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Herodotus · Histories §2.140.1-2.140.2

The Blind King's Return and the Island of Elbo

Passage 362 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

After the departure of the Ethiopian, the blind king returns from the marshes, and the story of Elbo, the island he built with ashes and earth, is described.

§2.140.1ὡς δʼ ἄρα οἴχεσθαι τὸν Αἰθίοπα ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, αὖτις τὸν τυφλὸν ἄρχειν ἐκ τῶν ἑλέων ἀπικόμενον, ἔνθα πεντήκοντα ἔτεα νῆσον χώσας σποδῷ τε καὶ γῇ οἴκεε.
And when the Ethiopian had departed from Egypt, they said that the blind king returned from the marshes and ruled once more, where he had lived for fifty years, having built up an island with ashes and earth.
ὅκως γάρ οἱ φοιτᾶν σῖτον ἄγοντας Αἰγυπτίων, ὡς ἑκάστοισι προστετάχθαι, σιγῇ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος, ἐς τὴν δωρεὴν κελεύειν σφέας καὶ σποδὸν κομίζειν.
For whenever any of the Egyptians came to him with food, as had been commanded to each of them, in secret from the Ethiopian, he would bid them bring ashes also as part of their gift.
§2.140.2ταύτην τὴν νῆσον οὐδεὶς πρότερον ἐδυνάσθη Ἀμυρταίου ἐξευρεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἔτεα ἐπὶ πλέω ἢ ἑπτακόσια οὐκ οἷοί τε ἦσαν αὐτὴν ἀνευρεῖν οἱ πρότεροι γενόμενοι βασιλέες Ἀμυρταίου.
No one before Amyrtaeus was able to discover this island, but for more than seven hundred years the kings who came before Amyrtaeus were unable to find it.
οὔνομα δὲ ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ Ἐλβώ, μέγαθος δʼ ἐστὶ πάντῃ δέκα σταδίων.
The name of this island is Elbo, and its size is ten stades in every direction.

Notes

  1. 2.140.1οἴχεσθαι ... ἄρχειν — Infinitive in indirect discourse, continuing from ἔλεγον (they said) in §2.139.1 of the previous chapter. The infinitives stand for indicative past tenses.
  2. 2.140.1σιγῇ τοῦ Αἰθίοπος — The dative σιγῇ (from σιγή) is used adverbially, and with the genitive τοῦ Αἰθίοπος, it functions like a prepositional phrase meaning 'without the knowledge of' or 'in secret from'.
  3. 2.140.2Ἀμυρταίου — Genitive of comparison after the comparative adverb πρότερον and the adjective πρότεροι, meaning 'before Amyrtaeus'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.140.1-2.140.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.140.1-2.140.2

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