§12οἱ μὲν ὦν πολλοὶ Δευκαλίωνα τὸν Σκύθεα τὸ ἱρὸν εἵσασθαι λέγουσιν, τοῦτον Δευκαλίωνα ἐπὶ τοῦ τὸ πολλὸν ὕδωρ ἐγένετο.
Many, then, say that Deucalion the Scythian founded the temple, this being the Deucalion in whose time the great flood occurred.
Δευκαλίωνος δὲ πέρι λόγον ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἤκουσα, τὸν Ἕλληνες ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λέγουσιν.
Concerning Deucalion, I heard a story among the Greeks, which the Greeks tell about him.
ὁ δὲ μῦθος ὧδε ἔχει.
The myth is as follows.
ἥδε ἡ γενεή, οἱ νῦν ἄνθρωποι, οὐ πρῶτοι ἐγένοντο, ἀλλʼ ἐκείνη μὲν ἡ γενεὴ πάντες ὤλοντο, οὗτοι δὲ γένεος τοῦ δευτέρου εἰσί, τὸ αὖτις ἐκ Δευκαλίωνος ἐς πληθὺν ἀπίκετο.
This generation, the present race of men, were not the first to exist, but that earlier generation all perished, and these belong to the second generation, which again came to a multitude from Deucalion.
ἐκείνων δὲ πέρι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τάδε μυθέονται· ὑβρισταὶ κάρτα ἐόντες ἀθέμιστα ἔργα ἔπρησσον, οὔτε γὰρ ὅρκια ἐφύλασσον οὔτε ξείνους ἐδέκοντο οὔτε ἱκετέων ἠνείχοντο, ἀνθʼ ὧν σφίσιν ἡ μεγάλη συμφορὴ ἀπίκετο.
Concerning those men, they tell these myths: being extremely insolent, they committed lawless deeds, for they neither kept oaths nor received strangers, nor did they tolerate suppliants, in return for which the great disaster came upon them.
αὐτίκα ἡ γῆ πολλὸν ὕδωρ ἐκδιδοῖ καὶ ὄμβροι μεγάλοι ἐγένοντο καὶ οἱ ποταμοὶ κατέβησαν μέζονες καὶ ἡ θάλασσα ἐπὶ πολλὸν ἀνέβη, ἐς ὃ πάντα ὕδωρ ἐγένοντο καὶ πάντες ὤλοντο, Δευκαλίων δὲ μοῦνος ἀνθρώπων ἐλίπετο ἐς γενεὴν δευτέρην εὐβουλίης τε καὶ τοῦ εὐσεβέος εἵνεκα.
At once the earth poured out much water, and great rains came, and the rivers rushed down larger, and the sea rose to a great height, until everything became water and all perished; but Deucalion alone of men was left for a second generation on account of his wisdom and piety.
ἡ δέ οἱ σωτηρίη ἥδε ἐγένετο· λάρνακα μεγάλην, τὴν αὐτὸς εἶχεν, ἐς ταύτην ἐσβιβάσας παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας ἑωυτοῦ ἐσέβη· ἐσβαίνοντι δέ οἱ ἀπίκοντο σύες καὶ ἵπποι καὶ λεόντων γένεα καὶ ὄφιες καὶ ἄλλα ὁκόσα ἐν γῇ νέμονται, πάντα ἐς ζεύγεα.
And his salvation happened in this way: having put his children and his wives into a great chest which he had, he himself embarked; and as he embarked, there came to him swine and horses and kinds of lions and serpents and all other things that feed on the earth, all in pairs.
ὁ δὲ πάντα ἐδέκετο, καί μιν οὐκ ἐσίνοντο, ἀλλά σφι μεγάλη διόθεν φιλίη ἐγένετο.
And he received them all, and they did not harm him, but a great friendship from Zeus arose among them.
καὶ ἐν μιῇ λάρνακι πάντες ἔπλευσαν ἔστε τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπεκράτεεν.
And in a single chest they all sailed as long as the water prevailed.
τὰ μὲν Δευκαλίωνος πέρι Ἕλληνες ἱστορέουσι.
These things the Greeks relate concerning Deucalion.
§13τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου λέγεται λόγος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἱρῆ πόλει μεγάλως ἄξιος θωυμάσαι, ὅτι ἐν τῇ σφετέρῃ χώρῃ χάσμα μέγα ἐγένετο καὶ τὸ σύμπαν ὕδωρ κατεδέξατο· Δευκαλίων δέ, ἐπεὶ τάδε ἐγένετο, βωμούς τε ἔθετο καὶ νηὸν ἐπὶ τῷ χάσματι Ἥρης ἅγιον ἐστήσατο.
And after this, a story is told by those in the sacred city, which is highly worthy of wonder, namely, that a great chasm opened in their country and received all the water; and Deucalion, when these things happened, established altars and founded a holy temple of Hera over the chasm.
ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸ χάσμα εἶδον, καὶ ἔστιν ὑπὸ τῷ νηῷ κάρτα μικρόν.
And I myself saw the chasm, and it is indeed very small beneath the temple.
