- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.76.1-1.76.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
Croesus invades Pteria in Cappadocia and ravages the land, prompting Cyrus to lead his army to confront him. The two forces clash with all their might, but after a fierce battle, they part without a decisive victory.
Κροῖσος δὲ ἐπείτε διαβὰς σὺν τῷ στρατῷ ἀπίκετο τῆς Καππαδοκίης1 ἐς τὴν Πτερίην καλεομένην (ἡ δὲ Πτερίη ἐστὶ τῆς χώρης ταύτης τὸ ἰσχυρότατον, κατὰ Σινώπην πόλιν2 τὴν ἐν Εὐξείνῳ πόντῳ μάλιστά κῃ κειμένη), ἐνθαῦτα ἐστρατοπεδεύετο φθείρων τῶν Συρίων τοὺς κλήρους·
When Croesus had crossed with his army and arrived at the place called Pteria in Cappadocia (now Pteria is the strongest position in this country, lying roughly opposite the city of Sinope on the Euxine Sea), he encamped there and began to ravage the lands of the Syrians.
καὶ εἷλε μὲν τῶν Πτερίων τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἠνδραποδίσατο, εἷλε δὲ τὰς περιοικίδας αὐτῆς πάσας, Συρίους τε οὐδὲν ἐόντας αἰτίους ἀναστάτους ἐποίησε. Κῦρος δὲ ἀγείρας τὸν ἑωυτοῦ στρατὸν καὶ παραλαβὼν τοὺς μεταξὺ οἰκέοντας πάντας ἠντιοῦτο Κροίσῳ.
He took the city of the Pterians and enslaved its inhabitants, and took all its surrounding towns, and made the Syrians, who were in no way to blame, homeless. Meanwhile, Cyrus, having gathered his own army and taken along all who dwelt on the way between, went to meet Croesus.
πρὶν δὲ ἐξελαύνειν ὁρμῆσαι τὸν στρατόν,3 πέμψας κήρυκας ἐς τοὺς Ἴωνας ἐπειρᾶτο σφέας ἀπὸ Κροίσου ἀπιστάναι. Ἴωνες μέν νυν οὐκ ἐπείθοντο. Κῦρος δὲ ὡς ἀπίκετο καὶ ἀντεστρατοπεδεύσατο Κροίσῳ, ἐνθαῦτα ἐν τῇ Πτερίῃ χωρῇ ἐπειρῶντο κατὰ τὸ ἰσχυρὸν ἀλλήλων.4
Before he set his army in motion to march out, he sent heralds to the Ionians and tried to make them revolt from Croesus. The Ionians, however, would not be persuaded. When Cyrus arrived and encamped opposite Croesus, there in the territory of Pteria they tried each other’s strength to the utmost.
μάχης δὲ καρτερῆς γενομένης καὶ πεσόντων ἀμφοτέρων πολλῶν, τέλος οὐδέτεροι νικήσαντες διέστησαν νυκτὸς ἐπελθούσης. καὶ τὰ μὲν στρατόπεδα ἀμφότερα οὕτω ἠγωνίσατο.
A fierce battle ensued, and many fell on both sides; in the end, neither having won, they parted as night came on. In this manner both armies contended.
- 1.76.1τῆς Καππαδοκίης
Partitive genitive modifying Πτερίην, meaning 'Pteria which is in (a part of) Cappadocia'. This is a common use of the genitive where a country or region name limits a specific location within it.
- 1.76.1κατὰ Σινώπην πόλιν
The preposition κατά with the accusative here expresses spatial opposition or alignment ('opposite to', 'in a line with'). Sinope was on the southern coast of the Euxine Sea, and this phrase locates the inland Pteria relative to this well-known coastal city.
- 1.76.3πρὶν δὲ ἐξελαύνειν ὁρμῆσαι τὸν στρατόν
A construction of πρίν with infinitive. Here ὁρμῆσαι is used transitively ('to set in motion', 'to start'), with τὸν στρατόν as its grammatical object. ἐξελαύνειν is an intransitive infinitive ('to march out') qualifying or complementing ὁρμῆσαι. Thus the phrase means 'before setting his army in motion to march out'.
- 1.76.3ἐπειρῶντο ... ἀλλήλων
The verb πειράομαι ('to make trial of', 'to test') governs the genitive case, hence the genitive reciprocal pronoun ἀλλήλων serves as its object. Combined with the adverbial phrase κατὰ τὸ ἰσχυρόν ('with all one's might', 'by force'), it means they tested each other's strength to the utmost, i.e., clashed violently.