- 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-grc2:4.99.1-4.99.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Herodotus describes the geography of Scythia, starting from the border with Thrace and the mouth of the Ister, and visually illustrates the shape of the Tauric peninsula by comparing it to Cape Sunium in Attica and the Iapygian peninsula in Italy.
τῆς δὲ Σκυθικῆς γῆς ἡ Θρηίκη τὸ ἐς θάλασσαν πρόκειται· κόλπου δὲ ἀγομένου τῆς γῆς ταύτης,1 ἡ Σκυθική τε ἐκδέκεται καὶ ὁ Ἴστρος ἐκδιδοῖ ἐς αὐτήν, πρὸς εὖρον ἄνεμον τὸ στόμα τετραμμένος.
In front of the Scythian land, Thrace projects towards the sea; and where a gulf is formed in this land, the Scythian territory begins, and the Ister empties into it, with its mouth turned towards the southeast wind.
τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ Ἴστρου ἔρχομαι σημανέων2 τὸ πρὸς θάλασσαν αὐτῆς τῆς Σκυθικῆς χώρης ἐς μέτρησιν. ἀπὸ Ἴστρου αὕτη ἤδη ἡ ἀρχαίη Σκυθίη ἐστί, πρὸς μεσαμβρίην τε καὶ νότον ἄνεμον κειμένη, μέχρι πόλιος Καρκινίτιδος καλεομένης.
And starting from the Ister, I will proceed to indicate for measurement the part of this Scythian land that faces the sea. From the Ister, this is already the ancient Scythia, lying towards the south and the south wind, extending as far as the city called Carcinitis.
τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ θάλασσαν τὴν αὐτὴν φέρουσαν, ἐοῦσαν ὀρεινήν τε χώρην καὶ προκειμένην τὸ ἐς Πόντον, νέμεται τὸ Ταυρικὸν ἔθνος μέχρι χερσονήσου τῆς τρηχέης καλεομένης· αὕτη δὲ ἐς θάλασσαν τὴν πρὸς ἀπηλιώτην ἄνεμον κατήκει.
And from this point, the region which runs along the same sea, being mountainous and projecting into the Pontus, is occupied by the Tauric nation as far as the peninsula called the Rugged; and this peninsula extends into the sea towards the east wind.
ἔστι γὰρ τῆς Σκυθικῆς τὰ δύο μέρεα τῶν οὔρων ἐς θάλασσαν φέροντα, τήν τε πρὸς μεσαμβρίην καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ, κατά περ τῆς Ἀττικῆς χώρης· καὶ παραπλήσια ταύτῃ καὶ οἱ Ταῦροι νέμονται τῆς Σκυθικῆς, ὡς εἰ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἄλλο ἔθνος καὶ μὴ Ἀθηναῖοι νεμοίατο3 τὸν γουνὸν τὸν Σουνιακόν, μᾶλλον ἐς τὸν πόντον τὴν ἄκρην ἀνέχοντα, τὸν ἀπὸ Θορικοῦ μέχρι Ἀναφλύστου δήμου·
For two parts of the boundaries of Scythia run down to the sea, namely the part facing south and the part facing east, just like the land of Attica; and in a manner very similar to this, the Taurians also occupy a part of Scythia, as if some other nation and not the Athenians were to occupy the Sunian hill in Attica, which projects more into the sea, from the deme of Thoricus as far as Anaphlystus;
λέγω δὲ ὡς εἶναι ταῦτα σμικρὰ μεγάλοισι συμβάλλειν·4 τοιοῦτον ἡ Ταυρική ἐστι. ὃς δὲ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ταῦτα μὴ παραπέπλωκε, ἐγὼ δὲ ἄλλως δηλώσω·5 ὡς εἰ τῆς Ἰηπυγίης ἄλλο ἔθνος καὶ μὴ Ἰήπυγες ἀρξάμενοι ἐκ Βρεντεσίου λιμένος ἀποταμοίατο μέχρι Τάραντος καὶ νεμοίατο τὴν ἄκρην. δύο δὲ λέγων ταῦτα πολλὰ λέγω παρόμοια, τοῖσι ἄλλοισι ἔοικε ἡ Ταυρική.
I say this, if one may compare small things with great; such a place is the Tauric land. But for anyone who has not sailed along this part of Attica, I will explain it in another way: as if in Iapygia, some other nation and not the Iapygians, starting from the harbor of Brundisium, were to cut off the land as far as Tarentum and occupy the peninsula. And in speaking of these two examples, I suggest many other similar ones, which the Tauric land resembles.
- 4.99.1κόλπου δὲ ἀγομένου τῆς γῆς ταύτης
Genitive absolute. τῆς γῆς ταύτης refers to Thrace (or this region in general), and ἀγομένου is used in a passive or middle sense to mean "being drawn in" or "forming a gulf."
- 4.99.2τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ Ἴστρου ἔρχομαι σημανέων
τὸ δὲ is an adverbial accusative ("as for the part...") or an article introducing the following phrase. ἔρχομαι with the future participle (σημανέων) forms a periphrastic construction expressing intention ("I am going to indicate").
- 4.99.4ὡς εἰ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἄλλο ἔθνος καὶ μὴ Ἀθηναῖοι νεμοίατο
A hypothetical comparison introduced by ὡς εἰ ("as if"), where the verb νεμοίατο is the Ionic third-person plural optative middle (equivalent to νέμοιντο), presenting an unreal or purely imaginary comparison.
- 4.99.5ὡς εἶναι ταῦτα σμικρὰ μεγάλοισι συμβάλλειν
A restrictive absolute infinitive construction with ὡς and εἶναι. συμβάλλειν means "to compare." The entire phrase is a parenthetical idiom: "to compare small things with great."
- 4.99.5ὃς δὲ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ταῦτα μὴ παραπέπλωκε, ἐγὼ δὲ ἄλλως δηλώσω
The relative clause starting with ὃς acts as a nominative pendens since it does not syntactically connect with the subject of the main clause (ἐγώ). The δέ at the beginning of the main clause is an "apodotic de," used to introduce the main clause after a conditional or relative clause.