I visited Thermopylae and saw this headstone. However I ran into some trouble translating it. Help would be appreciated!

7 comments

  2. It’s one of the most famous words of Herodotus. We learn this by heart in Greece usually.
    “Passing Stranger, tell the Lacedaemons (Spartans) that we lie here buried, obeying their commands.”

    Edit:I guess as other translated”obedient to their commands” is more accurate.

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    GO TO THE OUTSIDE

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  5. It’s the epitaph of Simonides, which was engraved on a stone after the battle of Thermopylae:

    “Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.”

  6. Yo stranger, tell the Lacaedemonians (the ones you anglos call “Spartans”) that we lie here, obedient to their orders.

    It’s the epitaph of Simonides. People will translate it slightly differently, but the way I translated it conveys the meaning most.

    The coolest part is, that as a Greek, you can pass from that spot while travelling, look at the epigraph, understand what it says, and actually be in a position to do what it asks of you 2500 years after the incident. I still remember when I first saw it while touring southern Greece with my parents back when I was a youngling.

  7. Ancient Greek poem by Simonides from Kea:

    Σιμωνίδης ο Κείος

    Original:
    (Ὦ ξεῖν᾿, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε // κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.)

    Modern Greek:
    (Ω, ξένε διαβάτη που περνάς, ανάγγειλε στους Λακεδαιμόνιους ότι ταφήκαμε εδώ, υπακούοντας στα προστάγματά τους)

    Source:
    https://el.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/%CE%95%CF%80%CE%B9%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BC%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1

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