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Herodotus · Histories §3.97.1-3.97.5

Persian Tax Exemption and Gifts from Bordering Nations

Passage 501 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Herodotus explains that only the Persian territory was exempt from tribute under Darius, and lists the various regular gifts brought by neighboring peoples, including the Ethiopians, Colchians, and Arabians, instead of tribute.

§3.97.1αὗται μὲν ἀρχαί τε ἦσαν καὶ φόρων ἐπιτάξιες.
These were the provinces and the assessments of tribute.
ἡ Περσὶς δὲ χώρη μούνη μοι οὐκ εἴρηται δασμοφόρος· ἀτελέα γὰρ Πέρσαι νέμονται χώρην.
But the Persian territory alone has not been mentioned by me as paying tribute; for the Persians inhabit a land free from taxation.
§3.97.2οἵδε δὲ φόρον μὲν οὐδένα ἐτάχθησαν φέρειν, δῶρα δὲ ἀγίνεον· Αἰθίοπες οἱ πρόσουροι Αἰγύπτῳ, τοὺς Καμβύσης ἐλαύνων ἐπὶ τοὺς μακροβίους Αἰθίοπας κατεστρέψατο, οἵ τε περί τε Νύσην τὴν ἱρὴν κατοίκηνται καὶ τῷ Διονύσῳ ἀνάγουσι τὰς ὁρτάς·
The following peoples were not ordered to pay any tribute, but brought gifts: the Ethiopians bordering on Egypt, whom Cambyses subdued when he marched against the long-lived Ethiopians, and those who dwell around sacred Nysa and celebrate festivals for Dionysus.
§3.97.3οὗτοι συναμφότεροι διὰ τρίτου ἔτεος ἀγίνεον, ἀγινέουσι δὲ καὶ τὸ μέχρι ἐμεῦ, δύο χοίνικας ἀπύρου χρυσίου καὶ διηκοσίας φάλαγγας ἐβένου καὶ πέντε παῖδας Αἰθίοπας καὶ ἐλέφαντος ὀδόντας μεγάλους εἴκοσι.
These two groups together brought, and still bring even to my time, every third year, two choinikes of unrefined gold, two hundred logs of ebony, five Ethiopian boys, and twenty large elephant tusks.
§3.97.4Κόλχοι δὲ τὰ ἐτάξαντο ἐς τὴν δωρεὴν καὶ οἱ προσεχέες μέχρι Καυκάσιος ὄρεος (ἐς τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ὄρος ὑπὸ Πέρσῃσι ἄρχεται, τὰ δὲ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον τοῦ Καυκάσιος Περσέων οὐδὲν ἔτι φροντίζει), οὗτοι ὦν δῶρα τὰ ἐτάξαντο ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ διὰ πεντετηρίδος ἀγίνεον, ἑκατὸν παῖδας καὶ ἑκατὸν παρθένους.
As for the Colchians and their neighbors as far as the Caucasus range (for as far as this mountain the land is ruled under the Persians, but those to the north of the Caucasus no longer pay any regard to the Persians), these people then brought the gifts they had assessed for themselves every fifth year, even down to my time, namely, a hundred boys and a hundred virgins.
§3.97.5Ἀράβιοι δὲ χίλια τάλαντα ἀγίνεον λιβανωτοῦ ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος.
And the Arabians brought a thousand talents of frankincense every year.
ταῦτα μὲν οὗτοι δῶρα πάρεξ τοῦ φόρου βασιλέι ἐκόμιζον.
These were the gifts that these peoples brought to the king, apart from the tribute.

Notes

  1. §3.97.1ἀτελέα γὰρ Πέρσαι νέμονται χώρην — The adjective ἀτελέα (tax-free) is used predicatively with χώρην (land), which is the object of the verb νέμονται (inhabit, possess). It means 'they possess their land as a tax-free one'.
  2. §3.97.3διὰ τρίτου ἔτεος — The preposition διά with the genitive denotes an interval of time. Due to the Greek practice of inclusive counting, διὰ τρίτου ἔτεος literally means 'every third year' but actually signifies 'every other year' (at intervals of two years). The same applies to διὰ πεντετηρίδος ('every fifth year' i.e., 'every four years') in §3.97.4.
  3. §3.97.4Κόλχοι δὲ ... οὗτοι ὦν — The subject at the beginning of the sentence, Κόλχοι δὲ ... (And the Colchians ...), is interrupted by a long parenthetical clause (ἐς τοῦτο γὰρ...) and is restated by the pronoun οὗτοι (these people), forming a mild anacoluthon.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §3.97.1-3.97.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:3.97.1-3.97.5

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