Ancient Greek Ghost Stories, Part Six: The Hero of Temesa

In Book Six of The Guide to Greece, the ancient Greek travel writer Pausanias tells the story of the ghost of a stoned rapist who terrorized the city of Temesa until it was driven out by the Olympic boxer Euthymos.

After leaving Troy, Odysseus and his men visited the town of Temesa in southern Italy, where one of Odysseus’s men went out drinking and became thoroughly intoxicated. In this state of drunkenness, he violently raped a local woman. The townspeople were infuriated and stoned the rapist to death. Odysseus and his men left Temesa, thinking that their former crewmember had gotten what he deserved.

Unfortunately, the man who had been stoned came back as a virulent poltergeist and terrorized the people of Temesa, attacking everyone, both young and old, causing all manner of trouble and mischief.

The people of Temesa made plans to flee from Italy, but the oracle forbade them to do so and ordered them to instead appease the angry spirit by building a sanctuary for it to live in. Then, every year, they were required to send a beautiful young virgin into the sanctuary and leave her there all night long so that the spirit could have sex with her.

The people of Temesa obeyed the oracle’s commands and the spirit stopped terrorizing their village, but they were still forced to pay tribute to it. Then, many centuries later, the famed Olympic boxer Euthymos, who was said to be the son of a river god, arrived in Temesa at the time when the townsfolk were preparing for the annual tribute. He asked them what the tribute was and, when they told him, he determined to meet the poor maiden who was going to be offered to the ghost.

The girl, who was terribly frightened, swore that she would marry Euthymos if he rescued her from the evil spirit. Euthymos hid inside the sanctuary and awaited the spirit’s arrival. Finally, long after night had fallen, the ghost appeared inside the sanctuary. It had a hideous, beastly countenance, twisted beyond all human recognition. Its body was covered in soot and it was clad in the skin of a wolf.

Euthymos jumped out from where he was hiding and chased the spirit out of the sanctuary all the way down to the beach. The ghost leapt into the sea and was never seen by any of the villagers ever again. Euthymos and the maiden he had rescued were happily married. Pausanias reports that Euthymos lived to an extremely old age and, in the end, did not die, but was taken to the afterlife in some other way.

FEATURED IMAGE
The featured image for this article is a Roman mosaic from Tunisia in the second century A.D., showing Odysseus and his crew navigating past the island of the Sirens.

Author: Spencer McDaniel

I am a historian mainly interested in ancient Greek cultural and social history. Some of my main historical interests include ancient religion and myth; gender and sexuality; ethnicity; and interactions between Greeks and foreign cultures. I hold a BA in history and classical studies (Ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature), with departmental honors in history, from Indiana University Bloomington (May 2022) and an MA in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies from Brandeis University (May 2024). View all posts by Spencer McDaniel