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Histories

§7.126.1

Habitat and Geographical Limits of Lions and Wild Oxen

The author notes that many lions and wild oxen inhabit the region, and defines the geographical boundaries of the lions' habitat as the rivers Nestus and Acheloos.

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§7.126.1

εἰσὶ δὲ κατὰ ταῦτα τὰ χωρία καὶ λέοντες πολλοὶ καὶ βόες ἄγριοι, τῶν1 τὰ κέρεα ὑπερμεγάθεα ἐστὶ τὰ ἐς Ἕλληνας φοιτέοντα. οὖρος δὲ τοῖσι λέουσι ἐστὶ ὅ τε διʼ Ἀβδήρων ῥέων ποταμὸς Νέστος καὶ ὁ διʼ Ἀκαρνανίης ῥέων Ἀχελῷος· οὔτε γὰρ τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ2 τοῦ Νέστου οὐδαμόθι πάσης τῆς ἔμπροσθε3 Εὐρώπης ἴδοι τις ἂν λέοντα, οὔτε πρὸς ἑσπέρης τοῦ Ἀχελῴου ἐν τῇ ἐπιλοίπῳ ἠπείρῳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν τῇ μεταξὺ τούτων τῶν ποταμῶν γίνονται.

​In these regions there are both many lions and wild oxen, whose horns, which find their way to the Greeks, are of immense size. The boundary for the lions is the river Nestus, which flows through Abdera, and the Acheloos, which flows through Acarnania; for one would not see a lion anywhere in all the part of Europe that lies to the east of the Nestus, nor to the west of the Acheloos in the rest of the continent, but they are found only in the territory between these two rivers.

Syntax notes3 items
  1. 7.126.1τῶν

    The antecedent of the relative pronoun τῶν is restricted to βόες ἄγριοι (wild oxen) out of the preceding phrase λέοντες πολλοὶ καὶ βόες ἄγριοι, as it is the oxen that have the immense horns (τὰ κέρεα) imported to Greece.

  2. 7.126.1τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ

    An adverbial accusative indicating direction, meaning "in the direction of the east" or "to the east". The article τὸ introduces the directional prepositional phrase.

  3. 7.126.1ἔμπροσθε

    Refers to "east" (literally "in front") in terms of geographical orientation. In ancient Greek geographical conception, the east (the rising sun) was often regarded as being "in front."

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25)urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.126.1