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Herodotus · Histories §7.90.1

The Cyprian Fleet, Equipment, and Origins

Passage 1153 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

Concluding the description of the Egyptians, this section describes the 150 ships provided by the Cyprians, their equipment (turbans for kings, tunics for others, and otherwise Greek-style), and their diverse ethnic origins from Greece, Phoenicia, and Ethiopia.

§7.90.1οὗτοι μὲν οὕτω ἐστάλατο, Κύπριοι δὲ παρείχοντο νέας πεντήκοντα καὶ ἑκατόν, ἐσκευασμένοι ὧδε· τὰς μὲν κεφαλὰς εἱλίχατο μίτρῃσι οἱ βασιλέες αὐτῶν, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι εἶχον κιθῶνας, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κατά περ Ἕλληνες.
These indeed were equipped in this way, but the Cyprians provided one hundred and fifty ships, equipped as follows: their kings had wound turbans around their heads, while the others wore tunics, and in other respects they were equipped just like the Greeks.
τούτων δὲ τοσάδε ἔθνεα εἰσί, οἳ μὲν ἀπὸ Σαλαμῖνος καὶ Ἀθηνέων, οἳ δὲ ἀπʼ Ἀρκαδίης, οἳ δὲ ἀπὸ Κύθνου, οἳ δὲ ἀπὸ Φοινίκης, οἳ δὲ ἀπὸ Αἰθιοπίης, ὡς αὐτοὶ Κύπριοι λέγουσι.
Of these there are this many nations: some from Salamis and Athens, some from Arcadia, some from Cythnos, some from Phoenicia, and some from Ethiopia, as the Cyprians themselves say.

Notes

  1. §7.90.1ἐστάλατο — Third-person plural pluperfect passive in the Ionic dialect, corresponding to Attic ἐσταλμένοι ἦσαν, from the verb στέλλω (to equip, array).
  2. §7.90.1εἱλίχατο — Third-person plural pluperfect (here with middle force) in the Ionic dialect, corresponding to Attic εἰλιγμένοι ἦσαν (from εἱλίσσω / εἱλέω, "to wind, wrap"). It takes the accusative of respect/part affected τὰς μὲν κεφαλὰς and the dative of instrument μίτρῃσι.
  3. §7.90.1τὰ δὲ ἄλλα κατά περ Ἕλληνες — There is an ellipsis of a participle like ἐσκευασμένοι or a verb like ἦσαν before the prepositional phrase κατά περ Ἕλληνες (just like the Greeks). τὰ δὲ ἄλλα is an accusative of respect (adverbial accusative) meaning "in other respects."

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §7.90.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:7.90.1

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