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Herodotus · Histories §9.73.1-9.73.3

Prowess of Sophanes and Spartan Privileges of Decelea

Passage 1528 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The story is told of how Decelea, the deme of the renowned Athenian Sophanes, earned lasting privileges from Sparta and immunity from ravage during the later war, because they had helped the Tyndaridae locate Helen in ancient times.

§9.73.1Ἀθηναίων δὲ λέγεται εὐδοκιμῆσαι Σωφάνης ὁ Εὐτυχίδεω, ἐκ δήμου Δεκελεῆθεν, Δεκελέων δὲ τῶν κοτὲ ἐργασαμένων ἔργον χρήσιμον ἐς τὸν πάντα χρόνον, ὡς αὐτοὶ Ἀθηναῖοι λέγουσι.
Among the Athenians, Sophanes the son of Eutychides, from the deme of Decelea, is said to have won renown; the Deceleans being people who once performed a service useful for all time, as the Athenians themselves say.
§9.73.2ὡς γὰρ δὴ τὸ πάλαι κατὰ Ἑλένης κομιδὴν Τυνδαρίδαι ἐσέβαλον ἐς γῆν τὴν Ἀττικὴν σὺν στρατοῦ πλήθεϊ καὶ ἀνίστασαν τοὺς δήμους, οὐκ εἰδότες ἵνα ὑπεξέκειτο ἡ Ἑλένη, τότε λέγουσι τοὺς Δεκελέας, οἳ δὲ αὐτὸν Δέκελον ἀχθόμενόν τε τῇ Θησέος ὕβρι καὶ δειμαίνοντα περὶ πάσῃ τῇ Ἀθηναίων χώρῃ, ἐξηγησάμενόν σφι τὸ πᾶν πρῆγμα κατηγήσασθαι ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀφίδνας, τὰς δὴ Τιτακὸς ἐὼν αὐτόχθων καταπροδιδοῖ Τυνδαρίδῃσι.
For in the old days, when the Tyndaridae invaded the Attic land with a great host to recover Helen and were laying waste the demes, not knowing where Helen had been hidden, then, they say, the Deceleans—or as some say, Decelus himself, because he was vexed at the insolence of Theseus and feared for the whole land of the Athenians—explained the whole matter to them and guided them to Aphidnae, which indeed Titacus, being an inhabitant of the soil, betrayed to the Tyndaridae.
§9.73.3τοῖσι δὲ Δεκελεῦσι ἐν Σπάρτῃ ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ ἔργου ἀτελείη τε καὶ προεδρίη διατελέει ἐς τόδε αἰεὶ ἔτι ἐοῦσα, οὕτω ὥστε καὶ ἐς τὸν πόλεμον τὸν ὕστερον πολλοῖσι ἔτεσι τούτων γενόμενον Ἀθηναίοισί τε καὶ Πελοποννησίοισι, σινομένων τὴν ἄλλην Ἀττικὴν Λακεδαιμονίων, Δεκελέης ἀπέχεσθαι.
And because of this deed, freedom from taxation and front seats at the games in Sparta have continued to be given to the Deceleans from that time even to this day, so that even in the war which occurred many years after this between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, when the Lacedaemonians were ravaging the rest of Attica, they spared Decelea.

Notes

  1. 9.73.1Δεκελέων δὲ — A genitive referencing the collective Deceleans. It serves as a transitional link connecting the individual Sophanes and his deme of origin to the legendary exploit of the entire community described in the following sections.
  2. 9.73.2οἳ δὲ αὐτὸν Δέκελον — Here `οἳ` is not a relative pronoun but a demonstrative pronoun in the nominative. It introduces a contrasting alternative version ('others say Decelus himself...'), paired with an implied `οἳ μὲν` (who attribute the act to the Deceleans as a whole). This phrase acts as a parenthetical nominative subject contrasting with the accusative `τοὺς Δεκελέας` before the infinitive `κατηγήσασθαι`.
  3. 9.73.3Δεκελέης ἀπέχεσθαι — The word `Δεκελέης` is a genitive of separation governed by `ἀπέχεσθαι` (to abstain or keep away from). It can be interpreted either as the genitive singular of the place name (Decelea) or as the Ionic genitive plural of the inhabitants (Deceleans), indicating that the Lacedaemonians spared Decelea while ravaging other parts of Attica.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.73.1-9.73.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.73.1-9.73.3

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