- 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-grc2:2.30.1-2.30.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
The land of the deserters (Asmach) is introduced at a distance from Meroe equal to that from Elephantine, and the story is told of how they revolted against their long-standing garrison duty under King Psammetichus to settle in Ethiopia and civilize the inhabitants.
ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης τῆς πόλιος πλέων ἐν ἴσῳ χρόνῳ ἄλλῳ ἥξεις ἐς τοὺς αὐτομόλους ἐν ὅσῳ περ1 ἐξ Ἐλεφαντίνης ἦλθες ἐς τὴν μητρόπολιν τὴν Αἰθιόπων. τοῖσι δὲ αὐτομόλοισι τούτοισι οὔνομα ἐστὶ Ἀσμάχ, δύναται2 δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλήνων γλῶσσαν οἱ ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς παριστάμενοι βασιλέι.
Sailing from this city, you will arrive among the deserters in another period of time equal to that in which you came from Elephantine to the capital of the Ethiopians. The name of these deserters is Asmach, and this word means in the language of the Greeks “those who stand on the left hand of the king.”
ἀπέστησαν δὲ αὗται τέσσερες καὶ εἴκοσι μυριάδες Αἰγυπτίων τῶν μαχίμων ἐς τοὺς Αἰθίοπας τούτους διʼ αἰτίην τοιήνδε. ἐπὶ Ψαμμητίχου βασιλέος φυλακαὶ κατέστησαν ἔν τε Ἐλεφαντίνῃ πόλι πρὸς Αἰθιόπων καὶ ἐν Δάφνῃσι τῇσι Πηλουσίῃσι ἄλλη πρὸς Ἀραβίων τε καὶ Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ ἐν Μαρέῃ πρὸς Λιβύης ἄλλη.
These twenty-four myriads of the Egyptian warrior class revolted to these Ethiopians for the following reason. In the reign of King Psammetichus, garrisons were established: one in the city of Elephantine against the Ethiopians, another in Pelusian Daphnae against the Arabs and Assyrians, and another in Marea against Libya.
ἔτι δὲ ἐπʼ ἐμεῦ καὶ Περσέων κατὰ ταὐτὰ αἱ φυλακαὶ ἔχουσι ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ Ψαμμητίχου ἦσαν· καὶ γὰρ ἐν Ἐλεφαντίνῃ Πέρσαι φρουρέουσι καὶ ἐν Δάφνῃσι. τοὺς ὦν δὴ Αἰγυπτίους τρία ἔτεα φρουρήσαντας ἀπέλυε οὐδεὶς τῆς φρουρῆς· οἳ δὲ βουλευσάμενοι καὶ κοινῷ λόγῳ χρησάμενοι πάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Ψαμμητίχου ἀποστάντες ἤισαν ἐς Αἰθιοπίην.
And still in my time, the garrisons of the Persians are maintained in the same manner as they were also under Psammetichus; for indeed Persians keep guard both in Elephantine and in Daphnae. Now, when no one released these Egyptians from guard duty after they had served for three years, they took counsel and came to a common agreement; then, all revolting from Psammetichus, they departed for Ethiopia.
Ψαμμήτιχος δὲ πυθόμενος ἐδίωκε· ὡς δὲ κατέλαβε, ἐδέετο πολλὰ λέγων καί σφεας θεοὺς πατρωίους ἀπολιπεῖν οὐκ ἔα3 καὶ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας. τῶν δὲ τινὰ λέγεται δέξαντα4 τὸ αἰδοῖον εἰπεῖν, ἔνθα ἂν τοῦτο ᾖ, ἔσεσθαι αὐτοῖσι ἐνθαῦτα καὶ τέκνα καὶ γυναῖκας.
Psammetichus, having heard of this, pursued them; and when he overtook them, he entreated them with many words, forbidding them to abandon their ancestral gods, their children, and their wives. But one of them is said, pointing to his private parts, to have said that wherever this was, there they would have both children and wives.
οὗτοι ἐπείτε ἐς Αἰθιοπίην ἀπίκοντο, διδοῦσι σφέας αὐτοὺς τῷ Αἰθιόπων βασιλέι, ὁ δὲ σφέας τῷδε ἀντιδωρέεται· ἦσάν οἱ5 διάφοροι τινὲς γεγονότες τῶν Αἰθιόπων· τούτους ἐκέλευε ἐξελόντας τὴν ἐκείνων γῆν οἰκέειν. τούτων δὲ ἐσοικισθέντων ἐς τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἡμερώτεροι γεγόνασι Αἰθίοπες, ἤθεα μαθόντες Αἰγύπτια.
When these arrived in Ethiopia, they gave themselves up to the king of the Ethiopians, who rewarded them in the following way: certain of the Ethiopians had come to be at variance with him; he ordered them to expel these people and dwell in their land. And since these had settled among the Ethiopians, the Ethiopians became more civilized, having learned Egyptian customs.
- 2.30.1ἐν ἴσῳ χρόνῳ ἄλλῳ ... ἐν ὅσῳ περ
A correlative construction of equal comparison (ἐν ἴσῳ... ἐν ὅσῳ...), meaning 'in an equal period of time... as that in which'. The adjective ἄλλῳ modifies χρόνῳ, indicating that the journey from Meroe to the deserters takes a period of time equal to the previous journey from Elephantine to Meroe (56 days).
- 2.30.1δύναται
The verb δύναμαι usually means 'to be able', but when its subject is a word or expression, it is used in the sense of 'to mean' or 'to signify'.
- 2.30.4οὐκ ἔα
The imperfect tense (third person singular) of οὐκ ἐάω ('to not allow'), used here to express a strong dissuasion or prohibition ('he forbade them to' or 'urged them not to').
- 2.30.4δέξαντα
The Ionic aorist active participle (masculine singular accusative) of δείκνυμι ('to show, point to'), corresponding to Attic δείξαντα. It should not be confused with the aorist participle of δέχομαι ('to receive', which would be the middle δεξάμενος); here it means 'having pointed to'.
- 2.30.5οἱ
The dative singular of the third-person pronoun, referring to the king of the Ethiopians (ὁ δὲ). It functions as a dative of reference or disadvantage ('at variance with him').