- 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-grc2:2.108.1-2.108.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
Upon his return, Sesostris employed the captives he brought back to transport massive stones and dig numerous canals throughout Egypt. This made the country impassable for horses and carriages, but it provided water to inland inhabitants who otherwise had to drink brackish well water during dry seasons.
νοστήσας δὲ ὁ Σέσωστρις ἐς τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τισάμενος τὸν ἀδελφεόν, τῷ μὲν1 ὁμίλῳ τὸν ἐπηγάγετο τῶν τὰς χώρας κατεστρέψατο, τούτῳ μὲν τάδε ἐχρήσατο·
When Sesostris had returned to Egypt and taken vengeance on his brother, he employed the crowd of people whom he had brought with him from the nations whose lands he had conquered in the following manner.
τούς τέ οἱ λίθους τοὺς ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέος κομισθέντας ἐς τοῦ Ἡφαίστου τὸ ἱρόν, ἐόντας μεγάθεϊ περιμήκεας, οὗτοι ἦσαν οἱ ἑλκύσαντες,2 καὶ τὰς διώρυχας τὰς νῦν ἐούσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πάσας οὗτοι ἀναγκαζόμενοι ὤρυσσον, ἐποίευν τε οὐκ ἑκόντες Αἴγυπτον, τὸ πρὶν ἐοῦσαν ἱππασίμην καὶ ἁμαξευομένην πᾶσαν, ἐνδεᾶ τούτων.
It was they who dragged the stones, which were of extraordinary size, brought during the reign of this king to the temple of Hephaestus; and they were forced to dig all the canals that are now in Egypt, and thus, against their will, they made Egypt—which before had been entirely passable for horses and carriages—devoid of these.
ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτου τοῦ χρόνου Αἴγυπτος ἐοῦσα πεδιὰς πᾶσα ἄνιππος καὶ ἀναμάξευτος γέγονε· αἴτιαι δὲ τούτων αἱ διώρυχες γεγόνασι ἐοῦσαι πολλαὶ καὶ παντοίους τρόπους ἔχουσαί.
For from that time on, Egypt, though being entirely a flat plain, became impassable for horses and carriages; and the cause of this was the canals, which were numerous and ran in all directions.
κατέταμνε δὲ τοῦδε εἵνεκα τὴν χώρην ὁ βασιλεύς· ὅσοι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ ἔκτηντο τὰς πόλις ἀλλʼ ἀναμέσους, οὗτοι, ὅκως τε ἀπίοι ὁ ποταμός, σπανίζοντες ὑδάτων πλατυτέροισι ἐχρέωντο τοῖσι πόμασι,3 ἐκ φρεάτων χρεώμενοι.
The king cut up the land for the following reason: all those Egyptians who did not have their cities on the river but in the interior, whenever the river receded, suffered from a lack of water and had to use more brackish water for drinking, which they drew from wells.
- 2.108.1τῷ μὲν ὁμίλῳ ... τούτῳ μὲν
An anacoluthon or grammatical redundancy where the dative noun phrase 'τῷ μὲν ὁμίλῳ' is introduced first at the beginning, and after the insertion of the relative clause, it is resumed by the dative demonstrative pronoun 'τούτῳ μὲν' to serve as the object of 'ἐχρήσατο'.
- 2.108.2τούς τέ οἱ λίθους ... οὗτοι ἦσαν οἱ ἑλκύσαντες
A syntactic irregularity (anacoluthon) where 'τούς ... λίθους' (the stones), which logically functions as the object of the dragging, is placed at the front in the accusative, while the main clause is structured as a cleft sentence with nominative elements 'οὗτοι ἦσαν οἱ ἑλκύσαντες' (it was they who dragged).
- 2.108.4πλατυτέροισι ... τοῖσι πόμασι
The adjective 'πλατύς', while generally meaning 'flat' or 'broad', is used in reference to water or drink ('πόμα') to mean 'brackish', 'salty', or 'flat-tasting'. It highlights that the groundwater from the wells was highly saline and of poorer quality compared to the fresh water of the Nile.