- 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-grc2:1.74.1-1.74.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
The five-year war between the Lydians and Medes ended during a battle in the sixth year due to a sudden solar eclipse predicted by Thales. Facilitated by Cilician and Babylonian mediators, peace was sealed with a marriage alliance and a blood-licking oath ritual.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὁ Ἀλυάττης ἐξεδίδου τοὺς Σκύθας ἐξαιτέοντι Κυαξάρῃ, πόλεμος τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι καὶ τοῖσι Μήδοισι ἐγεγόνεε ἐπʼ ἔτεα πέντε, ἐν τοῖσι πολλάκις μὲν οἱ Μῆδοι τοὺς Λυδοὺς ἐνίκησαν, πολλάκις δὲ οἱ Λυδοὶ τοὺς Μήδους, ἐν δὲ καὶ νυκτομαχίην τινὰ ἐποιήσαντο·
After this, since Alyattes would not surrender the Scythians to Cyaxares when he demanded them, war arose between the Lydians and the Medes for five years, in which the Medes often defeated the Lydians, and the Lydians often defeated the Medes, and they also fought a kind of night battle.
διαφέρουσι δέ σφι ἐπὶ ἴσης τὸν πόλεμον1 τῷ ἕκτῳ ἔτεϊ συμβολῆς γενομένης συνήνεικε ὥστε τῆς μάχης συνεστεώσης τὴν ἡμέρην ἐξαπίνης νύκτα γενέσθαι. τὴν δὲ μεταλλαγὴν ταύτην τῇ ἡμέρης Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος τοῖσι Ἴωσι προηγόρευσε ἔσεσθαι, οὖρον προθέμενος ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτον ἐν τῷ δὴ καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ μεταβολή.
As they were carrying on the war with equal success, it happened in the sixth year, when an engagement took place, that while the battle was at its height, the day suddenly became night. Thales of Miletus had foretold this loss of daylight to the Ionians, setting as a limit this very year in which the change actually occurred.
οἱ δὲ Λυδοί τε καὶ οἱ Μῆδοι ἐπείτε εἶδον νύκτα ἀντὶ ἡμέρης γενομένην, τῆς μάχης τε ἐπαύσαντο καὶ μᾶλλόν τι ἔσπευσαν καὶ ἀμφότεροι εἰρήνην ἑωυτοῖσι γενέσθαι. οἱ δὲ συμβιβάσαντες αὐτοὺς ἦσαν οἵδε, Συέννεσίς τε ὁ Κίλιξ καὶ Λαβύνητος ὁ Βαβυλώνιος.
When the Lydians and the Medes saw that night had come instead of day, they ceased from battle, and both were much more eager to have peace made between them. Those who reconciled them were Syennesis the Cilician and Labynetus the Babylonian.
οὗτοί σφι καὶ τὸ ὅρκιον οἱ σπεύσαντες γενέσθαι ἦσαν καὶ γάμων ἐπαλλαγὴν ἐποίησαν· Ἀλυάττεα γὰρ ἔγνωσαν δοῦναι2 τὴν θυγατέρα Ἀρύηνιν Ἀστυάγεϊ τῷ Κυαξάρεω παιδί· ἄνευ γὰρ ἀναγκαίης ἰσχυρῆς συμβάσιες ἰσχυραὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσι συμμένειν.
These were the ones who were eager for the oath to be sworn between them, and they also brought about an exchange of marriages; for they decided that Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares; for without some strong constraint, strong agreements are not willing to endure.
ὅρκια δὲ ποιέεται ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνεα τὰ πέρ τε Ἕλληνες, καὶ πρὸς τούτοισι, ἐπεὰν τοὺς βραχίονας ἐπιτάμωνται ἐς τὴν ὁμοχροίην,3 τὸ αἷμα ἀναλείχουσι ἀλλήλων.
These nations make oaths in the same manner as the Greeks, and in addition to this, when they cut their arms to the skin, they lick each other’s blood.
- 1.74.2διαφέρουσι δέ σφι ἐπὶ ἴσης τὸν πόλεμον
The present participle dative plural διαφέρουσι agrees with the dative pronoun σφι ("for them"). Here, διαφέρω is used in the sense of "to carry on/endure (war)," and the phrase functions as a dative of interest/reference depending on the impersonal verb συνήνεικε ("it happened"), meaning "as they were carrying on the war on equal terms."
- 1.74.4Ἀλυάττεα γὰρ ἔγνωσαν δοῦναι
The subject of ἔγνωσαν (3rd person plural aorist indicative of γιγνώσκω) is contextually the mediators mentioned in the previous sentence (Syennesis and Labynetus). It means "they decided" or "decreed," governing an accusative with infinitive construction (Ἀλυάττεα ... δοῦναι) with Alyattes as the subject of the infinitive.
- 1.74.5ἐς τὴν ὁμοχροίην
Literally meaning "to the same skin-color," this phrase idiomatically means "to the surface of the skin" or "superficially/shallowly." It describes making a shallow cut just enough to draw blood, rather than cutting deeply into the flesh.