Book 7
It was the Phocians It is to be noted that in 480 the pass of +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus) Thermopylae was no longer in Phocian territory. who built it for fear of the Thessalians when these came from +Nomo Thesprotias [20.333,39.5] (department), Epirus, Greece, Europe Thesprotia to dwell in the Aeolian land, the region which they now possess. Since the Thessalians were trying to subdue them, the Phocians made this their protection, and in their search for every means to keep the Thessalians from invading their country, they then turned the stream from the hot springs into the pass, so that it might be a watercourse.
The ancient wall had been built long ago and most of it lay in ruins; those who built it up again thought that they would in this way bar the foreigner's way into Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas. Very near the road is a village called Alpeni, and it is from here that the Greeks expected to obtain provisions.
These places, then, were thought by the Greeks to suit their purpose. After making a thorough survey, they concluded that the barbarians could not make use of their entire army, nor of their horsemen. They therefore resolved, that they would meet the invader of Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas here. Then, when they heard that the Persian was in +Pieria [22.416,40.25] (department), Macedonia, Greece, Europe Pieria, they broke up from the Isthmus and set out with their army to +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus) Thermopylae and with their fleet to +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium.
So with all speed the Greeks went their several ways to meet the enemy. In the meantime, the Delphians, who were afraid for themselves and for Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas, consulted the god. They were advised to pray to the winds, for these would be potent allies for Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas.
When they had received the oracle, the Delphians first sent word of it to those Greeks who desired to be free; because of their dread of the barbarian, they were forever grateful. Subsequently they erected an altar to the winds at Thyia, the present location of the precinct of Thyia the daughter of Cephisus, and they offered sacrifices to them. This, then, is the reason why the Delphians to this day offer the winds sacrifice of propitiation.
Xerxes' fleet, however, set forth from the city of +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma, and the ten swiftest of the ships laid their course straight for Sciathus, where there lay an advance guard of three Greek ships, a Troezenian, an Aeginetan, and an Attic. These, when they sighted the foreigners ships, took to flight.
The ship of Troizen [23.375,37.5] (Perseus)Troezen, of which Prexinus was captain, was pursued and straightway captured by the foreigners, who brought the best of its fighting men and cut his throat on the ship's prow, thinking that the sacrifice διαδέξιον has been otherwise translated, as meaning “of good augury”; Stein derives it rather from διαδέξεσθαι, supposing the meaning to be “a sacrifice where the portions of the victim are handed round among the sacrificers.” of the foremost and fairest of their Greek captives would be auspicious. The name of the sacrificed man was Leon, and it was perhaps his name that he had to thank for it.
The Aeginetan trireme, of which Asonides was captain, did however give them some trouble. On board this ship was Pytheas son of Ischenous, who acted heroically on that day. When his ship had been taken, he would not stop fighting until he had been entirely hacked to mincemeat.
When he finally did fall, he still had life in him, and the Persian soldiers on the ships took great pains to keep him alive for his valor, tending his wounds with ointments and wrapping him in bandages of linen clothCommonly used for mummy-wrappings in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt; cp. Hdt. 2.86..
Upon returning to their own station, they showed him to the whole host, and made much of him and treated him with kindness. The rest of those whom they took in that ship, however, they used as slaves.
Two of the ships, then, were made captive, and the third trireme, of which Phormus an Athenian was captain, ran aground in her flight at the mouth of the Peneus; the barbarians took her hull but not the crew, for the Athenians, as soon as they had run their craft aground, leapt out and made their way through +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly to Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens.
The Greeks who were stationed at +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium were informed of these matters by beacons from Sciathus. They were frightened by this and accordingly changed their anchorage from +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium to +Chalcis [23.6083,38.4667] (Perseus) Chalcis, proposing to guard the Euripus and leaving watchmen on the heights of +Euboea [23.833,38.566] (island), Nomos Evvoias, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Euboea.
Three of the ten barbarian ships ran aground on the reef called the Ant, which lies between Sciathus and Nomos Magnisias [22.75,39.25] (department), Thessaly, Greece, EuropeMagnesia. The barbarians then brought a pillar of stone and set it on the reef, and when their course was plain before them, the whole fleet set forth and sailed from +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma, eleven days after the king had marched from there.
It was Pammon of Scyros who showed them where in the strait the reef lay. After sailing along all day, the foreign fleet reached Sepias in Nomos Magnisias [22.75,39.25] (department), Thessaly, Greece, EuropeMagnesia and the beach between the town of Casthanaea and the Sepiad headland.
