Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 97

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These were the governments and appointments of tribute. The Persian country is the only one which I have not recorded as tributary; for the Persians live free from all taxes. [2] As for those on whom no tribute was laid, but who rendered gifts instead, they were, firstly, the Ethiopians nearest to Egypt, whom Cambyses conquered in his march towards the long-lived Ethiopians; and also those who dwell about the holy Nysa,¹ where Dionysus is the god of their festivals. These Ethiopians and their neighbors use the same seed as the Indian Callantiae, and they live underground. [3] These together brought every other year and still bring a gift of two choenixes² of unrefined gold, two hundred blocks of ebony, five Ethiopian boys, and twenty great elephants' tusks. [4] Gifts were also required of the Colchians and their neighbors as far as the Caucasus mountains (which is as far as the Persian rule reaches, the country north of the Caucasus paying no regard to the Persians); these were rendered every four years and are still rendered, namely, a hundred boys and as many maids. [5] The Arabians rendered a thousand talents' weight of frankincense yearly. Such were the gifts of these peoples to the king, besides the tribute.

1 Probably the mountain called Barkal in Upper Nubia; this is called “sacred” in hieroglyphic inscriptions.

2 The choenix was a measure of about the capacity of a quart.

Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.

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Commentary references to this page (1):
- Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns, HYMN TO DIONYSUS
Cross-references to this page (8):
- Harper's, Ebĕnus
- Harper's, Nysa
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), PHALANGAE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ABASCI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAUCASUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), I´NDIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TALMIS
- Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, The Article
Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
- Apollodorus, Library, Apollod. 3.4
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (16):
- LSJ, Καύκα^σος
- LSJ, Περσ-ίς
- LSJ, ἄπυ^ρος
- LSJ, δασμο-φόρος
- LSJ, διά
- LSJ, ἔβενος
- LSJ, ἐλέφας
- LSJ, φάλαγξ
- LSJ, φροντ-ίζω
- LSJ, κατάγειος
- LSJ, πεντ-ετηρίς
- LSJ, πλησι^όχωρος
- LSJ, πρόσορος
- LSJ, σπέρμ-α
- LSJ, συναμφότεροι
- LSJ, τάσσω

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Herodotus, The Histories
A. D. Godley, Ed.

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Herodotus, The Histories A. D. Godley, Ed.

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Herodotus, The Histories
A. D. Godley, Ed.