- 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-grc2:1.185.1-1.185.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-02
The second queen of Babylon, Nitocris, carries out defensive engineering works against the Median threat, including making the Euphrates crooked and constructing a massive reservoir and dykes.
ἡ δὲ δὴ δεύτερον γενομένη ταύτης βασίλεια, τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Νίτωκρις, αὕτη δὲ συνετωτέρη γενομένη τῆς πρότερον ἀρξάσης τοῦτο μὲν μνημόσυνα ἐλίπετο τὰ ἐγὼ ἀπηγήσομαι, τοῦτο δὲ1 τὴν Μήδων ὁρῶσα ἀρχὴν μεγάλην τε καὶ οὐκ ἀτρεμίζουσαν, ἀλλʼ ἄλλα τε ἀραιρημένα ἄστεα αὐτοῖσι,2 ἐν δὲ δὴ καὶ τὴν Νίνον, προεφυλάξατο ὅσα ἐδύνατο μάλιστα.
Now the queen who came second after this woman, whose name was Nitocris, she, having proved herself more intelligent than the previous ruler, on the one hand left behind such monuments as I shall describe, and on the other hand, seeing that the empire of the Medes was great and not remaining quiet, but that other cities had been taken by them, and among them indeed Ninus, she took precautions to the utmost of her ability.
πρῶτα μὲν τὸν Εὐφρήτην ποταμὸν ῥέοντα πρότερον ἰθύν, ὅς σφι διὰ τῆς πόλιος μέσης ῥέει, τοῦτον ἄνωθεν διώρυχας ὀρύξασα οὕτω δή τι3 ἐποίησε σκολιὸν ὥστε δὴ τρὶς ἐς τῶν τινα κωμέων τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀσσυρίῃ ἀπικνέεται ῥέων· τῇ δὲ κώμῃ οὔνομα ἐστί, ἐς τὴν ἀπικνέεται ὁ Εὐφρήτης, Ἀρδέρικκα. καὶ νῦν οἳ ἂν κομίζωνται ἀπὸ τῆσδε τῆς θαλάσσης ἐς Βαβυλῶνα, καταπλέοντες τὸν Εὐφρήτην ποταμὸν τρίς τε ἐς τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην κώμην παραγίνονται καὶ ἐν τρισὶ ἡμέρῃσι.
First of all, the river Euphrates, which previously flowed straight and which flows through the middle of their city, this she, by digging canals upstream, made so crooked that indeed it reaches one of the villages in Assyria three times as it flows; and the name of the village to which the Euphrates reaches is Ardericca. And even now, those who travel from this sea to Babylon, as they sail down the river Euphrates, arrive at this very same village three times, and that within three days.
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τοιοῦτον ἐποίησε, χῶμα δὲ παρέχωσε παρʼ ἑκάτερον τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸ χεῖλος ἄξιον θώματος μέγαθος καὶ ὕψος ὅσον τι ἐστί.
This indeed she did in such a manner, and she also piled up a dyke along each bank of the river, which is a marvel for its size and height.
κατύπερθε δὲ πολλῷ Βαβυλῶνος ὤρυσσε ἔλυτρον λίμνῃ, ὀλίγον τι παρατείνουσα ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, βάθος μὲν ἐς τὸ ὕδωρ αἰεὶ ὀρύσσουσα, εὖρος δὲ τὸ περίμετρον αὐτοῦ ποιεῦσα εἴκοσί τε καὶ τετρακοσίων σταδίων· τὸν δὲ ὀρυσσόμενον χοῦν ἐκ τούτου τοῦ ὀρύγματος ἀναισίμου4 παρὰ τὰ χείλεα τοῦ ποταμοῦ παραχέουσα.
And far above Babylon she dug a basin for a lake, extending it a little way off from the river, always digging until she reached water for its depth, and making its circumference four hundred and twenty stades in width; and she used up the earth dug out from this excavation by casting it up along the banks of the river.
ἐπείτε δέ οἱ ὀρώρυκτο, λίθους ἀγαγομένη κρηπῖδα κύκλῳ περὶ αὐτὴν ἤλασε.
And when the excavation had been completed for her, she brought stones and built a stone casing all around it.
ἐποίεε δὲ ἀμφότερα ταῦτα, τόν τε ποταμὸν σκολιὸν καὶ τὸ ὄρυγμα πᾶν ἕλος, ὡς ὅ τε ποταμὸς βραδύτερος εἴη περὶ καμπὰς πολλὰς ἀγνύμενος, καὶ οἱ πλόοι ἔωσι σκολιοὶ ἐς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα, ἔκ τε τῶν πλόων ἐκδέκηται5 περίοδος τῆς λίμνης μακρή.
She did both of these things, namely, making the river crooked and turning the entire excavation into a marsh, in order that the river might be slower, being broken by many bends, and that the voyages to Babylon might be crooked, and that from the voyages there might succeed a long circuit of the lake.
κατὰ τοῦτο δὲ ἐργάζετο τῆς χώρης τῇ αἵ τε ἐσβολαὶ ἦσαν καὶ τὰ σύντομα τῆς ἐκ Μήδων ὁδοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἐπιμισγόμενοι οἱ Μῆδοι ἐκμανθάνοιεν αὐτῆς τὰ πρήγματα.
She carried out these works in that part of her country where the passes were and the shortest ways from Media, so that the Medes, by not mingling with her people, might not learn of her affairs.
- 1.185.1τοῦτο μὲν... τοῦτο δὲ...
Used correlatively to form a contrast meaning "on the one hand... on the other hand...". This is an emphasized form of the standard classical Greek μὲν... δέ... construction.
- 1.185.1αὐτοῖσι
The dative plural of the third-person pronoun (Ionic dialect) referring to the Medes. It functions as a dative of agent with the perfect passive participle ἀραιρημένα (from αἱρέω "to take, conquer"), meaning "conquered by them."
- 1.185.2οὕτω δή τι
A combination of the adverb οὕτω, the emphatic particle δή, and the indefinite pronoun τι used as an adverbial accusative to qualify the degree. It means "to such an extent" or "so very" and prepares for the following ὥστε (consecutive clause).
- 1.185.4ἀναισίμου
An Ionic form of the accusative feminine singular of the adjective ἀνάισιμος, -ον ("used up, spent"), here agreeing with the feminine noun χοῦς ("earth, soil", accusative χοῦν). It functions with a participial force, meaning "using up" or "spending" the earth to build the embankments.
- 1.185.6ἐκδέκηται
The third-person singular present (or aorist) subjunctive middle of the compound verb ἐκδέχομαι ("to take up in succession, succeed"). Governed by the purpose clause introduced by ὡς, its subject is περίοδος, indicating that "a long circuit of the lake should succeed" after the voyages.