Pausanias Analysis

Passage 2.38.5

← 2.38.4 2.38.6 →

Passage 2.38.5: The battle and tombs of the 300 at Thyreatis

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

δὲ ἄνω πρὸς τὴν ἤπειρον ἀπʼ αὐτῆς χωρίον ἐστίν, ἔνθα δὴ ἐμαχέσαντο ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς ταύτης λογάδες Ἀργείων τριακόσιοι πρὸς ἄνδρας Λακεδαιμονίων ἀριθμόν τε ἴσους καὶ ἐπιλέκτους ὁμοίως. ἀποθανόντων δὲ ἁπάντων πλὴν ἑνὸς Σπαρτιάτου καὶ δυοῖν Ἀργείων, τοῖς μὲν ἀποθανοῦσιν ἐχώσθησαν ἐνταῦθα οἱ τάφοι, τὴν χώραν δὲ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι γενομένου πανδημεί σφισιν ἀγῶνος πρὸς Ἀργείους κρατήσαντες βεβαίως αὐτοί τε παραυτίκα ἐκαρποῦντο καὶ ὕστερον Αἰγινήταις ἔδοσαν ἐκπεσοῦσιν ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων ἐκ τῆς νήσου. τὰ δὲ ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ τὴν Θυρεᾶτιν ἐνέμοντο Ἀργεῖοι· φασὶ δὲ ἀνασώσασθαι δίκῃ νικήσαντες.

English Translation

Inland above the city there is a region where once three hundred chosen Argives fought for possession of the land against an equal number of Spartans, likewise selected men. After they had all fallen except one Spartan and two Argives, tombs were raised there for those who had died. Later, the Lacedaemonians, when they had defeated the Argives in a full-scale engagement, firmly secured possession of this territory. They themselves cultivated it for a time, and subsequently gave it to the Aeginetans, who had been driven out of their island by the Athenians. But in my own time the Argives once again inhabited the Thyreatis, claiming that they had rightfully recovered it by prevailing in a judicial dispute.

Proper Nouns

Aeginetans (Αἰγινῆται) person
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Spartan (Σπαρτιάτης) person
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) person
Argives (Ἀργεῖοι) person
Thyreatis (Θυρεᾶτις) place Q131035085
← 2.38.4 2.38.6 →