The Boiotian Contingent (2.494-510)

Βοιωτῶν μὲν Πηνέλεως καὶ Λήïτος ἦρχον
Ἀρκεσίλαός τε Προθοήνωρ τε Κλονίος τε, [495]
οἵ θ' Ὑρίην ἐνέμοντο καὶ Αὐλίδα πετρήεσσαν
Σχοῖνόν τε Σκῶλόν τε πολύκνημόν τ' Ἐτεωνόν,
Θέσπειαν Γραῖάν τε καὶ εὐρύχορον Μυκαλησσόν,
οἵ τ' ἀμφ' Ἅρμ' ἐνέμοντο καὶ Εἰλέσιον καὶ Ἐρυθράς,
οἵ τ' Ἐλεῶν' εἶχον ἠδ' Ὕλην καὶ Πετεῶνα, [500]
Ὠκαλέην Μεδεῶνά τ' ἐϋκτίμενον πτολίεθρον,
Κώπας Εὔτρησίν τε πολυτρήρωνά τε Θίσβην,
οἵ τε Κορώνειαν καὶ ποιήενθ' Ἁλίαρτον,
οἵ τε Πλάταιαν ἔχον ἠδ' οἳ Γλισᾶντ' ἐνέμοντο,
οἵ θ' Ὑποθήβας εἶχον ἐϋκτίμενον πτολίεθρον, [505]
Ὀγχηστόν θ' ἱερὸν Ποσιδήïον ἀγλαὸν ἄλσος,
οἵ τε πολυστάφυλον Ἄρνην ἔχον, οἵ τε Μίδειαν
Νῖσάν τε ζαθέην Ἀνθηδόνα τ' ἐσχατόωσαν:
τῶν μὲν πεντήκοντα νέες κίον, ἐν δὲ ἑκάστῃ
κοῦροι Βοιωτῶν ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι βαῖνον. [510]

Translation
Of the Boiotian men, the leaders were
Peneleos and Leitos, along with
Arkesilaos and Prothoenor and Klonios.
The men they led inhabited
Hurie and rocky Aulis,
Skhoinos, Skolos, and rugged Eteonos,
Thespeia, Graia, and Mukalessos with its dancing grounds.
They also dwelt
in Harma, Eilesion, and Eruthrai,
and held the lands
of Eleon, Hule, and Peteon,
of Okalee and Medeon—a city built to last—
of Kopai, Eutresis, and Thisbe with its many doves.
They also held
Koroneia and grassy Haliartos,
Plataia, Glisas, and Hupothebai—a city built to last—
and Ogkhestos, made sacred by Poseidon’s shining grove.
They also held the lands
of Arne with its many vineyards,
of Mideia, too, along with blessed Nisa
and the borderlands of Anthedon.
There went from all these places fifty ships,
and in each ship there went
one hundred twenty young Boiotian men.

Comment
My vacation turned out to be longer than expected, but the upshot is that I’m returning to this project feeling very refreshed and motivated to continue. However, I might as well mention that since I’ve taken on extra work this fall semester, I’ll probably only be able to complete 2 short entries per week. But the important thing is to keep moving forward, as slowly as necessary.

As for this section, the first entry in the catalogue of ships, I went back and forth with a lot of possible approaches before going with this. One thing I rejected right off the bat is trying to stick with an iambic rhythm. With all the proper names, it just wouldn’t be feasible. But I am trying to keep up some hints of iambic rhythm in any lines that lack proper names or that only have one, such as the very first line of this entry. What I want to focus on as I move forward in the catalogue is developing a consistent way of translating the epithets and of dealing with the list formats.