- 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-grc2:4.71.1-4.71.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
The passage describes the elaborate funerary customs of the Scythian kings, including the embalming process, the mourning procession across various tribes, and the grand burial in Gerrhi with human and animal sacrifices.
ταφαὶ δὲ τῶν βασιλέων ἐν Γέρροισι εἰσὶ ἐς ὃ ὁ Βορυσθένης ἐστὶ προσπλωτός·ἐνθαῦτα, ἐπεάν σφι ἀποθάνῃ ὁ βασιλεύς, ὄρυγμα γῆς μέγα ὀρύσσουσι τετράγωνον, ἕτοιμον δὲ τοῦτο ποιήσαντες1 ἀναλαμβάνουσι τὸν νεκρόν, κατακεκηρωμένον μὲν τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ νηδὺν ἀνασχισθεῖσαν2 καὶ καθαρθεῖσαν, πλέην κυπέρου κεκομμένου καὶ θυμιήματος καὶ σελίνου σπέρματος καὶ ἀννήσου, συνερραμμένην ὀπίσω, καὶ κομίζουσι ἐν ἁμάξῃ ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος.
The tombs of the kings are in the country of the Gerrhi, up to which point the Borysthenes is navigable. There, when their king dies, they dig a large square pit in the earth, and having made this ready, they take up the corpse, which has its body covered with wax, and its belly cut open and cleansed, filled with bruised galingale, frankincense, celery seed, and anise, and sewn up again; and they carry it in a wagon to another tribe.
οἳ δὲ ἂν παραδέξωνται κομισθέντα τὸν νεκρόν, ποιεῦσι τά περ οἱ βασιλήιοι Σκύθαι· τοῦ ὠτὸς ἀποτάμνονται,3 τρίχας περικείρονται, βραχίονας περιτάμνονται, μέτωπον καὶ ῥῖνα καταμύσσονται, διὰ τῆς ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς ὀιστοὺς διαβυνέονται.
Those who receive the corpse when it is brought to them do the same as the Royal Scythians: they cut off a part of their ear, shave their hair all round, make incisions on their arms, scratch their forehead and nose, and drive arrows through their left hand.
ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ κομίζουσι ἐν τῇ ἀμάξῃ τοῦ βασιλέος τὸν νέκυν ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος τῶν ἄρχουσι· οἳ δέ σφι ἕπονται ἐς τοὺς πρότερον ἦλθον. ἐπεὰν δὲ πάντας περιέλθωσι τὸν νέκυν κομίζοντες, ἔν τε Γέρροισι ἔσχατα κατοικημένοισι εἰσὶ τῶν ἐθνέων τῶν ἄρχουσι καὶ ἐν τῇσι ταφῇσι.4
From there, they carry the corpse of the king in the wagon to another tribe of those they rule; and those whom they visited first follow with them. When they have gone round all the tribes carrying the corpse, they arrive in the country of the Gerrhi, who are the most remote of the tribes they rule, and at the place of the tombs.
καὶ ἔπειτα, ἐπεὰν θέωσι τὸν νέκυν ἐν τῇσι θήκῃσι ἐπὶ στιβάδος, παραπήξαντες αἰχμὰς ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν τοῦ νεκροῦ ξύλα ὑπερτείνουσι καὶ ἔπειτα ῥιψὶ καταστεγάζουσι, ἐν δὲ τῇ λοιπῇ εὐρυχωρίῃ τῆς θήκης τῶν παλλακέων τε μίαν ἀποπνίξαντες θάπτουσι καὶ τὸν οἰνοχόον καὶ μάγειρον καὶ ἱπποκόμον καὶ διήκονον καὶ ἀγγελιηφόρον καὶ ἵππους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πάντων ἀπαρχὰς καὶ φιάλας χρυσέας· ἀργύρῳ δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ χαλκῷ χρέωνται.
And then, when they have laid the corpse in the tomb upon a bed of leaves, they plant spears in the ground on both sides of the dead man, stretch pieces of wood over them, and then cover it with mats; and in the remaining open space of the tomb they bury one of his concubines, having strangled her, along with his cupbearer, cook, groom, servant, messenger, horses, first-fruits of everything else, and golden cups; for they make no use of silver or bronze.
ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες χοῦσι πάντες χῶμα μέγα, ἁμιλλώμενοι καὶ προθυμεόμενοι ὡς μέγιστον ποιῆσαι.
Having done this, they all raise a great mound of earth, vying with one another and eager to make it as large as possible.
- 4.71.1ἕτοιμον δὲ τοῦτο ποιήσαντες
The adjective ἕτοιμον agrees with the neuter noun ὄρυγμα (pit) and functions as a predicate adjective with ποιήσαντες and the pronoun τοῦτο, meaning 'having made this ready'.
- 4.71.1τὴν δὲ νηδὺν ἀνασχισθεῖσαν
The accusative singular feminine noun νηδύν (belly) is modified by the passive participles ἀνασχισθεῖσαν, καθαρθεῖσαν, and συνερραμμένην, as well as the adjective πλέην. It functions either as an accusative of part affected in relation to τὸν νεκρόν or in an accusative absolute construction describing the state of the corpse.
- 4.71.2τοῦ ὠτὸς ἀποτάμνονται
The genitive τοῦ ὠτός (from οὖς, ear) is used with the middle verb ἀποτάμνονται to express a partitive relation, meaning 'they cut off a part of their own ear'.
- 4.71.3ἔν τε Γέρροισι... καὶ ἐν τῇσι ταφῇσι
The prepositional phrases function as predicates with εἰσί ('they are / arrive at'). The literal structure is 'they are both in Gerrhi, which is inhabited as the remotest of the tribes they rule, and at the tombs'.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1