Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §1.18.1-1.18.3

The Eleven-Year Milesian War and Aid from Chios

Passage 18 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes the eleven-year war waged by the Lydian kings Sadyattes and Alyattes against Miletus. It notes that only the Chians aided the Milesians in this war.

§1.18.1ταῦτα ποιέων ἐπολέμεε ἔτεα ἕνδεκα, ἐν τοῖσι τρώματα μεγάλα διφάσια Μιλησίων ἐγένετο, ἔν τε Λιμενηίῳ χώρης τῆς σφετέρης μαχεσαμένων καὶ ἐν Μαιάνδρου πεδίῳ.
Doing these things, he waged war for eleven years, in the course of which two great defeats befell the Milesians, when they fought both at Limeneion in their own territory and in the plain of the Maeander.
§1.18.2τὰ μέν νυν ἓξ ἔτεα τῶν ἕνδεκα Σαδυάττης ὁ Ἄρδυος ἔτι Λυδῶν ἦρχε, ὁ καὶ ἐσβάλλων τηνικαῦτα ἐς τὴν Μιλησίην τὴν στρατιήν· Σαδυάττης οὗτος γὰρ καὶ ὁ τὸν πόλεμον ἦν συνάψας·
Now, for six years of the eleven, Sadyattes, the son of Ardys, was still ruling the Lydians, and he was the one who at that time was invading the territory of Miletus with his army; for this Sadyattes was also the one who had joined the war.
τὰ δὲ πέντε τῶν ἐτέων τὰ ἑπόμενα τοῖσι ἓξ Ἀλυάττης ὁ Σαδυάττεω ἐπολέμεε, ὃς παραδεξάμενος, ὡς καὶ πρότερον μοι δεδήλωται, παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν πόλεμον προσεῖχε ἐντεταμένως.
For the five years following those six, Alyattes, the son of Sadyattes, carried on the war, who, having inherited the war from his father, as has also been shown by me earlier, applied himself to it vigorously.
§1.18.3τοῖσι δὲ Μιλησίοισι οὐδαμοὶ Ἰώνων τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτον συνεπελάφρυνον ὅτι μὴ Χῖοι μοῦνοι.
No one of the Ionians helped to lighten this war for the Milesians, except the Chians alone.
οὗτοι δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον ἀνταποδιδόντες ἐτιμώρεον· καὶ γὰρ δὴ πρότερον οἱ Μιλήσιοι τοῖσι Χίοισι τὸν πρὸς Ἐρυθραίους πόλεμον συνδιήνεικαν.
These rendered aid to return the like; for indeed earlier the Milesians had helped the Chians carry through to the end their war against the Erythraeans.

Notes

  1. 1.18.1μαχεσαμένων — Participle (aorist middle/deponent) agreeing with the genitive noun Μιλησίων. It functions circumstantially/temporally, meaning 'when they fought'.
  2. 1.18.2προσεῖχε — Imperfect of προσέχω, used idiomatically with the omission of the accusative direct object τὸν νοῦν ('mind' or 'attention'), meaning 'he applied himself' or 'he was intent on (the war)'.
  3. 1.18.3ὅτι μὴ — An idiomatic conjunctional phrase used after negatives (here οὐδαμοὶ) to mean 'except' or 'save only'.
  4. 1.18.3συνδιήνεικαν — Ionic aorist form of συνδιαφέρω. Used with the dative (τοῖσι Χίοισι) and accusative (τὸν... πόλεμον) to mean 'to help bear/wage a war together' or 'to carry a war through to the end with someone'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.18.1-1.18.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.18.1-1.18.3

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.