- 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-grc2:8.120.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Herotus adduces Xerxes' stopover and reception at Abdera as proof of his return by land, pointing out the geographical contradiction in the story of his embarkation at Eion.
μέγα δὲ καὶ τόδε μαρτύριον· φαίνεται γὰρ Ξέρξης ἐν τῇ ὀπίσω κομιδῇ ἀπικόμενος1 ἐς Ἄβδηρα καὶ ξεινίην τέ σφι συνθέμενος καὶ δωρησάμενος αὐτοὺς ἀκινάκῃ τε χρυσέῳ καὶ τιήρῃ χρυσοπάστῳ. καὶ ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι Ἀβδηρῖται, λέγοντες ἔμοιγε οὐδαμῶς πιστά, πρῶτον ἐλύσατο τὴν ζώνην φεύγων ἐξ Ἀθηνέων ὀπίσω, ὡς ἐν ἀδείῃ ἐών. τὰ δὲ Ἄβδηρα ἵδρυται πρὸς τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ Στρυμόνος καὶ τῆς Ἠιόνος, ὅθεν δή μιν φασὶ ἐπιβῆναι2 ἐπὶ τὴν νέα.
And this too is a great proof. For it is clear that Xerxes, on his journey back, arrived at Abdera and established a treaty of friendship with them, and presented them with a golden dagger and a gold-embroidered tiara. And as the Abderites themselves say—telling what is in no way credible to me—he untied his belt for the first time since fleeing backward from Athens, as though being in safety. But Abdera is situated closer to the Hellespont than to the Strymon and Eion, from which indeed they say he embarked on the ship.
- 8.120.1φαίνεται ... ἀπικόμενος
The verb φαίνομαι combined with participles (here ἀπικόμενος, συνθέμενος, and δωρησάμενος) expresses that the action is clear or manifest ('it is clear that he arrived / he evidently arrived'). This is contrasted with the construction with an infinitive, which means 'he appears to (but may not actually)'.
- 8.120.1ὅθεν δή μιν φασὶ ἐπιβῆναι
The relative adverb ὅθεν (from where) has the immediate antecedent Ἠιόνος (Eion). The pronoun μιν is the Ionic third-person singular accusative, serving as the subject of the infinitive ἐπιβῆναι (referring to Xerxes). The subject of φασί (they say) refers to those in the previous chapter who asserted that Xerxes returned by ship from Eion. Herodotus points out the geographical contradiction: Abdera lies further east (closer to the Hellespont) than Eion, meaning Xerxes could not have traveled by land to Abdera if he had already boarded a ship at Eion.