Arethusa, an ace nymph; Pausanias, Desc. Graec. 5.7.2

Name:  Pausanias Date:        110 – 180 CE Region:    Lydia [modern Turkey] Citation:      Description of Greece 5.7.2

It is said that Alphaeus was a hunter who loved Arethusa (who also was a hunter). Since Arethusa rejected the idea of marriage, she fled to the island next to Syracuse called Ortygia, and transformed into a spring. Alphaeus did the same thing: he transformed himself into a river out of love for her.

λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τοιάδε ἐς τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ὡς ἀνὴρ εἴη θηρευτής, ἐρασθῆναι δὲ αὐτὸν Ἀρεθούσης, κυνηγετεῖν δὲ καὶ ταύτην. καὶ Ἀρέθουσαν μὲν οὐκ ἀρεσκομένην γήμασθαι περαιωθῆναί φασιν ἐς νῆσον τὴν κατὰ Συρακούσας, καλουμένην δὲ Ὀρτυγίαν, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐξ ἀνθρώπου γενέσθαι πηγήν: συμβῆναι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος καὶ Ἀλφειῷ τὴν ἀλλαγὴν ἐς τὸν ποταμόν.

 de quo vulgata est fabula, virum illum [Alphaeum] fuisse venatorem, Arethusam amasse, & ipsam venandi studiosam. Quae quum illius nuptias recusasset, in insulam, cui Ortygiae nomen fuit, prope Syracusas, dicitur transmisse, atque ibi in fontem conversam: ipsi etiam Alpheo accidisse, ut prae amore in amnem mutaretur.

Translated into Latin by Romulus Amasaeus (1696)

Pausanias [110 -180 CE, modern Turkey] was a Greek writer from Lydia who lived during the era of the “Five Good Emperors.” His work, the Description of Greece, is an important source for geographical, historical, archaeological, and cultural information about ancient Greece.