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Herodotus · Histories §7.124.1

Xerxes' Inland March and the Fleet Waiting at Therme

Passage 1187 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The fleet waits for the King between the river Axius and Therme, while Xerxes and the land army march from Acanthos through the inland, passing Paeonia and Crestonia to the river Cheidorus.

§7.124.1ὁ μὲν δὴ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς αὐτοῦ περὶ Ἄξιον ποταμὸν καὶ πόλιν Θέρμην καὶ τὰς μεταξὺ πόλιας τούτων περιμένων Βασιλέα ἐστρατοπεδεύετο, Ξέρξης δὲ καὶ ὁ πεζὸς στρατὸς ἐπορεύετο ἐκ τῆς Ἀκάνθου τὴν μεσόγαιαν τάμνων τῆς ὁδοῦ, βουλόμενος ἐς τὴν Θέρμην ἀπικέσθαι·
Now the fleet encamped right there, around the river Axius and the city of Therme and the cities between them, waiting for the King; but Xerxes and the land army marched from Acanthos, taking a route through the inland country, wishing to arrive at Therme.
ἐπορεύετο δὲ διὰ τῆς Παιονικῆς καὶ Κρηστωνικῆς ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Χείδωρον, ὃς ἐκ Κρηστωναίων ἀρξάμενος ῥέει διὰ Μυγδονίης χώρης καὶ ἐξιεῖ παρὰ τὸ ἕλος τὸ ἐπʼ Ἀξίῳ ποταμῷ.
They marched through Paeonia and Crestonia to the river Cheidorus, which, rising from the country of the Crestonaeans, flows through the Mygdonian land and empties near the marsh by the river Axius.

Notes

  1. §7.124.1αὐτοῦ — Interpreted as an adverb meaning "right there, in that very place." Although it is grammatically possible to take it as the genitive of the third-person pronoun αὐτός ("his [fleet]"), it is more natural to understand it as an adverb referring to the area around the river Axius and Therme where the fleet had just arrived in the preceding section.
  2. §7.124.1τὴν μεσόγαιαν τάμνων τῆς ὁδοῦ — The verb τάμνω (to cut) here means "to take a shortcut through" or "to traverse." The genitive τῆς ὁδοῦ is a partitive genitive depending on τὴν μεσόγαιαν, meaning "the inland part of the route." Thus, the phrase means "taking a route through the inland country."
  3. §7.124.1ἐκ Κρηστωναίων ἀρξάμενος — The middle aorist participle ἀρξάμενος (from ἄρχω) is used idiomatically with the preposition ἐκ to mean "beginning from" or "originating from," indicating that the river Cheidorus has its source in the territory of the Crestonaeans.
  4. §7.124.1ἐξιεῖ — The third-person singular present indicative active of ἐξίημι (to send out, empty/discharge). It is a contracted form typical of the Attic and Ionic dialects, describing the ongoing physical fact of the river "emptying" into the marsh.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.124.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.124.1

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