- 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-grc2:2.73.1-2.73.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
The author describes the appearance of the phoenix, a sacred bird of Egypt, and the legend of how it carries its deceased father enclosed in an egg of myrrh to the temple of the Sun in Heliopolis.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ὄρνις ἱρός, τῷ οὔνομα φοῖνιξ.1 ἐγὼ μέν μιν οὐκ εἶδον εἰ μὴ ὅσον γραφῇ·2 καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ σπάνιος ἐπιφοιτᾷ σφι, διʼ ἐτέων, ὡς Ἡλιοπολῖται λέγουσι, πεντακοσίων·
There is also another sacred bird, whose name is phoenix. I myself have not seen it except in a picture; for indeed it visits them only rarely, at intervals of five hundred years, as the people of Heliopolis say.
φοιτᾶν δὲ τότε φασὶ ἐπεάν οἱ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ πατήρ. ἔστι δέ, εἰ τῇ γραφῇ παρόμοιος, τοσόσδε καὶ τοιόσδε· τὰ μὲν αὐτοῦ χρυσόκομα τῶν πτερῶν τὰ δὲ ἐρυθρὰ ἐς τὰ μάλιστα· αἰετῷ περιήγησιν ὁμοιότατος καὶ τὸ μέγαθος.
They say that it comes only when its father dies. If it is like its picture, it is of such a size and of such an appearance: some of its feathers are golden, and others are especially red; in outline and size it is most like an eagle.
τοῦτον δὲ λέγουσι μηχανᾶσθαι τάδε, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐ πιστὰ λέγοντες· ἐξ Ἀραβίης ὁρμώμενον ἐς τὸ ἱρὸν τοῦ Ἡλίου κομίζειν τὸν πατέρα ἐν σμύρνῃ ἐμπλάσσοντα καὶ θάπτειν ἐν τοῦ Ἡλίου τῷ ἱρῷ, κομίζειν δὲ οὕτω· πρῶτον τῆς σμύρνης ᾠὸν πλάσσειν ὅσον τε δυνατός ἐστι φέρειν, μετὰ δὲ πειρᾶσθαι αὐτὸ φορέοντα, ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀποπειρηθῇ,3 οὕτω δὴ κοιλήναντα τὸ ᾠὸν τὸν πατέρα ἐς αὐτὸ ἐντιθέναι, σμύρνῃ δὲ ἄλλῃ ἐμπλάσσειν τοῦτο κατʼ ὅ τι τοῦ ᾠοῦ ἐκκοιλήνας ἐνέθηκε τὸν πατέρα·4 ἐσκειμένου δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς5 γίνεσθαι τὠυτὸ βάρος· ἐμπλάσαντα δὲ κομίζειν μιν ἐπʼ Αἰγύπτου ἐς τοῦ Ἡλίου τὸ ἱρόν. ταῦτα μὲν τοῦτον τὸν ὄρνιν λέγουσι ποιέειν.
They say that this bird performs the following things, though to me they tell what is not believable: setting out from Arabia, it brings its father plastered in myrrh to the temple of the Sun, and buries him in the temple of the Sun. And it brings him in this way: first it molds an egg of myrrh as large as it is able to carry, and after that it makes trial of carrying it; and when it has finished the trial, then indeed it hollows out the egg and places its father inside, and plasters over with other myrrh this part of the egg where it hollowed it out and put its father in; and when the father is placed inside, the weight becomes the same; and having plastered it over, it brings it to Egypt, to the temple of the Sun. This is what they say this bird does.
- 2.73.1τῷ οὔνομα φοῖνιξ
Meaning "whose name is phoenix." τῷ is a dative of possessor (functioning as a relative/demonstrative pronoun), and οὔνομα is the nominative.
- 2.73.1εἰ μὴ ὅσον γραφῇ
Meaning "except so far as in a picture." γραφῇ is the dative singular of γραφή, expressing means or place.
- 2.73.4ἀποπειρηθῇ
Aorist passive subjunctive (deponent) of the verb ἀποπειράομαι. Used with the conjunction ἐπεάν to express future-perfect action in a temporal clause ("when he has completed the trial").
- 2.73.4κατʼ ὅ τι τοῦ ᾠοῦ ἐκκοιλήνας ἐνέθηκε τὸν πατέρα
κατʼ ὅ τι is a relative phrase. The partitive genitive τοῦ ᾠοῦ (of the egg) depends on the relative pronoun ὅ τι, meaning "at whatever part of the egg he hollowed out and placed his father inside."
- 2.73.4ἐσκειμένου δὲ τοῦ πατρός
Genitive absolute construction. ἐσκειμένου is the perfect middle/passive participle of εἰσκέομαι (to be put inside), meaning "when the father has been placed inside."