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Herodotus · Histories §5.88.1-5.88.2

Origin of Athenian Dress and Anti-Attic Decrees

Passage 857 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The author explains that the Athenian women's dress was originally Carian rather than Ionian, and describes the regulations enacted by the Argives and Aeginetans to increase the size of brooches and ban Attic imports.

§5.88.1ἔστι δὲ ἀληθέι λόγῳ χρεωμένοισι οὐκ Ἰὰς αὕτη ἡ ἐσθὴς τὸ παλαιὸν ἀλλὰ Κάειρα, ἐπεὶ ἥ γε Ἑλληνικὴ ἐσθὴς πᾶσα ἡ ἀρχαίη τῶν γυναικῶν ἡ αὐτὴ ἦν τὴν νῦν Δωρίδα καλέομεν. §5.88.2τοῖσι δὲ Ἀργείοισι καὶ τοῖσι Αἰγινήτῃσι καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ἔτι τόδε ποιῆσαι νόμον εἶναι παρὰ σφίσι ἑκατέροισι τὰς περόνας ἡμιολίας ποιέεσθαι τοῦ τότε κατεστεῶτος μέτρου, καὶ ἐς τὸ ἱρὸν τῶν θεῶν τουτέων περόνας μάλιστα ἀνατιθέναι τὰς γυναῖκας, Ἀττικὸν δὲ μήτε τι ἄλλο προσφέρειν πρὸς τὸ ἱρὸν μήτε κέραμον, ἀλλʼ ἐκ χυτρίδων ἐπιχωριέων νόμον τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτόθι εἶναι πίνειν.
But in truth, if one speaks accurately, this dress was not anciently Ionian but Carian, since the entire ancient dress of Greek women was the same as that which we now call Dorian. And for the Argives and the Aeginetans, even in addition to this, it was established as a custom for each of them to do the following: to make their brooches half as large again as the measure then established, and that the women should dedicate especially brooches to the temple of these goddesses, and that they should bring nothing of Attic make to the temple, not even pottery, but that it should be the law for the future to drink there from local cups.

Notes

  1. 5.88.1χρεωμένοισι — Present participle of the verb χράομαι (to use) in the Ionic dative plural. It functions as a dative of reference, forming the idiomatic parenthetical phrase meaning 'to those using a true account', i.e., 'to speak the truth'.
  2. 5.88.1τὴν νῦν Δωρίδα καλέομεν — The relative pronoun τὴν (equivalent to Attic ἣν) is the direct object of the verb καλέομεν, which takes a double accusative, with Δωρίδα acting as the predicate accusative. The antecedent is the feminine noun ἐσθής (dress).
  3. 5.88.2ποιῆσαι — An infinitive in indirect discourse, whose logical subjects are the Argives and Aeginetans introduced by the datives (τοῖσι δὲ Ἀργείοισι...). It continues the narrative chain of reported events from the previous chapter (5.87.2).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §5.88.1-5.88.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:5.88.1-5.88.2

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