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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.112.1-1.112.5

Cimon's Cyprus Campaign and the Sacred War

Passage 112 of 917 · Greek

Summary

A five-year truce is concluded between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, allowing the Athenians to launch an expedition to Cyprus under Cimon. After Cimon's death, the Athenian forces return victorious, which is followed by the outbreak of the Sacred War over Delphi.

§1.112.1ὕστερον δὲ διαλιπόντων ἐτῶν τριῶν σπονδαὶ γίγνονται Πελοποννησίοις καὶ Ἀθηναίοις πεντέτεις.
Later, after an interval of three years, a five years' truce was made between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians.
§1.112.2καὶ Ἑλληνικοῦ μὲν πολέμου ἔσχον οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ἐς δὲ Κύπρον ἐστρατεύοντο ναυσὶ διακοσίαις αὑτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ξυμμάχων Κίμωνος στρατηγοῦντος.
The Athenians abstained from war against fellow Greeks, and made an expedition against Cyprus with two hundred ships of their own and of their allies, under the command of Cimon.
§1.112.3καὶ ἑξήκοντα μὲν νῆες ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ἔπλευσαν, Ἀμυρταίου μεταπέμποντος τοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι βασιλέως, αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι Κίτιον ἐπολιόρκουν.
Of these, sixty ships sailed to Egypt, summoned by Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes, while the rest besieged Citium.
§1.112.4Κίμωνος δὲ ἀποθανόντος καὶ λιμοῦ γενομένου ἀπεχώρησαν ἀπὸ Κιτίου, καὶ πλεύσαντες ὑπὲρ Σαλαμῖνος τῆς ἐν Κύπρῳ Φοίνιξι καὶ Κυπρίοις καὶ Κίλιξιν ἐναυμάχησαν καὶ ἐπεζομάχησαν ἅμα, καὶ νικήσαντες ἀμφότερα ἀπεχώρησαν ἐπ’ οἴκου καὶ αἱ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου νῆες πάλιν [αἱ] ἐλθοῦσαι μετ’ αὐτῶν.
But Cimon having died and a famine having arisen, they withdrew from Citium; and sailing off Salamis in Cyprus, they fought a sea-fight and a land-fight at the same time against the Phoenicians, Cyprians, and Cilicians, and having won both, they returned home, and the ships from Egypt, which had returned, went with them.
§1.112.5Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα τὸν ἱερὸν καλούμενον πόλεμον ἐστράτευσαν, καὶ κρατήσαντες τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱεροῦ παρέδοσαν Δελφοῖς· καὶ αὖθις ὕστερον Ἀθηναῖοι ἀποχωρησάντων αὐτῶν στρατεύσαντες καὶ κρατήσαντες παρέδοσαν Φωκεῦσιν.
After this the Lacedaemonians undertook what is called the Sacred War, and having taken possession of the temple at Delphi, they delivered it to the Delphians; and later, after they had withdrawn, the Athenians in their turn made an expedition, took possession of it, and delivered it to the Phocians.

Notes

  1. 1.112.2Ἑλληνικοῦ μὲν πολέμου ἔσχον — The verb ἔσχον (aorist of ἔχω, here used intransitively or reflexively) governs the genitive of separation Ἑλληνικοῦ πολέμου, meaning 'abstained from' or 'held back from' the war among the Greeks.
  2. 1.112.4ὑπὲρ Σαλαμῖνος — The preposition ὑπέρ with the genitive is used here in a geographical sense to mean 'off' or 'at sea near' Salamis.
  3. 1.112.4αἱ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου νῆες πάλιν [αἱ] ἐλθοῦσαι μετ’ αὐτῶν — The noun phrase 'the ships from Egypt' introduced by καί, together with the participle ἐλθοῦσαι and the prepositional phrase μετ' αὐτῶν, functions as part of the subject performing the action of the main verb ἀπεχώρησαν.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.112.1-1.112.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.112.1-1.112.5

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