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Herodotus · Histories §4.171.1

Territory and Customs of the Auschisae and Bacales

Passage 735 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes the territory of the Auschisae to the west of the Asbystae, the small tribe of the Bacales living in the middle of their land, and their adherence to the same customs as the inland dwellers of Cyrene.

§4.171.1Ἀσβυστέων δὲ ἔχονται τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρης Αὐσχίσαι· οὗτοι ὑπὲρ Βάρκης οἰκέουσι, κατήκοντες ἐπὶ θάλασσαν κατʼ Εὐεσπερίδας.
Bordering on the Asbystae to the west are the Auschisae; these dwell inland of Barca, reaching down to the sea at Euesperides.
Αὐσχισέων δὲ κατὰ μέσον τῆς χώρης οἰκέουσι Βάκαλες, ὀλίγον ἔθνος, κατήκοντες ἐπὶ θάλασσαν κατὰ Ταύχειρα πόλιν τῆς Βαρκαίης· νόμοισι δὲ τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι χρέωνται τοῖσι καὶ οἱ ὑπὲρ Κυρήνης.
In the middle of the territory of the Auschisae dwell the Bacales, a small tribe, reaching down to the sea at Tauchira, a city of the Barcaean territory; they practice the same customs as those who dwell inland of Cyrene.

Notes

  1. §4.171.1ἔχονται — The middle voice ἔχομαι of the verb ἔχω is used with the genitive (here Ἀσβυστέων) to mean "to border on" or "to be next to."
  2. §4.171.1ὑπὲρ Βάρκης — The preposition ὑπέρ with the genitive is used geographically to indicate living "inland" or "up country" from the coast. The same applies to ὑπὲρ Κυρήνης later in the section.
  3. §4.171.1νόμοισι δὲ τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι χρέωνται τοῖσι — This expresses the correlative construction "the same ... as." The first τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι ("the same customs") is followed by the second τοῖσι, which acts as a relative pronoun (homonymous with the definite article in Ionic) referring back to it. The verb χρέωνται is the third-person plural present of χράομαι, which governs the dative.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.171.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.171.1

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