Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §173.1

Octopus Camouflage, Land Habits, and Habitat Limits

Passage 179 of 196 · Greek

Summary

A fragment of Theophrastus explaining why the octopus assimilates to rocky places (fear and self-defense), its rejection of the sea while remaining on dry land, and its absence in the Hellespont due to coldness and low salinity.

§173.1Fr. 173 Θ. ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν μεταβαλλόντων τὰς χρόας τὸν πολύποδα φησὶ τοῖς πετρώδεσι μάλιστα τόποις συνεξομοιοῦσθαι· τοῦτο ποιοῦνται φόβῳ καὶ φυλακῆς χάἐυ ριν.
Theophrastus, in his *On Those Which Change Their Colors*, says that the octopus assimilates itself especially to rocky places; they do this out of fear and for the sake of self-defense.
Ἐν δὲ τῷ περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ ξηρῷ διαμενόντων ζώων οὐ δέχεσθαί φησι τοὺς πολύποδας τὴν θάλατταν·
And in his *On Animals That Remain on Dry Land*, he says that octopuses do not tolerate the sea.
ἐν δὲ τῷ περὶ κατὰ τόπον διαφορῶν ὁ Θ. πολύποδας οὐ γίνεσθαί φησι περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον· ψυχρὰ γὰρ ἡ θάλασσα αὕτη καὶ ἧττον ἁλμυρά· ταῦτα δʼ ἀμφότερα πολέμια πολύποδι.
Furthermore, in his *On Differences according to Place*, Theophrastus says that octopuses do not occur around the Hellespont; for this sea is cold and less salty, and both of these are hostile to the octopus.

Notes

  1. 173.1Θ. — Abbreviation of the proper name Θεόφραστος (Theophrastus) by its initial letter. It appears as ὁ Θ. later in the text.
  2. 173.1ποιοῦνται — The verb is plural (ποιοῦνται) because its logical subject, τὸν πολύποδα (singular accusative in the previous clause), functions as a collective noun referring to the species of octopus as a whole.
  3. 173.1οὐ δέχεσθαί φησι τοὺς πολύποδας τὴν θάλατταν — Since both the subject and the object of the infinitive δέχεσθαι are in the accusative (τοὺς πολύποδας and τὴν θάλατταν), there is a syntactic ambiguity. In the context of the treatise *On Animals That Remain on Dry Land*, it is interpreted as 'the octopuses (which have come onto land) do not tolerate/accept (returning to) the sea'. Thus, τοὺς πολύποδας is taken as the subject and τὴν θάλατταν as the object.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §173.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:173.1

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