Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §2.106.1-2.106.5

Surviving Stelae and Rock Reliefs of Sesostris

Passage 322 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Herodotus describes the current state of the stelae erected by King Sesostris, noting those he personally saw in Palestine, and provides a detailed description of two rock-cut reliefs of the king in Ionia.

§2.106.1αἱ δὲ στῆλαι τὰς ἵστα κατὰ τὰς χώρας ὁ Αἰγύπτου βασιλεὺς Σέσωστρις, αἱ μὲν πλεῦνες οὐκέτι φαίνονται περιεοῦσαι, ἐν δὲ τῇ Παλαιστίνῃ Συρίῃ αὐτὸς ὥρων ἐούσας καὶ τὰ γράμματα τὰ εἰρημένα ἐνεόντα καὶ γυναικὸς αἰδοῖα.
As for the stelae which Sesostris, the king of Egypt, set up throughout the countries, most of them no longer appear to remain; but in Palestine in Syria I myself saw them still standing, with the aforementioned inscriptions on them and female genitalia.
§2.106.2εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ περὶ Ἰωνίην δύο τύποι ἐν πέτρῃσι ἐγκεκολαμμένοι τούτου τοῦ ἀνδρός, τῇ τε ἐκ τῆς Ἐφεσίης ἐς Φώκαιαν ἔρχονται καὶ τῇ ἐκ Σαρδίων ἐς Σμύρνην.
There are also in Ionia two figures of this man carved in the rocks, one on the road leading from the Ephesian territory to Phocaea, and the other on that from Sardis to Smyrna.
§2.106.3ἑκατέρωθι δὲ ἀνὴρ ἐγγέγλυπται μέγαθος πέμπτης σπιθαμῆς, τῇ μὲν δεξιῇ χειρὶ ἔχων αἰχμὴν τῇ δὲ ἀριστερῇ τόξα, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην σκευὴν ὡσαύτως· καὶ γὰρ Αἰγυπτίην καὶ Αἰθιοπίδα ἔχει·
In each of the two places, a man is carved, four and a half spans high, holding a spear in his right hand and a bow in his left, and the rest of his equipment is to match; for he has both Egyptian and Ethiopian equipment.
§2.106.4ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὤμου ἐς τὸν ἕτερον ὦμον διὰ τῶν στηθέων γράμματα ἱρὰ Αἰγύπτια διήκει ἐγκεκολαμμένα, λέγοντα τάδε· ἐγὼ τήνδε τὴν χώρην ὤμοισι τοῖσι ἐμοῖσι ἐκτησάμην. ὅστις δὲ καὶ ὁκόθεν ἐστί, ἐνθαῦτα μὲν οὐ δηλοῖ, ἑτέρωθι δὲ δεδήλωκε·
And from one shoulder to the other across his breast run carved sacred Egyptian characters, which say this: "I acquired this land with my own shoulders." But who he is and where he is from, he does not make clear in this place, though elsewhere he has made it clear.
§2.106.5τὰ δὴ καὶ μετεξέτεροι τῶν θεησαμένων Μέμνονος εἰκόνα εἰκάζουσί μιν εἶναι, πολλὸν τῆς ἀληθείης ἀπολελειμμένοι.
For this reason, some of those who have seen it guess that it is an image of Memnon, falling far short of the truth.

Notes

  1. 2.106.1αἱ δὲ στῆλαι ... αἱ μὲν πλεῦνες — The nominative phrase `αἱ δὲ στῆλαι` is placed at the beginning of the sentence and then picked up in the partition clauses `αἱ μὲν πλεῦνες` (most of them) and `ἐν δὲ... [αὐτὰς] ἐούσας` (in Palestine... [them] being). It functions as a nominativus pendens (prolepsis) to set the topic.
  2. 2.106.3μέγαθος πέμπτης σπιθαμῆς — `μέγαθος` is an accusative of respect ("in size"). `πέμπτης σπιθαμῆς` is a genitive of measure; literally "of the fifth span," which idiomatically means "four spans and a half" (4.5 spans, about 1 meter).
  3. 2.106.5τὰ δὴ καὶ — The neuter plural relative pronoun `τὰ` is used adverbially (or referring to the entire preceding description of the carvings) to mean "wherefore," "for which reason," or "because of these things."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.106.1-2.106.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.106.1-2.106.5

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