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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.19.1-2.19.2

Archidamus' Invasion of Attica and Ravaging of Acharnae

Passage 165 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Peloponnesians, giving up the siege of Oenoe, invaded Attica under the command of Archidamus about eighty days after the Plataea incident, ravaging Eleusis and Acharnae, the largest of the Athenian demes.

§2.19.1ἐπειδὴ μέντοι προσβαλόντες τῇ Οἰνόῃ καὶ πᾶσαν ἰδέαν πειράσαντες οὐκ ἐδύναντο ἑλεῖν, οἵ τε Ἀθηναῖοι οὐδὲν ἐπεκηρυκεύοντο, οὕτω δὴ ὁρμήσαντες ἀπ’ αὐτῆς μετὰ τὰ ἐν Πλαταίᾳ [τῶν ἐσελθόντων Θηβαίων] γενόμενα ἡμέρᾳ ὀγδοηκοστῇ μάλιστα, θέρους καὶ τοῦ σίτου ἀκμάζοντος, ἐσέβαλον ἐς τὴν Ἀττικήν· ἡγεῖτο δὲ Ἀρχίδαμος ὁ Ζευξιδάμου, Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλεύς.
However, when they were unable to take Oenoe after assaulting it and trying every means, and the Athenians sent no herald, they finally set out from there, about eighty days after the events at Plataea [concerning the Thebans who had entered], in the summer when the corn was ripe, and invaded Attica; and Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, was leading them.
§2.19.2καὶ καθεζόμενοι ἔτεμνον πρῶτον μὲν Ἐλευσῖνα καὶ τὸ Θριάσιον πεδίον καὶ τροπήν τινα τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἱππέων περὶ τοὺς Ῥείτους καλουμένους ἐποιήσαντο· ἔπειτα προυχώρουν ἐν δεξιᾷ ἔχοντες τὸ Αἰγάλεων ὄρος διὰ Κρωπιᾶς, ἕως ἀφίκοντο ἐς Ἀχαρνάς, χωρίον μέγιστον τῆς Ἀττικῆς τῶν δήμων καλουμένων, καὶ καθεζόμενοι ἐς αὐτὸ στρατόπεδόν τε ἐποιήσαντο χρόνον τε πολὺν ἐμμείναντες ἔτεμνον.
And encamping, they first ravaged Eleusis and the Thriasian plain, and put to flight some of the Athenian cavalry near the place called Rheiti; then they advanced, keeping Mount Aegaleos on their right, through Cropia, until they came to Acharnae, the largest place of those called the demes of Attica, and encamping there, they made a camp and remained a long time, ravaging it.

Notes

  1. §2.19.1θέρους καὶ τοῦ σίτου ἀκμάζοντος — Here, θέρους (genitive of time) and τοῦ σίτου ἀκμάζοντος (genitive absolute) are coordinated by καί to indicate the timing of the invasion, combining two different genitive constructions.
  2. §2.19.2καθεζόμενοι ἐς αὐτὸ — The participle of rest καθεζόμενοι ("encamping") is construed with the preposition of motion ἐς αὐτό ("into it"). This is an instance of the "pregnancy of preposition" (or constructio praegans), implying both the movement into the place and the subsequent encamping there.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.19.1-2.19.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.19.1-2.19.2

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