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Herodotus · Histories §5.55.1

Aristagoras Departs for Athens and the Fall of Tyranny

Passage 824 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Aristagoras, after leaving Sparta, heads to Athens, which had gained its freedom from tyrants after the assassination of Hipparchus and a subsequent four-year period of even harsher tyranny.

§5.55.1ἀπελαυνόμενος δὲ ὁ Ἀρισταγόρης ἐκ τῆς Σπάρτης ἤιε ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας γενομένας τυράννων ὧδε ἐλευθέρας.
Driven away from Sparta, Aristagoras went to Athens, which had been freed from tyrants in the following manner.
ἐπεὶ Ἵππαρχον τὸν Πεισιστράτου, Ἱππίεω δὲ τοῦ τυράννου ἀδελφεόν, ἰδόντα ὄψιν ἐνυπνίου τῷ ἑωυτοῦ πάθεϊ ἐναργεστάτην κτείνουσι Ἀριστογείτων καὶ Ἁρμόδιος, γένος ἐόντες τὰ ἀνέκαθεν Γεφυραῖοι, μετὰ ταῦτα ἐτυραννεύοντο Ἀθηναῖοι ἐπʼ ἔτεα τέσσερα οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ πρὸ τοῦ.
When Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus and brother of the tyrant Hippias, after seeing a very vivid dream-vision concerning his own fate, was slain by Aristogeiton and Harmodius, who were by origin from ancient times Gephyraeans, after this the Athenians were ruled by tyrants for four years no less, but even more, than before.

Notes

  1. §5.55.1γενομένας τυράννων ὧδε ἐλευθέρας — γενομένας is an aorist middle participle modifying τὰς Ἀθήνας. τυράννων is a genitive of separation depending on the adjective ἐλευθέρας. ὧδε (in this way, as follows) is a cataphoric adverb pointing forward to the narrative of the liberation of Athens beginning with the ἐπεὶ clause.
  2. §5.55.1τῷ ἑωυτοῦ πάθεϊ — A dative meaning 'his own suffering/fate'. It is connected to the adjective ἐναργεστάτην (or the verbal noun ὄψιν), indicating that the dream-vision was extremely vivid 'with respect to' or 'concerning' his own fate.
  3. §5.55.1γένος ἐόντες τὰ ἀνέκαθεν — γένος is an accusative of respect/specification meaning 'by birth/lineage'. τὰ ἀνέκαθεν is an adverbial accusative meaning 'originally, from of old'. Together they mean 'being by lineage originally (Gephyraeans)'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.55.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.55.1

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