Until the whole host reached this place and +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus) Thermopylae it suffered no hurt, and calculation proves to me that its numbers were still such as I will now show. The ships from Asia (continent)Asia were twelve hundred and seven in number, and including the entire host of nations involved, there were a total of two hundred and forty-one thousand and four hundred men, two hundred being reckoned for each ship.
200 was the usual complement for a Greek trireme—170 rowers, 30 fighters.On board all these ships were thirty fighting men of the Persians and Medes and Sacae in addition to the company which each had of native fighters; the number of this added contingent is thirty-six thousand, two hundred and ten.
To this and to the first number I add the crews of the ships of fifty oars, calculating eighty men for each, whether there were actually more or fewer. Now seeing that, as has already been said,In 97. But Herodotus' total of 3000 there is only partly composed of fifty-oared ships. three thousand of these vessels were assembled, the number of men in them must have been two hundred and forty thousand.
These, then, were the ships' companies from Asia (continent)Asia, and the total number of them was five hundred and seventeen thousand, six hundred and ten. There were seven hundred thousand and one hundred footsoldiers and eighty thousand cavalrymen; to these I add the Arabian camel-riders and Libyan charioteers, estimating them to have been twenty thousand in number.
The forces of sea and land added together would consist of two million, three hundred and seventeen thousand, six hundred and ten men. So far I have spoken of the force which came from Asia (continent)Asia itself, without the train of servants which followed it and the companies of the grain-bearing craft.
I must, however, also take into account the force brought from Europe (continent)Europe, and I will rely on my best judgment in doing so. The Greeks of Thrace (region (general)), EuropeThrace and the islands off Thrace (region (general)), EuropeThrace furnished one hundred and twenty ships, and the companies of these ships must then have consisted of twenty-four thousand men.
As regards the land army supplied by all the nations—Thracians, Paeonians, Eordi, Bottiaei, Chalcidians, Brygi, Pierians, Macedonians, Perrhaebi, Enienes, Dolopes, Magnesians, Achaeans, dwellers on the coast of Thrace (region (general)), EuropeThrace—of all these I suppose the number to have been three hundred thousand.
When these numbers are added to the numbers from Asia (continent)Asia, the sum total of fighting men is two million, six hundred and forty-one thousand, six hundred and ten.
This then is the number of soldiers. As for the service-train which followed them and the crews of the light corn-bearing vessels and all the other vessels besides which came by sea with the force, these I believe to have been not fewer but more than the fighting men.
Suppose, however, that they were equal in number, neither more nor fewer. If they were equal to the fighting contingent, they made up as many tens of thousands as the others. The number, then, of those whom Xerxes son of Darius led as far as the Sepiad headland and +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus) Thermopylae was five million, two hundred and eighty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty.
That is the number of Xerxes' whole force. No one, however, can say what the exact number of cooking women, and concubines, and eunuchs was, nor can one determine the number of the beasts of draught and burden, and the Indian dogs which accompanied the host; so many of them were there. It is accordingly not surprising to me that some of the streams of water ran dry. I do, however, wonder how there were provisions sufficient for so many tens of thousands,
for calculation shows me, that if each man received one choenix of wheat a day and no more, eleven hundred thousand and three hundred and forty bushels would be required every day.The figure is wrong. Reckoning 48 choenixes to the medimnus, Herodotus has of course divided 5,283, 220 by 48. The right quotient is 110,067.083. 5,280,000 divided by 48 produces 110,000; 3220 divided by 48 leaves a dividend, after the first stage of division, of 340, and this for some unexplained reason Herodotus has added to the quotient. The medimnus is the chief Attic unit for dry measure; said to be the equivalent of six gallons. In this calculation I take no account of the provisions for the women, eunuchs, beasts of burden and dogs. Of all those tens of thousands of men, there was not one, as regards looks and grandeur, worthier than Xerxes himself to hold that command.
The Persian fleet put to sea and reached the beach of the Magnesian land, between the city of Casthanaea and the headland of Sepia. The first ships to arrive moored close to land, with the others after them at anchor; since the beach was not large, they lay at anchor in rows eight ships deep out into the sea.
They spent the night in this way, but at dawn a storm descended upon them out of a clear and windless sky, and the sea began to boil. A strong east wind blew, which the people living in those parts call Hellespontian.
