- 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-grc2:4.8.1-4.8.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
Introduces the legend of Heracles told by the Greeks of the Pontus, describing how he arrived in Scythia while driving Geryon's cattle and lost his horses during a storm.
Σκύθαι μὲν ὧδε ὕπερ σφέων τε αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς χώρης τῆς κατύπερθε λέγουσι, Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες ὧδε.1 Ἡρακλέα ἐλαύνοντα τὰς Γηρυόνεω βοῦς ἀπικέσθαι ἐς γῆν ταύτην ἐοῦσαν ἐρήμην, ἥντινα νῦν Σκύθαι νέμονται.
The Scythians tell this story about themselves and the country above them, but the Greeks who inhabit the Pontus tell the following: Heracles, driving the cattle of Geryon, arrived in this country, which was then a wilderness, and which the Scythians now inhabit.
Γηρυόνεα δὲ οἰκέειν ἔξω τοῦ Πόντου, κατοικημένον τὴν Ἕλληνές λέγουσι Ἐρύθειαν νῆσον τὴν πρὸς Γαδείροισι τοῖσι ἔξω Ἡρακλέων στηλέων ἐπὶ τῷ Ὠκεανῷ. τὸν δὲ Ὠκεανὸν λόγῳ μὲν λέγουσι ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων ἀρξάμενον γῆν περὶ πᾶσαν ῥέειν, ἔργῳ δὲ οὐκ ἀποδεικνῦσι.
Geryon, they say, lived outside the Pontus, having settled in the island which the Greeks call Erytheia, near Gadeira, which is outside the Pillars of Heracles upon the Ocean. Now they say indeed in words that the Ocean, starting from the rising of the sun, flows around the whole earth, but they do not prove it by facts.
ἐνθεῦτεν τόν Ἡρακλέα ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν νῦν Σκυθίην χώρην καλεομένην, καὶ καταλαβεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν2 χειμῶνα τε καὶ κρυμὸν, ἐπειρυσάμενον τὴν λεοντέην κατυπνῶσαι, τὰς δὲ οἱ ἵππους3 τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος νεμομένας ἐν τούτῳ τῳ χρόνῳ ἀφανισθῆναι θείῃ τύχῃ.
From there Heracles arrived in the country now called Scythia, and since a storm and frost overtook him, he drew his lion’s skin over him and fell asleep; and in the meantime his mares, which had been grazing under his chariot, disappeared by a divine chance.
- 4.8.1Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες ὧδε
The verb λέγουσι ("say") is omitted at the end of the clause, easily supplied from the parallel structure contrasted with Σκύθαι μὲν ὧδε ... λέγουσι in the preceding clause.
- 4.8.3καταλαβεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν
In indirect speech, despite being inside a subordinate clause introduced by γάρ explaining the reason, the verb is expressed as an infinitive καταλαβεῖν instead of a finite verb, maintaining the reported narrative structure initiated by ἀπικέσθαι.
- 4.8.3τὰς δὲ οἱ ἵππους
The dative of the personal pronoun οἱ ("to him") functions as a dative of possession modifying ἵππους ("his mares").