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Herodotus · Histories §1.200.1

Three Babylonian Clans Who Subsist Solely on Fish

Passage 200 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Concluding the account of Babylonian customs, the text describes the unique diet of three clans who eat only fish, detailing how they dry, grind, sift, and bake it.

§1.200.1νόμοι μὲν δὴ τοῖσι Βαβυλωνίοισι οὗτοι κατεστᾶσι·
These then are the customs established among the Babylonians.
εἰσὶ δὲ αὐτῶν πατριαὶ τρεῖς αἳ οὐδὲν ἄλλο σιτέονται εἰ μὴ ἰχθὺς μοῦνον, τοὺς ἐπείτε ἂν θηρεύσαντες αὐήνωσι πρὸς ἥλιον, ποιεῦσι τάδε· ἐσβάλλουσι ἐς ὅλμον καὶ λεήναντες ὑπέροισι σῶσι διὰ σινδόνος, καὶ ὃς μὲν ἂν βούληται αὐτῶν ἅτε μᾶζαν μαξάμενος ἔχει, ὁ δὲ ἄρτου τρόπον ὀπτήσας.
But there are three clans among them who eat nothing else but fish alone, which, when they have caught and dried them in the sun, they treat as follows: they throw them into a mortar and, having ground them with pestles, sift them through fine linen; and whoever of them wishes, kneads it like a barley-cake and eats it, while another bakes it in the manner of bread.

Notes

  1. 1.200.1σῶσι — The third-person plural present indicative active of the verb σάω ('to sift'), contracted from σάουσι. Although identical in form to the third-person plural aorist active subjunctive of σῴζω ('to save'), the context determines its meaning as 'to sift'.
  2. 1.200.1ὃς μὲν ἂν βούληται αὐτῶν ἅτε μᾶζαν μαξάμενος ἔχει, ὁ δὲ... — Against the generalized relative clause ὃς μὲν ἂν βούληται ('whoever of them wishes, on the one hand'), the contrasting second clause is introduced by the demonstrative pronoun ὁ δὲ ('but another, on the other hand'), showing an asymmetrical grammatical construction (anacoluthon).
  3. 1.200.1ἅτε μᾶζαν μαξάμενος — The particle ἅτε usually introduces a participle stating an objective reason ('since'), but here in ἅτε μᾶζαν μαξάμενος ('as if having kneaded a barley-cake') it denotes a figurative or situational comparison. The participle μαξάμενος is the aorist middle of μάσσω ('to knead'). The object of the following verb ἔχει ('has/eats') is the sifted powder mentioned in the previous sentence, which is omitted.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.200.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.200.1

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