- 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-grc2:4.37.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
As a starting point for describing the geography of Asia, the author explains that four nations—Persians, Medes, Saspeirians, and Colchians—dwell in a continuous line from the southern Erythraean Sea to the northern sea.
Πέρσαι οἰκέουσι κατήκοντες1 ἐπὶ τὴν νοτίην θάλασσαν τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν καλεομένην, τούτων δὲ ὑπεροικέουσι2 πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον Μῆδοι, Μήδων δὲ Σάσπειρες, Σασπείρων δὲ Κόλχοι κατήκοντες ἐπὶ τὴν βορηίην θάλασσαν, ἐς τὴν Φᾶσις ποταμὸς ἐκδιδοῖ. ταῦτα τέσσερα ἔθνεα οἰκέει ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐς θάλασσαν.
The Persians dwell extending down to the southern sea, which is called the Erythraean; and above them, toward the north wind, dwell the Medes; and above the Medes, the Saspeirians; and above the Saspeirians, the Colchians, extending down to the northern sea, into which the river Phasis empties. These four nations dwell from sea to sea.
- 4.37.1κατήκοντες
The present participle κατήκοντες (from καθήκω, 'to reach down to' or 'extend to') describes their territory extending all the way to the coast, applied here to the Persians in the south and the Colchians in the north.
- 4.37.1ὑπεροικέουσι
The verb ὑπεροικέω (from ὑπέρ, 'above' + οἰκέω, 'to dwell') means 'to dwell north of.' In Greek geographical thought, north was conceptualized as 'above' (upwards), indicating the sequential layout of the nations from the Persians in the south to the Colchians in the north.