The Epigram on the Fallen of Coronea

The elegiac poem of eight lines discovered in the Ceramicus and published by by W. Peek is of considerable interest for the historian. Peek is surely right in maintaining that it was composed for the Athenians who fell under Tolmides at Coronea in 447 B.C., and his general exposition of the poem's meaning is convincing. The aim of this paper is to make some comments and supplements to his interpretation and then to consider some peculiarities in the thought and technique of the poem. We may first set out a text and a translation: λμονες ℎοῖον γṑνα μχες ελσανες λπ[ο] φσχς δαιμονṐς ṑλσα' μ πολμοι σὐν κακι χσετλελεσσε βροοῖσι δ πσι λοιπν φρζεσθαι λογṐν πιοσν ἔθκε λος.