DOI Kapitel:
Division A: The Agora and adjacent buildings lying to the west and north of the Acropolis, from the city gate to the Prytaneion
DOI Kapitel:Section VI
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0293
SEC. VI
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
121
On looking at the statue of Athene, Pausanias was chiefly struck
by her gray eyes, a proof, if one were needed, that the statues of the
ancients were painted. It scarcely seems necessary to apologise
for the gray eyes of Athene Glaukopis ; but Pausanias, after the
explanatory fashion of his times, accounts for the colour by the
association of the goddess with the lake Tritonis. The epithet
“Tritogeneia” (Triton-born) is as old as the Iliadfi^ The Achseans
are urged on to the battle before Troy by “Zeus’ daughter, the
Triton-born ” ; and again, in the Odyssey, Nestor says to Tele-
machus, “Truly there is none other of those who keep the
mansions of Olympus save only the daughter of Zeus, the driver of
spoil, the maiden Trito-born.” What “Tritogeneia” originally meant
is probably now past finding out. Ancient commentators suggested
that “Trito” was Cretan for “head,” and that “Tritogeneia”225
meant “ head-born.” Certainly in the Iliad and Odyssey passages
the fact that she is par excellence daughter of Zeus is emphasised.
Another explanation, however, found more general favour, probably
because it allowed the association of the birth of the great goddess
Athene with many local streams, lakes, and fountains. This explana-
tion was that “Tritogeneia” meant “born of the Trito-water”—
the same root that appears in Triton the water-god. On the
strength of this etymology it was easy to localise the birth of the
goddess near the lake Tritonis in Libya, or the marsh Tritonis
in Boeotia, and so on ad infinitum. The fashion of attributing
an Egyptian origin to deities and their names made the Libyan
legend on the whole obtain. Herodotus226 says, in speaking
of the lake Tritonis—“ The Auseans declare that Athene is the
daughter of Poseidon and the lake Tritonis. They say that she
quarrelled with her father and applied to Zeus, who consented to
let her be his child, and so she became his adopted daughter.”
The Ausean maidens, he further tells us, celebrated curious
ceremonies in honour of their native goddess, who Herodotus
in his way says was identical with Athene. They fought in two
bodies with stones and clubs ; no true maiden could die of the
wounds received in this combat. Before the fight, the loveliest of
all the maidens was clothed in a complete suit of Greek armour
and a Corinthian helmet, and led in procession round the lake.
The whole account is interesting as showing the Greek tendency,
whenever they found a deity with attributes similar to one of their
own, to identify their origin and worship. At Alalcomenae, in
Boeotia, Pausanias 227 found a local Athene Tritogeneia. “ The
river that runs here is a small stream; they call it Triton because
OF ANCIENT ATHENS
121
On looking at the statue of Athene, Pausanias was chiefly struck
by her gray eyes, a proof, if one were needed, that the statues of the
ancients were painted. It scarcely seems necessary to apologise
for the gray eyes of Athene Glaukopis ; but Pausanias, after the
explanatory fashion of his times, accounts for the colour by the
association of the goddess with the lake Tritonis. The epithet
“Tritogeneia” (Triton-born) is as old as the Iliadfi^ The Achseans
are urged on to the battle before Troy by “Zeus’ daughter, the
Triton-born ” ; and again, in the Odyssey, Nestor says to Tele-
machus, “Truly there is none other of those who keep the
mansions of Olympus save only the daughter of Zeus, the driver of
spoil, the maiden Trito-born.” What “Tritogeneia” originally meant
is probably now past finding out. Ancient commentators suggested
that “Trito” was Cretan for “head,” and that “Tritogeneia”225
meant “ head-born.” Certainly in the Iliad and Odyssey passages
the fact that she is par excellence daughter of Zeus is emphasised.
Another explanation, however, found more general favour, probably
because it allowed the association of the birth of the great goddess
Athene with many local streams, lakes, and fountains. This explana-
tion was that “Tritogeneia” meant “born of the Trito-water”—
the same root that appears in Triton the water-god. On the
strength of this etymology it was easy to localise the birth of the
goddess near the lake Tritonis in Libya, or the marsh Tritonis
in Boeotia, and so on ad infinitum. The fashion of attributing
an Egyptian origin to deities and their names made the Libyan
legend on the whole obtain. Herodotus226 says, in speaking
of the lake Tritonis—“ The Auseans declare that Athene is the
daughter of Poseidon and the lake Tritonis. They say that she
quarrelled with her father and applied to Zeus, who consented to
let her be his child, and so she became his adopted daughter.”
The Ausean maidens, he further tells us, celebrated curious
ceremonies in honour of their native goddess, who Herodotus
in his way says was identical with Athene. They fought in two
bodies with stones and clubs ; no true maiden could die of the
wounds received in this combat. Before the fight, the loveliest of
all the maidens was clothed in a complete suit of Greek armour
and a Corinthian helmet, and led in procession round the lake.
The whole account is interesting as showing the Greek tendency,
whenever they found a deity with attributes similar to one of their
own, to identify their origin and worship. At Alalcomenae, in
Boeotia, Pausanias 227 found a local Athene Tritogeneia. “ The
river that runs here is a small stream; they call it Triton because