Saturday, August 17, 2019
Neutrality?
Herodotus 8.73.3 (on the "seven nations" of the Peloponnese during the war with Persia; tr. A.D. Godley):
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Now of these seven nations all the cities, save those aforesaid, sat apart from the war; and if I may speak freely, by so doing they took the part of the enemy."They took the part of the enemy" — more literally, "they sided with the Medes," or "they medized." See David F. Graf, "Medism: The Origin and Significance of the Term," Journal of Hellenic Studies 104 (1984) 15-30.
τούτων ὦν τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐθνέων αἱ λοιπαὶ πόλιες, πάρεξ τῶν κατέλεξα, ἐκ τοῦ μέσου κατέατο· εἰ δὲ ἐλευθέρως ἔξεστι εἰπεῖν, ἐκ τοῦ κατήμενοι ἐμήδιζον.
