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Herodotus · Histories §9.85.1-9.85.3

Burial of the Fallen and Cenotaphs at Plataea

Passage 1540 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

On the burial methods of the various Greek poleis after the Battle of Plataea, and the origins of the empty cenotaphs built later by those who did not participate, such as that of the Aeginetans.

§9.85.1οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες ὡς ἐν Πλαταιῇσι τὴν ληίην διείλοντο, ἔθαπτον τοὺς ἑωυτῶν χωρὶς ἕκαστοι.
When the Greeks had divided the booty at Plataea, they buried their dead, each group separately.
Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν τριξὰς ἐποιήσαντο θήκας· ἔνθα μὲν τοὺς ἰρένας ἔθαψαν, τῶν καὶ Ποσειδώνιος καὶ Ἀμομφάρετος ἦσαν καὶ Φιλοκύων τε καὶ Καλλικράτης.
The Lacedaemonians made three graves; in one of these they buried the irenes, among whom were Posidonius, Amompharetus, Philocyon, and Callicrates.
§9.85.2ἐν μὲν δὴ ἑνὶ τῶν τάφων ἦσαν οἱ ἰρένες, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑτέρῳ οἱ ἄλλοι Σπαρτιῆται, ἐν δὲ τῷ τρίτῳ οἱ εἵλωτες.
In one of the graves, then, were the irenes, in the second the other Spartans, and in the third the helots.
οὗτοι μὲν οὕτω ἔθαπτον, Τεγεῆται δὲ χωρὶς πάντας ἁλέας, καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς ἑωυτῶν ὁμοῦ, καὶ Μεγαρέες τε καὶ Φλειάσιοι τοὺς ὑπὸ τῆς ἵππου διαφθαρέντας.
These buried their dead in this manner, while the Tegeans buried all theirs together in a separate place, and the Athenians buried theirs together, and the Megarians and Phliasians those who had been destroyed by the cavalry.
§9.85.3τούτων μὲν δὴ πάντων πλήρεες ἐγένοντο οἱ τάφοι· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὅσοι καὶ φαίνονται ἐν Πλαταιῇσι ἐόντες τάφοι, τούτους δέ, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, ἐπαισχυνομένους τῇ ἀπεστοῖ τῆς μάχης ἑκάστους χώματα χῶσαι κεινὰ τῶν ἐπιγινομένων εἵνεκεν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπεὶ καὶ Αἰγινητέων ἐστὶ αὐτόθι καλεόμενος τάφος, τὸν ἐγὼ ἀκούω καὶ δέκα ἔτεσι ὕστερον μετὰ ταῦτα δεηθέντων τῶν Αἰγινητέων χῶσαι Κλεάδην τὸν Αὐτοδίκου ἄνδρα Πλαταιέα, πρόξεινον ἐόντα αὐτῶν.
All these graves were filled; but as for the other graves which are to be seen at Plataea, these, as I learn, were heaped up as empty mounds by various peoples who were ashamed of their absence from the battle, for the sake of future generations; since there is also a grave there called that of the Aeginetans, which I hear was heaped up even ten years later at the request of the Aeginetans by Cleades, son of Autodicus, a Plataean who was their proxenus.

Notes

  1. §9.85.1ἰρένας — Although there is a variant reading ἱρέας (priests) in some manuscripts, the reading ἰρένας (irens, young Spartan warriors over twenty) is adopted here. Since the individuals listed here (Posidonius, Amompharetus, etc.) were distinguished warriors praised in previous passages, rather than priests, the latter reading is far more plausible.
  2. §9.85.3τούτους δέ — This is an anacoluthon or resumptive structure where the genitive phrase at the beginning of the sentence (τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὅσοι...) is resumed by the accusative τούτους, functioning as the grammatical object of the infinitive phrase χῶσαι κεινὰ (to have heaped up empty mounds).
  3. §9.85.3δεηθέντων τῶν Αἰγινητέων χῶσαι Κλεάδην — δεηθέντων τῶν Αἰγινητέων is a genitive absolute expressing the cause or condition ("the Aeginetans having requested"), which precedes Κλεάδην, the subject accusative of the infinitive χῶσαι ("that Cleades heaped up").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §9.85.1-9.85.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:9.85.1-9.85.3

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