View:
By Section
[1]
Among the Greeks, Heracles, Dionysus, and Pan are held to be the youngest of the gods. But in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , Pan 1 is the most ancient of these and is one of the eight gods who are said to be the earliest of all; Heracles belongs to the second dynasty (that of the so-called twelve gods); and Dionysus to the third, which came after the twelve.
Among the Greeks, Heracles, Dionysus, and Pan are held to be the youngest of the gods. But in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , Pan 1 is the most ancient of these and is one of the eight gods who are said to be the earliest of all; Heracles belongs to the second dynasty (that of the so-called twelve gods); and Dionysus to the third, which came after the twelve.
[2] How many years there were between
Heracles and the reign of
Amasis, I have already shown; Pan is said to be earlier still; the years between
Dionysus and
Amasis are the fewest, and they are reckoned by the
Egyptians at fifteen thousand.
[3] The
Egyptians claim to be sure of all this, since they have reckoned the years and chronicled them in writing.
[4] Now the
Dionysus who was called the son of
Semele, daughter of
Cadmus, was about sixteen hundred years before my time, and
Heracles son of
Alcmene about nine hundred years; and Pan the son of
Penelope (for according to the
Greeks
Penelope and
Hermes were the parents of Pan) was about eight hundred years before me, and thus of a later date than the
Trojan war.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.