- 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-grc2:3.18.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Describes the nature of the "Table of the Sun" in Ethiopia, explaining how city officials place meat there by night for anyone to feast on by day, and how the locals believe the earth itself produces it.
ἡ δὲ τράπεζα τοῦ ἡλίου τοιήδε τις λέγεται εἶναι, λειμὼν ἐστὶ ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ ἐπίπλεος κρεῶν ἑφθῶν πάντων τῶν τετραπόδων, ἐς τὸν τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐπιτηδεύοντας τιθέναι1 τὰ κρέα τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ἑκάστοτε ἐόντας2 τῶν ἀστῶν, τὰς δὲ ἡμέρας δαίνυσθαι προσιόντα τὸν βουλόμενον. φάναι3 δὲ τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ταῦτα τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν ἀναδιδόναι ἑκάστοτε.
The Table of the Sun is said to be something like this: there is a meadow in the suburbs full of the boiled meat of all kinds of four-legged animals, into which those of the citizens who are in authority from time to time make a point of putting the meat by night, while by day anyone who wishes may come forward and feast. And the inhabitants say that the earth itself yields these things on each occasion.
- 3.18.1ἐς τὸν τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐπιτηδεύοντας τιθέναι
Inside the relative clause introduced by ἐς τὸν (referring to the antecedent λειμὼν), the infinitives τιθέναι and δαίνυσθαι are used instead of indicative verbs. This is a construction typical of Herodotus, where the indirect discourse introduced by λέγεται at the beginning of the sentence extends into the relative clause. The subject of the infinitive is the accusative τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ... ἐόντας.
- 3.18.1τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ἑκάστοτε ἐόντας
The phrase ἐν τέλεϊ εἶναι means "to be in office" or "to be in authority." Combined with the adverb ἑκάστοτε ("each time" or "from time to time"), it refers to the magistrates or officials who hold office at any given time.
- 3.18.1φάναι
Although this appears to start a new independent sentence, the infinitive φάναι is used to maintain the indirect discourse context (introduced by λέγεται) of the narrative, carrying over the sense of "they say that...".