- 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-grc2:4.189.1-4.189.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The passage explains that the attire and aegis of Athena's statues, the ritual wailing in worship, and the practice of yoking four horses all originated from Libya.
τὴν δὲ ἄρα ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὰς αἰγίδας τῶν ἀγαλμάτων τῆς Ἀθηναίης ἐκ τῶν Λιβυσσέων1 ἐποιήσαντο οἱ Ἕλληνες· πλὴν γὰρ ἢ ὅτι σκυτίνη ἡ ἐσθὴς τῶν Λιβυσσέων ἐστὶ καὶ οἱ θύσανοι οἱ ἐκ τῶν αἰγίδων αὐτῇσι2 οὐκ ὄφιες εἰσὶ ἀλλὰ ἱμάντινοι, τά γε ἄλλα πάντα κατὰ τὠυτὸ ἔσταλται.
Indeed, the Greeks made the clothing and the aegises of the statues of Athena from those of the Libyan women; for except that the clothing of the Libyan women is of leather, and the tassels on their aegises are not serpents but of leather thongs, in all other respects they are equipped in the same way.
καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ οὔνομα κατηγορέει3 ὅτι ἐκ Λιβύης ἥκει ἡ στολὴ τῶν Παλλαδίων· αἰγέας γὰρ περιβάλλονται ψιλὰς περὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα θυσανωτὰς αἱ Λίβυσσαι κεχριμένας ἐρευθεδάνῳ, ἐκ δὲ τῶν αἰγέων τουτέων αἰγίδας οἱ Ἕλληνες μετωνόμασαν.
And indeed, the name itself declares that the dress of the Palladia comes from Libya; for the Libyan women wear over their clothing hairless goat-skins, fringed and stained with madder, and from these goat-skins the Greeks called them aegises.
δοκέει δʼ ἔμοιγε καὶ ὀλολυγὴ ἐν ἱροῖσι ἐνθαῦτα πρῶτον γενέσθαι· κάρτα γὰρ ταύτῃ χρέωνται καλῶς αἱ Λίβυσσαι. καὶ τέσσερας ἵππους συζευγνύναι παρὰ Λιβύων οἱ Ἕλληνες μεμαθήκασι.
It also seems to me that the ritual wailing in temples first originated there; for the Libyan women practice this very beautifully. And the Greeks have learned from the Libyans to yoke four horses together.
- 4.189.1ἐκ τῶν Λιβυσσέων
The preposition ἐκ denotes origin, meaning 'from (the garments of) the Libyan women.' The feminine plural genitive τῶν Λιβυσσέων contextually refers to their clothing.
- 4.189.1αὐτῇσι
Dative plural of the third-person pronoun (Ionic dialect), referring to the Libyan women. It functions as a dative of possession, meaning 'their (aegises)'.
- 4.189.2κατηγορέει
The verb κατηγορέω, which commonly means 'to accuse', is used here in the sense of 'to indicate' or 'to prove', introducing a ὅτι clause.