τοῦ δʼ Ἡρακλέους περὶ ταῦτʼ ὄντος φασὶ τὰς ὑπολειφθείσας Ἀμαζόνας περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμὸν ἀθροισθείσας πανδημεὶ σπεῦσαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἀμύνασθαι περὶ ὧν Ἡρακλῆς στρατεύσας διειργάσατο. διαφορώτατα δὲ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο διὰ τὸ τὸν Θησέα καταδεδουλῶσθαι τὴν ἡγεμόνα τῶν Ἀμαζόνων Ἀντιόπην, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι γράφουσιν, Ἱππολύτην.
συστρατευσάντων δὲ τῶν Σκυθῶν θῶν ταῖς Ἀμαζόσι συνέβη δύναμιν ἀξιόλογον ἀθροισθῆναι, μεθʼ ἧς αἱ προηγούμεναι τῶν Ἀμαζονίδων περαιωθεῖσαι τὸν Κιμμέριον Βόσπορον προῆγον διὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης. τέλος δὲ πολλὴν τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐπελθοῦσαι κατήντησαν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικήν, καὶ κατεστρατοπέδευσαν ὅπου νῦν ἐστι τὸ καλούμενον ἀπʼ ἐκείνων Ἀμαζονεῖον.
Θησεὺς δὲ πυθόμενος τὴν τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἔφοδον ἐβοήθει ταῖς πολιτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν, ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν Ἀμαζονίδα Ἀντιόπην, ἐξ ἧς ἦν πεπαιδοποιημένος υἱὸν Ἱππόλυτον. συνάψας δὲ μάχην ταῖς Ἀμαζόσι, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὑπερεχόντων ταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις, ἐνίκησαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Θησέα, καὶ τῶν ἀντιταχθεισῶν Ἀμαζονίδων ἃς μὲν κατέκοψαν, ἃς δʼ ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἐξέβαλον.
συνέβη δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἀντιόπην συναγωνισαμένην τἀνδρὶ Θησεῖ, καὶ κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀριστεύουσαν, ἡρωικῶς καταστρέψαι τὸν βίον. αἱ δʼ ὑπολειφθεῖσαι τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ἀπογνοῦσαι τὴν πατρῴαν γῆν, ἐπανῆλθον μετὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν εἰς τὴν Σκυθίαν καὶ μετʼ ἐκείνων κατῴκησαν. ἡμεῖς δʼ ἀρκούντως περὶ τούτων διεληλυθότες ἐπάνιμεν πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἡρακλέους πράξεις.
While Heracles was busied with the matters just described, the Amazons, they say, of whom there were some still left in the region of the Thermodon river, gathered in a body and set out to get revenge upon the Greeks for what Heracles had done in his campaign against them. They were especially eager to punish the Athenians because Theseus had made a slave of Antiopê, the leader of the Amazons, or, as others write, of Hippolytê. The Scythians had joined forces with the Amazons, and so it came about that a notable army had been assembled, with which the leaders of the Amazons crossed the Cimmerian Bosporus and advanced through Thrace. Finally they traversed a large part of Europe and came to Attica, where they pitched their camp in what is at present called after them “the Amazoneum.” When Theseus learned of the oncoming of the Amazons he came to the aid of the forces of his citizens, bringing with him the Amazon Antiopê, by whom he already had a son Hippolytus. Theseus joined battle with the Amazons, and since the Athenians surpassed them in bravery, he gained the victory, and of the Amazons who opposed him, some he slew at the time and the rest he drove out of Attica. And it came to pass that Antiopê, who was fighting at the side of her husband Theseus, distinguished herself in the battle and died fighting heroically. The Amazons who survived renounced their ancestral soil, and returned with the Scythians into Scythia and made their homes among that people.
But we have spoken enough about the Amazons, and shall return to the deeds of Heracles.
Τετελεκότος γὰρ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἄθλους, καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ χρήσαντος συμφέρειν πρὸ τῆς εἰς θεοὺς μεταλλαγῆς ἀποικίαν εἰς Σαρδὼ πέμψαι καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Θεσπιάδων αὐτῷ γενομένους υἱοὺς ἡγεμόνας ποιῆσαι ταύτης, ἔκρινε τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν Ἰόλαον ἐκπέμψαι μετὰ τῶν παίδων διὰ τὸ παντελῶς νέους εἷναι.
ἀναγκαῖον δʼ ἡμῖν φαίνεται προδιελθεῖν περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τῶν παίδων, ἵνα τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀποικίας λόγον καθαρώτερον ἐκθέσθαι δυνηθῶμεν. Θέσπιος ἦν ἀνὴρ τὸ γένος ἐπιφανὴς ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, υἱὸς Ἐρεχθέως, βασιλεύων δὲ τῆς ὁμωνύμου χώρας ἐγέννησεν ἐκ πλειόνων γυναικῶν θυγατέρας πεντήκοντα.
