Expert: Maria - 2/12/2010

Question
I was reading "the Spartans" by paul Carledge and i came a cross many spartan quotes there was one that stood out that was in the movie 300 but not the same wording. So i was wandering what it would look like in Ancient Greek and how you would pronounce it,
"Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie."

always fun to learn something new bout ancient cultures.
Thanks

Answer
Hello,

The ancient Greek  epitaph on the Cenotaph of Thermopylae  as a war memorial to remember the fallen in the battle of  Thermopylae (480 BC) reads correctly as follows:

-Ὦ ξειν’,  αγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε κείμεθα  τοῖς ᾽κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι (in ancient Greek letters).

-Ho xein’, angéllein Lakedaimoníois hoti têde kéimetha tois ‘kéinon rhêmasi peithómenoi ( Latin transliteration, i.e. Latin alphabet we use still today).

This epitaph attributed to the poet Simonides (born ca. 556 BC  and died 468 BC) means exactly:

"O foreigner, tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their precepts".

See below for learning more.

Have a nice day,
Maria
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Note that:

-Ὦ ξειν’  / Ho xein’ (vocative case) = O foreigner, i.e. stranger passing by

-αγγέλλειν / aggéllein  (infinitive used as an imperative) = tell

-Λακεδαιμονίοις / Lakedaimoníois (dative plural as the verb requires the dative)= the Spartans

- ὅτι / hoti (conjunction) = that

-τῇδε / têde (adverb) = here

-κείμεθα  / kéimetha (1st person plural,  present  indicative) = we lie

-τοῖς / tois  (definite article in the dative plural agreed with ῥήμασι  / rhêmasi) = to

-᾽κείνων / ‘kéinon (genitive plural of a demonstrative adjective used as a possessive) = their

-ῥήμασι  / rhêmasi (dative plural) = literally, “words”, i.e. “precepts”/”commands”

-πειθόμενοι / peithómenoi (present participle in the nominative masculine plural agreed with the subject of the phrase, i.e. “we” in “we lie”. In ancient Greek the pronoun “we” is omitted, as it is implied in the 1st.person plural of the verb “κείμεθα  / kéimetha”.




As for how to pronounce this distich, here it is:  

Ὦ / HO like the O in English “or”
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xein’ / ξειν’

- ξ / X like the X in "xenophobia".

- ειν/ EIN like the EIN in “vein”
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angéllein / αγγέλλειν

-a / α like the A in “father”

-ng / γγ  like the NG in “hangar”

-e / έ like the E  in  “hell”. The accent stands on this vowel.

-ll / λλ  like the LL in “follow”

-ein/ ειν  like the EIN in “vein”
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Lakedaimoníois / Λακεδαιμονίοις

-Lak/ Λακ like the LAC in “lack”

-ed/ εδ like the ED in “Edmonton”

-a / α  like the A in “father”.

-im / ιμ  like the IM in “aim”

-on/ ον like ON in  “onion”.

-io / ίο  like the IO  in “onion”. The accent stands on the I .

-s /  ς  like the S in “oyster”
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hoti / ὅτι

-ho /  ὅ like the O in English “or”

-ti  /  τι  like  THI in “thief “


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têde / τῇδε

-tê / τῇ like TE in “ted”. The accent stands on the E

-de / δε like DE in “definition”
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kéimetha / κείμεθα

-kéi / κεί like the K in OK. The accente falls on this syllable.

-metha / μεθα like META in “metaphor”
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tois / τοῖς  like the plural “toys”

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‘kéinon / ᾽κείνων

-K like in English.

-ein/ ειν  like the EIN in “vein”. The accent stands on the E.

-non / νων like NON in “nonexistence”
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rhêmasi / ῥήμασι

-rhêm / ῥήμ  like REM in “rem”. The accent stands on the E.

-a/ α like the a in “father”

-si/ σι like the SI in “similar”
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peithómenoi / πειθόμενοι

-pei/ πει like “pay”

-th / θ like the English TH

-ómen / όμεν like “omen” in English. The accent stands on the O.

-oi / οι like OY in “oyster”