Pausanias Analysis

Passage 9.6.1 Class: Non-skeptical

τῶν δέ σφισιν ἐν ἀγῶσι πολέμου γενομένων εὐτυχημάτων, καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως, τοσάδε φανερώτατα ὄντα εὕρισκον. ἐκρατήθησαν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων μάχῃ Πλαταιεῦσιν ἀμυνάντων, ὅτε σφᾶς ἐπέλαβεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅρων πολεμῆσαι τῆς χώρας· προσέπταισαν δὲ καὶ δεύτερον Ἀθηναίοις ἀντιταξάμενοι περὶ Πλάταιαν, ἡνίκα δοκοῦσιν ἑλέσθαι τὰ βασιλέως Ξέρξου πρὸ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν.

Proper Nouns:

Ξέρξης Πλάταια Πλαταιαί Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀθηναῖοι Ἕλληνες

Among the successes occurring for them in contests of war, as well as events of the opposite kind, I find the following to have been most conspicuous: They were defeated by the Athenians in a battle, in which the Plataeans joined to defend themselves, when they attempted to wage war over disputed boundaries of the land; and they suffered another reverse, again opposed by the Athenians near Plataea, precisely at the time when they thought themselves about to seize the side of King Xerxes against the interests of Greece.

Passage 9.6.2 Class: Non-skeptical

τῆς δὲ αἰτίας ταύτης δημοσίᾳ σφίσιν οὐ μέτεστιν, ὅτι ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις ὀλιγαρχία καὶ οὐχὶ ἡ πάτριος πολιτεία τηνικαῦτα ἴσχυεν· εἰ γοῦν Πεισιστράτου τυραννοῦντος ἔτι ἢ τῶν παίδων Ἀθήνῃσιν ἀφίκετο ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὁ βάρβαρος, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐ καὶ Ἀθηναίους κατέλαβεν ἂν ἔγκλημα μηδισμοῦ.

Proper Nouns:

Θῆβαι Πεισίστρατος Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀθῆναι Ἑλλάς

They are publicly free from this blame, because at that time an oligarchy, rather than the ancestral form of government, held power in Thebes. Indeed, if the barbarians had invaded Greece when Peisistratus or his sons were still ruling as tyrants in Athens, the Athenians, too, would surely have been accused of siding with the Medes.

Passage 9.6.3 Class: Non-skeptical

ὕστερον μέντοι καὶ Θηβαίοις νίκη κατʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ τῷ Ταναγραίων ἐγένετο, καὶ Ἱπποκράτης τε ὁ Ἀρίφρονος, ὃς στρατηγὸς ἦν Ἀθηναίοις, καὶ τῆς ἄλλης στρατιᾶς τὸ πολὺ ἔπεσε. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ παραυτίκα μὲν ἀπελθόντος τοῦ Μήδου καὶ ἄχρι τοῦ Πελοποννησίων πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου τὰ ἐκ Θηβῶν εἶχεν ἐπιτηδείως· διαπολεμηθέντος δὲ τοῦ πολέμου καὶ Ἀθηναίοις καταλυθέντος τοῦ ναυτικοῦ, μετʼ οὐ πολὺ Θηβαῖοι μετὰ Κορινθίων ἐς τὸν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πόλεμον προήχθησαν.

Proper Nouns:

Δῆλιος Θηβαῖοι Θηβαῖοι Θῆβαι Κορίνθιοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι Μήδος Πελοποννήσιοι Ταναγραῖοι Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀρίφρων Ἱπποκράτης

Later, however, the Thebans also gained a victory over the Athenians at Delium in the territory of Tanagra; here Hippocrates, son of Ariphron, who was the general of the Athenians, fell, along with the greater part of the army. For the Lacedaemonians, immediately after the departure of the Persian and until the war between the Peloponnesians and Athenians, relations with Thebes were favorable. But once this war had been fought out and the naval power of Athens destroyed, the Thebans, not long after, entered into war against the Lacedaemonians alongside the Corinthians.

