Humanitext Reader

Herodotus · Histories §3.18.1

The Custom of the Table of the Sun in Ethiopia

Passage 422 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes the nature of the "Table of the Sun" in Ethiopia, explaining how city officials place meat there by night for anyone to feast on by day, and how the locals believe the earth itself produces it.

§3.18.1ἡ δὲ τράπεζα τοῦ ἡλίου τοιήδε τις λέγεται εἶναι, λειμὼν ἐστὶ ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ ἐπίπλεος κρεῶν ἑφθῶν πάντων τῶν τετραπόδων, ἐς τὸν τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐπιτηδεύοντας τιθέναι τὰ κρέα τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ἑκάστοτε ἐόντας τῶν ἀστῶν, τὰς δὲ ἡμέρας δαίνυσθαι προσιόντα τὸν βουλόμενον.
The Table of the Sun is said to be something like this: there is a meadow in the suburbs full of the boiled meat of all kinds of four-legged animals, into which those of the citizens who are in authority from time to time make a point of putting the meat by night, while by day anyone who wishes may come forward and feast.
φάναι δὲ τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ταῦτα τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν ἀναδιδόναι ἑκάστοτε.
And the inhabitants say that the earth itself yields these things on each occasion.

Notes

  1. 3.18.1ἐς τὸν τὰς μὲν νύκτας ἐπιτηδεύοντας τιθέναι — Inside the relative clause introduced by ἐς τὸν (referring to the antecedent λειμὼν), the infinitives τιθέναι and δαίνυσθαι are used instead of indicative verbs. This is a construction typical of Herodotus, where the indirect discourse introduced by λέγεται at the beginning of the sentence extends into the relative clause. The subject of the infinitive is the accusative τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ... ἐόντας.
  2. 3.18.1τοὺς ἐν τέλεϊ ἑκάστοτε ἐόντας — The phrase ἐν τέλεϊ εἶναι means "to be in office" or "to be in authority." Combined with the adverb ἑκάστοτε ("each time" or "from time to time"), it refers to the magistrates or officials who hold office at any given time.
  3. 3.18.1φάναι — Although this appears to start a new independent sentence, the infinitive φάναι is used to maintain the indirect discourse context (introduced by λέγεται) of the narrative, carrying over the sense of "they say that...".

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.18.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.18.1

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