1 (return)
[ Some write "Psammitichos" with less authority.]

2 (return)
[ {tou en Memphi}: many Editors read {en Memphi}, "I heard at Memphis from the priests of Hephaistos," but with less authority.]

3 (return)
[ {'Eliou polin} or {'Elioupolin}, cp. {'Elioupolitai} below.]

4 (return)
[ {exo e ta ounamata auton mounon}. Some understand "them" to mean "the gods"; rather perhaps the meaning is that accounts of such things will not be related in full, but only touched upon.]

5 (return)
[ {ison peri auton epistasthai}.]

6 (return)
[ {anthropon}, emphatic, for the rulers before him were gods (ch. 144).]

7 (return)
[ {Mina}: others read {Mena}, but the authority of the MSS. is strong for {Mina} both here and in ch. 99.]

8 (return)
[ {tou Thebaikou nomou}, cp. ch. 164.]

9 (return)
[ {tautes on apo}: some MSS. omit {apo}, "this then is the land for which the sixty schoines are reckoned."]

10 (return)
[ For the measures of length cp. ch. 149. The furlong ({stadion}) is equal to 100 fathoms ({orguiai}), i.e. 606 feet 9 inches.]

11 (return)
[ Or "without rain": the word {anudros} is altered by some Editors to {enudros} or {euudros}, "well watered."]

12 (return)
[ I have followed Stein in taking {es ta eiretai} with {legon}, meaning "at the Erythraian Sea," {taute men} being a repetition of {te men} above. The bend back would make the range double, and hence partly its great breadth. Others translate, "Here (at the quarries) the range stops, and bends round to the parts mentioned (i.e. the Erythraian Sea)."]

13 (return)
[ {os einai Aiguptou}: cp. iv. 81. Others translate, "considering that it belongs to Egypt" (a country so vast), i.e. "as measures go in Egypt." In any case {Aiguptos eousa} just below seems to repeat the same meaning.]

14 (return)
[ Some Editors alter this to "fourteen."]

15 (return)
[ {pentastomou}: some less good MSS. have {eptastomou}, "which has seven mouths."]

16 (return)
[ See note on i. 203.]

17 (return)
[ {ton erkhomai lexon}: these words are by many Editors marked as spurious, and they certainly seem to be out of place here.]

18 (return)
[ {kou ge de}: "where then would not a gulf be filled up?"]

19 (return)
[ {katarregnumenen}: some Editors read {katerregmenen} ("broken up by cracks") from {katerregnumenen}, which is given by many MSS.]

1901 (return)
[ Or possibly "with rock below," in which case perhaps {upopsammoteren} would mean "rather sandy underneath."]

20 (return)
[ We do not know whether these measurements are in the larger Egyptian cubit of 21 inches or the smaller (equal to the ordinary Hellenic cubit) of 18½ inches, cp. i. 178.]

21 (return)
[ {kai to omoion apodido es auxesin}, "and to yield the like return as regards increased extent." (Mr. Woods); but the clause may be only a repetition of the preceding one.]

22 (return)
[ i.e. Zeus.]

23 (return)
[ i.e. of the district of Thebes, the ThebaÏs.]

24 (return)
[ {te Libue}.]

25 (return)
[ The meaning seems to be this: "The Ionians say that Egypt is the Delta, and at the same time they divide the world into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Libya, the last two being divided from one another by the Nile. Thus they have left out Egypt altogether; and either they must add the Delta as a fourth part of the world, or they must give up the Nile as a boundary. If the name Egypt be extended, as it is by the other Hellenes, to the upper course of the Nile, it is then possible to retain the Nile as a boundary, saying that half of Egypt belongs to Asia and half to Libya, and disregarding the Delta (ch. 17). This also would be an error of reckoning, but less serious than to omit Egypt together." The reasoning is obscure because it alludes to theories (of Hecataios and other writers) which are presumed to be already known to the reader.]

26 (return)
[ {Katadoupon}, i.e. the first cataract.]

27 (return)
[ "and it gives us here, etc." ({parekhomenos}).]

28 (return)
[ {logo de eipein thoumasiotere}. Or perhaps, "and it is more marvellous, so to speak."]

