- 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-grc2:2.154.1-2.154.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Tells of Psammetichus granting land (the 'Camps') to his Ionian and Carian allies, and tasking Egyptian boys to learn Greek, establishing the first interpreters, which later allowed Greeks to obtain accurate knowledge of Egypt.
τοῖσι δὲ Ἴωσι καὶ τοῖσι Καρσὶ τοῖσι συγκατεργασαμένοισι αὐτῷ ὁ Ψαμμήτιχος δίδωσι χώρους ἐνοικῆσαι ἀντίους ἀλλήλων, τοῦ Νείλου τὸ μέσον ἔχοντος,1 τοῖσι οὐνόματα ἐτέθη Στρατόπεδα· τούτους τε δή σφι τοὺς χώρους δίδωσι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ ὑπέσχετο πάντα ἀπέδωκε.
To the Ionians and the Carians who had helped him, Psammetichus gave places to inhabit opposite each other, with the Nile running between them; to these places the name ‘Camps’ was given. Indeed, he gave them these places and paid them back all the other things he had promised.
καὶ δὴ καὶ παῖδας παρέβαλε αὐτοῖσι Αἰγυπτίους τὴν Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι.2 ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων ἐκμαθόντων τὴν γλῶσσαν οἱ νῦν ἑρμηνέες ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γεγόνασι.
And what is more, he entrusted Egyptian boys to them to be taught the Greek language. From these boys, who had thoroughly learned the language, the present interpreters in Egypt have descended.
οἱ δὲ Ἴωνές τε καὶ οἱ Κᾶρες τούτους τοὺς χώρους οἴκησαν χρόνον ἐπὶ πολλόν· εἰσὶ δὲ οὗτοι οἱ χῶροι πρὸς θαλάσσης ὀλίγον ἔνερθε Βουβάστιος πόλιος, ἐπὶ τῷ Πηλουσίῳ καλεομένῳ στόματι τοῦ Νείλου. τούτους μὲν δὴ χρόνῳ ὕστερον βασιλεὺς Ἄμασις ἐξαναστήσας ἐνθεῦτεν κατοίκισε ἐς Μέμφιν, φυλακὴν ἑωυτοῦ ποιεύμενος πρὸς Αἰγυπτίων.
The Ionians and the Carians inhabited these places for a long time; and these places are a little below the city of Bubastis towards the sea, on the so-called Pelusian mouth of the Nile. In later times, however, King Amasis removed them from there and settled them in Memphis, making them a guard for himself against the Egyptians.
τούτων δὲ οἰκισθέντων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, οἱ Ἕλληνες οὕτω ἐπιμισγόμενοι τούτοισι τὰ περὶ Αἴγυπτον γινόμενα ἀπὸ Ψαμμητίχου βασιλέος ἀρξάμενοι πάντα καὶ τὰ ὕστερον ἐπιστάμεθα3 ἀτρεκέως· πρῶτοι γὰρ οὗτοι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἀλλόγλωσσοι κατοικίσθησαν.
When these had settled in Egypt, we Greeks, by communicating with them, have come to know accurately all that happened in Egypt, beginning from King Psammetichus and everything afterwards; for these were the first people of a foreign tongue to be settled in Egypt.
ἐξ ὧν δὲ ἐξανέστησαν χώρων,4 ἐν τούτοισι δὲ οἵ τε ὁλκοὶ τῶν νεῶν καὶ τὰ ἐρείπια τῶν οἰκημάτων τὸ μέχρι ἐμεῦ ἦσαν.
And in the places from which they were removed, there remained down to my time the launching slips of their ships and the ruins of their dwellings.
- 2.154.1τοῦ Νείλου τὸ μέσον ἔχοντος
Genitive absolute construction consisting of the present participle ἔχοντος and its subject τοῦ Νείλου (in the genitive), expressing a circumstantial relation of physical position ("with the Nile occupying the middle space" or "with the Nile running between them").
- 2.154.2ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι
Infinitive of purpose. It is the middle (or passive) voice of ἐκδιδάσκω, meaning "to have themselves taught" or "to be thoroughly taught" the Greek language.
- 2.154.4οἱ Ἕλληνες ... ἐπιστάμεθα
Anacoluthon or constructio ad sensum. The subject οἱ Ἕλληνες is in the third person plural, but the main verb ἐπιστάμεθα is in the first person plural ("we know"), reflecting the author's identification of himself with the Greek collective body ("we Greeks").
- 2.154.5ἐξ ὧν δὲ ἐξανέστησαν χώρων
Attraction and incorporation of the antecedent χώρων into the relative clause. Instead of the standard order ἐν τούτοισι τοῖς χώροις, ἐξ ὧν ἐξανέστησαν ("in those places from which they were removed"), the noun χώρων is placed inside the relative clause with the relative pronoun ὧν.