Humanitext Reader

Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §1.71.1-1.71.5

Succession of the Kings of Alba Longa

Passage 71 of 962 · Greek

Summary

This section recounts the reigns of the successive kings of Alba Longa, including the divine punishment of Allodius, and details the historical timeline of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus.

§1.71.1Σιλουΐου δʼ ἑνὸς δέοντα τριάκοντα ἔτη κατασχόντος τὴν ἀρχὴν Αἰνείας υἱὸς αὐτοῦ διαδεξάμενος τὴν δυναστείαν ἑνὶ πλείω τριάκοντα ἐτῶν ἐβασίλευσεν.
When Silvius had held the rule for twenty-nine years, his son Aeneas succeeded to the sovereignty and reigned for thirty-one years.
μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἓν καὶ πεντήκοντα Λατῖνος ἦρξεν ἔτη.
After him, Latinus ruled for fifty-one years.
Ἄλβας δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἑνὸς δέοντα τετταράκοντα ἔτη.
After him, Albas ruled for thirty-nine years.
μετὰ δὲ Ἄλβαν Κάπετος ἓξ ἐπὶ τοῖς εἴκοσιν.
After Albas, Capetus ruled for twenty-six years.
ἔπειτα Κάπυς δυεῖν δέοντα τριάκοντα.
Then Capys for twenty-eight years.
μετὰ δὲ Κάπυν Κάλπετος ἄχρι τρισκαίδεκα ἐτῶν κατέσχε τὴν ἀρχήν.
After Capys, Calpetus held the rule up to thirteen years.
§1.71.2ἑξῆς δὲ Τιβερῖνος ὀκταετῆ χρόνον ἐβασίλευσεν.
Next, Tiberinus reigned for a period of eight years.
τελευτῆσαι δʼ οὗτος ἐν μάχῃ παρὰ ποταμῷ γενομένῃ λέγεται· παρενεχθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥεύματος ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτῷ κατέλιπε τὸν ποταμὸν Ἄλβουλαν καλούμενον πρότερον.
He is said to have died in a battle that took place near a river; being carried away by the current, he left his own name to the river, which had previously been called Albula.
Τιβερίνου δὲ διάδοχος Ἀγρίππας ἓν καὶ τετταράκοντα ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη.
Agrippa, the successor of Tiberinus, reigned for forty-one years.
§1.71.3μετὰ δὲ Ἀγρίππαν Ἀλλώδιος τυραννικόν τι χρῆμα καὶ θεοῖς ἀπεχθόμενον ἑνὸς δέοντα εἴκοσιν· ᾧ περιφρονοῦντι τὰ δαιμόνια κατεσκεύαστο κεραυνῶν τε μιμήματα καὶ κτύποι βρονταῖς ἐμφερεῖς, οἷς δεδίττεσθαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὡς θεὸς ἠξίου.
After Agrippa, Allodius, a tyrannical person and hateful to the gods, ruled for nineteen years; for him, who despised the gods, there had been constructed imitations of lightning and noises resembling claps of thunder, by which he claimed to terrify men as though he were a god.
ὄμβρων δὲ καὶ κεραυνῶν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ κατασκηψάντων τῆς τε λίμνης, παρʼ ἣν οἰκῶν ἐτύγχανε, πλημμύραν οὐκ εἰωθυῖαν λαβούσης κατακλυσθεὶς πανοίκιος ἀπόλλυται.
But when heavy rains and thunderbolts fell upon his house, and the lake, near which he happened to dwell, rose in an unusual flood, he was overwhelmed by the waters and perished with his whole household.
καὶ νῦν ἔτι διαλαμπούσης τῆς λίμνης ἐν μέρει τινί, ὅταν ὑπονοστήσῃ τὸ νᾶμα καὶ σταθερὸς ὁ βυθὸς γένηται, παστάδων ἐρείπια καὶ ἄλλα οἰκήσεως ἴχνη φαίνεται.
And even now, when the lake is clear in a certain part, whenever the water subsides and the bottom becomes calm, the ruins of porticoes and other traces of a dwelling can be seen.
