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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.110.1-1.110.5

Disastrous End of the Athenian Expedition to Egypt

Passage 110 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenian expedition to Egypt ended in a disastrous defeat after six years of war, concluded by the execution of Inaros and the destruction of the relief fleet.

§1.110.1οὕτω μὲν τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πράγματα ἐφθάρη ἓξ ἔτη πολεμήσαντα· καὶ ὀλίγοι ἀπὸ πολλῶν πορευόμενοι διὰ τῆς Λιβύης ἐς Κυρήνην ἐσώθησαν, οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι ἀπώλοντο.
Thus the affairs of the Greeks were ruined after six years of war; and a few out of many, making their way through Libya, escaped to Cyrene, but most of them perished.
§1.110.2Αἴγυπτος δὲ πάλιν ὑπὸ βασιλέα ἐγένετο πλὴν Ἀμυρταίου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι βασιλέως· τοῦτον δὲ διὰ μέγεθός τε τοῦ ἕλους οὐκ ἐδύναντο ἑλεῖν, καὶ ἅμα μαχιμώτατοί εἰσι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οἱ ἕλειοι.
And Egypt fell again under the power of the King, except for Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes; him they could not capture because of the great size of the marsh, and at the same time the marsh-dwellers are the most warlike of the Egyptians.
§1.110.3Ἰνάρως δὲ ὁ Λιβύων βασιλεύς, ὃς τὰ πάντα ἔπραξε περὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, προδοσίᾳ ληφθεὶς ἀνεσταυρώθη.
Inaros, the king of the Libyans, who had engineered the whole affair concerning Egypt, was betrayed, captured, and crucified.
§1.110.4ἐκ δὲ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ξυμμαχίδος πεντήκοντα τριήρεις διάδοχοι πλέουσαι ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἔσχον κατὰ τὸ Μενδήσιον κέρας, οὐκ εἰδότες τῶν γεγονότων οὐδέν· καὶ αὐτοῖς ἔκ τε γῆς ἐπιπεσόντες πεζοὶ καὶ ἐκ θαλάσσης Φοινίκων ναυτικὸν διέφθειραν τὰς πολλὰς τῶν νεῶν, αἱ δ’ ἐλάσσους διέφυγον πάλιν.
Meanwhile, fifty triremes from Athens and the rest of the alliance, sailing to Egypt as a relief force, put in at the Mendesian mouth, knowing nothing of what had happened; and the infantry fell upon them from the land, while the Phoenician fleet attacked from the sea, destroying most of the ships, though the smaller number escaped back.
τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην στρατείαν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων ἐς Αἴγυπτον οὕτως ἐτελεύτησεν.
Thus ended the great expedition of the Athenians and their allies to Egypt.
§1.110.5τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην στρατείαν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων ἐς Αἴγυπτον οὕτως ἐτελεύτησεν.
Thus ended the great expedition of the Athenians and their allies to Egypt.

Notes

  1. 1.110.1πολεμήσαντα — Aorist active participle in the neuter plural nominative, agreeing with the subject τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πράγματα. It is a personified or characteristic expression where 'affairs' are said to have 'waged war'.
  2. 1.110.4οὐκ εἰδότες — An instance of constructio ad sensum (agreement according to sense). Although the grammatical subject is the feminine plural πεντήκοντα τριήρεις (fifty triremes), the participle is in the masculine plural nominative (εἰδότες), referring to the crews of the ships rather than the vessels themselves.
  3. 1.110.4τῶν γεγονότων — Genitive of the neuter plural perfect participle, functioning as a partitive genitive dependent on the pronoun οὐδέν, meaning 'nothing of what had happened'.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.110.1-1.110.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.110.1-1.110.5

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