- 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-grc2:2.57.1-2.57.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Herodotus explains that the "doves" of Dodona were actually Egyptian women speaking a foreign tongue, and notes the similarity between the divinations of Egyptian Thebes and Dodona, stating that divination from sacrifices also originated in Egypt.
πελειάδες δέ μοι δοκέουσι κληθῆναι πρὸς Δωδωναίων ἐπὶ τοῦδε1 αἱ γυναῖκες, διότι βάρβαροι ἦσαν, ἐδόκεον δέ σφι ὁμοίως ὄρνισι2 φθέγγεσθαι·
And the women seem to me to have been called “doves” by the Dodonaeans for this reason: because they were foreigners, and they seemed to them to make sounds like birds.
μετὰ δὲ χρόνον τὴν πελειάδα ἀνθρωπηίῃ φωνῇ αὐδάξασθαι λέγουσι, ἐπείτε συνετά σφι ηὔδα ἡ γυνή·3 ἕως δὲ ἐβαρβάριζε, ὄρνιθος τρόπον ἐδόκεέ σφι φθέγγεσθαι, ἐπεὶ τέῳ ἂν τρόπῳ4 πελειάς γε ἀνθρωπηίῃ φωνῇ φθέγξαιτο; μέλαιναν δὲ λέγοντες εἶναι τὴν πελειάδα σημαίνουσι ὅτι Αἰγυπτίη ἡ γυνὴ ἦν.
And after some time, they say that the “dove” spoke with a human voice, when the woman spoke intelligibly to them; but as long as she spoke in a foreign tongue, she seemed to them to make sounds in the manner of a bird, for in what way indeed could a dove speak with a human voice? And by saying that the “dove” was black, they indicate that the woman was Egyptian.
ἡ δὲ μαντηίη ἥ τε ἐν Θήβῃσι τῇσι Αἰγυπτίῃσι καὶ ἐν Δωδώνῃ παραπλήσιαι ἀλλήλῃσι τυγχάνουσι ἐοῦσαι.5 ἔστι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἱρῶν ἡ μαντικὴ6 ἀπʼ Αἰγύπτου ἀπιγμένη.
And the method of divination, both the one in Egyptian Thebes and the one in Dodona, happen to be very similar to each other. Indeed, the art of divination from sacrifices also came from Egypt.
- 2.57.1ἐπὶ τοῦδε
The preposition ἐπί with the genitive of the demonstrative pronoun (τοῦδε, neuter singular) means "for this reason." Here, τοῦδε anticipates the following clause introduced by διότι (because).
- 2.57.1ὁμοίως ὄρνισι
The adverb ὁμοίως takes the dative case to mean "in like manner to" or "similarly to." Here, it governs the dative plural ὄρνισι (from ὄρνις, "bird"), meaning "in the same manner as birds."
- 2.57.2ἐπείτε συνετά σφι ηὔδα ἡ γυνή
A temporal clause introduced by the conjunction ἐπείτε (Ionic equivalent of ἐπειδή / ἐπεί, "when" or "since"). συνετά is the neuter plural accusative used adverbially, meaning "intelligibly" or "comprehensibly," modifying the verb ηὔδα (imperfect 3rd person singular of αὐδάω, "to speak").
- 2.57.2τέῳ ἂν τρόπῳ
The dative of manner using the Ionic form τέῳ (corresponding to Attic τίνι, from τίς, "who/what") combined with τρόπῳ, meaning "in what way." The particle ἄν with the optative φθέγξαιτο (aorist middle 3rd person singular of φθέγγομαι) forms a potential optative, expressing a strong rhetorical question ("how could a dove possibly speak?").
- 2.57.3παραπλήσιαι ἀλλήλῃσι τυγχάνουσι ἐοῦσαι
The verb τυγχάνω constructed with a participle (here ἐοῦσαι, the feminine plural nominative present participle of εἰμί, Ionic for οὖσαι) means "happen to be" or "actually are." The adjective παραπλήσιαι ("similar") takes the Ionic dative plural ἀλλήλῃσι ("to each other") to mean "very similar to each other."
- 2.57.3τῶν ἱρῶν ἡ μαντικὴ
τῶν ἱρῶν is the genitive neuter plural of τὸ ἱρόν ("sacred thing/victim/sacrifice"). Here it acts as an objective genitive or genitive of source with ἡ μαντική ("the art of divination"), referring to "divination by means of sacrifices" or "extispicy" (inspecting the entrails of sacrificial victims).