29 (return)
[ {ton ta polla esti andri ke k.t.l.} I take {ton} to refer to the nature of the country, as mentioned above; but the use of {os} can hardly be paralleled, and the passage probably requires correction. Some Editors read {ton tekmeria polla esti k.t.l.} "wherein there are many evidences to prove, etc." Stein omits {ton} and alters the punctuation, so that the clauses run thus, "when it flows from the hottest parts to those which for the most part are cooler? For a man who is capable of reasoning about such matters the first and greatest evidence to prove that it is not likely to flow from snow, is afforded by the winds, etc."]

30 (return)
[ {ouk ekhei elegkhon}, "cannot be refuted" (because we cannot argue with him), cp. Thuc. iii. 53, {ta de pseude elegkhon ekhei}. Some translate, "does not prove his case."]

31 (return)
[ {tes arkhaies diexodou}, "his original (normal) course."]

32 (return)
[ {ouk eonton anemon psukhron}: the best MSS. read {kai anemon psukhron} ("and there are cold winds"), which Stein retains, explaining that the cold North winds would assist evaporation.]

33 (return)
[ {autos eoutou peei pollo upodeesteros e tou thereos}.]

34 (return)
[ {diakaion ten diexodon auto}, i.e. {to reri}. Some Editors read {autou} (with inferior MSS.) or alter the word to {eoutou}.]

35 (return)
[ "set forth, so far as I understood."]

36 (return)
[ {epi makrotaton}, "carrying the inquiry as far as possible," cp. ch. 34.]

37 (return)
[ I have little doubt that this means the island of Elephantine; for at this point only would such a mixture of races be found. To this the writer here goes back parenthetically, and then resumes the account of the journey upwards from Tachompso. This view is confirmed by the fact that Strabo relates the same thing with regard to the island of Philai just above Elephantine.]

3701 (return)
[ Cp. i. 72, note 86.]

38 (return)
[ {oleureon}.]

39 (return)
[ {zeias}.]

40 (return)
[ i.e. the hieratic and the demotic characters.]

41 (return)
[ {murias, os eipein logo}.]

42 (return)
[ Referring apparently to iii. 28, where the marks of Apis are given. Perhaps no animal could be sacrificed which had any of these marks.]

43 (return)
[ {kephale keine}, "that head," cp. {koilien keinen} in the next chapter.]

44 (return)
[ {katharon}.]

45 (return)
[ {baris}, cp. ch. 96.]

46 (return)
[ Or, "descended from Aigyptos."]

4601 (return)
[ Or, "assuming that in those days as now, they were wont to make voyages, and that some of the Hellenes were seafaring folk."]

47 (return)
[ {stelai}, "upright blocks."]

48 (return)
[ {lampontos tas nuktas megathos}: some Editors alter {megathos} to {megalos} or {mega phos}.]

49 (return)
[ {enagizousi}.]

50 (return)
[ {uon}: some Editors read {oion} "sheep," on the authority of one MS.]

51 (return)
[ {ta ounamata}, which means here rather the forms of personification than the actual names.]

52 (return)
[ {ai pramanteis}.]

53 (return)
[ {phegon}.]

54 (return)
[ {upo phego pephukuie}, i.e. the oak-tree of the legend was a real growing tree, though the dove was symbolical.]

55 (return)
[ {panegurias}.]

56 (return)
[ {prosagogas}, with the idea of bringing offerings or introducing persons.]

57 (return)
[ {epoiethesan}, "were first celebrated."]

58 (return)
[ So B.R.]

59 (return)
[ {sumphoiteousi}.]

5901 (return)
[ i.e. 700,000.]

60 (return)
[ See ch. 40.]

61 (return)
[ {tesi thusiesi, en tini nukti}: some MSS. give {en te nukti}: hence several Editors read {tes thusies en te nukti}, "on the night of the sacrifice."]

62 (return)
[ Or, "for what end this night is held solemn by lighting of lamps" (B.R.), making {phos kai timen} one idea.]

63 (return)
[ {alexomenous}: this, which is adopted by most Editors, is the reading of some less good MSS.; the rest have {alexomenoi}, "strike them and defend themselves."]

