- 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-grc2:2.122.1-2.122.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The passage describes the legend of King Rhampsinitus descending into the underworld to play dice with Demeter, along with the associated Egyptian festival and the mysterious ritual of a blindfolded priest led by wolves.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἔλεγον τοῦτον τὸν1 βασιλέα ζωὸν καταβῆναι κάτω ἐς τὸν οἱ Ἕλληνες Ἅιδην νομίζουσι εἶναι, καὶ κεῖθι συγκυβεύειν τῇ Δήμητρι, καὶ τὰ μὲν νικᾶν αὐτὴν τὰ δὲ ἑσσοῦσθαι ὑπʼ αὐτῆς, καί μιν πάλιν ἀπικέσθαι δῶρον ἔχοντα παρʼ αὐτῆς χειρόμακτρον χρύσεον.
After this, they said that this king descended alive into the place which the Greeks believe to be Hades, and there played dice with Demeter, and sometimes defeated her, and at other times was defeated by her, and came back again bringing as a gift from her a golden hand-towel.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ῥαμψινίτου καταβάσιος, ὡς πάλιν ἀπίκετο, ὁρτὴν δὴ ἀνάγειν Αἰγυπτίους ἔφασαν· τὴν καὶ ἐγὼ οἶδα ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἐπιτελέοντας αὐτούς, οὐ μέντοι εἴ γε διὰ ταῦτα ὁρτάζουσι ἔχω λέγειν.
And they said that from the descent of Rhampsinitus, when he came back again, the Egyptians celebrated a festival; which I myself know that they still perform even to my time, though whether indeed they keep the festival because of these things I am not able to say.
φᾶρος δὲ αὐτημερὸν ἐξυφήναντες οἱ ἱρέες κατʼ ὦν ἔδησαν2 ἑνὸς ἑωυτῶν μίτρῃ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, ἀγαγόντες δέ μιν ἔχοντα τὸ φᾶρος ἐς ὁδὸν φέρουσαν ἐς ἱρὸν Δήμητρος αὐτοὶ ἀπαλλάσσονται ὀπίσω· τὸν δὲ ἱρέα τοῦτον καταδεδεμένον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς λέγουσι ὑπὸ δύο λύκων ἄγεσθαι ἐς τὸ ἱρὸν τῆς Δήμητρος ἀπέχον τῆς πόλιος εἴκοσι σταδίους, καὶ αὖτις ὀπίσω ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ ἀπάγειν μιν τοὺς λύκους3 ἐς τὠυτὸ χωρίον.
On the very same day, the priests weave a mantle, and then bind the eyes of one of their own number with a headband, and having led him, wearing the mantle, to the road that leads to the temple of Demeter, they themselves return back; but this priest, with his eyes thus bound, they say is led by two wolves to the temple of Demeter, which is twenty stades distant from the city, and again the wolves lead him back from the temple to the very same place.
- 2.122.1τὸν
The article form τὸν is used instead of the relative pronoun ὅν in accordance with Ionic usage, referring to an omitted antecedent such as 'place' (τόπον).
- 2.122.3κατʼ ὦν ἔδησαν
This is a tmesis of the compound verb καταδέω, where the Ionic particle ὦν (= οὖν) is inserted between the prefix κατά and the verb ἔδησαν (aorist of δέω).
- 2.122.3ἀπάγειν μιν τοὺς λύκους
An accusative with infinitive construction dependent on λέγουσι. Unlike the passive ἄγεσθαι in the preceding clause, the active infinitive ἀπάγειν is used here, with the accusative τοὺς λύκους (the wolves) as its subject and the accusative μιν (= αὐτόν, the priest) as its object.