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Herodotus · Histories §4.61.1-4.61.2

Scythian Method of Boiling Meat and Offering First-Fruits

Passage 625 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The text describes the unique method of boiling meat in woodless Scythia using bones as fuel and either local cauldrons or the animal's belly, followed by the offering of first-fruits.

§4.61.1τῆς δὲ γῆς τῆς Σκυθικῆς αἰνῶς ἀξύλου ἐούσης ὧδε σφι ἐς τὴν ἕψησιν τῶν κρεῶν ἐξεύρηται· ἐπειδὰν ἀποδείρωσι τὰ ἱρήια, γυμνοῦσι τὰ ὀστέα τῶν κρεῶν, ἔπειτα ἐσβάλλουσι, ἢν μὲν τύχωσι ἔχοντες, ἐς λέβητας ἐπιχωρίους, μάλιστα Λεσβίοισι κρητῆρσι προσεικέλους, χωρὶς ἢ ὅτι πολλῷ μέζονας· ἐς τούτους ἐσβάλλοντες ἕψουσι ὑποκαίοντες τὰ ὀστέα τῶν ἱρηίων.
As the Scythian land is dreadfully woodless, this method has been devised by them for boiling the meat: when they have flayed the victims, they strip the bones of the meat, and then, if they happen to have them, they cast them into local cauldrons, which are very like Lesbian mixing-bowls, except that they are much larger; casting them into these, they boil them, burning the bones of the victims underneath.
ἢν δὲ μή σφι παρῇ ὁ λέβης, οἳ δὲ ἐς τὰς γαστέρας τῶν ἱρηίων ἐσβάλλοντες τὰ κρέα πάντα καὶ παραμίξαντες ὕδωρ ὑποκαίουσι τὰ ὀστέα· §4.61.2τὰ δὲ αἴθεται κάλλιστα, αἱ δὲ γαστέρες χωρέουσι εὐπετέως τὰ κρέα ἐψιλωμένα τῶν ὀστέων·
But if they do not have the cauldron at hand, they cast all the meat into the bellies of the victims, and having mixed in water, they burn the bones underneath; and these burn excellently, while the bellies easily contain the meat stripped of the bones.
καὶ οὕτω βοῦς τε ἑωυτὸν ἐξέψει καὶ τἆλλα ἱρήια ἑωυτὸ ἕκαστον.
Thus an ox boils itself, and each of the other victims boils itself.
ἐπεὰν δὲ ἑψηθῇ τὰ κρέα, ὁ θύσας τῶν κρεῶν καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων ἀπαρξάμενος ῥίπτει ἐς τὸ ἔμπροσθε.
When the meat is boiled, the sacrificer, having offered first-fruits of the meat and the innards, flings them in front of him.
θύουσι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πρόβατα καὶ ἵππους μάλιστα.
They sacrifice other cattle too, but horses most of all.

Notes

  1. §4.61.1τῆς δὲ γῆς τῆς Σκυθικῆς αἰνῶς ἀξύλου ἐούσης — Genitive absolute construction with the participle ἐούσης expressing cause: "since the Scythian land is dreadfully woodless."
  2. §4.61.1χωρὶς ἢ ὅτι — An idiomatic phrase functioning conjunctionally, meaning "except that" or "save that."
  3. §4.61.1οἳ δὲ — Though identical in form to the relative pronoun, here it is a demonstrative pronoun (nominative plural) with a postpositive δέ, emphatically introducing the subject of the apodosis ("but they") after the conditional clause (ἢν δὲ μή...).
  4. §4.61.2τὰ δὲ αἴθεται — The subject is the neuter plural pronoun τὰ δέ (referring to the bones, τὰ ὀστέα, from the preceding sentence), which takes the third-person singular verb αἴθεται, in accordance with the Classical Greek rule that neuter plural subjects take singular verbs.
  5. §4.61.2τῶν κρεῶν καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων ἀπαρξάμενος — Partitive genitive governed by the participle ἀπαρξάμενος (having offered first-fruits of), meaning "having offered first-fruits of the meat and the innards."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.61.1-4.61.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.61.1-4.61.2

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