- 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-grc2:4.175.1-4.175.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The text describes the territory of the Macae, their unique hair-shaving customs and armor, and the river Cinyps that flows through their land from the densely wooded Hill of the Graces.
οὗτοι μὲν δὴ κατύπερθε οἰκέουσι Νασαμώνων· τὸ δὲ παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν ἔχονται1 τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρης Μάκαι, οἳ λόφους κείρονται,2 τὸ μὲν μέσον τῶν τριχῶν ἀνιέντες αὔξεσθαι, τὰ δὲ ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν κείροντες ἐν χροΐ, ἐς δὲ τὸν πόλεμον στρουθῶν καταγαίων3 δορὰς φορέουσι προβλήματα.
These indeed dwell inland from the Nasamones; but along the sea, towards the west, the Macae border them. These people shave their hair into crests, letting the middle of their hair grow long, but shaving it close to the skin on either side; and for war they wear the skins of ostriches as shields.
διὰ δὲ αὐτῶν Κῖνυψ ποταμὸς ῥέων ἐκ λόφου καλευμένου Χαρίτων ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῖ. ὁ δὲ λόφος οὗτος ὁ Χαρίτων δασὺς ἴδῃσι4 ἐστί, ἐούσης τῆς ἄλλης τῆς προκαταλεχθείσης Λιβύης ψιλῆς· ἀπὸ θαλάσσης δὲ ἐς αὐτὸν στάδιοι διηκόσιοι εἰσί.
Through their territory flows the river Cinyps, which, running from a hill called the Hill of the Graces, empties into the sea. This Hill of the Graces is thickly wooded, whereas all the rest of the aforementioned Libya is bare; and from the sea to this hill is a distance of two hundred stades.
- 4.175.1ἔχονται
The middle voice of ἔχω, meaning "to border on" or "be adjacent to." The subject is the following noun Μάκαι. The accusative phrases "τὸ παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν" and "τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρης" function adverbially to specify the location and direction of this adjacency.
- 4.175.1λόφους κείρονται
The verb κείρονται is in the middle voice, either direct ("they shave themselves") or causative ("they have themselves shaved"). The accusative λόφους ("crests" or "ridges") functions as an accusative of result (or cognate accusative), defining the shape into which they cut their hair. The following contrast between "τὸ μὲν μέσον" and "τὰ δὲ ἔνθεν" explains this style in detail.
- 4.175.1στρουθῶν καταγαίων
Literally "land sparrows" or "terrestrial birds," which is the standard Classical Greek term for ostriches, so named due to their inability to fly and their terrestrial habits.
- 4.175.2ἴδῃσι
The dative plural of ἴδη (an Ionic/Epic word for "wood, forest, timber"). It functions with the adjective δασύς ("thick, dense") as a dative of respect or material/means, meaning "thickly wooded" or "dense with trees."