§1.71.4Ἀουεντῖνος δὲ παρὰ τούτου τὴν δυναστείαν διαδεξάμενος, ἀφʼ οὗ τῶν ἑπτὰ λόφων τις ἐπώνυμος ἐγένετο τῶν συμπεπολισμένων τῇ Ῥώμῃ, τριάκοντα καὶ ἑπτὰ ἔτη τὴν ἀρχὴν κατέσχεν.
Aventinus, succeeding to the sovereignty from him, after whom one of the seven hills that are incorporated into Rome was named, held the rule for thirty-seven years.
πρόκας δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἔτη εἴκοσι καὶ τρία.
Procas, after him, for twenty-three years.
ἔπειτα Ἀμόλιος οὐ σὺν δίκῃ τὴν βασιλείαν κατασχὼν Νεμέτορι προσήκουσαν, ὃς ἦν αὐτῷ πρεσβύτερος ἀδελφός, δύο καὶ τετταράκοντα ἔτη δυναστεύει.
Then Amulius, having seized by injustice the kingdom which belonged to Nemetor, who was his elder brother, ruled for forty-two years.
§1.71.5Ἀμολίου δὲ ἀναιρεθέντος ὑπὸ Ῥωμύλου καὶ Ῥώμου τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἱερᾶς κόρης γενομένων, ὡς αὐτίκα λεχθήσεται, μετὰ τὸν ἐκείνου θάνατον ἀπολαμβάνει τὴν κατὰ νόμον δυναστείαν Νεμέτωρ ὁ τῶν νεανίσκων μητροπάτωρ.
When Amulius had been slain by Romulus and Remus, who were born of the sacred virgin, as will be told immediately, Nemetor, the maternal grandfather of the youths, recovered the lawful sovereignty after his death.
τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς ἔτει τῆς Νεμέτορος ἀρχῆς, δευτέρῳ δὲ καὶ τριακοστῷ καὶ τετρακοσιοστῷ μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν, ἀποικίαν στείλαντες Ἀλβανοὶ Ῥωμύλου καὶ Ῥώμου τὴν ἡγεμονίαν αὐτῆς ἐχόντων κτίζουσι Ῥώμην ἔτους ἐνεστῶτος πρώτου τῆς ἑβδόμης ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν ἐνίκα στάδιον Δαϊκλῆς Μεσσήνιος, ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Χάροπος ἔτος τῆς δεκαετίας πρῶτον.
In the following year of Nemetor's rule, and in the four hundred and thirty-second year after the taking of Troy, the Albans, under the leadership of Romulus and Remus, sent out a colony and founded Rome, in the first year of the seventh Olympiad, which Daicles the Messenian won in the stadium, when Charops was archon at Athens in the first year of his ten-year term.

Notes

  1. ¦178¦Αἰνείας — This acts as the grammatical subject of the main verb ἐβασίλευσεν, following the genitive absolute construction Σιλουΐου ... κατασχόντος.
  2. ¦178¦ἑνὸς δέοντα τριάκοντα — An idiomatic numeral expression in Classical Greek meaning "thirty wanting one" (i.e., twenty-nine). The participle δέοντα is neuter plural accusative, agreeing with ἔτη.
  3. ¦179¦ᾧ περιφρονοῦντι τὰ δαιμόνια — The dative relative pronoun ᾧ, along with the participle περιφρονοῦντι, functions as a dative of interest/advantage with the impersonal pluperfect passive verb κατεσκεύαστο.
  4. ¦180¦ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Χάροπος — A genitive absolute construction ("when Charops was archon at Athens"). The following accusative phrase ἔτος πρῶτον functions as an accusative of duration of time, signifying "during the first year" of his ten-year term.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §1.71.1-1.71.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.71.1-1.71.5

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.