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Herodotus · Histories §4.8.1-4.8.3

Heracles in Scythia and the Loss of His Horses

Passage 572 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Introduces the legend of Heracles told by the Greeks of the Pontus, describing how he arrived in Scythia while driving Geryon's cattle and lost his horses during a storm.

§4.8.1Σκύθαι μὲν ὧδε ὕπερ σφέων τε αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς χώρης τῆς κατύπερθε λέγουσι, Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες ὧδε. Ἡρακλέα ἐλαύνοντα τὰς Γηρυόνεω βοῦς ἀπικέσθαι ἐς γῆν ταύτην ἐοῦσαν ἐρήμην, ἥντινα νῦν Σκύθαι νέμονται.
The Scythians tell this story about themselves and the country above them, but the Greeks who inhabit the Pontus tell the following: Heracles, driving the cattle of Geryon, arrived in this country, which was then a wilderness, and which the Scythians now inhabit.
§4.8.2Γηρυόνεα δὲ οἰκέειν ἔξω τοῦ Πόντου, κατοικημένον τὴν Ἕλληνές λέγουσι Ἐρύθειαν νῆσον τὴν πρὸς Γαδείροισι τοῖσι ἔξω Ἡρακλέων στηλέων ἐπὶ τῷ Ὠκεανῷ.
Geryon, they say, lived outside the Pontus, having settled in the island which the Greeks call Erytheia, near Gadeira, which is outside the Pillars of Heracles upon the Ocean.
τὸν δὲ Ὠκεανὸν λόγῳ μὲν λέγουσι ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων ἀρξάμενον γῆν περὶ πᾶσαν ῥέειν, ἔργῳ δὲ οὐκ ἀποδεικνῦσι.
Now they say indeed in words that the Ocean, starting from the rising of the sun, flows around the whole earth, but they do not prove it by facts.
§4.8.3ἐνθεῦτεν τόν Ἡρακλέα ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν νῦν Σκυθίην χώρην καλεομένην, καὶ καταλαβεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν χειμῶνα τε καὶ κρυμὸν, ἐπειρυσάμενον τὴν λεοντέην κατυπνῶσαι, τὰς δὲ οἱ ἵππους τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος νεμομένας ἐν τούτῳ τῳ χρόνῳ ἀφανισθῆναι θείῃ τύχῃ.
From there Heracles arrived in the country now called Scythia, and since a storm and frost overtook him, he drew his lion's skin over him and fell asleep; and in the meantime his mares, which had been grazing under his chariot, disappeared by a divine chance.

Notes

  1. 4.8.1Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες ὧδε — The verb `λέγουσι` ("say") is omitted at the end of the clause, easily supplied from the parallel structure contrasted with `Σκύθαι μὲν ὧδε ... λέγουσι` in the preceding clause.
  2. 4.8.3καταλαβεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν — In indirect speech, despite being inside a subordinate clause introduced by `γάρ` explaining the reason, the verb is expressed as an infinitive `καταλαβεῖν` instead of a finite verb, maintaining the reported narrative structure initiated by `ἀπικέσθαι`.
  3. 4.8.3τὰς δὲ οἱ ἵππους — The dative of the personal pronoun `οἱ` ("to him") functions as a dative of possession modifying `ἵππους` ("his mares").

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.8.1-4.8.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.8.1-4.8.3

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