Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 37

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Cambyses committed many such mad acts against the Persians and his allies; he stayed at Memphis, and there opened ancient coffins and examined the dead bodies. [2] Thus too he entered the temple of Hephaestus and jeered at the image there. This image of Hephaestus is most like the Phoenician Pataici,¹ which the Phoenicians carry on the prows of their triremes. I will describe it for anyone who has not seen these figures: it is the likeness of a dwarf. [3] Also he entered the temple of the Cabeiri, into which no one may enter save the priest; the images here he even burnt, with bitter mockery. These also are like the images of Hephaestus, and are said to be his sons.

1 the Phoenician Πατάικος (as the Greeks called him) was the Ptah or Patah of Egypt whom the Greeks identified with Hephaestus; always in the form of a dwarf.

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

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Commentary references to this page (1):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax, 153
Cross-references to this page (9):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.1
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.1.3
- Harper's, Pataeci
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MEMPHIS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHOENI´CIA
- Smith's Bio, CABEIRI
- Smith's Bio, Hephaestus
- Smith's Bio, PATAECI
Cross-references in notes to this page (1):
- Strabo, Geography, Strab. 10.3
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (13):
- LSJ, Κάβειροι
- LSJ, Πάταικοι
- LSJ, ἀνοίγ-νυ_μι
- LSJ, ἐμφερ-ής
- LSJ, φοινι_κ-ήϊος
- LSJ, καταγελάω
- LSJ, κατασκώπτω
- LSJ, μι?μ-ησις
- LSJ, ὅμοιος
- LSJ, ὁράω
- LSJ, πυγμαῖος
- LSJ, θεμι^τ-ός
- LSJ, σκέπ-τομαι

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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.