- 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-grc2:2.89.1-2.89.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
This passage explains why the bodies of distinguished or beautiful Egyptian women are handed over to embalmers only several days after death, citing a past scandal of necrophilia.
τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας τῶν ἐπιφανέων ἀνδρῶν, ἐπεὰν τελευτήσωσι, οὐ παραυτίκα διδοῦσι ταριχεύειν, οὐδὲ ὅσαι ἂν ἔωσι εὐειδέες κάρτα καὶ λόγου πλεῦνος γυναῖκες· ἀλλʼ ἐπεὰν τριταῖαι ἢ τεταρταῖαι1 γένωνται, οὕτω παραδιδοῦσι τοῖσι ταριχεύουσι.
The wives of distinguished men, when they die, they do not give over immediately to be embalmed, nor indeed any women who are very beautiful or of greater reputation; but when they have been dead three or four days, only then do they hand them over to the embalmers.
τοῦτο δὲ ποιεῦσι οὕτω τοῦδε εἵνεκεν, ἵνα μή σφι2 οἱ ταριχευταὶ μίσγωνται τῇσι γυναιξί· λαμφθῆναι γὰρ τινὰ φασὶ μισγόμενον νεκρῷ προσφάτῳ γυναικός, κατειπεῖν δὲ τὸν ὁμότεχνον.3
They do this for the following reason, so that the embalmers may not have intercourse with the women; for they say that one was caught having intercourse with the fresh corpse of a woman, and that his fellow craftsman denounced him.
- 2.89.1τριταῖαι ἢ τεταρταῖαι
These ordinal adjectives ('on the third day', 'on the fourth day') function predicatively with the subject (the women) to express the lapse of time, meaning 'when they have been dead three or four days'. In Classical Greek, the passage of time is frequently expressed by such adjectives agreeing with the subject.
- 2.89.2σφι
A third-person plural dative pronoun. This can be interpreted either as (1) a dative of interest referring to the relatives (the subject of the preceding διδοῦσι, 'for them / in their regard') or (2) a redundant proleptic pronoun referring to the subsequent and appositive τῇσι γυναιξί ('with the women').
- 2.89.2λαμφθῆναι γὰρ τινὰ φασὶ μισγόμενον νεκρῷ προσφάτῳ γυναικός, κατειπεῖν δὲ τὸν ὁμότεχνον
Two accusative-with-infinitive constructions (λαμφθῆναι and κατειπεῖν) dependent on the main verb φασί ('they say') are joined by δέ. In the first clause, τινά ('a certain man') is the subject accusative of the passive infinitive λαμφθῆναι ('was caught'), with the present participle μισγόμενον acting as a supplementary participle indicating the action in progress ('having intercourse'). In the second clause, τὸν ὁμότεχνον ('the fellow craftsman') is the subject accusative of the active infinitive κατειπεῖν ('denounced [him]').