Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §3.158.1-3.158.2

Zopyrus's Opening of the Gates and the Fall of Babylon

Passage 562 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

When Darius attacked the walls as agreed, Zopyrus opened two gates to let the Persian troops inside, sealing the fall of Babylon.

§3.158.1προσβολὴν δὲ Δαρείου κατὰ τὰ συγκείμενα ποιευμένου πέριξ τὸ τεῖχος, ἐνθαῦτα δὴ πάντα τὸν δόλον ὁ Ζώπυρος ἐξέφαινε.
When Darius, according to the agreement, made an assault all around the wall, then indeed Zopyrus revealed the whole plot.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ Βαβυλώνιοι ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἠμύνοντο τὴν Δαρείου στρατιὴν προσβάλλουσαν, ὁ δὲ Ζώπυρος τάς τε Κισσίας καὶ Βηλίδας καλεομένας πύλας ἀναπετάσας ἐσῆκε τοὺς Πέρσας ἐς τὸ τεῖχος.
For while the Babylonians went up onto the wall and were repelling the attacking army of Darius, Zopyrus threw open the gates called the Kissian and the Belian, and let the Persians in within the wall.
§3.158.2τῶν δὲ Βαβυλωνίων οἳ μὲν εἶδον τὸ ποιηθέν, οὗτοι μὲν ἔφευγον ἐς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Βήλου τὸ ἱρόν· οἳ δὲ οὐκ εἶδον, ἔμενον ἐν τῇ ἑωυτοῦ τάξι ἕκαστος, ἐς ὃ δὴ καὶ οὗτοι ἔμαθον προδεδομένοι.
And of the Babylonians, those who saw what had been done fled to the temple of Zeus Belus; but those who did not see remained each in his own post, until they too finally learned that they had been betrayed.

Notes

  1. §3.158.1ποιευμένου — Forming a genitive absolute construction, where the noun Δαρείου functions as the subject of the present participle ποιευμένου (the uncontracted Ionic form of ποιουμένου).
  2. §3.158.2ἔμαθον προδεδομένοι — The verb of learning/perceiving ἔμαθον (aorist of μανθάνω) takes the perfect passive participle προδεδομένοι as a nominative complement referring back to the subject, meaning "they realized that they had been betrayed."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.158.1-3.158.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.158.1-3.158.2

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.