- 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-grc2:3.150.1-3.150.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
During the Persian political turmoil, the Babylonians prepared for siege. Upon launching their open rebellion, they strangled almost all the women, keeping only their mothers and one bread-maker per household, to conserve food supplies.
ἐπὶ δὲ Σάμον στρατεύματος ναυτικοῦ οἰχομένου1 Βαβυλώνιοι ἀπέστησαν, κάρτα εὖ παρεσκευασμένοι· ἐν ὅσῳ γὰρ ὅ τε Μάγος ἦρχε καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ ἐπανέστησαν, ἐν τούτῳ παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τῇ ταραχῇ ἐς τὴν πολιορκίην παρεσκευάζοντο.
While the naval force was on its way to Samos, the Babylonians revolted, having prepared themselves extremely well; for during all the time that the Magian was ruling and the seven rose up against him, and throughout that whole period of confusion, they had been preparing themselves for the siege.
καί κως ταῦτα ποιεῦντες ἐλάνθανον.2 ἐπείτε δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐμφανέος ἀπέστησαν, ἐποίησαν τοιόνδε· τὰς μητέρας ἐξελόντες, γυναῖκα ἕκαστος μίαν προσεξαιρέετο τὴν ἐβούλετο ἐκ τῶν ἑωυτοῦ οἰκίων, τὰς δὲ λοιπὰς ἁπάσας συναγαγόντες ἀπέπνιξαν· τὴν δὲ μίαν ἕκαστος σιτοποιὸν ἐξαιρέετο·3 ἀπέπνιξαν δὲ αὐτάς, ἵνα μή σφεων τὸν σῖτον ἀναισιμώσωσι.
And somehow, while doing this, they escaped notice. But when they revolted openly, they did as follows: excepting their mothers, each man chose additionally one woman from his own household, whomsoever he wished, and they gathered all the rest together and strangled them; each man chose that one woman to be a bread-maker. They strangled them so that they would not consume their food supplies.
- 3.150.1στρατεύματος ναυτικοῦ οἰχομένου
Genitive absolute construction denoting the temporal background ('when the naval force had departed for Samos') for the main action.
- 3.150.2ταῦτα ποιεῦντες ἐλάνθανον
An idiomatic construction of the verb λανθάνω with a participle, meaning 'to do something secretly' or 'without being noticed'. The imperfect tense indicates that this secret preparation was ongoing.
- 3.150.2τὴν δὲ μίαν ἕκαστος σιτοποιὸν ἐξαιρέετο
The noun σιτοποιόν functions predicatively in relation to the object τὴν μίαν ('each man chose the single woman as a bread-maker').