6301 (return)
[ {eousa e Aiguptos k.t.l.}: the MSS. have {eousa de Aiguptos}: Stein reads {eousa gar Aiguptos}.]

64 (return)
[ {theia pregmata katalambanei tous aielourous}, which may mean only, "a marvellous thing happens to the cats."]

65 (return)
[ {es 'Ermeo polin}.]

66 (return)
[ {dikhelon, oplai boos}, "he is cloven-footed, and his foot is that of an ox." The words {oplai boos} are marked as spurious by Stein.]

67 (return)
[ i.e. above the marshes, cp. ch. 92.]

68 (return)
[ {pante}, which by some is translated "taken all together," "at most." Perhaps there is some corruption of text, and the writer meant to say that it measured two cubits by one cubit.]

6801 (return)
[ The reading of the Medicean MS. is {en esti}, not {enesti} as hitherto reported.]

69 (return)
[ Or, "calling the song Linos."]

70 (return)
[ {ton Linon okothen elabon}: the MSS. have {to ounoma} after {elabon}, but this is omitted by almost all Editors except Stein, who justifies it by a reference to ch. 50, and understands it to mean "the person of Linos." No doubt the song and the person are here spoken off indiscriminately, but this explanation would require the reading {tou Linou}, as indeed Stein partly admits by suggesting the alteration.]

71 (return)
[ The words "and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian)," are omitted by several of the best MSS.]

72 (return)
[ {epezosmenai}.]

73 (return)
[ In connexion with death apparently, cp. ch. 132, 170. Osiris is meant.]

74 (return)
[ {sindonos bussines}.]

75 (return)
[ {to kommi}.]

76 (return)
[ {nros}.]

77 (return)
[ Or, "a pleasant sweet taste."]

78 (return)
[ {apala}, "soft."]

79 (return)
[ {kat oligous ton kegkhron}.]

80 (return)
[ {apo ton sillikuprion tou karpou}.]

81 (return)
[ {zuga}, to tie the sides and serve as a partial deck.]

82 (return)
[ {esti de oud' outos}: a few MSS. have {ouk} instead of {oud'}, and most Editors follow them. The meaning however seems to be that even here the course in time of flood is different, and much more in the lower parts.]

83 (return)
[ {os apergmenos ree}: the MSS. mostly have {os apergmenos reei}, in place of which I have adopted the correction of Stein. Most other Editors read {os apergmenos peei} (following a few inferior MSS.), "the bend of the Nile which flows thus confined."]

84 (return)
[ Not therefore in the Delta, to which in ch. 15 was assigned a later origin than this.]

85 (return)
[ {kat' ouden einai lamprotetos}: Stein reads {kai} for {kat'}, thus making the whole chapter parenthetical, with {ou gar elegon} answered by {parameipsamenos on}, a conjecture which is ingenious but not quite convincing.]

86 (return)
[ {stratien pollen labon}: most of the MSS. have {ton} after {pollen}, which perhaps indicates that some words are lost.]

87 (return)
[ {kai prosotata}: many MSS. have {kai ou prosotata}, which is defended by some Editors in the sense of a comparative, "and not further."]

88 (return)
[ {Suroi} in the better MSS.; see note in i.6.]

89 (return)
[ {Surioi}.]

90 (return)
[ {kata tauta}: the better MSS. have {kai kata tauta}, which might be taken with what follows, punctuating after {ergazontai} (as in the Medicean MS.): "they and the Egyptians alone of all nations work flax; and so likewise they resemble one another in their whole manner of living."]

91 (return)
[ {polon}, i.e. the concave sun-dial, in shape like the vault of heaven.]

92 (return)
[ The gnomon would be an upright staff or an obelisk for observation of the length of the shadow.]

93 (return)
[ i.e. Red Clod.]

94 (return)
[ {Turion stratopedon}, i.e. "the Tyrian quarter" of the town: cp. ch. 154.]

95 (return)
[ {ten sen}, or {tauten}, "this land."]

96 (return)
[ {es o meteke auton}, "until at last he dismissed it"; but the construction is very irregular, and there is probably some corruption of text. Stein reads {ekon} by conjecture for {es o}.]

