Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §6.3.1-6.3.3

Founding of the earliest Greek colonies in Sicily

Passage 619 of 917 · Greek

Summary

This chunk describes the initial Greek colonization of Sicily, detailing the founding of Naxos by Chalcidians, Syracuse by Corinthians, and Leontini and Catana by Chalcidians.

§6.3.1Ἑλλήνων δὲ πρῶτοι Χαλκιδῆς ἐξ Εὐβοίας πλεύσαντες μετὰ Θουκλέους οἰκιστοῦ Νάξον ᾤκισαν, καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος Ἀρχηγέτου βωμὸν ὅστις νῦν ἔξω τῆς πόλεώς ἐστιν ἱδρύσαντο, ἐφ’ ᾧ, ὅταν ἐκ Σικελίας θεωροὶ πλέωσι, πρῶτον θύουσιν. §6.3.2Συρακούσας δὲ τοῦ ἐχομένου ἔτους Ἀρχίας τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν ἐκ Κορίνθου ᾤκισε, Σικελοὺς ἐξελάσας πρῶτον ἐκ τῆς νήσου ἐν ᾗ νῦν οὐκέτι περικλυζομένῃ ἡ πόλις ἡ ἐντός ἐστιν· ὕστερον δὲ χρόνῳ καὶ ἡ ἔξω προστειχισθεῖσα πολυάνθρωπος ἐγένετο. §6.3.3Θουκλῆς δὲ καὶ οἱ Χαλκιδῆς ἐκ Νάξου ὁρμηθέντες ἔτει πέμπτῳ μετὰ Συρακούσας οἰκισθείσας Λεοντίνους τε πολέμῳ τοὺς Σικελοὺς ἐξελάσαντες οἰκίζουσι, καὶ μετ’ αὐτοὺς Κατάνην· οἰκιστὴν δὲ αὐτοὶ Καταναῖοι ἐποιήσαντο Εὔαρχον.

Of the Greeks, the first to sail from Euboea were the Chalcidians, who, under the leadership of Thucles as founder, founded Naxos, and established the altar of Apollo Archegetes (the Founder), which is now outside the city, and on which, whenever sacred envoys sail from Sicily, they first offer sacrifice.\n In the following year, Archias, one of the Heracleidae, from Corinth, founded Syracuse, having first expelled the Sicels from the island, within which the inner city now stands, although it is no longer surrounded by water; and in later times the outer city also, being enclosed by an additional wall, became populous.\n Thucles and the Chalcidians, setting out from Naxos in the fifth year after the founding of Syracuse, founded Leontini, having expelled the Sicels by war, and after them, Catana; but the Catanaeans themselves chose Euarchus as their founder.

Notes

6.3.1Ἀπόλλωνος Ἀρχηγέτου — Meaning "Apollo the Founder" or "Apollo the Leader." This is a common title of Apollo as the guide and protector of colonists founding a new city.
6.3.2ἐν ᾗ νῦν οὐκέτι περικλυζομένῃ ἡ πόλις ἡ ἐντός ἐστιν — The antecedent of the relative pronoun ᾗ is "the island" (Ortygia). The present passive participle περικλυζομένῃ (dative feminine singular) agrees with ᾗ, describing the island as "now no longer washed all around by water." This reflects the geographical situation where the island had been connected to the mainland by a causeway.
6.3.3μετὰ Συρακούσας οἰκισθείσας — A construction where the preposition μετά is followed by a noun and an agreeing passive perfect participle in the accusative, functioning similarly to the Latin "ab urbe condita" construction, meaning "after the founding of Syracuse" (the event itself) rather than "after the founded Syracuse."

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §6.3.1-6.3.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.3.1-6.3.3

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