- 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-grc2:3.16.1-3.16.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Cambyses arrives in Sais, orders the desecration and burning of Amasis' mummified corpse, which violates both Persian and Egyptian customs. Herodotus also introduces and dismisses the Egyptian claim that a substitute body was desecrated instead of Amasis.
Καμβύσης δὲ ἐκ Μέμφιος ἀπίκετο ἐς Σάιν πόλιν, βουλόμενος ποιῆσαι τὰ δὴ καὶ ἐποίησε. ἐπείτε γὰρ ἐσῆλθε ἐς τὰ τοῦ Ἀμάσιος οἰκία, αὐτίκα ἐκέλευε ἐκ τῆς ταφῆς τὸν Ἀμάσιος νέκυν ἐκφέρειν ἔξω· ὡς δὲ ταῦτα ἐπιτελέα ἐγένετο, μαστιγοῦν ἐκέλευε καὶ τὰς τρίχας ἀποτίλλειν καὶ κεντοῦν τε καὶ τἆλλα πάντα λυμαίνεσθαι.
Cambyses arrived from Memphis at the city of Sais, wishing to do what indeed he also did. For when he entered the palace of Amasis, he immediately ordered them to carry the corpse of Amasis out of his tomb. And when this had been accomplished, he ordered them to scourge it, to pluck out its hair, to stab it, and to desecrate it in every other way.
ἐπείτε δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἔκαμον ποιεῦντες1 (ὁ γὰρ δὴ νεκρὸς ἅτε τεταριχευμένος ἀντεῖχέ τε καὶ οὐδὲν διεχέετο), ἐκέλευσέ μιν ὁ Καμβύσης κατακαῦσαι, ἐντελλόμενος οὐκ ὅσια· Πέρσαι γὰρ θεὸν νομίζουσι εἶναι πῦρ.
And when they grew weary of doing this (for the corpse, being mummified, held out and did not fall to pieces at all), Cambyses ordered them to burn it, commanding unholy things; for the Persians believe fire to be a god.
τὸ ὦν κατακαίειν γε τοὺς νεκροὺς οὐδαμῶς ἐν νόμῳ οὐδετέροισι ἐστί, Πέρσῃσι μὲν διʼ ὅ περ εἴρηται, θεῷ οὐ δίκαιον εἶναι λέγοντες2 νέμειν νεκρὸν ἀνθρώπου· Αἰγυπτίοισι δὲ νενόμισται πῦρ θηρίον εἶναι ἔμψυχον, πάντα δὲ αὐτὸ κατεσθίειν τά περ ἂν λάβῃ, πλησθὲν δὲ αὐτὸ τῆς βορῆς συναποθνήσκειν τῷ κατεσθιομένῳ.
To burn the dead, therefore, is by no means in custom for either of the two; for the Persians, indeed, for the reason which has been mentioned, saying that it is not right to give a dead body of a man to a god; and for the Egyptians, it is believed that fire is a living beast, and that it devours everything which it may catch, and when it is filled with its food, it dies together with that which is being devoured.
οὔκων θηρίοισι νόμος οὐδαμῶς σφι ἐστὶ τὸν νέκυν διδόναι, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ταριχεύουσι, ἵνα μὴ κείμενος ὑπὸ εὐλέων καταβρωθῇ. οὕτω οὐδετέροισι νομιζόμενα ἐνετέλλετο ποιέειν ὁ Καμβύσης.
Therefore it is by no means their custom to give the dead body to beasts, and for this reason they mummify them, so that it may not, as it lies, be devoured by worms. Thus Cambyses commanded them to do what was contrary to the customs of both.
ὡς μέντοι, Αἰγύπτιοι λέγουσι, οὐκ Ἄμασις ἦν ὁ ταῦτα παθών, ἀλλὰ ἄλλος τις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἔχων τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίην Ἀμάσι,3 τῷ λυμαινόμενοι Πέρσαι ἐδόκεον Ἀμάσι λυμαίνεσθαι.
However, as the Egyptians say, it was not Amasis who suffered these things, but some other of the Egyptians who had the same age as Amasis, whom the Persians desecrated, thinking that they were desecrating Amasis.
λέγουσι γὰρ ὡς πυθόμενος ἐκ μαντηίου ὁ Ἄμασις τὰ περὶ ἑωυτὸν ἀποθανόντα μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι, οὕτω δὴ ἀκεόμενος τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα τὸν μὲν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον τὸν μαστιγωθέντα ἀποθανόντα ἔθαψε ἐπὶ τῇσι θύρῃσι ἐντὸς τῆς ἑωυτοῦ θήκης, ἑωυτὸν δὲ ἐνετείλατο τῷ παιδὶ ἐν μυχῷ τῆς θήκης ὡς μάλιστα θεῖναι.
For they say that Amasis, having learned from an oracle what was going to happen concerning himself after his death, thus trying to avert the coming evils, buried this man who was whipped, after he died, at the entrance inside his own tomb, and commanded his son to place himself as far as possible in the innermost part of the tomb.
αἱ μέν νυν ἐκ τοῦ Ἀμάσιος ἐντολαὶ αὗται αἱ ἐς τὴν ταφήν τε καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔχουσαι οὔ μοι δοκέουσι ἀρχὴν4 γενέσθαι, ἄλλως δʼ αὐτὰ Αἰγύπτιοι σεμνοῦν.
Now these commands of Amasis concerning his burial and the man do not seem to me to have been given at all, but I think the Egyptians make a grand story of them otherwise.
- 3.16.2ἔκαμον ποιεῦντες
The verb κάμνω (to grow weary) is construed with the supplementary participle ποιεῦντες, forming the idiomatic expression meaning 'to grow weary of doing.'
- 3.16.3λέγοντες
A grammatical anacoluthon occurs here; the nominative plural participle λέγοντες is used where one would expect agreement with the dative Πέρσῃσι. This shift happens because 'the Persians' are the logical subject of the clause.
- 3.16.5τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίην Ἀμάσι
The noun ἡλικίη can mean either 'age' or 'stature (size).' In this context of mistaken identity of a corpse, it can refer to 'the same stature' or 'the same age.' Ἀμάσι is the dative of companion/similarity depending on τὴν αὐτήν.
- 3.16.7ἀρχὴν
The accusative ἀρχήν (originally 'beginning') is used adverbially with a negative expression (οὔ μοι δοκέουσι), expressing a strong negative meaning: 'at all,' 'by no means,' or 'in the first place... not.'