Rebels Crown Amasis and the Egyptians Defect from Apries — Herodotus, Histories Book 2 (2.162.1–2.162.6), Greek & English

§2.162.1

πυθόμενος δὲ Ἀπρίης ταῦτα πέμπει ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς Ἄμασιν καταπαύσοντα λόγοισι. ὁ δὲ ἐπείτε ἀπικόμενος κατελάμβανε¹ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ταῦτα μὴ ποιέειν, λέγοντος αὐτοῦ τῶν τις Αἰγυπτίων ὄπισθε στὰς περιέθηκέ οἱ κυνέην, καὶ περιτιθεὶς ἔφη ἐπὶ βασιληίῃ περιτιθέναι.

When Apries heard this, he sent Amasis to them to stop them with words. But when he arrived and was trying to restrain the Egyptians from doing these things, while he was speaking, one of the Egyptians stood behind him and placed a helmet on his head, and as he placed it, he said he was putting it on him for the kingship.

§2.162.2

καὶ τῷ οὔ κως ἀεκούσιον ἐγίνετο τὸ ποιεύμενον, ὡς διεδείκνυε. ἐπείτε γὰρ ἐστήσαντό μιν βασιλέα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οἱ ἀπεστεῶτες, παρεσκευάζετο ὡς ἐλῶν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀπρίην.

And to him what was being done was not at all unwilling, as he made clear. For when the rebels set him up as king of the Egyptians, he began to make preparations as if to march against Apries.

§2.162.3

πυθόμενος δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Ἀπρίης ἔπεμπε ἐπʼ Ἄμασιν ἄνδρα δόκιμον τῶν περὶ ἑωυτὸν Αἰγυπτίων, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Πατάρβημις, ἐντειλάμενος αὐτῷ ζῶντα Ἄμασιν ἀγαγεῖν παρʼ ἑωυτόν. ὡς δὲ ἀπικόμενος τὸν Ἄμασιν ἐκάλεε ὁ Πατάρβημις, ὁ Ἄμασις, ἔτυχε γὰρ ἐπʼ ἵππου κατήμενος, ἐπαείρας ἀπεματάισε, καὶ τοῦτό μιν ἐκέλευε Ἀπρίῃ ἀπάγειν.

And Apries, when he heard this, sent to Amasis a distinguished man of the Egyptians about him, whose name was Patarbemis, commanding him to bring Amasis alive to him. But when Patarbemis arrived and called Amasis, Amasis—for he happened to be sitting on a horse—lifted himself up and broke wind, and told him to carry this back to Apries.

§2.162.4

ὅμως δὲ αὐτὸν ἀξιοῦν² τὸν Πατάρβημιν βασιλέος μεταπεμπομένου ἰέναι πρὸς αὐτόν· τὸν δὲ αὐτῷ ὑποκρίνεσθαι ὡς ταῦτα πάλαι παρεσκευάζετο ποιέειν, καὶ αὐτῷ οὐ μέμψεσθαι Ἀπρίην· παρέσεσθαι γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ἄλλους ἄξειν.

Nevertheless, Patarbemis demanded of him that he should go to the king, since the king was sending for him; and Amasis answered him that he had long been preparing to do this, and that Apries would have no cause to complain of him; for he would both come himself and bring others with him.

§2.162.5

τὸν δὲ Πατάρβημιν ἔκ τε τῶν λεγομένων οὐκ ἀγνοέειν τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ παρασκευαζόμενον ὁρῶντα σπουδῇ ἀπιέναι, βουλόμενον τὴν ταχίστην βασιλέι δηλῶσαι τὰ πρησσόμενα. ὡς δὲ ἀπικέσθαι³ αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Ἀπρίην οὐκ ἄγοντα τὸν Ἄμασιν, οὐδένα λόγον αὐτῷ δόντα⁴ ἀλλὰ περιθύμως ἔχοντα περιταμεῖν προστάξαι αὐτοῦ τά τε ὦτα καὶ τὴν ῥῖνα.

And Patarbemis, not failing to understand his intention from what was said, and seeing him making preparations, departed in haste, wishing to make known to the king as quickly as possible what was being done. But when he came to Apries without bringing Amasis, the king gave him no opportunity to speak but, being in a violent rage, ordered his ears and nose to be cut off.

§2.162.6

ἰδόμενοι δʼ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, οἳ ἔτι τὰ ἐκείνου ἐφρόνεον, ἄνδρα τὸν δοκιμώτατον ἑωυτῶν οὕτω αἰσχρῶς λύμῃ διακείμενον, οὐδένα δὴ χρόνον ἐπισχόντες ἀπιστέατο⁵ πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους καὶ ἐδίδοσαν σφέας αὐτοὺς Ἀμάσι.

And when the rest of the Egyptians who still favored his cause saw their most distinguished man so shamefully maltreated, they delayed no time at all but revolted to the other party and gave themselves up to Amasis.

Syntax notes5 items

2.162.1κατελάμβανε
Imperfect tense. Here it represents a conative or ongoing action: Amasis 'was trying to restrain' or 'was in the process of persuading' the Egyptians from rebelling.
2.162.4ἀξιοῦν
Independent infinitive in indirect discourse. From section 4 to 5, the narrative adopts a reported or indirect speech format, causing a series of main verbs to be expressed as infinitives (such as ἀξιοῦν, ὑποκρίνεσθαι, οὐκ ἀγνοέειν, ἀπιέναι, and προστάξαι) rather than indicative verbs, which is characteristic of Herodotus' narrative style.
2.162.5ὡς δὲ ἀπικέσθαι
Infinitive within the temporal ὡς clause. Because the main clause is governed by an infinitive in indirect discourse (προστάξαι), the verb in the subordinate temporal clause is attracted into the infinitive (ἀπικέσθαι) instead of the expected indicative (ἀπίκετο).
2.162.5δόντα
Accusative participle. It agrees with the omitted accusative subject of the governing infinitive προστάξαι, which is Ἀπρίην (Apries). The following coordinate participle ἔχοντα also modifies Ἀπρίην.
2.162.6ἀπιστέατο
Ionic 3rd person plural imperfect. Corresponding to the Attic form ἀφίσταντο (from the verb ἀφίσταμαι, 'to revolt/defect'), displaying the typical Ionic ending -ατο instead of -ντο.

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-grc2:2.162.1-2.162.6