- 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-grc2:1.167.1-1.167.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
After the captured Phocaeans were stoned to death, supernatural abnormalities occurred, prompting the Agyllaeans to establish funerary cults. Meanwhile, the surviving Phocaeans understood the oracle's true meaning and founded Hyele.
τῶν δὲ διαφθαρεισέων νεῶν τοὺς ἄνδρας οἱ τε Καρχηδόνιοι καὶ οἱ Τυρσηνοὶ ἔλαχόν τε αὐτῶν πολλῷ πλείστους καὶ τούτους ἐξαγαγόντες κατέλευσαν. μετὰ δὲ Ἀγυλλαίοισι1 πάντα τὰ παριόντα τὸν χῶρον, ἐν τῶ οἱ Φωκαιέες καταλευσθέντες ἐκέατο,2 ἐγίνετο διάστροφα καὶ ἔμπηρα καὶ ἀπόπληκτα, ὁμοίως πρόβατα καὶ ὑποζύγια καὶ ἄνθρωποι.
As for the men of the destroyed ships, both the Carthaginians and the Tyrrhenians drew by lot by far the greatest number of them, and having led them out, they stoned them to death. And afterwards, for the Agyllaeans, everything that passed by the place where the stoned Phocaeans lay became distorted, crippled, and paralyzed, alike sheep, beasts of burden, and men.
οἱ δὲ Ἀγυλλαῖοι ἐς Δελφοὺς ἔπεμπον βουλόμενοι ἀκέσασθαι τὴν ἁμαρτάδα. ἡ δὲ Πυθίη σφέας ἐκέλευσε ποιέειν τὰ καὶ νῦν οἱ Ἀγυλλαῖοι ἔτι ἐπιτελέουσι· καὶ γὰρ ἐναγίζουσί σφι μεγάλως καὶ ἀγῶνα γυμνικὸν καὶ ἱππικὸν ἐπιστᾶσι.
The Agyllaeans sent to Delphi, wishing to expiate their offense. And the Pythia ordered them to do what the Agyllaeans still perform even now; for they offer grand sacrifices to them and establish athletic and equestrian contests.
καὶ οὗτοι μὲν τῶν Φωκαιέων τοιούτῳ μόρῳ διεχρήσαντο,3 οἱ δὲ αὐτῶν ἐς τὸ Ῥήγιον καταφυγόντες ἐνθεῦτεν ὁρμώμενοι ἐκτήσαντο πόλιν γῆς τῆς Οἰνωτρίης ταύτην ἥτις νῦν Ὑέλη καλέεται·
And they indeed dispatched these of the Phocaeans by such a fate, while those of them who fled to Rhegium, starting from there, acquired this city in the Oenotrian land which is now called Hyele.
ἔκτισαν δὲ ταύτην πρὸς ἀνδρὸς Ποσειδωνιήτεω μαθόντες ὡς τὸν Κύρνον σφι ἡ Πυθίη ἔχρησε κτίσαι ἥρων ἐόντα,4 ἀλλʼ οὐ τὴν νῆσον.
And they founded this city having learned from a man of Poseidonia that the Pythia had prophesied to them to establish the worship of Cyrnus as being a hero, and not to colonize the island.
- 1.167.1Ἀγυλλαίοισι
Dative of interest/reference, indicating the people (the Agyllaeans) affected by the supernatural occurrences affecting everything passing by the spot.
- 1.167.1ἐκέατο
Ionic third-person plural imperfect equivalent to the Attic ἐκειντο, meaning "lay" or "were lying".
- 1.167.3διεχρήσαντο
Third-person plural aorist of διαχράομαι. In Herodotus, this verb often functions transitively meaning "to kill" or "to dispatch". Here, the subject οὗτοι refers to the Agyllaeans (and their allies), and τῶν Φωκαιέων acts as the partitive genitive object. While an intransitive reading ("they died") is possible, the transitive interpretation aligns better with the active role of the Agyllaeans in the context.
- 1.167.4κτίσαι ἥρων ἐόντα
The infinitive κτίσαι means not only "to found a city" but also "to establish a cult/worship". The oracle plays on the double meaning of "Cyrnus" (the hero Cyrnus vs. the island Cyrnus). The participle phrase ἥρων ἐόντα (with ἥρων as an accusative variant of ἥρωα) clarifies that the oracle meant "to establish the cult of Cyrnus as a hero," rather than colonizing the island.