- 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-grc2:3.60.1-3.60.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The author explains that he wrote at length about the Samians because of their three greatest engineering feats in the Greek world: the tunnel of Eupalinos, the breakwater in the harbor, and the massive temple designed by Rhoecus.
ἐμήκυνα δὲ περὶ Σαμίων μᾶλλον, ὅτι σφι τρία ἐστὶ μέγιστα ἁπάντων Ἑλλήνων ἐξεργασμένα, ὄρεός τε ὑψηλοῦ ἐς πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ὀργυιάς, τούτου ὄρυγμα1 κάτωθεν ἀρξάμενον, ἀμφίστομον.
I have written at greater length about the Samians because they have constructed three of the greatest works in the whole Greek world. The first is a tunnel with an opening at both ends, starting from below, through a high mountain of about one hundred and fifty orguiai.
τὸ μὲν μῆκος τοῦ ὀρύγματος ἑπτὰ στάδιοι εἰσί,2 τὸ δὲ ὕψος καὶ εὖρος ὀκτὼ ἑκάτερον πόδες. διὰ παντὸς δὲ αὐτοῦ ἄλλο ὄρυγμα εἰκοσίπηχυ βάθος3 ὀρώρυκται, τρίπουν δὲ τὸ εὖρος, διʼ οὗ τὸ ὕδωρ ὀχετευόμενον διὰ τῶν σωλήνων παραγίνεται ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἀγόμενον ἀπὸ μεγάλης πηγῆς.
The length of the tunnel is seven stadia, and its height and width are each eight feet. Along its entire length, another channel has been dug, twenty cubits deep and three feet wide, through which the water, piped from an abundant spring, is conducted into the city.
ἀρχιτέκτων δὲ τοῦ ὀρύγματος τούτου ἐγένετο Μεγαρεὺς Εὐπαλῖνος Ναυστρόφου. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἓν τῶν τριῶν ἐστι, δεύτερον δὲ περὶ λιμένα χῶμα ἐν θαλάσσῃ, βάθος καὶ εἴκοσι ὀργυιέων· μῆκος δὲ τοῦ χώματος μέζον δύο σταδίων.
The architect of this tunnel was Eupalinus, son of Naustrophus, a Megarian. This is indeed one of the three works; the second is a breakwater in the sea around the harbor, with a depth of as much as twenty orguiai, and the length of the breakwater is more than two stadia.
τρίτον δέ σφι ἐξέργασται νηὸς μέγιστος πάντων νηῶν τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν·4 τοῦ ἀρχιτέκτων πρῶτος ἐγένετο Ῥοῖκος Φιλέω ἐπιχώριος. τούτων εἵνεκεν μᾶλλόν τι περὶ Σαμίων ἐμήκυνα.
Thirdly, they have built a temple, which is the largest of all the temples we know of; its first architect was Rhoecus, son of Philes, a native of the island. It is for these reasons that I have written at greater length about the Samians.
- 3.60.1ὄρεός τε ὑψηλοῦ ... τούτου ὄρυγμα
ὄρεος ὑψηλοῦ is a genitive that depends on the following demonstrative pronoun τούτου. In terms of syntax, it functions as a prominent genitive of place or relation introduced before the main subject ὄρυγμα (nominative), which serves as a concrete explanation of the three great works (τρία ἐστὶ ... ἐξεργασμένα).
- 3.60.2ἑπτὰ στάδιοι εἰσί
Although the subject τὸ μὲν μῆκος is singular, the verb εἰσί is in the plural because it has been attracted to the plural predicate ἑπτὰ στάδιοι.
- 3.60.2εἰκοσίπηχυ βάθος
βάθος is an accusative of specification (or measure), used with the adjective εἰκοσίπηχυ (of twenty cubits) to indicate the depth of the second channel (ἄλλο ὄρυγμα).
- 3.60.4τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν
The relative pronoun τῶν is attracted to the genitive case of its antecedent πάντων νηῶν. The verb ἴδμεν is the Ionic and poetic first-person plural form of οἶδα, meaning "we know" or "we have seen."