Cragaleus
Previous tale: Hierax (Tale 3). This page is Tale 4 only. The tale is headed, in the Greek, with two sources: Nicander relates it in the first book of his Heteroeumena, and Athanadas in his Ambracica. Greek and English are given paragraph by paragraph, so each paragraph can be checked against the other. Further tales will be added one at a time as they are finished.
1
Ἱστορεῖ Νίκανδρος Ἑτεροιουμένων α' καὶ Ἀθανάδας Ἀμβρακικοῖς.
Κραγαλεὺς ὁ Δρύοπος ᾤκει <τῆς> γῆς τῆς Δρυοπίδος παρὰ τὰ λουτρὰ τὰ Ἡρακλέους, ἅ μυθολογοῦσιν Ἡρακλέα πλήξαντα τῇ κορύνῃ τὰς πλάκας τοῦ ὄρους ἀναβαλεῖν.
Nicander relates this in the first book of his Heteroeumena, and Athanadas in his Ambracica.
Cragaleus, son of Dryops, lived in the land of Dryopis, by the baths of Heracles, which, as the story goes, Heracles made spring up by striking the slabs of the mountain with his club.
2
ὁ δὲ Κραγαλεὺς οὗτος ἐγεγόνει γηραιὸς ἤδη καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἐνομίζετο δίκαιος εἶναι καὶ φρόνιμος. καὶ αὐτῷ νέμοντι βοῦς προσάγουσιν Ἀπόλλων καὶ Ἄρτεμις καὶ Ἡρακλῆς κριθησόμενοι περὶ Ἀμβρακίας τῆς ἐν Ἠπείρῳ.
This Cragaleus had already grown old, and was considered by the locals to be just and wise. And while he was pasturing oxen, Apollo and Artemis and Heracles came to him to have their dispute about Ambracia in Epirus judged.
3
καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἀπόλλων ἑαυτῷ προσήκειν ἔλεγε τὴν πόλιν, ὅτι Μελανεὺς υἱὸς ἦν αὐτοῦ, βασιλεύσας μὲν Δρυόπων καὶ πολέμῳ λαβὼν τὴν πᾶσαν Ἤπειρον, γεννήσας δὲ παῖδας Εὔρυτον καὶ Ἀμβρακίαν, ἐξ ἧς ἡ πόλις Ἀμβρακία καλεῖται· καὶ αὐτὸς μέγιστα χαρίσασθαι <παρὰ> τοῦτο τῇ πόλει.
Σισυφίδας μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ προστάξαντος ἀφικομένους κατορθῶσαι τὸν πόλεμον Ἀμβρακιώταις τὸν γενόμενον αὐτοῖς πρὸς Ἠπειρώτας, Γόργον δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Κυψέλου κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ χρησμοὺς λαὸν ἔποικον ἀγαγεῖν εἰς Ἀμβρακίαν ἐκ Κορίνθου, Φαλαίκῳ δὲ τυραννοῦντι τῆς πόλεως αὐτοῦ κατὰ μαντείαν Ἀμβρακιώτας ἐπαναστῆσαι καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο πολλοὺς ἀπολέσθαι <καὶ> τὸν Φάλαικον, τὸ δὲ ὅλον αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ πόλει παῦσαι πλειστάκις ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον καὶ ἔριδας καὶ στάσιν, ἐμποιῆσαι <δ'> ἀντὶ [του] τῶνδ' εὐνομίαν καὶ θέμιν καὶ δίκην, ὅθεν αὐτὸν ἔτι νῦν παρὰ τοῖς Ἀμβρακιώταις Σωτῆρα Πύθιον ἐν ἑορταῖς καὶ εἰλαπίναις ᾄδεσθαι.
Apollo said the city belonged to him, because Melaneus was his son, who had been king of the Dryopes and had taken all Epirus by war, and had begotten children, Eurytus and Ambracia, after whom the city Ambracia is called; and he himself had done the greatest favours for the city in addition to this.
For at his command the descendants of Sisyphus came and brought the Ambraciots' war against the Epirotes to a successful conclusion; and Gorgus, the brother of Cypselus, in accordance with his oracles, brought a body of settlers into Ambracia from Corinth; and when Phalaecus was tyrant of the city, at his oracle the Ambraciots rose up, and as a result many perished, and Phalaecus; and in general he himself very often stopped civil war and strife and faction in the city, and instilled instead of these good order and law and justice. Hence he is still now sung among the Ambraciots as Saviour Pythian at festivals and feasts.
4
Ἄρτεμις δὲ τὸ μὲν νεῖκος κατέπαυε τὸ πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα, παρ' ἑκόντος δ' ἠξίου τὴν Ἀβρακίαν ἔχειν· ἐφίεσθαι γὰρ τῆς πόλεως κατὰ πρόφασιν τοιαύτην· ὅτε Φάλαικος ἐτυράννευε τῆς πόλεως, οὐδενὸς αὐτὸν δυναμένου κατὰ δέος ἀνελεῖν αὐτὴ κυνηγετοῦντι τῷ Φαλαίκῳ προφῆναι σκύμνον λέοντος, ἀναλαβόντος δὲ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας, ἐκδραμεῖν ἐκ τῆς ὕλης τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσπεσοῦσαν ἀναρρῆξαι τὰ στέρνα τοῦ Φαλαίκου, τοὺς δ' Ἀμβρακιώτας ἐκφυγόντας τὴν δουλείαν Ἄρτεμιν Ἡγεμόνην ἱλάσασθαι καὶ ποιησαμένους Ἀγροτέρης εἴκασμα παραστήσασθαι χάλκεον αὐτῷ θῆρα.
