Reginald Walter Macan, Herodotus, The Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books with Introduction and Commentary

---

---

Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ: if τὰ περὶ Φωκέων, cc. 17, 18, should be judged an addition, second hand (cp. Introduction, § 9), these words would correspond with ταῦτα μὲν Ὀρχομενίου κτλ. at the end of c. 16. The exact point of time at which ‘the Lakedaimonians’ reached the Isthmos has not been previously indicated. The 5000 ‘Spartiates’ have started in e. 10, followed by 5000 Perioikoi in c. 11; these forces are under way in c. 12; but the Spartiatai have not reached the Isthmos in c. 13 when Mardonios decided and began to evacuate Attica (πρἱν ἢ τοὺς μετὰ Παυσανίεω ἐς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἐσβαλεῖν). The arrival of 1000 ‘Lakedaimonians,’ apparently an advanced guard, at Megara is recorded in c. 14, and Mardonios is apparently still in Attica; in c. 15 intelligence reaches Mardonios that ἁλέες εἴησαν οἱ Ελληνες ἐν τῷ Ἰσθμῷ. Only then does he finally clear out of Attica. οἱ Ἕλληνες there covers more than Λακεδαιμόνιοι here (esp. ἁλέες), and anticipates the junction of οἱ λοιποὶ Πελοποννήσιοι τοῖσι τὰ ἀμείνω ἑάνδανε with the Lakedaimonians, which is recorded here immediately below. The position of the πρόδρομος στρατιή, Λακεδαιμονίων χίλιοι (c. 14) at Megara is a little obscure; but there is a moment apparently before Mardonios has evacuated Attica when 1000 Lakedaimonians are in Megara, and some 9000-10,000 at the Isthmos, or on the way thither, to say nothing of the Helots. At the Isthmos they are joined by the rest of the confederate forces from Peloponnese, but only after Mardonios has heard of this mobilization and concentration does he evacuate Attica; and only after he has evacuated Attica do the confederate forces advance to Eleusis. It is just conceivable that the arrival of the πρόδρομος στρατιή in Megara is not quite correctly chronologized in c. 14, and that it was not separated by so large an interval as is there implied from the advance of the confederate forces from the Isthmos to Eleusis. Probably the last of the Persian cavalry had ridden down the northern slopcs of Kithairon, and the construction of the camp on the Asopos was reported at Eleusis, before the sacrifices proved favourable to an advance into Boiotia.

---

τοῖσι τὰ ἀμείνω ἑάνδανε, ‘which were (being) pleased with the better’— part, or policy? Is it the same as οἱ τὰ ἀμείνω φρονέοντες (cp. 7. 145)? Cp. 8. 29. The ones unrepresented were Argives, and some of the Achaian and Arkadian towns; with the exception of the Lepreatai all the states enumerated below, c. 28, had sent men to Thermopylai and Salamis (7. 202, 8. 1, 43).

οἳ δὲ καὶ ὁρῶντες ἐξ. Σπ. seems to be a qualification of the immediately preceding, ‘but only when they saw’ —or even perhaps but ‘some of them only when they saw . .’ Others may have been at the Isthmos before, or all along. The ‘seeing’ is not perhaps to be taken quite literally; cp. c. 16 supra.

---

ἐδικαίευν: cp. 8. 126.

λείπεσθαι, to miss, remain behind; cp. 7. 168, 8. 44, 113.

---

καλλιερησάντων: for the constr. cp. 7. 134. In the previous year the sacrifices had proved unfavourable, cp. c. 10 supra, and the Peloponnesians had not advanced beyond their wall. Even now, they are only favourable when Mardonios is already out of reach, or clearly not remaining in Attica; or at least not in occupation of the Thriasian plain.

---

ὥς σφι ἐκαλλιέρεε: why was there a fresh sacrifice? There was a fresh frontier to be crossed. Even if the sacrifice at the Isthmos might have carried the Peloponnesians to Erythrai (no express sacrifice is recorded in the Megarid, but there may have been one) there were the Athenians to be considered. Had Mardonios remained about Athens there could have been no fresh διαβατήρια, but no doubt there would have been daily θυσίαι ἐπὶ τῷ Πέρσῃ until the opportune moment arrived for forward action; cp. cc. 33, 36, 61 f. infra.

Is it at all likely that the Peloponnesians expected to find the Persians on the Thriasian plain (as Stein suggests)? The Athenians in Salamis, to say nothing of their own πρόδρομοι and ἡμεροσκόποι, will have kept them better informed than that. It appears, on the contrary, obvious that the sacrifices became favourable to an advance only when the road was known to be clear.

---

ὡς δὲ ἄρα ἀπίκοντο τῆς Βοιωτίης ἐς Ἐρυθράς: there was something a little surprising in this movement, which certainly marks a new departure in the action (ἄρα); nothing like it has been attempted on land since the fiasco at Thermopylai; and the Persians might have been holding the pass. No doubt the junction with the Athenians is the decisive factor, and the Athenians are the driving force, in the advance into Boiotia. The advance to Eleusis was not definitely what the move into Boiotia is, a resumption of the offensive: perhaps at the same time the fleet leaves Salamis for Aigina, or Aigina for Delos, not to say Delos for Ionia.

