Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §6.31.1-6.31.2

Persian Conquest of the Islands and the Netting Technique

Passage 933 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Following Histiaeus' death, the Persian fleet captures the islands of Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos, rounding up the inhabitants using a 'netting' technique, which they do not apply to mainland cities.

§6.31.1τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἱστιαῖον οὕτω ἔσχε.
Such was the outcome of the affairs concerning Histiaeus.
ὁ δὲ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς ὁ Περσέων χειμερίσας περὶ Μίλητον, τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτεϊ ὡς ἀνέπλωσε, αἱρέει εὐπετέως τὰς νήσους τὰς πρὸς τῇ ἠπείρῳ κειμένας, Χίον καὶ Λέσβον καὶ Τένεδον.
As for the Persian fleet, after wintering around Miletus, when they put to sea in the second year, they easily captured the islands lying near the mainland: Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos.
ὅκως δὲ λάβοι τινὰ τῶν νήσων, ὡς ἑκάστην αἱρέοντες οἱ βάρβαροι ἐσαγήνευον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. §6.31.2σαγηνεύουσι δὲ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον·
Whenever they took any of these islands, the barbarians netted the inhabitants as they captured each one.
ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὸς ἁψάμενος τῆς χειρὸς ἐκ θαλάσσης τῆς βορηίης ἐπὶ τὴν νοτίην διήκουσι, καὶ ἔπειτα διὰ πάσης τῆς νήσου διέρχονται ἐκθηρεύοντες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
They net them in the following manner: linking hand in hand, man to man, they stretch from the northern sea to the southern, and then they march through the entire island, hunting the people down.
αἵρεον δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ πόλιας τὰς Ἰάδας κατὰ ταὐτά, πλὴν οὐκ ἐσαγήνευον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· οὐ γὰρ οἷά τʼ ἦν.
They also captured the Ionian cities on the mainland in the same way, except they did not net the inhabitants; for indeed, that was impossible.

Notes

  1. 6.31.1ὅκως δὲ λάβοι τινὰ τῶν νήσων — The conjunction ὅκως (the Ionic form of ὅπως) is used here with the optative (λάβοι) to denote a general temporal condition expressing repeated action in past time ('whenever they captured any of the islands').
  2. 6.31.2ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὸς ἁψάμενος τῆς χειρὸς ἐκ θαλάσσης τῆς βορηίης ἐπὶ τὴν νοτίην διήκουσι — The singular nominative participle ἁψάμενος describes the action of individual men, while the main verb is in the plural (διήκουσι). This is an example of construction according to sense (schema style), where the singular subject 'man' transitions to a collective plural 'they stretch'.
  3. 6.31.2οὐ γὰρ οἷά τʼ ἦν — The impersonal use of the idiom οἷός τέ εἰμι ('to be able, possible') in the neuter plural (οἷά τε ἦν) with the negative particle, meaning 'for it was not possible'. An infinitive such as σαγηνεύειν ('to net') is understood.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.31.1-6.31.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.31.1-6.31.2

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.