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104.
For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others. When it occurred to me, I inquired of both peoples; and the Colchians remembered the Egyptians better than the Egyptians remembered the Colchians;
[2]
the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris' army. I myself guessed it, partly because they are dark-skinned and woolly-haired; though that indeed counts for nothing, since other peoples are, too; but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practised circumcision.
[3]
The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine acknowledge that they learned the custom from the Egyptians, and the Syrians of the valleys of the Thermodon and the Parthenius, as well as their neighbors the Macrones, say that they learned it lately from the Colchians. These are the only nations that circumcise, and it is seen that they do just as the Egyptians.
[4]
But as to the Egyptians and Ethiopians themselves, I cannot say which nation learned it from the other; for it is evidently a very ancient custom. That the others learned it through traffic with Egypt, I consider clearly proved by this: that Phoenicians who traffic with Hellas cease to imitate the Egyptians in this matter and do not circumcise their children.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (21 total)
- Commentary references to this page (2):
- Cross-references to this page
(5):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), COLCHIS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MACRO´NES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PAPHLAGO´NIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PARTHE´NIUS
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(14):
- LSJ, Σύρος
- LSJ, ἀνήκω
- LSJ, ἀρχή
- LSJ, ἀστυ^-γείτων
- LSJ, ἐπιμίσγω
- LSJ, εἰκάζω
- LSJ, φροντ-ίς
- LSJ, μάκρ-ων
- LSJ, μελάγ-χροος
- LSJ, μι_μ-έομαι
- LSJ, μιμνήσκω
- LSJ, οὐλό-θριξ
- LSJ, πα^ρά
- LSJ, περιτέμνω
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