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Herodotus · Histories §1.150.1-1.150.2

Seizure of Smyrna by the Colophonian Exiles

Passage 150 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes how Smyrna was seized by exiles from Colophon, and how the Aeolians, after reaching an agreement, evacuated the city and were distributed among the other eleven Aeolian cities.

§1.150.1σμύρνην δὲ ὧδε ἀπέβαλον Αἰολέες.
The Aeolians lost Smyrna in the following way.
Κολοφωνίους ἄνδρας στάσι ἑσσωθέντας καὶ ἐκπεσόντας ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ὑπεδέξαντο.
They received men of Colophon who had been defeated in a factional strife and expelled from their homeland.
μετὰ δὲ οἱ φυγάδες τῶν Κολοφωνίων φυλάξαντες τοὺς Σμυρναίους ὁρτὴν ἔξω τείχεος ποιευμένους Διονύσῳ, τὰς πύλας ἀποκληίσαντες ἔσχον τὴν πόλιν.
Afterward, the exiles of the Colophonians, having watched for the Smyrnaeans celebrating a festival to Dionysus outside the wall, shut the gates and held the city.
§1.150.2βοηθησάντων δὲ πάντων Αἰολέων, ὁμολογίῃ ἐχρήσαντο τὰ ἔπιπλα ἀποδόντων τῶν Ἰώνων ἐκλιπεῖν Σμύρνην Αἰολέας.
When all the Aeolians came to the rescue, they came to an agreement that, upon the Ionians returning the movable goods, the Aeolians would abandon Smyrna.
ποιησάντων δὲ ταῦτα Σμυρναίων ἐπιδιείλοντο σφέας αἱ ἕνδεκα πόλιες καὶ ἐποιήσαντο σφέων αὐτέων πολιήτας.
And when the Smyrnaeans did this, the eleven cities distributed them among themselves and made them citizens of their own.

Notes

  1. §1.150.2τὰ ἔπιπλα ἀποδόντων τῶν Ἰώνων ἐκλιπεῖν Σμύρνην Αἰολέας — The phrase τὰ ἔπιπλα ἀποδόντων τῶν Ἰώνων is a genitive absolute expressing the condition under which the agreement is made ('on the condition that the Ionians return the movable goods'). The infinitive ἐκλιπεῖν explains the content of the agreement (ὁμολογίῃ), with Αἰολέας as its subject accusative.
  2. §1.150.2ποιησάντων δὲ ταῦτα Σμυρναίων — A genitive absolute. Here, Σμυρναίων ('the Smyrnaeans') refers to the original Aeolian inhabitants who were forced to leave, not the Colophonian occupiers. Although they are the same people referred to by the object pronoun σφέας in the main clause, the genitive absolute is used because they are not the subject of the main clause (αἱ ἕνδεκα πόλιες).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.150.1-1.150.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.150.1-1.150.2

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