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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.49.1-11.49.4

Hieron's Founding of Aetna and Theron's Resettlement of Himera

Passage 50 of 723 · Greek

Summary

Hieron forced the relocation of the inhabitants of Naxos and Catane to Leontini, refounding Catane as the new city of Aetna. Meanwhile, Theron repopulated Himera with Dorians and other settlers after his massacre of its original inhabitants.

§11.49.1Ἱέρων δὲ τούς τε Ναξίους καὶ τοὺς Καταναίους ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ἀναστήσας, ἰδίους οἰκήτορας ἀπέστειλεν, ἐκ μὲν Πελοποννήσου πεντακισχιλίους ἀθροίσας, ἐκ δὲ Συρακουσῶν ἄλλους τοσούτους προσθείς· καὶ τὴν μὲν Κατάνην μετωνόμασεν Αἴτνην, τὴν δὲ χώραν οὐ μόνον τὴν Καταναίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου προσθεὶς κατεκληρούχησε, μυρίους πληρώσας οἰκήτορας.
Hieron, on his part, removed the Naxians and Catanaeans from their cities and sent in settlers of his own, having gathered five thousand from the Peloponnese and added as many others from Syracuse; and he renamed Catane Aetna, and after adding to it not only the territory of Catane but also much of the neighboring land, he distributed it in allotments, having filled the city with ten thousand settlers.
§11.49.2τοῦτο δʼ ἔπραξε σπεύδων ἅμα μὲν ἔχειν βοήθειαν ἑτοίμην ἀξιόλογον πρὸς τὰς ἐπιούσας χρείας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς γενομένης μυριάνδρου πόλεως τιμὰς ἔχειν ἡρωικάς.
He did this because he was eager both to have a significant force of assistance ready for future needs, and at the same time to receive heroic honors from the city which had now become populated by ten thousand men.
τοὺς δὲ Ναξίους καὶ τοὺς Καταναίους ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων ἀνασταθέντας μετῴκισεν εἰς τοὺς Λεοντίνους, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων προσέταξε κατοικεῖν τὴν πόλιν.
As for the Naxians and Catanaeans who had been removed from their homelands, he resettled them in Leontini, and ordered them to dwell in the city along with the native inhabitants.
§11.49.3Θήρων δὲ μετὰ τὴν Ἱμεραίων σφαγὴν ὁρῶν τὴν πόλιν οἰκητόρων δεομένην, συνῴκισεν εἰς ταύτην τούς τε Δωριεῖς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς βουλομένους ἐπολιτογράφησεν.
Theron, on his part, after the slaughter of the Himeraeans, seeing that the city was in need of settlers, settled the Dorians there along with others of any other peoples who wished, whom he enrolled as citizens.
§11.49.4οὗτοι μὲν οὖν μετʼ ἀλλήλων καλῶς πολιτευόμενοι διετέλεσαν ἔτη πεντήκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ· τότε δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ Καρχηδονίων χειρωθείσης καὶ κατασκαφείσης, διέμεινεν ἀοίκητος μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν.
These people, then, continued to live together as citizens in harmony for fifty-eight years; but at that time, when the city was conquered and razed to the ground by the Carthaginians, it remained uninhabited down to our own times.

Notes

  1. §11.49.1ἰδίους — The adjective ἰδίους, meaning "one's own" or "private," here designates settlers who were personally loyal to Hieron and would serve as a dependable base for his power in the newly established city.
  2. §11.49.1προσθεὶς κατεκληρούχησε — The direct object of the verb κατεκληρούχησε (distributed in allotments) is the preceding τὴν δὲ χώραν... τὴν Καταναίαν (the territory of Catane), which is separated by several phrases. The participle προσθείς (having added) governs both this territory and πολλὴν τῆς ὁμόρου (much of the neighboring land), bringing the entire combined territory under the action of κατεκληρούχησε.
  3. §11.49.2σπεύδων — This participle modifies the main verb ἔπραξε (did) and expresses cause ("because he was eager"). It governs two parallel infinitive clauses introduced by ἅμα μὲν... ἅμα δὲ... (both ἔχειν and ἔχειν), showing that Hieron was motivated by two goals simultaneously.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.49.1-11.49.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.49.1-11.49.4

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