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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §11.63.1-11.63.7

The Spartan Earthquake and the Revolt of the Helots

Passage 64 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The narrative describes the catastrophic earthquake that struck Sparta, the subsequent rebellion of the Helots and Messenians, and King Archidamus's swift action to save the citizens and prepare for war.

§11.63.1ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
These, then, were the events that took place during this year.
ἐπʼ ἄρχοντος δʼ Ἀθήνησι Φαίωνος ἐν Ῥώμῃ τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διεδέξαντο Λεύκιος Φούριος Μεδιολανὸς καὶ Μάρκος Μανίλιος Οὐάσων.
When Phaeon was archon in Athens, in Rome Lucius Furius Medullinus and Marcus Manlius Vulso succeeded to the consular office.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτων μεγάλη τις καὶ παράδοξος ἐγένετο συμφορὰ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις· ἐν γὰρ τῇ Σπάρτῃ γενομένων σεισμῶν μεγάλων συνέβη πεσεῖν τὰς οἰκίας ἐκ θεμελίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων φθαρῆναι.
During their term of office, a great and unexpected disaster befell the Lacedaemonians; for when great earthquakes occurred in Sparta, it happened that the houses fell to their foundations and more than twenty thousand of the Lacedaemonians perished.
§11.63.2ἐπὶ πολὺν δὲ χρόνον συνεχῶς τῆς πόλεως καταφερομένης καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν πιπτουσῶν πολλὰ σώματα τοῖς πτώμασι τῶν τοίχων ἀπολαμβανόμενα διεφθάρη, οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ τῶν κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας χρημάτων ὁ σεισμὸς ἐλυμήνατο.
Since for a long time the city was continually being destroyed and the houses were falling, many persons were caught and perished in the collapse of the walls, and the earthquake ruined no small part of the property in the houses.
§11.63.3καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τὸ κακὸν ὥσπερ δαιμονίου τινὸς νεμεσήσαντος αὐτοῖς ἔπαθον, ἄλλους δὲ κινδύνους ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων αὐτοῖς συνέβη γενέσθαι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας.
And this disaster indeed they suffered as if some deity were venting its wrath upon them, but other dangers from men happened to come upon them for the following reasons.
§11.63.4Εἵλωτες καὶ Μεσσήνιοι πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀλλοτρίως ἔχοντες τὸ μὲν πρὸ τοῦ ἡσυχίαν εἶχον, φοβούμενοι τὴν τῆς Σπάρτης ὑπεροχήν τε καὶ δύναμιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ διὰ τὸν σεισμὸν ἑώρων τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν ἀπολωλότας, κατεφρόνησαν τῶν ἀπολελειμμένων, ὀλίγων ὄντων.
The Helots and Messenians, although hostile to the Lacedaemonians, had previously remained quiet because they feared the preeminence and power of Sparta; but when they saw that the majority of them had perished because of the earthquake, they looked down upon the survivors, since they were few.
διόπερ πρὸς ἀλλήλους συνθέμενοι κοινῇ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους.
Therefore, having made an agreement with one another, they jointly waged war against the Lacedaemonians.
§11.63.5ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων Ἀρχίδαμος διὰ τῆς ἰδίας προνοίας καὶ κατὰ τὸν σεισμὸν ἔσωζε τοὺς πολίτας καὶ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον γενναίως τοῖς ἐπιτιθεμένοις ἀντετάξατο.
But Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, through his own foresight, both saved the citizens during the earthquake and, during the war, courageously drew up his forces against those who were attacking.
§11.63.6τῆς μὲν γὰρ πόλεως συνεχομένης ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ σεισμοῦ δεινότητος, πρῶτος Σπαρτιατῶν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἁρπάσας τὴν πανοπλίαν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξεπήδησε, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πολίταις τὸ αὐτὸ πράττειν παρήγγειλεν.
For when the city was being gripped by the terrible violence of the earthquake, he was the first of the Spartans to snatch up his full armor and leap out from the city into the open country, and he commanded the other citizens to do the same.
§11.63.7ὑπακουσάντων δὲ τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἐσώθησαν, οὓς συντάξας ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀρχίδαμος παρεσκευάζετο πολεμεῖν τοῖς ἀφεστηκόσιν.
When the Spartans obeyed, the survivors were saved in this manner, and after drawing them up in order, King Archidamus prepared to make war against those who had revolted.

Notes

  1. 11.63.1συνέβη πεσεῖν τὰς οἰκίας ἐκ θεμελίων καὶ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πλείους τῶν δισμυρίων φθαρῆναι — An impersonal construction where the verb συνέβη ('it happened that') takes two parallel accusative-and-infinitive phrases as its subjects: 'πεσεῖν τὰς οἰκίας...' and 'τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πλείους... φθαρῆναι'. This structure presents both the physical destruction and the human loss as coordinate outcomes of the disaster.
  2. 11.63.2ἀπολαμβανόμενα — The present passive participle of ἀπολαμβάνω in the neuter plural, agreeing with the subject πολλὰ σώματα ('many bodies/persons'), meaning 'being cut off' or 'trapped'. The dative phrase τοῖς πτώμασι τῶν τοίχων expresses the means or cause of their entrapment.
  3. 11.63.3ὥσπερ δαιμονίου τινὸς νεμεσήσαντος — A genitive absolute construction introduced by ὥσπερ ('as if'), with δαιμονίου τινός as the logical subject and the aorist participle νεμεσήσαντος as the logical predicate. The particle ὥσπερ indicates a subjective perception or interpretation (that it was a divine punishment) rather than an objective claim.
  4. 11.63.4τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν ἀπολωλότας — A perfect active participle with intransitive meaning (from ὄλλυμι, intransitive ὄλωλα 'to have perished') acting as a supplementary participle with the verb of perception ἑώρων ('they saw'). The accusative τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν ('the majority of them') serves as its logical subject.
  5. 11.63.6πρῶτος Σπαρτιατῶν — The adjective πρῶτος is used predicatively with the subject (Archidamus), meaning 'he was the first of the Spartans to...'. This emphasizes the speed and decisiveness of his action. It modifies the main verb ἐξεπήδησε and the participle ἁρπάσας.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §11.63.1-11.63.7. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:11.63.1-11.63.7

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