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Herodotus · Histories §7.199.1

Location of Trachis, the Plain, and the River Asopus

Passage 1262 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes the location of Trachis five stades from the Melas river, the vast size of the surrounding plain which is the widest in the region, and the river Asopus flowing through a ravine in the southern mountains.

§7.199.1Τρηχὶς δὲ πόλις ἀπὸ τοῦ Μέλανος τούτου ποταμοῦ πέντε στάδια ἀπέχει.
The city of Trachis is five stades away from this Melas river.
ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ εὐρύτατον ἐστὶ πάσης τῆς χώρης ταύτης ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς θάλασσαν, κατʼ ἃ Τρηχὶς πεπόλισται· δισχίλιά τε γὰρ καὶ δισμύρια πλέθρα τοῦ πεδίου ἐστί.
And here, from the mountains to the sea, is the widest part of all this country, in which region Trachis is built; for the plain measures twenty-two thousand plethra.
τοῦ δὲ ὄρεος τὸ περικληίει τὴν γῆν τὴν Τρηχινίην ἐστὶ διασφὰξ πρὸς μεσαμβρίην Τρηχῖνος, διὰ δὲ τῆς διασφάγος Ἀσωπὸς ποταμὸς ῥέει παρὰ τὴν ὑπωρείαν τοῦ ὄρεος.
And in the mountain which encloses the Trachinian land there is a ravine to the south of Trachis, and through this ravine the river Asopus flows along the foot of the mountain.

Notes

  1. §7.199.1ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ εὐρύτατον ἐστὶ πάσης τῆς χώρης ταύτης ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς θάλασσαν, κατʼ ἃ Τρηχὶς πεπόλισται — ταύτῃ is an adverbial use of the feminine dative demonstrative pronoun meaning 'here' or 'in this place'. εὐρύτατον is a neuter adjective, acting as a predicate where the subject 'the distance/width from the mountains to the sea' is understood. The relative pronoun in κατʼ ἃ ('along which' / 'where') is neuter plural, referring vaguely to the area implied by the superlative εὐρύτατον.
  2. §7.199.1τοῦ δὲ ὄρεος ... ἐστὶ διασφὰξ — The genitive τοῦ ὄρεος (of the mountain) modifies διασφάξ (ravine/gorge). Because the relative clause τὸ περικληίει τὴν γῆν τὴν Τρηχινίην (which encloses the Trachinian land) is inserted immediately after the genitive noun, there is a hyperbaton separating τοῦ ὄρεος from the noun it modifies (διασφάξ).
  3. §7.199.1τὸ περικληίει — The neuter singular definite article τὸ is used here in place of the relative pronoun ὅ (which). This is a characteristic feature of the Ionic dialect used by Herodotus.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.199.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.199.1

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