Talk:Battle of Aegospotami

Latest comment: 13 years ago by Botteville in topic Wrong name


Untitled

edit

Having gone back and compared with the account in Conon, and seeing different numbers in different books, I'm now completely unsure what numbers of ships to believe were there, and how many escaped. I don't have the relevant volume of Kagan, perhaps he discusses? Stan Shebs 02:18 Feb 13, 2003 (UTC)

Hmm. I'm used to twenty, and sort of assumed the smaller number referred to the ships that went to Cyprus. But checking Xenophon, he clearly states that nine ships escaped, of which only the Paralus returned to Athens. I couldn't find an explanation or primary source for the larger number, so I think we should use the smaller for the time being, and keep our eyes open for a better analysis. -- Josh Grosse

Hello

edit

According to Battle by R.G. Grant, the Athenians had 200 ships, of which more than 190 were destroyed or captured, eight survived and of that one escaped. Tourskin


Wrong name

edit

The area's name is Aegos potamoi not Aegospotami. These are two words. In greek is Αιγός Ποταμοί. The article should be named battle of Aegos Potami(or Potamoi). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.107.18.0 (talk) 11:25, 25 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Well, you are right, the spelling is mighty peculiar. Which is it, Greek -oi or Latin -i, Greek -ai or Latin -ae? And why is it rivers of just one goat? Why is it rivers when it is only one river? "Streams of the goat" it would seem to say. If you run it together into a single word then all we need worry about is the final ending and the diphthong. If it is Latinized we get Aegospotami, if not, aigospotamoi. I look back on the Internet and all I see is Aegospotami with but slight lip service given to the -oi form. But, do I find Aegospotami in the unabridged Latin dictionary? No, I do not. I do find Aegos flumen, but that is only one stream. What I suspect is some linguistic skulduggery. Some ancient name was turned into the streams of a goat by people who did not speak the original lingo. Have you ever noticed any flat bushes in Flatbush? Where are all the brooks in Brooklyn? I suggest that the traditional anglicization, which is centuries old, is good enough for us folks. So, I would not change it. This is the English WP. YOu can use the other one in the Greek WP.Dave (talk) 03:41, 7 September 2011 (UTC)Reply