- 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-grc2:1.7.1-1.7.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Explains how the sovereignty passed from the Heraclidae to the family of Croesus (the Mermnadae), along with the mythical genealogy and the earlier history of Lydia.
ἡ δὲ ἡγεμονίη οὕτω περιῆλθε, ἐοῦσα Ἡρακλειδέων ἐς τὸ γένος τὸ Κροίσου, καλεομένους1 δὲ Μερμνάδας.
The sovereignty, which had belonged to the Heraclidae, passed in this way to the family of Croesus, who were called Mermnadae.
ἦν Κανδαύλης, τὸν οἱ Ἕλληνές Μυρσίλον ὀνομάζουσι, τύραννος Σαρδίων, ἀπόγονος δὲ Ἀλκαίου τοῦ Ἡρακλέος. Ἄγρων μὲν γὰρ ὁ Νίνου τοῦ Βήλου τοῦ Ἀλκαίου πρῶτος Ἡρακλειδέων βασιλεὺς ἐγένετο Σαρδίων, Κανδαύλης δὲ ὁ Μύρσου ὕστατος.
There was a ruler of Sardis, Candaules, whom the Greeks call Myrsilus, a descendant of Alcaeus the son of Heracles. For Agron, the son of Ninus, who was the son of Belus, who was the son of Alcaeus, was the first of the Heraclidae to become king of Sardis, and Candaules, the son of Myrsus, was the last.
οἱ δὲ πρότερον Ἄγρωνος βασιλεύσαντες ταύτης τῆς χώρης ἦσαν ἀπόγονοὶ Λυδοῦ τοῦ Ἄτυος, ἀπʼ ὅτευ ὁ δῆμος Λύδιος ἐκλήθη ὁ πᾶς οὗτος, πρότερον Μηίων καλεόμενος.
Those who ruled this country before Agron were descendants of Lydus, the son of Atys, from whom all this people, previously called Meonians, came to be called Lydians.
παρὰ τούτων Ἡρακλεῖδαι ἐπιτραφθέντες2 ἔσχον τὴν ἀρχήν ἐκ θεοπροπίου, ἐκ δούλης τε τῆς Ἰαρδάνου γεγονότες καὶ Ἡρακλέος, ἄρξαντες μὲν ἐπὶ δύο τε καὶ εἴκοσι γενεᾶς ἀνδρῶν ἔτεα πέντε τε καὶ πεντακόσια, παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς ἐκδεκόμενος3 τὴν ἀρχήν, μέχρι Κανδαύλεω τοῦ Μύρσου.
From these, the Heraclidae, having been entrusted with the government, obtained the sovereignty in accordance with an oracle; they were descended from a slave-girl of Iardanus and Heracles. They ruled for twenty-two generations of men, a period of five hundred and five years, with son succeeding father in the sovereignty, down to Candaules, the son of Myrsus.
- 1.7.1καλεομένους
This masculine plural accusative participle grammatically disagrees with the preceding neuter singular noun phrase τὸ γένος, but represents a constructio ad sensum referring to the individuals who make up the family (the Mermnadae).
- 1.7.4ἐπιτραφθέντες
An aorist passive participle of ἐπιτρέπω (to entrust). It is translated as 'having been entrusted (with the government).' While some interpret it as a passive of ἐπιτρέφω (to rear/bring up) meaning 'having been brought up under them,' the former is more consistent with the context of power transition and Herodotus' usage.
- 1.7.4ἐκδεκόμενος
A nominative singular present participle. Although the subject of the sentence is the plural Heraclidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), the participle is in the singular to indicate in a distributive sense how the succession proceeded individually from father to son.