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mingshey
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Post by mingshey »

The Battle of Thermopylae, exerpts from Chase&Phillips, "A New Introduction to Greek"

?πειδὴ δὲ οἱ Πέ?σαι ἦσαν ?γγὺς τῶν ?ν Θε?μοπύλαις Ἑλλήνων, Ξέ?ξης ?νόμιζεν ?κείνους ὀλίγων ἡμε?ῶν ἀπιέναι. οἱ δὲ ο?κ ?ποίουν τοῦτο. ?ν νῷ οὖν εἶχεν ? βασιλεὺς τοὺς στ?ατιώτας πέμπειν ?πὶ τοὺς πολεμίους. ?κέλευσεν δὲ τοὺς Μήδους λαβεῖν τινας τῶν Ἑλλήνων αἰχμαλώτους καὶ ἀπάγειν π?ὸς ἑαυτόν. π?ῶτον μὲν οὖν οἱ Μῆδοι ?πολέμουν τοῖς ?λλησι καὶ ουδὲν κακὸν α?τοὺς ?ποίησαν. διὰ δὲ ταῦτα δῆλον ἦν ο? μόνον τῷ Ξέ?ξῃ ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσιν ὅτι πολλοὶ μὲν ἄνθ?ωποί εἰσιν ὀλίγοι δὲ ἄνδ?ες.

When the Persians were close to the Greeks in the Thermopylae, Xerxes thought those(Greeks) would withdraw in few days. But they did not do so. The king had in his thought to send the soldiers to the enemies. He commanded the Medians to take some of the Greeks (as) captives and bring them to himself. For the first time the Medians fought the Greeks and made little harm to them. But through this it was clear not only to Xerxes but also to everybody that there was many men but few warriors.

ἔπειτα δὲ ? Ξέ?ξης ἔπεμψεν τοὺς Πέ?σας οἳ ἦσαν βέλτιστοι καὶ κ?άτιστοι τῶν στ?ατιωτῶν πάντων. τούτους δὲ οἱ τότε ?κάλουν τοὺς ἀθανάτους, ὧν ἦ?χεν Ὑδά?νης. ?πεὶ δ? οὗτοι ?πολέμουν τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις καὶ τοῖς συμμάχοις ο?δὲν πλέον ?ποίουν τοῦ στ?ατεύματος τοῦ Μηδικοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ α?τὰ, οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ?μάχοντο ἀξίως λόγου καὶ ἔπιπτον α?τῶν τῶν Σπα?τιατῶν ?νταῦθα ὀλίγοι.

Then Xerxes sent the Persians who was the bravest and strongest of all the soldiers. Those at that time called them the Immortals, whom Hydarnes led. But when they fought the Lacedaemonians and their allies they made no better than the armies of Medians, but the same. But the Lacedaemonians fought worth of a saying(notably) and there fell (only) a little among the Spartans.

(Herodotus, adapted)

Γο?γὼ ἡ Λεωνίδου γυνὴ πα?αδιδοῦσα τῷ υἱῷ τὴν ἀσπίδα ἔλεγεν, "ἢ ταύτην ἢ ?πὶ ταύτῃ."

Gorgo the wife of Leonidas giving the shield to her son said, "(Return) this(a symbol of victory), or upon this(dead, the shild as a stretcher)."

I have watched 300 recently, by a video tape. And it reminded me of the phrases I learnt many years ago and I did not interprete properly then. I try once again.

In the movie Gorgo says those words to his husband. The details are a bit twisted but I think the movie revives the historical records quite truthfully to some measure and I think how great it would be if it was dubbed in Classical Greek. :D

There's part of Simonides' " Ὠ ξεῖν..." in C&P but I had already brought it up in the forum months ago and it is now neatly presented in William's "Aoidoi.org" 8)

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IreneY
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Post by IreneY »

Ah, the "Ἢ τὰν ἢ ?πὶ τᾶς" we like so much to quote (though I can't say I blame Archilochus' take on the whole issue :D ). I think we've got it from Plutarch but then I am not sure (I am talking about this verson of "with your shield or on your shield"). Interestingly enough the women of Mani (some rather warlike people of the region of Lacedaimon in Modern Greek) used to say to their menfolk "if you don't win don't come back" :D. I bet all societies of the kind have some similar saying though I am not so sure how often its the women who do the goading.

mingshey
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Post by mingshey »

IreneY wrote:though I can't say I blame Archilochus' take on the whole issue :D
You must be refferring to this story. :D Couple of years has passed since I was reading commentaries on Archilochus' poems.

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IreneY
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Post by IreneY »

Yes, I remember first encountering the poem in Uni. I was browsing through the book and I actually chuckled quite loudly. The prof wanted to know what was so funny so I had to fess up to not paying adequate attention to what he was saying. Luckily he had (has really) loads of humour and also liked that little poem :D

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