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Herodotus · Histories §1.166.1-1.166.3

Battle of Alalia and Phocaean Flight to Rhegium

Passage 166 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Having settled in Cyrnus, the Phocaeans plunder their neighbors, leading to a naval battle against the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians. Despite winning, heavy losses force them to abandon the island for Rhegium.

§1.166.1ἐπείτε δὲ ἐς τὴν Κύρνον ἀπίκοντο, οἴκεον κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν πρότερον ἀπικομένων ἐπʼ ἔτεα πέντε, καὶ ἱρὰ ἐνιδρύσαντο.
When they arrived in Cyrnus, they lived in common with those who had arrived earlier for five years, and they established temples.
καὶ ἦγον γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἔφερον τοὺς περιοίκους ἅπαντας, στρατεύονται ὦν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς κοινῷ λόγῳ χρησάμενοι Τυρσηνοὶ καὶ Καρχηδόνιοι, νηυσὶ ἑκάτεροι ἑξήκόντα.
And since they plundered all their neighbors, the Tyrrhenians and Carthaginians, having made a common agreement, campaigned against them, each with sixty ships.
§1.166.2οἱ δὲ Φωκαιέες πληρώσαντες καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ πλοῖα, ἐόντα ἀριθμὸν ἑξήκοντα, ἀντίαζον ἐς τὸ Σαρδόνιον καλεόμενον πέλαγος.
And the Phocaeans, having manned their own ships, being sixty in number, met them in the sea called Sardinian.
συμμισγόντων δὲ τῇ ναυμαχίῃ Καδμείη τις νίκη τοῖσι Φωκαιεῦσι ἐγένετο· αἱ μὲν γὰρ τεσσεράκοντά σφι νέες διεφθάρησαν, αἱ δὲ εἴκοσι αἱ περιεοῦσαι ἦσαν ἄχρηστοι· ἀπεστράφατο γὰρ τοὺς ἐμβόλους.
As they joined battle, a sort of Cadmean victory fell to the Phocaeans; for forty of their ships were destroyed, and the remaining twenty were useless, for they had their rams bent back.
§1.166.3καταπλώσαντες δὲ ἐς τὴν Ἀλαλίην ἀνέλαβον τὰ τέκνα καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην κτῆσιν ὅσην οἷαι τε ἐγίνοντο αἱ νέες σφι ἄγειν, καὶ ἔπειτα ἀπέντες τὴν Κύρνον ἔπλεον ἐς Ῥήγιον.
And having sailed back to Alalia, they took on board their children, wives, and as much of their other property as their ships were able to carry, and then, leaving Cyrnus behind, they sailed to Rhegium.

Notes

  1. §1.166.1ἦγον γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἔφερον — A traditional idiomatic phrase combining ἄγω (to drive away, referring to livestock/captives) and φέρω (to carry off, referring to property), meaning 'to plunder'. The combination of γάρ and the particle δή highlights this as the direct and obvious cause of the military campaign against them.
  2. §1.166.2ἀριθμὸν — An accusative of respect (or specification), meaning 'in number' or 'as for their number'. It modifies ἐόντα, indicating that the total count of the manned ships was sixty.
  3. §1.166.2ἀπεστράφατο — The third-person plural pluperfect indicative passive of ἀποστρέφω. In the Ionic dialect, -ατο is used instead of the regular -ντο ending for the third-person plural passive of consonant-stem verbs (equivalent to Attic ἀπεστραμμένοι ἦσαν). The accusative τοὺς ἐμβόλους is an accusative of respect (or a retained object in the passive), meaning 'they had their rams bent back'.
  4. §1.166.3ὅσην οἷαι τε ἐγίνοντο αἱ νέες σφι ἄγειν — The construction οἷός τέ εἰμι + infinitive, meaning 'to be able to'. Here, the imperfect ἐγίνοντο (from γίνομαι) is used instead of the copula ἦσαν. The pronoun σφι is a dative of reference or possession ('for them'), making the phrase mean 'as much as their ships were able for them to carry'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.166.1-1.166.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.166.1-1.166.3

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