Herodotus · Histories §3.111.1-3.111.3

How Cinnamon is Gathered from Giant Birds' Nests

Passage 515 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The passage introduces the belief that cinnamon is produced where Dionysus was raised, and describes the clever method used by Arabians to retrieve it by making birds' nests fall from steep cliffs.

§3.111.1τὸ δὲ δὴ κινάμωμον ἔτι τούτων θωμαστότερον συλλέγουσι.

But cinnamon they collect in a way still more wonderful than these.

ὅκου μὲν γὰρ γίνεται καὶ ἥτις μιν γῆ ἡ τρέφουσα ἐστί, οὐκ ἔχουσι εἰπεῖν, πλὴν ὅτι λόγῳ οἰκότι χρεώμενοι ἐν τοῖσιδε χωρίοισι φασὶ τινὲς αὐτὸ φύεσθαι ἐν τοῖσι ὁ Διόνυσος ἐτράφη·

For where it comes from, and what land is the one that nurtures it, they are not able to say, except that, employing a reasonable argument, some say that it grows in those regions in which Dionysus was brought up.

§3.111.2ὄρνιθας δὲ λέγουσι μεγάλας φορέειν ταῦτα τὰ κάρφεα τὰ ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ Φοινίκων μαθόντες κινάμωμον καλέομεν, φορέειν δὲ τὰς ὄρνιθας ἐς νεοσσιὰς προσπεπλασμένας ἐκ πηλοῦ πρὸς ἀποκρήμνοισι ὄρεσι, ἔνθα πρόσβασιν ἀνθρώπῳ οὐδεμίαν εἶναι.

They say that large birds carry these dry sticks, which we, having learned from the Phoenicians, call cinnamon, and that the birds carry them to nests plastered with mud against precipitous mountains, where there is no access for man.

§3.111.3πρὸς ὦν δὴ ταῦτα τοὺς Ἀραβίους σοφίζεσθαι τάδε· βοῶν τε καὶ ὄνων τῶν ἀπογινομένων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑποζυγίων τὰ μέλεα διαταμόντας ὡς μέγιστα κομίζειν ἐς ταῦτα τὰ χωρία, καί σφεα θέντας ἀγχοῦ τῶν νεοσσιέων ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ἑκὰς αὐτέων· τὰς δὲ ὄρνιθας καταπετομένας τὰ μέλεα τῶν ὑποζυγίων ἀναφορέειν ἐπὶ τὰς νεοσσιάς, τὰς δὲ οὐ δυναμένας ἴσχειν καταρρήγνυσθαι ἐπὶ γῆν, τοὺς δὲ ἐπιόντας συλλέγειν.

In view of this, then, the Arabians devise the following scheme: having cut up the limbs of dead oxen and donkeys and other beasts of burden into pieces as large as possible, they bring them to these regions, and having placed them near the nests, they withdraw far from them; and the birds, flying down, carry up the limbs of the beasts of burden to their nests, and the nests, not being able to bear the weight, break and fall down to the ground, and the Arabians, coming up, gather them.

οὕτω μὲν τὸ κινάμωμον συλλεγόμενον ἐκ τούτων ἀπικνέεσθαι ἐς τὰς ἄλλας χώρας.

Thus it is that cinnamon is collected, and from these people it comes to other countries.

Notes

3.111.2ἔνθα πρόσβασιν ἀνθρώπῳ οὐδεμίαν εἶναι — Due to the continuation of the indirect discourse, the verb inside the relative clause ἔνθα... is attracted into the infinitive εἶναι instead of a finite indicative form. The subject is the accusative πρόσβασιν, and ἀνθρώπῳ is a dative of possession.
3.111.3τὰς δὲ οὐ δυναμένας — The article (used pronominally) τὰς δέ is feminine plural accusative, and in this context, it refers to νεοσσιάς (nests) rather than ὄρνιθας (birds). It is the nests, loaded with heavy pieces of meat, that are unable to bear the weight.
3.111.3σοφίζεσθαι ... κομίζειν ... ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι — Throughout the entire passage, since the narrative is based on hearsay (introduced by λέγουσι in 3.111.2), the series of main verbs are all put in the infinitive (such as σοφίζεσθαι, κομίζειν, ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι) in the accusative-and-infinitive construction.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.111.1-3.111.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.111.1-3.111.3

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