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Herodotus · Histories §6.43.1-6.43.4

Mardonius Establishes Democracies and Advances on Greece

Passage 945 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The young general Mardonius took command of a large force, established democracies in Ionia by deposing tyrants, and then crossed the Hellespont to march toward Eretria and Athens.

§6.43.1ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἔαρι, τῶν ἄλλων καταλελυμένων στρατηγῶν ἐκ βασιλέος, Μαρδόνιος ὁ Γοβρύεω κατέβαινε ἐπὶ θάλασσαν, στρατὸν πολλὸν μὲν κάρτα πεζὸν ἅμα ἀγόμενος πολλὸν δὲ ναυτικόν, ἡλικίην τε νέος ἐὼν καὶ νεωστὶ γεγαμηκὼς βασιλέος Δαρείου θυγατέρα Ἀρτοζώστρην·
At the beginning of spring, when the other generals had been dismissed by the king, Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, came down to the sea, bringing with him a very large land army and a large naval force; he was young in age and had recently married Artozostre, the daughter of King Darius.
§6.43.2ἄγων δὲ τὸν στρατὸν τοῦτον ὁ Μαρδόνιος ἐπείτε ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ Κιλικίῃ, αὐτὸς μὲν ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ νεὸς ἐκομίζετο ἅμα τῇσι ἄλλῃσι νηυσί, στρατιὴν δὲ τὴν πεζὴν ἄλλοι ἡγεμόνες ἦγον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον.
Having led this army, when Mardonius arrived in Cilicia, he himself embarked on a ship and sailed along with the other ships, while other commanders led the land army toward the Hellespont.
§6.43.3ὡς δὲ παραπλέων τὴν Ἀσίην ἀπίκετο ὁ Μαρδόνιος ἐς τὴν Ἰωνίην, ἐνθαῦτα μέγιστον θῶμα ἐρέω τοῖσι μὴ ἀποδεκομένοισι Ἑλλήνων Περσέων τοῖσι ἑπτὰ Ὀτάνεα γνώμην ἀποδέξασθαι ὡς χρεὸν εἴη δημοκρατέεσθαι Πέρσας· τοὺς γὰρ τυράννους τῶν Ἰώνων καταπαύσας πάντας ὁ Μαρδόνιος δημοκρατίας κατίστα ἐς τὰς πόλιας.
When Mardonius, sailing along the coast of Asia, arrived in Ionia, there I will relate a most wonderful thing to those of the Greeks who do not believe that Otanes, among the seven Persians, declared his opinion that the Persians ought to have a democracy; for Mardonius deposed all the tyrants of the Ionians and established democracies in their cities.
§6.43.4ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσας ἠπείγετο ἐς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον.
Having done this, he hastened to the Hellespont.
ὡς δὲ συνελέχθη μὲν χρῆμα πολλὸν νεῶν συνελέχθη δὲ καὶ πεζὸς στρατὸς πολλός, διαβάντες τῇσι νηυσὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἐπορεύοντο διὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἐπορεύοντο δὲ ἐπί τε Ἐρέτριαν καὶ Ἀθήνας.
And when a great multitude of ships had been assembled, and a large land army also, they crossed the Hellespont with their ships and marched through Europe, making their way against both Eretria and Athens.

Notes

  1. §6.43.1τῶν ἄλλων καταλελυμένων στρατηγῶν ἐκ βασιλέος — Genitive absolute. The preposition ἐκ, used here with the passive perfect participle καταλελυμένων, indicates the agent ("by the king"), performing the function of ὑπό in classical Attic Greek; this is a common feature in Herodotus and Ionic prose.
  2. §6.43.1ἡλικίην — Accusative of respect (or specification), qualifying the adjective νέος to mean "young in terms of age."
  3. §6.43.3τοῖσι μὴ ἀποδεκομένοισι... Ὀτάνεα γνώμην ἀποδέξασθαι — The dative plural participle τοῖσι μὴ ἀποδεκομένοισι ("to those who do not accept") serves as the indirect object of ἐρέω ("I will say"). The accusative-and-infinitive clause Ὀτάνεα γνώμην ἀποδέξασθαι ("that Otanes declared his opinion") functions as the object complement of the participle, with the ὡς clause detailing the content of the opinion.
  4. §6.43.4χρῆμα πολλὸν νεῶν — An idiomatic expression in Herodotus where χρῆμα ("thing" or "substance"), combined with a partitive genitive (νεῶν "of ships"), emphasizes a grand scale or great quantity, meaning "a great multitude of ships."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.43.1-6.43.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.43.1-6.43.4

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