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Herodotus · Histories §8.47.1

Limits of the Fleet and the Crotonian Aid under Phayllus

Passage 1349 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Explains the geographical boundaries of those who joined the campaign, noting that the Crotoniats from southern Italy, led by Phayllus, were the only people from 'outside' these limits to aid Greece.

§8.47.1οὗτοι μὲν ἅπαντες ἐντὸς οἰκημένοι Θεσπρωτῶν καὶ Ἀχέροντος ποταμοῦ ἐστρατεύοντο· Θεσπρωτοὶ γὰρ εἰσὶ ὁμουρέοντες Ἀμπρακιώτῃσι καὶ Λευκαδίοισι, οἳ ἐξ ἐσχατέων χωρέων ἐστρατεύοντο.
All these who joined the campaign lived on this side of the Thesprotians and the river Acheron; for the Thesprotians border on the Ambraciots and Leucadians, who were the ones who joined the campaign from the most distant lands.
τῶν δὲ ἐκτὸς τούτων οἰκημένων Κροτωνιῆται μοῦνοι ἦσαν οἳ ἐβοήθησαν τῇ Ἑλλάδι κινδυνευούσῃ μιῇ νηί, τῆς ἦρχε ἀνὴρ τρὶς πυθιονίκης Φάυλλος·
Of those living outside these limits, the Crotoniats were the only ones who came to the aid of Greece in her danger, with one ship, which was commanded by Phayllus, a man who had three times won victories at the Pythian games.
Κροτωνιῆται δὲ γένος εἰσὶ Ἀχαιοί.
The Crotoniats are Achaeans by race.

Notes

  1. 8.47.1οἳ ἐξ ἐσχατέων χωρέων ἐστρατεύοντο — The antecedent of the relative pronoun οἳ is the preceding Ἀμπρακιώτῃσι καὶ Λευκαδίοισι. The Thesprotians (Θεσπρωτοί) themselves are not listed among the forces in 8.43-46 but are mentioned only to mark the geographical boundary. Thus, those who 'joined the campaign from the most distant lands' are the Ambraciots and Leucadians mentioned in 8.45.
  2. 8.47.1ἐντὸς ... Θεσπρωτῶν καὶ Ἀχέροντος ποταμοῦ — The preposition ἐντός ('on this side of', literally 'inside') is used from Herodotus' geographical perspective centered on the Aegean and eastern Greece, designating the area to the southeast (towards the Greek heartland) of Thesprotia and the Acheron river (in northwestern Epirus). Consequently, regions further west, such as Italy, are referred to as ἐκτός ('outside').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §8.47.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.47.1

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