Those who felt the wind rising or had proper mooring dragged their ships up on shore ahead of the storm and so survived with their ships. The wind did, however, carry those ships caught out in the open sea against the rocks called the Ovens at +Pilion (mountain range), Nomos Magnisias, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Pelion or onto the beach. Some ships were wrecked on the Sepian headland, others were cast ashore at the city of +Meliboea [22.8167,39.75] (Perseus) Meliboea or at Casthanaea. The storm was indeed unbearable.
The story is told that because of an oracle the Athenians invoked Boreas, the north wind, to help them, since another oracle told them to summon their son-in-law as an ally. According to the Hellenic story, Boreas had an Attic wife, Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, ancient king of Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens.
Because of this connection, so the tale goes, the Athenians considered Boreas to be their son-in-law. They were stationed off +Chalcis [23.6083,38.4667] (Perseus) Chalcis in +Euboea [23.833,38.566] (island), Nomos Evvoias, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Euboea, and when they saw the storm rising, they then, if they had not already, sacrificed to and called upon Boreas and Orithyia to help them by destroying the barbarian fleet, just as before at +Mount Athos [24.316,40.166] (inhabited place), Pangaion Oros, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Athos.
I cannot say whether this was the cause of Boreas falling upon the barbarians as they lay at anchor, but the Athenians say that he had come to their aid before and that he was the agent this time. When they went home, they founded a sacred precinct of Boreas beside the Ilissus river.
They say that at the very least no fewer than 400 ships were destroyed in this labor, along with innumerable men and abundant wealth. This shipwreck proved useful to Ameinocles son of Cretines, a man of Nomos Magnisias [22.75,39.25] (department), Thessaly, Greece, EuropeMagnesia who owned land around Sepia, for he later picked up many gold and silver cups cast up on shore, found the Persian treasures, and acquired other untold riches. Although he became very rich from his findings, he did not enjoy luck in everything, for he suffered greatly when his son was murdered.
There was no counting how many grain-ships and other vessels were destroyed. The generals of the fleet were afraid that the Thessalians might attack them now that they had been defeated, so they built a high palisade out of the wreckage.
The storm lasted three days. Finally the Magi made offerings and cast spells upon the wind, sacrificing also to Thetis and the Nereids. In this way they made the wind stop on the fourth day—or perhaps it died down on its own. They sacrificed to Thetis after hearing from the Ionians the story that it was from this place that Peleus had carried her off and that all the headland of Sepia belonged to her and to the other Nereids.
The storm, then, ceased on the fourth day. Now the scouts stationed on the headlands of +Euboea [23.833,38.566] (island), Nomos Evvoias, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Euboea ran down and told the Hellenes all about the shipwreck on the second day after the storm began.
After hearing this they prayed to Poseidon as their savior and poured libations. Then they hurried to +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium hoping to find few ships opposing them. So they came to +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium a second time and made their station there. From that time on they call Poseidon their savior.
The barbarians, when the wind ceased and the waves no longer ran high, put to sea and coasted along the mainland; they sailed around the headland of Nomos Magnisias [22.75,39.25] (department), Thessaly, Greece, EuropeMagnesia and sailed straight into the gulf which stretches toward +Pagasae (deserted settlement), Nomos Magnisias, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Pagasae.
There is a place on this gulf in Nomos Magnisias [22.75,39.25] (department), Thessaly, Greece, EuropeMagnesia, where, it is said, Heracles was sent for water and was left behind by Jason and his comrades of the Argo, when they were sailing to Aea in Caucasus (region (general)), AsiaColchis for the fleece; their purpose was to draw water from there and then to put out to sea. This is the reason why that place has been called +Aphetae [23.1167,39.1167] (Perseus) Aphetae.More probably, the name (from ἀφίημι, to send off or launch) gave rise to the legend. Here Xerxes' men made their anchorage.
Fifteen of those ships had put to sea a long time after all the rest, and it chanced that they sighted the Greek ships off +Artemisium [23.2417,39.0083] (Perseus) Artemisium. Supposing these to be their own fleet, the barbarians proceeded into the midst of their enemies. Their captain was the viceroy from Kyme [24.1167,38.6333] (Perseus)Cyme in +Aeolis (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Aeolia, Sandoces son of Thamasius. This man, who was one of the king's judges, had once before been taken and crucified by Darius because he had given unjust judgment for a bribe.