόνη λειφθεῖσα τοῦ οἴκου. σὺν δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ ἕνα περιγενέσθαι φασὶ τῶν ἀρσένων: ἃ δὲ ἐς τοὺς Νιόβης παῖδας παρίστατο αὐτῷ μοι γινώσκειν, ἐν τοῖς ἔχουσιν ἐς Ἀργείους ἐδήλωσα. ἐς δὲ τὰς ἑκκαίδεκα γυναῖκας καὶ ἄλλον τοιόνδε λέγουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ προτέρῳ λόγον. Δαμοφῶντά φασι τυραννοῦντα ἐν Πίσῃ πολλά τε ἐργάσασθαι καὶ χαλεπὰ Ἠλείους: ὡς δὲ ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ Δαμοφῶν—οὐ γὰρ δὴ οἱ Πισαῖοι συνεχώρουν μετέχειν δημοσίᾳ τοῦ τυράννου τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, καί πως ἀρεστὰ καὶ Ἠλείοις ἐγένετο καταλύεσθαι τὰ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἐγκλήματα—, οὕτως ἑκκαίδεκα οἰκουμένων τηνικαῦτα ἔτι ἐν τῇ Ἠλείᾳ πόλεων γυναῖκα ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστης εἵλοντο διαλύειν τὰ διάφορά σφισιν, ἥτις ἡλικίᾳ τε ἦν πρεσβυτάτη καὶ ἀξιώματι καὶ δόξῃ τῶν γυναικῶν προεῖχεν. αἱ πόλεις δὲ ἀφ᾽ ὧν τὰς γυναῖκας εἵλοντο, ἦσαν Ἦλις [...]. ἀπὸ τούτων μὲν αἱ γυναῖκες οὖσαι τῶν πόλεων Πισαίοις διαλλαγὰς πρὸς Ἠλείους ἐποίησαν: ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐπετράπησαν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν θεῖναι τὰ Ἡραῖα καὶ ὑφήνασθαι τῇ Ἥρᾳ τὸν πέπλον. αἱ δὲ ἑκκαίδεκα γυναῖκες καὶ χοροὺς δύο ἱστᾶσι καὶ τὸν μὲν Φυσκόας τῶν χορῶν, τὸν δὲ Ἱπποδαμείας καλοῦσι: τὴν Φυσκόαν δὲ εἶναι ταύτην φασὶν ἐκ τῆς Ἤλιδος τῆς Κοίλης, τῷ δήμῳ δὲ ἔνθα ᾤκησεν ὄνομα μὲν Ὀρθίαν εἶναι. ταύτῃ τῇ Φυσκόᾳ Διόνυσον συγγενέσθαι λέγουσι, Φυσκόαν δὲ ἐκ Διονύσου τεκεῖν παῖδα Ναρκαῖον: τοῦτον, ὡς ηὐξήθη, πολεμεῖν τοῖς προσοίκοις καὶ δυνάμεως ἐπὶ μέγα ἀρθῆναι, καὶ δὴ καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν ἐπίκλησιν Ναρκαίας αὐτὸν ἱδρύσασθαι: Διονύσῳ τε τιμὰς λέγουσιν ὑπὸ Ναρκαίου καὶ Φυσκόας δοθῆναι πρώτων. Φυσκόας μὲν δὴ γέρα καὶ ἄλλα καὶ χορὸς ἐπώνυμος παρὰ τῶν ἑκκαίδεκα γυναικῶν, φυλάσσουσι δὲ οὐδὲν ἧσσον Ἠλεῖοι καὶ τἄλλα καταλυθεισῶν ὅμως τῶν πόλεων: νενεμημένοι γὰρ ἐς ὀκτὼ φυλὰς ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστης αἱροῦνται γυναῖκας δύο. ὁπόσα δὲ ἢ ταῖς ἑκκαίδεκα γυναιξὶν ἢ τοῖς ἑλλανοδικοῦσιν Ἠλείων δρᾶν καθέστηκεν, οὐ πρότερον δρῶσι πρὶν ἢ χοίρῳ τε ἐπιτηδείῳ πρὸς καθαρμὸν καὶ ὕδατι ἀποκαθήρωνται. γίνεται δέ σφισιν ἐπὶ κρήνῃ Πιέρᾳ τὰ καθάρσια: ἐκ δὲ Ὀλυμπίας τὴν πεδιάδα ἐς Ἦλιν ἐρχομένῳ πρὸς τὴν πηγὴν ἀφικέσθαι τὴν Πιέραν ἔστι.

Paus. 6.24.10: πεποίηται δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν οἴκημα ταῖς ἑκκαίδεκα καλουμέναις, ἔνθα τὸν πέπλον ὑφαίνουσι τῇ Ἥρᾳ.

Frederick Spiro (ed.), Pausaniae Graeciae Descriptio, vol. 2, Leipzig 1903.