- 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-grc2:1.131.1-1.131.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The author describes the unique religious customs of the Persians, who do not build statues or temples because they do not believe the gods have human form, and explains their worship of Zeus, natural elements, and the imported deity Urania.
Πέρσας δὲ οἶδα νόμοισι τοιοῖσιδε χρεωμένους, ἀγάλματα μὲν καὶ νηοὺς καὶ βωμοὺς οὐκ ἐν νόμῳ ποιευμένους ἱδρύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖσι ποιεῦσι μωρίην ἐπιφέρουσι, ὡς μὲν ἐμοὶ δοκέειν,1 ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωποφυέας ἐνόμισαν τοὺς θεοὺς κατά περ οἱ Ἕλληνες εἶναι·2
I know that the Persians observe the following customs: they do not make it their practice to erect images, temples, and altars, but on the contrary, they charge those who do so with folly, because, as it seems to me, they do not believe the gods to be of human form, as the Greeks do.
οἳ δὲ νομίζουσι Διὶ μὲν ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλότατα τῶν ὀρέων ἀναβαίνοντες θυσίας ἔρδειν,3 τὸν κύκλον πάντα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ Δία καλέοντες· θύουσι δὲ ἡλίῳ τε καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ γῇ καὶ πυρὶ καὶ ὕδατι καὶ ἀνέμοισι.
It is their custom to ascend the highest summits of the mountains and offer sacrifice to Zeus, calling the whole circle of heaven Zeus; and they sacrifice also to the sun, the moon, the earth, fire, water, and the winds.
τούτοισι μὲν δὴ θύουσι μούνοισι ἀρχῆθεν, ἐπιμεμαθήκασι δὲ καὶ τῇ Οὐρανίῃ θύειν, παρά τε Ἀσσυρίων μαθόντες καὶ Ἀραβίων. καλέουσι δὲ Ἀσσύριοι τὴν Ἀφροδίτην Μύλιττα, Ἀράβιοι δὲ Ἀλιλάτ, Πέρσαι δὲ Μίτραν.
To these alone they have sacrificed from the beginning, but they have also learned in addition to sacrifice to Urania, having learned this from the Assyrians and the Arabians. Now, the Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, and the Persians Mitra.
- 1.131.1ὡς μὲν ἐμοὶ δοκέειν
An absolute infinitive construction with ὡς, functioning as a restrictive adverbial phrase qualifying the statement. It means 'as it seems to me' or 'in my opinion'.
- 1.131.1ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωποφυέας ἐνόμισαν τοὺς θεοὺς κατά περ οἱ Ἕλληνες εἶναι
An accusative with infinitive construction (τοὺς θεοὺς εἶναι ἀνθρωποφυέας) serving as the object of the verb ἐνόμισαν. The adjective ἀνθρωποφυέας functions as the predicate of τοὺς θεοὺς, meaning 'of human form/nature'.
- 1.131.2νομίζουσι ... θυσίας ἔρδειν
The verb νομίζω with an infinitive (ἔρδειν) meaning 'to be accustomed to do' or 'to make it a custom to do', which differs from its common meaning 'to think' when used without an infinitive.