- 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-grc2:1.173.1-1.173.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
The passage traces the origins of the Lycians back to Crete and explains how they derived their name through Sarpedon and Lycus, highlighting their unique custom of matrilineal descent.
καὶ οὗτοι μὲν τρόποισι τοιούτοισι χρέωνται, οἱ δὲ Λύκιοι ἐκ Κρήτης τὠρχαῖον γεγόνασι (τὴν γὰρ Κρήτην εἶχον τὸ παλαιὸν πᾶσαν βάρβαροι)·
And while these people practice such customs, the Lycians were originally from Crete (for in ancient times barbarians held the whole of Crete).
διενειχθέντων δὲ ἐν Κρήτῃ περὶ τῆς βασιληίης τῶν Εὐρώπης παίδων Σαρπηδόνος τε καὶ Μίνω, ὡς ἐπεκράτησε τῇ στάσι Μίνως, ἐξήλασε αὐτόν τε Σαρπηδόνα καὶ τοὺς στασιώτας αὐτοῦ, οἳ δὲ1 ἀπωσθέντες ἀπίκοντο τῆς Ἀσίης ἐς γῆν τὴν Μιλυάδα· τὴν γὰρ νῦν Λύκιοι νέμονται, αὕτη τὸ παλαιὸν ἦν Μιλυάς, οἱ δὲ Μιλύαι τότε Σόλυμοι ἐκαλέοντο.
When a dispute arose in Crete concerning the kingship between Sarpedon and Minos, the sons of Europa, and Minos got the upper hand in the faction, he drove out Sarpedon himself and his factionalists; and they, being driven out, came to the land of Milyas in Asia. For the land which the Lycians now inhabit was anciently Milyas, and the Milyans were then called Solymi.
ἕως μὲν δὴ αὐτῶν Σαρπηδὼν ἦρχε, οἳ δὲ ἐκαλέοντο τό πέρ τε ἠνείκαντο οὔνομα2 καὶ νυν ἔτι καλέονται ὑπὸ τῶν περιοίκων οἱ Λύκιοι Τερμίλαι· ὡς δὲ ἐξ Ἀθηνέων Λύκος ὁ Πανδίονος, ἐξελασθεὶς καὶ οὗτος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφεοῦ Αἰγέος, ἀπίκετο ἐς τοὺς Τερμίλας παρὰ Σαρπηδόνα, οὕτω δὴ κατὰ τοῦ Λύκου τὴν ἐπωνυμίην Λύκιοι ἀνὰ χρόνον ἐκλήθησαν.
Now as long as Sarpedon ruled them, they were called by the name which they had brought with them, and even now the Lycians are still called Termilae by their neighbors. But when Lycus son of Pandion, who had also been driven out of Athens by his brother Aegeus, came to the Termilae to Sarpedon, thus indeed in time they came to be called Lycians after the name of Lycus.
νόμοισι δὲ τὰ μὲν Κρητικοῖσι τὰ δὲ Καρικοῖσι χρέωνται. ἓν δὲ τόδε ἴδιον νενομίκασι καὶ οὐδαμοῖσι ἄλλοισι συμφέρονται ἀνθρώπων· καλέουσι ἀπὸ τῶν μητέρων ἑωυτοὺς καὶ οὐκὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πατέρων·
They practice customs partly Cretan and partly Carian. But they have established this one custom peculiar to themselves, in which they agree with no other men: they call themselves after their mothers and not after their fathers.
εἰρομένου δὲ ἑτέρου τὸν πλησίον τίς εἴη, καταλέξει ἑωυτὸν μητρόθεν καὶ τῆς μητρὸς ἀνανεμέεται τὰς μητέρας. καὶ ἢν μέν γε γυνὴ ἀστὴ δούλῳ συνοικήσῃ, γενναῖα τὰ τέκνα νενόμισται· ἢν δὲ ἀνὴρ ἀστὸς καὶ ὁ πρῶτος αὐτῶν3 γυναῖκα ξείνην ἢ παλλακὴν ἔχῃ, ἄτιμα τὰ τέκνα γίνεται.
If one asks his neighbor who he is, he will reckon up his pedigree from his mother and retrace his mother’s mothers. And if a female citizen cohabits with a slave, the children are deemed noble; but if a male citizen, even the first among them, has a foreign wife or a concubine, the children are without rights.
- 1.173.2οἳ δὲ
The relative pronoun οἵ functions as a demonstrative pronoun ("and they") in combination with the conjunction δέ. This is a characteristic usage in Homeric and Ionic Greek.
- 1.173.3τό πέρ τε ἠνείκαντο οὔνομα
ἠνείκαντο is the Ionic aorist middle third-person plural of φέρω (to bear, bring), equivalent to Attic ἠνέγκαντο. Here it means "the name which they brought or carried with themselves" during their migration.
- 1.173.5καὶ ὁ πρῶτος αὐτῶν
The conjunction καί is used adverbially here to mean "even", modifying ὁ πρῶτος αὐτῶν ("the first among them", i.e., the citizen of the highest social standing).