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Herodotus · Histories §8.16.1-8.16.3

Fierce Clash at Artemisium and Heavy Losses on Both Sides

Passage 1318 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The fierce naval battle of Artemisium is described, where Xerxes' massive fleet causes its own confusion due to its immense size, yet they fight stubbornly and both sides eventually withdraw with heavy casualties.

§8.16.1ἐνθεῦτεν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐπανέπλεόν τε καὶ συνέμισγον.
Thence the Greeks sailed forth to meet them and joined battle.
ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ναυμαχίῃ παραπλήσιοι ἀλλήλοισι ἐγίνοντο.
In this sea-fight they proved themselves a match for each other.
§8.16.2ὁ γὰρ Ξέρξεω στρατὸς ὑπὸ μεγάθεός τε καὶ πλήθεος αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἑωυτοῦ ἔπιπτε, ταρασσομενέων τε τῶν νεῶν καὶ περιπιπτουσέων περὶ ἀλλήλας· ὅμως μέντοι ἀντεῖχε καὶ οὐκ εἶκε· δεινὸν γὰρ χρῆμα ἐποιεῦντο ὑπὸ νεῶν ὀλιγέων ἐς φυγὴν τρέπεσθαι.
For the fleet of Xerxes, by reason of its size and numbers, fell in ruin upon itself, as the ships became confused and ran foul of one another; nevertheless, they held their ground and did not yield, for they deemed it a terrible thing to be put to flight by so few ships.
§8.16.3πολλαὶ μὲν δὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων νέες διεφθείροντο πολλοὶ δὲ ἄνδρες, πολλῷ δʼ ἔτι πλεῦνες νέες τε τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ ἄνδρες, οὕτω δὲ ἀγωνιζόμενοι διέστησαν χωρὶς ἑκάτεροι.
Many ships of the Greeks indeed were destroyed, and many men perished, and yet far more ships and men of the barbarians; and having fought in this manner, each of the two sides drew off apart.

Notes

  1. §8.16.2αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἑωυτοῦ — The nominative intensive pronoun αὐτός is combined with the prepositional phrase ὑπʼ ἑωυτοῦ (by itself) to emphasize that the subject, Xerxes' army (ὁ στρατός), brought about its own ruin rather than being destroyed by the enemy. The following genitive absolute clause (ταρασσομενέων...) describes the manner of this self-inflicted chaos.
  2. §8.16.2δεινὸν γὰρ χρῆμα ἐποιεῦντο — This is a variant of the idiom δεινὸν ποιέεσθαι (to deem something a serious matter, to resent), with the noun χρῆμα (thing) inserted for emphasis. The following infinitive clause (ὑπὸ νεῶν ὀλιγέων ἐς φυγὴν τρέπεσθαι) functions as the content of what they deemed so terrible.
  3. §8.16.3πολλῷ δʼ ἔτι πλεῦνες — The dative of measure of difference πολλῷ modifies the comparative πλεῦνες (Ionic form of πλείονες), meaning 'still (ἔτι) far (πολλῷ) more'. In this clause, the verb διεφθείροντο (were destroyed) from the preceding sentence is omitted, leaving νέες τε ... καὶ ἄνδρες as the subject.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.16.1-8.16.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.16.1-8.16.3

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