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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §2.1.1-2.1.4

Geographical Site of Rome and Earliest Successive Settlers

Passage 92 of 962 · Greek

Summary

Describes the geographical location of Rome and its earliest inhabitants, the Sicels, followed by successive waves of settlement by the Aborigines, Pelasgians, Arcadians under Evander, and Greeks (Epeans) who had accompanied Hercules.

§2.1.1ἡ Ῥωμαίων πόλις ἵδρυται μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἑσπερίοις μέρεσι τῆς Ἰταλίας περὶ ποταμὸν Τέβεριν, ὃς κατὰ μέσην μάλιστα τὴν ἀκτὴν ἐκδίδωσιν, ἀπέχουσα τῆς Τυρρηνικῆς θαλάττης ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σταδίους.
The city of Rome is situated in the western parts of Italy near the river Tiber, which empties itself about the middle of the coast, being one hundred and twenty stades distant from the Tyrrhenian Sea.
οἱ δὲ κατασχόντες αὐτὴν πρῶτοι τῶν μνημονευομένων βάρβαροί τινες ἦσαν αὐτόχθονες Σικελοὶ λεγόμενοι πολλά καὶ ἄλλα τῆς Ἰταλίας χωρία κατασχόντες, ὧν οὐκ ὀλίγα διέμεινεν οὐδʼ ἀφανῆ μνημεῖα μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρόνων, ἐν οἷς καὶ τόπων τινῶν ὀνόματα Σικελικὰ λεγόμενα, μηνύοντα τὴν πάλαι ποτὲ αὐτῶν ἐνοίκησιν.
The first of those recorded to have occupied it were certain barbarian autochthones called Sicels, who also occupied many other places in Italy; of these not a few nor obscure monuments have remained down to our times, among which are certain names of places called Sicelian, showing their ancient habitation there.
§2.1.2τούτους ἐκβαλόντες Ἀβοριγῖνες αὐτοὶ κατέσχον τὸν τόπον Οἰνώτρων ὄντες ἀπόγονοι τῶν κατοικούντων τὴν ἀπὸ Τάραντος ἄχρι Ποσειδωνίας παράλιον.
Having expelled these, the Aborigines themselves occupied the place, being descendants of the Oenotrians who inhabited the coastal region from Tarentum to Poseidonia.
ἱερά τις αὕτη νεότης καθοσιωθεῖσα θεοῖς κατὰ τὸν ἐπιχώριον νόμον ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων ἀποσταλῆναι λέγεται χώραν οἰκήσουσα τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου σφίσι δοθησομένην.
This certain sacred youth, having been consecrated to the gods according to the local custom, is said to have been sent out by their fathers to inhabit the land which was to be given to them by the deity.
τὸ δὲ τῶν Οἰνώτρων γένος Ἀρκαδικὸν ἦν ἐκ τῆς τότε μὲν καλουμένης Λυκαονίας, νῦν δὲ Ἀρκαδίας, ἑκουσίως ἐξελθὸν ἐπὶ γῆς κτῆσιν ἀμείνονος ἡγουμένου τῆς ἀποικίας Οἰνώτρου τοῦ Λυκάονος, §2.1.3ἐφʼ οὗ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν τὸ ἔθνος ἔλαβεν.
The race of the Oenotrians was Arcadian, from the place then called Lycaonia but now Arcadia, having voluntarily gone out for the acquisition of a better land, under the leadership of Oenotrus, the son of Lycaon, who led the colony, from whom the nation received its name.
Ἀβοριγίνων δὲ κατεχόντων τὰ χωρία πρῶτοι μὲν αὐτοῖς γίνονται σύνοικοι Πελασγοὶ πλάνητες ἐκ τῆς τότε μὲν καλουμένης Αἱμονίας, νῦν δὲ Θετταλίας, ἐν ᾗ χρόνον τινὰ ᾤκησαν·
While the Aborigines occupied these places, the first to become joint-settlers with them were the wandering Pelasgians from the land then called Haemonia but now Thessaly, in which they had dwelt for some time.
μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Πελασγοὺς Ἀρκάδες ἐκ Παλλαντίου πόλεως ἐξελθόντες Εὔανδρον ἡγεμόνα ποιησάμενοι τῆς ἀποικίας Ἑρμοῦ καὶ νύμφης Θέμιδος υἱόν, οἳ πρὸς ἑνὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ λόφων πολίζονται ὃς ἐν μέσῳ μάλιστα κεῖται τῆς Ῥώμης, Παλλάντιον ὀνομάσαντες τὸ χωρίον ἐπὶ τῆς ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ πατρίδος.
After the Pelasgians came the Arcadians, who had gone out from the city of Pallantium, having made Evander, the son of Hermes and the nymph Themis, the leader of the colony; they built a town near one of the seven hills which lies almost in the middle of Rome, naming the place Pallantium after their mother-city in Arcadia.
§2.1.4χρόνοις δʼ οὐ πολλοῖς ὕστερον Ἡρακλέους καταχθέντος εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ὅτε τὴν στρατιὰν ἐξ Ἐρυθείας οἴκαδε ἀπήγαγε, μοῖρά τις ὑπολειφθεῖσα τῆς σὺν αὐτῷ δυνάμεως Ἑλληνικὴ πλησίον ἱδρύεται τοῦ Παλλαντίου, πρὸς ἑτέρῳ τῶν ἐμπεπολισμένων τῇ πόλει λόφων, ὃς τότε μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων Σατόρνιος ἐλέγετο, νῦν δὲ Καπιτωλῖνος ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων· Ἐπειοὶ οἱ πλείους τούτων ἦσαν ἐκ πόλεως Ἤλιδος ἐξαναστάντες διαπεπορθημένης αὐτοῖς τῆς πατρίδος ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους.
Not many years later, when Hercules arrived in Italy, as he was leading his army home from Erytheia, a certain Greek part of the force with him, being left behind, settled near Pallantium, by another of the hills incorporated into the city, which was then called Saturnius by the local inhabitants, but now Capitoline by the Romans; the majority of these were Epeans who had migrated from the city of Elis, after their homeland had been plundered by Hercules.

Notes

  1. 2.1.2ἱερά τις αὕτη νεότης ... ἀποσταλῆναι λέγεται χώραν οἰκήσουσα — The feminine singular collective noun `νεότης` ("youth") is the subject, forming a personal construction with the passive verb `λέγεται` followed by the infinitive `ἀποσταλῆναι` ("is said to have been sent"). The future participle of purpose `οἰκήσουσα` also grammatically agrees with this feminine singular subject.
  2. 2.1.2ἡγουμένου τῆς ἀποικίας Οἰνώτρου τοῦ Λυκάονος — A genitive absolute construction where `Οἰνώτρου τοῦ Λυκάονος` is the logical subject, modified by the present participle `ἡγουμένου`. The noun phrase `τῆς ἀποικίας` is the genitive object governed by the verb `ἡγέομαι` ("to lead").
  3. 2.1.4διαπεπορθημένης αὐτοῖς τῆς πατρίδος — A genitive absolute construction with `τῆς πατρίδος` as the logical subject, modified by the perfect passive participle `διαπεπορθημένης`. The pronoun `αὐτοῖς` can be interpreted either as a dative of interest ("for them") or as a dative of agent ("by them") which is regularly used with perfect passive forms.

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §2.1.1-2.1.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.1.1-2.1.4

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