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Herodotus · Histories §9.114.1-9.114.2

Arrival at the Hellespont and Athenian Siege of Sestos

Passage 1569 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The Greek fleet arriving from Mycale finds the Hellespont bridges dismantled. The Peloponnesians decide to return home, while the Athenians remain to besiege Sestos.

§9.114.1οἱ δὲ ἐκ Μυκάλης ὁρμηθέντες Ἕλληνες ἐπʼ Ἑλλησπόντου πρῶτον μὲν περὶ Λεκτὸν ὅρμεον, ὑπὸ ἀνέμων ἀπολαμφθέντες, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ ἀπίκοντο ἐς Ἄβυδον καὶ τὰς γεφύρας εὗρον διαλελυμένας, τὰς ἐδόκεον εὑρήσειν ἔτι ἐντεταμένας, καὶ τούτων οὐκ ἥκιστα εἵνεκεν ἐς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἀπίκοντο.
The Greeks who had set out from Mycale for the Hellespont first anchored near Lectum, having been detained by the winds, and from there they arrived at Abydos and found the bridges broken up, which they had expected to find still stretched across, and it was not least for the sake of these that they had come to the Hellespont.
§9.114.2τοῖσι μέν νυν ἀμφὶ Λευτυχίδην Πελοποννησίοις ἔδοξε ἀποπλέειν ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, Ἀθηναίοισι δὲ καὶ Ξανθίππῳ τῷ στρατηγῷ αὐτοῦ ὑπομείναντας πειρᾶσθαι τῆς Χερσονήσου.
Now it seemed best to the Peloponnesians with Leutychides to sail back to Greece, but to the Athenians and Xanthippus their general, to remain and make an attempt upon the Chersonese.
οἳ μὲν δὴ ἀπέπλεον, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ἐκ τῆς Ἀβύδου διαβάντες ἐς τὴν Χερσόνησον Σηστὸν ἐπολιόρκεον.
The former indeed sailed away, but the Athenians, having crossed over from Abydos to the Chersonese, besieged Sestos.

Notes

  1. §9.114.1ἀπολαμφθέντες — Aorist passive participle expressing cause or attendant circumstance, meaning "having been cut off" or "detained" by the winds.
  2. §9.114.1τούτων — Genitive demonstrative pronoun dependent on εἵνεκεν ("for the sake of"). It can be taken as feminine plural (referring to the bridges, γεφύρας) or neuter plural ("these things/circumstances"), indicating that the bridges were the primary reason for their voyage.
  3. §9.114.2ὑπομείναντας — Accusative plural participle acting as the subject of the infinitive πειρᾶσθαι. Although one would expect a dative form (ὑπομείνασι) to agree with the dative Ἀθηναίοισι, the syntax shifts to the accusative subject of the infinitive (anacoluthon or case shift).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.114.1-9.114.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.114.1-9.114.2

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