Erythrai has been given, c. 15 supra, as the terminus a quo for the construction or measurement of the Persian στρατόπεδον. If the Persians were really at Erythrai, the Greeks could not have arrived there without first clearing the Persians out: that would have entailed a fight. Stem says there must here be a gap in Hdt.'s narrative. The Hellenes must have forced the pass of Eleutherai, and driven the enemy eastward on to the fortified camp at Skolos, and north, into the plain. But is that convincing? The forcing of the pass of EleutheraiErythrai, i.e. Dryoskephalai, would have been a colossal affair; imagine its <*>ving made not the faintest impression upon the traditions of the Persian war! The holding of the pass would not have been good strategy on Mardonios' part, nor in accord with his general plan, as given <*> c. 13 supra. Moreover, as above shown, the fortified camp was not at Skolos, and had it been so, the sight presented to the Greeks, when they took up their quarters at Erythrai, would not have been that described in this chapter. Finally, Erythrai was not included in the Persian lines, cp. notes to c. 15 above.

The position of Erythrai has been determined by G. B. Grundy against Leake, cp. The Great Persian War (1901) pp. 458 ff. It is on the higher ground, above Kriekouki, in the gorge through which issued the direct road from Eleutherai to Thebes: ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπωρέης τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος. The exact site of the town matters little, as the name is here doubtless used for the χώρα, cp. c. 17 supra.

---

ἔμαθον ... τοὺς β. ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀσωπῷ στ.: the whole army would, on arriving at Erythrai, and taking up its position in the Erythraiis, see the Persian encampment below; but of course the generals at least knew what to expect before they sighted it. The building of a huge fortified camp, and the settlement of the Persian lines in front of the Erythraian, Hysian, and (in part) Plataian ὑπωρέη, were doubtless reported at Eleusis before the Greek army advanced up the pass. ἐπὶ τῷ Ἀσώπῳ would be an appropriate expression whether the camp was all in front of the river, or all behind the river, or partly on one side and partly on the other. The third alternative is to be preferred, but not to the extent of putting the τεῖχος far away to the east, on the S. side of the river, at Skolos. The object of Mardonios was to bring the Greeks down on to the lower ground, and even to draw them across the river; but in the first instance at least he would probably retain at least the tête du pont on the Erythraian side of the bridge.

Stein's text gives an anakoluthon ἔμαθόν τε δὴ ... φρασθέντες δέ κτλ. which he defends as an Herodoteanism, referring to 1. 108 οὔτε ... παρεῖδες . . φυλασσόμεθα δέ (instead of τε). 153 ἐπ᾽ οὓς ἐπεῖχέ τε στρατηλατέειν αὐτός, ἐπὶ δὲ Ἴωνας ἄλλον πέμπειν στρατηγόν. 2. 126 τὴν δὲ τά τε ... πρήσσεσθαι ἰδίῃ δὲ κτλ. 3. 38 πολλοῖσί τε ... ἐν δὲ δὴ καὶ τῷδε. 4. 76 μήτε τεων ἄλλων Ἑλληνικοῖσι δὲ καὶ ἥκιστα. 8 142 οὔτε γε ἀλλοῖσι . . ὑμῖν δὲ δὴ καὶ διὰ πάντων ἥκιστα.

---

Κιθαιρῶνος: the mighty mountain chain which divides Attica from Boiotia, Parnes being but an eastward extension, while a southern ridge (Ὄνεια), terminating in the Κέρατα, divided Attica from Megaris; cp. 7. 141 supra and Strabo 380 (the view from the Akrokorinthos), 393 (the Ὄνεια), 405 (the western end, above the Krisaian gulf, and the continuity of Kithairon, the Megaric and the Attic mountains), 408-9 (the relation of Kithairon to the Asopos and the Parasopia), 411 (Plataia). But after all the identity of Kithairon is sufficiently attested by this very Book.

Hdt. takes the Greek forces over Kithairon in this chapter rather easily. No doubt the main body will have marched by the Eleutherai road; but some may have found their way over by the pass from Megara, cp. c. 13 supra, or even by the Aigosthena route; cp. ibid. The Hellenes are now in ‘the first position,’ or busily engaged in getting into it (ἀντετάσσοντο ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπωρέης τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος); but in what order they deploy thereinto, by what manœuvres the various contingents take up their stations, what their line of battle, or of encampment, opposite the Persian, Hdt. does not describe, or indicate; but presently the Megarians are exposed to the brunt of the cavalry attack: they were therefore perhaps athwart the main road. In the absence of further positive indications we must either (i.) carry back the line of battle, described below for ‘the second position,’ and make it hold good for the first also; or else (ii.) post the Megarians simply at the head of the marching column, with the Athenians immediately behind them, so naturally coming to their support, while the Peloponnesians bring up the rear of the agmen. Cp. Appendix VIII. § 7.