- 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-grc2:2.94.1-2.94.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
The cultivation of sillicypria (kiki) by Egyptians living near marshes and the methods of extracting its oil by crushing or boiling are described, along with the oil's properties.
καὶ περὶ μὲν τοὺς ἰχθύας οὕτω ἔχει. ἀλείφατι δὲ χρέωνται Αἰγυπτίων1 οἱ περὶ τὰ ἕλεα οἰκέοντες ἀπὸ τῶν σιλλικυπρίων τοῦ καρποῦ, τὸ2 καλεῦσι μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι κίκι, ποιεῦσι δὲ ὧδε. παρὰ τὰ χείλεα τῶν τε ποταμῶν καὶ τῶν λιμνέων σπείρουσι τὰ σιλλικύπρια ταῦτα, τὰ ἐν Ἕλλησι αὐτόματα ἄγρια φύεται· ταῦτα ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ σπειρόμενα καρπὸν φέρει πολλὸν μὲν δυσώδεα δέ· τοῦτον ἐπεὰν συλλέξωνται, οἳ μὲν κόψαντες ἀπιποῦσι,3 οἳ δὲ4 καὶ φρύξαντες ἀπέψουσι, καὶ τὸ ἀπορρέον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ συγκομίζονται. ἔστι δὲ πῖον καὶ οὐδὲν ἧσσον τοῦ ἐλαίου τῷ λύχνῳ προσηνές, ὀδμὴν δὲ βαρέαν παρέχεται.
And concerning the fish, it is so. Those of the Egyptians who dwell around the marshes use an oil from the fruit of the sillicypria, which the Egyptians call kiki; and they make it as follows. Along the banks of both the rivers and the lakes they sow these sillicypria, which in Greece grow wild of their own accord; these, when sown in Egypt, bear fruit in abundance but ill-smelling. When they gather this fruit, some crush it and press out the oil, while others roast and boil it, and they collect that which flows from it. It is oily and no less suitable for lamps than olive oil, but it yields a heavy smell.
- 2.94.1Αἰγυπτίων
Αἰγυπτίων (genitive plural masculine) is a partitive genitive qualifying the subsequent subject οἱ περὶ τὰ ἕλεα οἰκέοντες (those who dwell around the marshes).
- 2.94.1τὸ
Neuter singular accusative relative pronoun, whose antecedent is the neuter noun ἀλείφατι (oil). Syntactically, it serves as the direct object of καλεῦσι with κίκι as a predicate accusative ('which they call kiki').
- 2.94.2ἀπιποῦσι
Third-person plural present active indicative of the Ionic verb ἀπιέω (equivalent to Attic ἀποπιέζω, 'to press out'), showing the characteristic Ionic psilosis (lack of aspiration).
- 2.94.2οἳ μὲν... οἳ δὲ
A correlative construction using the article as a pronoun with μὲν and δὲ ('some... others...'), which subdivides the subject group mentioned in the previous section.