Herodotus 8.56

[Phoebus_Apollo]

οἱ δὲ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι Ἕλληνες, ὥς σφι ἐξηγγέλθη ὡς ἔσχε τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀθηναίων ἀκρόπολιν, ἐς τοσοῦτον θόρυβον ἀπίκοντο ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν στρατηγῶν οὐδὲ κυρωθῆναι ἔμενον τὸ προκείμενον πρῆγμα, ἀλλ᾽ ἔς τε τὰς νέας ἐσέπιπτον καὶ ἱστία ἀείροντο ὡς ἀποθευσόμενοι·

What does the τα (which I’ve emboldened) mean here? I can only think it’s the subject of ἔσχε (‘how these things were’ ie ‘what had happened’) but I’m not sure.

[Hylander]

You’re right. τὰ is the subject of ἔσχε.

Imperfect ἔσχε suggests that the current situation, not so much the past events leading up to it (“what had happened”), is intended. Maybe “how [the] things on the Athenian acropolis were”, “what the situation on the Athenian acropolis was”.

[Phoebus_Apollo]

@Hylander

You’re right. τὰ is the subject of ἔσχε.

Imperfect ἔσχε suggests that the current situation, not so much the past events leading up to it (“what had happened”), is intended. Maybe “how [the] things on the Athenian acropolis were”, “what the situation on the Athenian acropolis was”.

Thank you Hylander!