In the passage of the fifth book which we are now to examine Herodotus[839] is explaining the origin of the hatred that existed between Athens and Aegina in 500 B.C. Aegina had once been subject to Epidaurus[840]. Then the Aeginetans, having built triremes and made themselves masters of the sea[841], revolted. Through their revolt they got embroiled with the Athenians, who had at that time very close relations with Epidaurus. At the suggestion of the Epidaurians, the Athenians sailed against Aegina. The Aeginetans appealed to Argos, and with the help of an Argive force that crossed undetected from Epidaurus, utterly defeated the Athenians in a land battle on the island. The various measures[842] taken in common by the Aeginetans and the Argives immediately after the war suggest that Aegina, when she had revolted from Epidaurus, became in some sort a confederate, or possibly a subject, of Argos[843]. We may assume too that Argos secured some sort of control over Epidaurus in the course of the war. Otherwise it is inconceivable that an Argive force should have set out from Epidaurus with the double purpose of aiding Epidaurus’ revolted subjects and attacking those very Athenians, whose expedition against the island had been suggested by the Epidaurians themselves[844]. The crushing defeat that the Athenians sustained may have been due to the collapse of her Epidaurian allies. One further point about Herodotus’ narrative should be noticed. There is nothing in it to suggest that at the time when the Aeginetans revolted from the Epidaurians, either of them was dependent on Argos. The narrative points rather to a previous confederation or dominion in which the chief cities were Epidaurus, Aegina, and not Argos but Athens. Are there any indications as to when all this occurred?