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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §5.19.1-5.19.2

Effective Date of the Treaty and List of Signatories

Passage 519 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The date of the treaty's entry into force is specified according to both Spartan and Athenian calendars and magistrates, and the thirty-four representatives (seventeen from each side) who swore to the treaty are listed by name.

§5.19.1‘ἄρχει δὲ τῶν σπονδῶν 〈ἐν μὲν Λακεδαίμονι〉 ἔφορος Πλειστόλας Ἀρτεμισίου μηνὸς τετάρτῃ φθίνοντος, ἐν δὲ Ἀθήναις ἄρχων Ἀλκαῖος Ἐλαφηβολιῶνος μηνὸς ἕκτῃ φθίνοντος.
‘The treaty of peace begins, <in Lacedaemon> when Pleistolas was ephor, on the fourth day from the end of the month Artemisius, and in Athens when Alcaeus was archon, on the sixth day from the end of the month Elaphebolion.
ὤμνυον δὲ οἵδε καὶ ἐσπένδοντο.
And the following swore to it and made the treaty.
§5.19.2Λακεδαιμονίων μὲν 〈Πλειστοάναξ, Ἆγις,〉 Πλειστόλας, Δαμάγητος, Χίονις, Μεταγένης, Ἄκανθος, Δάιθος, Ἰσχαγόρας, Φιλοχαρίδας, Ζευξίδας, Ἄντιππος, Τέλλις, Ἀλκινάδας, Ἐμπεδίας, Μηνᾶς, Λάφιλος.
On the side of the Lacedaemonians: <Pleistoanax, Agis,> Pleistolas, Damagetus, Chionis, Metagenes, Acanthus, Daithus, Ischagoras, Philocharidas, Zeuxidas, Antippus, Tellis, Alcinadas, Empedias, Menas, Laphilus.
Ἀθηναίων δὲ οἵδε. Λάμπων, Ἰσθμιόνικος, Νικίας, Λάχης, Εὐθύδημος, Προκλῆς, Πυθόδωρος, Ἅγνων, Μυρτίλος, Θρασυκλῆς, Θεαγένης, Ἀριστοκράτης, Ἰώλκιος, Τιμοκράτης, Λέων, Λάμαχος, Δημοσθένης. ’
And of the Athenians, the following: Lampon, Isthmionicus, Nicias, Laches, Euthydemus, Procles, Pythodorus, Hagnon, Myrtilus, Thrasycles, Theagenes, Aristocrates, Iolcius, Timocrates, Leon, Lamachus, Demosthenes.’

Notes

  1. §5.19.1τετάρτῃ φθίνοντος — A backward-counting date expression indicating the latter part of the month (the third decade) in the Greek calendars. The present participle φθίνοντος ('waning') modifies the month (μηνός), and the counting goes backward from the end of the month. The 'fourth day from the end' in a 30-day month refers to the 27th day. Similarly, ἕκτῃ φθίνοντος in the same section refers to the 'sixth day from the end' (the 25th).
  2. §5.19.2〈Πλειστοάναξ, Ἆγις,〉 — An emendation (indicated by angle brackets) supplied by modern editors, as these names are missing from the manuscripts. Although the previous chapter (5.18.9) specified 'seventeen representatives from each city,' the principal manuscripts preserved only fifteen names for the Lacedaemonian side. Thus, the names of the two Spartan kings of the time, Pleistoanax and Agis, are restored under the assumption that they had fallen out from the head of the list.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §5.19.1-5.19.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.19.1-5.19.2

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