- 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-grc2:4.180.1-4.180.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The customs of the Auseans are described, including a ritual combat among maidens during a festival for a goddess they identify with Athena, as well as their practice of having women in common and determining paternity by physical resemblance.
τούτων δὲ ἔχονται1 τῶν Μαχλύων Αὐσέες· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ οἱ Μάχλυες πέριξ τὴν Τριτωνίδα λίμνην οἰκέουσι, τὸ μέσον δέ σφι οὐρίζει ὁ Τρίτων. καὶ οἱ μὲν Μάχλυες τὰ ὀπίσω κομῶσι τῆς κεφαλῆς, οἱ δὲ Αὐσέες τὰ ἔμπροσθε.
Bordering on these Machlyes are the Auseans; both they and the Machlyes dwell around Lake Tritonis, and the river Triton forms the boundary between them. The Machlyes wear their hair long at the back of the head, and the Auseans at the front.
ὁρτῇ δὲ ἐνιαυσίῃ Ἀθηναίης αἱ παρθένοι αὐτῶν δίχα διαστᾶσαι μάχονται πρὸς ἀλλήλας λίθοισί τε καὶ ξύλοισι, τῷ αὐθιγενέι θεῷ λέγουσαι τὰ πάτρια ἀποτελέειν, τὴν Ἀθηναίην καλέομεν.2 τὰς δὲ ἀποθνησκούσας τῶν παρθένων ἐκ τῶν τρωμάτων ψευδοπαρθένους καλέουσι.
At an annual festival of Athena, their maidens separate into two bands and fight against one another with stones and clubs, asserting that they are performing the ancestral rites for the indigenous goddess whom we call Athena. Those of the maidens who die of their wounds they call “false maidens.”
πρὶν δὲ ἀνεῖναι3 αὐτὰς μάχεσθαι, τάδε ποιεῦσι κοινῇ. παρθένον τὴν καλλιστεύουσαν ἑκάστοτε κοσμήσαντες κυνέῃ τε Κορινθίῃ καὶ πανοπλίῃ Ἑλληνικῇ καὶ ἐπʼ ἅρμα ἀναβιβάσαντες περιάγουσι τὴν λίμνην κύκλῳ.
But before they send them out to fight, they do the following in common. Each time, they adorn the maiden who is the most beautiful with a Corinthian helmet and a Greek panoply, and having mounted her on a chariot, they conduct her in a circle around the lake.
ὁτέοισι4 δὲ τὸ πάλαι ἐκόσμεον τὰς παρθένους πρὶν ἤ σφι Ἕλληνας παροικισθῆναι, οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν, δοκέω δʼ ὦν Αἰγυπτίοισι ὅπλοισι κοσμέεσθαι αὐτάς· ἀπὸ γὰρ Αἰγύπτου καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα καὶ τὸ κράνος φημὶ ἀπῖχθαι ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας.
With what they used to adorn the maidens in ancient times, before Greeks came to live near them, I cannot say; but I suppose they were adorned with Egyptian armor; for I maintain that both the shield and the helmet came to the Greeks from Egypt.
τὴν δὲ Ἀθηναίην φασὶ Ποσειδέωνος εἶναι θυγατέρα καὶ τῆς Τριτωνίδος λίμνης, καί μιν μεμφθεῖσάν τι τῷ πατρὶ δοῦναι ἑωυτὴν τῷ Διί, τὸν δὲ Δία ἑωυτοῦ μιν ποιήσασθαι θυγατέρα. ταῦτα μὲν λέγουσι, μῖξιν δὲ ἐπίκοινον τῶν γυναικῶν ποιέονται, οὔτε συνοικέοντες κτηνηδόν τε μισγόμενοι.
They say that Athena is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and that she, having some grievance against her father, gave herself to Zeus, and Zeus made her his own daughter. This is what they say, but they have their women in common, not living together but consorting like beasts.
ἐπεὰν δὲ γυναικὶ τὸ παιδίον ἁδρὸν γένηται, συμφοιτῶσι ἐς τὠυτὸ οἱ ἄνδρες τρίτου μηνός, καὶ τῷ ἂν οἴκῃ5 τῶν ἀνδρῶν τὸ παιδίον, τούτου παῖς νομίζεται.
When a child is grown big in the care of its mother, the men assemble in the same place in the third month, and whichever of the men the child resembles, it is considered to be his child.
- 4.180.1ἔχονται
The middle verb ἔχονται with the genitive τούτων τῶν Μαχλύων means "to border on" or "be next to."
- 4.180.2τὴν Ἀθηναίην καλέομεν
The clause τὴν Ἀθηναίην καλέομεν functions as a relative clause modifying τῷ αὐθιγενέι θεῷ with a relative pronoun omitted, meaning "for the indigenous goddess, whom we call Athena."
- 4.180.3ἀνεῖναι
ἀνεῖναι is the second aorist active infinitive of ἀνίημι (to let go, send forth) with psilosis (loss of rough breathing) in the Ionic dialect. It takes αὐτὰς as its subject accusative and is followed by the complementary/purpose infinitive μάχεσθαι.
- 4.180.4ὁτέοισι
ὁτέοισι is the Ionic form of ὁποίοις (with what), used here as a dative of instrument/means.
- 4.180.6οἴκῃ
οἴκῃ is the present subjunctive of ἔοικα (to resemble, look like), specifically the Ionic form of the subjunctive οἴκῃ. Combined with ἄν, it expresses a general condition ("whomever the child may resemble") and governs the dative relative pronoun τῷ.