- 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-grc2:1.15.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The passage describes the end of Gyges' reign, the accession of his son Ardys, and the invasion of Asia and capture of Sardis by the Cimmerians during Ardys' rule.
ἐσέβαλε μέν νυν στρατιὴν καὶ οὗτος ἐπείτε ἦρξε ἔς τε Μίλητον καὶ ἐς Σμύρνην, καὶ Κολοφῶνος τὸ ἄστυ εἷλε· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν γὰρ1 μέγα ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἄλλο ἔργον ἐγένετο βασιλεύσαντος2 δυῶν δέοντα τεσσεράκοντα3 ἔτεα, τοῦτον μὲν παρήσομεν τοσαῦτα ἐπιμνησθέντες, Ἄρδυος δὲ τοῦ Γύγεω μετὰ Γύγην βασιλεύσαντος μνήμην ποιήσομαι. οὗτος δὲ Πριηνέας τε εἷλε ἐς Μίλητόν τε ἐσέβαλε, ἐπὶ τούτου τε τυραννεύοντος Σαρδίων Κιμμέριοι ἐξ ἠθέων ὑπὸ Σκυθέων τῶν νομάδων ἐξαναστάντες ἀπίκοντο ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην καὶ Σάρδις πλὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλιος εἷλον.
This man also, when he became king, invaded Miletus and Smyrna with his army, and captured the city of Colophon. But since no other great deed was performed by him during his reign of thirty-eight years, we shall pass him over after making only this much mention of him, and I shall make mention of Ardys, the son of Gyges, who reigned after Gyges. This Ardys captured the people of Priene and invaded Miletus; and during his reign over Sardis, the Cimmerians, driven from their homes by the nomad Scythians, came into Asia and captured Sardis, except for the acropolis.
- 1.15.1ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν γὰρ
The idiom ἀλλὰ ... γάρ marks an elliptical causal construction where the main statement is omitted but understood from the context: "But (we shall pass him over), for (no other great deed was done)." The actual main verb παρήσομεν ("we shall pass over") appears later in the sentence.
- 1.15.1βασιλεύσαντος
Genitive singular of the aorist participle, agreeing with the pronoun αὐτοῦ in the phrase ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ("from him, who had reigned"), functioning like a genitive absolute or circumstantial participle modifying the agent.
- 1.15.1δυῶν δέοντα τεσσεράκοντα
A numeral expression meaning "thirty-eight," literally "forty (τεσσεράκοντα) lacking (δέοντα) two (δυῶν)." The participle δέοντα is in the neuter plural accusative, agreeing with the accusative of duration of time ἔτεα ("years").