ἔστι δὲ τῆς Ταναγραίας ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ καλούμενον Δήλιον· ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ Λητοῦς ἐστιν ἀγάλματα. Ταναγραῖοι δὲ οἰκιστήν σφισι Ποίμανδρον γενέσθαι λέγουσι Χαιρησίλεω παῖδα τοῦ Ἰασίου τοῦ Ἐλευθῆρος, τὸν δʼ Ἀπόλλωνός τε καὶ Αἰθούσης εἶναι τῆς Ποσειδῶνος. Ποίμανδρον δὲ γυναῖκά φασιν ἀγαγέσθαι Τάναγραν θυγατέρα Αἰόλου· Κορίννῃ δέ ἐστιν ἐς αὐτὴν πεποιημένα Ἀσωποῦ παῖδα εἶναι.
ταύτης τοῦ βίου προελθούσης ἐπὶ μακρότατον τοὺς περιοίκους φασὶν ἀφελόντας τὸ ὄνομα τήν τε γυναῖκα αὐτὴν καλεῖν Γραῖαν καὶ ἀνὰ χρόνον τὴν πόλιν· διαμεῖναί τε τὸ ὄνομα ἐς τοσοῦτον ὡς καὶ Ὅμηρον ἐν καταλόγῳ ποιῆσαι Θέσπειαν Γραῖάν τε καὶ εὐρύχορον Μυκαλησσόν. / χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀνεσώσαντο.
ἔστι δʼ Ὠρίωνος μνῆμα ἐν Τανάγρᾳ καὶ ὄρος Κηρύκιον, ἔνθα Ἑρμῆν τεχθῆναι λέγουσι, Πόλος τε ὀνομαζόμενον χωρίον· ἐνταῦθα Ἄτλαντα καθήμενον πολυπραγμονεῖν τά τε ὑπὸ γῆς φασι καὶ τὰ οὐράνια, πεποιῆσθαι δὲ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ περὶ τούτου, Ἄτλαντος θυγάτηρ ὀλοόφρονος, ὅστε θαλάσσης / πάσης βένθεα οἶδεν, ἔχει δέ τε κίονας αὐτός / μακράς, αἳ γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανὸν ἀμφὶς ἔχουσιν. /
ἐν δὲ τοῦ Διονύσου τῷ ναῷ θέας μὲν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἄξιον λίθου τε ὂν Παρίου καὶ ἔργον Καλάμιδος, θαῦμα δὲ παρέχεται μεῖζον ἔτι ὁ Τρίτων. ὁ μὲν δὴ σεμνότερος ἐς αὐτὸν λόγος τὰς γυναῖκάς φησι τὰς Ταναγραίων πρὸ τῶν Διονύσου ὀργίων ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καταβῆναι καθαρσίων ἕνεκα, νηχομέναις δὲ ἐπιχειρῆσαι τὸν Τρίτωνα καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας εὔξασθαι Διόνυσόν σφισιν ἀφικέσθαι βοηθόν, ὑπακοῦσαί τε δὴ τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοῦ Τρίτωνος κρατῆσαι τῇ μάχῃ·
ὁ δὲ ἕτερος λόγος ἀξιώματι μὲν ἀποδεῖ τοῦ προτέρου, πιθανώτερος δέ ἐστι. φησὶ γὰρ δὴ οὗτος, ὁπόσα ἐλαύνοιτο ἐπὶ θάλασσαν βοσκήματα, ὡς ἐλόχα τε ὁ Τρίτων καὶ ἥρπαζεν· ἐπιχειρεῖν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν πλοίων τοῖς λεπτοῖς, ἐς ὃ οἱ Ταναγραῖοι κρατῆρα οἴνου προτιθέασιν αὐτῷ. καὶ τὸν αὐτίκα ἔρχεσθαι λέγουσιν ὑπὸ τῆς ὀσμῆς, πιόντα δὲ ἐρρῖφθαι κατὰ τῆς ᾐόνος ὑπνωμένον, Ταναγραῖον δὲ ἄνδρα πελέκει παίσαντα ἀποκόψαι τὸν αὐχένα αὐτοῦ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔπεστιν αὐτῷ κεφαλή. ὅτι δὲ μεθυσθέντα εἷλον, ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὑπὸ Διονύσου νομίζουσιν ἀποθανεῖν αὐτόν.
To Tanagra also belongs Delium on the sea: in Delium there are images of Artemis and Latona.
The people of Tanagra say that their founder was Poemander, son of Chaeresileus, son of Iasius, son of Eleuther, and that Eleuther was a son of Apollo by Aethusa, daughter of Poseidon. They relate that Poemander married Tanagra, daughter of Aeolus; but the poetess Corinna says that Tanagra was a daughter of Asopus. They say that Tanagra lived to an extreme old age, and that in consequence the people round about dropped her proper name, and called her Graea (‘old woman’), and in course of time they applied this name to the city. This name adhered to it so long that Homer in the Catalogue says :— Thespia, and Graea, and spacious Mycalessus. But afterwards the city recovered its ancient name.
At Tanagra there is the tomb of Orion, and Mount Cerycius, where they say that Hermes was born, and a place called Polus, where they say that Atlas sat and pondered the things under the earth and the things in heaven, just as Homer has said of him :— Daughter of baleful Atlas, him who knows the depths Of every sea, and himself upholds the tall pillars Which keep earth and sky asunder.
In the temple of Dionysus the image is worth seeing, being of Parian marble and a work of Calamis. But yet more wonderful is the Triton. The more pretentious of the stories about the Triton is that before the orgies of Dionysus the women of Tanagra went down to the sea to be purified, and that as they swam the Triton attacked them, and that the women prayed to Dionysus to come and help them, and that the god hearkened to them, and conquered the Triton in the fight. The other story is less dignified but more probable. It is that the Triton used to waylay and carry off all the cattle that were driven to the sea, and that he even attacked small craft, till the Tanagraeans set out a bowl of wine for him. They say that, lured by the smell, he came at once, quaffed the wine, and flung himself on the shore and slept, and a man of Tanagra chopped off his head with an axe. Therefore the image is headless. And because he was caught drunk, they think that it was Dionysus who killed him.
Cite This Text