Book 7
All this region about the Pangaean range is called Phyllis; it stretches westwards to the river Angites, which issues into the Strymon, and southwards to the Strymon itself; at this river the Magi sought good omens by sacrificing white horses.
After using these enchantments and many others besides on the river, they passed over it at the Nine Ways in Edonian country,About three miles above +Eion [23.8833,40.7333] (Perseus) Eion on the Strymon. by the bridges which they found thrown across the Strymon. When they learned that Nine Ways was the name of the place, they buried alive that number of boys and maidens, children of the local people.
To bury people alive is a Persian custom; I have learned by inquiry that when Xerxes' wife Amestris reached old age, she buried twice seven sons of notable Persians as an offering on her own behalf to the fabled god beneath the earth.
Journeying from the Strymon, the army passed by Argilus, a Greek town standing on a stretch of coast further westwards; the territory of this town and that which lies inland of it are called Bisaltia.
From there, keeping on his left hand the gulf off Poseideion, Xerxes traversed the plain of Syleus (as they call it), passing by the Greek town of Stagirus, and came to Acanthus. He took along with him all these tribes and those that dwelt about the Pangaean range, just as he did those previously mentioned, the men of the coast serving in his fleet and the inland men in his land army.
The entire road along which king Xerxes led his army the Thracians neither break up nor sow, but they hold it in great reverence to this day.
When Xerxes came to Acanthus, he declared the Acanthians his guests and friends, and gave them Median clothing, praising them for the zeal with which he saw them furthering his campaign, and for what he heard of the digging of the canal.
While Xerxes was at Acanthus, it happened that Artachaees, overseer of the digging of the canal, died of an illness. He was high in Xerxes' favor, an Achaemenid by lineage, and the tallest man in Iran [53,32] (nation), AsiaPersia, lacking four finger-breadths of five royal cubitsThis would make Artachaees eight feet high. in stature, and his voice was the loudest on earth. For this reason Xerxes mourned him greatly and gave him a funeral and burial of great pomp, and the whole army poured libations on his tomb.
The Acanthians hold Artachaees a hero, and sacrifice to him, calling upon his name. This they do at the command of an oracle.
King Xerxes, then, mourned for the death of Artachaees. But the Greeks who received Xerxes' army and entertained the king himself were brought to such a degree of misery, that they were driven from house and home. Witness the case of the Thasians, who received and feasted Xerxes' army on behalf of their towns on the mainland; Antipatrus son of Orgeus, as notable a man as any of his townsmen, chosen by them for this task, rendered them an account of four hundred silver talents expended on the dinner.
Similar accounts were returned by the officers in the other towns. Now the dinner, about which a great deal of fuss had been made and for the preparation of which orders had been given long ago, proceeded as I will tell.
As soon as the townsmen had word from the herald's proclamation, they divided corn among themselves in their cities and all of them for many months ground it to wheat and barley meal; moreover, they fed the finest beasts that money could buy, and kept landfowl and waterfowl in cages and ponds, for the entertaining of the army. They also made gold and silver cups and bowls and all manner of service for the table.
These things were provided for the king himself and those that ate with him. For the rest of the army they provided only food. At the coming of the army, there was always a tent ready for Xerxes to take his rest in, while the men camped out in the open air.
When the hour came for dinner, the real trouble for the hosts began. When they had eaten their fill and passed the night there, the army tore down the tent on the next day and marched off with all the movables, leaving nothing but carrying all with them.
It was then that a very apt saying was uttered by one Megacreon of +Abdera [24.9667,40.9833] (Perseus) Abdera. He advised his townsmen, men and women alike, to gather at their temples, and there in all humility to entreat the gods to defend them in the future from half of every threatened ill. They should also, he said, thank the gods heartily for their previous show of favor, for it was Xerxes' custom to take a meal only once a day. Otherwise they would have been commanded to furnish a breakfast similar to the dinner.
The people of +Abdera [24.9667,40.9833] (Perseus) Abdera would then have had no choice but to flee before Xerxes' coming, or to perish most miserably if they awaited him.
So the townsmen, oppressed as they were, nevertheless did as they were commanded. Upon leaving Acanthus, Xerxes sent his ships on their course away from him, giving orders to his generals that the fleet should await him at +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma, the town on the Thermaic gulf which gives the gulf its name, for this, he learned, was his shortest way.
The order of the army's march, from Doriscus to Acanthus, had been such as I will show. Dividing his entire land army into three parts, Xerxes appointed one of them to march beside his fleet along the coast.
