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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.63.1-1.63.3

Chronology from the Fall of Troy to Foundation of Lavinium

Passage 63 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Dionysius explains the chronological timeline of Lavinium's foundation, detailing the Trojans' precise movements from the fall of Troy through Thrace and Sicily to their arrival in Laurentum.

§1.63.1περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων ἐν οἷς ἐκτίσθη τὸ Λαουΐνιον ἄλλοι μὲν ἄλλως λέγουσιν· ἐμοὶ μέντοι δοκοῦσιν οἱ δευτέρῳ μετὰ τὴν ἔξοδον τὴν ἐκ Τροίας ἔτει φέροντες αὐτὴν εἰκότα μᾶλλον λέγειν.
Concerning the times in which Lavinium was founded, different authors speak differently; however, to me those who place it in the second year after the departure from Troy seem to speak with greater probability.
Ἴλιος μὲν γὰρ ἑάλω τελευτῶντος ἤδη τοῦ θέρους, ἑπτακαίδεκα πρότερον ἡμέραις τῆς θερινῆς τροπῆς, ὀγδόῃ φθίνοντος μηνὸς Θαργηλιῶνος, ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς χρόνους ἄγουσι, περιτταὶ δὲ ἦσαν αἱ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκεῖνον ἐκπληροῦσαι μετὰ τὴν τροπὴν εἴκοσιν ἡμέραι.
For Ilium was taken when the summer was already ending, seventeen days before the summer solstice, on the eighth day from the end of the month of Thargelion, as the Athenians reckon the times, and there were twenty surplus days that completed that year after the solstice.
ἐν δὴ ταῖς ἑπτὰ καὶ τριάκοντα ταῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως διαγενομέναις τά τε περὶ τὴν πόλιν οἴομαι διοικήσασθαι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς καὶ τὰς πρεσβείας ἐπιδέξασθαι τὰς παρὰ τῶν ἀφεστηκότων καὶ τὰ ὅρκια ποιήσασθαι πρὸς αὐτούς· §1.63.2τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς ἔτει, πρώτῳ δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν ὑπὸ τὴν μετοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν ἄραντες οἱ Τρῶες ἐκ τῆς γῆς περαιοῦνται τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον καὶ καταχθέντες εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην αὐτοῦ διατρίβουσι τὴν χειμερινὴν ὥραν δεχόμενοί τε τοὺς ἐπισυνιόντας ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς καὶ παρασκευαζόμενοι τὰ εἰς τὸν ἀπόπλουν.
In these thirty-seven days that elapsed from the taking of the city, I think that the Achaeans settled the affairs of the city, received the embassies from those who had revolted, and made treaties with them; and in the following year, which was the first after the taking of the city, about the autumnal equinox, the Trojans, having set out from the land, crossed the Hellespont, and having put in at Thrace, they spent the winter season there, both receiving those who flocked to them from the flight and preparing the things necessary for their voyage.
ἐκ δὲ τῆς Θρᾴκης ἀναστάντες ἔαρος ἀρχομένου τελοῦσι τὸν μεταξὺ πλοῦν ἄχρι Σικελίας· ἐκεῖ δὲ ὁρμισαμένοις αὐτοῖς τὸ ἔτος τοῦτο τελευτᾷ, καὶ διατρίβουσι τὸν δεύτερον χειμῶνα τὰς πόλεις συνοικίζοντες τοῖς Ἐλύμοις ἐν Σικελίᾳ.
Setting out from Thrace at the beginning of spring, they performed the intervening voyage as far as Sicily; and when they had anchored there, this year came to an end, and they spent the second winter there, colonizing the cities jointly with the Elymians in Sicily.
§1.63.3πλοΐμων δὲ γενομένων ἄραντες ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου περῶσι τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος καὶ τελευτῶντες εἰς Λωρεντὸν ἀφικνοῦνται τὸν Ἀβοριγίνων αἰγιαλὸν μεσούσης θερείας.
When navigation became possible, having set out from the island, they crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea and finally arrived at Laurentum, the coast of the Aborigines, in the middle of summer.
λαβόντες δὲ τὸ χωρίον οἰκίζουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ Λαουΐνιον τὸν δεύτερον ἀπὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως ἐκπληρώσαντες ἐνιαυτόν.
Having taken the place, they founded Lavinium in it, having completed the second year from the taking of the city.
καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων ὡς ἔχω δόξης δεδήλωταί μοι.
And concerning these things, my opinion has been shown by me.

Notes

  1. 158δευτέρῳ μετὰ τὴν ἔξοδον τὴν ἐκ Τροίας ἔτει — Means 'the year after the departure.' The ordinal 'second year' is a Greek-style inclusive reckoning where the year of the departure itself is counted as the first year.
  2. 159ὀγδόῃ φθίνοντος — A date expression in the Greek calendar based on reckoning backward from the end of the month (the waning period). In a thirty-day month (Thargelion), it corresponds to the 23rd day (30 - 8 + 1).
  3. p.v.1p.102ὑπὸ τὴν μετοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν — The preposition ὑπό with the accusative indicates closeness in time ('just before' or 'around'). Here it denotes the time close to the autumnal equinox.
  4. 161ὁρμισαμένοις αὐτοῖς — A dative participle clause. Since it does not agree with the subject of the main clause (τὸ ἔτος τοῦτο), it functions like a dative absolute, indicating the time/circumstances when they anchored.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.63.1-1.63.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.63.1-1.63.3

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