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Herodotus · Histories §1.175.1

Portent of the Pedasians and Resistance to Harpagus

Passage 175 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The Pedasians, living inland above Halicarnassus, experienced a phenomenon where the priestess of Athena grew a beard before impending misfortunes, and they were the only people in Caria to offer prolonged resistance to Harpagus by fortifying Mount Lide.

§1.175.1ἦσαν δὲ Πηδασέες οἰκέοντες ὑπὲρ Ἁλικαρνησσοῦ μεσόγαιαν· τοῖσι ὅκως τι μέλλοι ἀνεπιτήδεον ἔσεσθαι, αὐτοῖσί τε καὶ τοῖσι περιοίκοισι, ἡ ἱρείη τῆς Ἀθηναίης πώγωνα μέγαν ἴσχε.
Now the Pedasians inhabited the inland country above Halicarnassus; whenever any misfortune was about to happen to them, both to themselves and to their neighbors, the priestess of Athena grew a great beard.
τρὶς σφι τοῦτο ἐγένετο.
This happened to them three times.
οὗτοι τῶν περὶ Καρίην ἀνδρῶν μοῦνοί τε ἀντέσχον χρόνον Ἁρπάγῳ καὶ πρήγματα παρέσχον πλεῖστα, ὄρος τειχίσαντες τῷ οὔνομα ἐστὶ Λίδη.
These were the only ones among the men about Caria who held out for a time against Harpagus and gave him the greatest trouble, having fortified a mountain named Lide.

Notes

  1. §1.175.1τοῖσι — This `τοῖσι` is a dative demonstrative (or a substitute for a relative pronoun) functioning as a dative of interest, which stands in apposition to the subsequent `αὐτοῖσί τε καὶ τοῖσι περιοίκοισι` (both to themselves and to their neighbors). The optative `μέλλοι` in the following `ὅκως` clause expresses a past general or iterative condition ('whenever...').
  2. §1.175.1ἴσχε — This is the imperfect of `ἴσχω` (an intensive or frequentative form related to `ἔχω`), expressing an iterative or inceptive aspect ('began to have' or 'would grow [a beard]') showing that the supernatural phenomenon occurred repeatedly on each occasion.
  3. §1.175.1χρόνον — The accusative singular of the noun for 'time,' functioning here as an accusative of duration of time, meaning 'for a time' or 'for some period.'

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.175.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.175.1

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