Λακκόπλουτον
Pit-rich, Pit-wealthy
Translated by Oliver Phillips ✝5 Jun 2006Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
Thus they used to call Callias the Athenian1 for this reason: Xerxes, defeated in the sea-battle at Salamis,2 fled from Athens, but one of the Persians was stationed on Callias’ [property] and deposited his baggage there because of the precipitous rout, and the servants of the Persian threw a great deal of gold into a pit in the hopes of returning later to recover it. This they say did not happen, for Callias first got hold of the money.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Λακκόπλουτον· Καλλίαν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον οὕτως ἔλεγον ἐξ αἰτίας τοιαύτης· Ξέρξην ἡττηθέντα ἐν τῇ περὶ Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίᾳ φυγεῖν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, ἐσταθμευκότος δέ τινος τῶν Περσῶν ἐν τοῖς Καλλίου καὶ τὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἐκεῖ καταλελοιπότος, τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων ὀξεῖαν τὴν φυγὴν ποιησαμένων ἐμβαλεῖν τοὺς οἰκέτας τοῦ Πέρσου πολὺν χρυσὸν εἰς λάκκον, ἐλπίζοντος ὕστερον ἀνασώσειν ἐπανελθόντας. οὐ μὴν γενέσθαι λέγεται· πρότερον γὰρ κυριεῦσαι τῶν χρημάτων Καλλίαν.
Betacode
*lakko/plouton: *kalli/an to\n *)aqhnai=on ou(/tws e)/legon e)c ai)ti/as toiau/ths: *ce/rchn h(tthqe/nta e)n th=| peri\ *salami=ni naumaxi/a| fugei=n e)c *)aqhnw=n, e)staqmeuko/tos de/ tinos tw=n *persw=n e)n toi=s *kalli/ou kai\ th\n a)poskeuh\n e)kei= kataleloipo/tos, tw=n de\ barba/rwn o)cei=an th\n fugh\n poihsame/nwn e)mbalei=n tou\s oi)ke/tas tou= *pe/rsou polu\n xruso\n ei)s la/kkon, e)lpi/zontos u(/steron a)nasw/sein e)panelqo/ntas. ou) mh\n gene/sqai le/getai: pro/teron ga\r kurieu=sai tw=n xrhma/twn *kalli/an.
Notes (2)
- Same entry in Photius, Lexicon lambda44 Theodoridis; see further below, n. 1. The headword is in the accusative case, as determined by the grammar of the opening sentence.
The baselakk- , meaning a pond, a reservoir, appears in IE in such terms as Latin lacus, English lake, and Scots/Irish loch. See associated bibliography below. For the uncompounded noun see lambda 60, lambda 61 (and for another lakk- compound lambda 59). - 1See already kappa 214: prominent Athenian diplomat and wealthy landowner of the early and middle C5 BCE. Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Ancient World [= Neue Pauly 1.962] regards the story as an invention based on Plutarch, Aristides 5.6 where the biographer tells a version of the story and attributes the name to the 'comic poets'. Brill/Pauly takes the term as the equivalent of 'mining baron'. ↩
- 2For Xerxes see generally xi 54. This sea-battle took place between the Greek city-states and Persia in 480 BCE in the straits between the Athenian harbor at Piraeus and Salamis, a small island in the Saronic Gulf. ↩
References
Pierre Chantraine (ed.), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: Histoire des mots, ed. 2 (Paris 2009)
Edward Ross Wharton, Etymological Lexicon of Classical Greek 1974
Edward Ross Wharton, Etymological Lexicon of Classical Greek 1974
Linked from3 entries
- κ214ΚαλλίαςKallias, CalliasThe one given the nickname 'Pit-wealthy'; serving as general against Artaxerxes he secured the boundaries of the treaties [made] under Kimon. Launching an invasion in his time, the Lakedaimonians, with Pleistoanax the…
- λ59Λακκόπρωκτοςpit-arse, tank-arseAristophanes [writes]: "you pit-arse. [--] Sprinkle me, sprinkle me with lots of roses. Don't you know that I like to have plenty of things said about me, even bad things?"
- λ60Λάκκοςpit, reservoir, tank[The] Athenians and the other Greeks dig holes under ground, making them wide with four rounded corners, plaster the sides, and put wine and oil in them; and these they called lakkoi.
Neighbouring entries
Revision history6 revisions · last 29 Mar 2020
- typo — Catharine Roth
- updated bibliography — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- coding — Catharine Roth
- tweaking — David Whitehead
- augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Oliver Phillips ✝