- 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-grc2:7.225.1-7.225.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
After a fierce struggle over Leonidas' body, the Greeks retreated to a hill, where they fought to the last using even their bare hands and teeth until they were completely overwhelmed and killed by the surrounding Persians.
Ξέρξεώ τε δὴ δύο ἀδελφεοὶ ἐνθαῦτα πίπτουσι μαχόμενοι, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ νεκροῦ τοῦ Λεωνίδεω Περσέων τε καὶ Λακεδαιμονίων ὠθισμὸς ἐγίνετο πολλός, ἐς ὃ τοῦτόν τε ἀρετῇ οἱ Ἕλληνες ὑπεξείρυσαν καὶ ἐτρέψαντο τοὺς ἐναντίους τετράκις. τοῦτο δὲ συνεστήκεε μέχρι οὗ οἱ σὺν Ἐπιάλτῃ παρεγένοντο.
Indeed, two brothers of Xerxes fell there fighting, and over the body of Leonidas there arose a great struggle between the Persians and the Lacedaemonians, until at last the Greeks by their valour rescued it and routed their opponents four times. And this struggle continued until those with Ephialtes arrived.
ὡς δὲ τούτους ἥκειν ἐπύθοντο1 οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἐνθεῦτεν ἤδη ἑτεροιοῦτο τὸ νεῖκος· ἔς τε γὰρ τὸ στεινὸν τῆς ὁδοῦ ἀνεχώρεον ὀπίσω, καὶ παραμειψάμενοι τὸ τεῖχος ἐλθόντες ἵζοντο ἐπὶ τὸν κολωνὸν πάντες ἁλέες οἱ ἄλλοι πλὴν Θηβαίων. ὁ δὲ κολωνὸς ἐστὶ ἐν τῇ ἐσόδῳ, ὅκου νῦν ὁ λίθινος λέων ἕστηκε ἐπὶ Λεωνίδῃ.
But when the Greeks learned that these men had come, from that moment the combat changed its character; for they retreated back into the narrow part of the way, and passing behind the wall, they came and took up their position on the hill, all of them in a body except the Thebans. This hill is at the entrance, where now the stone lion stands in honour of Leonidas.
ἐν τούτῳ σφέας τῷ χώρῳ ἀλεξομένους μαχαίρῃσι, τοῖσι2 αὐτῶν ἐτύγχανον ἔτι περιεοῦσαι, καὶ χερσὶ καὶ στόμασι κατέχωσαν3 οἱ βάρβαροι βάλλοντες, οἳ μὲν ἐξ ἐναντίης ἐπισπόμενοι καὶ τὸ ἔρυμα τοῦ τείχεος συγχώσαντες, οἳ δὲ περιελθόντες πάντοθεν περισταδόν.
On this hill, while they defended themselves with their swords, such of them as still happened to have them left, and with their hands and teeth, the barbarians overwhelmed them with missiles, some pressing on them from the front and having thrown down the defensive wall, others having gone round and surrounding them on every side.
- 7.225.2ὡς δὲ τούτους ἥκειν ἐπύθοντο
An accusative with infinitive construction (τούτους ἥκειν, 'that these men had come') depending on the verb ἐπύθοντο ('learned'). The conjunction ὡς is temporal, meaning 'when'.
- 7.225.3τοῖσι
An Ionic form of the relative pronoun, dative plural feminine, agreeing with the antecedent μαχαίρῃσι. The following pronoun αὐτῶν functions as a partitive genitive, meaning 'of them (the swords)'.
- 7.225.3κατέχωσαν
Aorist of καταχώννυμι, meaning 'to bury' or 'to overwhelm'. Here it vividly describes how the Greeks were literally buried under the shower of missiles (βάλλοντες) thrown by the Persians, leading to their total destruction.