The surname [epiklēsis] of the god [theos] inside the chest [larnax] is Aisymnetes [‘apportioner’], and his chief attendants [therapeuontes] are nine men, elected by the people [dēmos] on the basis of their reputation [axiōma], and there are also [attendants who are] women, equal in number to the men. On one night of the festival [heortē] the priest [hiereus] carries-in-procession [pherein] the chest [larnax], heading outside. Now this is a special privilege [geras] assigned to this night. Going-down [kata-bainein] to the river Meilikhos are a certain number of the local [epikhōrioi] boys-and-girls [paides], garlanded [stephanoûsthai] with garlands of wheat-ears [astakhues] on their heads. It was in this way that they used to adorn [kosmeîn] in the old times those whom they were leading [agein] [in procession] so as to sacrifice [thuein] them to Artemis.
As for our own era, they lay-aside [apo-tithenai] garlands [stephanoi] of wheat-ears [astakhues] next to the goddess [theos (feminine)], and, after bathing in the river and putting on garlands [stephanoi] all over again, this time made of ivy [kissos], they go to the sanctuary [hieron] of the Aisymnetes [= Dionysus]. This then is the established way for them to-do-the-ritual [drân], and within the enclosure [peribolos] of Laphria is a temple [nāos] of Athena having the surname [epiklēsis] Pan-akhaiïs. The statue [agalma] is of ivory and gold.
On the way to the lower city there is a sanctuary of the Dindymenian Mother, and in it Attis too is worshipped. Of him they have no image to show; that of the Mother is of stone. In the marketplace is a temple of Olympian Zeus; the god himself is on a throne with Athena standing by it. Beyond the Olympian is an image of Hērā and a sanctuary of Apollo. The god is of bronze, and naked. On his feet are sandals, and one foot stands upon the skull of an ox.
That Apollo takes great pleasure in oxen is shown by Alcaeus1 in his hymn to Hermes, who writes how Hermes stole cows of Apollo, and even before Alcaeus was born Homer made Apollo tend cows of Laomedon for a wage. In the Iliad he puts these verses in the mouth of Poseidon:
Footnotes
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Alcaeus Fr. 7 (Bergk).
“Verily I built a wall for the Trojans about their city,
A wide wall and very beautiful, that the city might be impregnable;
And thou, Phoebus, didst tend the shambling cows with crumpled horns.”
Iliad 21.446–448
This, it may be conjectured, is the reason for the ox skull. On the marketplace, in the open, is an image of Athena with the tomb of Patreus in front of it.
Next to the marketplace is the Music Hall, where has been dedicated an Apollo well worth seeing. It was made from the spoils taken when alone of the Achaeans the people of Patrai helped the Aetolians against the army of the Gauls. The Music Hall is in every way the finest in Greece, except, of course, the one in Athens. This is unrivalled in size and magnificence, and was built by Herodes, an Athenian,in memory of his dead wife. The reason why I omitted to mention this Music Hall in my history of Attica is that my account of the Athenians was finished before Herodes began the building.
As you leave the marketplace of Patrai, where the sanctuary of Apollo is, at this exit is a gate, upon which stand gilded statues, Patreus, Preugenes, and Atherion; the two latter are represented as boys, because Patreus is a boy in age. Opposite the marketplace by this exit is a precinct and temple of Artemis, the Lady of the Lake.
When the Dorians were now in possession of Lacedaemon and Argos, it is said that Preugenes, in obedience to a dream, stole from Sparta the image of our Lady of the Lake, and that he had as partner in his exploit the most devoted of his slaves. The image from Lacedaemon is usually kept at Mesoa, because it was to this place that it was originally brought by Preugenes. But when the festival of our Lady is being held, one of the slaves of the goddess comes from Mesoa bringing the ancient wooden image to the precinct in the city.
Near this precinct the people of Patrai have other sanctuaries. These are not in the open, but there is an entrance to them through the porticoes. The image of Asklepios, save for the drapery, is of stone; Athena is made of ivory and gold. Before the sanctuary of Athena is the tomb of Preugenes. Every year they sacrifice to Preugenes as to a hero, and likewise to Patreus also, when the festival of our Lady is being held. Not far from the theater is a temple of Nemesis, and another of Aphrodite. The images are colossal and of white marble.
The details given here about the procession of paides, here referring to both boys and girls, are most telling. The collocation of the verb *pherein *in the sense of ‘carry [a sacred object] in procession’ with the verb *agein *in the sense of ‘lead [someone] in procession’ is comparable to other contexts where Pausanias is describing a procession, as at 1.27.3. I comment on that related text of Pausanias in the posting for 2018.04.05. As for the text here at 7.20.1, the ritual of a procession where the priest of Dionysus ‘carries’ a sacred object, indicated by the verb pherein, is a re-enactment of the myth of human sacrifice to Artemis, which would have featured a primal procession where the people ‘lead’, as expressed by the verb agein, a boy and a girl who are destined to become the annual sacrifical victims. The set of boys and girls who participate in re-enacting the myth in the yearly ritual are likewise being ‘led’ in procession. We see here a merger in identifying Artemis Laphria/Triklaria as the recipient of sacrifice. At 7.18.11, the recipient was called Laphria, but here at 7.20.1 the recipient is called Triklaria.
Now the narrative of Pausanias loops back to Artemis in her role as Laphria, as first mentioned at 7.18.8. His reference here at 7.20.2 to the *peribolos *‘enclosure’ of Artemis Laphria shows that the myths and rituals linked with Artemis Triklaria have been contained all along, ever since 7.18.8, by the overall enclosure of Artemis Laphria. The role of Artemis Triklaria is I think older than the role of Artemis Laphria. The epithet *Triklāriā *refers to an old tripartion, before the unification of Patras, and this tripartition represented the communities of Mesatis, Antheia, and Aroe—as we read at 7.18.2–7.18.4. The Dionysiac framework for these communities is symbolized by the assignment of the following three epithets to the god Dionysus: Mesateus, Antheus, and Aroeus—as we read at 7.21.6 (Brelich 1969:368).