- 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-grc2:8.137.1-8.137.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-11-09
The founding myth begins with Perdiccas, the ancestor of Alexander, who along with his brothers is expelled by his royal employer, but claims the sun as his rightful wage, portending his future rule over Macedonia.
τοῦ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τούτου ἕβδομος γενέτωρ1 Περδίκκης ἐστὶ ὁ κτησάμενος τῶν Μακεδόνων τὴν τυραννίδα τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐξ Ἄργεος ἔφυγον ἐς Ἰλλυριοὺς τῶν Τημένου ἀπογόνων τρεῖς ἀδελφεοί, Γαυάνης τε καὶ Ἀέροπος καὶ Περδίκκης, ἐκ δὲ Ἰλλυριῶν ὑπερβαλόντες ἐς τὴν ἄνω Μακεδονίην ἀπίκοντο ἐς Λεβαίην πόλιν.
Now Perdiccas, the seventh ancestor of this Alexander, was the one who acquired the tyranny of the Macedonians in the following manner. Three brothers, descendants of Temenus—Gauanes, Aeropus, and Perdiccas—fled from Argos to the Illyrians; and crossing over from the Illyrians into Upper Macedonia, they arrived at the city of Lebaea.
ἐνθαῦτα δὲ ἐθήτευον ἐπὶ μισθῷ παρὰ τῷ βασιλέι, ὃ μὲν ἵππους νέμων, ὁ δὲ βοῦς, ὁ δὲ νεώτατος αὐτῶν Περδίκκης τὰ λεπτὰ τῶν προβάτων. ἡ δὲ γυνὴ τοῦ βασιλέος αὐτὴ τὰ σιτία σφι ἔπεσσε· ἦσαν γὰρ τὸ πάλαι καὶ αἱ τυραννίδες τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθενέες χρήμασι, οὐ μοῦνον ὁ δῆμος·
There they served for wages under the king, the first pasturing horses, the second oxen, and the youngest of them, Perdiccas, the small cattle. The wife of the king herself baked the bread for them; for in ancient times, even the tyrannies among men were weak in wealth, not only the common people.
ὅκως δὲ ὀπτῴη, ὁ ἄρτος τοῦ παιδὸς τοῦ θητὸς Περδίκκεω διπλήσιος ἐγίνετο αὐτὸς ἑωυτοῦ. ἐπεὶ δὲ αἰεὶ τὠυτὸ τοῦτο ἐγίνετο, εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν ἑωυτῆς· τὸν δὲ ἀκούσαντα ἐσῆλθε2 αὐτίκα ὡς εἴη τέρας καὶ φέροι μέγα τι. καλέσας δὲ τοὺς θῆτας προηγόρευέ σφι ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ἐκ γῆς τῆς ἑωυτοῦ.
And whenever she baked, the loaf of the servant-boy Perdiccas became double its own size. When this same thing kept happening continually, she told her husband; and upon hearing this, it immediately occurred to him that this was a portent and portended something great. Having summoned the servants, he ordered them to depart from his land.
οἳ δὲ τὸν μισθὸν ἔφασαν δίκαιοι εἶναι ἀπολαβόντες3 οὕτω ἐξιέναι. ἐνθαῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ μισθοῦ πέρι ἀκούσας, ἦν γὰρ κατὰ τὴν καπνοδόκην ἐς τὸν οἶκον ἐσέχων ὁ ἥλιος, εἶπε θεοβλαβὴς γενόμενος μισθὸν δὲ ὑμῖν ἐγὼ ὑμέων ἄξιον τόνδε ἀποδίδωμι, δέξας τὸν ἥλιον.
But they said that they were justified in receiving their wages before they departed. Then the king, hearing about wages—for the sun was shining into the house through the chimney—said, having been struck with madness by a god: “I pay you this as the wages you deserve,” pointing to the sun.
ὁ μὲν δὴ Γαυάνης τε καὶ ὁ Ἀέροπος οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ἕστασαν ἐκπεπληγμένοι, ὡς ἤκουσαν ταῦτα· ὁ δὲ παῖς, ἐτύγχανε γὰρ ἔχων μάχαιραν, εἴπας τάδε δεκόμεθα ὦ βασιλεῦ τὰ διδοῖς, περιγράφει τῇ μαχαίρῃ ἐς τὸ ἔδαφος τοῦ οἴκου τὸν ἥλιον, περιγράψας δέ, ἐς τὸν κόλπον τρὶς ἀρυσάμενος τοῦ ἡλίου, ἀπαλλάσσετο αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ μετʼ ἐκείνου.
Now Gauanes and Aeropus, the older ones, stood astounded when they heard this; but the boy, who happened to have a knife, having said: “We accept, O king, what you give,” drew a circle with his knife on the floor of the house around the sun, and having drawn it, having scooped the sunlight three times into the fold of his garment, he departed, both himself and those with him.
- 8.137.1ἕβδομος γενέτωρ
Meaning "seventh ancestor." Herodotus himself in 8.139 counts seven generations from the founder Perdiccas down to the current Alexander (Perdiccas, Argaeus, Philippus, Aeropus, Alcetas, Amyntas, Alexander). Thus "seventh" refers to the inclusive count of generations, designating the founding ancestor.
- 8.137.3τὸν δὲ ἀκούσαντα ἐσῆλθε
A construction where ἐσέρχομαι ("to enter the mind", "to occur to") governs the accusative. "It occurred to him (= the king) upon hearing this that...". The accusative participle phrase τὸν δὲ ἀκούσαντα serves as the object of ἐσῆλθε.
- 8.137.4δίκαιοι εἶναι ἀπολαβόντες
A personal construction where the adjective δίκαιος is used with an infinitive and a participle ("they are justified in receiving..."). This is equivalent to the impersonal δίκαιόν ἐστι ("it is right that..."), but here the subject ("they") is made the subject of the personal adjective δίκαιοι.
Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (2, latest 2026-09-21)
- 2026-09-21 AI review — translation 2