- 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-grc2:3.107.1-3.107.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Describes Arabia as the southernmost land producing various spices like frankincense, and explains how the inhabitants harvest it using storax smoke to ward off winged serpents.
πρὸς δʼ αὖ μεσαμβρίης ἐσχάτη Ἀραβίη τῶν οἰκεομενέων χωρέων ἐστί, ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ λιβανωτός τε ἐστὶ μούνῃ1 χωρέων πασέων φυόμενος καὶ σμύρνη καὶ κασίη καὶ κινάμωμον καὶ λήδανον. ταῦτα πάντα πλὴν τῆς σμύρνης δυσπετέως κτῶνται οἱ Ἀράβιοι.
On the other hand, towards the south, Arabia is the most extreme of inhabited countries, and in this alone of all countries frankincense grows, as well as myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and ledanum. All of these, except the myrrh, the Arabians acquire with difficulty.
τὸν μέν γε λιβανωτὸν συλλέγουσι τὴν στύρακα θυμιῶντες, τὴν ἐς Ἕλληνας Φοίνικες ἐξάγουσι· ταύτην θυμιῶντες λαμβάνουσι· τὰ γὰρ δένδρεα ταῦτα τὰ λιβανωτοφόρα ὄφιες ὑπόπτεροι, μικροὶ τὰ μεγάθεα,2 ποικίλοι τὰ εἴδεα, φυλάσσουσι πλήθεϊ πολλοὶ περὶ δένδρον ἕκαστον, οὗτοι οἵ περ ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον ἐπιστρατεύονται, οὐδενὶ δὲ ἄλλῳ3 ἀπελαύνονται ἀπὸ τῶν δενδρέων ἢ τῆς στύρακος τῷ καπνῷ.
For they gather the frankincense by burning storax, which the Phoenicians export to the Greeks; they obtain it by burning this. For these frankincense-bearing trees are guarded by winged serpents, small in size and speckled in appearance, in great numbers around each tree, these being the very ones that make expeditions against Egypt; and they are driven away from the trees by no other thing than the smoke of storax.
- 3.107.1μούνῃ
Dative feminine singular adjective agreeing with the preceding demonstrative pronoun ταύτῃ (referring to Arabia), meaning 'in this land alone of all countries.' It works with the nominative participle φυόμενος (agreeing with λιβανωτός) to emphasize that frankincense grows only in Arabia.
- 3.107.2τὰ μεγάθεα
Accusative neuter plural, used as an accusative of respect (limitation) modifying the adjective μικροὶ to mean 'small in size.' Similarly, the following τὰ εἴδεα is also an accusative of respect modifying ποικίλοι ('speckled in appearance').
- 3.107.2οὐδενὶ δὲ ἄλλῳ
Dative of means. It corresponds to τῷ καπνῷ ('by the smoke') after the comparative conjunction ἢ, forming the construction 'by no other thing than the smoke of storax (are they driven away).'