Mardonius and Masistes were the generals of this segment, while another third of the army marched, as appointed, further inland under Tritantaechmes and Gergis. The third part, with which Xerxes himself went, marched between the two, and its generals were Smerdomenes and Megabyzus.
Now when the fleet had left Xerxes, it sailed through the +Mount Athos [24.316,40.166] (inhabited place), Pangaion Oros, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Athos canal which reached to the gulf in which are located the towns of +Assa [45.416,43.233] (river), Asia Assa, Pilorus, Singus, and Sarte. The fleet took on board troops from all these cities and then headed for the Thermaic gulf. Then rounding Ampelus, the headland of +Torone [23.8167,40.05] (Perseus) Torone, it passed the Greek towns of +Torone [23.8167,40.05] (Perseus) Torone, Galepsus, Sermyle, Mecyberna, and +Olynthus [23.3667,40.3] (Perseus) Olynthus, all of which gave them ships and men.
This country is called +Sithonia (peninsula), Chalcidice, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Sithonia. The fleet held a straight course from the headland of Ampelus to the Canastraean headland, where +Pallene [23.8833,38.05] (Perseus) Pallene runs farthest out to sea, and received ships and men from the towns of what is now +Pallene [23.8833,38.05] (Perseus) Pallene but was formerly called Phlegra, namely, +Potidaea (deserted settlement), Chalcidice, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Potidaea, Aphytis, +Kavala [24.416,40.933] (inhabited place), Kavalla, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Neapolis, Aege, Therambus, +Scione [23.55,39.95] (Perseus) Scione, Mende, and Sane.
Sailing along this coast they made for the appointed place, taking troops from the towns adjacent to +Pallene [23.8833,38.05] (Perseus) Pallene and near the Thermaic gulf, of which the names are Lipaxus, Combrea, Aesa, Gigonus, Campsa, +Smela [31.9,49.25] (inhabited place), Cerkassy, Ukraine, Europe Smila, Aenea; the territory of these cities is called Crossaea to this day.
From Aenea, the last-named in my list of the towns, the course of the fleet lay from the Thermaic gulf itself and the Mygdonian territory until its voyage ended at +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma, the place appointed, and the towns of Sindus and Chalestra, where it came to the river +Vardar [22.833,40.583] (river), Europe Axius; this is the boundary, between the Mygdonian and the Bottiaean territory, in which are located the towns of Ichnae and +Pella [22.5333,40.7583] (Perseus) Pella on the narrow strip of coast.
So the fleet lay there off the river +Vardar [22.833,40.583] (river), Europe Axius and the city of +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma and the towns between them, awaiting the king. But Xerxes and his land army marched from Acanthus by the straightest inland course, making for +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma. Their way lay through the Paeonian and the Crestonaean country to the river Cheidorus, which, rising in the Crestonaean land, flows through the Mygdonian country and issues by the marshes of the +Vardar [22.833,40.583] (river), Europe Axius.
As Xerxes marched by this route, lions attacked the camels which carried his provisions; nightly they would come down out of their lairs and made havoc of the camels alone, seizing nothing else, man or beast of burden. I wonder what prevented the lions from touching anything but the camels, creatures which they had not seen and had no knowledge of until then.
In these parts there are many lions and wild oxen, whose horns are those very long ones which are brought into Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas. The boundary of the lions' country is the river Nestus which flows through +Abdera [24.9667,40.9833] (Perseus) Abdera and the river Achelous which flows through +Akarnania (region (general)), Aitolia and Akarnania, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Acarnania. Neither to the east of the Nestus anywhere in the nearer part of Europe (continent)Europe, nor to the west of the Achelous in the rest of the mainland, is any lion to be seen, but they are found in the country between those rivers.
When he had arrived at +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma, Xerxes quartered his army there. Its encampment by the sea covered all the space from +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma and the Mygdonian country to the rivers Lydias and Haliacmon, which unite their waters in one stream and so make the border between the Bottiaean and the Macedonian Not the whole of Macedonia (region (general)), EuropeMacedonia, but the region originally ruled by the Temenid dynasty, between the rivers Haliacmon and +Vardar [22.833,40.583] (river), Europe Axius and the foothills of Bermius. +Edessa [22.0583,40.8] (Perseus) Edessa was the chief town. territory.
In this place the foreigners lay encamped; of the rivers just mentioned, the Cheidorus, which flows from the Crestonaean country, was the only one which could not suffice for the army's drinking but was completely drained by it.
