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Herodotus · Histories §3.8.1-3.8.3

Pledge Rituals and Deities of the Arabians

Passage 412 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes the detailed ritual of making sacred pledges among the Arabians, and introduces their worship of only two deities, Dionysus and Urania.

§3.8.1σέβονται δὲ Ἀράβιοι πίστις ἀνθρώπων ὅμοια τοῖσι μάλιστα, ποιεῦνται δὲ αὐτὰς τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· τῶν βουλομένων τὰ πιστὰ ποιέεσθαι ἄλλος ἀνήρ, ἀμφοτέρων αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ ἑστεώς, λίθῳ ὀξέι τὸ ἔσω τῶν χειρῶν παρὰ τοὺς δακτύλους τοὺς μεγάλους ἐπιτάμνει τῶν ποιευμένων τὰς πίστις, καὶ ἔπειτα λαβὼν ἐκ τοῦ ἱματίου ἑκατέρου κροκύδα ἀλείφει τῷ αἵματι ἐν μέσῳ κειμένους λίθους ἑπτά· τοῦτο δὲ ποιέων ἐπικαλέει τε τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τὴν Οὐρανίην.
The Arabians respect pledges between men as much as those who respect them most, and they make them in the following manner: another man, different from those who wish to make the pledge, standing between them both, cuts with a sharp stone the inner part of the hands, near the thumbs, of those who are making the pledge, and then, taking a thread of wool from the cloak of each, on seven stones lying in their midst he smears the blood; and while doing this, he invokes Dionysus and Urania.
§3.8.2ἐπιτελέσαντος δὲ τούτου ταῦτα, ὁ τὰς πίστις ποιησάμενος τοῖσι φίλοισι παρεγγυᾷ τὸν ξεῖνον ἢ καὶ τὸν ἀστόν, ἢν πρὸς ἀστὸν ποιέηται· οἱ δὲ φίλοι καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰς πίστις δικαιεῦσι σέβεσθαι.
When this man has completed these things, the one who has made the pledge commends his guest-friend to his own friends, or even his fellow citizen, if he made it with a fellow citizen; and the friends themselves also deem it right to respect the pledge.
§3.8.3Διόνυσον δὲ θεῶν μοῦνον καὶ τὴν Οὐρανίην ἡγέονται εἶναι, καὶ τῶν τριχῶν τὴν κουρὴν κείρεσθαι φασὶ κατά περ αὐτὸν τὸν Διόνυσον κεκάρθαι· κείρονται δὲ περιτρόχαλα, ὑποξυρῶντες τοὺς κροτάφους.
They believe that Dionysus and Urania are the only gods, and they say that their hair is cut in the same way as Dionysus himself is shorn; and they cut it in a circular shape, shaving the temples.
ὀνομάζουσι δὲ τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον Ὀροτάλτ, τὴν δὲ Οὐρανίην Ἀλιλάτ.
They call Dionysus Orotalt, and Urania Alilat.

Notes

  1. 3.8.1ὅμοια τοῖσι μάλιστα — The adverbial ὅμοια ('in like manner as') governs the dative τοῖσι μάλιστα, which is an elliptical expression for τοῖς μάλιστα [σεβομένοις] ('those who respect them most'), functioning as an idiomatic intensive phrase meaning 'as much as anyone in the world'.
  2. 3.8.1τῶν βουλομένων τὰ πιστὰ ποιέεσθαι ἄλλος ἀνήρ — The genitive phrase τῶν βουλομένων depends on ἄλλος as a genitive of separation or comparison, meaning 'another man [different] from those who wish to make the pledge'. The nominative ἄλλος ἀνήρ is the subject of the main verb ἐπιτάμνει.
  3. 3.8.2παρεγγυᾷ — The verb means 'to hand over', 'to recommend', or 'to entrust'. Here it indicates that the person who made the pledge commends or entrusts his guest-friend (or fellow citizen) to his own friends (τοῖσι φίλοισι) for mutual protection and respect.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.8.1-3.8.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.8.1-3.8.3

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