- 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-grc2:3.8.1-3.8.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
The passage describes the detailed ritual of making sacred pledges among the Arabians, and introduces their worship of only two deities, Dionysus and Urania.
σέβονται δὲ Ἀράβιοι πίστις ἀνθρώπων ὅμοια τοῖσι μάλιστα,1 ποιεῦνται δὲ αὐτὰς τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· τῶν βουλομένων τὰ πιστὰ ποιέεσθαι ἄλλος ἀνήρ,2 ἀμφοτέρων αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ ἑστεώς, λίθῳ ὀξέι τὸ ἔσω τῶν χειρῶν παρὰ τοὺς δακτύλους τοὺς μεγάλους ἐπιτάμνει τῶν ποιευμένων τὰς πίστις, καὶ ἔπειτα λαβὼν ἐκ τοῦ ἱματίου ἑκατέρου κροκύδα ἀλείφει τῷ αἵματι ἐν μέσῳ κειμένους λίθους ἑπτά· τοῦτο δὲ ποιέων ἐπικαλέει τε τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὴν Οὐρανίην.
The Arabians respect pledges between men as much as those who respect them most, and they make them in the following manner: another man, different from those who wish to make the pledge, standing between them both, cuts with a sharp stone the inner part of the hands, near the thumbs, of those who are making the pledge, and then, taking a thread of wool from the cloak of each, on seven stones lying in their midst he smears the blood; and while doing this, he invokes Dionysus and Urania.
ἐπιτελέσαντος δὲ τούτου ταῦτα, ὁ τὰς πίστις ποιησάμενος τοῖσι φίλοισι παρεγγυᾷ3 τὸν ξεῖνον ἢ καὶ τὸν ἀστόν, ἢν πρὸς ἀστὸν ποιέηται· οἱ δὲ φίλοι καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰς πίστις δικαιεῦσι σέβεσθαι.
When this man has completed these things, the one who has made the pledge commends his guest-friend to his own friends, or even his fellow citizen, if he made it with a fellow citizen; and the friends themselves also deem it right to respect the pledge.
Διόνυσον δὲ θεῶν μοῦνον καὶ τὴν Οὐρανίην ἡγέονται εἶναι, καὶ τῶν τριχῶν τὴν κουρὴν κείρεσθαι φασὶ κατά περ αὐτὸν τὸν Διόνυσον κεκάρθαι· κείρονται δὲ περιτρόχαλα, ὑποξυρῶντες τοὺς κροτάφους. ὀνομάζουσι δὲ τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον Ὀροτάλτ, τὴν δὲ Οὐρανίην Ἀλιλάτ.
They believe that Dionysus and Urania are the only gods, and they say that their hair is cut in the same way as Dionysus himself is shorn; and they cut it in a circular shape, shaving the temples. They call Dionysus Orotalt, and Urania Alilat.
- 3.8.1ὅμοια τοῖσι μάλιστα
The adverbial ὅμοια ('in like manner as') governs the dative τοῖσι μάλιστα, which is an elliptical expression for τοῖς μάλιστα [σεβομένοις] ('those who respect them most'), functioning as an idiomatic intensive phrase meaning 'as much as anyone in the world'.
- 3.8.1τῶν βουλομένων τὰ πιστὰ ποιέεσθαι ἄλλος ἀνήρ
The genitive phrase τῶν βουλομένων depends on ἄλλος as a genitive of separation or comparison, meaning 'another man [different] from those who wish to make the pledge'. The nominative ἄλλος ἀνήρ is the subject of the main verb ἐπιτάμνει.
- 3.8.2παρεγγυᾷ
The verb means 'to hand over', 'to recommend', or 'to entrust'. Here it indicates that the person who made the pledge commends or entrusts his guest-friend (or fellow citizen) to his own friends (τοῖσι φίλοισι) for mutual protection and respect.