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Herodotus · Histories §4.92.1

Darius's Cairns at the Artescus River

Passage 656 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Describes how Darius arrived at the Artescus River and ordered each soldier to leave a stone, creating great heaps of stones before continuing his march.

§4.92.1Δαρεῖος δὲ ἐνθεῦτεν ὁρμηθεὶς ἀπίκετο ἐπʼ ἄλλον ποταμὸν τῷ οὔνομα Ἀρτησκός ἐστι, ὃς διὰ Ὀδρυσέων ῥέει.
Darius, setting out from there, arrived at another river whose name was Artescus, which flows through the land of the Odrysae.
ἐπὶ τοῦτον δὴ τὸν ποταμὸν ἀπικόμενος ἐποίησε τοιόνδε· ἀποδέξας χωρίον τῇ στρατιῇ ἐκέλευε πάντα ἄνδρα λίθον ἕνα παρεξιόντα τιθέναι ἐς τὸ ἀποδεδεγμένον τοῦτο χωρίον.
Having arrived at this very river, he did as follows: having designated a place for his army, he ordered every man, as he passed by, to lay one stone in this designated place.
ὡς δὲ ταῦτα ἡ στρατιὴ ἐπετέλεσε, ἐνθαῦτα κολωνοὺς μεγάλους τῶν λίθων καταλιπὼν ἀπήλαυνε τὴν στρατιήν.
When the army had accomplished this, he left behind there great heaps of the stones and marched his army away.

Notes

  1. 4.92.1τῷ οὔνομα — Dative of possession of the relative pronoun, equivalent to ᾧ in Attic dialect. Literally "to which the name is...", meaning "whose name is...".
  2. 4.92.1παρεξιόντα — Masculine singular accusative of the present participle παρεξιών. It agrees with πάντα ἄνδρα (accusative), which is the subject accusative of the infinitive τιθέναι, expressing the temporal circumstance "as he passed by".

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §4.92.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:4.92.1

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