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Herodotus · Histories §7.166.1

The Synchronous Victory and Amilcas's Disappearance

Passage 1229 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

It is related that the victory of Gelon and Theron in Sicily occurred on the very same day as the Greek victory at Salamis, and details are given regarding the lineage and mysterious disappearance of the Carthaginian king Amilcas during his defeat.

§7.166.1πρὸς δὲ καὶ τάδε λέγουσι, ὡς συνέβη τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμέρης ἔν τε τῇ Σικελίῃ Γέλωνα καὶ Θήρωνα νικᾶν Ἀμίλκαν τὸν Καρχηδόνιον καὶ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὸν Πέρσην.
In addition to this they also say that on the same day it happened that Gelon and Theron in Sicily defeated Amilcas the Carthaginian, and the Greeks at Salamis defeated the Persian.
τὸν δὲ Ἀμίλκαν Καρχηδόνιον ἐόντα πρὸς πατρός, μητρόθεν δὲ Συρηκόσιον, βασιλεύσαντά τε κατʼ ἀνδραγαθίην Καρχηδονίων, ὡς ἡ συμβολή τε ἐγίνετο καὶ ὡς ἑσσοῦτο τῇ μάχῃ, ἀφανισθῆναι πυνθάνομαι· οὔτε γὰρ ζῶντα οὔτε ἀποθανόντα φανῆναι οὐδαμοῦ γῆς· τὸ πᾶν γὰρ ἐπεξελθεῖν διζήμενον Γέλωνα.
Now concerning Amilcas—who was a Carthaginian on his father's side but a Syracusan on his mother's, and who had become king of the Carthaginians on account of his valor—I learn that when the clash took place and he was being defeated in the battle, he vanished; for he was seen nowhere on earth, either alive or dead, since Gelon searched everywhere, seeking him.

Notes

  1. §7.166.1τὸν δὲ Ἀμίλκαν ... ἀφανισθῆναι πυνθάνομαι — A construction of prolepsis. The accusative `τὸν δὲ Ἀμίλκαν` is placed at the beginning of the sentence before the temporal clause `ὡς ...`, serving as the subject accusative of the infinitive `ἀφανισθῆναι` in the indirect discourse dependent on the main verb `πυνθάνομαι`.
  2. §7.166.1οὐδαμοῦ γῆς — The adverb of place `οὐδαμοῦ` (nowhere) takes the partitive genitive `γῆς` (of the earth), expressing a strong negation ("nowhere on earth").
  3. §7.166.1τὸ πᾶν γὰρ ἐπεξελθεῖν διζήμενον Γέλωνα — An infinitive clause of indirect discourse dependent on `πυνθάνομαι`. `Γέλωνα` is the subject accusative of the infinitive `ἐπεξελθεῖν`, and `διζήμενον` is the participle agreeing with it. `τὸ πᾶν` can be taken either as the object of `ἐπεξελθεῖν` ("the whole area") or as an adverbial accusative ("thoroughly").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.166.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.166.1

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