When Xerxes saw from +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma the very great height of the Thessalian mountains +Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus and Ossa and learned that the Peneus flows through them in a narrow pass, which was the way that led into +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, he desired to view the mouth of the Peneus because he intended to march by the upper road through the highland people of Macedonia (region (general)), EuropeMacedonia to the country of the Perrhaebi and the town of Gonnus; Xerxes' army might have entered +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly by marching along the coast between +Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus and the sea, and up the Peneus valley (the pass of Tempe) to Gonnus. Instead, it crossed the mountains; probably both by a route which runs across the southern slope of +Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus to Gonnus, and also by the +Petra [35.433,30.333] (deserted settlement), Maan, Jordan, Asia Petra pass, further inland, between +Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus and Bermius. But Herodotus is mistaken in making the ἄνω ὁδός alone reach Gonnus; the Tempe route would have done the same. this, it was told him, was the safest way.
He did exactly as he desired. He embarked on a Sidonian ship which he always used when he had some such business in hand, and hoisted his signal for the rest also to put out to sea, leaving his land army where it was. Great wonder took him when he came and viewed the mouth of the Peneus, and calling his guides, he asked them if it were possible to turn the river from its course and lead it into the sea by another way.
+Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, as tradition has it, was in old times a lake enclosed all round by high mountains. On its eastern side it is fenced in by the joining of the lower parts of the mountains +Pilion (mountain range), Nomos Magnisias, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Pelion and Ossa, to the north by +Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus, to the west by Pindus, towards the south and the southerly wind by Othrys. In the middle, then, of this ring of mountains, lies the vale of +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly.
A number of rivers pour into this vale, the most notable of which are Peneus, Apidanus, Onochonus, Enipeus, Pamisus. These five, while they flow towards their meeting place from the mountains which surround +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, have their several names, until their waters all unite and issue into the sea by one narrow passage.
As soon as they are united, the name of the Peneus prevails, making the rest nameless. In ancient days, it is said, there was not yet this channel and outfall, but those rivers and the Boebean lake,In eastern +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, west of +Pilion (mountain range), Nomos Magnisias, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Pelion. Naturally, with the whole country inundated, the lake would have no independent existence. which was not yet named, had the same volume of water as now, and thereby turned all +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly into a sea.
Now the Thessalians say that Poseidon made the passage by which the Peneus flows. This is reasonable, for whoever believes that Poseidon is the shaker of the earth and that rifts made by earthquakes are the work of that god will conclude, upon seeing that passage, that it is of Poseidon's making. It was manifest to me that it must have been an earthquake which forced the mountains apart.The correspondence in formation of the two sides of the pass (salients on one side answering to recesses on the other) gives the impression that they were once united and have been violently separated.
Xerxes asked his guides if there were any other outlet for the Peneus into the sea, and they, with their full knowledge of the matter, answered him: “The river, O king, has no other way into the sea, but this alone. This is so because there is a ring of mountains around the whole of +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly.” Upon hearing this Xerxes said: “These Thessalians are wise men;
this, then, was the primary reason for their precaution long beforeAs a matter of fact the Thessalians had determined on their policy very recently indeed; but Xerxes apparently supposes that they had resolved to join him from the first. when they changed to a better mind, for they perceived that their country would be easily and speedily conquerable. It would only have been necessary to let the river out over their land by barring the channel with a dam and to turn it from its present bed so that the whole of +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, with the exception of the mountains, might be under water.”
This he said with regard in particular to the sons of Aleues, the Thessalians who were the first Greeks to surrender themselves to the king. Xerxes supposed that when they offered him friendship they spoke for the whole of their nation. After delivering this speech and seeing what he had come to see, he sailed back to +Thessaloniki [22.933,40.633] (inhabited place), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Therma.
Xerxes stayed for many days in the region of +Pieria [22.416,40.25] (department), Macedonia, Greece, Europe Pieria while a third part of his army was clearing a road over the Macedonian mountains so that the whole army might pass by that way to the Perrhaebian country. Now it was that the heralds who had been sent to Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas to demand earth, some empty-handed, some bearing earth and water, returned.
Among those who paid that tribute were the Thessalians,Not all the inhabitants of +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly, here, but the tribe of that name which had settled in the Peneus valley and given its name to the surrounding peoples. Dolopes, Enienes, Perrhaebians, Locrians, Magnesians, Melians, Achaeans of +Phthia [22.75,36.2667] (Perseus) Phthia, Thebans, and all the Boeotians except the men of +Thespiai [23.166,38.283] (inhabited place), Boeotia, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Thespiae and Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea.
Against all of these the Greeks who declared war with the foreigner entered into a sworn agreement, which was this: that if they should be victorious, they would dedicate to the god of Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi the possessions of all Greeks who had of free will surrendered themselves to the Persians. Such was the agreement sworn by the Greeks.