- 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-grc2:2.69.1-2.69.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
Explains the veneration of crocodiles in Egypt, where they are treated as sacred and adorned with jewelry near Thebes and Lake Moeris, while they are eaten near Elephantine, and details the origin of their name.
τοῖσι μὲν δὴ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων1 ἱροί εἰσι οἱ κροκόδειλοι, τοῖσι δὲ οὔ, ἀλλʼ ἅτε πολεμίους περιέπουσι· οἱ δὲ περί τε Θήβας καὶ τὴν Μοίριος λίμνην οἰκέοντες καὶ κάρτα ἥγηνται αὐτοὺς εἶναι ἱρούς·
To some of the Egyptians, crocodiles are sacred, but to others they are not; instead, they treat them as enemies. However, those who dwell around Thebes and Lake Moeris consider them to be extremely sacred.
ἐκ πάντων δὲ ἕνα ἑκάτεροι2 τρέφουσι κροκόδειλον δεδιδαγμένον εἶναι χειροήθεα, ἀρτήματά τε λίθινα χυτὰ3 καὶ χρύσεα ἐς τὰ ὦτα ἐνθέντες καὶ ἀμφιδέας περὶ τοὺς ἐμπροσθίους πόδας, καὶ σιτία ἀποτακτὰ διδόντες καὶ ἱρήια, καὶ περιέποντες ὡς κάλλιστα ζῶντας· ἀποθανόντας δὲ θάπτουσι ταριχεύσαντες ἐν ἱρῇσι θήκῃσι.
From among them all, each of these two groups keeps one crocodile, trained to be tame, putting ear-ornaments of melted stone and gold into its ears and bracelets around its forefeet, and giving it appointed food and sacrificial victims, and treating it as excellently as possible while it lives; and when it dies, they embalm it and bury it in sacred coffins.
οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἐλεφαντίνην πόλιν οἰκέοντες καὶ ἐσθίουσι4 αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἡγεόμενοι ἱροὺς εἶναι. καλέονται δὲ οὐ κροκόδειλοι ἀλλὰ χάμψαι· κροκοδείλους δὲ Ἴωνες ὠνόμασαν, εἰκάζοντες αὐτῶν τὰ εἴδεα τοῖσι παρὰ σφίσι γινομένοισι κροκοδείλοισι τοῖσι ἐν τῇσι αἱμασιῇσι.
But those who dwell around the city of Elephantine even eat them, not considering them to be sacred. They are called not crocodiles but champsae; the Ionians named them crocodiles, comparing their appearance to the lizards found among them in the stone walls.
- 2.69.1τοῖσι μὲν... τοῖσι δὲ... τῶν Αἰγυπτίων
Expresses "to some... but to others...". τοῖσι is the dative of the demonstrative pronoun (functioning here substantively or as an article) on which the partitive genitive τῶν Αἰγυπτίων depends.
- 2.69.2ἑκάτεροι
Since it refers to two distinct groups of people mentioned in the previous section (those around Thebes and those around Lake Moeris), the plural form ἑκάτεροι ("each of the two groups") is used instead of the singular ἕκαστος.
- 2.69.2ἀρτήματά τε λίθινα χυτὰ
Literally "ear-ornaments of cast (melted) stone", which refers to glass or faience, manufactured in ancient Egypt.
- 2.69.3καὶ ἐσθίουσι
The καί placed before the verb ἐσθίουσι functions not as a simple conjunction ("and"), but as an emphasizing adverb meaning "even".