- 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-grc2:7.238.1-7.238.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Xerxes orders his men to cut off Leonidas's head and impale it. The author notes that this extraordinary desecration of the corpse proves Xerxes' exceptional anger toward Leonidas while alive, since Persians usually honor brave warriors highly.
ταῦτα εἴπας Ξέρξης διεξήιε διὰ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ Λεωνίδεω,1 ἀκηκοὼς ὅτι βασιλεύς τε ἦν καὶ στρατηγὸς Λακεδαιμονίων, ἐκέλευσε ἀποταμόντας2 τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνασταυρῶσαι.
Having said these things, Xerxes passed through the corpses, and having heard that Leonidas was both king and general of the Lacedaemonians, he ordered them to cut off his head and impale it.
δῆλά μοι πολλοῖσι μὲν καὶ ἄλλοισι τεκμηρίοισι, ἐν δὲ καὶ τῷδε οὐκ ἥκιστα γέγονε, ὅτι βασιλεὺς Ξέρξης πάντων δὴ μάλιστα ἀνδρῶν ἐθυμώθη ζῶντι Λεωνίδῃ· οὐ γὰρ ἄν κοτε ἐς τὸν νεκρὸν ταῦτα παρενόμησε,3 ἐπεὶ τιμᾶν μάλιστα νομίζουσι τῶν ἐγὼ οἶδα ἀνθρώπων4 Πέρσαι ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς τὰ πολέμια. οἳ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἐποίευν, τοῖσι ἐπετέτακτο ποιέειν.
It has become clear to me by many other proofs, and not least by this very one, that King Xerxes was angered with Leonidas while he was alive more than with any other man; for otherwise he would never have committed such an outrage against the corpse, since the Persians are accustomed to honor brave men in war most of all the men whom I know. Those, then, to whom it had been commanded to do this, did so.
- 7.238.1Λεωνίδεω
A genitive of possession limiting τὴν κεφαλὴν (the head). Placed at the very beginning of the clause (right after καὶ) to emphasize Leonidas as the object of the punishment.
- 7.238.1ἀποταμόντας
An accusative plural masculine aorist active participle agreeing with the omitted subject ('the servants/soldiers') of the infinitive clause dependent on ἐκέλευσε (ordered).
- 7.238.2οὐ γὰρ ἄν κοτε ... παρενόμησε
A past counterfactual apodosis formed by ἄν with the aorist indicative (παρενόμησε). The protasis ('if he had not been so angry') is omitted as implied by the context.
- 7.238.2τῶν ἐγὼ οἶδα ἀνθρώπων
A genitive of comparison/range depending on the superlative μάλιστα. Equivalent to a relative clause with an omitted relative pronoun (ἀνθρώπων οὓς ἐγὼ οἶδα), meaning 'of all the men whom I know.'