- 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-grc2:1.95.1-1.95.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Herodotus declares that he will investigate the origins of Cyrus and how the Persians gained hegemony over Asia, following the accounts of Persians who tell the plain truth, and begins with the Medes' revolt against Assyrian rule.
ἐπιδίζηται1 δὲ δὴ τὸ ἐνθεῦτεν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος τόν τε Κῦρον ὅστις ἐὼν τὴν Κροίσου ἀρχὴν κατεῖλε, καὶ τοὺς Πέρσας ὅτεῳ τρόπῳ ἡγήσαντο2 τῆς Ἀσίης. ὡς ὦν Περσέων μετεξέτεροι λέγουσι, οἱ μὴ βουλόμενοι σεμνοῦν τὰ περὶ Κῦρον ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐόντα λέγειν λόγον, κατὰ ταῦτα γράψω, ἐπιστάμενος περὶ Κύρου καὶ τριφασίας ἄλλας λόγων ὁδοὺς φῆναι.3
From here, our narrative seeks to inquire who Cyrus was that overthrew the empire of Croesus, and in what manner the Persians became leaders of Asia. Accordingly, I shall write according to what certain of the Persians say—those who do not wish to exaggerate the story of Cyrus but to tell the actual truth—although I know that there are three other ways of telling the story about Cyrus.
Ἀσσυρίων ἀρχόντων4 τῆς ἄνω Ἀσίης ἐπʼ ἔτεα εἴκοσι καὶ πεντακόσια, πρῶτοι ἀπʼ αὐτῶν Μῆδοι ἤρξαντο ἀπίστασθαι, καὶ κως οὗτοι περὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίης μαχεσάμενοι τοῖσι Ἀσσυρίοισι ἐγένοντο ἄνδρες ἀγαθοί, καὶ ἀπωσάμενοι τὴν δουλοσύνην ἐλευθερώθησαν. μετὰ δὲ τούτους καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἔθνεα ἐποίεε τὠυτὸ τοῖσι Μήδοισι.
The Assyrians having ruled Upper Asia for five hundred and twenty years, the Medes were the first of them to begin to revolt; and somehow, having fought for their freedom against the Assyrians, they proved themselves brave men, and having cast off their slavery they were set free. After them, the other nations also did the same as the Medes.
- 1.95.1ἐπιδίζηται
Third person singular present indicative middle of ἐπιδίζημαι ("to seek further"). In the Ionic dialect, the ending -ηται is used for the present indicative middle/passive. Here, with the subject ὁ λόγος, it means "our narrative seeks further to inquire into...".
- 1.95.1τόν τε Κῦρον ὅστις ἐὼν ... καὶ τοὺς Πέρσας ὅτεῳ τρόπῳ ἡγήσαντο
This is a construction known as prolepsis, where the subjects of the indirect question clauses ("Cyrus" and "the Persians") are anticipated and placed as objects in the accusative case beforehand. For translation, they should be understood as the subjects of their respective indirect clauses.
- 1.95.1ἐπιστάμενος περὶ Κύρου καὶ τριφασίας ἄλλας λόγων ὁδοὺς φῆναι
The present participle ἐπιστάμενος agrees with the subject of the main verb γράψω ("I shall write") and is best interpreted concessively ("although I know..."). The infinitive φῆναι (aorist active of φαίνω) depends on the participle as its complement.
- 1.95.2Ἀσσυρίων ἀρχόντων
A genitive absolute construction, where the noun Ἀσσυρίων acts as the subject and the present participle ἀρχόντων acts as the predicate, providing the temporal background to the main clause ("while the Assyrians were ruling").