Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.8.9

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Passage 8.8.9: Agesipolis captures Mantineia using Cimon's tactic, razes the city and resettles inhabitants.

Historical Skeptical

Greek Text

τοῦτο οὐκ Ἀγησίπολις τὸ στρατήγημα ἐς τὸ τεῖχος τῶν Μαντινέων ἐστὶν ὁ συνείς, ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἔτι Κίμωνι ἐξευρέθη τῷ Μιλτιάδου Βόγην πολιορκοῦντι ἄνδρα Μῆδον καὶ ὅσοι Περσῶν Ἠιόνα τὴν ἐπὶ Στρυμόνι εἶχον· Ἀγησίπολις δὲ καθεστηκὸς καὶ ᾀδόμενον ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἐμιμήσατο. ὡς δὲ εἷλε τὴν Μαντίνειαν, ὀλίγον μέν τι κατέλιπεν οἰκεῖσθαι, τὸ πλεῖστον δὲ ἐς ἔδαφος καταβαλὼν αὐτῆς κατὰ κώμας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διῴκισε.

English Translation

This stratagem for capturing the wall of Mantineia was not devised by Agesipolis; rather, it had earlier been discovered by Cimon, son of Miltiades, when he besieged Boges, a Mede, and the Persian forces occupying Eion on the Strymon. Agesipolis merely imitated a tactic already established and celebrated among the Greeks. After he had taken Mantineia, he allowed only a small portion of the city to remain inhabited; the greater part he razed entirely to the ground and dispersed the inhabitants, settling them in separate villages.

Proper Nouns

Persians (Πέρσαι) other Q788458
Hellenes (Ἕλληνες) other Q539051
Bogeas (Βόγης) person
Cimon (Κίμων) person Q218102
Miltiades (Μιλτιάδης) person Q210350
Mede (Μῆδος) person
Agesipolis (Ἀγησίπολις) person Q393079
Mantineia (Μαντίνεια) place Q1160195
Strymon (Στρυμών) place Q204127
Eion (Ἠϊών) place Q1268859
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