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Herodotus · Histories §2.9.1-2.9.2

Distances from Heliopolis to Thebes and Elephantine

Passage 225 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The author provides the specific travel days and distances in stadia and schoinoi from Heliopolis to Thebes, and from Thebes to Elephantine.

§2.9.1ἀπὸ δὲ Ἡλίου πόλιος ἐς Θήβας ἐστὶ ἀνάπλοος ἐννέα ἡμερέων, στάδιοι δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἑξήκοντα καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι καὶ τετρακισχίλιοι, σχοίνων ἑνὸς καὶ ὀγδώκοντα ἐόντων.
From Heliopolis to Thebes is a voyage upstream of nine days, and the distance of the journey is four thousand eight hundred and sixty stadia, which is eighty-one schoinoi.
§2.9.2οὗτοι συντιθέμενοι οἱ στάδιοι Αἰγύπτου τὸ μὲν παρὰ θάλασσαν ἤδη μοι καὶ πρότερον δεδήλωται ὅτι ἑξακοσίων τε ἐστὶ σταδίων καὶ τρισχιλίων, ὅσον δέ τι ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἐς μεσόγαιαν μέχρι Θηβέων ἐστί, σημανέω· στάδιοι γὰρ εἰσὶ εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν καὶ ἑξακισχίλιοι.
When these stadia of Egypt are put together: that which is along the sea has already been shown by me before to be three thousand six hundred stadia; and how much it is from the sea inland as far as Thebes, I will now declare; for it is six thousand one hundred and twenty stadia.
τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ Θηβέων ἐς Ἐλεφαντίνην καλεομένην πόλιν στάδιοι χίλιοι καὶ ὀκτακόσιοι εἰσί.
And from Thebes to the city called Elephantine is one thousand eight hundred stadia.

Notes

  1. 2.9.1σχοίνων ἑνὸς καὶ ὀγδώκοντα ἐόντων — A genitive absolute construction consisting of the noun σχοῖνος (schoinos, an Egyptian unit of distance) and the participle ἐόντων (present participle genitive plural of εἰμί, Ionic dialect). It means 'the schoinoi being eighty-one'. Converting 1 schoinos to 60 stadia, 81 × 60 equals 4860 stadia, which perfectly matches the preceding figure.
  2. 2.9.2οὗτοι συντιθέμενοι οἱ στάδιοι — The nominative masculine plural present passive participle συντιθέμενοι agrees with the subject οὗτοι οἱ στάδιοι, but there is no corresponding main finite verb for this nominative phrase. This is an instance of anacoluthon (nominativus pendens); the sentence introduces 'these stadia being put together' and then shifts its structure to connect logically with the subsequent clauses containing δεδήλωται and σημανέω.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §2.9.1-2.9.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.9.1-2.9.2

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