Ἡρακλέους δʼ ἔτι παιδὸς ὄντος τὴν ἡλικίαν, καὶ ῥώμῃ σώματος ὑπερφυοῦς ὄντος, ἐφιλοτιμήθη τὰς θυγατέρας ἐκ τούτου τεκνοποιήσασθαι. διὸ καλέσας αὐτὸν ἐπί τινα θυσίαν καὶ λαμπρῶς ἑστιάσας, ἀπέστειλε κατὰ μίαν τῶν θυγατέρων· αἷς ἀπάσαις μιγεὶς καὶ ποιήσας ἐγκύους ἐγένετο πατὴρ υἱῶν πεντήκοντα. ὧν λαβόντων τὴν κοινὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τῶν Θεσπιάδων, καὶ γενομένων ἐνηλίκων, ἔκρινεν ἐκπέμπειν τούτους εἰς τὴν ἀποικίαν τὴν εἰς Σαρδόνα κατὰ τὸν χρησμόν.
After Heracles had performed his Labours, the god revealed to him that it would be well if, before he passed into the company of the gods, he should despatch a colony to Sardinia and make the sons who had been born to him by the daughters of Thespius the leaders of the settlement, and so he decided to send his nephew Iolaüs with the boys, since they were still quite young. Now it seems to us indispensable that we should speak first of the birth of the boys, in order that we may be able to set forth more clearly what is to be said about the colony.
Thespius was by birth a distinguished man of Athens and son of Erechtheus, and he was king of the land which bears his name and begot by his wives, of whom he had a great number, fifty daughters. And when Heracles was still a boy, but already of extraordinary strength of body, the king strongly desired that his daughters should bear children by him. Consequently he invited Heracles to a sacrifice, and after entertaining him in brilliant fashion he sent his daughters one by one in to him; and Heracles lay with them all, brought them all with child, and so became the father of fifty sons. These sons all took the same name after the daughters of Thespius, and when they had arrived at manhood Heracles decided to send them to Sardinia to found a colony, as the oracle had commanded.
ἡγουμένου δὲ τοῦ στόλου παντὸς Ἰολάου, καὶ συνεστρατευμένου σχεδὸν ἁπάσας τὰς στρατείας, ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτῷ τὰ περὶ τοὺς Θεσπιάδας καὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν τῶν δὲ πεντήκοντα παίδων δύο μὲν κατέμειναν ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις, ὧν τοὺς ἀπογόνους φασὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τιμᾶσθαι, ἑπτὰ δʼ ἐν Θεσπιαῖς, οὓς ὀνομάζουσι δημούχους, ὧν καὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους ἡγήσασθαί φασι τῆς πόλεως μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν.
τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἅπαντας Ἰόλαος ἀναλαβὼν καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς βουλομένους κοινωνεῖν τῆς ἀποικίας, ἔπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σαρδόνα. κρατήσας δὲ μάχῃ τῶν ἐγχωρίων, κατεκληρούχησε τὸ κάλλιστον τῆς νήσου, καὶ μάλιστα τὴν πεδιάδα χώραν, ἣν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καλεῖσθαι Ἰολαεῖον.
ἐξημερώσας δὲ τὴν χώραν καὶ καταφυτεύσας δένδρεσι καρπίμοις κατεσκεύασε περιμάχητον ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο γὰρ ἡ νῆσος διωνομάσθη τῇ τῶν καρπῶν ἀφθονίᾳ ὥστε Καρχηδονίους ὕστερον αὐξηθέντας ἐπιθυμῆσαι τῆς νήσου, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ κινδύνους ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἀναδέξασθαι. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις χρόνοις ἀναγράψομεν.
And since the expedition was under the general command of Iolaüs, who had accompanied Heracles on practically all of his campaigns, the latter entrusted him with the care of the Thespiadae and the planting of the colony. Of the fifty boys, two continued to dwell in Thebes, their descendants, they say, being honoured even to the present day, and seven in Thespiae, where they are called demouchi, and where their descendants, they say, were the chief men of the city until recent times. All the other Thespiadae and many more who wished to join in the founding of the colony Iolaüs took with him and sailed away to Sardinia. Here he overcame the natives in battle and divided the fairest part of the island into allotments, especially the land which was a level plain and is called to this day Iolaeium. When he had brought the land under cultivation and planted it with fruit-bearing trees he made of the island an object of contention; for instance, it gained such fame for the abundance of its fruits that at a later time the Carthaginians, when they had grown powerful, desired the island and faced many struggles and perils for possession of it. But we shall write of these matters in connection with the period to which they belong.
τότε δʼ ὁ Ἰόλαος καταστήσας τὰ περὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν, καὶ τὸν Δαίδαλον ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας μεταπεμψάμενος, κατεσκεύασεν ἔργα πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα μέχρι τῶν νῦν καιρῶν διαμένοντα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος Δαιδάλεια καλούμενα. ᾠκοδόμησε δὲ καὶ γυμνάσια μεγάλα τε καὶ πολυτελῆ, καὶ δικαστήρια κατέστησε καὶ τἄλλα τὰ πρὸς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν συντείνοντα.
