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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §1.96.1-1.96.2

Formation of the Delian League and Assessment of Tribute

Passage 96 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians assumed leadership with the allies' consent and assessed the contributions of money or ships for each city. They established the office of Hellenotamiae and placed their common treasury at Delos.

§1.96.1παραλαβόντες δὲ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ ἑκόντων τῶν ξυμμάχων διὰ τὸ Παυσανίου μῖσος, ἔταξαν ἅς τε ἔδει παρέχειν τῶν πόλεων χρήματα πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον καὶ ἃς ναῦς· πρόσχημα γὰρ ἦν ἀμύνεσθαι ὧν ἔπαθον δῃοῦντας τὴν βασιλέως χώραν.
The Athenians, having in this way taken over the leadership with the voluntary consent of the allies because of their hatred for Pausanias, assessed which of the cities were to provide money against the barbarian and which were to provide ships; for the pretext was to ravage the territory of the King in order to avenge themselves for what they had suffered.
§1.96.2καὶ Ἑλληνοταμίαι τότε πρῶτον Ἀθηναίοις κατέστη ἀρχή, οἳ ἐδέχοντο τὸν φόρον· οὕτω γὰρ ὠνομάσθη τῶν χρημάτων ἡ φορά.
And then for the first time the office of Hellenotamiae was established among the Athenians, who received the tribute; for this is what the contribution of money was called.
ἦν δ’ ὁ πρῶτος φόρος ταχθεὶς τετρακόσια τάλαντα καὶ ἑξήκοντα.
The first tribute assessed was four hundred and sixty talents.
ταμιεῖόν τε Δῆλος ἦν αὐτοῖς, καὶ αἱ ξύνοδοι ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν ἐγίγνοντο.
Their treasury was Delos, and their meetings were held in the temple.

Notes

  1. §1.96.1ἑκόντων τῶν ξυμμάχων — Genitive absolute construction, where the noun τῶν ξυμμάχων functions as the subject and the adjective ἑκόντων acts as the predicate.
  2. §1.96.1ἅς τε ἔδει παρέχειν τῶν πόλεων χρήματα πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον καὶ ἃς ναῦς — τῶν πόλεων is a partitive genitive qualifying the relative pronouns ἅς ... καὶ ἃς ("which of the cities..."). The verb ἔταξαν ("assessed") takes the whole relative clause structure as its object.
  3. §1.96.1ἀμύνεσθαι ὧν ἔπαθον δῃοῦντας τὴν βασιλέως χώραν — ὧν is a contraction of τούτων ἅ, where the relative pronoun ἅ is attracted to the genitive case of its omitted antecedent τούτων, which is governed by ἀμύνεσθαι ("to avenge oneself for"). δῃοῦντας is a present participle in the accusative plural, agreeing with the implied subject of the infinitive, expressing the means ("by ravaging").
  4. §1.96.2Ἑλληνοταμίαι τότε πρῶτον Ἀθηναίοις κατέστη ἀρχή — The plural noun Ἑλληνοταμίαι (Hellenotamiae) is the subject, with the singular noun ἀρχή (office/magistracy) acting in apposition or as a predicate noun, meaning 'the office of Hellenotamiae was established.'
  5. §1.96.2τῶν χρημάτων ἡ φορά — The noun φορά (carrying, contribution) serves as an etymological explanation for the word φόρος (tribute) which was derived from it.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §1.96.1-1.96.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.96.1-1.96.2

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