228.
There is an inscription written over these men, who were buried where they fell, and over those who died before the others went away, dismissed by Leonidas. It reads as follows:
“Here four thousand from the Peloponnese once fought three million.
”
[2]
That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have their own:
“Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their commands.
”
[3]
That one is to the Lacedaemonians, this one to the seer:
“This is a monument to the renowned Megistias,
Slain by the Medes who crossed the Spercheius river.
The seer knew well his coming doom,
But endured not to abandon the leaders of Sparta.
”
[4]
Except for the seer's inscription, the Amphictyons are the ones who honored them by erecting inscriptions and pillars. That of the seer Megistias was inscribed by Simonides son of Leoprepes because of his tie of guest-friendship with the man.1
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1 As a matter of fact Simonides composed all three inscriptions; but the epitaph of Megistias was the only one which he made at his own cost.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (13 total)
- Cross-references to this page
(3):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.1.3
- Harper's, Leoprepĭdes
- Smith's Bio, Megi'stias
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(2):
- Diodorus Siculus, Library, Diod. 11.33
- Isocrates, To Philip, Isoc. 5 148
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(8):
- LSJ, Λα^κεδαίμ-ων
- LSJ, ἔξω
- LSJ, ἐπίγραμμ-α
- LSJ, ἐπιγρα?́φ-ω
- LSJ, ἐπικοσμ-έω
- LSJ, κλεινός
- LSJ, προλείπω
- LSJ, θάπτω
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