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Herodotus · Histories §5.82.1-5.82.3

Origins of Enmity: The Statues of Damia and Auxesia

Passage 851 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

As the origin of the ancient enmity between Aegina and Athens, the narrative describes how Epidauros, during a famine, followed the Delphic oracle to establish statues of Damia and Auxesia using sacred olive wood from Athens.

§5.82.1ἡ δὲ ἔχθρη ἡ προοφειλομένη ἐς Ἀθηναίους ἐκ τῶν Αἰγινητέων ἐγένετο ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοιῆσδε.
The enmity which was previously existing against the Athenians from the Aeginetans arose from the beginning in this way.
Ἐπιδαυρίοισι ἡ γῆ καρπὸν οὐδένα ἀνεδίδου.
For the Epidaurians, their land yielded no fruit.
περὶ ταύτης ὦν τῆς συμφορῆς οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι ἐχρέωντο ἐν Δελφοῖσι·
Concerning this misfortune, therefore, the Epidaurians consulted the oracle at Delphi.
ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφέας ἐκέλευε Δαμίης τε καὶ Αὐξησίης ἀγάλματα ἱδρύσασθαι καί σφι ἱδρυσαμένοισι ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι. §5.82.2ἐπειρώτεον ὦν οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι κότερα χαλκοῦ ποιέωνται τὰ ἀγάλματα ἢ λίθου· ἡ δὲ Πυθίη οὐδέτερα τούτων ἔα, ἀλλὰ ξύλου ἡμέρης ἐλαίης.
And the Pythia bade them establish statues of Damia and Auxesia, and said that it would go better for them if they established them. So the Epidaurians asked further whether they should make the statues of bronze or of stone; but the Pythia allowed neither of these, but told them to make them of the wood of the cultivated olive.
ἐδέοντο ὦν οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι Ἀθηναίων ἐλαίην σφι δοῦναι ταμέσθαι, ἱρωτάτας δὴ κείνας νομίζοντες εἶναι.
The Epidaurians therefore entreated the Athenians to give them some olive wood to cut, since they considered those trees to be the most sacred.
λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὡς ἐλαῖαι ἦσαν ἄλλοθι γῆς οὐδαμοῦ κατὰ χρόνον ἐκεῖνον ἢ ἐν Ἀθήνῃσι. §5.82.3οἳ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖσιδε δώσειν ἔφασαν ἐπʼ ᾧ ἀπάξουσι ἔτεος ἑκάστου τῇ Ἀθηναίῃ τε τῇ Πολιάδι ἱρὰ καὶ τῷ Ἐρεχθέι.
Indeed, it is also said that at that time there were no olives anywhere else in the world except at Athens. The Athenians said that they would give it on these terms: on the condition that they would bring offerings every year to Athena Polias and to Erechtheus.
καταινέσαντες δὲ ἐπὶ τούτοισι οἱ Ἐπιδαύριοι τῶν τε ἐδέοντο ἔτυχον καὶ ἀγάλματα ἐκ τῶν ἐλαιέων τουτέων ποιησάμενοι ἱδρύσαντο· καὶ ἥ τε γῆ σφι ἔφερε καρπὸν καὶ Ἀθηναίοισι ἐπετέλεον τὰ συνέθεντο.
Having agreed to these terms, the Epidaurians obtained what they asked for, and having made the statues from these olives, they established them; and their land bore them fruit, and they fulfilled what they had agreed upon with the Athenians.

Notes

  1. 5.82.1καί σφι ἱδρυσαμένοισι ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι — The third-person dative pronoun `σφι` (for them) is modified by the dative conditional participle `ἱδρυσαμένοισι` (if they established). The infinitive `συνοίσεσθαι` depends on the main verb `ἐκέλευε` in indirect discourse, functioning as the future infinitive of the impersonal `συμφέρει`, meaning 'that it would go better for them if they established them.'
  2. 5.82.3ἐπʼ ᾧ — The construction of `ἐπʼ ᾧ` (or `ἐπʼ ᾧτε`) followed by the future indicative (`ἀπάξουσι`) expresses a condition or terms of agreement: 'on the condition that they would bring.' It specifies the obligation the Athenians imposed on the Epidaurians in exchange for the olive wood.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.82.1-5.82.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.82.1-5.82.3

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