- 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-grc2:5.69.1-5.69.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
This passage explains how Cleisthenes of Athens imitated his maternal grandfather, Cleisthenes of Sicyon, by reforming the tribal system to distance Athens from the Ionians, winning over the common people and gaining dominance over his political rivals.
ταῦτα μέν νυν ὁ Σικυώνιος Κλεισθένης ἐπεποιήκεε· ὁ δὲ δὴ Ἀθηναῖος Κλεισθένης ἐὼν τοῦ Σικυωνίου τούτου θυγατριδέος καὶ τὸ οὔνομα ἐπὶ τούτου ἔχων, δοκέειν ἐμοὶ1 καὶ οὗτος ὑπεριδὼν Ἴωνας, ἵνα μὴ σφίσι αἱ αὐταὶ ἔωσι φυλαὶ καὶ Ἴωσι,2 τὸν ὁμώνυμον Κλεισθένεα ἐμιμήσατο.
Thus, Cleisthenes of Sicyon had done these things. But Cleisthenes of Athens, being a grandson of this Sicyonian Cleisthenes by his daughter and having his name after him, seems to me, he too, to have mimicked his namesake Cleisthenes, out of contempt for the Ionians, so that they and the Ionians might not have the same tribes.
ὡς γὰρ δὴ τὸν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον πρότερον ἀπωσμένον τότε πάντων3 πρὸς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ μοῖραν προσεθήκατο, τὰς φυλὰς μετωνόμασε καὶ ἐποίησε πλεῦνας ἐξ ἐλασσόνων· δέκα τε δὴ φυλάρχους ἀντὶ τεσσέρων ἐποίησε, δέκαχαδὲ καὶ τοὺς δήμους κατένειμε ἐς τὰς φυλάς· ἦν τε τὸν δῆμον προσθέμενος4 πολλῷ κατύπερθε τῶν ἀντιστασιωτέων.
For indeed, when he then associated the Athenian common people—who previously had been excluded from everything—with his own faction, he renamed the tribes and made them more from fewer; and he made ten tribe-leaders instead of four, and distributed the demes in ten groups among the tribes. And by having won over the common people, he was far superior to his political rivals.
- 5.69.1δοκέειν ἐμοὶ
An usage of the absolute infinitive, functioning parenthetically to mean 'in my opinion' or 'as it seems to me.'
- 5.69.1καὶ Ἴωσι
The dative depends on the adjective of identity αἱ αὐταὶ, meaning 'the same [tribes] as the Ionians.'
- 5.69.2πρότερον ἀπωσμένον τότε πάντων
The participle ἀπωσμένον modifies τὸν δῆμον, with the genitive πάντων functioning as a genitive of separation, meaning 'previously excluded from all things (such as civic rights).'
- 5.69.2ἦν τε τὸν δῆμον προσθέμενος
The imperfect verb ἦν goes with the adverbial phrase πολλῷ κατύπερθε ('was far superior'), while the nominative participle προσθέμενος functions adverbially to express the cause or means ('by having won over the common people').