- 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-grc2:3.6.1-3.6.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Herodotus explains why no empty wine jars are left in Egypt despite the massive twice-yearly imports. The emptied jars are collected from various cities, filled with water, and transported to the arid regions of Syria.
τὸ δὲ ὀλίγοι τῶν ἐς Αἴγυπτον ναυτιλλομένων ἐννενώκασι, τοῦτο ἔρχομαι φράσων.1 ἐς Αἴγυπτον ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος πάσης καὶ πρὸς ἐκ Φοινίκης κέραμος ἐσάγεται πλήρης οἴνου δὶς τοῦ ἔτεος ἑκάστου, καὶ ἓν κεράμιον οἰνηρὸν ἀριθμῷ κεινὸν οὐκ ἔστι ὡς λόγῳ εἰπεῖν ἰδέσθαι.2
I am going to explain something which only a few of those sailing to Egypt have noticed. From the whole of Greece, and moreover from Phoenicia, pottery filled with wine is imported into Egypt twice every year, and yet, so to speak, not a single empty wine jar is to be seen.
κοῦ δῆτα, εἴποι τις ἄν,3 ταῦτα ἀναισιμοῦται; ἐγὼ καὶ τοῦτο φράσω· δεῖ τὸν μὲν δήμαρχον ἕκαστον ἐκ τῆς ἑωυτοῦ πόλιος συλλέξαντα πάντα τὸν κέραμον ἄγειν ἐς Μέμφιν, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ Μέμφιος ἐς ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἄνυδρα τῆς Συρίης κομίζειν πλήσαντας ὕδατος. οὕτω ὁ ἐπιφοιτέων κέραμος καὶ ἐξαιρεόμενος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐπὶ τὸν παλαιὸν4 κομίζεται ἐς Συρίην.
”Where then,” someone might ask, “are these consumed?” I will explain this too. Every district governor must collect all the pottery from his own city and bring it to Memphis, and those in Memphis must fill them with water and carry them to these very waterless regions of Syria. Thus the pottery that continually arrives and is emptied in Egypt is carried to Syria to join the old.
- 3.6.1ἔρχομαι φράσων
The verb ἔρχομαι accompanied by the future active participle φράσων expresses an imminent future intention ('I am going to explain').
- 3.6.1οὐκ ἔστι ... ἰδέσθαι
The impersonal use of ἔστι ('it is possible') followed by the infinitive (aorist middle ἰδέσθαι) expresses potential negation ('it is not possible to see').
- 3.6.2εἴποι τις ἄν
The optative εἴποι with the particle ἄν forms a potential optative, expressing a hypothetical possibility ('someone might say'), introducing a potential question from the audience.
- 3.6.2ἐπὶ τὸν παλαιὸν
The preposition ἐπί with the accusative τὸν παλαιὸν ('the old [pottery]') expresses addition or sequence, meaning 'to join the old ones' or 'following the route of the older supply'.