- 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-grc2:4.108.1-4.108.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Describes the physical characteristics of the Budini, their wooden city of Gelonus, and the Greek-derived customs and language of the Geloni who live among them.
Βουδῖνοι δὲ ἔθνος ἐὸν μέγα καὶ πολλὸν γλαυκόν τε πᾶν ἰσχυρῶς ἐστι1 καὶ πυρρόν· πόλις δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖσι πεπόλισται ξυλίνη, οὔνομα δὲ τῇ πόλι ἐστὶ Γελωνός. τοῦ δὲ τείχεος μέγαθος κῶλον ἕκαστον τριήκοντα σταδίων ἐστί,2 ὑψηλὸν δὲ καὶ πᾶν ξύλινον, καὶ αἱ οἰκίαι αὐτῶν ξύλιναι καὶ τὰ ἱρά.
The Budini, being a great and populous nation, are all intensely blue-eyed and red-haired; and a wooden city has been built among them, and the name of the city is Gelonus. As for the size of its wall, each side is thirty stades, and it is high and entirely wooden, and their houses are wooden, as are also their temples.
ἔστι γὰρ δὴ αὐτόθι Ἑλληνικῶν θεῶν ἱρὰ Ἑλληνικῶς κατεσκευασμένα ἀγάλμασί τε καὶ βωμοῖσι καὶ νηοῖσι ξυλίνοισι, καὶ τῷ Διονύσῳ τριετηρίδας ἀνάγουσι καὶ βακχεύουσι. εἰσὶ γὰρ οἱ Γελωνοὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον Ἕλληνες, ἐκ τῶν δὲ ἐμπορίων ἐξαναστάντες οἴκησαν ἐν τοῖσι Βουδίνοισι· καὶ γλώσσῃ τὰ μὲν Σκυθικῇ, τὰ δὲ3 Ἑλληνικῇ χρέωνται.
For indeed there are there sanctuaries of Greek gods equipped in the Greek fashion with images, altars, and wooden shrines, and they celebrate triennial festivals for Dionysus and perform Bacchic rites. For the Geloni were anciently Greeks, who, having moved away from the trading ports, settled among the Budini; and in language they use partly Scythian, and partly Greek.
- 4.108.1ἔθνος ἐὸν ... ἐστι
Although the main subject is the plural noun Βουδῖνοι, the verb is in the third person singular ἐστί, and the adjective πᾶν is neuter singular, both agreeing grammatically with the appositive neuter singular noun phrase ἔθνος ἐόν.
- 4.108.1κῶλον ἕκαστον τριήκοντα σταδίων ἐστί
τριήκοντα σταδίων (thirty stades) is a genitive of measure (or description) acting as a predicate, meaning 'is of thirty stades' or 'measures thirty stades.' The subject is κῶλον ἕκαστον (each side).
- 4.108.2τὰ μὲν ... τὰ δὲ
The neuter plural accusatives τὰ μὲν ... τὰ δὲ are used adverbially to mean 'partly ... partly' or 'in one part ... in another part,' modifying the verb χρέωνται in relation to the dative γλώσσῃ (in language).