ὠνόμασε δὲ καὶ τοὺς λαοὺς Ἰολαείους, ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ θέμενος τὴν προσηγορίαν, συγχωρησάντων τῶν Θεσπιαδῶν, καὶ δόντων αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ γέρας καθαπερεί τινι πατρί. διὰ γὰρ τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς σπουδὴν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτʼ εὐνοίας προήχθησαν ὥστʼ ἐπώνυμον αὐτῷ περιθεῖναι τὴν τοῦ γονέως προσηγορίαν· διόπερ ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις οἱ τὰς θυσίας τελοῦντες τούτῳ τῷ θεῷ προσαγορεύουσιν αὐτὸν Ἰόλαον πατέρα, καθάπερ οἱ Πέρσαι τὸν Κῦρον.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἰόλαος ἐπανιὼν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ προσπλεύσας τῇ Σικελίᾳ, οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον διέτριψεν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ. καθʼ ὃν δὴ χρόνον καί τινες τῶν συναποδημούντων αὐτῷ διὰ τὸ κάλλος τῆς χώρας κατέμειναν ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ, καὶ τοῖς Σικανοῖς καταμιγέντες ἐν ταύτῃ κατῴκησαν, τιμώμενοι διαφερόντως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων. ὁ δʼ Ἰόλαος μεγάλης ἀποδοχῆς τυγχάνων καὶ πολλοὺς εὐεργετῶν ἐν πολλαῖς τῶν πόλεων ἐτιμήθη τεμένεσι καὶ τιμαῖς ἡρωικαῖς.
ἴδιον δέ τι καὶ παράδοξον συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀποικίαν ταύτην· ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεὸς ἔχρησεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι πάντες οἱ τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης μετασχόντες καὶ οἱ τούτων ἔκγονοι διατελέσουσιν ἅπαντα τὸν αἰῶνα διαμένοντες ἐλεύθεροι, τὸ δʼ ἀποτέλεσμα τούτων ἀκολούθως τῷ χρησμῷ διέμεινε μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν.
At the time we are considering, Iolaüs established the colony, and summoning Daedalus from Sicily he built through him many great works which stand to this day and are called “Daedaleia” after their builder. He also had large and expensive gymnasia constructed and established courts of justice and the other institutions which contribute to the prosperity of a state. Furthermore, Iolaüs named the folk of the colony Iolaeis, calling them after himself, the Thespiadae consenting to this and granting to him this honour as to a father. In fact his regard for them led them to entertain such a kindly feeling towards him that they bestowed upon him as a title the appellation usually given to the progenitor of a people; consequently those who in later times off sacrifices to this god address him as “Father Iolaüs,” as the Persians do when they address Cyrus.
After this Iolaüs, on his return to Greece, sailed over to Sicily and spent a considerable time on that island. And at this time several of those who were visiting the island in his company remained in Sicily because of the beauty of the land, and uniting with the Sicani they settled in the island, being especially honoured by the natives. Iolaüs also received a great welcome, and since he conferred benefits upon many men he was honoured in many of the cities with sacred precincts and with such distinctions as are accorded to heroes. And a peculiar and astonishing thing came to pass in connection with this colony in Sardinia. For the god had told them in an oracle that all who joined in this colony and their descendants should continually remain free men for evermore, and the event in their case has continued to be in harmony with the oracle even to our own times.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ λαοὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρόνου, πλειόνων τῶν βαρβάρων ὄντων τῶν μετεσχηκότων τῆς ἀποικίας, ἐξεβαρβαρώθησαν, καὶ μεταστάντες εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἐν ταῖς δυσχωρίαις κατῴκησαν, ἐθίσαντες δʼ ἑαυτοὺς τρέφεσθαι γάλακτι καὶ κρέασι καὶ πολλὰς ἀγέλας κτηνῶν τρέφοντες οὐκ ἐπεδέοντο σίτου· κατασκευάσαντες δʼ οἰκήσεις ἑαυτοῖς καταγείους καὶ τὴν τοῦ βίου διεξαγωγὴν ἐν τοῖς ὀρύγμασι ποιούμενοι τοὺς ἐκ τῶν πολέμων κινδύνους ἐξέφυγον.
διὸ καὶ πρότερον μὲν Καρχηδόνιοι, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ῥωμαῖοι πολλάκις πολεμήσαντες τούτοις τῆς προθέσεως διήμαρτον. καὶ περὶ μὲν Ἰολάου καὶ Θεσπιαδῶν, ἔτι δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας τῆς εἰς Σαρδόνα γενομένης ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι, περὶ δʼ Ἡρακλέους τὰ συνεχῆ τοῖς προειρημένοις προσθήσομεν.
For the people of the colony in the long course of time came to be barbarized, since the barbarians who took part in the colony above them outnumbered them, and so they removed into the mountainous part of the island and made their home in the rough and barren regions and there, accustoming themselves to live on milk and meat and raising large flocks and herds, they had no need of grain. They also built themselves underground dwellings, and by spending their lives in such dug-out homes they avoided the perils which wars entail. As a consequence both the Carthaginians in former days and the Romans later, despite the many wars which they waged with this people, did not attain their design.
As regards Iolaüs, then, and the Thespiadae and the colony which was sent to Sardinia, we shall rest satisfied with what has been said, and we shall continue the story of Heracles from the point at which our account left off.
Cite This Text