- 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-grc2:2.113.1-2.113.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
In response to the author's inquiry, the priests explain how Alexander was driven to Egypt with Helen by contrary winds. His servants, taking advantage of an ancient local custom that protects slaves fleeing to the temple, desert and accuse him.
ἔλεγον δέ μοι οἱ ἱρέες ἱστορέοντι1 τὰ περὶ Ἑλένην γενέσθαι ὧδε. Ἀλέξανδρον ἁρπάσαντα Ἑλένην ἐκ Σπάρτης ἀποπλέειν ἐς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ· καί μιν, ὡς ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ Αἰγαίῳ, ἐξῶσται ἄνεμοι ἐκβάλλουσι ἐς τὸ Αἰγύπτιον πέλαγος, ἐνθεῦτεν δέ, οὐ γὰρ ἀνιεῖ τὰ πνεύματα, ἀπικνέεται ἐς Αἴγυπτον καὶ Αἰγύπτου ἐς τὸ νῦν Κανωβικὸν καλεύμενον στόμα τοῦ Νείλου καὶ ἐς Ταριχείας.
And the priests told me, when I inquired, that the story of Helen was as follows: Alexander, having carried off Helen from Sparta, sailed away to his own country. But when he was in the Aegean, contrary winds drove him out into the Egyptian sea, and from there, as the winds did not let up, he came to Egypt, and in Egypt to that which is now called the Canobic mouth of the Nile, and to Taricheae.
ἦν δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἠιόνος τὸ καὶ νῦν ἐστι Ἡρακλέος ἱρόν, ἐς τὸ ἢν καταφυγὼν οἰκέτης ὅτευ ὦν2 ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβάληται στίγματα ἱρά, ἑωυτὸν διδοὺς τῷ θεῷ, οὐκ ἔξεστι τούτου ἅψασθαι.
Now there was on the shore a temple of Heracles, which still exists today. If any man’s slave flee to this temple and have sacred marks stamped upon him, dedicating himself to the god, it is not permitted to touch him.
ὁ νόμος οὗτος διατελέει ἐὼν ὅμοιος μέχρι ἐμεῦ τῷ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς· τοῦ ὦν δὴ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀπιστέαται3 θεράποντες πυθόμενοι τὸν περὶ τὸ ἱρὸν ἔχοντα νόμον, ἱκέται δὲ ἱζόμενοι τοῦ θεοῦ κατηγόρεον τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, βουλόμενοι βλάπτειν αὐτόν, πάντα λόγον ἐξηγεύμενοι ὡς εἶχε περὶ τὴν Ἑλένην τε καὶ τὴν ἐς Μενέλεων ἀδικίην· κατηγόρεον δὲ ταῦτα πρός τε τοὺς ἱρέας καὶ τὸν στόματος τούτου φύλακον, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Θῶνις.
This custom has continued unchanged from the beginning down to my own time. Therefore, the servants of Alexander, having learned of the custom concerning the temple, deserted him, and sitting as suppliants of the god, they accused Alexander, wishing to do him harm, by setting forth the whole story of how things stood with Helen and the injustice done to Menelaus. They made this accusation both to the priests and to the guardian of this mouth of the river, whose name was Thonis.
- 2.113.1ἱστορέοντι
Dative participle. It is a circumstantial participle agreeing with the pronoun μοι ("to me"), functioning temporally ("when I inquired").
- 2.113.2ὅτευ ὦν
The genitive pronoun ὅτευ is the Ionic form corresponding to οὗτινος ("whosever"), accompanied by the particle ὦν (Attic οὖν) to strengthen the generalizing or concessive force ("whosever... indeed"). It modifies the following οἰκέτης ("slave").
- 2.113.3ἀπιστέαται
An Ionic third-person plural present (or perfect middle/passive) form. It corresponds either to the middle of ἀφίστημι ("rebel, desert") or to the verb ἀπιστέω ("disobey, be unfaithful"). In this context of servants betraying their master Alexander and fleeing to the temple, it is understood as "desert" or "rebel against".