Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §2.67.1-2.67.2

Burial Places and Rites for Sacred Animals

Passage 283 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes the burial places and methods for various Egyptian animals (cats, dogs, ichneumons, shrew-mice, hawks, and ibises) when they die, as well as the burial of bears and wolves.

§2.67.1ἀπάγονται δὲ οἱ αἰέλουροι ἀποφανόντες ἐς ἱρὰς στέγας, ἔνθα θάπτονται ταριχευθέντες, ἐν Βουβάστιπόλι· τὰς δὲ κύνας ἐν τῇ ἑωυτῶν ἕκαστοι πόλι θάπτουσι ἐν ἱρῇσι θήκῃσι.
And the cats, when they die, are carried away to sacred chambers, where they are buried after being embalmed, in the city of Bubastis; and dogs they bury each in their own city in sacred coffins.
ὣς δὲ αὕτως τῇσι κυσὶ οἱ ἰχνευταὶ θάπτονται.
In the very same way as the dogs, the ichneumons are buried.
τὰς δὲ μυγαλᾶς καὶ τοὺς ἴρηκας ἀπάγουσι ἐς Βουτοῦν πόλιν, τὰς δὲ ἴβις ἐς Ἑρμέω πόλιν.
But shrew-mice and hawks they carry away to the city of Buto, and ibises to the City of Hermes.
§2.67.2τὰς δὲ ἄρκτους ἐούσας σπανίας καὶ τοὺς λύκους οὐ πολλῷ τεῳ ἐόντας ἀλωπέκων μέζονας αὐτοῦ θάπτουσι τῇ ἂν εὑρεθέωσι κείμενοι.
And bears, which are rare, and wolves, which are not much bigger than foxes, they bury on the spot where they are found lying.

Notes

  1. §2.67.1ἀποφανόντες — An aorist active participle meaning 'having died' or 'when they die,' agreeing with the subject οἱ αἰέλουροι. The spelling ἀποφανόντες in the provided text is a corruption or manuscript variant of ἀποθανόντες (from ἀποθνῄσκω), which is adopted for the translation.
  2. §2.67.2τῇ ἂν εὑρεθέωσι κείμενοι — In the clause introduced by the relative adverb τῇ ('where/in the place where'), the aorist passive subjunctive εὑρεθέωσι (Ionic for εὑρεθῶσι) is combined with ἄν to express an indefinite general condition ('wherever they might be found'). κείμενοι is a supplementary participle describing the state of the subject when found ('lying').

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.67.1-2.67.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.67.1-2.67.2

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.