Views on Pigs and Exceptional Sacrifices to the Moon and Dionysus — Herodotus, Histories Book 2 (2.47.1–2.47.3), Greek & English

§2.47.1

ὗν δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι μιαρὸν ἥγηνται θηρίον εἶναι, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἤν τις ψαύσῃ αὐτῶν παριὼν αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι ἱματίοισι¹ ἀπʼ ὦν ἔβαψε² ἑωυτὸν βὰς ἐς τὸν ποταμόν· τοῦτο δὲ οἱ συβῶται ἐόντες Αἰγύπτιοι ἐγγενέες ἐς ἱρὸν οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐσέρχονται μοῦνοι πάντων, οὐδέ σφι ἐκδίδοσθαι οὐδεὶς θυγατέρα ἐθέλει οὐδʼ ἄγεσθαι ἐξ αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ ἐκδίδονταί τε οἱ συβῶται καὶ ἄγονται ἐξ ἀλλήλων.

Now the Egyptians reckon the pig to be an unclean beast. And for one thing, if anyone in passing should touch a pig, even with his very garments, he goes to the river and dips himself; for another thing, the swineherds, though they are native Egyptians, are the only ones of all who do not enter any temple in Egypt, nor is anyone willing to give his daughter in marriage to them or to take a wife from among them, but the swineherds give in marriage and take wives only among themselves.

§2.47.2

τοῖσι μέν νυν ἄλλοισι θεοῖσι θύειν ὗς οὐ δικαιοῦσι Αἰγύπτιοι, Σελήνῃ δὲ καὶ Διονύσῳ μούνοισι τοῦ αὐτοῦ χρόνου, τῇ αὐτῇ πανσελήνῳ, τοὺς ὗς θύσαντες πατέονται τῶν κρεῶν. διότι δὲ τοὺς ὗς ἐν μὲν τῇσι ἄλλῃσι ὁρτῇσι ἀπεστυγήκασι ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ θύουσι, ἔστι μὲν λόγος περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπʼ Αἰγυπτίων λεγόμενος, ἐμοὶ μέντοι ἐπισταμένῳ οὐκ εὐπρεπέστερος ἐστὶ λέγεσθαι.³

Now the Egyptians do not think it right to sacrifice pigs to any other gods, but to the Moon and Dionysus alone at the same season, namely at the same full moon, they sacrifice pigs and eat of their flesh. But as to why they abhor pigs in their other festivals and yet sacrifice them in this one, there is indeed a story told about it by the Egyptians; however, although I know it, it is not very seemly for me to tell.

§2.47.3

θυσίη δὲ ἥδε τῶν ὑῶν τῇ Σελήνῃ ποιέεται· ἐπεὰν θύσῃ, τὴν οὐρὴν ἄκρην καὶ τὸν σπλῆνα καὶ τὸν ἐπίπλοον συνθεὶς ὁμοῦ κατʼ ὦν ἐκάλυψε πάσῃ τοῦ κτήνεος τῇ πιμελῇ τῇ περὶ τὴν νηδὺν γινομένῃ, καὶ ἔπειτα καταγίζει πυρί· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κρέα σιτέονται ἐν τῇ πανσελήνῳ ἐν τῇ ἂν τὰ ἱρὰ θύσωσι, ἐν ἄλλῃ δὲ ἡμέρῃ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι γευσαίατο.⁴ οἱ δὲ πένητες αὐτῶν ὑπʼ ἀσθενείης βίου σταιτίνας πλάσαντες ὗς καὶ ὀπτήσαντες ταύτας θύουσι.

And this sacrifice of pigs to the Moon is performed as follows: when one has sacrificed, he puts together the tip of the tail, the spleen, and the caul, and covers them completely with all the fat of the beast found about the belly, and then burns them in the fire; the rest of the flesh they eat during the full moon on which they sacrifice the victims, but on any other day they would no longer taste it. Those of them who are poor, because of the weakness of their livelihood, mold pigs out of dough, bake them, and sacrifice these.

Syntax notes4 items

2.47.1αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι ἱματίοισι
The pronoun αὐτός in the dative, combined with the dative of a noun with the article, denotes accompaniment or manner, meaning 'with the very garments' or 'garments and all' (i.e., jumping into the river without even undressing).
2.47.1ἀπʼ ὦν ἔβαψε
An example of tmesis where the Ionic particle ὦν (equivalent to οὖν) is inserted between the prepositional prefix ἀπό and the verb ἔβαψε (from ἀποβάπτω). The aorist ἔβαψε functions as a gnomic aorist representing a habitual action.
2.47.2οὐκ εὐπρεπέστερος ἐστὶ λέγεσθαι
The comparative εὐπρεπέστερος is used as an absolute comparative ('not very seemly/decorous') expressing understatement (litotes). The passive infinitive λέγεσθαι is an epexegetic or qualifying infinitive limitative to the adjective ('to be told').
2.47.3οὐκ ἂν ἔτι γευσαίατο
γευσαίατο is the Ionic dialectal form of the third-person plural middle aorist optative (γεύσαιντο, where -ατο stands for -ντο). Combined with the particle ἄν, it forms a potential optative expressing strong negation regarding future/habitual possibility.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.47.1-2.47.3