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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.51.1-11.51.2

Hieron's Aid to Cyme and Naval Victory over Tyrrhenians

Passage 52 of 723 · Greek

Summary

During the archonship of Acestorides in Athens, Hieron, king of Syracuse, sent a fleet to assist Cyme in Italy, defeating the Tyrrhenians in a great naval battle and liberating the city.

§11.51.1ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν Ἀκεστορίδου ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Καίσων Φάβιος καὶ Τίτος Οὐεργίνιος.
When Acestorides was archon in Athens, in Rome Kaeso Fabius and Titus Verginius succeeded to the consular office.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων Ἱέρων μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Συρακοσίων, παραγενομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν πρέσβεων ἐκ Κύμης τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ δεομένων βοηθῆσαι πολεμουμένοις ὑπὸ Τυρρηνῶν θαλαττοκρατούντων, ἐξέπεμψεν αὐτοῖς συμμαχίαν τριήρεις ἱκανάς.
Under their term, when ambassadors came to Hieron, the king of the Syracusans, from Cyme in Italy, begging him to aid them as they were being warred upon by the Tyrrhenians who held the mastery of the sea, he dispatched to them an allied force of a sufficient number of triremes.
§11.51.2οἱ δὲ τῶν νεῶν τούτων ἡγεμόνες ἐπειδὴ κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Κύμην, μετὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων μὲν ἐναυμάχησαν πρὸς τοὺς Τυρρηνούς, πολλὰς δὲ ναῦς αὐτῶν διαφθείραντες καὶ μεγάλῃ ναυμαχίᾳ νικήσαντες, τοὺς μὲν Τυρρηνοὺς ἐταπείνωσαν, τοὺς δὲ Κυμαίους ἠλευθέρωσαν τῶν φόβων, καὶ ἀπέπλευσαν ἐπὶ Συρακούσας.
When the commanders of these ships sailed down to Cyme, they fought a naval battle against the Tyrrhenians together with the local inhabitants, and having destroyed many of their ships and won a victory in a great naval battle, they humbled the Tyrrhenians and freed the Cymaeans from their fears, and sailed back to Syracuse.

Notes

  1. 11.51.1παραγενομένων πρὸς αὐτὸν πρέσβεων ἐκ Κύμης τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ δεομένων βοηθῆσαι πολεμουμένοις — The participles παραγενομένων and δεομένων form a genitive absolute construction with πρέσβεων as their subject. βοηθῆσαι is a complementary infinitive dependent on δεομένων (begging), and taking the present passive participle πολεμουμένοις (those being warred upon) as its dative object.
  2. 11.51.1συμμαχίαν τριήρεις ἱκανάς — The phrase τριήρεις ἱκανάς (a sufficient number of triremes) stands in apposition to the collective noun συμμαχίαν (alliance, allied force), specifying the concrete nature of the military aid.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.51.1-11.51.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.51.1-11.51.2

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