- 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-grc2:1.216.1-1.216.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-03
This passage describes the marriage and funeral customs of the Massagetae, including senicide, as well as their diet based on livestock and fish, and their worship of the sun with horse sacrifices.
νόμοισι δὲ χρέωνται τοιοῖσιδε. γυναῖκα μὲν γαμέει ἕκαστος, ταύτῃσι δὲ ἐπίκοινα χρέωνται· τὸ γὰρ Σκύθας φασὶ Ἕλληνες ποιέειν,1 οὐ Σκύθαι εἰσὶ οἱ ποιέοντες ἀλλὰ Μασσαγέται· τῆς γὰρ ἐπιθυμήσῃ γυναικὸς2 Μασσαγέτης ἀνήρ, τὸν φαρετρεῶνα ἀποκρεμάσας πρὸ τῆς ἁμάξης μίσγεται ἀδεῶς.
And they use such customs as these. Each man marries a wife, but they use them in common; for what the Greeks say the Scythians do, it is not the Scythians who do it, but the Massagetae. For whenever a Massagetan man desires a woman, he hangs his quiver in front of her wagon and has intercourse with her without fear.
οὖρος δὲ ἡλικίης σφι πρόκειται ἄλλος μὲν οὐδείς· ἐπεὰν δὲ γέρων γένηται κάρτα, οἱ προσήκοντές οἱ πάντες συνελθόντες θύουσί μιν καὶ ἄλλα πρόβατα ἅμα αὐτῷ, ἑψήσαντες δὲ τὰ κρέα κατευωχέονται.
And no other limit of age is set for them; but when a man becomes very old, all his relatives gather together and sacrifice him and other sheep along with him, and having boiled the flesh, they feast upon it.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ὀλβιώτατά σφι νενόμισται, τὸν δὲ νούσῳ τελευτήσαντα οὐ κατασιτέονται ἀλλʼ γῇ κρύπτουσι, συμφορὴν ποιεύμενοι ὅτι οὐκ ἵκετο ἐς τὸ τυθῆναι. σπείρουσι δὲ οὐδέν, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ κτηνέων ζώουσι καὶ ἰχθύων· οἳ δὲ ἄφθονοί σφι ἐκ τοῦ Ἀράξεω ποταμοῦ παραγίνονται·
This is considered by them the happiest lot, but one who dies of disease they do not eat, but bury in the earth, considering it a misfortune that he did not reach the point of being sacrificed. They sow nothing, but live on cattle and fish; and these are provided for them in abundance from the river Araxes.
γαλακτοπόται δʼ εἰσί. θεῶν δὲ μοῦνον ἥλιον σέβονται, τῷ θύουσι ἵππους. νόος δὲ οὗτος τῆς θυσίης· τῶν θεῶν τῷ ταχίστῳ πάντων τῶν θνητῶν τὸ τάχιστον δατέονται.3
And they are milk-drinkers. Of the gods, they worship only the sun, to whom they sacrifice horses. And this is the meaning of the sacrifice: to the swiftest of the gods they assign the swiftest of all mortal things.
- 1.216.1τὸ γὰρ Σκύθας φασὶ Ἕλληνες ποιέειν
The article τὸ nominalizes the infinitive phrase Σκύθας ... ποιέειν ('what the Scythians do'), which functions as the object or absolute accusative of the sentence, into which the parenthetical φασὶ Ἕλληνες ('the Greeks say') is inserted. The following clause οὐ Σκύθαι εἰσὶ... explains its actual identity.
- 1.216.1τῆς γὰρ ἐπιθυμήσῃ γυναικὸς
The relative pronoun τῆς is used with the subjunctive ἐπιθυμήσῃ without ἄν, forming a relative clause of general or iterative condition ('whenever he desires...'). Modifying the postposed noun γυναικὸς within the clause, the genitive is governed by the verb ἐπιθυμέω.
- 1.216.4τῶν θεῶν τῷ ταχίστῳ πάντων τῶν θνητῶν τὸ τάχιστον δατέονται.
A sophisticated sentence utilizing two contrasting superlative phrases in parallel: τῶν θεῶν τῷ ταχίστῳ ('to the swiftest of the gods' [the sun], dative) and πάντων τῶν θνητῶν τὸ τάχιστον ('the swiftest of all mortal things' [the horse], accusative) serve as the indirect and direct objects of the verb δατέονται respectively.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — note 1