- Source
- Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.107.1-1.107.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Cyaxares, King of Media, dies and is succeeded by his son Astyages, who, after having an ominous dream about his daughter Mandane, marries her to a lower-status Persian named Cambyses.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κυαξάρης μέν, βασιλεύσας τεσσεράκοντα ἔτεα σὺν τοῖσι Σκύθαι ἦρξαν,1 τελευτᾷ, ἐκδέκεται δὲ Ἀστυάγης Κυαξάρεω παῖς τὴν βασιληίην. Καὶ οἱ ἐγένετο θυγάτηρ τῇ οὔνομα ἔθετο Μανδάνην· τὴν ἐδόκεε Ἀστυάγης ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ οὐρῆσαι2 τοσοῦτον ὥστε πλῆσαι μὲν τὴν ἑωυτοῦ πόλιν, ἐπικατακλύσαι δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἀσίην πᾶσαν. ὑπερθέμενος δὲ τῶν Μάγων τοῖσι ὀνειροπόλοισι τὸ ἐνύπνιον, ἐφοβήθη παρʼ αὐτῶν αὐτὰ ἕκαστα μαθών.
After these events, Cyaxares, having reigned for forty years including the period when the Scythians ruled, died, and Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, succeeded to the kingdom. And a daughter was born to him, to whom he gave the name Mandane; whom Astyages dreamed in his sleep urinated so much as to fill his own city and even to flood the whole of Asia. Having communicated the dream to those of the Magi who were interpreters of dreams, he was terrified when he learned each detail from them.
μετὰ δὲ τὴν Μανδάνην ταύτην ἐοῦσαν ἤδη ἀνδρὸς ὡραίην3 Μήδων μὲν τῶν ἑωυτοῦ ἀξίων οὐδενὶ διδοῖ γυναῖκα, δεδοικὼς τὴν ὄψιν· ὁ δὲ Πέρσῃ διδοῖ τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Καμβύσης, τὸν εὕρισκε οἰκίης μὲν ἐόντα ἀγαθῆς τρόπου δὲ ἡσυχίου, πολλῷ ἔνερθε ἄγων αὐτὸν μέσου ἀνδρὸς Μήδου.4
After this, when Mandane was now of an age for a husband, he gave her as wife to none of the Medes who were worthy of himself, because he feared the vision; but he gave her to a Persian whose name was Cambyses, whom he found to be of a good house and of a quiet disposition, holding him to be far below a middle-class Mede.
- 1.107.1σὺν τοῖσι Σκύθαι ἦρξαν
A condensed expression combining the preposition σὺν with the relative clause structure τοῖσι [ἃ] Σκύθαι ἦρξαν ('with the years which the Scythians ruled'). This indicates that Cyaxares' forty-year reign includes the twenty-eight years of Scythian domination mentioned in 1.106.1.
- 1.107.1τὴν ἐδόκεε Ἀστυάγης ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ οὐρῆσαι
The infinitive οὐρῆσαι takes the accusative τὴν (Mandane) as its subject, while the verb ἐδόκεε is used personally with Astyages as its subject ('Astyages seemed/dreamed that she urinated').
- 1.107.2μετὰ δὲ τὴν Μανδάνην ταύτην ἐοῦσαν ἤδη ἀνδρὸς ὡραίην
The preposition μετὰ governs the entire accusative phrase τὴν Μανδάνην ταύτην ἐοῦσαν..., meaning 'after this Mandane was now...'. The genitive ἀνδρὸς depends on the adjective ὡραίην to mean 'of ripe age for a husband (man).'
- 1.107.2πολλῷ ἔνερθε ἄγων αὐτὸν μέσου ἀνδρὸς Μήδου
The participle ἄγων is used here in the sense of 'holding, esteeming' (a figurative use of ἄγω). The adverb ἔνερθε ('below') has a comparative force, thus taking the genitive of comparison μέσου ἀνδρὸς Μήδου ('a middle-class Mede'). The dative of degree of difference πολλῷ modifies ἔνερθε ('by much, far').