Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.11.1

← 4.10.7 4.11.2 →

Passage 4.11.1: Troop deployment before the decisive battle in Aristodemus's fifth year.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

πέμπτῳ δὲ ἔτει τῆς Ἀριστοδήμου βασιλείας μελλόντων ἐκ προρρήσεως συμβολὴν ποιήσεσθαι---τῷ τε γὰρ μήκει τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τοῖς δαπανήμασιν ἀπειρήκεσαν---οὕτω παρεγένοντο ἀμφοτέροις καὶ οἱ σύμμαχοι, Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν Κορίνθιοι Πελοποννησίων μόνοι, τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις οἵ τε Ἀρκάδες πανστρατιᾷ καὶ Ἀργείων καὶ Σικυωνίων λογάδες. Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν οὖν Κορινθίοις καὶ τοῖς εἵλωσι καὶ ὅσοι περίοικοι συνεστρατεύοντο τὸ μέσον ἐπιτρέψαντες, ἐπὶ τοῖς κέρασιν αὐτοί τε καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐτάσσοντο βαθείᾳ τε ὡς οὔπω πρότερον καὶ πυκνῇ τῇ φάλαγγι.

English Translation

In the fifth year of Aristodemus's reign, as both sides were about to engage in a decisive confrontation due to a prophecy—for they had grown weary because of the war’s duration and its costs—the allies on each side assembled accordingly. To the Lacedaemonians came only the Corinthians from among the Peloponnesians, while to the Messenians came the Arcadians in full force and select troops from the Argives and Sicyonians. The Lacedaemonians therefore entrusted the center of their formation to the Corinthians, the helots, and those of the perioikoi who marched with them, while they themselves and their kings drew up on the wings, arranging their phalanx more deeply and densely than ever before.

Proper Nouns

Corinthians (Κορίνθιοι) people
Also in: 4.19.3 8.5.1
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) people
Messenians (Μεσσήνιοι) people
Peloponnesians (Πελοποννήσιοι) people
Also in: 10.8.5
Sicyonians (Σικυώνιοι) people
Argives (Ἀργεῖοι) people
Arcadians (Ἀρκάδες) people
Aristodemos (Ἀριστόδημος) person
← 4.10.7 4.11.2 →