Passage 9.6.4 Class: Non-skeptical

κρατηθέντες δὲ μάχῃ περὶ Κόρινθόν τε καὶ ἐν Κορωνείᾳ, νικῶσιν αὖθις ἐν Λεύκτροις ἐπιφανεστάτην νίκην ὁπόσας γενομένας Ἕλλησιν ἴσμεν κατὰ Ἑλλήνων· καὶ δεκαδαρχίας τε, ἃς Λακεδαιμόνιοι κατέστησαν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἔπαυσαν καὶ ἁρμοστὰς τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ἐκβάλλουσιν. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τὸν Φωκικὸν πόλεμον, ὀνομαζόμενον δὲ ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἱερόν, συνεχῶς δέκα ἔτεσιν ἐπολέμησαν.

Proper Nouns:

Κορώνεια Κόρινθος Λακεδαιμόνιοι Λεῦκτρα Σπαρτιάται Φωκικός (πόλεμος) Ἕλληνες Ἕλληνες

After suffering defeat in battle near Corinth and at Coroneia, they subsequently won at Leuctra, gaining the most remarkable victory we know of among Greeks fighting against Greeks. They put an end to the decarchies that the Lacedaemonians had set up in the cities, and they expelled the Spartan harmosts. Later, they also carried on war against the Phocians—a conflict the Greeks have named the Sacred War—for ten continuous years.

Passage 9.6.5 Class: Non-skeptical

εἴρηται δέ μοι καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀτθίδι συγγραφῇ τὸ ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ σφάλμα συμφορὰν γενέσθαι τοῖς πᾶσιν Ἕλλησι· Θηβαίους δὲ καὶ ἐς πλέον κατέλαβεν, οἷς γε καὶ ἐσήχθη ἐς τὴν πόλιν φρουρά. Φιλίππου δὲ ἀποθανόντος καὶ ἐς Ἀλέξανδρον ἡκούσης τῆς Μακεδόνων ἀρχῆς, Θηβαίοις ἐπῆλθεν ἐξελεῖν τὴν φρουράν· ποιήσασι δὲ ταῦτα προεσήμαινεν αὐτίκα ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἐπιόντα ὄλεθρον, καί σφισιν ἐν Δήμητρος ἱερῷ Θεσμοφόρου σημεῖα ἐγένετο ἐναντία ἢ πρὸ τοῦ ἔργου τοῦ ἐν Λεύκτροις·

Proper Nouns:

Δήμητρα Θεσμοφόρος Θηβαῖοι Θηβαῖοι Λεῦκτρα Μακεδόνες Φίλιππος Χαιρώνεια Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀτθίς Ἕλληνες

I have already stated in my account of Attica that the defeat at Chaeronea proved disastrous for all of Greece; yet it brought even greater disaster on the Thebans, upon whom a garrison was introduced into their city. After Philip's death, and when the Macedonian rule had passed to Alexander, the Thebans attempted to drive out the garrison. But when they undertook this action, the god immediately foretold their approaching destruction; indeed, portents appeared to them in the sanctuary of Demeter Thesmophoros, opposite in meaning to those signs that had preceded their victory at Leuktra.

Passage 9.6.6 Class: Non-skeptical

τότε μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὰς θύρας ὑφάσματι ἀράχναι λευκῷ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Μακεδόνων ἔφοδον μέλανι ἐξύφηναν. λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναίοις ὗσαι τέφραν ὁ θεὸς ἐνιαυτῷ πρότερον πρὶν ἢ τὸν πόλεμον τὸν ἐπαχθέντα ὑπὸ Σύλλα τὰ μεγάλα σφίσιν ἐνεγκεῖν παθήματα.

Proper Nouns:

Μακεδόνες Σύλλας Ἀθηναῖοι Ἀλέξανδρος

For at that time, spiders spun white webs upon the doors of the temple, but at the invasion of Alexander and the Macedonians, they wove them black. It is also said that one year before the war inflicted by Sulla, which brought great suffering upon the Athenians, the god caused ashes to rain down upon them.

Legend:

Chapter 9.6