- 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-grc2:1.19.1-1.19.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
In the twelfth year of the war, when Alyattes' army burns the crops of Miletus, the temple of Athena at Assesus is accidentally destroyed by fire. Afterwards, Alyattes falls ill and sends messengers to Delphi, who are told by the Pythia that no oracle will be given until the temple is rebuilt.
τῷ δὲ δυωδεκάτῳ ἔτεϊ ληίου ἐμπιπραμένου1 ὑπὸ τῆς στρατιῆς συνηνείχθη τι τοιόνδε γενέσθαι πρῆγμα· ὡς ἅφθη τάχιστα τὸ λήιον, ἀνέμῳ βιώμενον ἅψατο νηοῦ Ἀθηναίης ἐπίκλησιν Ἀσσησίης, ἁφθεὶς δὲ ὁ νηὸς κατεκαύθη.
In the twelfth year, while the crop was being set on fire by the army, a thing of the following sort happened to occur: as soon as the crop was set on fire, being driven by the wind, it caught the temple of Athena surnamed Assesia, and the temple, having caught fire, was burnt to the ground.
καὶ τὸ παραυτίκα μὲν λόγος οὐδεὶς ἐγένετο, μετὰ δὲ τῆς στρατιῆς ἀπικομένης ἐς Σάρδις ἐνόσησε ὁ Ἀλυάττης. μακροτέρης δέ οἱ γινομένης τῆς νούσου πέμπει ἐς Δελφοὺς θεοπρόπους, εἴτε δὴ συμβουλεύσαντός τευ, εἴτε καὶ αὐτῷ ἔδοξε πέμψαντα2 τὸν θεὸν ἐπειρέσθαι περὶ τῆς νούσου.
And at the moment no account was made of this, but after the army had returned to Sardis, Alyattes fell ill. As his illness became prolonged, he sent messengers to Delphi, whether because someone had advised him, or because it seemed good to himself to send and inquire of the god concerning his illness.
τοῖσι δὲ ἡ Πυθίη ἀπικομένοισι ἐς Δελφοὺς οὐκ ἔφη χρήσειν3 πρὶν ἢ τὸν νηὸν τῆς Ἀθηναίης ἀνορθώσωσι, τὸν ἐνέπρησαν χώρης τῆς Μιλησίης ἐν Ἀσσησῷ.
To them, when they arrived at Delphi, the Pythia said she would not give an oracle until they should rebuild the temple of Athena, which they had burnt at Assesus in the territory of Miletus.
- 1.19.1ληίου ἐμπιπραμένου
A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun ληίου and the present passive participle ἐμπιπραμένου, expressing time ("while the crop was being set on fire").
- 1.19.2πέμψαντα
A participle representing the logical subject of the infinitive ἐπειρέσθαι ("that he, having sent..."), which is in the accusative (πέμψαντα) instead of agreeing with the dative αὐτῷ after the impersonal phrase αὐτῷ ἔδοξε ("it seemed good to him"). This shift to the accusative is a common construction with infinitives (accusative with infinitive).
- 1.19.3οὐκ ἔφη χρήσειν
The phrase οὔ φημι typically means "to say that... not" or "to refuse," with the negative οὐκ qualifying φημί. χρήσειν is the future infinitive of χράω ("to give an oracle"). The whole phrase means "she said she would not give an oracle" or "she refused to give an oracle."