Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 57 of 245
Book I · Lines 1346–1362
Ancient Greek
p. 118The Argonautica: Book I
p. 119to found a city bearing that same river's name,
Polyphemus, Eilatus' son; Heracles went back
again to toil at Eurystheus' labors; then he threatened
to lay the Mysian land waste on the spot, unless
they found for him Hylas' fate, whether life or death.
For him they offered pledges, choosing men of highest honor
sons of the people; together they sealed a solemn oath,
never to cease from toil while searching for lost Hylas.
Thus Cianians today continue seeking lost Hylas,
Theiodamas' son, and tend the well-founded town of Trachis;
for there he settled young sons they had sent as pledges,
the chosen hostages he led away, departing Cius.
Daylong and nightlong the wind drove onward the ship,
blowing fiercely; yet the slightest breath fell silent
when Dawn arose; they saw a coastland stretching outward
from the bay; a broad headland rose clear in their vision,
then, sighting that broad strand, they rowed shoreward with sunrise.
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 1346–1362
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Apollonius’s Argonautica follows Jason and the Argonauts from their gathering at Pagasae through the voyage to Colchis and the difficult return home. This exact line-for-line edition pairs the Ancient Greek poem with an independent metrical English translation prepared by Diotimos Editions, preserving one English verse for every Greek reading line across all four books.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek reading text follows the Perseus transcription derived from George W. Mooney’s 1912 edition, pinned to a stable canonical-greekLit commit. Mooney and LSJ provide the principal controls for Books I–III; Peter Hulse’s Dickinson commentary directly supports Book IV. Deleted records and canonical numbering gaps remain documented rather than being silently repaired. The supplied release identifies itself as a complete source-audited working edition and recommends independent classicist review before print publication.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent translation directly from the Greek. Its six-beat English house form preserves the poem’s source order, imagery, learned names, narrative delays, shifts of register, and line-by-line correspondence while allowing syntax to move across adjacent verses where the Greek requires it.
Rights
Apollonius’s ancient Greek source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos. The pinned Perseus Greek transcription is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- public-domain-base-witnessPinned Perseus Greek transcription — canonical-greekLit
- print-control-and-commentaryGeorge W. Mooney’s 1912 Argonautica — Internet Archive
- book-four-commentaryApollonius Argonautica, Book IV — Dickinson College Commentaries
- lexical-controlLiddell–Scott–Jones Greek-English Lexicon — Scaife ATLAS
- greek-transcription-licenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0