- 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-grc2:7.23.1-7.23.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-08
Describes how the barbarians dug the Athos canal by dividing the work among different nations. Explains how only the Phoenicians showed the wisdom to dig the upper part wider to prevent collapse, completing their work efficiently.
πόλιες μὲν αὗται αἳ τὸν Ἄθων νέμονται, ὤρυσσον δὲ ὧδε δασάμενοι τὸν χῶρον οἱ βάρβαροι κατὰ ἔθνεα· κατὰ Σάνην πόλιν σχοινοτενὲς ποιησάμενοι,1 ἐπείτε ἐγίνετο βαθέα ἡ διῶρυξ, οἳ μὲν κατώτατα ἑστεῶτες ὤρυσσον, ἕτεροι δὲ παρεδίδοσαν τὸν αἰεὶ ἐξορυσσόμενον χοῦν ἄλλοισι κατύπερθε ἑστεῶσι ἐπὶ βάθρων, οἳ δʼ αὖ ἐκδεκόμενοι ἑτέροισι,2 ἕως ἀπίκοντο ἐς τοὺς ἀνωτάτω· οὗτοι δὲ ἐξεφόρεόν τε καὶ ἐξέβαλλον.
These are the cities that inhabit Athos; and the barbarians dug in the following way, having divided the place among themselves by nations. Having drawn a straight line by the city of Sane, when the trench was becoming deep, some stood at the very bottom and dug, while others handed up the soil as it was dug out to others who stood above them on stages, and these in turn passed it on to others, until they reached those at the top; and these carried it out and cast it away.
τοῖσι μέν νυν ἄλλοισι πλὴν Φοινίκων καταρρηγνύμενοι οἱ κρημνοὶ τοῦ ὀρύγματος πόνον διπλήσιον παρεῖχον· ἅτε γὰρ τοῦ τε ἄνω στόματος καὶ τοῦ κάτω τὰ αὐτὰ μέτρα ποιευμένων,3 ἔμελλέ σφι τοιοῦτο ἀποβήσεσθαι.
Now for the others, except the Phoenicians, the collapsing banks of the excavation caused double the labor; for since they made the dimensions of both the upper opening and the bottom the same, such a result was bound to happen to them.
οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες σοφίην ἔν τε τοῖσι ἄλλοισι ἔργοισι ἀποδείκνυνται καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῳ. ἀπολαχόντες γὰρ μόριον ὅσον αὐτοῖσι ἐπέβαλλε, ὤρυσσον τὸ μὲν ἄνω στόμα τῆς διώρυχος ποιεῦντες διπλήσιον ἢ ὅσον ἔδεε αὐτὴν τὴν διώρυχα γενέσθαι,4 προβαίνοντος δὲ τοῦ ἔργου συνῆγον αἰεί· κάτω τε δὴ ἐγίνετο καὶ ἐξισοῦτο τοῖσι ἄλλοισι τὸ ἔργον.
But the Phoenicians showed their skill both in other works and especially in this one. For having received by lot the portion that fell to them, they dug by making the upper mouth of the canal double the width that the canal itself had to be, and as the work progressed, they kept drawing it closer together; and so at the bottom their work became of equal width with that of the others.
ἐνθαῦτα λειμών ἐστι, ἵνα σφι ἀγορή τε ἐγίνετο καὶ πρητήριον· σῖτος δέ σφι πολλὸς ἐφοίτα ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης ἀληλεσμένος.
There was a meadow there, where they had a market and a place of sale; and much grain, already ground, came to them from Asia.
- 7.23.1σχοινοτενὲς ποιησάμενοι
The neuter accusative singular adjective σχοινοτενές (stretched by a cord) is used adverbially. Literally meaning "making it stretched by a cord," it refers to drawing a straight line using a measuring line or rope.
- 7.23.1οἳ δʼ αὖ ἐκδεκόμενοι ἑτέροισι
The verb παρεδίδοσαν (handed over) from the preceding clause is omitted here. ἑτέροισι is a dative governed by the implied verb, following the participle ἐκδεκόμενοι (receiving in turn). This describes the bucket-brigade process of moving the soil until it reached the top.
- 7.23.2ποιευμένων
A genitive absolute with the present participle (Ionic form for ποιουμένων). The subject of the participle, the pronoun referring to "they" (the non-Phoenician workers), is omitted as it is clear from the context.
- 7.23.3διπλήσιον ἢ ὅσον ἔδεε αὐτὴν τὴν διώρυχα γενέσθαι
The word διπλήσιον (double), functioning like a comparative, introduces a clause of comparison with the conjunction ἤ. ἔδεε is the Ionic imperfect of the impersonal verb δεῖ, which takes the accusative and infinitive construction αὐτὴν τὴν διώρυχα γενέσθαι (the canal itself to become [of a certain width]) as its subject.