Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.5.10

← 4.5.9 4.6.1 →

Passage 4.5.10: Athenian shift from kingship to magistracy, removing the Medontidae.

Historical Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ταύτην Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρώτην ἐπὶ Μεσσηνίους ἔξοδον ἐποιήσαντο ἔτει δευτέρῳ τῆς ἐνάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἣν Ξενοδόκος Μεσσήνιος ἐνίκα στάδιον· Ἀθήνῃσι δὲ οὐκ ἦσάν πω τότε οἱ τῷ κλήρῳ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἄρχοντες· τοὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ Μελάνθου, καλουμένους δὲ Μεδοντίδας, κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἀφείλοντο ὁ δῆμος τῆς ἐξουσίας τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἀντὶ βασιλείας μετέστησαν ἐς ἀρχὴν ὑπεύθυνον, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ προθεσμίαν ἐτῶν δέκα ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀρχῆς. τότε δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς Ἀμφείας Αἰσιμίδης Ἀθηναίοις ἦρχεν ὁ Αἰσχύλου πέμπτον ἔτος.

English Translation

The Lacedaemonians made this first campaign against the Messenians in the second year of the ninth Olympiad, in which the Messenian Xenodokos won the stadion race. At that time, at Athens there were not yet magistrates who were chosen annually by lot. Indeed, the people initially stripped the descendants of Melanthus, known as the Medontidae, of most of their power, and changed the government from a kingship to a magistracy accountable to the people. Later, they even set a fixed period of ten years for their rule. At the time of the capture of Ampheia, Aesimides was governing the Athenians, in the fifth year of his magistracy, and he was the son of Aeschylus.

Proper Nouns

Olympiad (Ὀλυμπιάς) other
Aisimides (Αἰσιμίδης) person Q90974187
Aeschylus (Αἰσχύλος) person Q40939
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Medontidae (Μεδοντίδαι) person
Also in: 4.13.7
Melanthus (Μελάνθης) person
Messenians (Μεσσήνιοι) person
Messenians (Μεσσήνιος) person
Xenodokos (Ξενοδόκος) person
Athenians (Ἀθηναῖοι) person
Athens (Ἀθῆναι) place Q844930
Amphia (Ἀμφεία) place Q19760768
← 4.5.9 4.6.1 →