Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §2.101.1-2.101.2

Works of King Moeris: Gateway, Lake, and Pyramids

Passage 317 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

While the other kings read by the priests left no notable achievements, the last king, Moeris, left great monuments including the northern gateway of the temple of Hephaestus, a lake, and pyramids.

§2.101.1τῶν δὲ ἄλλων βασιλέων οὐ γὰρ ἔλεγον οὐδεμίαν ἔργων ἀπόδεξιν καὶ οὐδὲν εἶναι λαμπρότητος, πλὴν ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐσχάτου αὐτῶν Μοίριος·
But of the other kings, for they said there was no display of works and nothing of brilliance on their part, except for one, the last of them, Moeris.
§2.101.2τοῦτον δὲ ἀποδέξασθαι μνημόσυνα τοῦ Ἡφαίστου τὰ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον τετραμμένα προπύλαια, λίμνην τε ὀρύξαι, τῆς ἡ περίοδος ὅσων ἐστὶ σταδίων ὕστερον δηλώσω, πυραμίδας τε ἐν αὐτῇ οἰκοδομῆσαι, τῶν τοῦ μεγάθεος πέρι ὁμοῦ αὐτῇ τῇ λίμνῃ ἐπιμνήσομαι·
And they said that this king left as memorials the propylaea of the temple of Hephaestus facing the north wind, and dug a lake (the circumference of which, as to how many stades it is, I will declare later), and built pyramids in it (of whose size I will make mention together with the lake itself).
τοῦτον μὲν τοσαῦτα ἀποδέξασθαι, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων οὐδένα οὐδέν.
This king, then, left so many works, but of the others, no one left anything.

Notes

  1. 2.101.1τῶν δὲ ἄλλων βασιλέων — Genitive of relation ('with regard to the other kings') or subjective genitive limiting the noun phrases οὐδεμίαν... ἀπόδεξιν and οὐδὲν ... λαμπρότητος, setting the topic at the beginning of the sentence.
  2. 2.101.1ἔλεγον οὐδεμίαν ἔργων ἀπόδεξιν καὶ οὐδὲν εἶναι — In the indirect discourse introduced by ἔλεγον (whose subject is the priests), the infinitive εἶναι, explicitly appearing with οὐδὲν, is also understood with the preceding οὐδεμίαν ἔργων ἀπόδεξιν. The multiple negatives (οὐ... οὐδεμίαν... οὐδέν) reinforce each other to express a strong negation.
  3. 2.101.2τοῦτον δὲ ἀποδέξασθαι — ἀποδέξασθαι is the ionic form of the aorist middle infinitive of ἀποδείκνυμαι ('to display, build, or leave behind'). Dependent on ἔλεγον in the previous section, it forms an accusative-and-infinitive construction with τοῦτον as its subject.
  4. 2.101.2τῆς ἡ περίοδος ὅσων ἐστὶ σταδίων — This is a compressed construction characteristic of Greek, where the indirect question clause ὅσων ἐστὶ σταδίων ('how many stades it is') is embedded within the relative clause introduced by the genitive relative pronoun τῆς ('of which [lake]').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.101.1-2.101.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.101.1-2.101.2

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