Artemis, for her part, put an end to the dispute with Apollo, but asked, with his consent, to have Ambracia. For she desired the city on the following ground: when Phalaecus was tyrant of the city, and no one was able, through fear, to kill him, she herself caused a lion cub to appear to Phalaecus while he was hunting; and when he took it up in his hands, its mother rushed out of the wood and, falling upon him, tore open Phalaecus' breast. And the Ambraciots, having escaped slavery, propitiated Artemis Hegemone, and, having made an image of Agrotera, set up a bronze beast beside it.
5
ὁ δὲ Ἡρακλῆς ἀπεδείκνυεν Ἀμβρακίαν τε καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν Ἤπειρον οὖσαν ἑαυτοῦ· πολεμήσαντας γὰρ αὐτῷ Κελαίθους καὶ Χάονας καὶ Θεσπρωτοὺς καὶ σύμπαντας Ἠπειρώτας ὑπ'αὐτοῦ κρατηθῆναι, ὅτε τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς συνελθόντες <ἐβούλευον> ἀφελέσθαι, χρόνῳ δ' ὕστερον λαὸν ἔποικον ἐλθεῖν ἐκ Κορίνθου καὶ τοὺς πρόσθεν ἀναστήσαντας Ἀμβρακίαν συνοικίσαι.
Heracles, for his part, argued that Ambracia and all Epirus were his. For the Celaethi and Chaones and Thesprotians and all the Epirotes took the field against him and were defeated by him, when, having come together, they planned to take away the cattle of Geryon; and later a body of settlers came from Corinth and, displacing the earlier inhabitants, founded Ambracia.
6
Κορίνθιοι δὲ πάντες εἰσίν ἀφ' Ἡρακλέους.
And all Corinthians are descended from Heracles.
7
ἅ διακούσας ὁ Κραγαλεὺς ἔγνω τὴν πόλιν Ἡρακλέους εἶναι.
Having heard these things, Cragaleus judged the city to be Heracles'.
8
Ἀπόλλων δὲ κατ' ὀργὴν ἁψάμενος αὐτοῦ τῇ χειρὶ πέτρον ἐποίσεν ἵναπερ εἱστήκει.
But Apollo, in anger, touching him with his hand, made him a stone, right where he stood.
9
Ἀμβρακιῶται δὲ Ἀπόλλωνι μὲν Σωτῆρι θύουσι, τὴν δὲ πόλιν Ἡρακλέους καὶ τῶν ἐκείνου παίδων νενομίκασι, Κραγαλεῖ δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἑορτήν Ἡρακλέους ἔντομα θύουσιν ἄχρι νῦν.
The Ambraciots sacrifice to Apollo Saviour, but they regard the city as belonging to Heracles and his children, and after the festival of Heracles they sacrifice victims to Cragaleus to this day.
Notes
- Two sources: unlike Tales 1 to 3, this tale names Nicander and Athanadas together. The heading does not say which of them supplied which part.
- Paragraph 1, “son of Dryops”: ὁ Δρύοπος is a nominative appositive, so the ethnic reading, “the Dryopian,” remains grammatically possible. The patronymic is chosen here, following the mythographic tradition that makes Cragaleus a son of Dryops, and it is flagged as a choice, not as settled by Tale 2, where the patronymic was a genitive.
- Paragraph 1, the baths: ἀναβαλεῖν is “made spring up.” I have kept it vague rather than deciding whether the baths are springs or built baths, since the Greek does not decide it.
- Paragraph 3, “descendants of Sisyphus”: Σισυφίδας is kept as a lineage term, several generations from Sisyphus, which is why the next clause brings settlers from Corinth, Sisyphus' city.
- Paragraph 3, the brackets, corrected: <παρὰ>, <καὶ>, and <δ'> are editorial supplements. [του] is the opposite: text proposed for deletion, so ἀντὶ [του] τῶνδ' is “instead of these,” as translated.
- Paragraph 3, “in addition to this”: the παρὰ is itself supplemented, so “in addition to this” is an editorial reading, adopted because παρὰ τοῦτο is more usually that idiom. A causal “on account of this” remains possible and is not ruled out.
- Paragraph 4, the lion cub, corrected: προφῆναι is active, “to show forth.” Artemis herself causes the cub to appear to Phalaecus; she does not appear as the cub. The mother, not the cub, is what kills him.
- Paragraph 4, “with his consent”: παρ' ἑκόντος is read as Apollo's consent, since Artemis has just ended her dispute with him. The Greek leaves the holder of the consent grammatically open, so this is flagged, not asserted.
- Paragraph 4, Ἀβρακίαν: the source prints this spelling, without the μ, in this paragraph only, where every other instance is Ἀμβρακίαν. I have reproduced it as printed and translated it as Ambracia.
- Paragraph 4, the bronze beast: παραστήσασθαι χάλκεον αὐτῷ θῆρα is “set up a bronze beast beside it,” the image of Agrotera being the “it.” Whether the beast is meant to be the lion cub itself is not stated.
- Paragraph 5, <ἐβούλευον>: “planned” is an editorial supplement. The defeat itself is not. συνοικίσαι is “to found or settle as a community”; “jointly” was dropped, since the context, previous inhabitants driven out, does not clearly support it.
- Paragraph 9, ἔντομα: literally “cut things,” but used as technical sacrificial vocabulary for victims generally. The etymology now lives here, in the note, and the text says simply “victims.”
- The shape of the tale: the transformation is the punishment for the verdict, not the point of a story about a bird. The cult ending is double: Apollo still gets his sacrifice as Saviour, but the city is Heracles', and Cragaleus gets his own sacrifice after Heracles' festival.
Tale 5 will follow when it is finished. Corrections are welcome via the contact form; please say which paragraph you mean.