ὁ μὲν δὴ ναυτικὸς ὁ τῶν βαρβάρων στρατός, πάρεξ τῶν πεντεκαίδεκα νεῶν τῶν εἶπον Σανδώκεα στρατηγέειν, ἀπίκοντο ἐς Ἀφέτας. Ξέρξης δὲ καὶ ὁ πεζὸς πορευθεὶς διὰ Θεσσαλίης καὶ Ἀχαιίης ἐσβεβληκὼς ἦν καὶ δὴ τριταῖος ἐς Μηλιέας, ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ μὲν ἅμιλλαν ποιησάμενος ἵππων τῶν τε ἑωυτοῦ ἀποπειρώμενος καὶ τῆς Θεσσαλίης ἵππου, πυθόμενος ὡς ἀρίστη εἴη τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι· ἔνθα δὴ αἱ Ἑλληνίδες ἵπποι ἐλείποντο πολλόν. τῶν μέν νυν ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ ποταμῶν Ὀνόχωνος μοῦνος οὐκ ἀπέχρησε τῇ στρατιῇ τὸ ῥέεθρον πινόμενος· τῶν δὲ ἐν Ἀχαιίῃ ποταμῶν ῥεόντων οὐδὲ ὅστις μέγιστος αὐτῶν ἐστι Ἠπιδανός, οὐδὲ οὗτος ἀντέσχε εἰ μὴ φλαύρως.
The fleet of the Barbarians then, except the fifteen ships of which I said that Sandokes was in command, had arrived at Aphetai; and Xerxes meanwhile with the land-army, having marched through Thessalia and Achaia, had already entered the land of the Malians two days before, after having held in Thessaly a contest for his own horses, making trial also of the Thessalian cavalry, because he was informed that it was the best of all among the Hellenes; and in this trial the horses of Hellas were far surpassed by the others. Now of the rivers in Thessalia the Onochonos alone failed to suffice by its stream for the drinking of the army; but of the rivers which flow in Achaia even that which is the largest of them, namely Epidanos, even this, I say, held out but barely.
ἐς Ἄλον δὲ τῆς Ἀχαιίης ἀπικομένῳ Ξέρξῃ οἱ κατηγεμόνες τῆς ὁδοῦ βουλόμενοι τὸ πᾶν ἐξηγέεσθαι ἔλεγόν οἱ ἐπιχώριον λόγον, τὰ περὶ τὸ ἱρὸν τοῦ Λαφυστίου Διός, ὡς Ἀθάμας ὁ Αἰόλου ἐμηχανήσατο Φρίξῳ μόρον σὺν Ἰνοῖ βουλεύσας, μετέπειτα δὲ ὡς ἐκ θεοπροπίου Ἀχαιοὶ προτιθεῖσι τοῖσι ἐκείνου ἀπογόνοισι ἀέθλους τοιούσδε·
ὃς ἂν ᾖ τοῦ γένεος τούτου πρεσβύτατος, τούτῳ ἐπιτάξαντες ἔργεσθαι τοῦ ληίτου αὐτοὶ φυλακὰς ἔχουσι. λήιτον δὲ καλέουσι τὸ πρυτανήιον οἱ Ἀχαιοί. ἢν δὲ ἐσέλθῃ, οὐκ ἔστι ὅκως ἔξεισι πρὶν ἢ θύσεσθαι μέλλῃ· ὥς τʼ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοισι πολλοὶ ἤδη τούτων τῶν μελλόντων θύσεσθαι δείσαντες οἴχοντο ἀποδράντες ἐς ἄλλην χώρην, χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος ὀπίσω κατελθόντες ἢν ἁλίσκωνται ἐστέλλοντο ἐς τὸ πρυτανήιον· ὡς θύεταί τε ἐξηγέοντο στέμμασι πᾶς πυκασθεὶς καὶ ὡς σὺν πομπῇ ἐξαχθείς.
ταῦτα δὲ πάσχουσι οἱ Κυτισσώρου τοῦ Φρίξου παιδὸς ἀπόγονοι, διότι καθαρμὸν τῆς χώρης ποιευμένων Ἀχαιῶν ἐκ θεοπροπίου Ἀθάμαντα τὸν Αἰόλου καὶ μελλόντων μιν θύειν ἀπικόμενος οὗτος ὁ Κυτίσσωρος ἐξ Αἴης τῆς Κολχίδος ἐρρύσατο, ποιήσας δὲ τοῦτο τοῖσι ἐπιγενομένοισι ἐξ ἑωυτοῦ μῆνιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνέβαλε.
