- 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-grc2:8.52.1-8.52.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The Persians besieged the Acropolis from the Areopagus using fire arrows, but the remaining Athenians rejected surrender proposals and stubbornly resisted by rolling down stones.
οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι ἱζόμενοι ἐπὶ τὸν καταντίον τῆς ἀκροπόλιος ὄχθον, τὸν Ἀθηναῖοι καλέουσι Ἀρήιον πάγον, ἐπολιόρκεον τρόπον τοιόνδε· ὅκως στυππεῖον περὶ τοὺς ὀιστοὺς περιθέντες ἅψειαν,1 ἐτόξευον ἐς τὸ φράγμα. ἐνθαῦτα Ἀθηναίων οἱ πολιορκεόμενοι ὅμως ἠμύνοντο, καίπερ ἐς τὸ ἔσχατον κακοῦ ἀπιγμένοι καὶ τοῦ φράγματος προδεδωκότος·2
The Persians, stationing themselves on the hill opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, began to besiege them in the following manner: whenever they wrapped tow around their arrows and set it on fire, they would shoot them at the barricade. There, the besieged Athenians nevertheless defended themselves, although they had come to the extremity of distress and the barricade had failed them.
οὐδὲ λόγους τῶν Πεισιστρατιδέων προσφερόντων περὶ ὁμολογίης ἐνεδέκοντο, ἀμυνόμενοι δὲ ἄλλα τε ἀντεμηχανῶντο καὶ δὴ καὶ προσιόντων τῶν βαρβάρων πρὸς τὰς πύλας ὀλοιτρόχους ἀπίεσαν, ὥστε Ξέρξην ἐπὶ χρόνον συχνὸν ἀπορίῃσι ἐνέχεσθαι3 οὐ δυνάμενον σφέας ἑλεῖν.
Nor did they accept the proposals when the Peisistratidae offered terms of agreement; instead, defending themselves, they devised other countermeasures, and in particular, whenever the barbarians approached the gates, they rolled down round stones, so that Xerxes was for a long time held in perplexity, being unable to capture them.
- 8.52.1ὅκως στυππεῖον περὶ τοὺς ὀιστοὺς περιθέντες ἅψειαν
The conjunction ὅκως (Ionic for ὅπως) with the past optative ἅψειαν expresses a repeated action in past time ("whenever they set fire..."). This iterative nuance is supported by the imperfect tense of the main verb ἐτόξευον.
- 8.52.1τοῦ φράγματος προδεδωκότος
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun φράγμα (barricade) and the active perfect participle of προδίδωμι (to betray, abandon). It means "the barricade having failed/betrayed (them)," implying that the wooden barrier could no longer serve its defensive purpose due to the fire.
- 8.52.2ὥστε Ξέρξην ἐπὶ χρόνον συχνὸν ἀπορίῃσι ἐνέχεσθαι
The conjunction ὥστε introduces a result clause with the accusative subject Ξέρξην and the infinitive ἐνέχεσθαι ("so that Xerxes was held..."), expressing the consequence of the Athenians' persistent defense.