- 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-grc2:2.140.1-2.140.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
After the departure of the Ethiopian, the blind king returns from the marshes, and the story of Elbo, the island he built with ashes and earth, is described.
ὡς δʼ ἄρα οἴχεσθαι τὸν Αἰθίοπα ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, αὖτις τὸν τυφλὸν ἄρχειν1 ἐκ τῶν ἑλέων ἀπικόμενον, ἔνθα πεντήκοντα ἔτεα νῆσον χώσας σποδῷ τε καὶ γῇ οἴκεε. ὅκως γάρ οἱ φοιτᾶν σῖτον ἄγοντας Αἰγυπτίων, ὡς ἑκάστοισι προστετάχθαι, σιγῇ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος,2 ἐς τὴν δωρεὴν κελεύειν σφέας καὶ σποδὸν κομίζειν.
And when the Ethiopian had departed from Egypt, they said that the blind king returned from the marshes and ruled once more, where he had lived for fifty years, having built up an island with ashes and earth. For whenever any of the Egyptians came to him with food, as had been commanded to each of them, in secret from the Ethiopian, he would bid them bring ashes also as part of their gift.
ταύτην τὴν νῆσον οὐδεὶς πρότερον ἐδυνάσθη Ἀμυρταίου3 ἐξευρεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἔτεα ἐπὶ πλέω ἢ ἑπτακόσια οὐκ οἷοί τε ἦσαν αὐτὴν ἀνευρεῖν οἱ πρότεροι γενόμενοι βασιλέες Ἀμυρταίου. οὔνομα δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ Ἐλβώ, μέγαθος δʼ ἐστὶ πάντῃ δέκα σταδίων.
No one before Amyrtaeus was able to discover this island, but for more than seven hundred years the kings who came before Amyrtaeus were unable to find it. The name of this island is Elbo, and its size is ten stades in every direction.
- 2.140.1οἴχεσθαι ... ἄρχειν
Infinitive in indirect discourse, continuing from ἔλεγον (they said) in §2.139.1 of the previous chapter. The infinitives stand for indicative past tenses.
- 2.140.1σιγῇ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος
The dative σιγῇ (from σιγή) is used adverbially, and with the genitive τοῦ Αἰθίοπος, it functions like a prepositional phrase meaning 'without the knowledge of' or 'in secret from'.
- 2.140.2Ἀμυρταίου
Genitive of comparison after the comparative adverb πρότερον and the adjective πρότεροι, meaning 'before Amyrtaeus'.