Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.24.5

← 4.24.4 4.24.6 →

Passage 4.24.5: Messenian revolt triggered by killing of Taenarum suppliants.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

Μεσσηνίων δὲ τοὺς ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἐν τῇ γῇ, συντελοῦντας κατὰ ἀνάγκην ἐς τοὺς εἵλωτας, ἐπέλαβεν ἀπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ὕστερον ἀποστῆναι κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ ἑβδομηκοστήν, ἣν Κορίνθιος ἐνίκα Ξενοφῶν, Ἀρχιμήδους Ἀθήνῃσιν ἄρχοντος· ἀπέστησαν δὲ καιρὸν τοιόνδε εὑρόντες. Λακεδαιμονίων ἄνδρες ἀποθανεῖν ἐπὶ ἐγκλήματι ὅτῳ δὴ καταγνωσθέντες ἱκέται καταφεύγουσιν ἐς Ταίναρον· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν ἐφόρων ἀπὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ σφᾶς ἀποσπάσασα ἀπέκτεινε.

English Translation

Those Messenians who were left behind in the land, forced by necessity to be enrolled among the Helots, later revolted from the Lacedaemonians in the seventy-ninth Olympiad, in which the Corinthian Xenophon was victorious, when Archimedes was archon at Athens. They chose for their revolt the following occasion: certain Lacedaemonian men, condemned to death for some criminal charge, had taken refuge as suppliants at Taenarum. From there the authority of the ephors dragged them away from the altar and put them to death.

Proper Nouns

Olympiad (Ὀλυμπιάς) other
Corinthians (Κορίνθιος) person
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Messenians (Μεσσήνιοι) person
Xenophon (Ξενοφῶν) person
Archimedes (Ἀρχιμήδης) person
Tainaron (Ταίναρον) place Q849911
Athens (Ἀθῆναι) place Q844930
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