Reign of Psammetichus and the Siege of Azotus — Herodotus, Histories Book 2 (2.157.1), Greek & English

§2.157.1

Ψαμμήτιχος δὲ ἐβασίλευσε Αἰγύπτου τέσσερα καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτεα, τῶν τὰ ἑνὸς δέοντα τριήκοντα¹ Ἄζωτον τῆς Συρίης μεγάλην πόλιν προσκατήμενος ἐπολιόρκεε, ἐς ὃ ἐξεῖλε. αὕτη δὲ ἡ Ἄζωτος ἁπασέων πολίων ἐπὶ πλεῖστον χρόνον πολιορκεομένη ἀντέσχε τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν.²

Psammetichus ruled Egypt for fifty-four years, for twenty-nine of which (literally “thirty lacking one”) he sat before and besieged Azotus, a great city of Syria, until he took it. This Azotus held out under siege for the longest time of all the cities we know.

Syntax notes2 items

2.157.1τῶν τὰ ἑνὸς δέοντα τριήκοντα
The relative pronoun in the genitive τῶν has the preceding ἔτεα (years) as its antecedent. The phrase τὰ ἑνὸς δέοντα τριήκοντα means "the years lacking one of thirty," which is a Greek subtraction idiom for "twenty-nine years." Here, δέοντα is the neuter plural active participle of δέω ("to lack"), agreeing with the implied years, and ἑνὸς is the genitive of value or measure.
2.157.1τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν
ἴδμεν is the first-person plural present indicative of οἶδα ("to know"), an Ionic and epic form equivalent to the Attic οἴδαμεν. The relative pronoun τῶν refers back to the genitive ἁπασέων πολίων ("of all cities"), either attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent instead of an expected accusative object of ἴδμεν, or acting as a partitive genitive ("of those which we know").

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — note 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.157.1