97 (return)
[ {delon de kata per epoiese}: a conjectural emendation of {delon de' kata gar epoiese}, which some editors retain, translating thus, "and this is clear; for according to the manner in which Homer described the wanderings of Alexander, etc., it is clear how, etc."]

98 (return)
[ Il. vi. 289. The sixth book is not ordinarily included in the {Diomedeos aristeia}.]

99 (return)
[ Od. iv. 227. These references to the Odyssey are by some thought to be interpolations, because they refer only to the visit of Menelaos to Egypt after the fall of Troy; but Herodotus is arguing that Homer, while rejecting the legend of Helen's stay in Egypt during the war, yet has traces of it left in this later visit to Egypt of Menelaos and Helen, as well as in the visit of Paris and Helen to Sidon.]

100 (return)
[ Od. iv. 351.]

101 (return)
[ {kai tode to khorion}: probably {to khorion} ought to be struck out: "this also is evident."]

102 (return)
[ {podeonas}, being the feet of the animals whose skins they were.]

103 (return)
[ Cp. vii. 152.]

104 (return)
[ {elasai}, which may be intransitive, "rushed into every kind of evil."]

105 (return)
[ {stadioi}.]

106 (return)
[ {krossas}.]

107 (return)
[ {bomidas}.]

108 (return)
[ i.e. the three small pyramids just to the East of the great pyramid.]

109 (return)
[ {oute gar k.t.l.}, "for there are no underground chambers," etc. Something which was in the mind of the writer has been omitted either by himself or his copyists, "and inferior to it also in other respects, for," etc. unless, as Stein supposes, we have here a later addition thrown in without regard to the connexion.]

110 (return)
[ {touto megathos}, "as regards attaining the same size," but probably the text is corrupt. Stein reads {to megathos} in his later editions.]

111 (return)
[ Or, "Philition."]

112 (return)
[ {to theo}, the goddess Leto, cp. i. 105.]

113 (return)
[ {suntakhunein auton ton bion}: some MSS. and Editors read {auto} for {auton}, "that heaven was shortening his life."]

114 (return)
[ More literally, "bidding him take up the blood-money, who would." The people of Delphi are said to have put Esop to death and to have been ordered by the Oracle to make compensation.]

115 (return)
[ {os an einai 'Podopin}: so the MSS. Some Editors read {'Podopios}, others {'Podopi}.]

116 (return)
[ {antion de autout tou neou}.]

117 (return)
[ {epaphroditoi ginesthai}.]

118 (return)
[ {katekertomese min}: AthenÆus says that Sappho attacked the mistress of Charaxos; but here {min} can hardly refer to any one but Charaxos himself, who doubtless would be included in the same condemnation.]

119 (return)
[ {propulaia}.]

120 (return)
[ "innumerable sights of buildings."]

121 (return)
[ {tassomenon}, "posted," like an army; but the text is probably unsound: so also in the next line, where the better MSS. have {men Boubasti poli}, others {e en Boubasti polis}. Stein reads {e en Boubasti poli}, "the earth at the city of Bubastis." Perhaps {e en Boubasti polis} might mean the town as opposed to the temple, as Mr. Woods suggests.]

122 (return)
[ Cp. ch. 161, {egeneto apo prophasios, ton k.t.l.} Perhaps however {prophasin} is here from {prophaino} (cp. Soph. Trach. 662), and it means merely "that the gods were foreshowing him this in order that," etc. So Stein.]

123 (return)
[ i.e. for their customary gift or tribute to him as king.]

124 (return)
[ The chronology is inconsistent, and some propose, without authority, to read "three hundred years."]

125 (return)
[ {tas arouras}, cp. ch. 168, where the {aroura} is defined as a hundred Egyptian units square, about three-quarters of an acre.]

126 (return)
[ {es to megaron}.]

127 (return)
[ Not on two single occasions, but for two separate periods of time it was stated that the sun had risen in the West and set in the East; i.e. from East to West, then from West to East, then again from East to West, and finally back to East again. This seems to be the meaning attached by Herodotus to something which he was told about astronomical cycles.]

