- 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-grc2:4.191.1-4.191.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-11
The passage describes the customs and Trojan origin of the Maxyes, a farming Libyan tribe living west of the Triton, and notes that western Libya is heavily forested and mountainous, inhabited by various real and mythical wild beasts.
τὸ δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέρης τοῦ Τρίτωνος ποταμοῦ Αὐσέων ἔχονται1 ἀροτῆρες ἤδη Λίβυες καὶ οἰκίας νομίζοντες ἐκτῆσθαι, τοῖσι οὔνομα κέεται Μάξυες. οἳ τὰ ἐπὶ δεξιὰ τῶν κεφαλέων κομόωσι, τὰ δʼ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ κείρουσι, τὸ δὲ σῶμα χρίονται μίλτῳ. φασὶ δὲ οὗτοι εἶναι τῶν ἐκ Τροίης ἀνδρῶν.2
West of the river Triton, bordering on the Auseans, are already Libyan husbandmen, who are accustomed to own houses; their name is Maxyes. They let the hair on the right side of their heads grow long, but shave the left, and smear their bodies with vermilion. These say they are descended from the men of Troy.
ἡ δὲ χώρη αὕτη τε καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῆς Λιβύης ἡ πρὸς ἑσπέρην πολλῷ θηριωδεστέρη τε καὶ δασυτέρη ἐστὶ τῆς τῶν νομάδων χώρης.
This country, and the rest of Libya to the west, is much more infested with wild beasts and more thickly wooded than the country of the nomads.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ δὴ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ τῆς Λιβύης, τὴν οἱ νομάδες νέμουσι, ἐστὶ ταπεινή τε καὶ ψαμμώδης μέχρι τοῦ Τρίτωνος ποταμοῦ, ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρην ἡ τῶν ἀροτήρων ὀρεινή τε κάρτα καὶ δασέα καὶ θηριώδης·
For the eastern part of Libya, which the nomads inhabit, is low and sandy as far as the river Triton; but the land from this river westward, belonging to the husbandmen, is very mountainous, thickly wooded, and full of wild beasts.
καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄφιες οἱ ὑπερμεγάθεες καὶ οἱ λέοντες κατὰ τούτους εἰσὶ καὶ οἱ ἐλέφαντές τε καὶ ἄρκτοι καὶ ἀσπίδες τε καὶ ὄνοι οἱ τὰ κέρεα ἔχοντες καὶ οἱ κυνοκέφαλοι καὶ οἱ ἀκέφαλοι οἱ ἐν τοῖσι στήθεσι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντες, ὡς δὴ λέγονταί γε ὑπὸ Λιβύων, καὶ οἱ ἄγριοι ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες ἄγριαι, καὶ ἄλλα πλήθεϊ πολλὰ θηρία ἀκατάψευστα.3
For in their country are the monstrously large serpents, and the lions, and the elephants, and bears, and asps, and horned asses, and the dog-headed men, and the headless men with their eyes in their breasts (at least as the Libyans say), and wild men and wild women, and many other wild beasts that are not fabulous.
- 4.191.1Αὐσέων ἔχονται
The middle verb ἔχομαι with the genitive Αὐσέων means "to border on" or "be adjacent to."
- 4.191.1τῶν ἐκ Τροίης ἀνδρῶν
The genitive phrase τῶν ... ἀνδρῶν is a partitive genitive functioning as the predicate of εἶναι, implying that they are descendants of the men from Troy.
- 4.191.4ἀκατάψευστα
A neuter plural accusative adjective meaning literally "not to be lied about" or "not false." It emphasizes that the beasts mentioned, even the fantastic ones like dog-headed and headless men, are real and not mere fabrications.