- 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-grc2:2.74.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
The author describes the small, harmless, horned sacred serpents near Thebes and the custom of burying them in the temple of Zeus upon their death.
εἰσὶ δὲ περὶ Θήβας ἱροὶ ὄφιες, ἀνθρώπων1 οὐδαμῶς δηλήμονες, οἳ μεγάθεϊ2 ἐόντες μικροὶ δύο κέρεα φορέουσι πεφυκότα ἐξ ἄκρης τῆς κεφαλῆς· τοὺς3 θάπτουσι ἀποθανόντας ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ τοῦ Διός· τούτου γὰρ σφέας τοῦ θεοῦ φασι εἶναι ἱρούς.
There are also about Thebes sacred serpents, by no means harmful to humans, which, being small in size, bear two horns grown from the top of their head. These, when they die, they bury in the temple of Zeus; for they say that they are sacred to this god.
- 2.74.1ἀνθρώπων
Objective genitive governed by the adjective δηλήμονες (harmful, destructive), meaning "harmful to humans."
- 2.74.1μεγάθεϊ
Dative of respect (specification), limiting the scope of the adjective μικροὶ ("small in size").
- 2.74.1τοὺς
Although morphologically a relative pronoun (accusative plural masculine), in Herodotus' usage it functions here as a demonstrative pronoun ("these"), referring back to the serpents at the beginning of the clause.