128 (return)
[ {ouk eontas}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and also fits in best with the argument, which was that in Egypt gods were quite distinct from men. Most Editors however read {oikeontas} on the authority of a few MSS., "dwelling with men." (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {ouk eontas}, not {oukeontas} as stated by Stein.)]

129 (return)
[ i.e. that the Hellenes borrowed these divinities from Egypt, see ch. 43 ff. This refers to all the three gods above mentioned and not (as Stein contended) to Pan and Dionysos only.]

130 (return)
[ {kai toutous allous}, i.e. as well as Heracles; but it may mean "that these also, distinct from the gods, had been born," etc. The connexion seems to be this: "I expressed my opinion on all these cases when I spoke of the case of Heracles; for though the statement there about Heracles was in one respect inapplicable to the rest, yet in the main conclusion that gods are not born of men it applies to all."]

131 (return)
[ {stadioi}.]

132 (return)
[ {mneas}, of which 60 go to the talent.]

133 (return)
[ Cp. ch. 112.]

134 (return)
[ {neos}.]

135 (return)
[ I understand that each wall consisted of a single stone, which gave the dimensions each way: "as regards height and length" therefore it was made of a single stone. That it should have been a monolith, except the roof, is almost impossible, not only because of the size mentioned (which in any case is suspicious), but because no one would so hollow out a monolith that it would be necessary afterwards to put on another stone for the roof. The monolith chamber mentioned in ch. 175, which it took three years to convey from Elephantine, measured only 21 cubits by 14 by 8. The {parorophis} or "cornice" is not an "eave projecting four cubits," but (as the word is explained by Pollux) a cornice between ceiling and roof, measuring in this instance four cubits in height and formed by the thickness of the single stone: see Letronne, Recherches pour servir, etc. p. 80 (quoted by BÄhr).]

136 (return)
[ {erpase}, "took as plunder."]

137 (return)
[ {aparti}: this word is not found in any MS. but was read here by the Greek grammarians.]

13701 (return)
[ i.e. 120,000.]

138 (return)
[ Cp. iv. 159.]

139 (return)
[ {kuneen}, perhaps the royal helmet or Pschent, cp. ch. 151.]

140 (return)
[ {apemataise}, euphemism for breaking wind.]

141 (return)
[ {oudena logon auto donta}: many Editors change {auto} to {eouto}, in which case it means "taking no time to consider the matter," as elsewhere in Herodotus; but cp. iii. 50 {istoreonti logon audena edidou}.]

142 (return)
[ {nomon}, and so throughout the passage.]

14201 (return)
[ i.e. 160,000.]

14202 (return)
[ i.e. 250,000.]

143 (return)
[ {arourai}, cp. ch. 141.]

144 (return)
[ {ekaston}: if {ekastoi} be read (for which there is more MS. authority) the meaning will be that "a thousand Calasirians and a thousand Hermotybians acted as guards alternately, each for a year," the number at a time being 1000 not 2000.]

14401 (return)
[ {pente mneai}.]

145 (return)
[ {arusteres},={kotulai}.]

146 (return)
[ {tou neou}.]

147 (return)
[ {e trokhoiedes kaleomene}, "the Wheel."]

148 (return)
[ The last words, "and when—again," are not found in the best MSS., and are omitted by Stein. However their meaning, if not expressed, is implied.]

149 (return)
[ {pugonos}.]

150 (return)
[ {tou autou eontes lithou}: some MSS. and many Editors have {Aithiopikou} for {tou autou}, "of Ethiopian stone." For {eontes} the MSS. have {eontos}, which may be right, referring to {tou bathrou} understood, "the base being made of," etc.]

151 (return)
[ {tou megalou}, a conjecture founded upon Valla's version, which has been confirmed by a MS. The other MSS. have {tou megarou}, which is retained by some Editors, "on each side of the sanctuary."]

152 (return)
[ "are claiming a share when no part in it belongs to them."]

153 (return)
[ Or possibly of alum: but the gift seems a very small one in any case. Some propose to read {eikosi mneas khrusou}.]

154 (return)
[ Or, according to a few MSS., "Battos the son of Arkesilaos."]

155 (return)
[ "thou hast surely perished."]