Ξέρξης δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὡς κατὰ τὸ ἄλσος ἐγίνετο, αὐτός τε ἔργετο αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ στρατιῇ πάσῃ παρήγγειλε, τῶν τε Ἀθάμαντος ἀπογόνων τὴν οἰκίην ὁμοίως καὶ τὸ τέμενος ἐσέβετο.
When Xerxes had reached Alos of Achaia, the guides who gave him information of the way, wishing to inform him fully of everything, reported to him a legend of the place, the things, namely, which have to do with the temple of Zeus Laphystios; how Athamas the son of Aiolos contrived death for Phrixos, having taken counsel with Ino, and after this how by command of an oracle the Achaians propose to his descendants the following tasks to be performed:—whosoever is the eldest of this race, on him they lay an injunction that he is forbidden to enter the City Hall, and they themselves keep watch; now the City Hall is called by the Achaians the “Hall of the People”; and if he enter it, it may not be that he shall come forth until he is about to be sacrificed. They related moreover in addition to this, that many of these who were about to be sacrificed had before now run away and departed to another land, because they were afraid; and if afterwards in course of time they returned to their own land and were caught, they were placed in the City Hall: and they told how the man is sacrificed all thickly covered with wreaths, and with what form of procession he is brought forth to the sacrifice. This is done to the descendants of Kytissoros the son of Phrixos, because, when the Achaians were making of Athamas the son of Aiolos a victim to purge the sins of the land according to the command of an oracle, and were just about to sacrifice him, this Kytissoros coming from Aia of the Colchians rescued him; and having done so he brought the wrath of the gods upon his own descendants. Having heard these things, Xerxes, when he came to the sacred grove, both abstained from entering it himself, and gave the command to his whole army to so likewise; and he paid reverence both to the house and to the sacred enclosure of the descendants of Athamas.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ἐν Θεσσαλίῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν Ἀχαιίῃ· ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων τῶν χώρων ἤιε ἐς τὴν Μηλίδα παρὰ κόλπον θαλάσσης, ἐν τῷ ἄμπωτίς τε καὶ ῥηχίη ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην γίνεται. περὶ δὲ τὸν κόλπον τοῦτον ἐστὶ χῶρος πεδινός, τῇ μὲν εὐρὺς τῇ δὲ καὶ κάρτα στεινός· περὶ δὲ τὸν χῶρον ὄρεα ὑψηλὰ καὶ ἄβατα περικληίει πᾶσαν τὴν Μηλίδα γῆν, Τρηχίνιαι πέτραι καλεόμεναι.
πρώτη μέν νυν πόλις ἐστὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ ἰόντι ἀπὸ Ἀχαιίης Ἀντικύρη, παρʼ ἣν Σπερχειὸς ποταμὸς ῥέων ἐξ Ἐνιήνων ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῖ. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου διὰ εἴκοσί κου σταδίων ἄλλος ποταμὸς τῷ οὔνομα κεῖται Δύρας, τὸν βοηθέοντα τῷ Ἡρακλέι καιομένῳ λόγος ἐστὶ ἀναφανῆναι. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου διʼ ἄλλων εἴκοσι σταδίων ἄλλος ποταμός ἐστι ὃς καλέεται Μέλας.
These then are the things which happened in Thessalia and in Achaia; and from these regions he proceeded to the Malian land, going along by a gulf of the sea, in which there is an ebb and flow of the tide every day. Round about this gulf there is a level space, which in parts is broad but in other parts very narrow; and mountains lofty and inaccessible surrounding this place enclose the whole land of Malis and are called the rocks of Trachis. The first city upon this gulf as one goes from Achaia is Antikyra, by which the river Spercheios flowing from the land of the Enianians runs out into the sea. At a distance of twenty furlongs or thereabouts from this river there is another, of which the name is Dyras; this is said to have appeared that it might bring assistance to Heracles when he was burning: then again at a distance of twenty furlongs from this there is another river called Melas.
