- 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-grc2:7.189.1-7.189.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-06
This section explains how the Athenians, guided by an oracle and mythological ties, invoked Boreas as their "son-in-law" and later established a sanctuary for him after the storm.
λέγεται δὲ λόγος ὡς Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν Βορέην ἐκ θεοπροπίου ἐπεκαλέσαντο, ἐλθόντος σφι ἄλλου χρηστηρίου τὸν γαμβρὸν ἐπίκουρον καλέσασθαι.1 Βορέης δὲ κατὰ τὸν Ἑλλήνων λόγον ἔχει γυναῖκα Ἀττικήν, Ὠρειθυίην τὴν Ἐρεχθέος.
A story is told that the Athenians, in consequence of an oracle, called upon Boreas to help them, another oracle having come to them to “call upon their son-in-law as an ally.” Now Boreas, according to the account of the Greeks, has an Attic wife, Orithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus.
κατὰ δὴ τὸ κῆδος τοῦτο οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὡς φάτις ὅρμηται, συμβαλλόμενοι σφίσι τὸν Βορέην γαμβρὸν εἶναι,2 ναυλοχέοντες τῆς Εὐβοίης ἐν Χαλκίδι ὡς ἔμαθον αὐξόμενον τὸν χειμῶνα ἢ καὶ πρὸ τούτου, ἐθύοντό τε καὶ ἐπεκαλέοντο τόν τε Βορέην καὶ τὴν Ὠρειθυίην τιμωρῆσαι σφίσι καὶ διαφθεῖραι τῶν βαρβάρων τὰς νέας, ὡς καὶ πρότερον περὶ Ἄθων.
It was indeed by virtue of this kinship that the Athenians, as the rumor went, concluding that Boreas was their son-in-law, while they were lying in wait with their ships at Chalcis in Euboea, as soon as they perceived that the storm was rising, or even before this, offered sacrifices and called upon both Boreas and Orithyia to help them and to destroy the ships of the barbarians, just as had happened before around Athos.
εἰ μέν νυν διὰ ταῦτα τοῖσι βαρβάροισι ὁρμέουσι Βορέης ἐπέπεσε, οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν·3 οἱ δʼ ὦν Ἀθηναῖοι σφίσι λέγουσι βοηθήσαντα τὸν Βορέην πρότερον καὶ τότε ἐκεῖνα κατεργάσασθαι, καὶ ἱρὸν ἀπελθόντες Βορέω ἱδρύσαντο παρὰ ποταμὸν Ἰλισσόν.
Now, whether it was for this reason that Boreas fell upon the barbarians as they lay at anchor, I cannot say; but the Athenians, at any rate, say that Boreas had helped them before and then also accomplished those things, and when they returned, they founded a sanctuary of Boreas by the river Ilissus.
- 7.189.1ἐλθόντος σφι ἄλλου χρηστηρίου τὸν γαμβρὸν ἐπίκουρον καλέσασθαι
ἐλθόντος ... χρηστηρίου is a genitive absolute construction expressing cause. καλέσασθαι is an infinitive of command, representing the content of the oracle.
- 7.189.2συμβαλλόμενοι σφίσι τὸν Βορέην γαμβρὸν εἶναι
συμβαλλόμενοι ("concluding, inferring") takes the accusative and infinitive construction τὸν Βορέην γαμβρὸν εἶναι. The dative σφίσι is reflexive, referring back to the main subject (the Athenians).
- 7.189.3οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν
The verb ἔχω followed by an infinitive is an idiomatic expression meaning "to be able to" (equivalent to δύναμαι).