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Herodotus · Histories §7.177.1

Greek Forces Marching to Thermopylae and Artemisium

Passage 1240 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The Greeks determine that Thermopylae and Artemisium are suitable defense locations where the Persians' numerical superiority and cavalry would be useless, and resolve to face them there. Upon learning of the Persians' arrival in Pieria, they disperse from the Isthmus to their respective stations by land and sea.

§7.177.1οἱ μέν νυν χῶροι οὗτοι τοῖσι Ἕλλησι εἶναι ἐφαίνοντο ἐπιτήδεοι· πάντα γὰρ προσκεψάμενοι καὶ ἐπιλογισθέντες ὅτι οὔτε πλήθεϊ ἕξουσι χρᾶσθαι οἱ βάρβαροι οὔτε ἵππῳ, ταύτῃ σφι ἔδοξε δέκεσθαι τὸν ἐπιόντα ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα.
Now these places seemed to the Greeks to be suitable; for having considered everything and having calculated that the barbarians would be able to make use of neither their multitude nor their cavalry, they resolved to receive at this place the one marching against Greece.
ὡς δὲ ἐπύθοντο τὸν Πέρσην ἐόντα ἐν Πιερίῃ, διαλυθέντες ἐκ τοῦ Ἰσθμοῦ ἐστρατεύοντο αὐτῶν οἳ μὲν ἐς Θερμοπύλας πεζῇ, ἄλλοι δὲ κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμίσιον.
And when they learned that the Persian was in Pieria, they broke up from the Isthmus and set out, some of them by land to Thermopylae, and others by sea to Artemisium.

Notes

  1. 7.177.1ἕξουσι χρᾶσθαι — The verb ἔχω followed by the infinitive (χρᾶσθαι) expresses ability, meaning 'they will be able to make use of'.
  2. 7.177.1προσκεψάμενοι καὶ ἐπιλογισθέντες ... ἔδοξε σφι — The nominative participles προσκεψάμενοι and ἐπιλογισθέντες lack a grammatical subject in the nominative since the main verb is the impersonal ἔδοξε σφι ('it resolved to them'). This is an anacoluthon, where the participles logically agree with the dative pronoun σφι.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.177.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.177.1

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