Τρηχὶς δὲ πόλις ἀπὸ τοῦ Μέλανος τούτου ποταμοῦ πέντε στάδια ἀπέχει. ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ εὐρύτατον ἐστὶ πάσης τῆς χώρης ταύτης ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς θάλασσαν, κατʼ ἃ Τρηχὶς πεπόλισται· δισχίλιά τε γὰρ καὶ δισμύρια πλέθρα τοῦ πεδίου ἐστί. τοῦ δὲ ὄρεος τὸ περικληίει τὴν γῆν τὴν Τρηχινίην ἐστὶ διασφὰξ πρὸς μεσαμβρίην Τρηχῖνος, διὰ δὲ τῆς διασφάγος Ἀσωπὸς ποταμὸς ῥέει παρὰ τὴν ὑπωρείαν τοῦ ὄρεος.
From this river Melas the city of Trachis is distant five furlongs; and here, in the parts where Trachis is situated, is even the widest portion of all this district, as regards the space from the mountains to the sea; for the plain has an extent of twenty-two thousand plethra. In the mountain-range which encloses the land of Trachis there is a cleft to the South of Trachis itself; and through this cleft the river Asopos flows, and runs along by the foot of the mountain.
ἔστι δὲ ἄλλος Φοῖνιξ ποταμὸς οὐ μέγας πρὸς μεσαμβρίην τοῦ Ἀσωποῦ, ὃς ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων τούτων ῥέων ἐς τὸν Ἀσωπὸν ἐκδιδοῖ. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Φοίνικα ποταμὸν στεινότατον ἐστί· ἁμαξιτὸς γὰρ μούνη δέδμηται. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Φοίνικος ποταμοῦ πεντεκαίδεκα στάδια ἐστὶ ἐς Θερμοπύλας.
ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταξὺ Φοίνικος ποταμοῦ καὶ Θερμοπυλέων κώμη τε ἐστὶ τῇ οὔνομα Ἀνθήλη κεῖται, παρʼ ἣν δὴ παραρρέων ὁ Ἀσωπὸς ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῖ, καὶ χῶρος περὶ αὐτὴν εὐρύς, ἐν τῷ Δήμητρός τε ἱρὸν Ἀμφικτυονίδος ἵδρυται καὶ ἕδραι εἰσὶ Ἀμφικτύοσι καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἀμφικτύονος ἱρόν.
There is also another river called Phoinix, to the South of the Asopos, of no great size, which flowing from these mountains runs out into the Asopos; and at the river Phoinix is the narrowest place, for here has been constructed a road with a single wheel-track only. Then from the river Phoinix it is a distance of fifteen furlongs to Thermopylai; and in the space between the river Phoinix and Thermopylai there is a village called Anthela, by which the river Asopos flows, and so runs out into the sea; and about this village there is a wide space in which is set up a temple dedicated to Demeter of the Amphictyons, and there are seats for the Amphictyonic councillors and a temple dedicated to Amphictyon himself.
βασιλεὺς μὲν δὴ Ξέρξης ἐστρατοπεδεύετο τῆς Μηλίδος ἐν τῇ Τρηχινίῃ, οἱ δὲ δὴ Ἕλληνες ἐν τῇ διόδῳ. καλέεται δὲ ὁ χῶρος οὗτος ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν πλεόνων Ἑλλήνων Θερμοπύλαι, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων καὶ περιοίκων Πύλαι. ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο μέν νυν ἑκάτεροι ἐν τούτοισι τοῖσι χωρίοισι, ἐπεκράτεε δὲ ὃ μὲν τῶν πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἐχόντων πάντων μέχρι Τρηχῖνος, οἳ δὲ τῶν πρὸς νότον καὶ μεσαμβρίην φερόντων τὸ ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς ἠπείρου.
King Xerxes, I say, was encamped within the region of Trachis in the land of the Malians, and the Hellenes within the pass. This place is called by the Hellenes in general Thermopylai, but by the natives of the place and those who dwell in the country round it is called Pylai. Both sides then were encamped hereabout, and the one had command of all that lies beyond Trachis in the direction of the North Wind, and the others of that which tends towards the South Wind and the mid-day on this side of the continent.
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