Herodotus · Histories §6.53.1-6.53.2

Genealogy of Dorian Kings and Their Egyptian Origins

Passage 955 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The author argues that while the Dorian kings are correctly traced as Greeks up to Perseus, tracing their ancestry even further back beyond Danae would reveal them to be of Egyptian origin.

§6.53.1ταῦτα μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι λέγουσι μοῦνοι Ἑλλήνων· τάδε δὲ κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα ὑπʼ Ἑλλήνων ἐγὼ γράφω, τούτους τοὺς Δωριέων βασιλέας μέχρι μὲν δὴ Περσέος τοῦ Δανάης, τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεόντος, καταλεγομένους ὀρθῶς ὑπʼ Ἑλλήνων καὶ ἀποδεικνυμένους ὡς εἰσὶ Ἕλληνες· ἤδη γὰρ τηνικαῦτα ἐς Ἕλληνας οὗτοι ἐτέλεον.

These things indeed the Lacedaemonians alone of the Greeks say; but the following things I write according to what is said by the Greeks, namely, that these kings of the Dorians, up to Perseus the son of Danae (excluding the god), are correctly enumerated by the Greeks and shown to be Greeks; for already by that time they were reckoned among the Greeks.

§6.53.2ἔλεξα δὲ μέχρι Περσέος τοῦδε εἵνεκα, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀνέκαθεν ἔτι ἔλαβον, ὅτι οὐκ ἔπεστι ἐπωνυμίη Περσέι οὐδεμία πατρὸς θνητοῦ, ὥσπερ Ἡρακλέι Ἀμφιτρύων.

And I said "up to Perseus" for this reason, and did not trace them from still further back, because there is no surname of a mortal father attached to Perseus, as Amphitryon is to Heracles.

ἤδη ὦν ὀρθῷ χρεωμένῳ μέχρι Περσέος ὀρθῶς εἴρηταί μοι· ἀπὸ δὲ Δανάης τῆς Ἀκρισίου καταλέγοντι τοὺς ἄνω αἰεὶ πατέρας αὐτῶν φαινοίατο ἂν ἐόντες οἱ τῶν Δωριέων ἡγεμόνες Αἰγύπτιοι ἰθαγενέες.

So then, for one who uses correct reasoning, my statement up to Perseus has been correctly made; but if one enumerates their ancestors ever higher from Danae the daughter of Acrisius, the leaders of the Dorians would turn out to be genuine Egyptians.

Notes

6.53.1τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεόντος — Genitive absolute construction. "The god being absent," meaning that Zeus (the god), who is considered the father of Perseus, is excluded from the human lineage tracing.
6.53.2ὀρθῷ χρεωμένῳ — Dative of reference or relation. It expresses the perspective: "for one who uses correct reasoning (my statement is correct)."
6.53.2καταλέγοντι — Dative participle expressing condition (conditional participle), meaning "if one enumerates (the ancestors upward from...)."
6.53.2αινοίατο ἂν ἐόντες — The verb φαινοίατο is the 3rd person plural present optative middle-passive (Ionic dialect for φαινοῖντο), which with ἄν expresses potentiality. Unlike φαίνομαι with an infinitive (which means "to seem to be," with doubt), here it takes the participle ἐόντες to mean "they would clearly turn out to be (in reality)."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.53.1-6.53.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.53.1-6.53.2

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