- 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-grc2:5.82.1-5.82.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
As the origin of the ancient enmity between Aegina and Athens, the narrative describes how Epidauros, during a famine, followed the Delphic oracle to establish statues of Damia and Auxesia using sacred olive wood from Athens.
ἡ δὲ ἔχθρη ἡ προοφειλομένη ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἐκ τῶν Αἰγινητέων ἐγένετο ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοιῆσδε. Ἐπιδαυρίοισι ἡ γῆ καρπὸν οὐδένα ἀνεδίδου. περὶ ταύτης ὦν τῆς συμφορῆς οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι ἐχρέωντο ἐν Δελφοῖσι· ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφέας ἐκέλευε Δαμίης τε καὶ Αὐξησίης ἀγάλματα ἱδρύσασθαι καί σφι ἱδρυσαμένοισι ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι.1
The enmity which was previously existing against the Athenians from the Aeginetans arose from the beginning in this way. For the Epidaurians, their land yielded no fruit. Concerning this misfortune, therefore, the Epidaurians consulted the oracle at Delphi. And the Pythia bade them establish statues of Damia and Auxesia, and said that it would go better for them if they established them.
ἐπειρώτεον ὦν οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι κότερα χαλκοῦ ποιέωνται τὰ ἀγάλματα ἢ λίθου· ἡ δὲ Πυθίη οὐδέτερα τούτων ἔα, ἀλλὰ ξύλου ἡμέρης ἐλαίης. ἐδέοντο ὦν οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι Ἀθηναίων ἐλαίην σφι δοῦναι ταμέσθαι, ἱρωτάτας δὴ κείνας νομίζοντες εἶναι. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐλαῖαι ἦσαν ἄλλοθι γῆς οὐδαμοῦ κατὰ χρόνον ἐκεῖνον ἢ ἐν Ἀθήνῃσι.
So the Epidaurians asked further whether they should make the statues of bronze or of stone; but the Pythia allowed neither of these, but told them to make them of the wood of the cultivated olive. The Epidaurians therefore entreated the Athenians to give them some olive wood to cut, since they considered those trees to be the most sacred. Indeed, it is also said that at that time there were no olives anywhere else in the world except at Athens.
οἳ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖσιδε δώσειν ἔφασαν ἐπʼ ᾧ2 ἀπάξουσι ἔτεος ἑκάστου τῇ Ἀθηναίῃ τε τῇ Πολιάδι ἱρὰ καὶ τῷ Ἐρεχθέι. καταινέσαντες δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοισι οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι τῶν τε ἐδέοντο ἔτυχον καὶ ἀγάλματα ἐκ τῶν ἐλαιέων τουτέων ποιησάμενοι ἱδρύσαντο· καὶ ἥ τε γῆ σφι ἔφερε καρπὸν καὶ Ἀθηναίοισι ἐπετέλεον τὰ συνέθεντο.
The Athenians said that they would give it on these terms: on the condition that they would bring offerings every year to Athena Polias and to Erechtheus. Having agreed to these terms, the Epidaurians obtained what they asked for, and having made the statues from these olives, they established them; and their land bore them fruit, and they fulfilled what they had agreed upon with the Athenians.
- 5.82.1καί σφι ἱδρυσαμένοισι ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι
The third-person dative pronoun σφι (for them) is modified by the dative conditional participle ἱδρυσαμένοισι (if they established). The infinitive συνοίσεσθαι depends on the main verb ἐκέλευε in indirect discourse, functioning as the future infinitive of the impersonal συμφέρει, meaning 'that it would go better for them if they established them.'
- 5.82.3ἐπʼ ᾧ
The construction of ἐπʼ ᾧ (or ἐπʼ ᾧτε) followed by the future indicative (ἀπάξουσι) expresses a condition or terms of agreement: 'on the condition that they would bring.' It specifies the obligation the Athenians imposed on the Epidaurians in exchange for the olive wood.