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Herodotus · Histories §4.34.1-4.34.2

Delian Ritual of Hair Offerings to Hyperborean Maidens

Passage 598 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Herodotus explains the ritual in Delos where local youths, both boys and girls, cut their hair and place it upon the tomb of the Hyperborean maidens who died there.

§4.34.1καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ταύτας οἶδα ποιεύσας·
And indeed, I know that these women do these things.
τῇσι δὲ παρθένοισι ταύτῃσι τῇσι ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων τελευτησάσῃσι ἐν Δήλῳ κείρονται καὶ αἱ κόραι καὶ οἱ παῖδες οἱ Δηλίων· αἱ μὲν πρὸ γάμου πλόκαμον ἀποταμνόμεναι καὶ περὶ ἄτρακτον εἱλίξασαι ἐπὶ τὸ σῆμα τιθεῖσι §4.34.2ʽτὸ δὲ σῆμα ἐστὶ ἔσω ἐς τὸ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἐσιόντι ἀριστερῆς χειρός, ἐπιπέφυκε δέ οἱ ἐλαίἠ, ὅσοι δὲ παῖδες τῶν Δηλίων, περὶ χλόην τινὰ εἱλίξαντες τῶν τριχῶν τιθεῖσι καὶ οὗτοι ἐπὶ τὸ σῆμα.
But for these maidens from the Hyperboreans who died in Delos, both the girls and the boys of the Delians cut their hair; the girls, cutting off a lock of hair before marriage and winding it around a spindle, place it upon the tomb (now the tomb is on the left hand as one enters inside the Artemision, and an olive tree has grown upon it); and all the boys of the Delians, winding some of their hair around a certain herb, these too place it upon the tomb.

Notes

  1. 4.34.1τῇσι δὲ παρθένοισι ταύτῃσι τῇσι ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων τελευτησάσῃσι — Dative of advantage (dativus commodi) or dative of reference, dependent on κείρονται. It indicates that the hair-cutting is performed in honor of, or for the sake of, these deceased maidens.
  2. 4.34.2ἐσιόντι — Dative singular masculine of the present participle of εἴσειμι, functioning as a dative of reference or person judging ('to one entering'), commonly used in geographical or spatial descriptions to specify direction.
  3. 4.34.2ἀριστερῆς χειρός — Genitive of place or direction, used with χειρός to mean 'on the left hand' or 'to the left'.
  4. 4.34.2τῶν τριχῶν — Partitive genitive dependent on the participle εἱλίξαντες, meaning 'some of their hair' or 'a portion of their hair'.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.34.1-4.34.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.34.1-4.34.2

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