Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §2.33.1-2.33.4

The Nile's Course Inferred from Symmetry with the Ister

Passage 249 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The author concludes Etearchus' story and identifies the great river found by the youths as the Nile. Applying the methodology of inferring the unknown from the known, he reconstructs the course of the Nile in geographical symmetry with the Ister (Danube) in Europe.

§2.33.1ὁ μὲν δὴ τοῦ Ἀμμωνίου Ἐτεάρχου λόγος ἐς τοῦτό μοι δεδηλώσθω, πλὴν ὅτι ἀπονοστῆσαί τε ἔφασκε τοὺς Νασαμῶνας, ὡς οἱ Κυρηναῖοι ἔλεγον, καὶ ἐς τοὺς οὗτοι ἀπίκοντο ἀνθρώπους, γόητας εἶναι ἅπαντας.
Let so much then be declared by me concerning the story of Etearchus the Ammonian, except that, as the Cyrenaeans said, he asserted both that the Nasamonians returned, and that the people whom these reached were all sorcerers.
§2.33.2τὸν δὲ δὴ ποταμὸν τοῦτον τὸν παραρρέοντα καὶ Ἐτέαρχος συνεβάλλετο εἶναι Νεῖλον, καὶ δὴ καὶ ὁ λόγος οὕτω αἱρέει.
And as for this river which flowed by, Etearchus also conjectured it to be the Nile, and indeed reason also so decides.
ῥέει γὰρ ἐκ Λιβύης ὁ Νεῖλος καὶ μέσην τάμνων Λιβύην, καὶ ὡς ἐγὼ συμβάλλομαι τοῖσι ἐμφανέσι τὰ μὴ γινωσκόμενα τεκμαιρόμενος, τῷ Ἴστρῳ ἐκ τῶν ἴσων μέτρων ὁρμᾶται.
For the Nile flows from Libya and cuts Libya through the middle; and, as I conjecture, inferring the unknown from the known, it rises from equal distances with the Ister.
§2.33.3Ἴστρος τε γὰρ ποταμὸς ἀρξάμενος ἐκ Κελτῶν καὶ Πυρήνης πόλιος ῥέει μέσην σχίζων τὴν Εὐρώπην· οἱ δὲ Κελτοὶ εἰσὶ ἔξω Ἡρακλέων στηλέων, ὁμουρέουσι δὲ Κυνησίοισι, οἳ ἔσχατοι πρὸς δυσμέων οἰκέουσι τῶν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ κατοικημένων·
For the river Ister, beginning from the Celts and the city of Pyrene, flows through the middle of Europe, dividing it; and the Celts are outside the Pillars of Heracles, and border on the Cynesians, who dwell furthest to the west of all the inhabitants of Europe.
§2.33.4τελευτᾷ δὲ ὁ Ἴστρος ἐς θάλασσαν ῥέων τὴν τοῦ Εὐξείνου πόντου διὰ πάσης Εὐρώπης, τῇ Ἰστρίην οἱ Μιλησίων οἰκέουσι ἄποικοι.
And the Ister ends by flowing through the whole of Europe into the sea of the Euxine Pontus, where the colonists of the Milesians dwell at Istria.

Notes

  1. §2.33.1δεδηλώσθω — Third-person singular perfect passive imperative of the verb δηλόω. It is a formulaic expression in classical Greek prose used by an author to wind up a discussion and transition to the next topic, meaning 'let it have been declared up to this point.'
  2. §2.33.2τοῖσι ἐμφανέσι τὰ μὴ γινωσκόμενα τεκμαιρόμενος — The participle τεκμαιρόμενος (inferring) governs the dative of means/ground τοῖσι ἐμφανέσι (visible things, the known) and the accusative object τὰ μὴ γινωσκόμενα (unknown things). It epitomizes Herodotus' methodology of geographical and historical reasoning by analogy.
  3. §2.33.2τῷ Ἴστρῳ ἐκ τῶν ἴσων μέτρων ὁρμᾶται — The dative τῷ Ἴστρῳ functions as a dative of comparison. Together with ἐκ τῶν ἴσων μέτρων (from equal measures/distances), it expresses that the Nile rises from a distance corresponding to that of the Ister, supporting Herodotus' hypothesis of geographical symmetry between the two rivers.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.33.1-2.33.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.33.1-2.33.4

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