Kitap 1
Thus they changed their bad laws to good ones, and when Lycurgus died they built him a temple and now worship him greatly. Since they had good land and many men, they immediately flourished and prospered. They were not content to live in peace, but, confident that they were stronger than the Arcadians, asked the oracle at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi about gaining all the Arcadian land.
She replied in hexameter: You ask me for Arcadia [22.25,37.583] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Arcadia ? You ask too much; I grant it not. There are many men in Arcadia [22.25,37.583] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Arcadia , eaters of acorns, Who will hinder you. But I grudge you not. I will give you Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea to beat with your feet in dancing, And its fair plain to measure with a rope.
When the Lacedaemonians heard the oracle reported, they left the other Arcadians alone and marched on Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea carrying chains, relying on the deceptive oracle. They were confident they would enslave the Tegeans, but they were defeated in battle.
Those taken alive were bound in the very chains they had brought with them, and they measured the Tegean plain with a ropeThat is, mapping the land out for cultivation. by working the fields. The chains in which they were bound were still preserved in my day, hanging up at the temple of Athena Alea.
In the previous war the Lacedaemonians continually fought unsuccessfully against the Tegeans, but in the time of Croesus and the kingship of Anaxandrides and Ariston in Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon the Spartans had gained the upper hand. This is how:
when they kept being defeated by the Tegeans, they sent ambassadors to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi to ask which god they should propitiate to prevail against the Tegeans in war. The Pythia responded that they should bring back the bones of Orestes, son of Agamemnon.
When they were unable to discover Orestes' tomb, they sent once more to the god τὴν ἐς θεόν, explained as = τὴν θεὸν ὁδόν. τὴν ἔνθεον (= the inspired one: after ἐπειρησομένους) would be an easy correction. But all MSS. have ἐς θεόν. to ask where he was buried. The Pythia responded in hexameter to the messengers:
There is a place Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea in the smooth plain of Arcadia [22.25,37.583] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Arcadia , Where two winds blow under strong compulsion. Blow lies upon blow, woe upon woe. There the life-giving earth covers the son of Agamemnon. Bring him back, and you shall be lord of Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea .
When the Lacedaemonians heard this, they were no closer to discovery, though they looked everywhere. Finally it was found by Lichas, who was one of the Spartans who are called “doers of good deeds.”. These men are those citizens who retire from the knights, the five oldest each year. They have to spend the year in which they retire from the knights being sent here and there by the Spartan state, never resting in their efforts.
It was Lichas, one of these men, who found the tomb in Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea by a combination of luck and skill. At that time there was free access to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea , so he went into a blacksmith's shop and watched iron being forged, standing there in amazement at what he saw done.
The smith perceived that he was amazed, so he stopped what he was doing and said, “My Laconian guest, if you had seen what I saw, then you would really be amazed, since you marvel so at ironworking.
I wanted to dig a well in the courtyard here, and in my digging I hit upon a coffin twelve feet long. I could not believe that there had ever been men taller than now, so I opened it and saw that the corpse was just as long as the coffin. I measured it and then reburied it.” So the smith told what he had seen, and Lichas thought about what was said and reckoned that this was Orestes, according to the oracle.
In the smith's two bellows he found the winds, hammer and anvil were blow upon blow, and the forging of iron was woe upon woe, since he figured that iron was discovered as an evil for the human race.
After reasoning this out, he went back to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta and told the Lacedaemonians everything. They made a pretence of bringing a charge against him and banishing him. Coming to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea , he explained his misfortune to the smith and tried to rent the courtyard, but the smith did not want to lease it.
Finally he persuaded him and set up residence there. He dug up the grave and collected the bones, then hurried off to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta with them. Ever since then the Spartans were far superior to the Tegeans whenever they met each other in battle. By the time of Croesus' inquiry, the Spartans had subdued most of the Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese .
Croesus, then, aware of all this, sent messengers to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta with gifts to ask for an alliance, having instructed them what to say. They came and said:
“Croesus, King of Lydia [27.516,38.683] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lydia and other nations, has sent us with this message: ‘Lacedaemonians, the god has declared that I should make the Greek my friend; now, therefore, since I learn that you are the leaders of Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Hellas , I invite you, as the oracle bids; I would like to be your friend and ally, without deceit or guile.’”
Croesus proposed this through his messengers; and the Lacedaemonians, who had already heard of the oracle given to Croesus, welcomed the coming of the Lydians and swore to be his friends and allies; and indeed they were obliged by certain benefits which they had received before from the king.
For the Lacedaemonians had sent to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis to buy gold, intending to use it for the statue of Apollo which now stands on Thornax A mountain north-east of Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta , overlooking the Eurotas valley. in Laconia [22.583,37] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Laconia ; and Croesus, when they offered to buy it, made them a free gift of it.
For this reason, and because he had chosen them as his friends before all the other Greeks, the Lacedaemonians accepted the alliance. So they declared themselves ready to serve him when he should require, and moreover they made a bowl of bronze, engraved around the rim outside with figures, and large enough to hold twenty-seven hundred gallons, and brought it with the intention of making a gift in return to Croesus.
