Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.29.5

← 2.29.4 2.29.6 →

Passage 2.29.5: Aeginetan rise to naval power, exile to Thyrea, and later decline.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον μοῖρα Ἀργείων τῶν Ἐπίδαυρον ὁμοῦ Δηιφόντῃ κατασχόντων, διαβᾶσα ἐς Αἴγιναν καὶ Αἰγινήταις τοῖς ἀρχαίοις γενόμενοι σύνοικοι, τὰ Δωριέων ἔθη καὶ φωνὴν κατεστήσαντο ἐν τῇ νήσῳ. προελθοῦσι δὲ Αἰγινήταις ἐς μέγα δυνάμεως, ὡς Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι ναυσὶν ἐπικρατεστέρους καὶ ἐν τῷ Μηδικῷ πολέμῳ παρασχέσθαι πλοῖα μετά γε Ἀθηναίους πλεῖστα, οὐ παρέμεινεν ἐς ἅπαν ἡ εὐδαιμονία, γενόμενοι δὲ ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἀνάστατοι Θυρέαν τὴν ἐν τῇ Ἀργολίδι Λακεδαιμονίων δόντων ᾤκησαν. καὶ ἀπέλαβον μὲν τὴν νῆσον, ὅτε περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον αἱ Ἀθηναίων τριήρεις ἐλήφθησαν, πλούτου δὲ ἢ δυνάμεως οὐκέτι ἐξεγένετο ἐς ἴσον προελθεῖν σφισιν.

English Translation

Some time later, a part of the Argives who had occupied Epidaurus together with Deiphontes crossed over to Aegina, settled beside the original inhabitants, and established the customs and language of the Dorians upon the island. When eventually the Aeginetans became very powerful—so much so that they surpassed even the Athenians in naval strength and offered, next to Athens, the greatest number of ships during the Persian War—their prosperity did not last forever. Driven out by the Athenians and becoming exiles, they settled in Thyrea in the Argolid, a territory granted to them by the Lacedaemonians. Although they eventually regained their island, when the Athenian triremes were captured around the Hellespont, they never again rose to their former wealth and power.

Proper Nouns

Median (Μηδικός) other
Also in: 3.11.3 4.6.1
Aeginetans (Αἰγινῆται) person
Deiphontes (Δηιφόντης) person
Dorians (Δωριεῖς) person
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) person
Argives (Ἀργεῖοι) person
Aegina (Αἴγινα) place Q191082
Thyrea (Θυρέα) place Q3036391
Argolis (Ἀργολίς) place Q12649101
Epidaurus (Ἐπίδαυρος) place Q233576
Hellespont (Ἑλλήσποντος) place Q1250462
← 2.29.4 2.29.6 →