- 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-grc2:8.54.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Xerxes sends a messenger to Susa with news of the capture of Athens and orders the Athenian exiles to offer sacrifices on the Acropolis.
σχὼν δὲ παντελέως τὰς Ἀθήνας Ξέρξης ἀπέπεμψε ἐς Σοῦσα ἄγγελον ἱππέα Ἀρταβάνῳ ἀγγελέοντα1 τὴν παρεοῦσάν σφι εὐπρηξίην. ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς πέμψιος τοῦ κήρυκος δευτέρῃ ἡμέρῃ2 συγκαλέσας Ἀθηναίων τοὺς φυγάδας, ἑωυτῷ δὲ ἑπομένους, ἐκέλευε τρόπῳ τῷ σφετέρῳ3 θῦσαι τὰ ἱρὰ ἀναβάντας ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, εἴτε δὴ ὦν ὄψιν τινὰ ἰδὼν ἐνυπνίου ἐνετέλλετο ταῦτα, εἴτε καὶ ἐνθύμιόν οἱ ἐγένετο ἐμπρήσαντι4 τὸ ἱρόν. οἱ δὲ φυγάδες τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐποίησαν τὰ ἐντεταλμένα.
Having taken complete possession of Athens, Xerxes dispatched a mounted messenger to Susa to announce to Artabanus their present good fortune. On the second day after the dispatch of the herald, having summoned those of the Athenian exiles who were following him, he ordered them to go up to the Acropolis and offer sacrifices in their own fashion, whether indeed he commanded this because he had seen some vision in a dream, or because a religious scruple had arisen in him for having burned the temple. And the Athenian exiles did what had been commanded.
- 8.54.1ἀγγελέοντα
The future active participle of ἀγγέλλω, expressing the purpose of the main verb ἀπέπεμψε ('in order to announce').
- 8.54.1δευτέρῃ ἡμέρῃ
Literally 'on the second day,' but based on the inclusive reckoning of the classical period where the day of the dispatch is counted as the first day, it refers to 'the day after' the dispatch.
- 8.54.1τρόπῳ τῷ σφετέρῳ
The possessive adjective σφέτερος refers to the third-person plural, pointing to the Athenian exiles who are the subject of the infinitive θῦσαι, meaning 'in their own (Athenian) fashion.'
- 8.54.1ἐνθύμιόν οἱ ἐγένετο ἐμπρήσαντι
An impersonal construction, ἐνθύμιόν τινι γίγνεται ('a religious scruple or remorse arises in someone'), with the dative personal pronoun οἱ (to him, i.e., Xerxes) and the agreeing aorist dative participle ἐμπρήσαντι, denoting the cause ('because he had burned').