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Herodotus · Histories §9.118.1-9.118.2

Starvation in Sestos, Persian Flight, and Fall of City

Passage 1573 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The besieged Persians in Sestos reached extreme starvation and fled under the cover of night. At dawn, the local inhabitants signaled the Athenians, who then pursued the fugitives and occupied the city.

§9.118.1οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ τείχεϊ ἐς πᾶν ἤδη κακοῦ ἀπιγμένοι ἦσαν, οὕτω ὥστε τοὺς τόνους ἕψοντες τῶν κλινέων ἐσιτέοντο.
Now those inside the wall had already come to the extremity of distress, so much so that they ate the leather thongs of their beds by boiling them.
ἐπείτε δὲ οὐδὲ ταῦτα ἔτι εἶχον, οὕτω δὴ ὑπὸ νύκτα οἴχοντο ἀποδράντες οἵ τε Πέρσαι καὶ ὁ Ἀρταΰκτης καὶ ὁ Οἰόβαζος, ὄπισθε τοῦ τείχεος καταβάντες, τῇ ἦν ἐρημότατον τῶν πολεμίων.
But when they no longer had even these, then indeed under cover of night the Persians, Artaÿctes, and Oeobazus made their escape and fled, climbing down the back of the wall at the place where it was most deserted of the enemy.
§9.118.2ὡς δὲ ἡμέρη ἐγένετο, οἱ Χερσονησῖται ἀπὸ τῶν πύργων ἐσήμηναν τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ τὰς πύλας ἄνοιξαν.
When day came, the inhabitants of the Chersonese signaled from the towers to the Athenians what had happened and opened the gates.
τῶν δὲ οἱ μὲν πλεῦνες ἐδίωκον, οἳ δὲ τὴν πόλιν εἶχον.
Of the Athenians, the greater part went in pursuit, while the others took possession of the city.

Notes

  1. §9.118.1ἐς πᾶν ... κακοῦ — The genitive κακοῦ is a partitive genitive qualifying the neuter pronoun πᾶν, forming the idiom 'to the extremity of distress/evil.'
  2. §9.118.1οἴχοντο ἀποδράντες — The verb οἴχομαι combined with the participle ἀποδράντες forms an idiomatic construction indicating that the action of the participle is completed and the subjects have departed ('they fled and were gone').
  3. §9.118.2τῶν δὲ οἱ μὲν ... οἳ δὲ — The demonstrative pronoun τῶν refers back to τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι and functions as a partitive genitive with the subsequent οἱ μὲν ... οἳ δὲ ('some of them... others...').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.118.1-9.118.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.118.1-9.118.2

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