Hi guys! I am following this tutorial based on John Williams White’s First Greek Book, built around Xenophon’s Anabasis, which I like very much by the way. In Lesson XXXII, we have to read the following passage:
ἐντεῦθεν ἐξελαύνει ἐπὶ πύλᾱς τῆς Κιλικίᾱς καὶ τῆς Συρίᾱς. ἦσαν δὲ αὗται δύο τείχη, > καὶ τὸ μὲν πρὸ τῆς Κιλικίᾰς τεῖχος Συέννεσις εἶχε καὶ Κιλίκων φυλακή, τὸ δὲ πρὸ τῆς Συρίᾱς Ἀρταξέρξου ἐλέγετο φυλακὴ φυλάττειν> . διὰ μέσου δὲ τούτων ῥεῖ ποταμός. καὶ ἡ πάροδος ἦν στενὴ καὶ τὰ τείχη εἰς τὴν θάλατταν καθῆκεν. ταύτᾱς τὰς πύλᾱς οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν Ἀβροκόμᾱς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ ἀκούει ὅτι Κῦρος ἐν Κιλικίᾳ ἐστί, παρὰ Ἀρταξέρξην ἀπελαύνει.
I have two questions regarding the emphasized passage:
- Is καὶ Κιλίκων φυλακή an epexegetic phrase telling us who this Συέννεσις is? Then I would render this first part like this: “And Συέννεσις, the Cilicians’ watchman, had the wall facing Cilicia”. My Spanish dictionary says that “φυλακὰς ἔχειν” means “to keep watch”, which would make sense here, but it’s not possible since φυλακή is nominative.
- Should the second part be understood as “But Artaxerxes’ garrison was charged with guarding the [wall] facing Syria”? I assume ἐλέγετο is passive. I would not know what to do with φυλακὴ if ἐλέγετο were middle voice.
This is the most I could achieve to make the passage have sense to me, but it feels like I’m missing something. It is also difficult to me to render an image of what is depicted here. How do those τείχη look like? A footnote in the aforementioned link says it should be translated as “walls”. But what kind of walls? Man-made walls? Gates? Mountains?
Any help would be much appreciated!
