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Polybius · The Histories §12.1.1-12.1.5

Geography of Byzacium and Cities of Libya

Passage 733 of 1311 · Greek

Summary

Based on fragments of Polybius' Histories Book 12, this section presents geographical descriptions of the Byzacis region, mentions several cities in Libya, and corrects the misconception of Chalceia, clarifying it is a copper-works rather than a city.

§12.1.1Πολύβιος Βυζακίδα χώραν εἶναί φησι περὶ τὰς Σύρτεις ἐν δωδεκάτῳ· "σταδίων μὲν οὖσα τὴν περίμετρον δισχιλίων, τῷ δὲ σχήματι περιφερής. " Ἱππών, Λιβύης πόλις.
Polybius says in his twelfth book that the district of Byzacis is near the Syrtes: "being two thousand stades in circumference, and round in shape." Hippon, a city of Libya.
§12.1.2Πολύβιος δωδεκάτῳ.
Polybius, twelfth book.
Σίγγα, πόλις, Λιβύης, ὡς Πολύβιος δωδεκάτῳ.
Singa, a city of Libya, as Polybius in his twelfth book.
§12.1.3Τάβρακα, πόλις Λιβύης.
Tabraca, a city of Libya.
§12.1.4Πολύβιος δωδεκάτῳ.
Polybius, twelfth book.
χαλκεῖα, πόλις Λιβύης·
Chalceia, a city of Libya.
§12.1.5ὁ πολυΐστωρ ἐν Λιβυκῶν τρίτῳ, ὡς Δημοσθένης· ᾧ μεμφόμενος Πολύβιος ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ ὧδε γράφει· "ἀγνοεῖ δὲ μεγάλως καὶ περὶ τῶν Χαλκείων· οὐδὲ γὰρ πόλις ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ χαλκουργεῖα. "
The polyhistor in the third book of Libyan History, as Demosthenes [says]; whom Polybius, censuring in the twelfth book, writes thus: "And he is greatly ignorant also about Chalceia; for it is not a city, but copper-works."

Notes

  1. §12.1.1τὴν περίμετρον — An accusative of respect (or specification), modifying the participle οὖσα to express "being (two thousand stades) in circumference."
  2. §12.1.5ᾧ μεμφόμενος — The dative relative pronoun ᾧ is governed by the verb of blaming, μέμφομαι, which can take a dative object. The antecedent refers contextually to Demosthenes (or the person who held the aforementioned view).
  3. §12.1.5ἀγνοεῖ δὲ μεγάλως — The subject of the third-person singular verb ἀγνοεῖ in the quotation is not explicitly stated, but it refers to the person Polybius is censuring (Demosthenes, or another historian/geographer he is refuting).

Cite this passage

Polybius, The Histories §12.1.1-12.1.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:12.1.1-12.1.5

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