- 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-grc2:1.72.1-1.72.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
The political allegiance of the Cappadocians bounded by the Halys river is explained, along with the geographical course and width of the river acting as the boundary of Asia Minor.
οἱ δὲ Καππαδόκαι ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων Σύριοι ὀνομάζονται· ἦσαν δὲ οἱ Σύριοι οὗτοι τὸ μὲν πρότερον ἢ Πέρσας ἄρξαι1 Μήδων κατήκοοι, τότε δὲ Κύρου.
The Cappadocians are called Syrians by the Greeks. These Syrians, before the Persians ruled the Medes, were subject to the Medes, but at that time they were subject to Cyrus.
ὁ γὰρ οὖρος ἦν τῆς τε Μηδικῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τῆς Λυδικῆς ὁ Ἅλυς ποταμός, ὃς ῥέει ἐξ Ἀρμενίου ὄρεος διὰ Κιλίκων, μετὰ δὲ Ματιηνοὺς μὲν ἐν δεξιῇ ἔχει ῥέων, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἑτέρου Φρύγας· παραμειβόμενος δὲ τούτους καὶ ῥέων ἄνω πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἔνθεν μὲν Συρίους Καππαδόκας ἀπέργει, ἐξ εὐωνύμου δὲ2 Παφλαγόνας.
For the boundary between the Median empire and the Lydian empire was the Halys river, which flows from an Armenian mountain through the land of the Cilicians, and after that, as it flows, it has the Matieni on its right and the Phrygians on the other side; then, passing these and flowing upward toward the north wind, on one side it shuts off the Syrian Cappadocians, and on the left the Paphlagonians.
οὕτω ὁ Ἅλυς ποταμὸς ἀποτάμνει σχεδὸν πάντα τῆς Ἀσίης τὰ κάτω ἐκ θαλάσσης τῆς ἀντίον Κύπρου ἐς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον. ἔστι δὲ αὐχὴν οὗτος τῆς χώρης ταύτης ἁπάσης· μῆκος ὁδοῦ εὐζώνῳ ἀνδρὶ πέντε ἡμέραι ἀναισιμοῦνται.3
Thus the Halys river cuts off almost all the lower part of Asia from the sea opposite Cyprus to the Euxine Sea. And this is the neck of this entire land; a distance which takes five days for an active man to travel.
- 1.72.1πρότερον ἢ Πέρσας ἄρξαι
A comparative construction with the adverb πρότερον and the conjunction ἢ ('before/sooner than'). The accusative Πέρσας is the subject of the infinitive ἄρξαι, which governs the genitive Μήδων ('the Medes').
- 1.72.2ἔνθεν μὲν ... ἐξ εὐωνύμου δὲ
Correlative expressions contrasting 'on this side' (right/east) and 'on the left' (west) based on the river's northward flow. Contextually, ἔνθεν μὲν corresponds to the preceding ἐν δεξιῇ ('on the right'), designating Cappadocia on the east.
- 1.72.3μῆκος ὁδοῦ εὐζώνῳ ἀνδρὶ πέντε ἡμέραι ἀναισιμοῦνται
μῆκος is an accusative of specification ('with respect to the length of the journey'). εὐζώνῳ ἀνδρὶ is a dative of relation ('for an active/light-equipped man'). The literal structure is 'as for the length of the journey, five days are consumed for an active man'.