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Herodotus · Histories §1.6.1-1.6.3

Croesus and the Subjugation of the Asiatic Greeks

Passage 6 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes Croesus, the king of Lydia, who was the first barbarian to subjugate the Asiatic Greeks and form an alliance with the Lacedaemonians, noting that prior Cimmerian incursions were mere raids rather than conquests.

§1.6.1Κροῖσος ἦν Λυδὸς μὲν γένος, παῖς δὲ Ἀλυάττεω, τύραννος δὲ ἐθνέων τῶν ἐντός Ἅλυος ποταμοῦ, ὃς ῥέων ἀπὸ μεσαμβρίης μεταξὺ Συρίων τε καὶ Παφλαγόνων ἐξιεῖ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἐς τὸν Εὔξεινον καλεόμενον πόντον.
Croesus was a Lydian by birth, the son of Alyattes, and ruler of the nations within the river Halys, which, flowing from the south between the Syrians and the Paphlagonians, empties northward into the sea called Euxine.
§1.6.2οὗτος ὁ Κροῖσος βαρβάρων πρῶτος τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν τοὺς μὲν κατεστρέψατο Ἑλλήνων ἐς φόρου ἀπαγωγήν, τοὺς δὲ φίλους προσεποιήσατο.
This Croesus was the first of the barbarians we know of to subdue some of the Greeks to the payment of tribute, and to make others his friends.
κατεστρέψατο μὲν Ἴωνάς τε καὶ Αἰολέας καὶ Δωριέας τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ, φίλους δὲ προσεποιήσατο Λακεδαιμονίους.
He subdued the Ionians, Aeolians, and Dorians in Asia, and made friends of the Lacedaemonians.
§1.6.3πρὸ δὲ τῆς Κροίσου ἀρχῆς πάντες Ἕλληνες ἦσαν ἐλεύθεροι· τὸ γὰρ Κιμμερίων στράτευμα τὸ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰωνίην ἀπικόμενον Κροίσου ἐὸν πρεσβύτερον οὐ καταστροφὴ ἐγένετο τῶν πολίων ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἁρπαγή.
Before the rule of Croesus, all Greeks were free; for the Cimmerian army which came against Ionia, being prior to Croesus, was not a subjugation of the cities, but a plundering from a raid.

Notes

  1. 1.6.1γένος — In the phrase Λυδὸς μὲν γένος, γένος is an accusative of respect (or specification), modifying Λυδὸς to mean 'a Lydian by birth'.
  2. 1.6.2τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν — The relative pronoun τῶν is attracted into the genitive case by its antecedent, the partitive genitive βαρβάρων. Under normal syntax, it would be the accusative direct object (οὕς) of the verb ἴδμεν (the Ionic first-person plural of οἶδα).
  3. 1.6.3Κροίσου ἐὸν πρεσβύτερον — The word ἐὸν is the Ionic present participle neuter singular of εἰμί, modifying the subject τὸ ... στράτευμα. The genitive Κροίσου with the comparative adjective πρεσβύτερον is a genitive of comparison, meaning 'being prior to (older than) Croesus'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.6.1-1.6.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.6.1-1.6.3

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