Herodotus, The Histories (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Hdt.].
<<Hdt. 1.172.2 Hdt. 1.174.5 (Greek) >>Hdt. 1.179.4

1.174.1 Neither the Carians nor any Greeks who dwell in this country did any thing notable before they were all enslaved by Harpagus. 1.174.2 Among those who inhabit it are certain Cnidians, colonists from Lacedaemon. Their country (it is called the Triopion) lies between the sea and that part of the peninsula which belongs to Bubassus, and all but a small part of the Cnidian territory is washed by the sea 1.174.3 (for it is bounded on the north by the gulf of Ceramicus, and on the south by the sea off Syme and Rhodes). Now while Harpagus was conquering Ionia, the Cnidians dug a trench across this little space, which is about two-thirds of a mile wide, in order that their country might be an island. So they brought it all within the entrenchment; for the frontier between the Cnidian country and the mainland is on the isthmus across which they dug. 1.174.4 Many of them were at this work; and seeing that the workers were injured when breaking stones more often and less naturally than usual, some in other ways, but most in the eyes, the Cnidians sent envoys to Delphi to inquire what it was that opposed them. 1.174.5 Then, as they themselves say, the priestess gave them this answer in iambic verse: “Do not wall or trench the isthmus:
Zeus would have given you an island, if he had wanted to.”
1.174.6 At this answer from the priestess, the Cnidians stopped their digging, and when Harpagus came against them with his army they surrendered to him without resistance.

ch. 175 1.175.1 There were Pedaseans dwelling inland above Halicarnassus; when any misfortune was approaching them or their neighbors, the priestess of Athena grew a long beard. This had happened to them thrice. These were the only men near Caria who held out for long against Harpagus, and they gave him the most trouble; they fortified a hill called Lide.

ch. 176 1.176.1 The Pedaseans were at length taken, and when Harpagus led his army into the plain of Xanthus, the Lycians came out to meet him, and showed themselves courageous fighting few against many; but being beaten and driven into the city, they gathered their wives and children and goods and servants into the acropolis, and then set the whole acropolis on fire. 1.176.2 Then they swore great oaths to each other, and sallying out fell fighting, all the men of Xanthus. 1.176.3 Of the Xanthians who claim now to be Lycians the greater number, all except eighty households, are of foreign descent; these eighty families as it happened were away from the city at that time, and thus survived. So Harpagus gained Xanthus, and Caunus too in a somewhat similar manner, the Caunians following for the most part the example of the Lycians.

ch. 177 1.177.1 Harpagus, then, made havoc of lower Asia; in the upper country, Cyrus himself vanquished every nation, leaving none untouched. Of the greater part of these I will say nothing, but will speak only of those which gave Cyrus the most trouble and are most worthy of being described.

ch. 178 1.178.1 When Cyrus had made all the mainland submit to him, he attacked the Assyrians. In Assyria there are many other great cities, but the most famous and the strongest was Babylon, where the royal dwelling had been established after the destruction of Ninus. note Babylon was a city such as I will now describe.



Herodotus, The Histories (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Hdt.].
<<Hdt. 1.172.2 Hdt. 1.174.5 (Greek) >>Hdt. 1.179.4

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