- 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-grc2:2.144.1-2.144.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
As a conclusion to the refutation of Hecataeus, the author states that all the successive priests were mere men far removed from the gods, and that before human kings, Egypt was ruled by gods, with Horus being the last divine ruler.
ἤδη ὦν τῶν αἱ εἰκόνες ἦσαν,1 τοιούτους ἀπεδείκνυσαν σφέας πάντας ἐόντας, θεῶν δὲ πολλὸν ἀπαλλαγμένους.
So then, they demonstrated that all of those whose images these were were of such a kind, and far removed from gods.
τὸ δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων2 θεοὺς εἶναι3 τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἄρχοντας, οὐκ ἐόντας ἅμα τοῖσι ἀνθρώποισι, καὶ τούτων αἰεὶ ἕνα τὸν κρατέοντα εἶναι· ὕστατον δὲ αὐτῆς βασιλεῦσαι Ὦρον τὸν Ὀσίριος παῖδα, τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἕλληνες ὀνομάζουσι· τοῦτον καταπαύσαντα Τυφῶνα βασιλεῦσαι ὕστατον Αἰγύπτου. Ὄσιρις δὲ ἐστὶ Διόνυσος κατὰ Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν.
And they said that before these men, those who ruled in Egypt were gods, not living together with men, and that of these, one was always the ruler; and that the last of them to reign over it was Horus, the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks name Apollo; he, having deposed Typhon, ruled as the last of Egypt. Now, Osiris is, in the Greek tongue, Dionysus.
- 2.144.1τῶν αἱ εἰκόνες ἦσαν
The demonstrative pronoun (such as τούτων) acting as the antecedent is omitted, meaning 'those whose images these were.' The relative pronoun τῶν is genitive plural, functioning as a possessive genitive with the noun αἱ εἰκόνες.
- 2.144.2τὸ δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων
The neuter accusative singular τὸ πρότερον is used adverbially to mean 'previously' or 'before.' The following genitive τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων is a genitive of comparison, yielding the meaning 'before these men (the priests whose statues are lined up).'
- 2.144.2εἶναι
Like the subsequent βασιλεῦσαι, this is an infinitive in indirect discourse (accusative and infinitive construction) reporting the lore heard from the Egyptian priests. A main verb of saying (such as ἔλεγον) is contextually omitted.