This bowl never reached Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis , for which two reasons are given: the Lacedaemonians say that when the bowl was near Nisos Samos [26.8,37.75] (island), Samos, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Samos on its way to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis , the Samians descended upon them in warships and carried it off;
but the Samians themselves say that the Lacedaemonians who were bringing the bowl, coming too late, and learning that Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis and Croesus were taken, sold it in Nisos Samos [26.8,37.75] (island), Samos, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Samos to certain private men, who set it up in the the temple of Hera. And it may be that the sellers of the bowl, when they returned to Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta , said that they had been robbed of it by the Samians. Such are the tales about the bowl.
Croesus, mistaking the meaning of the oracle, invaded Cappadocia [36,38.5] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cappadocia , expecting to destroy Cyrus and the Persian power.
But while he was preparing to march against the Persians, a certain Lydian, who was already held to be a wise man, and who, from the advice which he now gave, won a great name among the Lydians, advised him as follows (his name was Sandanis): “O King, you are getting ready to march against men who wear trousers of leather and whose complete wardrobe is of leather, and who eat not what they like but what they have; for their land is stony.
Further, they do not use wine, but drink water, have no figs to eat, or anything else that is good. Now if you conquer them, of what will you deprive them, since they have nothing? But if on the other hand you are conquered, then look how many good things you will lose; for once they have tasted of our blessings they will cling so tightly to them that nothing will pry them away.
For myself, then, I thank the gods that they do not put it in the heads of the Persians to march against the Lydians.” Sandanis spoke thus but he did not persuade Croesus. Indeed, before they conquered the Lydians, the Persians had no luxury and no comforts.
Now the Cappadocians are called by the Greeks Syrians, and these Syrians before the Persian rule were subjects of the Medes, and, at this time, of Cyrus.
For the boundary of the Median and Lydian empires was the river Halys River (river), Turkey, Asia Halys , which flows from the Armenian mountains first through Cilicia [34.333,36.666] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cilicia and afterwards between the Matieni on the right and the Phrygians on the other hand; then, passing these and still flowing north, it separates the Cappadocian Syrians on the right from the Paphlagonians on the left.
Thus the Halys River (river), Turkey, Asia Halys river cuts off nearly the whole of the lower part of Asia (continent) Asia from the Cyprian to the Black Sea [38,42] (sea) Euxine sea . Here is the narrowest neck of all this land; the length of the journey across for a man traveling unencumbered is five days. τῆς Ἀσίης τὰ κάτα means here and elsewhere in Hdt. the western part of Asia (continent) Asia , west of the Halys River (river), Turkey, Asia Halys ( +Kizil Irmak (river), Turkey, Asia Kizil Irmak ). The width from sea to sea of the αὐχήν is obviously much underestimated by Hdt., as also by later writers; the actual distance at the narrowest part is about 280 miles as the crow flies; much more than a five days' march.
The reasons for Croesus' expedition against Cappadocia [36,38.5] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cappadocia were these: he desired to gain territory in addition to his own, and (these were the chief causes) he trusted the oracle and wished to avenge Astyages on Cyrus; for Cyrus, son of Cambyses, had conquered Astyages and held him in subjection.
Now Astyages, son of Cyaxares and the king of Media, was Croesus' brother-in-law: and this is how he came to be so.
A tribe of wandering Scythians separated itself from the rest, and escaped into Median territory. This was then ruled by Cyaxares, son of Phraortes, son of Deioces. Cyaxares at first treated the Scythians kindly, as suppliants for his mercy; and, as he had a high regard for them, he entrusted boys to their tutelage to be taught their language and the skill of archery.
As time went on, it happened that the Scythians, who were accustomed to go hunting and always to bring something back, once had taken nothing, and when they returned empty-handed, Cyaxares treated them very roughly and contemptuously (being, as appears from this, prone to anger).
The Scythians, feeling themselves wronged by the treatment they had from Cyaxares, planned to take one of the boys who were their pupils and cut him in pieces; then, dressing the flesh as they were accustomed to dress the animals which they killed, to bring and give it to Cyaxares as if it were the spoils of the hunt; and after that, to make their way with all speed to Alyattes son of Sadyattes at Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis . All this they did.
Cyaxares and the guests who ate with him dined on the boy's flesh, and the Scythians, having done as they planned, fled to Alyattes for protection.
After this, since Alyattes would not give up the Scythians to Cyaxares at his demand, there was war between the Lydians and the Medes for five years; each won many victories over the other, and once they fought a battle by night.
They were still warring with equal success, when it happened, at an encounter which occurred in the sixth year, that during the battle the day was suddenly turned to night. Thales of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus had foretold this loss of daylight to the Ionians, fixing it within the year in which the change did indeed happen.All evidence, historical and astronomical, fixes the date of this eclipse as May 28, 585 B.C. There was another eclipse of the sun in Alyattes' reign, on Sept. 30, 610; but it appears that this latter was not total in Anadolu [35,39] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Asia Minor : and Pliny's mention of the phenomenon places it in the 170th year from the foundation of Rome [12.4833,41.9] (Perseus) Rome . Thales died at an advanced age in 548 B.C.
So when the Lydians and Medes saw the day turned to night, they stopped fighting, and both were the more eager to make peace. Those who reconciled them were Syennesis the Cilician and Labynetus the Babylonian;
they brought it about that there should be a sworn agreement and a compact of marriage between them: they judged that Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis to Astyages, son of Cyaxares; for without strong constraint agreements will not keep their force.
These nations make sworn compacts as do the Greeks; and besides, when they cut the skin of their arms, they lick each other's blood.