- 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-grc2:1.178.1-1.178.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
After subduing the mainland, Cyrus advances against Assyria, leading to a detailed description of the magnificent city of Babylon, its immense dimensions, its surrounding moat, and massive walls.
Κῦρος ἐπείτε τὰ πάντα τῆς ἠπείρου ὑποχείρια ἐποιήσατο, Ἀσσυρίοισι ἐπετίθετο. τῆς δὲ Ἀσσυρίης ἐστὶ μὲν κου καὶ ἄλλα πολίσματα μεγάλα πολλά, τὸ δὲ ὀνομαστότατον καὶ ἰσχυρότατον καὶ ἔνθα σφι Νίνου ἀναστάτου γενομένης1 τὰ βασιλήια κατεστήκεε, ἦν Βαβυλών, ἐοῦσα τοιαύτη δή τις πόλις.
When Cyrus had made all parts of the mainland subject to him, he attacked the Assyrians. Now in Assyria there are indeed many other great cities, but the most famous and strongest, and where, after Ninus was destroyed, their royal palace was established, was Babylon, which was a city of the following kind.
κέεται ἐν πεδίῳ μεγάλῳ, μέγαθος ἐοῦσα μέτωπον ἕκαστον εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν σταδίων, ἐούσης τετραγώνου·2 οὗτοι στάδιοι τῆς περιόδου τῆς πόλιος γίνονται συνάπαντες ὀγδώκοντα καὶ τετρακόσιοι, τὸ μέν νυν μέγαθος τοσοῦτον ἐστὶ τοῦ ἄστεος τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου, ἐκεκόσμητο δὲ ὡς οὐδὲν ἄλλο πόλισμα τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν.3
It lies in a great plain, being square in shape, and in size each side is one hundred and twenty stades; these stades in the entire circuit of the city amount to four hundred and eighty in all. Such, then, is the size of the city of Babylon, and it had been adorned like no other city that we know.
τάφρος μὲν πρῶτά μιν βαθέα τε καὶ εὐρέα4 καὶ πλέη ὕδατος περιθέει, μετὰ δὲ τεῖχος πεντήκοντα μὲν πηχέων βασιληίων ἐὸν τὸ εὖρος, ὕψος δὲ διηκοσίων πηχέων· ὁ δὲ βασιλήιος πῆχυς τοῦ μετρίου ἐστὶ πήχεος μέζων τρισὶ δακτύλοισι.
First of all, a deep, wide moat full of water runs around it, and next, a wall fifty royal cubits in width and two hundred cubits in height; and the royal cubit is greater than the ordinary cubit by three fingers.
- 1.178.1Νίνου ἀναστάτου γενομένης
Genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun Νίνος in the genitive, the adjective ἀνάστατος in the feminine genitive singular, and the aorist participle γενομένης, functioning temporally to mean 'after Ninus was destroyed'.
- 1.178.2ἐούσης τετραγώνου
Genitive absolute. Although the subject (the city, ἡ πόλις) is not explicitly expressed within this phrase, it is understood from the context, consisting of the participle ἐούσης (= οὔσης) and the adjective τετράγωνος, meaning 'since it is square'.
- 1.178.2τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν
ἴδμεν is the Ionic 1st person plural present indicative of οἶδα (equivalent to Attic ἴσμεν, 'we know'). The genitive relative pronoun τῶν is attracted to the genitive of the implied antecedent (functioning as a partitive genitive), meaning 'of those which we know'.
- 1.178.3βαθέα ... εὐρέα
Ionic feminine singular nominative forms of the adjectives βαθύς and εὐρύς, corresponding to Attic βαθεῖα and εὐρεῖα, modifying the feminine noun τάφρος. Though homonymous with the neuter plural forms, they function here as feminine singular nominative.