Herodotus · Histories §4.15.1-4.15.4

Aristeas at Metapontium and the Dedication of His Statue

Passage 579 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Two hundred and forty years after Aristeas' second disappearance, he appeared in Metapontium, Italy, ordering the inhabitants to build an altar to Apollo and a statue of himself. Guided by the Delphic oracle, the Metapontines fulfilled this command, and his statue still stands there today.

§4.15.1ταῦτα μὲν αἱ πόλιες αὗται λέγουσι, τάδε δὲ οἶδα Μεταποντίνοισι τοῖσι ἐν Ἰταλίῃ συγκυρήσαντα μετὰ τὴν ἀφάνισιν τὴν δευτέρην Ἀριστέω ἔτεσι τεσσεράκοντα καὶ διηκοσίοισι, ὡς ἐγὼ συμβαλλόμενος ἐν Προκοννήσῳ τε καὶ Μεταποντίῳ εὕρισκον.

These things indeed these cities say, but the following I know to have happened to the Metapontines in Italy two hundred and forty years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I found by comparing calculations in Proconnesus and Metapontium.

§4.15.2Μεταποντῖνοι φασὶ αὐτὸν Ἀριστέην φανέντα σφι ἐς τὴν χώρην κελεῦσαι βωμὸν Ἀπόλλωνος ἱδρύσασθαι καὶ Ἀριστέω τοῦ Προκοννησίου ἐπωνυμίην ἔχοντα ἀνδριάντα πὰρʼ αὐτὸν ἱστάναι· φάναι γὰρ σφι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἰταλιωτέων μούνοισι δὴ ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν χώρην, καὶ αὐτὸς οἱ ἕπεσθαι ὁ νῦν ἐὼν Ἀριστέης· τότε δὲ, ὅτε εἵπετο τῷ θεῷ, εἶναι κόραξ.

For the Metapontines say that Aristeas himself appeared in their country and ordered them to set up an altar to Apollo, and to stand beside it a statue bearing the name of Aristeas the Proconnesian; for he said to them that Apollo had come to their country alone of the Italiotes, and he himself, who was now Aristeas, followed him; and at that time, when he followed the god, he was a crow.

§4.15.3καὶ τὸν μὲν εἰπόντα ταῦτα ἀφανισθῆναι, σφέας δὲ Μεταποντῖνοι λέγουσι ἐς Δελφοὺς πέμψαντας τὸν θεὸν ἐπειρωτᾶν ὃ τι τὸ φάσμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἴη.

And they say that he, having said these things, disappeared, and that the Metapontines, having sent to Delphi, asked the god what the apparition of the man might be.

τὴν δὲ Πυθίην σφέας κελεύειν πείθεσθαι τῷ φάσματι, πειθομένοισι δὲ ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι.

And the Pythia ordered them to obey the apparition, and that if they obeyed it would turn out better for them.

καὶ σφέας δεξαμένους ταῦτα ποιῆσαι ἐπιτελέα.

And having accepted this, they carried these things out.

§4.15.4καὶ νῦν ἔστηκε ἀνδριὰς ἐπωνυμίην ἔχων Ἀριστέω παρʼ αὐτῷ τῷ ἀγάλματι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, πέριξ δὲ αὐτὸν δάφναι ἑστᾶσι· τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα ἐν τῇ ἀγορῇ ἵδρυται.

And now stands a statue bearing the name of Aristeas beside the very image of Apollo, and around it stand laurels; and the image is set up in the market-place.

Ἀριστέω μέν νυν πέρι τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω.

Now let so much have been said concerning Aristeas.

Notes

4.15.1τάδε δὲ οἶδα Μεταποντίνοισι ... συγκυρήσαντα — The verb οἶδα ('I know') takes the accusative neuter plural pronoun τάδε and the participle συγκυρήσαντα as its object, meaning 'I know that these things happened to...'. The dative Μεταποντίνοισι is governed by the intransitive verb συγκυρέω ('to happen to, befall').
4.15.2φάναι γὰρ σφι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἰταλιωτέων μούνοισι δὴ ἀπικέσθαι — Within the indirect discourse introduced by the main clause Μεταποντῖνοι φασί ('the Metapontines say'), another indirect discourse reporting Aristeas' speech is embedded using the infinitive φάναι ('for [they say] he said'). The subject of φάναι is Aristeas, and under this infinitive, another accusative-and-infinitive clause τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ... ἀπικέσθαι ('that Apollo had come...') is subordinate.
4.15.3σφέας δὲ Μεταποντῖνοι λέγουσι ἐς Δελφοὺς πέμψαντας — There is a redundancy of the subject. The accusative pronoun σφέας ('themselves'), serving as the subject of the infinitive ἐπειρωτᾶν ('to ask'), is placed at the beginning, followed by the explicit proper noun Μεταποντῖνοι ('the Metapontines') as the subject of the main reporting verb λέγουσι ('they say'). This structure emphasizes that the Metapontines are reporting their own actions.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.15.1-4.15.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.15.1-4.15.4

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