εἰ μὲν ὦν πάλαι καὶ μέγα ἐὸν νῦν τοιόνδε ἐγένετο, οὐκ οἶδα· τὸ δὲ ἐγὼ εἶδον, μικρόν ἐστιν.
Whether indeed it was formerly large and has now become like this, I do not know; but what I saw is small.
σῆμα δὲ τῆς ἱστορίης τόδε πρήσσουσιν. δὶς ἑκάστου ἔτεος ἐκ θαλάσσης ὕδωρ ἐς τὸν νηὸν ἀπικνέεται.
And as a token of this history they perform the following: twice each year water arrives from the sea into the temple.
φέρουσι δὲ οὐκ ἱρέες μοῦνον, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα Συρίη καὶ Ἀραβίη, καὶ πέρηθεν τοῦ Εὐφρήτεω πολλοὶ ἄνθρωποι ἐς θάλασσαν ἔρχονται καὶ πάντες ὕδωρ φέρουσιν, τὸ πρῶτα μὲν ἐν τῷ νηῷ ἐκχέουσι, μετὰ δὲ ἐς τὸ χάσμα κατέρχεται, καὶ δέκεται τὸ χάσμα μικρὸν ἐὸν ὕδατος χρῆμα πολλόν.
Not only the priests carry it, but all Syria and Arabia, and many people from beyond the Euphrates go to the sea, and all carry water, which they first pour out in the temple, and afterwards it goes down into the chasm, and the chasm, though small, receives a great abundance of water.
τὰ δὲ ποιέοντες Δευκαλίωνα ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ τόνδε νόμον θέσθαι λέγουσι συμφορῆς τε καὶ εὐεργεσίης μνῆμα ἔμμεναι.
Doing these things, they say that Deucalion established this custom in the temple to be a memorial of both the disaster and the benefit.
Ὁ μὲν ὦν ἀρχαῖος αὐτοῖσι λόγος ἀμφὶ τοῦ ἱροῦ τοιόσδε ἐστίν.
Such, then, is their ancient story concerning the temple.
§14ἄλλοι δὲ Σεμίραμιν τὴν Βαβυλωνίην, τῆς δὴ πολλὰ ἔργα ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ ἐστίν, ταύτην καὶ τόδε τὸ ἕδος εἵσασθαι νομίζουσιν, οὐκ Ἥρῃ δὲ εἵσασθαι ἀλλὰ μητρὶ ἑωυτῆς, τῆς Δερκετὼ οὔνομα.
But others believe that Semiramis the Babylonian, whose many works indeed exist in Asia, founded this sanctuary as well, yet founded it not for Hera but for her own mother, whose name was Derceto.
Δερκετοῦς δὲ εἶδος ἐν Φοινίκῃ ἐθεησάμην, θέημα ξένον· ἡμισέη μὲν γυνή, τὸ δὲ ὁκόσον ἐκ μηρῶν ἐς ἄκρους πόδας ἰχθύος οὐρὴ ἀποτείνεται.
I beheld the form of Derceto in Phoenicia, a strange sight: half is a woman, but the other part extending from the thighs to the tips of the feet is a fish's tail.
ἡ δὲ ἐν τῇ ἱρῇ πόλει πᾶσα γυνή ἐστιν, πίστιες δὲ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῖσιν οὐ κάρτα ἐμφανέες.
But the statue in the sacred city is entirely a woman, and the proofs of the story are not very manifest to them.
ἰχθύας χρῆμα ἱρὸν νομίζουσιν καὶ οὔκοτε ἰχθύων ψαύουσι· καὶ ὄρνιθας τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους σιτέονται, περιστερὴν δὲ μούνην οὐ σιτέονται, ἀλλὰ σφίσιν ἥδε ἱρή.
They consider fish a sacred thing and never touch fish; and as for birds, they eat others indeed, but they do not eat the dove alone, which is sacred to them.
τὰ δὲ γιγνόμενα δοκέει αὐτοῖς ποιέεσθαι Δερκετοῦς καὶ Σεμιράμιος εἵνεκα, τὸ μὲν ὅτι Δερκετὼ μορφὴν ἰχθύος ἔχει, τὸ δὲ ὅτι τὸ Σεμιράμιος τέλος ἐς περιστερὴν ἀπίκετο.
These practices seem to them to be observed for the sake of Derceto and Semiramis, the one because Derceto has the form of a fish, and the other because the end of Semiramis came in a dove.
ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ τὸν μὲν νηὸν ὅτι Σεμιράμιος ἔργον ἐστὶν τάχα κου δέξομαι· Δερκετοῦς δὲ τὸ ἱρὸν ἔμμεναι οὐδαμὰ πείθομαι, ἐπεὶ καὶ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων ἐνίοισιν ἰχθύας οὐ σιτέονται, καὶ τάδε οὐ Δερκετοῖ χαρίζονται.
But I, while I might perhaps accept that the temple is the work of Semiramis, am by no means persuaded that the sanctuary is Derceto's, since also among some of the Egyptians they do not eat fish, and they do not do this to please Derceto.