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Herodotus · Histories §6.54.1

The Persian Account of Perseus and Acrisius' Lineage

Passage 956 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

In contrast to the Greek genealogical view, the author presents the Persian account, which claims that Perseus himself was an Assyrian who became a Greek, while the ancestors of Acrisius were Egyptians.

§6.54.1ταῦτα μέν νυν κατὰ τὰ Ἕλληνες λέγουσι γεγενεηλόγηται· ὡς δὲ ὁ παρὰ Περσέων λόγος λέγεται, αὐτὸς ὁ Περσεὺς ἐὼν Ἀσσύριος ἐγένετο Ἕλλην, ἀλλʼ οὐκ οἱ Περσέος πρόγονοι· τοὺς δὲ Ἀκρισίου γε πατέρας ὁμολογέοντας κατʼ οἰκηιότητα Περσέι οὐδέν, τούτους δὲ εἶναι, κατά περ Ἕλληνες λέγουσι, Αἰγυπτίους.
These things then have been genealogized according to what the Greeks say; but as the story told by the Persians goes, Perseus himself, being an Assyrian, became a Greek, but not the ancestors of Perseus; and as for the ancestors of Acrisius, who acknowledge no kinship at all with Perseus, these indeed, just as the Greeks say, are Egyptians.

Notes

  1. §6.54.1ὁμολογέοντας — Present participle active masculine accusative plural of ὁμολογέω (to agree, admit) in the Ionic dialect, modifying the preceding τοὺς Ἀκρισίου πατέρας. Taking κατʼ οἰκηιότητα Περσέι οὐδέν as its object or adverbially, it means '(the ancestors of Acrisius) who acknowledge no kinship at all with Perseus.'
  2. §6.54.1τούτους — A resumptive demonstrative pronoun referring back to the preceding accusative noun phrase τοὺς δὲ Ἀκρισίου γε πατέρας..., serving as the subject accusative of the infinitive εἶναι. It is inserted to clarify the subject after the intervening participle clause. The whole construction forms an accusative with infinitive (ACI) dependent on the indirect speech introduced by ὡς... λέγεται (as the story goes).

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §6.54.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.54.1

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