- 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-grc2:1.179.1-1.179.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-01
The exact method of constructing Babylon's walls and moat using baked bricks made from the excavated earth and hot asphalt is described. Additionally, the structures atop the wall, the bronze gates, and the river at Is, which served as the source of the asphalt, are introduced.
δεῖ δή με πρὸς τούτοισι ἔτι φράσαι ἵνα1 τε ἐκ τῆς τάφρου ἡ γῆ ἀναισιμώθη, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ὅντινα τρόπον ἔργαστο. ὀρύσσοντες ἅμα τὴν τάφρον ἐπλίνθευον τὴν γῆν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὀρύγματος ἐκφερομένην, ἑλκύσαντες2 δὲ πλίνθους ἱκανὰς ὤπτησαν αὐτὰς ἐν καμίνοισι·
Now I must also tell in addition to this where the earth from the moat was used, and in what manner the wall was built. As they dug the moat, they shaped the earth carried out of the excavation into bricks, and when they had molded a sufficient number of bricks, they baked them in kilns.
μετὰ δὲ τέλματι χρεώμενοι ἀσφάλτῳ θερμῇ καὶ διὰ τριήκοντα δόμων πλίνθου ταρσοὺς καλάμων διαστοιβάζοντες, ἔδειμαν πρῶτα μὲν τῆς τάφου τὰ χείλεα, δευτέρα δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ τεῖχος τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον.
Then, using hot asphalt as mortar, and stuffing layers of wattled reeds between every thirty courses of bricks, they built first the edges of the moat, and secondly the wall itself in the same manner.
ἐπάνω δὲ τοῦ τείχεος παρὰ τὰ ἔσχατα οἰκήματα μουνόκωλα ἔδειμαν, τετραμμένα ἐς ἄλληλα· τὸ μέσον δὲ τῶν οἰκημάτων ἔλιπον τεθρίππῳ περιέλασιν.3 πύλαι δὲ ἐνεστᾶσι πέριξ τοῦ τείχεος ἑκατόν, χάλκεαι πᾶσαι, καὶ σταθμοί τε καὶ ὑπέρθυρα ὡσαύτως.
On the top of the wall, along its edges, they built single-roomed chambers facing one another; and between these chambers they left space enough for a four-horse chariot to drive around. And there are a hundred gates set in the circuit of the wall, all of bronze, and the jambs and lintels are likewise.
ἔστι δὲ ἄλλη πόλις ἀπέχουσα ὀκτὼ ἡμερέων ὁδὸν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος· Ἲς οὔνομα αὐτῇ. ἔνθα ἐστὶ ποταμὸς οὐ μέγας· Ἲς καὶ τῷ ποταμῷ τὸ οὔνομα· ἐσβάλλει δὲ οὗτος ἐς τὸν Εὐφρήτην ποταμὸν τὸ ῥέεθρον.4 οὗτος ὦν ὁ Ἲς ποταμὸς ἅμα τῷ ὕδατι θρόμβους ἀσφάλτου ἀναδιδοῖ πολλούς, ἔνθεν ἡ ἄσφαλτος ἐς τὸ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τεῖχος ἐκομίσθη.
There is another city, eight days’ journey distant from Babylon, and its name is Is. There is a river there, not large, and the name of the river is also Is; and it discharges its stream into the river Euphrates. Now this river Is throws up many lumps of asphalt together with its water, whence the asphalt was brought for the wall of Babylon.
- 1.179.1ἵνα
Not the conjunction introducing a purpose clause ('in order that'), but an interrogative adverb meaning 'where' or 'whither,' introducing an indirect question clause that functions as the object of the preceding infinitive φράσαι.
- 1.179.1ἑλκύσαντες
Aorist active participle of ἑλκύω. It describes the specific brickmaking process of 'drawing out' the clay from the molds, or 'dragging' the mud.
- 1.179.3τεθρίππῳ περιέλασιν
The dative τεθρίππῳ ('for a four-horse chariot') modifies the noun περιέλασιν ('driving around, passage'), meaning 'space for a four-horse chariot to pass or turn around.'
- 1.179.4τὸ ῥέεθρον
Accusative of specification or internal object with ἐσβάλλει ('discharges'), specifying the stream or current that the river pours into the Euphrates.