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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §3.89.1-3.89.5

Aborted Peloponnesian Invasion and the Cause of Tsunamis

Passage 338 of 917 · Greek

Summary

Describes how the Peloponnesian invasion of Attica was aborted due to earthquakes, followed by reports of the destructive tsunamis and earthquakes in Euboea, Atalante, and Peparethus, concluding with Thucydides' scientific explanation of how earthquakes cause tsunamis.

§3.89.1τοῦ δ’ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους Πελοποννήσιοι καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι μέχρι μὲν τοῦ Ἰσθμοῦ ἦλθον ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσβαλοῦντες, Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου ἡγουμένου Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως, σεισμῶν δὲ γενομένων πολλῶν ἀπετράποντο πάλιν καὶ οὐκ ἐγένετο ἐσβολή.
In the following summer, the Peloponnesians and their allies came as far as the Isthmus with the intention of invading Attica, under the leadership of Agis son of Archidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians; but many earthquakes having occurred, they turned back again, and no invasion took place.
§3.89.2καὶ περὶ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, τῶν σεισμῶν κατεχόντων, τῆς Εὐβοίας ἐν Ὀροβίαις ἡ θάλασσα ἐπανελθοῦσα ἀπὸ τῆς τότε οὔσης γῆς καὶ κυματωθεῖσα ἐπῆλθε τῆς πόλεως μέρος τι, καὶ τὸ μὲν κατέκλυσε,τὸ δ’ ὑπενόστησε, καὶ θάλασσα νῦν ἐστὶ πρότερον οὖσα γῆ·
And about this time, while the earthquakes prevailed, the sea at Orobiae in Euboea, having receded from what was then the land and having gathered into a great wave, rushed upon a part of the city, and inundated one part, while from another the water receded; and what was formerly land is now sea.
καὶ ἀνθρώπους διέφθειρεν ὅσοι μὴ ἐδύναντο φθῆναι πρὸς τὰ μετέωρα ἀναδραμόντες.
And it destroyed all those people who were unable to run up to the high ground in time to escape.
§3.89.3καὶ περὶ Ἀταλάντην τὴν ἐπὶ Λοκροῖς τοῖς Ὀπουντίοις νῆσον παραπλησία γίγνεται ἐπίκλυσις, καὶ τοῦ τε φρουρίου τῶν Ἀθηναίων παρεῖλε καὶ δύο νεῶν ἀνειλκυσμένων τὴν ἑτέραν κατέαξεν.
A similar inundation also occurred at the island of Atalante, off the coast of the Opuntian Locrians, and it carried away a part of the Athenian fort, and shattered one of two ships that had been hauled up on land.
§3.89.4ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἐν Πεπαρήθῳ κύματος ἐπαναχώρησίς τις, οὐ μέντοι ἐπέκλυσέ γε· καὶ σεισμὸς τοῦ τείχους τι κατέβαλε καὶ τὸ πρυτανεῖον καὶ ἄλλας οἰκίας ὀλίγας.
At Peparethus also there was a certain recession of the wave, though no inundation followed; but an earthquake threw down a part of the wall, the town hall, and a few other houses.
§3.89.5αἴτιον δ’ ἔγωγε νομίζω τοῦ τοιούτου, ᾗ ἰσχυρότατος ὁ σεισμὸς ἐγένετο, κατὰ τοῦτο ἀποστέλλειν τε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἐξαπίνης πάλιν ἐπισπωμένην βιαιότερον τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν ποιεῖν· ἄνευ δὲ σεισμοῦ οὐκ ἄν μοι δοκεῖ τὸ τοιοῦτο ξυμβῆναι γενέσθαι.
For my part, I believe the cause of such a phenomenon to be that, at the point where the earthquake was most violent, it drove the sea back, and then, as the sea was suddenly swept back again with violence, it produced the inundation; and without an earthquake, it does not seem to me that such a thing could have happened.

Notes

  1. 3.89.1ὡς ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἐσβαλοῦντες — The particle ὡς combined with the future participle ἐσβαλοῦντες (from εἰσβάλλω, 'to invade') expresses a subjective intention or purpose ('with the intention of invading').
  2. 3.89.2ὅσοι μὴ ἐδύναντο φθῆναι πρὸς τὰ μετέωρα ἀναδραμόντες — The verb φθάνω ('to anticipate, forestall') taking the participle ἀναδραμόντες (aorist participle of ἀνατρέχω, 'to run up') forms the idiomatic construction meaning 'to do something beforehand' or 'to succeed in running up to the high ground first.' Thus, it refers to those who could not outrun the wave to safety.
  3. 3.89.3τοῦ τε φρουρίου ... παρεῖλε — The verb παραιρέω ('to take away, destroy') governs the genitive τοῦ φρουρίου to express a partitive action, meaning 'it carried away or destroyed a part of the fort.'
  4. 3.89.5ἀποστέλλειν τε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ ἐξαπίνης πάλιν ἐπισπωμένην βιαιότερον τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν ποιεῖν — The implied subject of the infinitives ἀποστέλλειν ('to drive back') and ποιεῖν ('to make, produce') in this accusative and infinitive construction is ὁ σεισμός ('the earthquake') from the preceding relative clause. It describes the causal chain: the earthquake drives back the sea, and then the sea, being suddenly drawn back (ἐπισπωμένην), produces a more violent inundation.
  5. 3.89.5οὐκ ἄν μοι δοκεῖ τὸ τοιοῦτο ξυμβῆναι γενέσθαι — The particle ἄν is associated not with the indicative present main verb δοκεῖ ('it seems'), but with the infinitives ξυμβῆναι and γενέσθαι, expressing a past counterfactual potentiality ('such a thing would have happened') under the current judgment of the speaker ('it does not seem to me').

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §3.89.1-3.89.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.89.1-3.89.5

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