- 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-grc2:2.36.1-2.36.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-04
This chunk describes the unique customs of the Egyptians in contrast with other peoples (especially Greeks), including the hair-shaving of priests, hair-growing during mourning, living with beasts, eating olyra as a staple, methods of kneading and handling dung, circumcision, clothing, rigging sails, writing and calculating direction, and the use of two distinct scripts (sacred and popular).
οἱ ἱρέες τῶν θεῶν τῇ μὲν ἄλλῃ κομέουσι, ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δὲ ξυρῶνται. τοῖσι ἄλλοισι ἀνθρώποισι νόμος ἅμα κήδεϊ κεκάρθαι τὰς κεφαλὰς τοὺς μάλιστα ἱκνέεται,1 Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ὑπὸ τοὺς θανάτους2 ἀνιεῖσι τὰς τρίχας αὔξεσθαι τάς τε ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τῷ γενείῳ, τέως ἐξυρημένοι.
The priests of the gods wear their hair long in other places, but in Egypt they shave their heads. Among other men, the custom is for those whom the mourning most nearly concerns to shave their heads, but the Egyptians, at times of death, let the hair grow both on their head and on their chin, having until then been shaven.
τοῖσι μὲν ἄλλοισι ἀνθρώποισι χωρὶς θηρίων ἡ δίαιτα ἀποκέκριται, Αἰγυπτίοισι δὲ ὁμοῦ θηρίοισι ἡ δίαιτα ἐστί. ἀπὸ πυρῶν καὶ κριθέων ὧλλοι ζώουσι, Αἰγυπτίων δὲ τῷ ποιευμένῳ3 ἀπὸ τούτων τὴν ζόην ὄνειδος μέγιστον ἐστί, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ ὀλυρέων ποιεῦνται σιτία, τὰς ζειὰς μετεξέτεροι καλέουσι.
Among other men, life is separated from beasts, but the Egyptians live together with beasts. Others live on wheat and barley, but among the Egyptians, it is the greatest disgrace for anyone to make their living from these, but rather they make their food from olyra, which some call zeia.
φυρῶσι τὸ μὲν σταῖς τοῖσι ποσί, τὸν δὲ πηλὸν τῇσι χερσί, καὶ τὴν κόπρον ἀναιρέονται. τὰ αἰδοῖα ὧλλοι μὲν ἐῶσι ὡς ἐγένοντο, πλὴν ὅσοι ἀπὸ τούτων ἔμαθον, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ περιτάμνονται. εἵματα τῶν μὲν ἀνδρῶν ἕκαστος ἔχει δύο, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν ἓν ἑκάστη.
They knead dough with their feet, but clay with their hands, and they lift up dung with their hands. Other men leave their private parts as they were born, except those who have learned from them, but the Egyptians practice circumcision. As for clothing, each of the men has two garments, but each of the women has one.
τῶν ἱστίων τοὺς κρίκους καὶ τοὺς κάλους οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι ἔξωθεν προσδέουσι, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἔσωθεν. γράμματα γράφουσι καὶ λογίζονται ψήφοισι Ἕλληνες μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ φέροντες τὴν χεῖρα, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν δεξιῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀριστερά· καὶ ποιεῦντες ταῦτα αὐτοὶ μὲν φασὶ ἐπὶ δεξιὰ ποιέειν,4 Ἕλληνας δὲ ἐπʼ ἀριστερά. διφασίοισι δὲ γράμμασι χρέωνται, καὶ τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν ἱρὰ τὰ δὲ δημοτικὰ καλέεται.
As for the rings and ropes of sails, others fasten them from the outside, but the Egyptians from the inside. In writing characters and reckoning with pebbles, the Greeks move their hand from left to right, but the Egyptians from right to left; and in doing this, they themselves say they are doing it to the right, but the Greeks to the left. They use two kinds of writing, and one of them is called sacred, the other popular.
- 2.36.1τοὺς μάλιστα ἱκνέεται
The relative pronoun τοὺς (Ionic for οὕς) functions as the subject accusative of the infinitive κεκάρθαι. The verb ἱκνέεται (reaches, concerns) governs the accusative and here means "those whom the mourning most closely concerns".
- 2.36.1ὑπὸ τοὺς θανάτους
The preposition ὑπό with the accusative expresses temporal proximity, meaning "at the time of deaths" or "just after deaths".
- 2.36.2τῷ ποιευμένῳ
This is the Ionic form of the present middle participle τῷ ποιουμένῳ. The dative functions as a dative of reference or judgment: "for one who makes his living from these".
- 2.36.4ἐπὶ δεξιὰ ποιέειν
The expression "doing to the right" in Greek carries a double meaning of "doing favorably/correctly", whereas "to the left" implies "clumsily/incorrectly". This is a wordplay explaining how the Egyptians, writing from right to left, claimed they were doing it the right way, while poking fun at the Greeks.