- 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-grc2:7.129.1-7.129.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-05
The author explains the geography of Thessaly as a hollow basin enclosed by high mountains, which was once a lake, describing how several rivers merge and exit through a narrow glen believed by the locals to have been created by Poseidon via an earthquake.
τὴν δὲ Θεσσαλίην λόγος ἐστὶ τὸ παλαιὸν εἶναι λίμνην, ὥστε γε συγκεκληιμένην1 πάντοθεν ὑπερμήκεσι ὄρεσι. τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἔχοντα τό τε Πήλιον ὄρος καὶ ἡ Ὄσσα ἀποκληίει συμμίσγοντα τὰς ὑπωρείας ἀλλήλοισι, τὰ δὲ πρὸς βορέω ἀνέμου Ὄλυμπος, τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέρην Πίνδος, τὰ δὲ πρὸς μεσαμβρίην τε καὶ ἄνεμον νότον ἡ Ὄθρυς· τὸ μέσον δὲ τούτων τῶν λεχθέντων ὀρέων ἡ Θεσσαλίη ἐστὶ ἐοῦσα κοίλη.
There is a story that Thessaly was in ancient times a lake, inasmuch as it is enclosed on all sides by exceedingly high mountains. For its parts facing the east are shut off by Mount Pelion and Mount Ossa, which join their foothills together; those facing the north wind by Olympus, those facing the west by Pindus, and those facing the south and the south wind by Othrys. The middle of these aforementioned mountains is Thessaly, which is a hollow basin.
ὥστε ὦν ποταμῶν ἐς αὐτὴν καὶ ἄλλων συχνῶν ἐσβαλλόντων,2 πέντε δὲ τῶν δοκίμων μάλιστα τῶνδε, Πηνειοῦ καὶ Ἀπιδανοῦ καὶ Ὀνοχώνου καὶ Ἐνιπέος καὶ Παμίσου, οἳ μέν νυν ἐς τὸ πεδίον τοῦτο συλλεγόμενοι ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων τῶν περικληιόντων τὴν Θεσσαλίην ὀνομαζόμενοι3 διʼ ἑνὸς αὐλῶνος καὶ τούτου στεινοῦ ἔκροον ἔχουσι ἐς θάλασσαν, προσυμμίσγοντες τὸ ὕδωρ πάντες ἐς τὠυτό·
Therefore, since many other rivers also empty into it, and especially these five famous ones, namely, the Peneus, Apidanus, Onochonus, Enipeus, and Pamisus, these, gathering from the mountains that enclose Thessaly into this plain, and being called by their individual names, have their outlet into the sea through a single and narrow glen, all mingling their waters together into the same place.
ἐπεὰν δὲ συμμιχθέωσι τάχιστα, ἐνθεῦτεν ἤδη ὁ Πηνειὸς τῷ οὐνόματι κατακρατέων ἀνωνύμους τοὺς ἄλλους εἶναι ποιέει. τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν λέγεται, οὐκ ἐόντος κω τοῦ αὐλῶνος καὶ διεκρόου τούτου, τοὺς ποταμοὺς τούτους, καὶ πρὸς τοῖσι ποταμοῖσι τούτοισι τὴν Βοιβηίδα λίμνην, οὔτε ὀνομάζεσθαι4 κατά περ νῦν ῥέειν τε οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἢ νῦν, ῥέοντας δὲ ποιέειν τὴν Θεσσαλίην πᾶσαν πέλαγος.
As soon as they are mingled, from that point onward the Peneus, prevailing with its name, makes the others nameless. But in ancient times, it is said, when this glen and outlet did not yet exist, these rivers, and in addition to these rivers the Boebeian lake, were not named as they are now, yet flowed no less than they do now, and by their flowing made the whole of Thessaly a sea.
αὐτοὶ μέν νυν Θεσσαλοί φασι Ποσειδέωνα ποιῆσαι τὸν αὐλῶνα διʼ οὗ ῥέει ὁ Πηνειός, οἰκότα λέγοντες· ὅστις γὰρ νομίζει Ποσειδέωνα τὴν γῆν σείειν καὶ τὰ διεστεῶτα ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου ἔργα εἶναι, κἂν ἐκεῖνο ἰδὼν φαίη5 Ποσειδέωνα ποιῆσαι· ἔστι γὰρ σεισμοῦ ἔργον, ὡς ἐμοὶ φαίνεται εἶναι, ἡ διάστασις τῶν ὀρέων.
Now the Thessalians themselves say that Poseidon made the glen through which the Peneus flows, speaking reasonably; for anyone who believes that Poseidon shakes the earth and that clefts caused by earthquakes are the works of this god, would, on seeing that sight, say that Poseidon made it. For the separation of the mountains is indeed the work of an earthquake, as it seems to me.
- 7.129.1ὥστε γε συγκεκληιμένην
The conjunction ὥστε is followed by the perfect passive participle συγκεκληιμένην, agreeing with τὴν Θεσσαλίην, which is the subject accusative of the infinitive construction (τὴν δὲ Θεσσαλίην ... εἶναι). While ὥστε usually takes an indicative or an infinitive, here it is used with a participle to denote a logical consequence or condition ('inasmuch as it is enclosed').
- 7.129.2ὥστε ὦν ποταμῶν ... ἐσβαλλόντων
A genitive absolute construction, grammatically independent of the main subject and verb (οἳ μέν νυν ... ἔκροον ἔχουσι), presenting the background circumstance. The connecting phrase ὥστε ὦν introduces the logical and actual consequence of the previous geographical description ('consequently, therefore').
- 7.129.2οἳ μέν νυν ... ὀνομαζόμενοι
The relative pronoun οἵ is used here as a demonstrative ('these, indeed') pointing back to the five rivers mentioned. The participle ὀνομαζόμενοι ('being named') means 'individually named', emphasizing their separate names before they merge into the single river Peneus.
- 7.129.3τοὺς ποταμοὺς τούτους ... οὔτε ὀνομάζεσθαι
The beginning of an accusative with infinitive (A.c.I.) construction introduced by the impersonal verb λέγεται ('it is said'). The subject accusatives are τοὺς ποταμοὺς τούτους and τὴν Βοιβηίδα λίμνην, with which the infinitives ὀνομάζεσθαι, ῥέειν, and ποιέειν are coordinated.
- 7.129.4κἂν ἐκεῖνο ἰδὼν φαίη
The word κἂν is a crasis of καὶ ἄν. The conditional participle ἰδών ('if he were to see') combined with the potential optative ἄν ... φαίη ('he would say') expresses a hypothetical or potential statement ('if anyone saw that, he would say...').