- 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-grc2:1.98.1-1.98.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
Deioces is elected king of the Medes and orders the construction of a royal palace, bodyguards, and a heavily fortified capital city with seven concentric walls, later known as Agbatana.
αὐτίκα δὲ προβαλλομένων ὅντινα στήσονται βασιλέα, ὁ Δηιόκης ἦν πολλὸς1 ὑπὸ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς καὶ προβαλλόμενος καὶ αἰνεόμενος, ἐς ὃ τοῦτον καταινέουσι βασιλέα σφίσι εἶναι.
And immediately, when they began to propose whom they should set up as king, Deioces was much proposed and praised by everyone, until they agreed that he should be their king.
ὃ δʼ ἐκέλευε αὐτοὺς οἰκία τε ἑωυτῷ ἄξια τῆς βασιληίης οἰκοδομῆσαι καὶ κρατῦναι αὐτὸν δορυφόροισι· ποιεῦσι δὴ ταῦτα οἱ Μῆδοι. οἰκοδομέουσί τε γὰρ αὐτῷ οἰκία μεγάλα τε καὶ ἰσχυρά, ἵνα αὐτὸς ἔφρασε τῆς χώρης, καὶ δορυφόρους αὐτῷ ἐπιτρέπουσι ἐκ πάντων Μήδων καταλέξασθαι.
And he commanded them to build him a house worthy of the kingship, and to strengthen him with bodyguards. The Medes did these things; for they built him a house, both large and strong, in the place that he himself specified in the country, and they allowed him to choose bodyguards from among all the Medes.
ὁ δὲ ὡς ἔσχε τὴν ἀρχήν, τοὺς Μήδους ἠνάγκασε ἓν πόλισμα ποιήσασθαι καὶ τοῦτο περιστέλλοντας τῶν ἄλλων ἧσσον ἐπιμέλεσθαι. πειθομένων δὲ καὶ ταῦτα τῶν Μήδων οἰκοδομέει τείχεα μεγάλα τε καὶ καρτερὰ ταῦτα τὰ νῦν Ἀγβάτανα κέκληται, ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ κύκλῳ ἐνεστεῶτα.
When he had obtained the rule, he compelled the Medes to make one city, and, fortifying this, to care less for the others. When the Medes obeyed in this also, he built large and strong walls, those which are now called Agbatana, standing one inside another in circles.
μεμηχάνηται δὲ οὕτω τοῦτο τὸ τεῖχος ὥστε ὁ ἕτερος τοῦ ἑτέρου κύκλος τοῖσι προμαχεῶσι μούνοισι2 ἐστι ὑψηλότερος. τὸ μέν κού τι καὶ τὸ χωρίον συμμαχέει κολωνὸς ἐὼν ὥστε τοιοῦτο εἶναι, τὸ δὲ καὶ μᾶλλόν τι ἐπετηδεύθη.
This wall was so constructed that one circle was higher than the next by the battlements alone. To some extent, the nature of the ground, being a hill, helped so that it should be so, but to a greater extent it was designedly so made.
κύκλων δʼ ἐόντων τῶν συναπάντων ἑπτά, ἐν δὴ τῷ τελευταίῳ τὰ βασιλήια ἔνεστι καὶ οἱ θησαυροί. τὸ δʼ αὐτῶν μέγιστον ἐστὶ τεῖχος κατὰ τὸν Ἀθηνέων κύκλον μάλιστά κῃ τὸ μέγαθος. τοῦ μὲν δὴ πρώτου κύκλου οἱ προμαχεῶνες εἰσὶ λευκοί, τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου μέλανες, τρίτου δὲ κύκλου φοινίκεοι, τετάρτου δὲ κυάνεοι, πέμπτου δὲ σανδαράκινοι.
There being seven circles in all, the palace and the treasuries are within the last of them. The largest of these walls is in size most nearly equal to the circle of Athens. The battlements of the first circle are white, of the second black, of the third purple, of the fourth blue, of the fifth orange.
οὕτω τῶν πέντε κύκλων οἱ προμαχεῶνες ἠνθισμένοι εἰσὶ φαρμάκοισι· δύο δὲ οἱ τελευταῖοί εἰσὶ3 ὃ μὲν καταργυρωμένους ὁ δὲ κατακεχρυσωμένους ἔχων τοὺς προμαχεῶνας.
Thus the battlements of the five circles are colored with pigments; and the two last have their battlements, the one silvered and the other gilded.
- 1.98.1ἦν πολλὸς
The adjective πολύς is used as a predicate to the subject (here ὁ Δηιόκης), combined with the participles προβαλλόμενος καὶ αἰνεόμενος, to express an intensive meaning 'was eagerly/constantly [proposed and praised]'. This is an idiomatic construction characteristic of Ionic Greek.
- 1.98.4τοῖσι προμαχεῶσι μούνοισι
This is a dative of measure of difference (or dative of degree) modifying the comparative ὑψηλότερος, meaning 'by the battlements alone'.
- 1.98.6δύο δὲ οἱ τελευταῖοί εἰσὶ
For the plural subject of the main clause δύο δὲ οἱ τελευταῖοί, the singular distributive construction ὃ μὲν ... ὁ δὲ ... follows, leading to the nominative singular participle ἔχων. This is a type of anacoluthon known as apposition of the whole and the part (schema kath' holon kai meros).