- 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-grc2:5.58.1-5.58.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-10
Explains how the Phoenicians introduced the alphabet to Greece, which the Ionians adapted and called "Phoenician letters", and notes the origin of the Ionian term "skins" for papyrus rolls.
οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες οὗτοι οἱ σὺν Κάδμῳ ἀπικόμενοι, τῶν ἦσαν οἱ Γεφυραῖοι, ἄλλα τε πολλὰ οἰκήσαντες ταύτην τὴν χώρην ἐσήγαγον διδασκάλια ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ δὴ καὶ γράμματα, οὐκ ἐόντα πρὶν Ἕλλησι ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέειν,1 πρῶτα μὲν τοῖσι καὶ ἅπαντες χρέωνται Φοίνικες· μετὰ δὲ χρόνου προβαίνοντος ἅμα τῇ φωνῇ μετέβαλλον καὶ τὸν ῥυθμὸν τῶν γραμμάτων.
These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, to whom the Gephyraeans belonged, introduced during their settlement in this country many arts and sciences among the Greeks, and in particular letters, which, as it seems to me, did not exist among the Greeks before. At first they introduced those letters which all Phoenicians use; but as time went on, they changed together with their language the shape of the letters as well.
περιοίκεον δὲ σφέας τὰ πολλὰ τῶν χώρων τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Ἑλλήνων Ἴωνες, οἳ παραλαβόντες διδαχῇ παρὰ τῶν Φοινίκων τὰ γράμματα, μεταρρυθμίσαντες σφέων ὀλίγα ἐχρέωντο, χρεώμενοι δὲ ἐφάτισαν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ δίκαιον ἔφερε,2 ἐσαγαγόντων Φοινίκων3 ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα, Φοινικήια κεκλῆσθαι.
At this time, the Ionians of the Greeks inhabited most of the territories around them; they, having received the letters from the Phoenicians by instruction, used them after changing a few of them. And in using them they declared, as justice required since the Phoenicians had introduced them into Greece, that they should be called Phoenician.
καὶ τὰς βύβλους διφθέρας καλέουσι ἀπὸ τοῦ παλαιοῦ οἱ Ἴωνες, ὅτι κοτὲ ἐν σπάνι βύβλων ἐχρέωντο διφθέρῃσι αἰγέῃσί τε καὶ οἰέῃσι· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸ κατʼ ἐμὲ4 πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐς τοιαύτας διφθέρας γράφουσι.
Also, the Ionians from of old call papyrus rolls “skins”, because once, in a scarcity of papyrus, they used goat and sheep skins; and even in my own day, many of the barbarians write on such skins.
- 5.58.1ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέειν
A restrictive or absolute use of the infinitive, meaning "as it seems to me" or "in my opinion." It functions parenthetically with ὡς.
- 5.58.2ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ δίκαιον ἔφερε
An idiomatic expression meaning "as justice required" or "as was only fair." The verb φέρω is used with an abstract subject to mean "to tend to" or "to require/bear."
- 5.58.2ἐσαγαγόντων Φοινίκων
Genitive absolute construction expressing the reason for the following accusative and infinitive clause Φοινικήια κεκλῆσθαι ("since the Phoenicians introduced them").
- 5.58.3τὸ κατʼ ἐμὲ
Meaning "in my own day" or "as far as I am concerned." Here it takes the former meaning, referring to the 5th century BC when Herodotus lived.