- 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-grc2:4.39.1-4.39.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Describes the boundaries and composition of the second peninsula (comprising Persia, Assyria, and Arabia, stretching along the Mediterranean to Egypt) and notes that only three nations inhabit it.
αὕτη μέν νυν ἡ ἑτέρη τῶν ἀκτέων, ἡ δὲ δὴ ἑτέρη ἀπὸ Περσέων ἀρξαμένη παρατέταται ἐς τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν θάλασσαν, ἥ τε Περσικὴ καὶ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐκδεκομένη ἡ Ἀσσυρίη καὶ ἀπὸ Ἀσσυρίης ἡ Ἀραβίη· λήγει δὲ αὕτη, οὐ λήγουσα εἰ μὴ νόμῳ,1 ἐς τὸν κόλπον τὸν Ἀράβιον, ἐς τὸν Δαρεῖος ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου διώρυχα ἐσήγαγε.2
Such is the one of the two peninsulas; and the other, beginning from the Persian territory, extends to the Red Sea, comprising the Persian land, and next to this, succeeding it, the Assyrian land, and after the Assyrian, the Arabian land. This peninsula ends, though in truth it does not end except by convention, at the Arabian Gulf, into which Darius brought a canal from the Nile.
μέχρι μέν νυν Φοινίκης ἀπὸ Περσέων χῶρος πλατὺς καὶ πολλός ἐστι· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ Φοινίκης3 παρήκει διὰ τῆσδε τῆς θαλάσσης4 ἡ ἀκτὴ αὕτη παρά τε Συρίην τὴν Παλαιστίνην καὶ Αἴγυπτον, ἐς τὴν τελευτᾷ· ἐν τῇ ἔθνεα ἐστὶ τρία μοῦνα.
Now from the Persians as far as Phoenicia, the country is wide and vast; but from Phoenicia onward, this peninsula extends along this sea of ours, past Palestine-Syria and Egypt, in which it ends; and in this peninsula there are only three nations.
- 4.39.1οὐ λήγουσα εἰ μὴ νόμῳ
The participle λήγουσα with the negation οὐ, combined with εἰ μὴ ('except'), forms a restrictive concession: 'not ending except by convention', implying that while the land is physically continuous, it is conventionally defined as ending there.
- 4.39.1ἐς τὸν Δαρεῖος ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου διώρυχα ἐσήγαγε
The prepositional phrase with the relative pronoun in the accusative ἐς τὸν refers back to the antecedent τὸν κόλπον τὸν Ἀράβιον (the Arabian Gulf), and διώρυχα (canal, accusative singular) is the direct object of the verb ἐσήγαγε (brought in / opened).
- 4.39.2τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ Φοινίκης
The neuter singular article τὸ nominalizes the prepositional phrase ἀπὸ Φοινίκης (from Phoenicia), or functions as an adverbial accusative introducing the topic: 'as for the part starting from Phoenicia'.
- 4.39.2τῆσδε τῆς θαλάσσης
The demonstrative pronoun ἥδε refers to the sea closest to the author's world, namely 'this sea of ours' (the Mediterranean), used here to contrast with the Arabian Gulf or the Red Sea.