- 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-grc2:7.70.1-7.70.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-07
The passage describes the differences between the Eastern and Western (Libyan) Ethiopians, particularly in their hair, and details the unique equipment of the Asian Ethiopians, including horse-skin helmets and crane-skin shields.
τῶν μὲν δὴ ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου Αἰθιόπων καὶ Ἀραβίων ἦρχε Ἀρσάμης, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων Αἰθίοπες (διξοὶ γὰρ δὴ ἐστρατεύοντο) προσετετάχατο τοῖσι Ἰνδοῖσι, διαλλάσσοντες εἶδος μὲν οὐδὲν τοῖσι ἑτέροισι,1 φωνὴν δὲ καὶ τρίχωμα μοῦνον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ ἡλίου Αἰθίοπες ἰθύτριχες εἰσί, οἱ δʼ ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης οὐλότατον τρίχωμα ἔχουσι πάντων ἀνθρώπων.
Thus Arsames was commander of the Ethiopians above Egypt and the Arabians; but the Ethiopians from the direction of the rising sun (for two kinds of them served in the army) were marshalled with the Indians, differing in no way from the others in appearance, but only in language and hair. For the Ethiopians from the rising sun are straight-haired, whereas those from Libya have the hair more curly than any other men.
οὗτοι δὲ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης Αἰθίοπες τὰ μὲν πλέω κατά περ Ἰνδοὶ ἐσεσάχατο, προμετωπίδια δὲ ἵππων εἶχον ἐπὶ τῇσι κεφαλῇσι σύν τε τοῖσι ὠσὶ ἐκδεδαρμένα καὶ τῇ λοφιῇ·2 καὶ ἀντὶ μὲν λόφου ἡ λοφιὴ κατέχρα, τὰ δὲ ὦτα τῶν ἵππων ὀρθὰ πεπηγότα εἶχον·3 προβλήματα δὲ ἀντʼ ἀσπίδων ἐποιεῦντο γεράνων δοράς.
And these Ethiopians from Asia were equipped for the most part like the Indians; but on their heads they wore the skins of horses’ foreheads, stripped off with the ears and the mane. And the mane served instead of a crest, while they had the horse’s ears fixed upright; and for bucklers they made use of the skins of cranes.
- 7.70.1διαλλάσσοντες εἶδος μὲν οὐδὲν τοῖσι ἑτέροισι
The participle διαλλάσσοντες ('differing') takes the dative τοῖσι ἑτέροισι ('from the others', i.e., the African Ethiopians) to express comparison. εἶδος is an accusative of respect ('in appearance'), and οὐδέν is an adverbial accusative ('not at all').
- 7.70.2προμετωπίδια δὲ ἵππων εἶχον ἐπὶ τῇσι κεφαλῇσι σύν τε τοῖσι ὠσὶ ἐκδεδαρμένα καὶ τῇ λοφιῇ
The neuter plural noun προμετωπίδια (horse forehead-skins) is modified by the perfect passive participle ἐκδεδαρμένα (stripped off) of the same gender and number. The preposition σύν governs both τοῖσι ὠσὶ and τῇ λοφιῇ, meaning 'together with the ears and the mane'.
- 7.70.2ὀρθὰ πεπηγότα εἶχον
A predicative construction modifying τὰ ὦτα (the ears), which is the object of εἶχον (they had). The perfect active participle πεπηγότα (intransitive, 'fixed, stiff') and the adjective ὀρθά ('upright') describe the state of the ears: 'they had the ears fixed upright.'