- 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-grc2:8.87.1-8.87.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Artemisia, finding herself in a tight spot during the battle of Salamis, extricates herself by ramming and sinking a friendly Calyndian ship, whether by intent or by chance.
κατὰ μὲν δὴ τοὺς ἄλλους οὐκ ἔχω μετεξετέρους εἰπεῖν ἀτρεκέως ὡς ἕκαστοι τῶν βαρβάρων ἢ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἠγωνίζοντο· κατὰ δὲ Ἀρτεμισίην τάδε ἐγένετο, ἀπʼ ὧν εὐδοκίμησε μᾶλλον ἔτι παρὰ βασιλέι.
Now, as for the others, I cannot speak with certainty about particular individuals, how each of the barbarians or the Greeks fought; but concerning Artemisia, the following happened, from which she won even greater favor with the king.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐς θόρυβον πολλὸν ἀπίκετο τὰ βασιλέος πρήγματα, ἐν τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἡ νηῦς ἡ Ἀρτεμισίης ἐδιώκετο ὑπὸ νεὸς Ἀττικῆς· καὶ ἣ1 οὐκ ἔχουσα διαφυγεῖν, ἔμπροσθε γὰρ αὐτῆς ἦσαν ἄλλαι νέες φίλιαι, ἡ δὲ αὐτῆς πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων μάλιστα ἐτύγχανε ἐοῦσα, ἔδοξέ οἱ τόδε ποιῆσαι, τὸ καὶ συνήνεικε ποιησάσῃ.2 διωκομένη γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀττικῆς φέρουσα3 ἐνέβαλε νηὶ φιλίῃ ἀνδρῶν τε Καλυνδέων καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιπλέοντος τοῦ Καλυνδέων βασιλέος Δαμασιθύμου.
For when the king’s affairs had fallen into great confusion, at this very moment Artemisia’s ship was being pursued by an Attic ship. And she, having no way to escape, since other friendly ships were ahead of her and her own ship happened to be closest to the enemy, decided to do the following, which indeed turned out to her advantage when she did it. For, pursued by the Attic ship, she rushed forward and rammed a friendly ship of Calyndian men, on which Damasithymus, the king of the Calyndians himself, was sailing.
εἰ μὲν καί τι νεῖκος πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐγεγόνεε ἔτι περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον ἐόντων,4 οὐ μέντοι ἔχω γε εἰπεῖν οὔτε εἰ ἐκ προνοίης αὐτὰ ἐποίησε, οὔτε εἰ συνεκύρησε ἡ τῶν Καλυνδέων κατὰ τύχην παραπεσοῦσα νηῦς.
Even if some quarrel had arisen between her and him while they were still at the Hellespont, I cannot say whether she did this of set purpose, or if the ship of the Calyndians happened to meet her by mere chance.
ὡς δὲ ἐνέβαλέ τε καὶ κατέδυσε, εὐτυχίῃ χρησαμένη διπλᾶ ἑωυτὴν ἀγαθὰ ἐργάσατο. ὅ τε γὰρ τῆς Ἀττικῆς νεὸς τριήραρχος ὡς εἶδέ μιν ἐμβάλλουσαν νηὶ ἀνδρῶν βαρβάρων, νομίσας τὴν νέα τὴν Ἀρτεμισίης ἢ Ἑλληνίδα εἶναι ἢ αὐτομολέειν ἐκ τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ αὐτοῖσι ἀμύνειν, ἀποστρέψας πρὸς ἄλλας ἐτράπετο.
And when she rammed and sank it, having met with good fortune she wrought a double benefit for herself. For the trierarch of the Attic ship, when he saw her ramming a ship of barbarian men, thinking that Artemisia’s ship was either Greek or was deserting from the barbarians and defending them, turned away and directed himself against other ships.
- 8.87.2καὶ ἣ
Although ἣ is the nominative feminine singular of the relative pronoun, here combined with the conjunction καί it functions as a demonstrative pronoun referring to the female subject of the preceding sentence (Artemisia), meaning 'and she.' This is an archaic usage originating from Homeric Greek, preserved in the Ionic dialect of Herodotus.
- 8.87.2τὸ καὶ συνήνεικε ποιησάσῃ
The antecedent of the relative pronoun τὸ is the entire action of τόδε ποιῆσαι (doing this). Since the impersonal aorist verb συνήνεικε (it turned out to the advantage of) governs the dative, it is accompanied by the dative participle ποιησάσῃ (feminine singular dative), referring to the female subject who performed the action.
- 8.87.2φέρουσα
The present participle φέρουσα (nominative feminine singular) is used adverbially with an intransitive meaning 'rushing on, driving headlong,' modifying the main verb ἐνέβαλε to emphasize the speed and violence of the collision ('she rammed with great force').
- 8.87.3ἐόντων
The present participle ἐόντων (genitive plural) forms a genitive absolute construction where the logical subject (the Persian forces) is omitted because it is obvious from the context.