- 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-grc2:8.44.1-8.44.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Explains that the Athenians provided 180 ships on their own and why the Plataeans missed the Battle of Salamis to evacuate their families, and traces the historical changes in the names of the Athenians since antiquity.
οὗτοι μέν νυν Πελοποννησίων ἐστρατεύοντο, οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἔξω ἠπείρου, Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἄλλους1 παρεχόμενοι νέας ὀγδώκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν, μοῦνοι· ἐν Σαλαμῖνι γὰρ οὐ συνεναυμάχησαν Πλαταιέες Ἀθηναίοισι διὰ τοιόνδε τι πρῆγμα· ἀπαλλασσομένων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀρτεμισίου, ὡς ἐγίνοντο κατὰ Χαλκίδα, οἱ Πλαταιέες ἀποβάντες ἐς τὴν περαίην τῆς Βοιωτίης χώρης πρὸς ἐκκομιδὴν ἐτράποντο τῶν οἰκετέων. οὗτοι μέν νυν τούτους σώζοντες ἐλείφθησαν.2
These, then, of the Peloponnesians were those who served; but from the mainland outside, the Athenians, comparing with all the others, provided by themselves one hundred and eighty ships. For at Salamis the Plataeans did not fight in the sea-battle along with the Athenians because of the following circumstance: when the Greeks were withdrawing from Artemisium, as they came opposite Chalcis, the Plataeans landed on the opposite coast of the Boeotian territory and turned to the evacuation of their households. These, then, were left behind while saving them.
Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ἐπὶ μὲν Πελασγῶν ἐχόντων3 τὴν νῦν Ἑλλάδα καλεομένην ἦσαν Πελασγοί, ὀνομαζόμενοι Κραναοί, ἐπὶ δὲ Κέκροπος βασιλέος ἐκλήθησαν Κεκροπίδαι, ἐκδεξαμένου δὲ Ἐρεχθέος τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἀθηναῖοι μετωνομάσθησαν, Ἴωνος δὲ τοῦ Ξούθου στρατάρχεω γενομένου Ἀθηναίοισι ἐκλήθησαν ἀπὸ τούτου Ἴωνες.
The Athenians, in the time when the Pelasgians held what is now called Greece, were Pelasgians, being named Cranaoi; but in the time of King Cecrops they were called Cecropidae; and when Erechtheus succeeded to the rule, they were renamed Athenians; and when Ion, the son of Xuthus, became military commander for the Athenians, they were called Ionians after him.
- 8.44.1πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἄλλους
Meaning 'in comparison with all the others.' The preposition πρός with the accusative is used here to denote comparison.
- 8.44.1ἐλείφθησαν
Aorist passive of λείπω ('were left behind', 'lagged behind'). It indicates that the Plataeans were left behind and missed the naval battle at Salamis while evacuating their households.
- 8.44.2ἐπὶ μὲν Πελασγῶν ἐχόντων
The preposition ἐπί with the genitive expresses 'in the time of.' Here, although structured like a genitive absolute with the participle ἐχόντων, it is governed by the preposition.